I'm a Traveling (Wo)man

My brother (let's call him Junior Fuzzy) informed me that I need to stop slacking and update my blog, so here's the latest installment in Salmonista's Excellent Adventures.

November was another busy month of traveling!

San Diego
My organization holds an annual training conference for all our field staff, usually in a semi-warm location. This year we all descended on the lovely seaside town of San Diego, CA. The hotel where the event was held had lush, tropical foliage. Here are some photos taken by others, as I had nary a spare moment for landscape photography. Running a conference is a lot of work! Since I work from home, I always enjoy these experiences for human interaction, even if the days are long and tiring.

Here's one photo I managed to snap of the hotel while waiting for the airport shuttle.

We did take the group on one sightseeing excursion, on a trolley tour around some of the city's main attractions. Below is a photo on the deck of the USS Midway, which is now a museum.

Now that I live in the South, I feel like I understand our Southern coordinators so much better. Living in new places makes you more empathetic and adaptable. I'm sure someone out there has scientifically proven it, and I'll back it up with my anecdotal experience :)

Michigan
Less than 2 weeks after returning from CA, I was hopping a plane again, this time to the great town of Traverse City, MI. My flight connected in Chicago and it was kind of cool to fly across Lake Michigan. As we came in for a landing, you could see that it was all snowy, whereas on the west side of the lake the ground had been clear. Lake effect snow is real, people!

Here's what the snowy shores of Traverse City looked like on arrival day.

This trip was also for work. I was attending a meeting for a few days and then driving around the lower part of the state to visit various volunteers/partners. As I was reflecting on this trip, I have to say it was probably my most exhausting work travel in the 5 years I've had this job. The combination of new field staff, interpersonal conflict, little sleep, dealing with sick people, and constant questions/requests for information was just a bit much to handle on top of driving long distances in poor weather conditions. I was very glad that the high wind advisory did not delay my return flight, although the bouncy ride to Detroit wasn't my favorite thing ever. At least I made it home before the Thanksgiving travel onslaught had reached its full height.

And, lest you think I'm only a whiner, I'll mention that I did have some delicious Lebanese food at Ozzy's Kabob in the town of Okemos. Yummm, falafel :)

River Arts Fest

Last weekend was River Arts Fest downtown. We met up with a group of friends there to enjoy the festivities. The weather was amazing! I mean, sunny and 80+ degrees in late October! Not that the forecast stopped some of the patrons from dressing like it was fall, though...I'm sure their feet were a bit warm in Uggs.

For the event, the city closed off several blocks of traffic and all sorts of artists set up booths. The art work was eclectic and cool! I didn't want to be one of those people who annoys the vendors by snapping photos of their wares nonstop, but I did manage to surreptitiously capture this glass art booth.

Major props to Memphis for having recycling bins all over the place! Yes, the people need somewhere to recycle their bottles and cans! I did see one guy drop some gum in a recycling bin, however. More education is needed...

It wouldn't be a Memphis festival without a random Elvis tribute artist working the crowd.

The Railroad & Trolley Museum was offering free admission, so we stopped in to check it out. It has lots of model train sets, along with some historical artifacts.

We also learned some hobo code. Did you know that one meaning of hobo is an abbreviation for "homeward bound"?

Fall is just starting to arrive in the mid-south. Here's a tree with changing leaves as evidence :)

After we'd strolled up and down the long vendor strip and observed some artisans in action, our friends wanted to go get a drink a few blocks up the road. On the way walking to our next destination we passed this "I am a man" mural. The saying comes from the Sanitation Workers Strike of 1968 and became a civil rights rallying cry.

We all met up at Beale Street Landing for some drinks and fried green tomatoes (for me, at least). This new riverfront development area apparently just opened a couple months ago. We hadn't really been down there before. It's great! The restaurant has lovely scenic river views.

After our friends hit the road, we decided to walk back to the festival and see if any bands were still playing. It was a perfect afternoon for a riverside stroll!

Back at the party, we found out Star & Micey were playing. We've heard them at the Shell before and enjoyed their music. I guess we are becoming their groupies now since this was the second time we've seen them perform this year.

