Theresa's Travels & Thoughts Along the Way

8/2011 an additional memory on Glenwood Springs

2011-08-26T18:01:00.000-04:00

I don't have any photos to document it, which is probably why I forgot to mention it, but on the train rides to and from Glenwood Springs, we actually saw wildlife. We spotted a bald eagle soaring and then landing on a tree. That actually happened twice--once on the way out and once on the way back. Don't know if it was the same bald eagle or not. We saw an elk. The train had come to a stop at some point, probably waiting for another train to pass, and an elk walked within 50 yards of the train. It was as if on cue. We also spotted a black bear, looked like a teenager--not a small cub, but not full grown, frolicking (literally) in some tall grass very near the track.

8/21/01 Great Lakes

2011-08-21T17:09:00.003-04:00

Have I ever flown over the Great Lakes before? I'm sure I have, but I sure don't remember it. I must've not been paying attention. This is an impressive view. And guess what. They are really big! Hahahaha

This occurred about 5 minutes after the windmills. I'm narrowing down the location of the farming windmills and now I know what "the big body of water" was in the last post.

8/21/2011 windmills

2011-08-21T16:53:00.004-04:00

I'm not sure what part of the country we are flying over....we are about 90 minutes away from landing in Boston, and about 5 minutes after I took this picture we were over a really big body of water. As I looked out over this farmland I could see that every patch of land (presumably each field) had a giant windmill on it. It literally looks like windmill farms. A) I'm amazed at how big those things must be for me to be able to distinguish the three blades from this high up, and B) I'm fascinated with the terrain and the big body of water and wish I knew where I was located.

8/21/3011 Window Seat

2011-08-21T16:06:00.002-04:00

I can't believe how quickly my time in Reno has passed. Thank you Jacque and Dan for a wonderful working vacation and for 6 fun-filled days and nights. Nothing beats great friends combined with amazing food, good "spirits," and fun activities.

It takes sooooo long to fly west to east. Today is going to be a long day. I got up at 4:45am PST to leave by 6 to be at the airport by 6:15 for a 7:25 flight. I'm on my way to Phoenix where I'll change planes for a 6-hour non-stop to Boston. Hopefully I'll catch the 6:35pm Concord bus to Portland and then drive two hours to Farmington and arrive home by 10pm EST.

8/21/2011 Burning Man

2011-08-21T15:14:00.001-04:00

Now this is one heck of an event. There was even an art display in the airport about it...photos of the craziness from the last 24 years. On one if my trips out here, Jacque and Dan took me to their hunting "cabin" for Memorial Day weekend and in our sightseeing along the way we were in the area of Burning Man and they told me about it. "Unique" is the best word I can use to describe it.
It starts next weekend and culminates on Labor Day. I just missed getting to be here for it, though I gotta tell you, I'm not sure I'd really care that much about going.

8/20/2011 Last Night in Reno

2011-08-20T17:24:00.001-04:00

Tonight, Jacque and Dan took me to their favorite restaurant, Washoe Steakhouse. We were going to meet their friend, Jackie, and depending on how busy the night was, we might be joined by Craig, the restaurant's owner. Delightfully, Craig was able to spend a lot of time with us and we were joined for a short while by another regular customer, Steve. It was a perfect night for sitting out on the cozy patio, and it was yet another amazing evening of great friends, amazing food, and good spirits. (They were actually incredibly fabulous spirits, but "good spirits" just has such a nice ring to it and captures the mellowness of the evening.) I can't remember the last time that I was so engages in such great conversation that lasted four hours before you looked at your watch and said, "Where has the time gone?" it was definitely a magical evening and even if you don't have the amazing company I had, I HIGHLY recommend the food, the atmosphere, and the service at Washoe.

8/19/2011 Greek Festival

2011-08-19T20:40:00.014-04:00

Opa!! Friday night we attended the Greek Festival in Reno. Oh my!! Incredibly yummy and very festive. We bought $10 tickets in advance and when we arrived, they gave us $10 in chips to use to buy food. Wait. Does that mean we got in for free? Or was our food included in the price? Either way, it was fabulous. The entertainment included a lot of Greek music and dancing.

