Teaser: New Miniblogseries Coming Soon...

I don't want to give away too many details quite yet, but starting around Sept. 1st, I am hoping to post a new mini-series called "The Backpackers Are in Front of BestBuy" regarding my recent quest to find and photograph all seven public sculptures/works of art in my hometown of Roanoke, Va., which are part of a city-wide art project. (More info can be found at artinroanoke.com)



There were some misadventures and mistakes along the way, and the reason why I am going to title the mini-series "The Backpackers Are in Front of BestBuy" is because a sculpture piece called "Traveling Wanderers" by Willis, Va. (near Floyd, Va.), artist Charlie Brouwer shows two backpackers. The art piece is actually located in the vicinity of the very busy Valley View Mall shopping area. And, in fact, one person told me that phrase as I was trying to locate the sculpture.



SIDEBAR: Last week, Chef Ludo Lefebrve hunted a buffalo down in rural Colorado and served it for dinner at Biker Jim's in downtown Denver for the Sundance Channel series "Ludo Bites America." This week, the reality show came to our neck of the woods as the chef went all over the Tarheel State (including a legal moonshine still in Madinson, NC- yes, I know that's an oxy moron) to fix a pigfest at Gravy Restaurant on Wilmington Street in the heart of downtown Raleigh. Among the items, Ludo served up were: fried pig ears and pigblood pudding (yes, we were wondering if that was a dessert item too).



Ironically, this episode is running during Ramadan. Since my late father Mehmet Gokbudak came from Turkey, I should mention that there are several good Turkish restaurants in Raleigh.



None of these restaurants serve pork (and, if I have to tell you why, then perhaps that explains why Republican candidate Rick Perry is turning to global warming denialism), and this would include The Bosphorous Restaurant in Cary, NC- Raleigh's largest suburb. They have a great chicken kebab by the way!



SIDEBAR TWO: We also want to wish kudos to Lewisburg, WV, for being named the 'coolest small town in America' by "Budget Travel" magazine. The tows in some 90 miles north of Roanoke, Va.



Oh yeah....so much for the proposed hiatus!

DC Diary- I Want to Go to the Holocaust Museum

We conclude our diary of the family trip to Washington, DC, with some tips on how to get your voice heard when traveling to any part of the United States, the world or The Milky Way, with members of your family or even your friends.

When traveling with groups, one of the main disadvantages is getting your voice heard, especially if you make considerably less money than anyone in your party. (I would not advise taking a trip with the Kardashians, and I'm not saying that because I'm Turkish and they're Armenian!).

Reverse psychology is one possibly effective method which could work though I did not try it myself.

A few trips back, I actually went to The Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, to see an exhibit about the infamous 1936 Berlin Olympics, which turned into a propaganda outlet for Adolf Hitler (this was before the museum guard was tragically murdered at the museum some two years ago). The museum itself is very fascinating, but of course, it is quite depressing. As much sympathy as I have for the Jewish people and what they went through, I realized I could never go back to the museum again.

So, of course, it is a place that I would say I wanted to go to if in a group of more than four people. You will inevitably have one person say: "I want to go to the Smithsonian," or The Textile Museum or The National Zoo, so if you tell the Kim Kardashian of the group that you must, absolutely, positively must go to The Holocaust Museum.

Then, everyone will say: "Hmmm...that's too depressing, can we go somewhere else?" That's when you say The National Building Museum or the Folger's Shakespeare Library (yeah, I may be the only person in a group of 20 who would choose those places). And, amazingly enough, you might just get your way.

Since, Washington, DC, has quite a lot going on, there were indeed several places, we didn't get to visit and a few places that I hope to visit some time in the near future.

They include the 9:30 Club where a band called The Virginia Coalition performs on Jan. 15 (yes, I think it sounds like a lobbying group that should be on K-Street too), the Politics and Prose bookstore where "Washington Post" music critic Anne Midgette talks tomorrow night, the Studio Theatre which is getting set to perform "Marcus, or The Secret of Sweet" and two Turkish restaurants: Cafe Divan and Meze.

I must profess that I was very intrigued when I glanced over at Meze's web site (mezedc.com) and saw that they offer Saturday and Sunday brunches with beef sausage. I can imagine this might be confusing to some Anatolian villagers from a place like Yozgat, Turkey, who would seemingly paranoid that all sausage products must come from Porky Pig!

PS_ The image above is from the acclaimed 1985 documentary "Shoah" about the Holocaust. It lasts nine hours long, but it is said to be one of the best films about the subject ever made.