All in all, it was a lovely fall day!

Fall Travels

Work has had me on the road a bit lately, so I'll update you on my latest travels.

Missouri
I put nearly 1200 miles on a rental car in less than 72 hours driving from Memphis, all around the Show-Me state, and back. Sheesh! I had a good little Nissan...made me remember the good ole days in Seattle when I bought my first car, a Sentra.

While en route to MO, I remembered that I'd forgotten to pack pajamas - made a quick stop at Walmart to pick some up. Upon entering the store, I knew I wasn't in Tennessee anymore based on the copious amounts of liquor available for purchase. Yeah, down here in TN we are just now getting to vote on having wine available in grocery stores...

Part of my duties for the weekend included taking a group of teens through a corn maze. Here's a view of the maze from the air. It was gigantic! We lost one member of the group and had to send a maze worker in to find her. In my defense, she took an unauthorized short cut through the stalks...

I also met and interacted with several native Missourians. In conversations with them, I learned that there is a divide between North and South Missouri on such important cultural rules as how to play a card game called Pitch.

Isn't it interesting that no matter where you are, there tends to always be divisions between groups? Eastern Washington state sometimes threatens to secede and become the 51st state. In Tennessee there are three distinct regions (East, Middle, West), and they all seem to have their stereotypes or prejudices about the other. Even in the small city where I grew up, as young people we formed all sorts of conclusions about each other based on which high school a person attended. And then you expand this out to the realm of international relations...well, it's no surprise that we have a hard time getting along globally, eh?

Wisconsin
Last weekend I was in Milwaukee for a work conference. Since there are no direct flights to anywhere from Memphis anymore, I flew through Minneapolis and got treated to some lovely MN foliage views from the plane.

Once in Milwaukee I hardly had a chance to leave the hotel as the conference schedule was pretty packed. I did get to venture out a bit one evening and enjoyed their public art, but only briefly as the temperatures were plummeting to the low 40s and I hadn't brought enough layers of clothing!

And the hotel itself was pretty nice, too! Here's a picture of the lobby.

I didn't have a chance to interact with many Wisconsinites on this trip as the conference attendees came from various parts of the US and a few foreign countries. Overall what I noticed was that the people did not seem very friendly. Then I had to ask myself why I perceived them this way. I think it's because I have acclimated to my culture in Memphis! I now expect people to carry on a pleasant conversation in which we both ask each other questions and pay attention to the answers, trying to make a connection and get to know what's important to the other person. Maybe this is just how conferences are, though - too many new people who you might never see again, so what's the point of really talking to them.

I've got more trips coming up soon to California and Michigan, so when I have a few spare brain cells I'll try to post another travel report :)

Church Retreat

Last weekend I attended the annual women's retreat for the church we go to here. I've been telling everyone who asks me how it went that I definitely had a southern cultural experience. It was fun and interesting!

The event took place at Pickwick Landing State Park. This lake sits on the border of TN, MS, and AL. Our hotel/inn was on the Tennessee side. It's about a 2 hour drive east of Memphis, and on the way I was excited to see some hills! Memphis is really flat, but as you travel east you start to encounter changes in elevation.

Food - all meals were served buffet style at the restaurant.

Breakfast options included grits and biscuits and gravy. The grits seemed pretty slimy and like they had no flavor. I think this was my first time trying them. I heard, though, that there are lots of ways to make grits and that I shouldn't take this batch as representative of the food in general.

Lunch was your classic "meat and three" with side dish choices like black eyed peas, green beans, and cornbread.

For dinner, they served catfish. As in, whole catfish, fried, with their tails still on! I've only had catfish once or twice before. This was definitely the tastiest!

And of course at all meal times, the sweet tea was flowing freely.

Activities:
We had a large chunk of free time during which participants could take a ride on a pontoon boat around the lake. (It's not really fall here yet, hence no changing leaves.) Despite the gray skies, it was a fairly warm day.

I also learned some country line dances like the Sidewinder Shuffle.

