Things I learned on my summer vacation

Long car trips are far more enjoyable when the driver refrains from gratuitous "stress-busting" profanities.

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Pete Seeger is the best driving music, at least for my family. (For a related post, see here.)

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My children love Bob Dylan's song "Farewell."

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Taco Bell is perhaps the best road-food choice for vegans. In second place: Subway.

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Edward Hopper's sketches are as terrific as his paintings.

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Blaise Cendrars' Prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jeanne de France (1913), with stencil designs by Sonia Delaunay, is on display at the New York Public Library (in an exhibit of French book art). It's an extraordinary work, printed accordion-style, and measuring 6' 6 5/16" when unfolded. A Parisian bookseller appears to have a copy for sale, with a vibrant photograph thereof. The colors of the NYPL copy are far more delicate.

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Changing strings on a six-string guitar should take twelve minutes, tops.

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"Ramblin' on My Mind" is great to sing and play, no matter how many times you've done so.

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It's very difficult choosing among varieties of excellent dark chocolate.

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The shape of the glass can change the taste of the wine (especially if it's good wine).

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A dowdy-world tradition for ladies: when you buy a new pocketbook, you drop in a shiny new penny.

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Theodore Roosevelt's wife and mother died on the same day (February 14, 1884.)

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To counter the effects of various drugs and thereby stay awake, Marcel Proust would drink seventeen consecutive cups of coffee.

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"New Jersey is a diner."

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We are stardust, just as Joni Mitchell says in "Woodstock." (There's an explanation here.)

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Sufjan Stevens' Illinois sounds especially good when heading west out of Indiana.

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Somewhere in Pennsylvania is a driver whose license plate reads "THE PURV."