One year ago today was September 1, 09. On that day I took my first free flying trip. It was to NYC- I walked around and then went and found the Ed Sullivan theater, where I stumbled upon Letterman tickets for that afternoon's taping later in the day. I went and walked for a while around Central Park, then went to the Letterman taping, then back to the airport and flew home.
Yesterday was #33. I've been to 7 new countries over the year, + many US trips and back to Germany 4 times. I am a little outspent from my last trip (3 countries in Europe), so I went cheap yesterday and did something many people have recommended and I have wanted to do- went out to a small town that not too many people even know of and see what it's like. So I looked at the map and chose Traverse City, partially because it's easy to get to via the Charleston to Detroit flight to connect, and partially because it's on Lake Michigan and sounded like a nice place to go. Also I had in mind for the trip to go talk to venues for booking a solo show there.
I called the Traverse City Airport before the trip to figure out how I was going to get downtown. It is a very small town and I couldnt find much online about a bus that I could catch (although I learned later that there is one). I asked during the call how far the airport was from downtown. The guy said about 3 miles, so I decided to jog/walk there. It was just a day trip, and I didnt have need of a backpack anyway, so I went light. When I arrived in Traverse City, I got off the plane and learned that the bus, that comes once an hour, had just passed through. There is no airport information there, so I had asked a rental car lady. She gave me a map of town, and was helping me get oriented a little bit. One thing I remember clearly was that she was talking about a certain part of town and our American English accent differences became clear to me. She said something about that there are a greater number of "chaps" in this area... I thought for a second and realized that she had said the word "shops" in a very mid-northern way.
Anyway, when I realized I missed the hourly bus, that made it an easy decision to take foot. I had even worn my running shoes for the trip. So I started out of the airport, and took a right onto Airport Road. It was hot, the forcast was around 90 yesterday. I got to a shopping center (Cherryland) and took a right to head towards Lake Michigan. There are only partially paved sidewalks, but businesses or houses for pretty much the entire way on either side. It was funny, because I would be jogging on one side of the road, then the sidewalk would end. I would run for a little while, and then notice that there was one on the other side. So I would cross the road and then it would end and start again on the original side... so I crossed back. I couldnt win! I didnt actually care, it gave me a good laugh.
When I got down to a bend in the road, I saw the water ahead and cast my eyes on Lake Michigan. There was a small beach park there, so I walked down to the water and dipped my hand in. It was pretty clear. There were families and couples relaxing there. I found a water fountain, took a drink, and headed down the road that lead to the downtown area.
As I got into town, it almost reminded me of my once hometown of Montrose, Colorado. It was more lively than Montrose, but a familiar kind of small town feel. I walked into random restaurants and spoke with them about live music. One thing I had heard about that area is that it is famous for growing cherries. There are also alot of vineyards around. I kept heading down the street, talking to different places and learning all I could about the scene there. I saw a sign for the Visitor's Center so I decided to go there. Some helpful people gave me papers and maps and told me about things like the Sleeping Bear park which was a 45 minute drive from town. I left the VC and went down to a different part of the beach. It was larger and more people were there, being closer to downtown. There is also an inlet a block in from the beach that you can walk down to and is nice and calm. I saw some chipmunks, which I'm not sure I've ever even seen before. I wondered momentarily if they were just squirrels that had lost their tails, but they also ran down holes in the dirt, which I wasn't used to either.
I walked back into town and found some bars that looked worth a talking to. First I went to a restaurant who said to come back later than I could. One of the bars had a bartender who was very helpful. She got a piece of paper and wrote down venues. She told me about one called "Streeters", where she said that she would call over and even tell them I was coming by. There was one guy there that she talked highly of, and she gave me his name. Conveniently for me, she said that this place was over towards the airport. So I decided to try to go there on the way back.
After I left there, I checked out 2 or so more places, and then found the bus station to see if it could save me some energy getting back. I found a bus headed to Cherryland, which was close to Streeters and took it. I got off and went to a grocery store to look for flavored milk (which is available in more places than you might think) but they didn't have any flavors but chocolate and vanilla so I didn't get anything. I went and found Streeters. It was off the road behind a Taco House restaurant. I went inside and asked for the guy that the bartender had told me about. I said that Jessica told me about him. He took me into the office, and the owner was sitting there. I got to lay out my entire story for him, and he listened. This was no small bar. It had 2 stages and Seether is actually playing there tonight. I told him about Charleston, and that our musical claim to fame is Hootie and the Blowfish. He told me that they had played there! I explained that my goal would be to book an acoustic and possibly also piano show to open for another band. I felt like the feedback was at least somewhat promising. He said that the fact that I would fly there to book shows was interesting enough to him to consider me. So I told him I would send him my music when I got home. He then gave me a tour of the venue.
After I left, I ate at the Taco House. A college guy started talking to me and we shared stories and made friends in about 5 minutes' time. Then I left and went back to the airport to go home. Mission accomplished- great day trip.
