In 1980 Charlie won for delegate at a caucus at a local union hall. The New York gay community arranged housing for gay delegates, we stayed with Bruce Voeller and his partner in Soho, it had been Aaron Burr's townhouse, it was one of three houses on Manhattan Island with its own swimming pool. From Soho it was an easy walk to the venue at Madison Square Garden. I heard President Carter speak in the hall, got to attend gay caucus meetings. We went to a party that was mentioned in "And The Band Played On", I never figured out why I couldn't get into the bathroom until the passage in the book explained what the bathroom was being used for. After the convention we went out to Fire Island, it was two weeks before Patient Zero Gaetan Dugas arrived so we did dodge a bullet. Then on to DC. A friend of Bruce's had attended a party he threw and invited us to come visit, so we got to explore that very interesting city, too.
1996, Chicago, we were blessed with great weather. Boated on Lake Michigan, enjoyed the city, then motored around the Great Lakes. We swam at Miners Beach on Lake Superior. As we were entering the water the locals told us we would freeze our asses off but it was September, the lake had had time to warm to a comfortable 65 degrees and after we cavorted around in the water for a few minutes the locals joined us. We enjoyed the Dorr Peninsula, we enjoyed the U.P. of Michigan. It too was a great trip.
In about 1986 a friend of Charlie's from work, from NYC, needed a car driven from NYC to San Diego, she told us to go anywhere we wanted but to just get the car to San Diego. That was almost a month, too. Staying with a friend we'd met at Fire Island in 1980 we enjoyed New York again, then off to Poughkipsie where we picked up the car. We drove into the Adirondaks and enjoyed autumn colors. Enjoyed might not be the right word, we were utterly blown away by them. We climbed Mt. Marcy, highest mountain in NY State. Then on to Montreal where we hooked up with Sandy who, like Charlie, had survived a bout with melanoma. She is fun, she knows how to party, and we did party. We stayed at the Aubin Motel, a combo motel and plant nursery. It worked. Montreal is a great, fun, interesting and beautiful city, I would recommend it to anyone. Then southeastward toward Maine.The Maine coast is as beautiful as they say. Acadia National Park is stunning. More autumn colors, and stunning beautiful beach scenes. Sandy caught a plane back west from Augusta and we started our drive west. Through New York State to Niagara Falls, also mind numbingly spectacular. A down note was a gay hotel in Toronto, for a lot of reasons we did not enjoy Toronto, but you can't win em all.
Through the U.P. again, to Minneapolis where we tried to look up a friend of mine from college, but missed him. Oddly enough we ran into him years later on a ferry from Nanaimo to Vancouver and he and his girlfriend turned us on to Seattle and the Northwest, but that is another trip. Through the Badlands, on to the Black Hills, to Rapid City, to Mt. Rushmore and I did find it stirring. We love America. For all its faults and quirks it is a great place and some great people have made it so, and you see four of them carved into Mt. Rushmore. On to the Corn Palace. Wow. Is this even on the same planet as New York City? Quite a contrast. Visited the little town where Charlie's employer had grown up. He went on to an illustrious career in law in California. To Coloado, on to New Mexico with the stunning beauty of yellow aspens against the purest blue sky. Finally into Arizona, saw our first palm trees in a month. Almost hit a coyote eating some road kill on Highway 8 in the desert. Coming out of the eastern San Diego County mountains still about 30 miles from the sea we could smell the ocean and knew we were home.
New England fall color
Brilliant yellow aspens
Calvin Coolidge's home in Plymouth, Vermont. Ladies running the museum had been little girls in 1923 when Coolidge got word there that President Harding had died, and he Coolidge was President. They said it was a tiny sleepy little town but that day it was full of government cars and officials. They remembered it like it was yesterday. Fascinating talking with them. The house had no indoor bathroom. Quite a contrast to the truly elegant mansion of President Franklin Roosevelt at Hyde Park, which we also visited. Also truly fascinating.
My nomination for one of the funnest places I have ever visited, the great city of Montreal.
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