My favorite (and it was all great) . . . lamb chops.

Slicing up the Greek sausage right off the grill.

They're making donuts . . . fried dough drenched in honey with cinnamon and walnuts.

If you're going to have a festival that's cash only, you better have an ATM. Even if it's just temporary.

8/18/2011 A "Modern" Museum

2011-08-18T21:07:00.000-04:00

If modern means keeping up with the times then the Nevada Museum of Art is a modern museum. It's also a museum with modern art in it, but I'm talking about the museum itself in its principles and practices. In the Egyptian exhibit, you could rent audio tours that included an audio player of some kind where you could listen to detailed descriptions of items in the collection. OR, if you saw a sign with a red cell phone icon on it and a number, you could call a specific phone number on your cell phone, press the number on the sign followed by the pound key, and listen to the detailed information on your own cell phone. I saw it in Washington DC at some of the monuments two summers ago but this is the first time I've seen it in a museum like this. Very impressive.

And then there was this notice! Wow. We are into MODERN times now.

8/18/2011 Nevada Museum of Art

2011-08-18T12:40:00.000-04:00

Jacque and I took a little time off on Thursday to go to the "To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum" exhibit at the Nevada Museum of Art. The Egypt exhibit was very cool and then we toured the rest of the museum (also very cool) and had lunch in the Café Musée which was chic and yummy. It was a great way to spend the morning.

8/17/2011 Relaxin' in Reno

2011-08-17T18:39:00.000-04:00

This is why I can justify leaving Maine in the middle of summer. What a great week of just hanging out with Jacque and Dan on their gorgeous patio in the beautiful weather that Reno was having while I was here. This is the life. :-)

7/9/2011 30 Years with American AAdvantage

2011-08-17T14:29:00.002-04:00

I never would've guessed it had been that long. I knew I was a member since very early on (I once had a ticket agent tell me that I didn't give her all of my AAdvantage number because it didn't start with a letter . . . but in the olden days, they were just 7-digit numbers), but I couldn't have told you when I joined. Obviously, American has been keeping track. :-) Happy Anniversary to me and to American's AAdvantage program!

8/16/2011 First In 'n Out Experience

2011-08-16T13:09:00.001-04:00

I have heard sooooo much about In 'n Out that when it came up as an option on Urban Spoon (Jacque and I were playing with new apps on our iPhones and Urban Spoon is one of my favorites), nothing would do but we had to go. It's my first time!! I had heard so much about it from my cousin Ara and from Rodney and from others besides that I had to go.

It was good. It was incredibly efficient, very clean, great atmosphere. I had a regular hamburger that was good and obviously fresh (you could tell not just from the signs that proclaimed it but from the taste). The fries were okay. I expected more since you get to watch them cut the potatoes right there. If they're that fresh, they should taste amazing. I don't think I would drive hours out of my way to go to one (which I know people that do that), but I would eat there again if the opportunity arose. Mostly, I'm just really glad to say I finally ate at one.

8/15/2011 Reno and the Vets

2011-08-15T21:36:00.001-04:00

The Vietnam Veterans of America are having their 15th biennial convention in Reno this coming weekend and Wow! was the airport getting ready for a big welcome! There were welcome tables decorated in red, white, and blue throughout the terminals and this was the greeting in baggage claim. Thank you veterans for all that you have done and all that you do to keep America free!

8/15/2011 Above the Clouds

2011-08-15T21:36:00.000-04:00

I love the window seat. :-)

8/15/2011 Denver Airport (again)

2011-08-15T19:35:00.000-04:00

Alas, it's time to leave. It was an amazing and action-packed 7 days, but I must go. fortunately, I'm heading to Reno to work 'n play with Jacque and Dan, so that makes the leaving a little easier to take. At least I'll be distracted.

So here I am in the Denver airport again. I didn't see this last time, but it seemed appropriate with my Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (and Buses and Segues Oh My) theme, that there should be an airplane INSIDE the airport.

I just learned that the Denver airport was designed to resemble the Rockies or at least represent all the mountains in the area. I learned it from the mom sitting behind me when we landed last week who was pointing it out to her young son. Here you can "kinda" see that design feature.

