Travel Vignette: Virginia

By Elizabeth Prata

In the 1990s I traveled a lot. On one trip, in 1994, my husband and I took a cross-country trip in our 1982 VW Westphalia pop-up camper van. I kept a travel journal along the way, observing quirky things, majestic sights, the food we ate, and soon. The usual travel journal stuff. Occasionally I extract a snippet from one of my travels and post it. This one is from the aforementioned cross-country trip.

Seen on Route 13 south of Exmore VA, 'Ophelia's Hats & Wigs.' We had a great meal at the Trawler Restaurant, crabcake sandwich, sweet potato biscuit, hush puppies, and a pickle. Yum!

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel was spectacular. Many small craft were out trying their luck. Imagine being on an open boat out on Chesapeake Bay in the middle of December! We stopped at the scenic lookout/rest area and walked to the edge of the pier. NOAA has a couple of tide gauges  to monitor water flow here at the southern end of the bay. The water was completely still, and the wind was calm. Looking north we could see Thimble Shoal Light, and east we could see the light at Cape Henry, with an anchored tanker just offshore. The bridge itself curved gracefully away from our eyes, toward an indistinct lazy shore.

Seen:

--Tarheel BBQ, with shot out holes in the sign,
--Cotton fields,
--A truck transporting two large sows,
--Gates Shopping Center, a dilapidated brick building in a sandlot with a sign that said "Yes, we're open" in the middle of nowhere.

Travel Vignette: Cat in a harness

By Elizabeth Prata

My husband and I traveled from Maine to Key West, along the southern US border to CA, then up the Pacific Coast Highway as far as Carmel. We wanted to spend three months escaping a Maine winter.

We had a 1982 Westphalia camper pop up van, with a diesel engine. This last part was important. Its chassis was heavy but the engine was a rabbit 4 cylinder. This meant it went slow. But the diesel got 24 miles to the gallon and that was all right by us! We saved money and we weren't in a rush.

When we decided to take the winter and just "go" we had a cat at the time. I loved her to pieces but she was definitely a special ed cat. She was unpredictable, grumpy, nice, scratchy, affectionate ...a bundle of contrasts. No one would take her in when we left for the winter. They all knew about 'Abby the Menace'. So we had to take her with us. Some time before we left we trained her on a harness and when it was time to go, we plunked her into the van, turned on the engine (which was a loud diesel as you know diesels can be) and took off.

Well, she spit fire for a few hours but then something strange happened. The noise of the diesel and the swaying of the van seemed to calm her! It was like the white noise of the interior canceled out her interior stress, and she became a model citizen.

It was back to the old Abby when we turned off the engine though, and she was her unpredictable self.

At the start of our journey we had the harness on loosely, concerned with her comfort and not wanting to cause chafing. We were still kind of feeling our way long with the camping thing, the cat in the van thing, and the husband-wife thing driving and never asking for directions thing. (This was before GPS and I as the navigator had the map, but when I said 'turn right here' I was usually met with an 'Are you sure?' Husband made it out alive...but barely).

Sometimes Abby would escape her harness. This was a problem. Here is the vignette:

Abby got out of her harness and we had to put on gloves and a thick coat and grab her by the neck and literally wrestle her back into it. I ended up with scratches, she's fast asleep in the way back, and husband is looking for a pet store that sells harnesses "she will never ever get out of...she'll be buried in it!"

Travel Vignette: Texas; Coyote call at sunrise

By Elizabeth Prata


In the deep winter of 1994-1995, my husband and I and Abby the Cat bought a 1983 VW Westphalia pop-up camper van and took off for warmer climes. Our goal was to meander down the leftest road closest to the ocean, from Maine to Florida, across the FL panhandle, down Texas way towards the bottom, and across through Big Bend National Park, parallel the Rio Grande or the border all the way to San Diego. The we'd turn up and go as far north in California as the weather and timing allowed, which turned out to be Monterey. Then we'd head for home when the Maine snow let up, usually end of March. It was a good road trip, with lots of memories. Our country is beautiful and majestic, with a variety that's breathtaking. Being from verdant New England we did not expect to over the Texas desert as much as we did, but we did. Rocks, sagebrush, & tumbleweed, we were enchanted. Here is a vignette from my travel journal from February 1995 upon our departure from the National Park.

Big Bend National Park, Chisos Mountain campground

We left Big Bend National Park in Texas after 10 days and 9 nights of primitive desert camping. We absolutely loved it. The last couple of days we met 3 guys from Nebraska on a 'guy trip'. They sleep under the stars, chew tobacco, swig Southern Comfort and work for IBM. All 3 very cool. We call them "The Cowboys." The took us on a primitive road, 4X4's only, and we saw the interior desert we would not have been able to see in our van. We stopped for lunch at an old mine, and ate it out of the Bronco's tailgate- beans, beef jerky, and Southern Comfort. Then topped off the day floating in an ancient hot spring. The guys got out every now and then to cool off by splashing in the Rio Grande, but I didn't.

