It’s hard to believe this park is only 2 ½ hours from 12 million people and there were so few visitors. Joshua Tree National Park is nearly 800,000 protected acres in Southern California where the Mojave and Colorado deserts converge. We entered the park from the south where the Colorado Desert lies at an elevation of 3,000 feet and climbed northwest into the Mojave at elevations of four and five thousand feet where huge granite boulders rise up among the pinyon pines, junipers, Mojave yuccas, prickly pears in addition to the park’s namesake: the Joshua Trees. Although they can grow up to 40 feet tall (at a rate of an inch per year) the Joshua Tree isn’t a tree at all, but species of yucca.

Text and photo by Stephen Bugno

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After battling mobs of American and European families on holiday in Colorado’s crowded Mesa Verde National Park, we headed west into Utah to find a much less visited park. National Bridges National Monument is a great example of extraordinary display of beauty that is southern Utah. There are three natural bridges in the park, Kachina, Sipapu, and Owachomo, each a natural bridge of a slightly different age. We took a steep and twisting trail down to the river that flows underneath this bridge, Sipapu.

Text and photo by Stephen Bugno

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By Stephen Bugno

At the Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons

I had initially set off to Colorado for my brother’s downtown Denver wedding and thought I’d extend the trip to include summiting a few ‘fourteeners’ and visit Mesa Verde and Great Sand Dunes National Parks, but the week following the reception quickly turned into how many outstanding Colorado Breweries I could visit.

For anyone who has been hiding under a rock for the past 15 years, we are living in the golden age of beer. And Colorado is arguably at the epicenter of this very fine micro-brewery explosion.

Oskar Blues, Lyons

Famous for being the first microbrew sold in cans rather than bottles, Dale’s Pale Ale is a cult classic. But let’s focus more on how good Oskar Blues beer taste rather than its packaging. Although the majority of the brewing process takes place at a larger facility in Longmont, you can still visit the original brewery in Lyons, on the edge of Rocky Mountains. Oskar Blues is a friendly and passionate family and they keep it real by keeping it local, selling their used grain to area pig farmers and having a pig roast at the brew pub. And if you were wondering, Oscar and Blues were the name of Dale’s dogs.

The sampler at Left Hand in Longmont

Left Hand, Longmont

The modesty of the folks up at Left Hand Brewery in Longmont amazed me. How could they brew such tasty beer and remain so modest? Their beer speaks for itself and production is small enough to remain trendy, but big enough to distribute to 28 states. Hope you live in one of them.

Longmont also keeps it local, hosting a farmers market in their parking lot once a week. Left Hand was named in honor of Chief Niwot, whose tribe wintered in the local area. (The name is derived from the southern Arapahoe word Niwot meaning left hand.) Go ahead and stop by the brewery and taste the milk stout that has made them famous.

Avery, Boulder

It’s hard not to love these guys. Their beer is phenomenal and they make so many varieties. Thanks to their dollar four-ounce tasters at the brewery taproom, you can taste a decent selection and remain on your feet while saving enough money to visit the other fantastic breweries in Boulder (but why would you want to leave Avery?). The server carefully carried nine different brews to our table outside, which somehow is quite enjoyable despite the industrial park-like setting. Don’t leave without trying the Maharaja, their Imperial IPA.

New Belgium, Fort Collins

This one I hit a few years back. They’ve expanded quite a bit since I visited, and now lucky folks as far away as North Carolina can imbibe. Their brewery in Fort Collins is environmentally sustainable, running completely on wind power and the company is employee owned. They’re famous for that old school mountain bike on the label of their flagship Fat Tire brew, but crank out some nice seasonal brews as well.

Stephen Bugno tasted his way through Colorado breweries in the summer of 2010, as part of a two-month cross-country road trip. For more than a decade he has worked, volunteered, and traveled his way around the world. He blogs at BohemianTraveler.com.

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I drove through Virginia countryside for five hours on my way to Goose Point Recreation area on Philpott Lake, passing scenes like this much of the way. This shot was taken off Route 221 in Floyd County heading north to Roanoke.

