When I finally decided I was finished collecting letters to put behind my name, I was given a graduation gift from a lady I did not know. Her gift, a copy of Dr. Seuss’s Oh the Places You’ll Go, was a perfect memento for the occasion.

 This page serves as a tribute to my mysterious benefactor. Contained within these writings on the topic are my dreams of adventures and documentation of those dreams realized.  Like everything else around here, it’s a work in progress.

 

 

United States

Alabama

  • Visit Belegrath Gardens in Mobile (July, 2006)
  • Study dance with Viktoriya in Huntsville (July, 2007)
  • Take a dance class with Isidora Bushkovsky in Huntsville (April, 2008)

 

  • Visit the Space Museum in Huntsville

 

Arizona

  • Ride through the Painted Desert (September, 1987)
  • Watch a sunrise and a moon rise at the Grand Canyon (May, 2007)
  • Buy jewelry from a roadside vendor at the Grand Canyon (May, 2007)
  • Shop in Sedona (May, 2007)
  • Hike Thunderbird Mountain (May, 2007)
  • Drink some Damn Tea at the Damn Bar (May, 2007)

 

  • Eat at Eye of the Thaiger in Pheonix (May, 2007, but this must happen again)
  • Stay in a cabin and hike Oak Creek Canyon

 

Arkansas

  • Have dinner with Ronnie Rodriguez  (“Ronnie Depp”) following The World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Hot Springs (March, 2010)
  • Stay in a tree house cabin in Eureka Springs and visit Onyx Cave (December, 2010)
  • Climb Pinnacle Mountain (October, 2010, May, 2011)
  • Hike Whitaker Point (July, 2011)
  • Hike Lost Valley (July, 2011)

 

 

 

  • Climb Pinnacle Mountain in less than 2 hours
  • Find the Medicine Man of Rosebud and ask him for something that works on insane family members and psoriasis
  • Visit Riddle’s Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary
  •  Hike Hideout Hollow
  • Hike Little Missouri Falls
  • Hike Ponca to Steel Creek and go for a swim
  • Visit Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville

 

 

California

  • Read books in a dusty church attic in Ventura (1988)
  • Tour Universal Studios in LA October, 1998)
  • Spot a random former rock star at an Italian restaurant in Malibu (October, 1998)
  • Take a train through the Wild Animal Park in San Diego (November, 2006) 
  • Hike Batiquitos Lagoon (November, 2011)
  • Catch a belly dance show at Tango Del Rey (November, 2011)
  • Catch a flamenco show at La Gran Tapa (November, 2011)

 

  •  Take a wine tour through Napa Valley
  • Visit the Redwood Forrest

 

Colorado

  • Take a train ride up to Pike’s Peak (July, 2010)
  • Take a dance lesson from Isidora Bushkovski (July, 2010)
  • Get a piggy back ride in the Garden of the Gods (July, 2010)
  • Ponder fortunes told in a trailer in Jelly Stone Park (July, 2010)
  • Follow a chipmunk around a gift shop at Seven Falls in South Cheyenne Canyon.

 

Florida

  • Snorkle off Key West (July, 2006)
  • Kayak around Turtle Key (July, 2006)
  • Visit the Pirate Museum and the Wrecker’s Museum in Key West (August, 2006)
  • Eat the mushroom pasta at Mia Bella Roma on South Beach (November, 2006; July, 2007; May, 2011 — yes, it’s that good)
  • Visit Viscaya in Miami (November, 2006)
  • Witness my brother get married on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale (August, 2006)
  • Watch fireworks on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale (July, 2007)
  • Get up close and personal with Salvador Dali in St. Petersburg (April, 2010)
  • Take a Tango lesson in Tampa (April, 2010)
  • Commune with da Vinci at MOSI (April, 2010)
  • Get locked in the Gasparilla Island lighthouse (May, 2010)
  • Photograph dead things at Stump Pass Beach (May, 2010)
  • Eat Greek food at Tarpin Springs (May, 2010)
  • Be annointed by Santa on South Beach (May, 2011)
  • Study Sampoorna Yoga at an an ashram (June, 2011) 

