Month: February 2004

  • Georgia On My Mind

    Georgia is so much more than just Atlanta and peaches.

    The hills in Northern Georgia are beautiful. They are part of the Appalachians that are connected to the Great Smoky Mountains.

    I told Matt I think the hills look like breasts, and he said, “You’re not the only one. That’s why they named them the Grand Tetons.” I don’t think Tetons have anything to do with breasts, but whatever. (I think he was sleepy. He’d been driving for about 12 hours at that point.)

    The Tetons are in Wyoming, by the way. Not Georgia.


    Georgia pines obscure my view of the mountains
    (Dangit! I can’t see the forests for the trees!)

  • Getting There is What?

    I read somewhere, I think it was in Miss Piggy’s Guide to Life, an adage I agree with: “If getting there is half the fun, you must be going to a pretty terrible place.” She has some great travel tips in that book. Anyway, roadtripping with Matt is fun because he does all the driving! :P

    We passed through Illinois.

    Oh wait, no, that was a picture of Indiana.

    Sorry, no, that was a picture of Ohio.

    Here’s the picture of Illinois.

    CAN YOU TELL? Didn’t think so. I could probably show any number of pictures from the Midwest. For all anyone knows, those are pictures of Iowa. But I didn’t do that, because I’m not an unethical journalist.

    (For future reference, you can also easily swap pictures of the Wisconsin Dells for the hills in Eastern Missouri or Southeastern Minnesota.)

    We could tell when we hit Kentucky because we hit some hills, and the snow that was coming down slowly changed to a drizzly rain. Whee.


    We were road-trippin’.

  • Norfolk, VA


    Downtown Norfolk in the snow


    The waterfront

    I was pleased to see so much water, when flying over Norfolk, Virginia. Nearly all of the inlets are occupied by houses with private boat docks. Lots of sailors in these parts. I met someone who actually lives on a sailboat, while working at the hospital. He survived Hurricane Isabelle because he was on-call that night.

    Norfolk is predominantly a military town. It has a huge new mall downtown. People were quick to point that out.

  • Page House Inn, Norfolk, Virginia

    If you like bed and breakfast places, I have to recommend this inn. I’ve only stayed in bed and breakfasts twice. This was my second stay at a bed and breakfast and I was impressed.

    I liked it because I had privacy. I guess some people like bed and breakfasts because of the “homey atmosphere.” To my mind, homey atmosphere does not mean having MY PARENTS around 24/7. The last bed & breakfast I stayed at, I felt like I was being chaperoned around by a too-motherly hostess.

    Impersonal hotels are nice that way. They leave you to fend for yourself, but at least you have peace and quiet and no one nagging you to put on your jacket before you leave your hotel room. Sheesh!

    This Page House Inn, however, somehow managed to combine a homey atmosphere with peace and quiet. Gorgeous place. It caters to business travelers too.


    Master Lawrie’s attic room


    The Bath Suite has a fireplace


    The Bath Suite is named for this:
    an in-ground jacuzzi in the sunroom


    Parlor #1


    Parlor #2
    I really appreciated having the fire going after coming in from the snowy tour of Norfolk.

    After traveling on Southwest (no food on flights saves YOU AND THEM money), I also really appreciated the endless supply of snacks that you find in nearly every room of the house. Junk food (Doritos, potato chips, Cheetos, and all kinds of carbonated beverages) on the third floor landing. Fresh fruit (grapes, oranges, bananas, apples) on the 2nd floor landing. Endless supply of hot tea in the parlor. And chocolate chip cookies in the evening.

    Stormi, the little mascot, was also really sweet and friendly. The owner of this bed and breakfast is, incidentally, a sailor. Cool dude.


    Norfolk, Virginia

  • Butts (in Norfolk, Virginia)

    I walked past the Chrysler Museum of Art twice — once before the snow, and once after the snow — AND NEVER ONCE SAW THE FRONT OF THIS STATUE!

    I don’t know who these guys are supposed to be, but I’m guessing that’s Prometheus on the ground.

  • Norfolk, VA

    Virginia holds a special place in my heart. I spent my formative years there, and I love the Appalachians more than the Sierras. They are older and more mysterious with tons of green meadows hidden in them, and many rushing rivers.