I’m fascinated by barns and farm scenes lately—working farms, abandoned barns falling over, the differences in barn architecture as you move from New England to the South, the different ways hay is bundled up for the winter, the amount of hay harvests each region can produce before the winter arrives. This is what I’m thinking about as I wind my way along the roads that skirt the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Text and photo by Stephen Bugno

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By Joy Suthigoseeya

San Francisco is a city where residents have historically lived by their own set of rules and is brimming with an unflinching independent spirit. Where else can you find zombie flash mobs, public pillow fights, an enthusiastic bike and skate culture, a great music and arts scene, more hipsters and gays than you can shake a stick at, and limitless options for amazing food on any budget. Oh yeah, did I mention hippies? Lots and lots o’ smelly hippies.*

San Francisco is famous for the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, its hills, the summer of love, the zodiac killer, the Beatniks, and that brilliant car chase scene in that movie “Bullitt” starring Steve McQueen. 

But it should be famous for its endless taquerias and its mucho quirkiness. San Francisco is like that weird girl you were afraid to make friends with but was always secretly attracted to and would probably make your girlfriend if you didn’t go to the same school. But as it were, you’ve gots a rep to protect.

All the tourists rush to Fisherman’s wharf and Pier 39. And they take a cable car to get there.

But you shouldn’t leave without seeing…Any self respecting “tourist” would NOT skip the Golden Gate Bridge, Union Square, North Beach, China Town, Baker Beach, Golden Gate Park or the museums and gardens–notably the Japanese Tea Gardens, or Laughing Sally, who currently lives amongst the relics that make up the oldest penny arcade in the city.

Its original location was by the Cliff House close to the Sutro baths ruins, but in recent years has moved to Pier 45. If you are an early riser you’ll probably enjoy the farmer’s market at the Ferry building where you can get an eclectic sampling of California cuisine at its finest. Finally, if you’re gay you’d be a fool to miss out on SF’s vibrant gay nightlife in the Castro. See moms? There’s something for everyone!

For those with inclinations towards the offbeat, no trip is complete without a stroll down Upper Haight towards hippie hill in Golden Gate Park where you will run into all manners of colorful (smelly) peoples and shops. Don’t worry though, even though the area has been historically sketch it is nowhere near the sketchiness of the Tenderloin, where crack addicts and street hoes adorn many a-corner. Upper Haight just plays host to your standard run of the mill runaways who are in reality harmless, albeit moochy suburban kids.

The Upper Haight could aptly be described as a retail district. There are specialty clothing boutiques, vintage clothing stores, great shoe stores, plenty of smoke shops, tattoo shops, resale shops, and quite a few restaurants and cafes. Not to mention it’s where you’ll find the Haight-Ashbury corner: the epi-center of the 60’s free love revolution. Pick up your Grateful Dead tie dyes here and put the fear of god in your grandmamma with all the free-wheeling liberal ideas you picked up during your visit to SF. If you are into music, make sure you find your way to the end of the Haight Street for Amoeba music, the quintessential music nerd’s wet dream. Sometimes they even have free shows, so be sure to check the local music listings for bands that might be playing there.

If you crave the nitty gritty and want to see where all the “cool” kids live, go to the Mission. The mission is known for its divey bars, street art (notably Clarion Alley, a side street full of murals from the Valencia end to the Mission end), cheap tasty morsels and shopping in specialty boutiques, indie shops, and thrift stores. Two key stores on Valencia and 19th are the Pirate Store, founded by Dave Eggers, which serves as a front for a children’s writing workshop and Paxton’s Gate, a taxidermy shop and art gallery right next door.

Museums anyone…Check out SFMOMA for modern art, the De Young for contemporary art, and the newly renovated California Academy of Sciences. For a cheaper visit to the academy, try going to Nightlife on Thursdays when they feature prominent SF DJs playing for partygoers from 6-10pm. The music changes weekly so check their calendar for more details.

Best park… Definitely Golden Gate Park, with Dolores Park in a close second for people watching and Alamo Square Park in 3rd for city views. Unfortunately they are currently remodeling Dolores Park and it will be closed until Sept 2011. So stop by Alamo Square Park for a snapshot of the Painted Ladies, made famous in the opening credits of “Full House”. The fourth runner up is Buena Vista Park which has great views of the city as well and can be a lovely, but semi-strenuous jaunt to the top. If you are taking your aging mother, it may be a little too much for her to climb, so keep to the lower paths.

Most visitors don’t know that there are bison in Golden Gate Park and hidden slides called the Castro slides in duh, where else, the Castro! They also don’t know that during the summer there are lots of activities such as free street festivals, free music every weekend at Stern Grove or GG park, or that they show free movies in Dolores park once a month.