     

 

 

 

Hawaii

  • Walk on black sand

 

Indiana

  • Dance the Cupid Shuffle at a train station in Indianapolis with the former president of a national organization along with many other movers and shakers. Wheeee! (April, 2011)

 

Lousiana

  • Dance in a New Orleans  bar disguised as a pirate with the Pyrate Mistress Samra (April, 2009)
  • Drive through sugar fields in the bayou with my research hero (November, 2010)
  • Pay respects to Daughters of Charity at the Carville Cemetary and visit the National Hansen’s Disease (Leprosy) Museum in Baton Rouge  (a trip inspired by Neil White’s In the Sanctuary of Outcasts; November, 2010)

 

Mississippi

  • Drive the Biloxi coastline following Hurricane Katrina (July, 2006)

 

 Missouri

 

Nevada

  • See a Cirque de Soliel show  – Mystere- in Vegas (May, 2007)
  • See “Bodies” at the Tropicana (May, 2007)
  • Be toasted with champagne and congratulated at The Bellagio (May, 2007)
  • Marvel  over the Hoover Dam (May, 2007)

 

New Jersey

  • Eat a cupcake at Carlo’s Bakery

 

New York

  • Wander the streets with no rhyme or reason (October, 1999)
  • See a play on Broadway

 

New Mexico

  • Ride through the Petrified Forest

 

 North Carolina

  • Visit the Outter Banks and spot a wild horse.
  • Visit the aquarium on Emerald Isle.

 

Oklahoma

  • Be hired for a 9-month job sight unseen (August, 2008)
  • Meet an interesting cast of characters in Stillwater and Tulsa (2008-2009)
  • Study dance with Shadia Dahlal
  • Be adopted by a street urchin (October, 2008)
  • Watch a sting operation through a peep hole (February, 2009)
  • Make time to smell the roses in Tulsa’s Rose Garden (April-May, 2009)
  • Attend my first Renaissance Faire in Muskogee (May, 2009) 

  

  •     

 

 

 

  • See an amazing show at the BOK Center

 

Tennessee

  • Visit Ruby Falls in Chattanooga (1985)
  • Hug a brand new baby goat at Bonnie Blue Farms (July, 2008)
  • See the bloodstains for myself at The Carter House  (a trip inspired by Widow of the South; July, 2008)
  • Visit the home of Carrie McGavock,  “high priestess of the temple of dead boys” (a trip inspired by Widow of the South; July, 2008)

 

 Texas

  • Perform with troupe at “Little Egypt” in Dallas (July, 2009)
  • Pig out at Kalachandijis in Dallas (October, 2010)
  • Take a dance lesson with Sabah in Benton (October, 2010)

 

Wyoming

  • Drive I-90 all the way up to the South Dakota border
  • Visit Yellowstone

 

Abroad

Berlin, Germany

  • Experience heartache at Judisches Museum (July, 2005)
  • See Friedrich I’s sarcophagus in the Berliner Dom crypt (July, 2005)
  • Discover the Friederichswerdersche Kirche in a rainstorm (July, 2005)
  •  Feel insignificant at the Pergamon Altar (July, 2005)
  • Marvel over the most amazing icecream on the planet (July, 2005)
  • Contemplate cave frescos, Kali, and the Buddha at Museumszentrum Dahlem (July, 2005)

    

 

 

 

 

Cayman Islands

  • Snorkle off Grand Cayman

 

Costa Rica

  • Participate in a three-minute laughing meditation with 50 hysterical women (August, 2007)
  • Take a shower outside in Alajuela (August, 2007)
  • Hike to Poas Volcano (August, 2007)
  • Study dance with Rachel Brice (August, 2o07)
  • Hike the La Paz Waterfall Gardens (August, 2007)
  • Take a Salsa lesson conducted entirely in Spanish – a language I do not speak! (August, 2007)

Tulum, Mexico

  • Sit on the beach
  • Visit Mayan Ruins

Paris, France

  • Commune with da Vinci at the Louvre
Advertisement