Wednesday, Oct. 24

Since we were all pooped after our trip yesterday, we went to bed early last night, and slept until 7:30 on this sunny, warm morning.

The first thing Hubbie mentioned after breakfast was that the battery in the truck was dead, thanks to the fact that he left the keys in the truck, with the ignition switched on all night.

We went about our business this morning, with an eye toward contacting road service to come and charge the battery later today, when we were back at camp.

We spent the rest of the morning getting ready to go to the museum, which opened at 11 a.m.

At the museum, Hubbie let Sis, Mother, and me off at the entrance, while he went in search of a parking space. We waited at the walkway overlooking a portion of the museum, where busloads of senior citizens were also waiting for their tour guides.

Inside the museum, once we'd purchased tickets, we waited for a few minutes until Hubbie's daughter and son-in-law arrived, before we began touring the facility.

We started with an exhibit on light. In this gallery, the first section dealt with artists who recreated the illusion of light and atmosphere on canvas. Another section used light-emitting mediums, like colored floor-to-ceiling fluorescent tubes, LED undulating lights in a translucent box, neon, blown glass lighted from within, and simply casting a pink light into the corner of a room, creating the illusion of being able to walk through a wall.

Another gallery featured the best-loved works of the museum..works of artists from the 1700s to the 1970s. The works included portraits of early Americans, like George Washington, as well as landscapes, along with more modern pop art.

Just inside this gallery, a docent advised us that cameras are allowed, as long as no flash is used. So wouldn't you know it, some guy standing near us allowed his flash to go off. I reminded him that he shouldn't do that. He declared that it wasn't a flash, but just the camera taking a reading. I retorted that it was still a flash of light and harmful to the paintings. So he fiddled with the functions on his camera until he managed to shut the flash off.

In the gallery (two galleries, really...upper and lower) celebrating the American spirit, works from colonial times to late nineteenth century and early twentieth-century are featured. Landscapes, American Indians, American folklore, women artists, and modernists, like Andy Warhol, are explored.

One gallery featured whimsical art, like a human figure to which was attached all sorts of childhood toys...tops, Jack in the boxes, bells, whistles, etc. The gallery also featured a very large lifelike bust of a bald man with eyeglasses that was mounted on the wall, and other odd sculptures and mountings.

Shortly after we finished touring the first gallery on light, we decided to visit the cafe' for a sandwich or soup lunch, for which we paid an arm and a leg.
Mother opted for the chicken salad on a bed of greens and fruit, while Hubbie, Sis, and I opted for the veggie wrap. The veggie wraps were okay, but tasted a lot like grazing in a garden...not a lot of flavor beyond "green." The food presentation was beautiful, though...very pleasing to the eye, if not the palate.

Hubbie's daughter chose a German potato soup, which she said was good, while her husband opted for a plain old hamburger and fries. He was probably smart to play it safe.

My suggestion is that anyone wanting to visit the museum should take along a lunch to eat at one of the picnic areas. You might also want to walk one of the six one-half to one mile soft surface, crushed granite, or hard surface trails around the museum. We didn't have time to do this, but hope to in the future.

The architecture of this huge museum is itself a work of art. It takes advantage of surroundings by being built into both the water and the wooded hills. Glass walls create a feeling of being one with nature.

When we were ready to leave, Hubbie went off in search of the van, while Sis, Mother, and I waited on the walkway. As we were looking down to the ground, we spotted a groundhog, happily munching away on the landscape vegetation. A staff member promptly called the Game and Fish Commission to come and fetch the creature and relocate it to some other area.

After a time, I began to wonder if Hubbie was having trouble locating the van, so I called him. He assured me he had found the van, and he was on his way. When I turned around, there he was, right behind me.

Back a camp about 4 p.m., I heated barbecue and sweet potatoes for supper, which we had with coleslaw and a veggie dip that my student sent home with me Monday. We decided that we are not real fans of cilantro. I tried doctoring the dip with other things, but it just didn't thrill our taste buds.

After supper, while Mother napped, Sis and I took a walk around the campground for exercise. We explored the pond area, where Sis became fascinated with all the flora, most of which she could identify. My identification skills were limited to toadstools, which became subjects for my camera, along with an odd, stubby tree, a bridge, and other things.

While we meandered, the road service guy came and charged the battery.

Later, we played several games of Skipbo. Sis won three games, and I won one. This time, Mother and Hubbie were left out.

Off to bed after that.