Other women were doing art projects like making burlap door hangers to support their favorite SEC football team.

Participants:
I'm bad at estimating numbers, but I bet there were about 200 people at this retreat. Our church really focuses on being intergenerational, and the ages ranged from 6 weeks to mid-90s. I'd say the total population skewed towards the older side (if you were to make a distribution bar graph), but there was decent representation from most all of the decades of life.

I had a hard time keeping track of everyone, though. I'd meet one person, and she'd say, "Oh, do you know so-and-so? Well, her mom is over there, and I'm her aunt!" And etc. I wish everyone would wear nametags at church now so I can remember who they are...The point here is that there were a lot of family connections amongst participants, more than I think would happen at a similar event in the northwest.

Decor:
Not sure if this is a southern thing or not, but the decorations committee went all-out! The theme was "tea party." Check our our tables for the final night.

Each person got a fancy tea cup to take home! And you'll note the burlap table runners. I think that you can't have an event in the south if you don't incorporate burlap into the decor somehow :)

Above is a photo of the tea party. The organizers had told us to bring a tea hat. I had no idea what that meant so I didn't wear one. But you can see by this picture that a lot of people did understand the memo! During this session two of the church "matriarchs" shared stories about their lives and answered questions from the audience. They are very sharp, especially for being about 90, and they were really entertaining! But it was a little hard for me to follow everything they were talking about. I kind of felt like a new person coming to a family reunion, hearing all the family lore for the first time.

Overall, it was a good weekend! And I will hopefully remember the people I met and greet them with the correct name next time I see them.

Downtown Museum Day

A couple weeks ago, several downtown Memphis museums offered free or reduced price admission on a lovely Saturday. Never ones to pass up a deal, we jumped right in!

First stop: Gibson guitar factory tour. This tour takes you behind the scenes to see the whole process of making a Gibson guitar. It was very informative! Their main headquarters is in Nashville. They also have a factory in Montana for making acoustic guitars. At the Memphis location, they only make electric guitars. And each one is made to order. The factory doesn't even start working on an instrument until an order comes in! Production takes about 3 weeks.

The instruments really are hand made, and it's a pretty low-tech system. They write on the guitars with a grease pencil in the early stages. Then once the instrument starts coming together, they switch over to a piece of  paper taped or rubber-banded to the neck. The process involves a humid environment so the wood is bendable, lots of glue and clamps, a high-tech paint department, and a bunch of ladies using razor blades to scrape out details. At the end, each guitar is played by a professional guitar tester to make sure it sounds right.

No photos were allowed during the tour, but I did manage to snap one in the lobby :)

Next stop was lunch/brunch at Local (Gastropub). I had the french toast croque monsieur. It was pretty good, except the potato hash it came with was like half onions. Also, we were sitting outside and while we ate, a swarm of mosquitos feasted on my ankles. Boo for mosquitos and their itchy bites!

Final stop: Belz Museum of Asian and Judaic Art. Yes, the name is quite a mouthful! It has an interesting and diverse collection, as the name would lead you to believe. There are pieces from modern Jewish artists in one room with really old carved mammoth tusks in the next. I learned about the importance of jade and ivory in ancient China. And the museum is really big - the rooms just kept going and going!

This is Proverbs 31, about a woman of valor

Darn, I forget what this one is. I think it has something to do with David or Daniel. It is a cool chair :)

And here's one from the Asian side - look at that intricate jade work!

It was a good museum day! And I was happy because all of these attractions are located fairly close together, so we could just park in one place and walk. Hooray for urban density!

Delta Fair

It's fair time! On Labor Day we went to the Delta Fair here in town. I can't find online how many years this fair has been around. There used to be a Mid-South fair in Memphis up until 2008, so I'm guessing this event is fairly new. (Ha ha!) I'm also not sure if it's just for Shelby Co., or the surrounding region. My point is, I don't know exactly what to compare it to. It's not as big as the Puyallup or the Oregon State Fair, but both of those are state-wide events. TN has its own state fair in Nashville, which would make sense since it's the capital.

