The Bucket List
Like I touched on last week, I recently took a trip I’ve been yearning for about twenty years and toured ancient Anasazi ruins in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. The Wife got on board and made it far more special. She’s the ‘Chief Planner of the Concern’ and she did a jam up job. She fit in other long-term wishes of mine, and a few of hers and voila! A trip to remember!
We drove out to Albuquerque (The Wife drove one hour the first day) and caught a flight back. The goal was not to drive all day, you know, like stop and smell the roses. Our first stop was Biloxi and the Whitehouse Hotel on the Gulf of “You-Know-Where.” It’s beyond the casinos and offers great views and easy access to the beach. Sure, you can get that anywhere in Florida, but they also make the best Martini in my world. The Chart House comes close but who wants to see the City Jail? Where’s the romance in that? It could have been worse. When the Chart House first opened the Jail was smackdab on the riverfront as was City Hall and a massive waterfront parking lot. That was the antithesis of romance.
The Whitehouse run was a six-hour drive.
New Orleans was the next stop. It took just under 2 hours to get there. I had been pining to see the WWII Museum since I noticed it attending my daughter’s wedding in 2018 which took place in City Park nearby. We arrived just as it opened. Two buildings on six acres, so it was a lot to see. Pretty much within the first ten or fifteen feet of the entrance we saw photos of our one-time neighbor Dr. Baumgarten. He was everywhere. He had mentioned that he was in the D-Day landings but didn’t go into much detail.
He was in the first wave on Omaha Beach. Of the thirty comrades in his landing craft, he was one of two survivors. He served in the Stonewall Brigade of the 29th Infantry and was wounded five times in the first 32 hours of his landing on the beach. After the war he taught biology, chemistry, and physics at Palm Beach High in Miami. When the University of Miami opened a medical school, he applied and was immediately accepted. The good doctor practiced medicine specializing in family practice and industrial surgery for over 40 years. He would sometimes accept payments in the form of eggs, nuts, and fruit or whatever his patients could afford. His office was off North Edgewood Avenue here in town.
Steven Spielberg used Baumgarten’s account of his D-Day landing to help provide the narrative for the opening scenes of “Saving Private Ryan”. Baumgarten shared the stage with Tom Hanks when Spielberg was awarded the Kennedy Honors. He and his wife Rita were our neighbors at Oceans 13 back in the early 2000s. The only thing I remembered from that experience was Rita telling us to “Enjoy ya dip” as we went down the elevator to the beach. Doctor Baumgarten earned the Purple Heart, Bronze Stars, The ETO Medal with the Battlestar and Arrowhead, France’s Croix de Guere, and the Knight of the French Foreign Legion.
Now there’s a warrior Mr. Secretary but let’s talk about humility, shall we?
The next day we made it to Austin in eight and a half, mostly I-10 hours to spend time with The Wife’s son Tom, daughter-in-law Shawneen, and the grandson Emmer. It was a wild and wooly three and a half days. As I said before, they know how to handle guests. We had an Air-B &B nearby. We talked, played with Emmer, took in an Octoberfest, ate at an award-winning Laotian eatery, and shortly before we left had excellent barbecue. Shawneen can whip up a wonderful meal seemingly in minutes. Tom drove everywhere (I was especially happy about that because The Wife had driven one hour on the first day), and that Emmer, he’s the best. I always have a great time with them. The Wife, she’s to the Moon with her kids and grandkids.
Six hours later we made Lubbock. A half a million people spread out everywhere. We did Longhorns and a passable Martini (couldn’t get their heads around a Martini on the rocks. They served it in a stem).
The next morning, we piled in the car and drove to Santa Fe…
I’ll be right back.