Just about any time of year is pleasant in tiny Flat Rock, North Carolina (fairly close to Charlotte and 22 miles south of pretty Asheville) but the next few weeks bring some special celebrations.

First up on September 27, 2008 is the annual Lincoln celebration at Connemara, the National Historic Site home of American author Carl Sandburg.

Why Lincoln?  Because Sandburg wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of the President who was born in a log cabin and led the US through the Civil War.

The celebration is in the morning from 9:30 - 12:30:

Featured performances include a reading of Sandburg’s speech before Congress during Lincoln’s 150th birthday celebration, music of Lincoln’s day and an Abraham Lincoln portrayal.

That same weekend (26-28 Sept) is the Flat Rock Music Festival; three days of outdoor concerts, workshops and songwriters highlighting American acoustic music.

Such an event seems quite appropriate since Sandburg loved music, and was the author of Carl Sandburg’s American Songbag.

The second special event is on October 17, 2008 and celebrates the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Sandburg’s home as a Historic Site in the National Park Service.

It includes special ranger programs and a review of Sandburg’s writing.

Psst….while you’re in Flat Rock, stop at the brick oven bakery/restaurant tucked into a shop called the Wrinkled Egg, on the main road.

Tiny spot, yummy food.

So, take a fall trip into western North Carolina’s Blue Ridge region and pay tribute to a prolific author and American original.

Related posts:

• Carolina….nothing finer
• The Blue Ridge arts scene
• Carolina BBQ will fix what ails you

Many cities around the world harbor beautiful and imaginative art museums and art galleries; they are only “unexpected” because the cities are not particularly large or well-known.

Then again, who really knew anything about the Spanish city of Bilbao before Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim swirled across the landscape?

In Kansas City, Missouri, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has several worthy collections (and they blog!) but I was particularly struck by their outdoor Sculpture Park.

The Museum generously hosted the opening reception for the 2008 Travel Media Showcase conference that I attended as a journalist, but I kept leaving the festivities to explore the grounds.

Two pieces of art were my favorites….

George Segal’s bronze “Rush Hour” was bathed in droplets from a recent shower, and the preoccupied commuters in the sculpture looked like any soggy businesspeople hurrying home in the rain.

They were modeled directly from the artist’s friends and neighbors, using plaster-dipped gauze molded directly onto their faces and bodies.

I zoomed in for a closeup of the water running off of one statue’s resigned-looking face.

In contrast to the very human-scaled Segal work, the giant Oldenburg and van Bruggen badminton birdie/shuttlecock sculptures scattered across the Museum’s green lawn seemed as though they’d been dropped on the grass only moments before.

Perhaps some sporty racket-swinging giant had passed by….

I don’t think I saw anyone look at the 5,500 pound shuttlecocks without pointing and smiling a little, and what Museum wouldn’t want such a testament to art’s positive impact?

Take a look at the Museum’s blog for updates like the latest on the photography collections in their new Bloch Building, or a behind-the-scenes look at how a special painting is put on display in the gallery.

For more of the unexpected, visit the Arts and Culture section of the Kansas City tourism Web site.

For a slide show and detailed information about the outdoor art that I saw, click here to learn more about the Kansas City Sculpture Park around the Museum.

Related post:  

• 3 great reasons to visit Kansas City

For anyone who wants to kick those Monday blues, here are a few helpful travel tips and links….

General Travel Advice

• 20 fabulous food festivals, in the UK’s Guardian.
• On Mashable, 25+ Tools for a Road Trip 2.0
• Find top Native American music online at NativeRadio
• Travel on a budget — Arthur Frommer says that economic problems are resulting in unexpected good deals on cruises and Las Vegas casino-resorts that are desperate for your business.
• Then again, a cruise during hurricane season can mean unexpected alterations in itinerary, so I don’t think the passenger mutiny because of Tropical Storm Hanna will be too successful.
• The money crunch means an upsurge in camping near Chicago.  Are any of our readers planning to haul out the ol’ tent and sleeping bags to save some money?
• From BootsnAll, 9 TV chefs whose restaurants you can actually eat in