And now, on to the Delta Fair report. It had all the classic fair experiences one would expect. There are tons of rides, midway games, and food vendors. We watched a number of short shows (circus-style performers).

You've gotta have tigers in Memphis, right??

Something I hadn't seen before was the Banana Derby - monkeys riding on dogs!

Food: I got a pronto pup (tasty) and a BBQ pork sandwich (not so tasty). The BBQ truck said it was North Carolina style though the workers' shirts said something about Georgia. I don't know what they did to the meat, but it had this weird sweet-tangy flavor, and no smokiness. Too much vinegar, maybe? Ugh, a BBQ travesty!

Weather: hot, hot, hot! It was in the low 90s. I was melting. I defied the fair's ban on outside drinks by bringing in my own CamelBak so I could at least stay hydrated without paying an arm and a leg. Luckily there was a big air conditioned exhibit hall. We hung out in there a lot! That's where they had displays of quilts, photography, sewing projects, baked goods, artwork, crafts, etc.

This U of M wreath is quintessential Memphis style :)

Origami wreath with some similar flowers to what I made for our wedding decor!

Also inside, we watched some performances for the "Star of the Fair" contest. It's a kids talent show. After the 3rd kid sang "Tomorrow," we decided to seek entertainment elsewhere. We came back later and I said "Let's stay until someone sings 'Tomorrow'." I think we lasted about 3 songs that time :)

There were plenty of outdoor attractions as well. The petting zoo had several photogenic critters. I hadn't seen a tortoise in a petting zoo before!

There was lots to see and do, but to be honest, I was kind of underwhelmed by the offerings. One of the biggest draws was a CrossFit competition. I really don't care to watch a bunch of buff athletes doing burpees and reminding me how out of shape I am! And I missed the various exhibits and displays that come with a state fair. Where was the whole barn full of chickens? (We went out to the livestock area and saw maybe 10-20 cows, and a handful of goats.) Where was the vegetable-produce diorama depicting the state's history?

In conclusion, I recommend the Delta Fair for people who really enjoy carnival rides, and for kids who haven't been to a fair before. But the rest of you can probably skip it without missing out too much.

Music & Heritage Festival

With the busy summer season wrapping up at work, I hope to have more time for blogging now! (And also for having adventures worth blogging about)

Usually on Labor Day weekend, I like to take a little trip somewhere. But this year DF convinced me that we should stay in Memphis to enjoy what our own city has to offer. It did not disappoint!

Saturday dawned gray and rainy, but being indomitable northwesterners, we didn't let the weather stand in our way of enjoying the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival. Sponsored by the Center for Southern Folklore, this festival celebrates the unique artists of the region with live performances on stages around downtown Memphis. It was great fun!

Here is a performer demonstrating an instrument he created - a cardboard box that is played with maracas. He also played the washboard!

Here is Randal Morton playing the banjo behind his head. His claim to fame is winning the National Bluegrass Banjo Championships in 1975. Back in the glory days!

And of course there was plenty of blues. This group is called Devil Train.

In addition to live music, there were also some cooking demonstrations going on, and we got to sample tasty dishes. We snacked our way down Main St. :)

The festival wasn't as crowded as I would have expected, which is probably due to the rain. Hopefully more people came out on Sunday. It seemed like a lot of the attendees were from out of town, at least based on comments I overheard. Perhaps this event is a big tourist draw? Well, I'm glad we checked out this local attraction over the holiday weekend!

8-Legged Surprise

(warning, don't read this blog if you have a vivid imagination and/or fear of crawling critters)

I've heard that it's a good idea for couples to go to bed at the same time, for the health of the relationship. So although DF gets up a lot earlier than I do, I usually turn in when he does. My normal routine is to wait for him to fall asleep, then pull out my phone and hide under my pillow to block the screen while I read blogs or play games until I'm sleepy. To fully paint the picture: I'm laying on my stomach, with the pillow propped up on my head, turned at a slight angle to block the light from my phone screen, which I'm holding at about bed-level.

