Traveling Through the Alphabet part the 5th

A

Asia; as the last round finished with mention of some classic Rock ‘n Roll bands, from England and the U.S., this one had a good run in the 1980’s, and its lead guitarist was Steve Howe, from Yes. There’s also a continent that shares the name.

B

Boston, a rock band with especially flashy guitar work, and a city in Massachusetts.

C

Chicago, maybe the most successful Rock band of all time, with jazz influences from the horn section. Original band name was Chicago Transit Authority, but the public transportation department for the City of Chicago didn’t appreciate them using the same name, so it got shortened. And so now, there’s a city in Illinois with the same name. There seems to be a trend here …

..., and to contrive a link with events on this forum, the Chicago rock band (above) are in concert at the Washington State Fair on 26 September- the same weekend as the forum meet up at Couer d'Alene (in the Columbia Bank Concert Series).

(how many C's can you get in one post?)

De Pijp, Amsterdam, 1991.

I spent quite a bit of time in Amsterdam in the early 90's. The neighbourhood called De Pijp was where it was at.

I've made a playlist on Youtube with a few select tunes that were rocking the De Pijp squats back then. Just add strobes, smoke, Super Skunk, and Doves.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMpGHhuqPYSk&si=lbKXpMXaZYZPGCNz

GerryM, that’s pronounced “Duh Pipe,” right? Sounds fitting for the neighborhood.

Yes! It was a lot rougher back then than it is now. Good fun though. It's a bit of a naughty double entendre in Dutch if you want to look it up too.

E.

East of Eden one John Steinbeck’s best novels.

Also a film that garnered high praise for a young actor named James Dean.

Filisur a pretty mountain town in Graubünden near the fabulous Landwasser Viaduct, which you can see from several vantage points on short hikes. Fun to see it from outside of a train instead of inside the train.

Funtana is another touristy town on the Istrian Peninsula.

https://www.funtana.hr

They still list the street signs in Italian as well as Croatian

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funtana

welcome - fill shortly

G is for the Wild Goat Trail.

It is fascinating what and when you learn, but this is the kind of thing which gets me really interested. For very strange reasons this morning I was doing a bit of route planning on the 405/I90, and noticed a place called Wellington on US2- Stevens Pass on the wider route planning map. Now to me Wellington has connotations of mining (and a terrible pit disaster) so I looked it up, out of interest.

And it turns out that Wellington, WA (then a Great Northern Railroad depot), now a Ghost Town, was the site of the worst Avalanche in US history on 1 March 1910 when 96 people were killed, on two trains trapped in snowdrifts at the depot. It was to take 21 weeks, until July that year before the last body was recovered.

The 6 mile long Wild Goat Trail is a walking route on that part of the Great Northern, which was later re-routed. The new route is that used now by the Empire Builder passenger train.

A largely forgotten piece of history.

But there is another co-incidence to me personally, as the story of the Japanese in WA state seems to be haunting me too, a story which started in a remote Scottish graveyard. Because it turns out that this section of the Great Northern was primarily built by Japanese immigrant workers.

H is for Havre de Grace, Maryland

Years of French yet doubt I pronounce it as the Marylanders do! Last visited on a freezing New Years Eve morning, I shall return when the temps are more conducive to walking about.

This scenic town with a lighthouse is where the Susquehanna River meets the Chesapeake Bay. Enjoy lunch at a window-side table on the glass porch at the Tidewater Grille. Here you can spot a New York-bound Amtrak Northeast Regional or the Acela as it whooshes by high above the river.

Peek in a shop or two or three. Fan of vintage Pyrex? You'll find a large inventory at JoRetro, which has one of the largest Pyrex inventories in the U.S. Who knew?!

I is for Ignace, Ontario.
Every summer, my dad would pack up the family and drive all day to a lodge outside of tiny Ignace in the Ontario woods. We always went to the same lodge that had a boat locker on a remote lake. Every day we'd leave the lodge, drive a logging road to the boat locker and set out. By lunch, we'd have our limit and we'd pull up on an island for walleye shore lunch before more fishing to limit back up.

As a kid, the fishing was okay, but the real attraction was the promise of an evening drive to the town dump to watch the bears who would swarm in from the surrounding woods for twilight dinner.