Remember:

Sunset over the Sierra Del Madres
Geology lecture in the night air amphitheater
Coyote call at sunrise
Drinking Southern Comfort over a campfire with 'The Cowboys'
The hot spring
Back-country Bronco drive through rough terrain exploring abandoned mines
Climbing the high trail to 'The Windows'

Previous Vignettes:

Travel Vignette: Tuscany's Sparkling Coast

Travel Vignette: Paris, The City of Light

Travel Vignette: Tuscany's Sparkling Coast

By Elizabeth Prata

On and off over the years people occasionally mention that they are aware of my travels, and sometimes comment that I should write about them. From Ecuador to Labrador, Scotland to The Bahamas, oh, the places I've been. Here is a vignette from my Italy travels.

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After a leisurely hour and a half drive over the Tuscan hills, we spotted the Tyrrhenian Sea. Sparkling azure, gentle on the eyes, we pulled in to Porto San Stefano under a bright blue sky. Up, up, up we climbed the small clinging roads to Hotel Vittoria in Orbetello. The rooms are spacious if spartan, with the most incredible view of the small fishing village below. A bell is tolling now. I can see from my terrace the gulf, fishing boats returning, the Tuscan mountains across the Bay. Geraniums separate each terrace...shutters painted white dot the hills.

Later, walking the quay, boats bobbing at Mediterranean moors and old photographs on the ancient wall of this town from the 1800 and early 1900s. Walk and amble around, exchange dollars for some lira. A convoy of red, white, and yellow convertible sport Alfa Romeos pass us in the opposite direction. The only white Alfa Romeo has two very black people in it wearing sunglasses. Beautiful colors all around. Poppies grow right up to the railroad tracks.

Travel Vignette: Paris, The City of Light

By Elizabeth Prata

On and off over the years people occasionally mention that they are aware of my travels, and sometimes comment that I should write about them. I've thought about it too. Mainly, the past makes me tired. Yes, I've had wondrous adventures, more than ten women, in fact. But I don't dwell on the past and I dislike memories.

Recently an autistic youtuber began another channel of hers, a new Youtube channel of short video vignettes illustrated by cartoons, and those are very fun to watch and listen to. So, it might be fun for me and others to read some travel vignettes. Here is one from my first day in Paris.

I had traveled to Italy several times, alone, with a friend, and with my husband, and with my husband and father. My husband wanted to go to a place he was interested in, and that was Paris. I was only nominally interested in France, being enamored of Italy and entranced by the British Isles. I was amazed and happily surprised by its beauty and I fell in love with France too.

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Flawless flight, surprisingly good meal on board plane. Transfer from the airport was nice to have, really jet lagged. Walk aimlessly, looking at Lipp's, Au Deux Magots, and the Seine! Beautiful river with lots of 'bateau mouches' buzzing up and down the water. Really beautiful.

Manage to get into our room early and after unpacking fall into a grateful sleep.

The shower is hot!! Long one, dress. Husband and I walk the neighborhood. The Brasseries look good, so good. Eclairs, petit fours, breads, and rolls, glistening and all artistic. Warm night...perfect.

Dinner at the famous Lipp's Brasserie. Wonderful! Super ambiance; tile floors. glowing wood. I had salmon caviar and fresh green beans in garlic mustard sauce and a glass of red wine. He had cassoulet. Wow!

Got on the air conditioned tour bus and took us around Paris from 10:00-11:30 pm. It truly IS the "City of Light". English narration extolled the delights of Paris, which included the Arc de Triomphe, the Place de la Concorde, Champs Elysees, and the Louvre. But this taped narration didn't have to extol much, the city is undeniably gorgeous. All white marble buildings, huge and stately. Thousands of floodlights illuminating the marble so it glows softly. Fountains of blue water lighted from behind with soft lights so the splash of the fountain sprays light in a thousand directions.

But the delight, the highlight, must be the Eiffel Tower. Who would have thought the wrought iron steel could be so beautiful. Orangish lights on every level light every rivet, straight tot he crown ringed with red lights. Grounded solidly to the earth yet soaring up to the sly weightlessly. Truly magnificent.

Our long walk back tot he hotel, 30-40 minutes, was great. Warm air and an illuminated city lay before us. On the way sidestepping other amblers out and about. I stopped at a creperie and strolled the streets of Paris nibbling on a warm apricot crepe and laughing.