Family Vacay VIII: Day 12--from Evanston to Milwaukee

On our last day in Evanston, we had breakfast at Clarke's, an old favorite.
After breakfast, Emilio and I went to an informational session at Northwestern University.


At Northwestern, students apply to individual colleges instead of applying to the University as a whole.

Northwestern received over 40,000 applications last year, and their overall acceptance rate is 9%.

The per cost year at Northwestern is an outrageous $75,000, but at the informational session, they directed us to a calculator on their website that helps families predict how much of that amount they would actually be asked to pay.

When I ran our numbers, the result I came up with was $9,000.  That's jaw-dropping. All the rest would be paid for with grants--not loans. I assume that other prestigious universities offer similar deals, but Northwestern was especially proud that they provide financial assistance in the form of grants, not loans.

After the session, we took a walk around campus by ourselves instead of joining a group.

While Emi and I were exploring Northwestern, Mari, Nina, and Pablo hung out at Barnes and Noble. After we picked them up, we headed to our next destination, Milwaukee, and the last new state for the kids: Wisconsin.

There was not much sunlight left when we got to Milwaukee, but there was enough for us to walk down Wisconsin Avenue across the Milwaukee River to Lake Michigan.

After 5 on a Tuesday, downtown Milwaukee was largely deserted. We crossed paths with a few panhandlers, and reached the Milwaukee Art Museum (closed) on the edge of Lake Michigan before we turned around.

Along the way, going and coming, we took in the third annual Sculpture Milwaukee exhibition.

Of the sculptures we saw (more than 20 are included in this year's exhibition), my favorite was "Hera (Half)" (2018) by Tony Matelli.  Though we stood beside it, it was only when I read about the sculpture online that I realized that the watermelon was not, in fact, real. Wow.

On the way walk to the hotel, I bought some injera (spongy bread) at an Ethiopian restaurant. It was not well liked.

When we got back to the hotel, we watched "Savage Curtain" the episode from the original Star Trek in which Abraham Lincoln (Kirk's hero) is a character in anticipation of visit to the Lincoln Museum in Springfield the next day. After that, the kids stayed up to watch a Jim Gaffigan comedy special ("Cinco"), but Mari and I fell asleep.

Day 10: Grand Canyon Evening

When we came back from our 40-day trip through Europe last summer, I felt we would never be able to equal that family vacation experience. But the thought of visiting the Grand Canyon raised my spirits. The Oklahoma Teachers strike in the spring had us wondering when school would end and whether Mari would be getting all of her paychecks. By the time we knew the answers to those questions, I was in the thick of the end of the semester events and did not have time to plan a trip west. I did try to reserve some place for us to stay on the less-busy North Rim of the Grand Canyon, but everything was sold out and appeared to have been sold out for a long time before I started checking. Then, one day, I checked again on a whim and discovered that two rooms on the North Rim had become available. I took 'em. And our trip was officially a go. My next calls were to Morgan and Jennifer. Extending our trip to Los Angeles turned out to be a great move. Having the Grand Canyon to look forward to on the way back was an inspiration.

We started with a picnic lunch.

Our first hike was to Bright Angel Point.
After checking in to our rooms, we headed out on the Transept Trail. The Transept is a side canyon, and the Transept Trail follows the canyon's edge. We followed it to the General Store, where we bought snacks and band aids. We were alone most of the time we were on it.

We wrapped up the day watching the sun set over one canyon rim and the moon rise over another, sitting by a large Canyon Lodge terrace fireplace and then having a delicious dinner at the Lodge restaurant.

That night, Emilio, Pablo and I stayed in one room; Nina and Mari were next door. It was the most expensive night on our trip, and I do not regret the investment.

Grand Tour, Day 7: Madrid Sunday

On our last day in Madrid before we activated our 30-day Eurail passes, Team Ruiz Benton headed to La Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art. We planned our visit for Sunday because admission is free, but when we got there, we learned that only a few floors of the museum were actually open.

The docents in some rooms in the Reina Sofia tell you that photos are not allowed. In other rooms, they don't.  In those rooms, I took several photos, like the ones below of Nina.

Still from "Serpentine Dance II" (1897) produced by the Lumiére brothers

According to my friend Internet,  the image in front of Nina above was taken from a Lumiére film that captured a dance invented in 1891 by Chicago’s modern-dance pioneer Loie Fuller. When Fuller artfully twirled the long, flowing silk fabric on her skirt and shirt sleeves, audiences were captivated.

The dance became popular in France, and Fuller eventually moved there permanently. She pioneered all kinds of stage lighting innovations, befriended many prominent Parisian painters, and sponsored avant garde dancers and unconventional personalities.

The dance represented in the film above is Fuller's; the dancer is not.

"Figure at the Window" (1925) by Salvador Dalí.

The figure at the window is Dali's sister, Anna Maria. Is the window missing one of its casements?

"Guernica" (1937) by Pablo Picasso

The main attraction of the Reina Sofia is Pablo's Guernica, and they are very strict about not allowing photos in that room--at least when we were there. On the internet, though, there are plenty of photos of the painting taken by museum visitors. Maybe they are this strict on Sunday afternoons when admission is free?

The photo above comes from la Reina Sofia's website.

Nazi and Italian Fascists bombed the Basque village of Guernica at Franco's request on April 26, 1937. The New York Times report published on April 27 reads in part:

THE TRAGEDY OF GUERNICA
TOWN DESTROYED IN AIR ATTACK
EYE-WITNESS'S ACCOUNT
From our Special Correspondent. BILBAO, April 27

Guernica, the most ancient town of the Basques and the centre of their cultural tradition, was completely destroyed yesterday afternoon by insurgent air raiders. The bombardment of this open town far behind the lines occupied precisely three hours and a quarter, during which a powerful fleet of aeroplanes consisting of three types of German types, Junkers and Heinkel bombers, did not cease unloading on the town bombs weighing from 1,000 lbs. downwards and, it is calculated, more than 3,000 two-pounder aluminium incendiary projectiles. The fighters, meanwhile, plunged low from above the centre of the town to machinegun those of the civilian population who had taken refuge in the fields.

