New England

My June schedule has been very consistent. I have had every Tuesday and Wednesday off. So I've taken advantage of the days off to see some of the parts of the country that I have always wanted to explore, and continue my goal of reaching the top of every state. I started Monday off in Bismarck, North Dakota, as the last overnight of my 4-day work trip. And was the flight attendant for the first flight of the day back to Denver. I got into Denver at 7:10 am and was excited to get an early jump on my New England vacation. And right when I got into Denver, I got a call from SkyWest Crew Support, asking me to do a "turn" to Santa Barbara. So instead of getting off of work, and starting my vacation early, I would now be flying until 6 pm that day. A little hitch in the plans. My friend, Deanna, that was also going to be heading there with me, got called out to fly as well, and wasn't going to be able to fly til after 9 pm. So we booked ourselves for the 11 pm red eye to Boston, putting us there at 5 am on Tuesday.

We rented a car, and headed out to northwest Massachusetts. The plan was to take I-90 towards Adams. Our first turn out of the airport, led us onto a toll bridge. The troll in the booth informed us that this toll we were paying was just for the underground tunnel. Sure enough, as soon as we got to the other side, more tolls. And we learned that we would be charged the entire way if we stayed on the freeway. So we got off, and took the backroads, severely putting us behind schedule. But we saw Fenway Park off the freeway, and also some beautiful scenery and homes.

We reached Mount Greylock, the highpoint of Massachusetts, by 9 am. It was beautiful! A very large hill according to East Coast standards, with small towns surrounding it. And the day was perfect. Small wispy clouds with blue skies all around. And trees everywhere!

Then we headed south towards Connecticut. The state highpoint of Connecticut is only one of three state highpoints that are not actual summits. It is on the side of Mt. Washington. But since the border of Connecticut and Massachusetts runs along the side of Mt. Washington, and there is no higher summit in all of Connecticut, the highest point in the state is on the Southwest shoulder of this Massachusetts mountain. It was a healthy 2 mile climb to this highpoint. By far the most difficult highpoint I've done to this point, but that's because I haven't done any of the Western states yet.

Then we headed across Connecticut towards Rhode Island. Connecticut was beautiful, in it's backwoods, but as soon as we started to come to the city of Hartford, it became more and more ghetto, until it became one of the dirtiest, and nastiest towns I have ever seen. I don't see any reason to ever go to Hartford, CT, and now I really don't ever wanna go there again. We crossed over the border into Rhode Island, and Jerimoth Hill is just across the border. It is a tiny hill and Rhode Island doesn't even celebrate the significance of this highpoint. Just a tiny concrete stump and a USGS marker. A lot like the uncelebrated highpoint of Mississippi. But I agree with them, there isn't much to celebrate there.

Then we headed into downtown Boston, to try to catch a Red Sox game, but we were just a little late, and there was no place to park. So we'll have to go back to Boston someday for a Red Sox game. And next time, I won't rent a car. The public transportation system downtown is fairly good, and everything is relatively close. Boston is one of my new favorite cities though. There is a huge brazilian influence there, and it feels so safe.

Beale Street

Beale Street was created in 1841 by entrepreneur and developer Robertson Topp. In the 1860s, many black traveling musicians began performing on Beale. The first of these to call Beale Street home were the Young Men's Brass Band, who were formed by Sam Thomas in 1867. In the early 1900s, Beale Street was filled with clubs, restaurants and shops, many of them owned by African-Americans. From the 1920s to the 1940s, Louis Armstrong, Muddy Waters, Albert King, Memphis Minnie, B. B. King, Rufus Thomas, Rosco Gordon and other blues and jazz legends played on Beale Street and helped develop the style known as Memphis Blues. As a young man, B.B. King was billed as "the Beale Street Blues Boy". My first time to Beale Street was in February 2010 on a cross country road trip from Virginia to Utah. I was impressed with the culture of the street and the amount of change that it has endured to remain a major cultural center of the state of Tennessee. On the east side of the Mississippi River is a bustling, thriving city of Memphis, and on the west side, is a desolate and empty Arkansas. The contrast was incredible. And without the influence of Beale Street, and it's musical heritage, Memphis very well have been just like it's Arkansan cross-river counterpart. Along with the music that made Beale Street so famous, I had a brush with some other Beale Street performers before I ever got the chance to visit this place. The Beale Street Flippers, a group of 4 street tumblers performed at halftime of a Utah Blaze halftime show. I had the privilege of performing with them. That was the first time I had ever heard of Beale Street.