THREE THINGS
An Occasional Series on, well…Three Things: Three Serendipitously-Discovered Getaway Places
“We’re all tourists, only in different places…”*
I’m a small-town kid from South Dakota. With the exception of a car trip with my parents, two sisters, and little brother to visit relatives in California when I was in seventh grade — a trip that could have been the model for National Lampoon’s Family Vacation — I didn’t leave the state until Caryl and I moved to Minneapolis after college, as newlyweds, where she began her teaching career and I attended Luther Seminary. Thus I am always a bit bemused when I look back on my travel history and realize that, in the intervening years, I’ve actually been to a surprising number of destinations for a South Dakota boy — certainly more than I would have predicted or planned for. Almost all of these journeys have been with Caryl (except mine to Tanzania and hers to Denali). When I stop and think about it, these trips fulfill the definition of what one of my friends called “the multiple honeymoon plan.” (Caryl and I had a somewhat ragged actual honeymoon — another post for another time — but we have more than made up for it in big and little “honeymoons” ever since.) We are probably the least-traveled among our friends: As I write, one couple is in Hawaii, another cruising the Nile, and my brother and sister-in-law sailing near Antarctic waters off South America. But, with some wistfulness, we are grateful to be able to remember (and maybe anticipate again) travel to Oxford, Rome, Tuscany, Copenhagen, Oslo and Bergen, Norway (enroute to visiting Caryl’s ancestral Nesbo farm in the mountains above the Sognefjord), Victoria, BC; the 1898 Chilkoot Trail of the Klondike Gold Rush, and a number of years of living in Ketchikan and Anchorage, Alaska. That’s not exactly “I’ve been everywhere,” but it is, as I say, a surprising tally of places as I look back. I could lovingly and yearningly write of each place (it’s interesting that my desire for further travel is just to go back to those places and sit in the lobby or the pub or the plaza or the lodge deck with Caryl and a glass of wine). I realize that you, dear reader, may not share my interest (a variation on “there’s nothing more boring than other people’s vacation slides”), but even so, I hope you will hear this recommendation of a trio of places that we treasure because we came upon them somewhat serendipitously — that is, they weren’t anything we planned on, but have become for us what I like to call our “Brigadoons” — where, having once happened upon them, they call us back again. I list them here because, enchanting as they are to us, they might also be very accessible to you — and you may want to add them to your travel atlas — or your Multiple Honeymoon Plan!
I. STRATFORD, ONTARIO…That is to say…THE STRATFORD FESTIVAL
One of the many blessings of being married to Caryl Nasby is my introduction to Jim and Judy — friends Caryl has known since Kindergarten — with whom she was reconnected a few years ago after a few decades of separation brought about by “the changes and chances of life.” Fortuitously, shortly after re-wiring their friendship with Caryl (and me!), Jim and Judy — whose lives have been suffused in the arts of drama and music — invited us to join them at the Stratford Festival, which they had recently discovered. That was three years ago, and we have just returned from another Stratford season (the dreamy gates of Brigadoon having once again closed behind us).
Stratford, Ontario (population 30,000), has been voted “Most Beautiful Small City in the World” by some organization who judges such things — but it was not always so. Recovering from an economic downturn caused by the decline of its steam railroad industry — and building on the town’s shared name with Stratford-Upon-Avon, England — city leaders dreamed up “The Stratford Shakespearean Festival” in 1952, recruiting Tyrone Guthrie as the artistic developer and founding director. (Guthrie’s next call was to Minneapolis, where he similarly set up the Guthrie Theater.) The first seasons of the festival featured a number of future stars, including Christopher Plummer, Alec Guinness, and Maggie Smith. After the beginning years of limited runs, the festival has grown to fill an annual calendar from April to October — a season that is no longer limited to Shakespeare. (One of the most arresting plays this year was “Salesman in China,” based on the true occurrence of a Chinese theater company inviting the author, Arthur Miller, to travel to China and assist them in producing his play, “Death of a Salesman,” for a Chinese audience.) In our first year, with Jim and Judy, we saw five plays in four days. This summer we saw eight plays in six days (whew!). But, consulting the festival calendar, one could book two plays in three days, or….
It’s good to pace oneself with the plays, because two associated attractions during the theater season are the Stratford Music Festival (a variety of styles and venues throughout the summer), and an assortment of restaurants and bars that make where to have dinner a pleasantly difficult choice each day. (And speaking of dinner: Stratford is also the home of the Ontario Pork Congress! Did I mention that Stratford is in the middle of beautiful farm country?) Here’s the 2025 Stratford Festival Season.
II. RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA… that is to say…THE MISSION INN
A number of years ago, my friend, brother-in-law, and fellow-Lutheran pastor, Jeff Rohr, did me the honor of asking me to preach at the funeral of his father, The Rev. Elmer Jeffries Rohr (yes, another Lutheran pastor — and one who became a mentor to me. The life story, faith, and magnanimous presence of E. Jeff Rohr is a subject for another essay — which I will offer some day.) For the purposes of this post, I am grateful that Jeff and his family flew me to Riverside, California, the place of the funeral, and put me up in the Mission Inn. Riverside¹ is a lovely inland community and university city; it is not an oceanside town, but it is “ocean-adjacent” — to use the phrase of the moment — and the base for an easy drive to, for example, Laguna Beach in one direction, and Joshua Tree National Park in another. But I wouldn’t be writing this if it weren’t for The Mission Inn — a member of “Historic Hotels of America” and a destination place for us. (Caryl and I have visited a number of times since my initial introduction).
Although established in 1876 and designed in the architectural “Spanish Mission” style — and featuring a beautiful wedding chapel located in its central atrium² — the Mission Inn is not church-related and does not have a missionary history.
With hundreds of rooms (no two of which are alike), five restaurants (one of which, “Las Campanas,” serves Mexican cuisine with table-side Guacamole in an outdoor patio twelve months of the year), four bars, a pool, a spa, and a resident pair of talking parrots — one can enjoy a three-night stay (my recommendation for the minimum) without ever leaving the hotel. So if you are later asked, “Have you ever been to Southern California?,” you can answer, “Well, I’ve been to the Mission Inn.”
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As stated above, the Mission Inn is a base for exploring all kinds of nearby locations — inland and seaside; but this recommendation is for the Mission Inn as the only location you need. I cannot describe it better than the Mission Inn Website.
1. Fun fact: John North, who founded Riverside — and co-founded the California citrus industry — was also the founder of Northfield, Minnesota, a lovely college town (Carleton, St. Olaf) just thirteen miles from where I sit, and home to our daughter and her family.
2. The chapel is a popular wedding venue — booked almost every weekend. Richard and Pat Nixon were among many notables married in the Mission Inn chapel. And I recently learned that the mother of my mentor, the afore-mentioned Pastor E. Jeffries Rohr, was married there — but not his father! Like I said, an interesting life story.
III. COOPERSTOWN, NEW YORK… that is to say… THE COOPER INN
Caryl and I “discovered” Cooperstown on one of our first road trips from Minnesota to visit our daughter in Massachusetts. We like road trips (in season), and even the Interstate is beautiful in upstate New York. With Cooperstown as our last en-route stop, we are left with only a four-hour drive to get to Anna’s, and now that she and Rick are parents of two of our grandkids, we look forward to more road trips to visit them — and Cooperstown!
It may seem curious that I’ve neglected the Baseball Hall of Fame in the headline of this section, but the truth is that Caryl and I were first attracted to Cooperstown when we noticed its I-90 exit sign and had heard that it was a beautiful town. At the time, I was a fair-weather baseball fan, and Caryl even less of one. (Since then, we have both become avid Minnesota Twins fans [alas!]). Of course we were aware of the Hall of Fame, but on our first visit to Cooperstown, we only entered far enough into the Hall to get to the gift shop so I could buy a H.O.F. shot glass for my brother-in-law. On our next visit — with our new-found ardor for the sport — we bought the tickets and took the whole Hall of Fame tour, which we enjoyed tremendously. It is a thorough and informative and wonderful telling of the story of Baseball (including the information that Abner Doubleday’s invention of baseball, in Cooperstown, is a myth!) But on that first visit, we relaxed and enjoyed our stay in the Cooper Inn, a 19th century Federal-Brick mansion that has become a quietly elegant small hotel, with a civilized Happy Hour each afternoon.
And if we want the amenities of a large hotel, we walk two blocks to enjoy the restaurants, bars, patio, and golf course of the Otesega (coincidentally another member of “Historic Hotels of America”), the central site of lodging and activities for the annual Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. (The Cooper Inn is a part of the Otesega group.) If interested in booking either the Cooper Inn or the Otesega, you’ll want to avoid the Hall Of Fame dates — unless you’re attending!
Cooperstown was founded in 1786 by William Cooper, father of James Fenimore Cooper, author of “The Last of the Mohicans.” The Fenimore Art Museum is one of many other reasons — in addition to the Baseball Hall of Fame — to visit Cooperstown.
* Regarding $$$: All of these places cost a bit more than Motel 6, but when compared to the price of a Viking Cruise, or flying to any European capital, we are able to make them fit into our travel budget, with an experience every bit as fulfilling as those more far-flung destinations.
More in the Three Things series: Are These the Three Most Beautiful Broadway Love Songs?
