In Transit From Reno to Istanbul
This is the first blog post of my current monthlong trip, comprised of a two-week Turkish tour, a few days in Jordan, and finally, ten days in Israel.
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Travel
Dallas Smith's Blog
Decadence: Wine Tasting in Las Vegas
Throughout most of my adult life, I've lived relatively frugally. I don't indulge very often in expensive habits…Skiing is one. So it is pure decadent indulgence to fly down to Las Vegas for the Wine Spectator magazine's annual gourmet wine tasting. Indeed, this was a new life experience for me. I have my good friend Jeff to thank for the invitation and encouraging me to accompany him.
Perspectives on Swedish Culture
This blog post was written in April 2009, while on tour with my Swedish-Indian band, Mynta.
Reflections on visiting Iceland
September 2009
This blog was written in September, 2009, following my first and (up till now) only trip to Iceland.
We flew overnight via Iceland Air, leaving Minneapolis in the early evening, and arriving in the early morning after a six-hour flight. We rented a car for our island travels (which was very expensive--$560 for four days in a Subaru station wagon).
Detroit: The Beautiful and the Ugly
This essay was written in March 2008, with reflections on visiting Detroit and living in Reno, Nevada. Some images are included.
Cruising the Danube River
This essay was originally posted in December, 2010, following a Danube River cruise from Budapest, Hungary, to Passau, Germany.
Reflections on Europe
At the end of the cruise, there is always the “Captain’s Dinner.” The hotel manager had heard me speaking German with someone. The Slovakian captain was insecure in his English. And so, I was invited to sit next to the Captain at his dinner. On his other side was a German-born American passenger. Basically, the Captain was uncomfortable having to make speeches and schmooze in English with the mostly American passengers.
Reflections on Southern Culture
International readers of this blog may be unaware of the clichés used to describe lower class people in the Southern states of the US, those states that tried to perpetuate the institution of slavery, leading to the bloody Civil War 1861-1865. While poor Southerners have generally been more likely to hold racist beliefs, believing themselves to be on a higher social rung than poor blacks, more educated whites have used the pejorative "white trash" or "redneck" to describe this particular lower class mentality. My friends and I had quite an interesting discussion as to why "rednecks" believe the things they do and exhibit the attitudes commonly associated with them. . .
Southern Culture
I’ve flown into Atlanta on my way home to Columbus, Georgia, countless times in the last four decades. It’s impossible to arrive again without flashing back to the trips that occurred on the occasion of the deaths of my parents in Jan. 2002 and Dec. 2003. There’s a certain emptiness caused by the fact that though I’m returning “home” to the place where I spent the first eighteen years of my life, that it’s not the same because my parents aren’t there anymore.