Best bar in town…A grungy neighborhood staple, Zeitgeist in the Mission is perfect if you want to enjoy a beer garden atmosphere while chumming it up with the locals. The beers are reasonable, they have pitchers and decent bloody marys and you can get some of the best damn cheeseburgers and potatoes in town for only six bucks. The downside is that they only have two bathroom stalls and three portapotties serving peak crowds of 200+ on a busy night. I’ve witnessed those fill up fast with all the beer-a-flowing, so if you’re a girl, beware because that can spell trouble if you’ve broken the seal.

Beer Bar – Toronado in the Lower Haight, which by the way, is a neighborhood worth visiting if just for a few of the art galleries and cafes within its three block radius.

Cocktail Bar – Want tasty drinks? 15 Romolo in North Beach is a great bar that serves some of the best drinks I’ve had. If you are looking for swank, try Bourbon and Branch. Modeled on the concept of the speakeasy, this is your bartender’s bar, the one where they go to when they aren’t serving you. The drinks are expensive, but what do you expect from one of the best bars in America. You need a password to get in, which you can retrieve through their website. They even have a secret library room that requires a password as well.

Wine Bar – I’ve only been to a handful of wine bars in the city since I didn’t really get into wine until recently. Be forewarned that if you are wine snob you best skip my recommendations and do a yelp for the closest wine bar in the neighborhood you are staying in. Bar 821 is the only real wine bar I’ve frequented out of a few in the city and would say I like it for the ambiance and not so much for its wine. Not to say they don’t have an adequate wine selection, I’m just not comfortable recommending the wines having never looked at their menu. They do serve well made Soju drinks, but ambiance is really the key winner for me at this bar.

Dive Bar – Delerium for rockin’ out. It’s close enough to other bars in the neighborhood if you get tired of hanging in one place for too long. Head over to Casanova for a change scenery or bounce between Kilowatt and Gestalt. But stay away from this area on the weekends. It seems all the bridge and tunnel folk like to hang out in the mission then, so you won’t get as an authentic experience if you come during the week. Other great divey bars that are worth mentioning are the Beauty Bar, The Attic, The Knock Out, Uptown, and the Phone Booth. If you’re lucky you might run into the tamale lady at one of these joints and when you do you HAVE to order a tamale. I don’t care what it is. Just get one. If you do miss her, don’t worry, you’ll get a second chance at the late night drunken food game. When you walk out that door let your nose direct you immediately towards the exquisite smell of bacon and grilled onions. Listen for that sizzling sound and feast your senses upon the bacon wrapped hot dog cart that will soon become the saving grace of your night. Try it with mayo, grilled onions, and jalapeños. It may very well give you a tonguegasm or a stomachache if you are lame.

Clubs – There is a club scene for everyone in SF. Keep in mind that the best way to chase down a good party is to know your promoters. Obviously in this case, it is hard if you are a visitor so the next best thing is go to the nearest music shop, look for flyers according to names you recognize and see who is throwing that party. More than likely they will be throwing other parties you might like and if you end up going to one you will find flyers for other parties probably within the same musical vein. If you are just looking for any old club to dance in, head to Soma (11th and Folsom) where quite a few late night clubs are concentrated.

Note on SF nightlife: all bars stop serving alcohol at 2am so most people start their evening relatively early compared to cities like NY or Chicago, which very often don’t start until after midnight. Once the bars/clubs close there are almost always after-parties that serve alcohol in secret locations or not-so secret locations around the city. But you have to know who to ask or where to look.

And the best coffee/coffee shop… Nestled between buildings on a hidden side street in Hayes Valley you’ll find Blue Bottle Café, which serves up some of the best coffee in the city. But if you’re looking for a place to sit, you won’t find it here as it’s only a coffee stand. For excellent coffee and ambiance visit Ritual Coffee Roasters in the Mission. Bring a laptop and don your Urban Outfitters best and you’ll blend right in with the Mission hipsters that keeps this place hoppin.

Best place to see live music… Bottom of the hill, The Independent, Café Du Nord, The Great American Music Hall, Bimbo’s, Slim’s and for bigger acts The Fillmore, and the Warfield. For local bands the Makeout Room and Thee Parkside or Bottom of the Hill are a safe bet. The best way to find out who’s playing where and when is to pick up a free SFweekly at one of the numerous red newspaper boxes. You can also pick a SF Bay Guardian which has a more political bent rather than entertainment. If you are fan of the interweb go to sfstation.com or going.com to find out what is happening on any given night. laughingsquid.com is good for burning man and anarchist type activities and if you are way into art, fecalface.com is a the guide to the bay area arts scene.
Best place for cheap grub… Rosamunde in Lower Haight for the best sausages in the city. Five bucks gets you their homemade specialty sausage (think wild boar, duck and fig, or the old standby beer sausage) with any two toppings. Head next door to Toronado to wash down your sausage with a beer from a selection of the over 100 microbrews on site. If you’re hankering for Mexican, go down to Mission and take your pick from one of any of the great taquerias that line 16th and Mission. For cheap Vietnamese, Tu Lan in the Tenderloin is a rite of passage. Their claim to fame is that it was Julia Childs favorite place. Yes that’s right, Julia Childs loved this little hole-in-the-wall and as proof they’ve got a fairly close facsimile of her face on the menu.

