Music for a Road Trip

Family-friendly Road Trip Mix

Nope, we're omitting the likes of "Rick James Style" (the Lemonheads), "Smoke two Js" (Toyes), "Roll another Number for the Road" (Neil Young, 1975), and oh so many others. That's the stuff of another, quite different mix, for a solo road trip. Today I'm posting a mix that meets these two basic qualifications:

Must be child-appropriate. I get to decide.

Must be Parent tolerable. I get to decide.

1. Ape Man (Kinks)
2. Hey, Hey We're the Monkees (Monkees)
3. Octopus' Garden (Beatles)
4. Yellow Submarine (Beatles)
5. Hawaii 5-O (Dweezil Zappa OR Dick Dale OR the Ventures)
6. Itsy-Bitsy, Teeny-Weeny, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
7. Yakety-Yak (the Coasters)
8. Splish-Splash (I was takin' a bath) (Bobby Darin)
9. Smelly Cat (Phoebe Buffay & Chrissie Hynde)
10. Stay up Late (Talking Heads)
11. Holy Flypaper! w/Batman Theme (Nelson Riddle)
12. Spiderman Theme (Ramones, of course!)
13. Secret Agent Man (The Ventures) / Hombre Secreto
14. Superman Theme (John Williams)
15. James Bond Theme (London Symphony Orchestra)
16. Ska Bond (Skatalites) / James Bond (The Selecter)
17. Happy Boy (Beat Farmers with Kazoo & Gurgle Verses) / Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (Monty Python)
18. Crazy Egyptians (She Drives Me Crazy w/ Walk Like an Egyptian / Fine Young Cannibals v. Bangles)
19. If I had a Million Dollars (Barenaked Ladies)
20. Good Day, Sunshine (Beatles)
21. If You Want to Sing Out (Cat Stevens/Yusuf)

Surf on over to my YouTube Channel for a mix of most of these song.

Escape to Nevada County

I'm on Day 5 of my Escape to Nevada County. I observe the following:

• Grateful Dead Hour muddled and drifted its way through a lazy afternoon into Grateful Dead Permanent Audio Channel. For the uninitiated, this can be overwhelming. Even for those of us who attended a sane & sober New Years Eve Dead at the Oakland Coliseum back in the day, it bears a certain resemblance to an acid trip flashback that just won't quit. Sure, Archive dot org has an entire channel devoted to the Dead, nevertheless, too much of a good thing is...too much.

• Starlight, Star bright. Does it seem like all the stars have disappeared from your night sky? Mine too. I finally figured out where they went: Nevada County, CA! Note, however, that some nights it's better to appreciate the beauty of the sparkling stars than it is to contemplate all those big philosophical questions (can we ever know how big the Universe is? Boy, do I feel insignificant now.)

• Smoke follows beauty: I don't much care if my clothes smell like campfire. Too busy stargazing.

•  A tiny baby lizard smaller than my little finger!

• So. Yuba River at Hwy 49 has a wonderful concrete arch bridge. It's a good place to contemplate the rushing water as it wears away the surrounding stone. Love that place! Here's a link from BridgeHunter.com, with photos and a map (or surf back in time to last year in this very blog for other So.Yuba River posts). It's a few miles away here, but well worth the trip. Hike far enough on a warm day, and you can glimpse some frank-and-beans or lovely melons at the nudie hang-outs :-)

• Man, they gotta lotta skunks around here!

Alaska Escape - Day 2: Ketchikan Art

This blog tries to focus on my Escapes, and  Random Refuge purports to focus on public art, notably that from the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, and beyond. Sometimes the two blogs over lap, as with the recent Alaska Escape in June.  Here are the links to see more Alaskan Public Art from Random Refuge:

Ketchikan: Stained Glass
Ketchikan: Pier Art
Ketchikan: Public Transit
(don't forget the "l" in public!)

Alaska Escape - Day 3: Juneau Critter Count

"That sure is a funny looking dawg, y'all"

One critter - two photos

Porcupine Passing

Alaska Escape - Day 3: Juneau Hiking

Always favoring real experience over trinkets made in Taiwan and crowds of tourists, our *free*, self-propelled port excursion took us up and out of Juneau, walking through winding steep residential streets affording wonderful views of Gastineau Channel, until finally, we left all that behind and climbed Perseverance Trail, past Mt. Juneau, past Mt. Roberts and closer to British Columbia.

Leaving Town....

Juneau's Perseverance Trail, a National Recreation Trail

 Caveat discipulus!                  

In spite of rough terrain (boulders in the trail), very steep spots and the like, several intrepid bicyclists passed us along the way. They  were friendly and observed proper trail etiquette too!

Alaska's First Road

Alaska Escape - Day 3: Juneau

Juneau! State Capital of Alaska.

"The area of Juneau [Alaska] is larger than that of Rhode Island and Delaware individually and almost as large as the two states combined."

--Wikipedia                            

Alaska Escape - Day 3: Tracy Arm

Alaska Sunrise, 3:51 a.m. Tracy Arm

This is what "Purple Mountains Majesty" refers to, right?

 

Mt Sumdum 

South Sawyer Glacier

Critter count included a mother & young harp seal, relaxing on an ice floe.