The whole town of Guernica was soon in flames . . . . At 2 a.m. today when I visited the town the whole of it was a horrible sight, flaming from end to end. The reflection of the flames could be seen in the clouds of smoke above the mountains from 10 miles away. . . . 

In the form of its execution and the scale of the destruction it wrought, no less than in the selection of its objective, the raid on Guernica is unparalleled in military history. Guernica was not a military objective. A factory producing war material lay outside the town and was untouched. So were two barracks some distance from the town. The town lay far behind the lines. The object of the bombardment was seemingly the demoralization of the civil population and the destruction of the cradle of the Basque race. Every fact bears out this appreciation, beginning with the day when the deed was done. Monday was the customary market day in Guernica for the country round. At 4:30 p.m., when the market was full and peasants were still coming in, the church bell rang the alarm for approaching airplanes . . . "

After visiting la Reina Sofia, we headed back to los abuelos' apartment to pack for our trip. Late in the afternoon , we were happy to see some old friends who dropped by. There are six people in this world who have visited me and Mari in Madrid, in Xiamen, and in Chicago. Four of them are Mari's nuclear family--Jaime, Maria Rosa, Gerardo and Gimena. The other two are Miguel and Almudena.


Mari sat by Miguel and Almudena on the connecting flight to Madrid she took after the first summer she spent traveling around the U.S. with me in 1991. They later worked together in a volunteer teaching program, where Mari taught weekly classes to some elderly women who were developing their literacy skills.

Miguel and Almudena told us moving stories about the volunteer community development work they've been doing in Peru. Miguel described the people they work with there as "family." It was inspirational. Miguel and Alumedena belong in the "good people in the world" column.

Summer Vacation 2016: Montana

Twelve days and eleven nights and the map above says 2,655 miles, but Google Maps didn't let me add all the stops and detours. We ended up covering more than 3,000 miles, and the best thing I can say about the trip is that if we had more money, I would love to have kept it going.

Emilio
1. Climbing Saddle Pass Trail in Badlands National Park.
2. Spiral tube slide at Hampton Inn in Spearfish, South Dakota.
3. Seeing a Hawaii license plate on the wall of the visitor center at Carhenge in Alliance, Kansas after having seen license plates for every other state (and several Canadian provinces) over the course of the trip.
Nina
1. Playing the "who said this the most on the trip" guessing game in the tent at night near Bear Lodge, Wyoming.
2. Looking at the Street Corner Presidential bronzes in Rapid City, South Dakota.
3. Eating a vegetarian Indian taco at the Crow Agency cafe across from the Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana.
Pablo
1. Driving the Wild Life Loop in Custer State Park with the windows down in the rain, looking for buffalo.
2. Spotting Mt. Rushmore for the first time.
3. Free climbing at the Badlands at the end of the Window Trail.
Mari
1. Learning about Little Bighorn by walking the battleground and reading The Last Stand.
2. Driving down Spearfish Canyon in South Dakota.
3. Watching Buffalo gallop through Custer State Park.
Steve
1. Sleeping all together side by side in the tent.
2. Learning about Little Bighorn by walking the battleground and reading The Last Stand.
3. Getting a lot of mileage out of the Presidential learning cards I created and the road trip CDs I made.

Day 12: Wichita State Sculpture Park

"Woman with Umbrella" and "Man with Cane" (1981) by Fernando Botero.

"Accord Final" (1981) by Arman Fernandez. I call this one "Oops."

"Love (Blue/Green)" (1981) by Robert Indiana.

"Inverted Q (TP)" (1988) by Claes Oldenburg.

"Wichita Arch" (2004) by Andy Goldsworthy.
"Sodbuster, San Isidro" (1983) by Luis Jimenez, Jr.

"The Family Group" (1954) by Milton Hebald.

Hello, Beale Street!

Following the path of De Soto and Elvis, we head for Memphis. We have reservations at the Peabody Hotel with a view of the Mississippi River from our tenth floor window (thanks William Shatner).

We're just a couple of blocks from Beale Street.


When Mari, Jaime, and Maria Rosa went to a club to listen to music, the rest of us went back to the hotel lobby, where we listened to the jazz pianist playing there and ordered desserts. The kids' choice? Lemon merengue and a chocolate mousse in a Peabody Duck dish.

Oxfordtown, Oxfordtown

I told Autumn at Rowan Oak that several of us are hungry vegetarians (I did not refer to our group as "lactovegetarians," but, technically, could have), and she and a colleague sent us to the Ajax Diner on the Square. Once there, we ordered fried okra, mac'n'cheese (for Emilio), grilled cheese sandwiches (for Nina and Pablo), fries, rice and gravy, green beans, mashed potatoes (for Pablo), broccoli & rice casserole, and butter beans. Broccoli & Rice won. It was the first time I remember seeing butter beans on a menu. They were actually lima beans, and they did not approach the Mom standard. Mari had collard greens.
We spent a load of money at Square Books: Soldier's Pay (Faulkner's first novel), a brief biography of Faulkner, kid-bios of Elvis and--as a counterweight--Bob Dylan (see the song below). Then the kids spent some time getting close to Faulkner's bench bronze.

After leaving the square we went to the Ole Miss campus to take a photo with the James Meredith bronze. When we got to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, we learned more about the riots that took place the night before Meredith enrolled.