And for sit-down meal at a good value… Little Star Pizza in Nopa and the Mission has great pizza and has been a favorite among locals for the last half decade. For authentic Chicago style pizza you can’t beat Paxti’s in Hayes Valley. After lunch take a stroll down the block for some great boutiques and designy type shops including Huf shoe store and Timbuk 2 bags or get a delectable cupcake at Miette and enjoy it in newly built Octavia Park.

For vegans/vegetarians or hippies, Café Gratitude is one of the best raw/vegan restaurants in the city. If you’re less concerned about health and more about taste, Golden Era Chinese also serves up a vegetarian-only menu. As a meateater, I’ve never been much for vegan or vegetarian fare, but this place is amazing, especially with their meat substitute dishes! A word of advice though, if you are prone to being easily brainwashed and like to join cults you might do well to avoiding this place since it’s been said that the people that run the place are a cult.

And a meal to spend some money…San Francisco is known as foodie town so it’s extremely difficult to narrow it down to just one restaurant. If I were to mention one, I would recommend Delphina, where you can get amazing pizza in the pizzeria or Italian cuisine in the restaurant section. This is place is the buzz of trendy locals, so more often than not you’ll find the dining room bustling on any given night. Forget about ordering “authentic” Italian in North Beach. Locals know that North Beach is for tourists. For other cuisines go to Dosa for Indian, Sushi Bistro for sushi, Nopa for new American, Bar Crudo for raw seafood, and for the ultimate foodie experience, French Laundry in Yountville for French (reservations recommended).

Best specialty dish of your city is…The white clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl or Cioppino which is an Italian seafood stew. If you want to really get a sense of SF cuisine go for the taquerias, any of the food carts, or Asian cuisine in the Inner Richmond.

I know it’s a cliché…but you can’t leave without hanging out in Dolores park for a day to soak up some sun and people watch, buy some pot truffles or beer and then head to bi-rite creamery on the corner for a delicious scoop. They make homemade ice-cream and I promise you it will be the one ice cream experience you’ll be telling your great-great-grandkids about.

And if you’ve got kids… Regrettably I don’t have many friends with kids, being the consummate single I am, but if I were to suggest some places to take them I would say Golden Gate park is a great place to start. There are plenty of things to see and do in the park that are lowcost to free. Not free is the California Academy of Sciences, but it has great hands-on exhibits with 3D shows and a giant indoor atrium filled with butterflies as well as the Exploratorium by the Palace Fine arts.

Pier 39 has great entertainment options such as a Carousel, Magawan’s mirror maze, Ripley’s Believe it or Not, the wax museum, street performers, and your choice of bay cruises. Up until this winter we had a population of sea lions that live at the pier but they’ve since disappeared and no one knows if they are coming back. I’d say don’t bother with the zoo, you’d be better off going to the botanical gardens or Ghiardelli Square for the ice cream sundaes and free chocolate samples.

Best nearby attraction or city for a day trip… Marin headlands on the other side of the bridge. Mount Tamalpais for a beautiful drive through redwoods and gorgeous views of the bay area. Muir woods for easy hiking and up close and personal encounters with California Redwood trees.

Berkeley and Oakland have a culture onto themselves, so if you want to get a feel for what it’s like over there, it’s an easy 20 minute Bart ride over. You don’t need a car and it’s fairly easy to get around. If you are into wine, of course no visit would be complete without a trip to Napa or Sonoma.

How to sound like a local…Don’t ever call San Francisco: Frisco or San Fran. Locals refer to San Francisco as “SF” or “The City”.

Hella – Use hella in place of “really” or “very” when describing something.

This city guide is taking a hella long time to write.

NorCal – a way to refer to northern California.

