Update: My trip to India

Wow,
I haven't done an update on this site in ages. I did go to India in July 2010 and it was a wonderful but short experience that kept me asleep for weeks! We traveled to Delhi, India by way of Reagan National and J.F.K airports. We spent the first few days at JNU, the national University. That was an experience that tested my senses - visual, olfactory, hearing, and emotions. Going to India was an experience much different than I was used to. We have poverty here in West Virginia and the rest of the United States, but it does not compare to anything in India. Some of my travel companions said that this should not have been my first international travel experience due to the presence of such poverty. As Americans, we were not really going to see that side of India, but it was not avoidable due to driving through the cities and the countryside.
We went to the capital building as well as other monuments throughout the capital city of Delhi. We also visited some temples old as well as newer. We traveled 120 miles to the south and visited the birthplace of Krishna, which was located next to a Islamic Mosque. That was an interesting experience the the rickshaws surrounding our bus and our "guide" in the birthplace. Among the travels south, we encountered a mass of humanity in the road that slowed our travel. There was temple that was having a festival and to my estimate I bet there were hundreds of thousands of people in their finest garb for this event. Then we ventured a few days to Agra where the Taj Mahal and Agra fort are located. These are magnificent structures in their own right and built in the Mughal period. In Agra, we went to Pizza Hut, which was a welcome diversion from the Indian diet that I was certainly not ready for.
About half of the group didn't take the extended trip, including me, so we ventured back to the Delhi airport by way of a van and made the return trip which itself was an experience. It took over six hours to make our way back to Delhi which included encountering human traffic in the road along with the rest of the animal life that we observed in the road during our trip. This trip also included a trip to McDonald's and a flat tire on the way back!
This was a short review of the trip. I'm sorry I didn't write in this blog when I returned, but it was memorable experience that I would never forget and I would be willing to return in the future!

These links below are YouTube videos of my trip to India:
Delhi Traffic & Agra
Sitar and Drum Demonstration
West Virginia Teachers Visit India
India Gate

Stroll through Downtown Clarksburg on Christmas Eve 2011

I went walking through Downtown Clarksburg, West Virginia this morning.  This is something I do about once or twice a year.  It was kind of eerie feeling due to it being a Saturday and Christmas Eve.  I was reading in the Clarksburg newspaper this morning on how downtown areas such as Clarksburg would be bustling in the days and weeks prior to Christmas due to all the stores in the downtown areas.  This was before the malls, shopping centers, and the megastores that made their mark in the two or three previous decades.
Also in today's paper, there was an article about building that would likely be demolished in the near future due to public safety.  I would like to see these buildings demolished and something better take its place.  But that would be unlikely due to most traffic just passes by on the expressway above the city overlooking many of the buildings that lie empty or underutilized.
Some of the buildings slated to be demolished were once grand houses that are now empty lots.  One such grand house demolished in Clarksburg was the Nathan Goff House which is now a pretty little park on Dominion gas property that is not open to the public.  Another structure expected to be demolished was a former Sheraton Hotel that had been converted to a West Virginia State Office Building and a new state office building is expected to take its place.   Another former hotel, the Waldo, has been owned by the Vandalia Foundation in hopes to be renovated or restored.  But it is most likely to see the wrecking ball.   Finally, Central Junior High is expected to be demolished.  This is a building that has been visible to many due to its location next to the expressway.

I have scant personal memories to most of the buildings other than driving or walking by them occasionally, but to many people there are many great memories.  Let's hope there are more memories to be made in the future.