8/15/2011 The Gallery

2011-08-15T15:35:00.000-04:00

"The Family" (Rodney, Dain, Sara, and the boys) have lived in Aurora for almost exactly a year now. Dain and his dad have done A LOT of remodeling and fixing up on this house. It's been fun to see the change and improvement over time. But Rodney has never really made his room "home." Now he was ready to do that and I was thrilled to get to be a part of it. Yesterday, we went to Michael's and picked out some really nice frames (on 40% off sale and then found a coupon for 25% off that price). Last night, he went through his photos (he has a LOT of photos) and set aside about 20 that he really liked. He had to like the look as well as like the story that went with it or the emotions that it evoked. Instead of trying to narrow down from 20 to 9 while looking at them on his laptop, we just sent all 20 to WalMart's online photo shop and them all made into 5x7 prints. This morning while he was in school, I picked them up. It worked out perfectly! We had choices and could work with groupings and figure out what looked good together and what looked good in these frames. He ended up with 3 pics of the Oregon coast from 3 different trips (from when he lived in Oregon), 4 that represented each of the seasons, and 1 that was just very special. AND we got them all hung. You can't see the amazing photography in these pics, but you can see that we accomplished a great thing. My favorite part? I got to keep all the 5x7 prints that didn't get picked to go on the wall!!

8/15/2011 First Day of the New Term

2011-08-15T09:34:00.002-04:00

First Day of School Picture! This is Rodney's third term and Dain's fifth term. I ran errands while the two of them carpooled to their orientation classes.

8/14/2011 Last Dinner in Denver (for this trip)

2011-08-14T21:33:00.000-04:00

We almost had a big dinner for 7 adults and 2 kids at Cheddar's but there was a 45-minute wait, so Dain and Sara (and Sara's parents and their friend) had dinner at the house and Rodney and I went to Thai Garden, which was quite nice.

8/13/2011 Mini Hollins Reunion

2011-08-13T21:32:00.001-04:00

When I was editor of the Hollins Columns my junior year in college, Susan Bright was a talented first year student who joined the staff. By second semester, she was my features editor. With a name like Susan "Bright" how could she be anything but my "Star Reporter"? Well now she lives in Lafayette, CO, so I borrowed Rodney's car (after dropping him off at work) and drove to Lafayette. Bonus! Rebecca de la Vega lives near Susan and they're in the same band, Stubborn Gray, as well as the same church praise music group. Rebecca was hosting a cookout and jam session so that's where I went. It was great to get the Hollins gang together again! Rebecca actually graduated from Texas Women's University which is right next door to my second alma mater, North Texas. Small world!

Susan and her partner Kathy Rosser:

8/13/2011 Water Woes at the House

2011-08-13T11:33:00.000-04:00

Dain's parents were here while I was here. They live about 90 minutes away and often stop in and visit and help with the kids and help with the house. His mom had JUST finished doing some gardening in the newly sodded front yard when they saw water coming up from the city water works cover in their driveway. Oooops. There goes the new gardening. Look how deep the hole is!! They found a big split in the water pipe. Shoveling and digging and sweating is not exactly how one would like to spend a beautiful summer day. :-(

8/12/2011 Water Park

2011-08-12T21:32:00.000-04:00

It was Friday afternoon and Dain and Rodney were doing things, so Sara and I took the boys to the local water park. This is in a big city park just a few miles from the house in Aurora. And there's also a big covered picnic table area and a really nice playground. After playing in the water, we went to the playground for some more fun before dinner.

8/11/11 Trail Ridge Road

2011-08-11T18:27:00.000-04:00

After Alpine Visitor Center, we took the Trail Ridge Road (only open Memorial Day to Columbus Day) back to Estes Park. The road reaches a high of over 12,000 feet.

Trying out my app called "Pano" that lets you create your own panoramic photos. (You have to manually align the pics, but it merges them into one .jpg like this.) Somewhere out there is a mountain range called Never Summer Mountains and in it are Mount Cumulus, Mount Cirrus, Mount Nimbus, and Mount Stratus. Well named.

Lava Cliffs

I think this is a Clark's Nuthatch. Whatever it is, it was awfully cute and didn't mind posing for this photo.

