Having recently bought a house, we didn't feel that we'd want to do much long distance traveling this summer. In fact, we didn't even know if we could afford to do anything, so we just decided to work in some day trips in the area. Audra's weekend rehearsal schedule for Arsenic and Old Lace also meant that we couldn't go far for an extended period anyway, and most of our traveling had to be during the week.

When I put my itinerary together, I considered the following:

Who hadn’t we seen in a while?
What interesting places (locally) have I not seen?
What hadn’t I done in a long time, but wanted to do?
What have I been wanting to accomplish?

With that as my template, I took a week off in June and planned a loose itinerary around the following places:

K&S Music, Paxinos PA
Jim Thorpe
Martin Guitar Factory, Nazareth PA
Hickory Run State Park
Harrisburg (to see friends and check out the Asian markets)

So there wasn't one destination - there were several - and they are all different. In fact, the starting point (our new house) is also a destination, so let’s start there.

Most of my first weekend of vacation was spent at home just finishing the cabling for the recording setup, and testing it all out. I started with a trip to K&S Music in Paxinos where I purchased enough patch cables to go to China, and also picked up an Udu drum. This Udu drum is made by the LP drum company based on a design by Frank Giorgini who makes clay drums based on a Nigerian design. Along with the technical and spacial upgrades the new studio offers, I can also now hang artwork, so I got to dust off some pieces that had been packed away, and put up a few new pieces that I had framed.

That night I recorded several experimental space music pieces using the Udu, guitar and fretless bass. I also did some experimenting with a 1970's era Realistic 909 reel-to-reel that my dad brought up recently.