The More We Know, the Less We See, Second Time is not Quite What it Seemed

It looks like this is my last blog post of 2023. It's been quite a year in so many ways. Mostly good, but I've had a lot of health challenges that I'm trying to work through. Let's hope 2024 gives me a break in that department. This blog post is about the good things, however. 

I know everyone has different ideas of what their purpose is in this life. Personally, my purpose is to find as much fun and joy and adventures as possible, without hurting anyone else. If I died today, I wouldn't worry about whether I left my house clean or not (not, duh), or made enough money (most decidedly not), or whether the cool kids liked me (they never have). I would worry more about if I had been kind enough (I'm always working on that), or if I made a positive difference in the world (I'm sure it depends on the day), or if I worked hard enough on my issues (I'm not sure any lifetime is long enough for that Hurculean feat), and most importantly, was I open to experiences.

So, every year I like to tally up all of the new things I've tried. Most of these new things happened on trips, but I suppose that's why we travel (if we can afford to).

Anyway, here is my list of the things I did for the first time in 2023:

Last January I took Stinky to Chicago and we stayed at the ever swanky Palmer House Hotel. I've always wanted to go there, because my Uncle Duke (his real name is Reginald Harrington Haigh, so I would rather people call me Duke too) worked there a hundred million years ago and one of my aunt's still has some of the art they gave him. I always thought it would be too expensive, but Coadster stayed there on a business trip, and by Chicago standards, it really wasn't that bad.

One of my other firsts occurred on that trip. I experienced my first immersive art experience. We saw the Van Gogh exhibit. It was beautiful and emotional and sweet and sad and so many things. I'm so glad we made a point to see it.

I had a LOT of firsts on our trip to New Mexico last May. If you know me at all, you understand how much I love cheesy, uniquely Americana shit. So when I found out we'd be driving through Amarillo, I asked John if he would be cool with us stopping at Cadillac Ranch. Lucky for me, John is always cool with doing all the zany, hair brained things I want to do, even if he sometimes okays them with an eye roll. It is an art installation funded by a now dead Texas business person. Basically, you bring spray paint and are encouraged to deface some Cadillacs buried in the desert. Who wouldn't want to do that?

I also got to go to the land of my people, and see all kinds of space aliens. I didn't find my mother ship in Roswell, but I did get to go to a restaurant where a guy played Charlie Rich songs on a Casio while we ate, and see even MORE cheesy Americana. Poor John.

At Carlsbad Caverns I ate lunch in a cave 800 feet below the surface of the earth. The ambience was incredible.

At White Sands I got to hike barefoot for the first time. The gypsum sand doesn't absorb heat the way normal sand does, so it isn't hot. I have always loved going barefoot, which means this was a wonderful thing for me (in case it didn't seem that way to you).

I also killed two firsts with one stone in White Sands. I got to sled in May for the first time, and I had never gone sledding on sand before. It wasn't quite as fast as sledding on snow, but the older I get, the more okay with the lack of speed I am.

When we made it up to Santa Fe, I scheduled a trip to Georgia O'Keefe's house (well, one of them anyway). I had never pawed through an artist's home before...Especially a rich one. It was beautiful. It would be hard NOT to be creative with those surroundings, and not having to work a shit job, but even so, there is only one Georgia O'Keefe and no one else has the vision she had.

In June, I got to see a baseball game at a real live major league ball park. I did see the Cubs play once, but it was from the rooftop decks, and not from Wrigley Field. This time Stinky wanted us to go to St Louis to see a Cardinals game for her graduation from college present. The game was fun, but I felt so honored that she wanted us to be included in her gift.

I may not be great at it, but I love to cook. I like to try food from all over the world. It's a great way to look at a culture. So, when we went to Minneapolis for Stinky's birthday in September, I bought "The Sioux Chef" cookbook and I've been slowly but surely figuring out not only how to cook Native American/Indigenous food, but cooking at that fancy level. I have worked in tons of restaurants, but none of them were anywhere NEAR Michelin Star level, and my cooking is a reflection of that. So, this has been a fun challenge. I have tried hard to buy ingredients from Native Americans whenever possible. If I'm going to appropriate a culture's food, someone from that culture better damn well make some money off of it.

I have always had this romantic vision of taking my daughters to Chicago right before Christmas, and this year I finally did it. Of course, it was a lot easier and fun doing it when they were in their 30's than it would have been when they were young kids. It may not have been quite as magical for them, but they seemed to have a good time, anyway. Mostly, it was nice to spend time with my kids when we did't have to get to work, or home, or be stressed-out.

I always say I like to explore a place by walking/running/biking, as opposed to driving in a car. Well, this year I got to ride my bike over the Big Four Pedestrian Bridge that goes over the Ohio River from Kentucky to Indiana. I have walked across it before, but it's always more fun on a bike, right?

While we were in Louisville, I got to see the English Beat (or what's left of them, anyway) for the first time. They had toured with The Police in the early eighties, but by the time I saw the Police live in 1983, UB40 opened up for them. I had always wanted to see the English Beat, and as we all get older, I try to see all the old people bands while I still can (I'm looking at you, Shane MacGowan). Anyway, the show was a blast, and it's always fun to go places where I'm one of the younger people there. It doesn't happen all that often anymore...

 I saved the best for last, apparently. It's nothing I've ever thought about doing, but like I said above, when an opportunity presents itself, I try to be open to it. Drinking tequila in a Catholic church did feel pretty irreverent (but also fun), even if it was a Catholic church that had been converted into a restaurant.

I'm pretty happy with all of the new things I tried this year. I'm already trying to think of more new things to discover in 2024. Here's to a new year of stepping out of our comfort zones and finding new adventures!