We left the park around 5:00 and ate dinner at Village Inn. What a glorious day!

8/11/11 Old Fall River Road

2011-08-11T18:26:00.004-04:00

We found the webpage "Rocky in a Day" that suggested what to see and do if you only had one day in RMNP. Since we didn't arrive until noon, we had to shorten that to "if you only had half a day," but we took this author's advice and weren't disappointed.

We skipped some of the stops after Bear Lake and headed straight to Old Fall River Road. It is 9 miles of one-lane, narrow, dirt road filled with switchbacks . . . totally worth it! Built in 1913, it was the first road to cross the Rockies in northern Colorado. Rodney said it was like driving on Mount Washington in New Hampshire only more so. Think of your skinniest road next to ledges with big drop offs and you've got a good picture of Old Fall River Road.

Yep. It's this treacherous most of the way. Pretty scary but soooo gorgeous.

The road climbed and climbed . . . lots of switchbacks . . . and pretty soon, we were above the tree line.

The Alpine Visitor Center is at the end of Old Fall River Road and its elevation is 11,798 feet. It's closed more often than its open due to snow.

8/11/11 Rocky Mountain National Park

2011-08-11T18:25:00.019-04:00

Today: Rocky Mountain National Park! It just takes a smidge under two hours to get here from Aurora. This is The Stanley, a famous hotel in Estes Park, right before you get to RMNP. The Shining was filmed here, but there's a lot more history than that in this old classic.

It was a pretty popular day in RMNP. We went in the Beavers Meadow Entrance. The traffic wasn't too bad, but the parking was, so we took a shuttle and very soon thereafter, we were at Bear Lake. It's a pretty simple half-mile hike around the lake, but it packs a lot of scenery in a short time.

Bear Lake in front, Longs Peak (the mountain on the Colorado state quarter) in the back along with Keyboard of the Winds (the jaggedy part) and then Pagoda Peak. I don't know the names of the other 3 points, but they're all beautiful to look at.

Good parking karma--we got the #1 spot in a fairly full lot, very close to where the shuttle pick-up is located. (Here we are returning to our car.)

At the Horseshoe Park overlook:

8/10/11 New Scenery

2011-08-10T18:24:00.001-04:00

You'd think the scenery would be the same both ways on this train trip, but we were seeing it at different times of day and there were parts that we didn't sleep through this time. It all looked new and beautiful.

Soon it was too dark to see any scenery. We watched part of a movie on Rodney's iPad and took a nap before finally arriving in Denver at 11:30pm.

8/10/11 Private Rail Car

2011-08-10T18:23:00.007-04:00

We had the unique privilege of having a private railroad car on our train. See the last car? That's it. It is not an Amtrak car but rather a train car owned by someone who pays Amtrak to carry it around from place to place (like hiring a freight train to transport your goods). How cool is that??? It felt like the original television show "The Wild Wild West." James West and Artemus Gordon (why on earth do I remember those names) were always meeting someone or capturing someone in their private rail car. We never did find out who owned the car (or who rented the car . . . turns out there are several companies that rent out private rail cars).

8/10/11 Glenwood Springs' Train Station

2011-08-10T18:23:00.005-04:00

The train station in Glenwood Springs, built in 1904, is in the heart of downtown.

Not much has changed since 1904 . . . check out the ticket windows

...and the waiting area in this classic train station.

The Train! The Train! Only 5 hours late, the train finally arrives at that cute little train station in Glenwood Springs.

8/10/11 Late Lunch

2011-08-10T18:22:00.000-04:00

We finished our Segue tour at 3:00, then checked on our train which was now scheduled to depart at 5:00. The nice lady at the ticket counter told us to be back at 4:30. Perfect! We stopped back at Hotel Denver to ask Roxie the desk clerk for her recommendation for lunch. She said: The Grind restaurant. You have to learn about it from a local as it's a smidge off the beaten path and has no signage on the outside.

It's a skinny little structure, a row of tables to seat 12 on each side as you walk in the door with a bench against the wall and chairs on the inside, the counter for taking orders and serving drinks in the middle, and the kitchen in the back. A cow theme for decorations. A simple menu with about 8 choices and a pad of checklists with all the ingredients available and you can design your own burger. That's it. Simple and delicious.

