Category Archives: informational

Alison Krauss Concert

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and Union Station

Last night we enjoyed our last outdoor concert of the summer.

The venue was the well-known Frederick Meijer Garden Amphitheater in Grand Rapids. FMG is the Best Sculpture Garden in the USA and its amphitheater host dozens of concerts during the warm weather.

We luckily secured two tickets to the sold out concert for Alison Krauss and the Union Station. Having been a fan for many years, I was eager to hear her voice in the live.

Below are a few of their songs that I was able to capture.

We were sitting on the lawn more than 50 yards away but my compact camera performed well recording the video at a distance with quite good quality audio. Excuse several focus issues and attendees walking in front of me.

Restless
Let Me Touch You For A While
Paper Airplane
Forget About It
Angel Too Close
Gravity
Baby Now That I’ve Found You
Wish I Still Had You

Alison with a long, warm coat. The temperature was about 50 degrees and she has been used to the warmer weather in more southern venues.

Alison Krauss & Union Station

My granddaughter Ezra and myself on one of the lawn chairs enjoying the concert.

With this concert we’ve left the summer behind, having heard the fabulous voice of Alison Krauss and the talented music of the Union Station. This group really takes bluegrass to the highest level.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

Streets of San Francisco

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Quick Sightseeing Trip

It’s been several years since we last visited, but our granddaughter was on a spring break from college and wanted to visit San Francisco. We made a short list of must do’s and headed to town for a couple of days.

The first place we stopped at was “the crookedest street in the USA” – Lombard Street. This famous site is a very narrow one-way one block long roadway that winds back and forth traversing a steep hill. Houses, driveways and decorative plants are on both sides of the road.
From Lombard Street we drive down another hilly part of town towards the north end of San Francisco peninsula. Notice the tracks imbedded in the roadway.
At the shoreline we reached Fisherman’s Wharf – a large tourist spot with many restaurants and gift shops. The restaurants are noted for the fresh seafood which is delivered by fishing boats docked there.
As it was lunchtime, we found a place at the wharf to enjoy one of the traditional San Francisco dishes. This is a sour bread bowl filled with clam chowder.
Here we are enjoying the bread bowl
My choice was fried calamari
This huge ferris wheel sits at Fisherman’s Wharf for those who want to have a bird’s eye view of the harbor.
This is the (in)famous Alcatraz prison sits in the harbor a few miles from Fisherman’s Wharf.
Site seeing boats are popular in this area.
From Fisherman’s Wharf, we walked a few blocks to Ghiarardelli Square. This marks the original chocolate factory of Ghiaardelli brand candy.
Since then it’s been converted into a mini shopping mall with craft shops, food emporiums, souvenir outlets and restaurants.
There’s plenty of chocolates at one of their shops.
Even more candy for those with “sweet tooths”
From Fisherman’s Wharf, we walk another few blocks to the Hyde Street station. This is the location of the start of one of San Francisco’s famous cable car lines. The very steep hills of the city was the impetus for developing this means of transportation where underground cables “pulled” the trollys up the inclines. The city has two cable car lines. We rode one of them.

To right right is the gripman who “connects” the trolly to the cable and very importantly applies the brakes when going downhill.
This is the gripman who is taking us to San Francisco’s Chinatown.
Stepping off the cable car it’s a short walk to Chinatown. San Francisco’s Chinatown is one of the largest in the USA.
Chinatown has dozens of groceries selling fresh produce and supplied.
Of course we had to have a quick meal of wonton soup from one of the local restaurants.
A visit to San Francisco isn’t complete unless you include the famous Golden Gate Bridge.

While two days isn’t a lot of time to spend in San Francisco, our granddaughter throughly enjoyed seeing a few of the city’s sites.

Afternoon in Virginia City

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Around Town

This “western” style town is a short thirty minute drive from downtown Reno.

A very winding road takes you about 1500 feet above Reno where you’ll have a view of the attractive high plains landscape.

Then you’ll immediately see the town’s historical likeness to a mining town of the past.

One of the first sites you’ll see is the tall, picturesque St Mary in the Mountains Church.

The town maintains the look of the 1800s having storefronts with wooden sidewalks.

There are plenty of shops lining the narrow streets in town.
Inside candy is sold the “old” way from these barrels.
… and they have plenty of souvenirs available that date from earlier decades
Collectors will find plenty of items that might appeal to their liking
We stopped for lunch at one of the many local restaurants – this one with a very interesting name.
And our favorite BBQ was on the menu,
And of course there was time for a little humor remembering the early days of law and order in the old west.
My son often visits this shop for beef jerky. Watch out for fire!

The town was founded in the 1850’s as a mining town because of the discovery of gold and silver known as the Comstock Lode. By the late 1800s the output of the mines fell of and the large population declined.

Some of the older readers may remember a western television program from the 1960s and 1970s called Bonanza. The Cartwright Family owed the fictitious Ponderosa Ranch located near Virginia City.

If you’re in the Reno area, take a ride to see the charm of an old western town.