Places to Wander

• See more of Japan; save money and travel freely with a Japan Rail Pass
• Europe’s best rooftop bars, in the Guardian, plus fall beer festivals in Europe from About.com
• 5 tips for women on what to wear in India….plus Beth also scores versatile shoes for women who travel.  Get it all in a carry-on; cut down on extraneous footwear!
• Readers help National Geographic Traveler bloggers find the good stuff on Tybee Island, Georgia
• Cruising the Nile in Egypt, from the Sydney Morning Herald.
• In San Francisco (naturally) find organic bars for your cocktail hour
• Travel the Silk Road on a magic carpet ride through the ‘Stans
• Air travel got you down?  Check out four great USA rail journeys
• Matsuri Da!  When women carry the Shinto shrines in Japanese festivals

Finally, thanks very much to the Catholic (blog) Carnival for featuring our PT post about the Hostyn grotto in Central Texas, which is modeled after the grotto at Lourdes, France.

Three years ago tomorrow, on August 29, 2005, the category five Hurricane Katrina decimated the low-lying city of New Orleans (plus huge swaths of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.)

One year later, I made a quick visit to the city while moving from Florida to Texas; here is my somewhat grim snapshot report.

An excerpt:

“The smashed landscape goes for miles and looks as though it happened just 2-3 months ago, not last summer. This city is not “bouncing back” anytime soon and it is a shadow of what it was.

Yes, a few twists and turns found our minivan somehow absurdly cruising Bourbon Street, and that “den of iniquity” looks pretty much the same as always (this detour was not in my original quickie sightseeing plan, but my teenage daughter got to hoot at all of the girlie bars and soused adults wandering about.)

But drunks carrying daiquiris is not New Orleans.

The residential and business districts were dealt one hell of a body blow from which they are very slowly recovering, and all the powdered sugar beignets and chicory coffee slurped down at Cafe du Monde do not a real, live, sustainable city make.”

I closed the post with an exhortation for visitors to return to New Orleans, then wrote another post later highlighting the “Open for Travelers” sign hanging on Louisiana’s Cajun Country.

Today, as the city and the entire Gulf Coast prepare for the inbound Hurricane Gustav, I read a report in Editor & Publisher about how the local Times-Picayune newspaper is both reflecting on Katrina and simultaneously gearing up for a possible Gustav hit (almost exactly three years later, as many residents are finally moving back into their flattened homes.)

Since I’m returning to New Orleans on October 25 for the BlogHer Reach Out conference, my thoughts are with this unique city and those who live there, or used to.

I want to know why the city does not seem to have the protective structures that are a part of the elaborate anti-flooding DeltaWorks in the Netherlands.

Why did the Dutch get organized and spend a lot of their capital on flood control (especially after the disastrous 1953 North Sea flood that killed people and wiped out entire communities) but our nation can’t seem to find the same strength of will for New Orleans?

American gumption, know-how and focus — where y’at?

It finally rained a few days ago here in Central Texas, where we’ve been suffering from drought conditions.

My family and I stood out on the front porch just to smell the rain, feel it splash up to wet our toes and hear it pound on the roof.

That night, we felt an affinity for some 20th century Texans who lived nearby; southeast of Austin in the teensy farm village of Hostyn, one of the oldest Czech communities in the state.

They suffered an even more severe drought in 1924-1925 that devastated their livelihood, the cotton crop.

In appreciation for the end of dry conditions in 1925, the Czechs of the Holy Rosary Catholic church in Hostyn built a small replica of the famous Catholic landmark, the grotto at Lourdes, France.

During a road trip to Houston, we detoured to take a look at their tribute.

It’s a little disconcerting to find an elaborate stone grotto with plaster figures and plastic flowers sitting out in the middle of nowhere on a hot Texas day, but I admired the vision and persistence of believers who were determined to offer thanks for rain the best way they knew how.

Over the years, church members also donated money to build an elaborate sculptured “Stations of the Cross” series all the way around the church building.

The nearby cemetery was full of gravestones with Czech names, but the most poignant sight was two Civil War cannons, with plaques.

One was for Joseph Lidiak, a father, who fought for the Confederacy.

The other was for John Lidiak, his son, who fought for the Union.

After the war, they returned to the village and worked the family farm together. Today they are buried side-by-side on the windy bluffs of Hostyn.

Update:  The August 29, 2008 issue of “The Austin Chronicle” has an article about the Hostyn Grotto in its Day Trips section.

Related posts:

• The melting pot still stirs
• Baby, you can drive my (art) car