A couple weeks ago, an ant crawled across my phone screen during one of these late-night reading sessions. I squished it. Sidebar: squished ant smells weird. That was kind of gross, but since it was just a little ant, it was no big deal.

Last night, though, was a different story.

It was about 11:30pm. I was scrolling through the latest stories in Feedly, relaxing, letting my brain wind down from a busy day. Then I noticed some movement out of the corner of my left eye, the eye closest to the pillow. In a split second I realized this object was crawling and it had a lot of legs. SPIDER! CRAWLING UP THE UNDERSIDE OF MY PILLOW RIGHT NEXT TO MY HEAD! PANIC!!

I recoiled and the pillow fell on the bed. In the dark, with DF asleep, I didn't know what to do next because I could no longer ascertain the whereabouts of my little nighttime visitor. I grabbed my glasses off the nightstand and hopped out of bed. Remembering we have a flashlight out in the dining room, I scurried out to retrieve it, bumping into walls and furniture as quietly as possible in the dark. With flashlight in hand, I grabbed a handful of Kleenex out of the bathroom, my self-defense weapon of choice against bugs.

Returning to the bedroom, I tried to focus the flashlight just on my side of the bed. This commotion elicited a "hhnghhh?" from DF. "Sorry!" I said. "There was a spider!" He did not leap out of bed in fear. I guess he doesn't mind sharing his sleeping quarters with creepy crawly critters. Or he was still asleep...

By this point a good 3 minutes had passed since the last spider sighting, and I mentally prepared myself that the arachnid may have managed to escape my pillow trap. I had to check, though. So I counted to 3 and flipped the pillow onto the floor. A spider carcass dropped onto the carpet. Apparently when I had yanked my head out from under the pillow earlier, the force of the falling object was too much for the little guy to withstand. Bwah hah hah, that was my plan, exactly!

I checked to make sure it really was the same spider, then squished it for good measure. It was a decent-sized critter. Probably a 1/2 inch body, sort of yellowish-brown, with long brown legs. I think. It was still pretty dark and I was a bit amped up on adrenaline.

After disposing of the remains, I crawled back into bed, but not before carefully inspecting the area to make sure no other spider friends were coming to check on their fallen comrade. I told myself that it was just a random one-time occurrence and there's no reason to think my bed in normally overrun by spiders each night. Somehow I managed to get to sleep...eventually.

More visitors!

Memphis: the place everyone wants to be. Or at least, the place where people come and visit us! That's right, we managed to convince another set of parents to come and visit us (Mom and Dad Salmonista). They were here for 5 days last week and we had a great time!

I was impressed that they actually wanted to get out and do things, see new places, try new foods. Normally I don't think of them as too adventurous, but they proved me wrong! Here's just a sampling of their Memphis cultural immersion experience :)

Food:

• Gus's Chicken (of course!)
• Dyer's, with the 100+ year old grease
• Central BBQ where the manager was kind enough to let us see the behind-the-scenes smoker action
• Chick-Fil-A
• Gibson's Donuts
• Jet's Pizza (is this a Memphis classic? I really like it, at least :))

Attractions:

• Lichterman Nature Center

• Patriotic Pops Concert at the Levitt Shell

• Collierville town square and Civil War trail

• Germantown fireworks show
• Graceland (just stopped by for a few Elvis souvenirs, didn't go on the tour)
• Mud Island, which included sticking our toes in the MS river

• Peabody Ducks
• Beale St., briefly - not really their scene
• Authentic Southern church experience including choir, Sunday School, and lunch
• Pink Palace Museum
• Shelby Farms
• Botanic Gardens
• Arts & Crafts (ladies) night at a real Memphian's home where we ate real Southern snacks and decorated lampshades

In between all the above there was a lot of marveling at the unseasonably cool and non-humid weather, instructing about how to use "y'all" correctly, and ESPN viewing by Father Salmonista who does not have access to such luxuries at home. 