    I visited Norfolk, VA in January. I arrived before the snow fell, and walked to see the Battleship Wisconsin in downtown Norfolk. What a beautiful ship! There is a cool museum there too, that depicts the development of steel ships from wooden ones. It’s amazing to me that the U.S. was building steel ships as early as the 1860′s. The earliest steel warships were ugly looking things, but functional.


    U.S.S. Wisconsin Battleship
    Norfolk, VA
    Hampton Roads Naval Museum

    The Battleship Wisconsin was commissioned in the 1930′s, I think, and was used as recently as the Gulf War. One of the 16-inch (diameter of the gun) guns can shoot a missile that is as heavy as a VW bug about 23 miles. Pretty impressive for something built that long ago.


    Big Guns
    U.S.S. Wisconsin

    >
    ‘Nother view of the Big Guns
    U.S.S. Wisconsin


    What about them big guns?


    Strike Marks from the Gulf War

  • Coralville, Iowa

    Am I the only one who thinks it’s bizarre to name a city in the middle of the prairie after an organism that lives in the sea?

    Maybe it’s named after a woman named Coral. I like Coralville. She should be proud.


    “Coralville Welcomes You”

    I stayed at the Best Western. This place is pretty cool. It’s got this Medieval theme going on. The heart-shaped jacuzzis in the suites are anachronistic, of course.


    Best Western, Coralville, Iowa


    The Lord’s Tower
    Up above leads to one of the honeymoon suites. Stairs down to the basement leads to the restaurant/bar.


    Hallway. Just a hallway.

    ‘Couldn’t get a picture of the cool suites, because, well, there were people in them, and they looked at me funny when I peeked in through their open door. (Lots of people leave their doors open here. Good for robbers, bad for travelers.) Gorgeous suites though. The King Arthur suite was particularly pretty, in the brochure I got at the front desk, after getting stared at a lot. Just walking around the hotel is amusing, as whoever designed/decorated it has a real sense of humor.


    The Lord’s Tower Bar
    For your amusement, behind the bar counter is a window that looks in at the pool from underwater. ‘Saw a lot of legs. . . and some things that should not be seen, either in or out of the water.


    Private booths for those desiring to drink their grog unseen.

  • Carrot, Egg, or Coffee?

    My father-in-law is still sending me cute stories and jokes. Here is one he sent back in December.

    CARROT, EGG OR COFFEE??

    You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

    A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.

    Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water.

    In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.

    In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me what do you see?”

    “Carrots , eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

    She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they got soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it.

    After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.

    Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked. “What’s the point, mother?”

    Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity–boiling water–but each reacted differently.

    The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.

    The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.

    The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water.

    “Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”

    Think of this:

    Which am I?

    Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

    Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat?

    Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?

    Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain.
    When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level?

    How do you handle Adversity?
    ARE YOU A CARROT, AN EGG, OR A COFFEE BEAN?

    —-

    Don’t tell GOD how big your storm is. Tell the storm how big your GOD is!

  • Cleveland Lights

    When it’s cold and slippery outside, that’s a good time for room service.


    Crabcakes with a huge dollop of 1000 Island, a salad with far too much spinach for my liking, a “Chocolate Bomb” (which was so rich it made me woefully ill), and hot chicken noodle soup, which was the best by far.


    Cleveland Lights

  • Cleveland

    Cleveland, they tell me, is naturally segregated by the Cuyahoga River. “East of the river, you used to find your blue collar workers, whereas the white collar folks lived on the west side of the river.” That was what it was like when Cleveland was more industrial in economy.


    Cleveland downtown and stadium from the Hilton Garden Inn’s 10th floor
    (If you look really hard, in the distance behind the buildings to the right, you can see FROZEN LAKE ERIE.)

    “Cleveland still has the Ford motor plant. But nowadays, it’s not too much different. Black folks live on the east side of Cuyahoga River, and white and Hispanic folks live on the west side of the River.”

    So I am told.

    Well, what I’d like to know is where do they put the Asians? HUH? HUH???? (I suppose we’re expected to be kinda quiet and unnoticed all the time. Uh huh.)