SoCal – a way to refer to southern California

Additional Links

San Francisco Festival & Events – list of festivals and events throughout the year

Yelp.com – business reviews site that is popular with bay area residents

SFstation – city guide to entertainment and the arts

Fun & Cheap SF – listings for free or cheap events in and around the city

Fecalface.com – comprehensive bay area arts guide

Laughingsquid.com – coverage of lesser known alternative events in the bay area.

Craigslist.org – free classified ad listings for the bay area and beyond.

*I was actually kidding about the hippies. They have all retreated into the woodlands of NorCal and Oregon after being chased out by yuppies and replaced by hipsters.

Joy Suthigoseeya is a freelance graphic designer living in San Francisco. She attributes her love for travel to her parents who towed her and her sisters around on dozens of family roadtrips across the US as kids. She just recently completed a 6 month around-the-world trip in 2008. When she’s not traveling she can be found blogging at designchick.tumblr.com or creating artwork for her online portfolio at designchick.net.

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By Stephen Bugno

Learning vacations are now more popular than ever; from Thai cooking schools to studying Spanish in Guatemala to practicing meditation in India. But how about somewhere a little closer to home and a place you can still get a rich cultural experience as well?

The answer: The John C. Campbell Folk School. Whether it is mountain dulcimer, digital photography, or quilting, you will find something of interest among the 860 courses offered.

Located in the scenic hills of western North Carolina, the school, a registered non-profit situated on a serene 300-acre property in the hamlet of Brasstown, specializes in courses rooted in the traditions of southern Appalachia. But it offers a fine selection from other cultures of the world as well.

I initially made the trip to Brasstown for a week-long Southeast Asian cooking course. The class tackled the appetizers, main courses, desserts, and drinks of Malaysian, Indonesian, and Thai cuisine. “And we cover Indian and Chinese as well, because they are the foundations of Malaysian cuisine,” added our instructor Mary Lou Surgi. She would know, too, having lived in Southeast Asia for several years following a two-year stint as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malaysia.

Based on the concept of the Scandinavian folk school system, the Folk School is geared towards the development of individuals and their communities by offering courses in performing arts, agriculture, and crafts. Since 1925, the school’s well-established reputation has attracted both students and instructors from across the U.S. and even from overseas.

After my course finished, I ended up staying a couple more weeks after meeting lots of friendly folks. The overwhelmingly positive attitude by both students and instructors alike really grew on me.

And I’m not the only one. “One of the best things about being at the folk school is the community in Brasstown. Everyone is so willing to help out with whatever you might need and everyone gets together to socialize often.” says Emily Derke, a 21-year-old from Minnesota.

She came for a nine-week work/study program, and reckons it might not have been enough time. Work/Study students live at the Folk School and in exchange for each two-week work period, they take a one-week class of their choice. This provides an alternative to paying the normal registration fees and allows you to linger in the community longer and become a temporary local.

It isn’t by chance that such strong community bonds grow here. The recipe: plenty of knowledgeable, creative, and passionate people mixed together with lots of positive energy. Simple things like having home states printed on nametags, helps everyone get into conversation at mealtimes.

Another alternative to coming as a student is applying to become a host. The student hosts live at the school for a six-month period, and are responsible for making sure that students have a good experience. In exchange, student hosts may take classes each week. At any given time there are two hosts. They can be found running around the campus doing odd jobs like answering phones after hours, carting tables and chairs for events, or making mealtime announcements.

Most people, however, be they professionals from Atlanta or Raleigh or die-hard knitters from Vermont, come for the week or weekend-long courses.

Although he was busy teaching for the week, I found time to catch up with Norman Kennedy, a world-renowned weaver and folk singer. During an evening program we listened to him sing traditional Scottish songs. “They used to sing these while they were working in the mill or factory” he explained. Surprisingly, audience members jumped in when they could to enhance the chorus. No doubt he’ll be back for Scottish Heritage week at the end of the summer.

After a needs assessment in the rural south in the early part of the last century, John C. Campbell and his wife, Olive Dame, talked of establishing a school based on the concept of the Scandinavian folk school system. The school would be an alternative to the higher-education facilities that drew young people away from the family farm.

John never lived to realize their dream, but after a visit to Europe in order to study the folk school system, his widow and her friend, Marguerite Butler, established this one in 1925 in his honor with popular local support and in-kind contributions. Nearly a century later, the Folk School continues its mission towards the development of individuals and their communities in a non-competitive environment.

The Folk School earned its spot in National Geographic’s 100 Best Vacations to Enrich your Life and I was amazed to find young and old, from all economic classes mingling and sharing genuinely good times together, be it at meals, walking around campus, or hand-in-hand on the dance floor.