Jamestown, New York.

I grew up about 30 miles from Jamestown. As Lucile Ball's hometown it is the location of the National Comedy Center and the Lucile Ball Desi Arnaz Museum. It is located on Chautauqua Lake, home to the Chautauqua Institute. We fished and boated on the lake and the Institute is an amazing cultural and educational experience.

K

Kansas, the state in the center of the United States. It’s nicknamed the Sunflower State (Vincent van Gogh would’ve loved it!), and its high point is Mt. Sunflower, higher than 4,000 feet (1,230 meters) and located less than a mile from the border with Colorado.

In keeping with how this round started, it’s also the name of a rock band from the 1970’s through today, which includes a violinist in its lineup. One of its many albums (and a title song) is Point of Know Return, which might suggest Conscious Travel.

L

Lassen Peak a volcanic mountain in northern California. Great hike to the top where there is (was) a metal tube with a bit of paper where you could record the date you made the climb. It's a bit of a slog uphill all the way but the views are amazing.

https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/hikelassenpeak.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lassen_Peak

M

Multnomah Falls and wonderful other waterfalls hikes - Oregon

Yes it's a very crowded tourist stop however visit Multnomah in the winter when it's frozen over. Simply stunning. Or, take on a connecting hike to the other waterfalls in the area. It's a lovely area to hike if you like waterfalls.

https://www.pinesnvines.com/adventures/hikes-near-multnomah-falls

https://oregonessential.com/best-waterfall-hikes-near-multnomah-falls/

Newberg Oregon, heart of Oregon Wine Country. LMK if you need personal recommendations. :-)

O

Omaha is the largest city in the State of Nebraska.
Also what retired NFL Quaterback Peyton Manning used to yell before a play.

Actors Marlon Brando and Fred Astaire were born in Omaha.

P is for a word I have been hearing a lot this last weekend- Petrichor- the earthy scent associated with rain falling on dry soil and rock.

In inland WA state it has been raining heavily over the weekend (and today, looking at the weather radar)- a huge relief after a very long hot summer, and also a great help in controlling the wildfires which have been (and are) burning- so many that help has been required from Australian and New Zealand firefighters (who are now on their way home).

Rarely have I heard people welcome heavy rain so much, and enjoying the heady scents it is bringing.

Sadly, not living there, I can't revel in the scent!

Since we seem to be sticking to North America this round I'll get us past Q with Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan. I'd be surprised if many of our Forum members have heard of it, and I'm comfortable in thinking I may be the only one who has visited. Population is currently 1900 but it has quite the history in the expansion of Canada into the west. However for me, when I drive past I think of one of its most famous citizens. Eddie Shore was born in 1901 and became the 12th player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame after a colourful career with the Boston Bruins and even more colourful history as the owner, general manager and coach of the Springfield Indians. Known as one of the toughest players ever, his ear was barely attached to his head after a hit during a game and he insisted the doctor sew it back in without anesthetic while he watched. As a coach he hated goalies that flopped onto their knees and so in practice he'd tie a belt around their neck and tie it to the net's crossbar to keep them standing. He was further immortalized by a mention in the 1970's movie Slapshot starring Paul Newman.

isn 31c—small correction but it is the Iron Goat Trail. It’s a great hike and so fascinating! We have encountered bears on the eastern end of it, including in that parking lot.

R

Red Lion pub down the Crown Passage in London

Traditional. Small. A favorite.

S is for Sollershot Circus in Letchworth Garden City.

(This is a spin off from another thread)

Sollershott Circus is said to have been the first roundabout in the UK, being constructed in 1909. (and has a sign to that effect).

In practice it was more of a pedestrian refuge for those crossing a busy 3 way intersection, it did not become what is now considered to be a roundabout until around 1921.

Letchworth was the world's first garden city, and is north of London on the Great Northern/Thameslink route to Cambridge- so is easy to visit if you use the slower trains on that route. The roundabout is not far from the railway station, for anyone who wants to visit as a curiousity.

Letchworth itself has been occupied since the Bronze Age, but was a tiny village until the arrival of the Garden City.

T

The City By The Bay

This is what famed San Francisco newspaper columnist Herb Caen called San Francisco.