All in all, I'd say it was a successful visit! We are improving our tour guide and B&B skills with each tour group. This time I even (sort of) learned how to make an omelette. Book your reservation now before all our weekends are full :)

Proud to Be a Falcon

I attended Seattle Pacific University for 4 years around the turn of the century (the 21st century, thank you). I've been wanting to post about my experience there to add to the reflections in the wake of the shooting earlier this month. I thought if I let my ideas swirl long enough, they'd coalesce into a beautiful orb beaming with insight. This is not the case. Instead, I offer here some jumbled thoughts that have been percolating in my brain.

SPU played an immensely formative role in my life. To be sure, the college years are a time of growth and formation for most students, and I was no different. But SPU's unique mission, the way that the quest for knowledge is grounded in a rich faith tradition, provided just the laboratory I needed to to emerge a stronger, more grounded, and compassionate person.

SPU is where I learned to appreciate nuance, to not only tolerate ambiguity but to love "both-and" statements, and to ask questions rather than assume I already knew the answer. SPU taught me to branch out and embrace the church universal, focusing on that which unites us rather than quibbling over that which divides.

At SPU, I built relationships with a variety of people who had different backgrounds and life experiences. Now, I won't say every single interaction I had on campus left me uplifted or beaming with joy. It's a place populated by humans, after all, and we were all learning and growing together. Sometimes we erred or hurt each other. But we were striving for truth and reconciliation (we press on towards the goal, even if we have not yet attained it). And through it all, I learned a lot how to interact authentically with those in my community.

SPU takes seriously its commitment to educating the whole person. Professors demonstrate passion for their discipline as well as personal student development. Outside the classroom, through my work study job on campus, I spent 4 years working in an office populated by caring, dedicated, fun-loving staff. My Facebook friends list includes several current SPU staff members, and that was how I first heard about the shooting, as they posted about being on lockdown.

We always used to say that going to SPU was like living in a bubble. And I'm sure everyone's saying that the bubble has popped now. For me, when I was there, SPU felt like a safe place - intellectually and emotionally. I had the freedom to explore, to investigate, to try new things, but I also had a safety net around me in the form of a caring community. The shooting on campus didn't burst that bubble. In this time of trial, the community came together, and I'm hopeful it will only continue to get stronger.

Memphis in May: BBQ

Memphis in May is an annual festival that includes a bunch of different events. We arrived here just to late last year to participate in any of the festivities, so we had to wait 11 months for our chance!

This weekend is the World Championship BBQ Cooking Contest. It's like the Superbowl of Barbecue. We didn't really know what to expect (except mud, because the festival's nickname is Memphis in the Mud), but that didn't stop us from heading down to Tom Lee Park this afternoon. Turns out we arrived just in time for judging.

Let me try and paint the scene for you. The event is held in a mile-long stretch of park along the banks of the Mississippi River. I'm not sure how teams get selected to compete, but I imagine it's a difficult process since there's over $100K in prize money available. I have heard that it costs $3,000 just for a booth space. So you've got hundreds of BBQ booths set up in this park. Each team designs their own booth and some are quite elaborate. They've got smokers (of course), multiple levels of seating, creative decorations, and past trophies on display.

Behold, the gates of BBQ are open!

Main stage

Teams come from all over, even Canada!

It is practically required to have a funny and/or clever team name

General view of the grounds - note that 3 story booth in the background

Regular patrons aren't allowed into the booths. Health codes prohibit the teams from selling their food to event-goers. However, the teams can hold private parties where they basically invite their friends and fans in for a taste. We didn't manage to get invited in anywhere...maybe next year!

When the judges come around, everyone takes it very seriously. Teams hold up signs that say "Shush" or "Quiet y'all!" Apparently BBQ tastes better when there isn't too much noise to distract your tastebuds. All the team members wearing matching t-shirts or outfits. The head cook explains their team's approach and BBQ preparation method. Then the judge samples the food and chats for a bit. When the judge departs from the booth, there is lots of clapping.

A team lines up to await the judge's arrival



Here's a team who sang to their judge, barbershop style

In addition to cash prizes, the winners get big bragging rights and lots of publicity. We didn't stay until the end to find out who won because we'd had enough of sloshing around in the mud. It was still quite the cultural experience!