One of the unexpected pleasures of the week was an introduction to contra dancing. After being dragged onto the dance floor against my will, it only took an hour before I didn’t want to leave. The live old-time music and dance caller was definitely the highlight.

Also part of the weekly program is Friday afternoon’s much anticipated “show and tell.” It’s a time to gather and show off the fruits of the week’s labor. As I drifted around the room with samples of quickly-disappearing vegetable curry puffs, I admired the quilters’ patterns, the woodcarvers’ creations, the elegance of the stained glass, and enjoyed a live performance from the mountain dulcimer class.

During my few weeks in the area, I acquired a greater understanding and deeper appreciation for traditional Appalachian culture. Besides the contra dance, I also caught the Asheville-based old-time string band Blue Eyed Girl for a fantastic show, featuring local, Annie Fain Liden on the banjo. The community gathers for free weekly concerts of bluegrass, old-time, or folk music.

If it’s foreign culture you’re craving, consider Bonsai pruning, Scandinavian blacksmithing, Italian cooking or one of the themed weeks, like Scottish or Scandinavian Heritage.

Originally I went to learn a cooking tradition from half-way around the world, but ended up taking home an appreciation to the Appalachian culture that I didn’t even know existed in my back yard. And I took with me the much more important lesson of the importance of how a sense of community can enhance our life back home.

If you go:

The John C. Campbell Folk School is located in Brasstown, N.C., about a 2-hour drive from Atlanta, and offers 860 courses rooted in the traditions of Southern Appalachia and other cultures of the world. A free history center and archives, free weekly concert series, seasonal festivals, bi-monthly dances, a craft shop, and nature trails are all located on the premises. If you are not taking a course, the school is open to the community and welcomes visitors for self-guided studio tours. Courses are offered all year and run from $512 for week-long and $290 for weekend courses, plus materials fees. Room and board starts at $402 for 6 days. For more information see www.folkschool.org.

Stephen Bugno first journeyed to western North Carolina in early 2009 and hasn’t left yet. His writing has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Transitions Abroad, and the Matador Network.

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by Stephen Bugno

As a child riding in the back seat on the interstate to my grandparents’ house in upstate New York, I looked to my father to pop in the cassette. Be it Willie Nelson or Arlo Guthrie singing, the words of Steve Goodman’s classic folk song, “The City of New Orleans,” summed up the essence of America to me.

Twenty years later, I’m living out my childhood dream of riding this magic carpet made of steel through America’s backyard. I’ve come to see if it’s as romantic as those poetic lyrics ingrained in my imagination suggested it would be.

The historic train line, that only since 1971 has been operated by Amtrak, shuttles passengers 19 ½ hours between Chicago and New Orleans. Instead of going the traditional way, I thought I would ride from already balmy Louisiana, north to the still-wintry Windy City, and follow the lyrics in reverse.

We leave the Big Easy at 1:45 p.m., with plenty of time to sleep off the previous night’s party on Bourbon Street capped off with spontaneous street jazz and a café au lait and beignets at the 24-hour Café Du Monde.

As we roll, the rich swamps on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain slowly give way to the forests and fields of Mississippi. From the slow-moving train, I manage to catch a glimpse of a sunning alligator, a couple of turtles and an egret taking flight. By evening, we pull into Memphis, too dark to witness the intimidation of the mighty Mississippi River. I stop to enjoy a couple of days here.

I indulge in the cliché of a pilgrimage to Graceland. And to complete the unrivaled Memphian experience, I see live blues on Beale Street after sinking my teeth into a pulled-pork sandwich at Central BBQ. Back on The City of New Orleans, we push through the night, and by morning we’re in Chicago. The cold spring wind stuns me as I step off the platform at Union Station. But

I’m comforted in knowing I won’t have a moment of boredom in this urban center of world-class architecture, cuisine and sports. Though I enjoyed my journey through the backbone of America, it wasn’t completely agreeable. The dilapidated rural houses and decaying cities of the Deep South reminded me that my country still has to pull its long-neglected people out of poverty. The unofficial segregation and racism that continue to plague our nation were even more troubling to this naive middle-class Northerner.

I’m not sure if The City of New Orleans was as romantic as the folk-song images in my boyhood mind. But there is something special about this train and its magical journey, complete with the passengers, sites and sounds to make a good, old-fashioned adventure through the heart of our country. One thing is for sure: If you’re looking to find the real America, you need not search any further than the people and places along this steel rail that still ain’t heard the news.

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