I made my own burger: lamb, fetta cheese, peach/apple compote, and grilled pineapple. Oh yummy!

Aaaah! There was even time to stop at The Chocolate Moose Ice Cream Parlor which was closed the first time we were in the mood for ice cream.

Can you say hot fudge sundae?

8/10/11 Segway Tour of Town

2011-08-10T18:21:00.002-04:00

What do you do when you find out your train is going to be five hours late? Take a 90-minute Segway tour of Glenwood Springs! What else!! Little did I know what I was in for when 2 days ago I declared this trip an adventure. Rodney volunteered to go first and was a natural at it.

We had a lot of lessons in the parking lot before we left. Rick, our tour guide extraordinaire, made sure we could go fast, go slow, come to a complete stop, maneuver tight turns, and go over bumps with the left tire only, the right tire only, and both tires. After about 15 minutes, the 5 of us were ready to go--Rick, Rodney, me, and Amy & Tom a newlywed couple from Omaha NE who came to Glenwood Springs for their honeymoon.

We had a vote and we all voted for the more adventuresome tour that went to the top of the mountain. We actually rode Segways UP the mountain! We were on gravel roads, skinny paths, switchbacks . . . it was quite the challenge with a big reward at the end.

Here are our little ponies tied up at the corral while we take a respite at the top and enjoy the scenery. Pictured are Amy and Rick (seated on the bench).

8/10/11 Morning in Glenwood Springs

2011-08-10T10:32:00.022-04:00

Morning sunshine smiling on downtown Glenwood Springs (as viewed from our hotel room window....can you tell we love the room and the view).

Breakfast on the patio of Daily Bread Restaurant.

Vegetarian eggs benedict made with all locally grown veggies. I paid extra for a side of avocado because it was going to be real avocado. You can't get good avocado in Maine.

Ron Chapman, my favorite DJ in Dallas, always said, "There's never a sign without a story." In this case, it would be a series of signs and I was dying to know the story, but we never found out. There were, however, three more such signs with the same message in other locations in the store. It must be quite a story.

A glimpse of downtown Glenwood Springs

It's hard to see in this photo, but this mountain is filled with dead trees. There are currently issues with Aspen, but we saw a lot of dead pine, too. Not sure what tree it is in this photo, but they are definitely dead trees. This morning we took the free shuttle that goes through Glenwood Springs. It gave us a nice feel for the lay of the land.

Hmmmmm. Interesting.

8/9/11 An Evening in Glenwood Springs

2011-08-09T23:51:00.000-04:00

After checking in to our hotel, we went to scope out downtown Glenwood Springs. Everything is in walking distance here. We walked for 2 blocks, then took this pedestrian bridge over the Colorado River.

Looking down from the pedestrian bridge at The Colorado.

Glenwood Springs Pool, the world's largest hot springs-fed pool. Yep. We went. It's cheaper at night and even cheaper for just the last hour of the night. That's when we went.

A different view of the Glenwood Springs Pool and the spa building that goes with it.

It's not a UMF beaver, but it might as well be. Who else would have a statue of a beaver. Behind the beaver is the cute miniature golf course (we did not do that . . . there wasn't enough time to do it all).

Back on the other side of the bridge, we had dinner at Rib City. The food was really delicious and our waitress was fabulous.

Sunset over Glenwood Springs as seen from our hotel room windows.

8/9/11 Hotel Denver (in Glenwood Springs)

2011-08-09T14:03:00.004-04:00

Here's our hotel, The Hotel Denver. It is literally across the street from the train station.

The hotel is newly renovated and in fact, still in the process. They're doing a great job of preserving the old, while adding modern amenities and making it all clean and pretty and wonderful.

Our amazing desk clerk, Jennifer, switched us from a room with an inside view to a real "room with a view" that they just finished two weeks ago. They took two "standard" rooms and knocked out the wall in between to create our room. Amazing room with a view. Two queen beds, dinette table and chairs, two big sitting room chairs... Under $150 per night.

It even comes with a real key!

8/9/11 More Scenery and Then Our Destination

2011-08-09T14:03:00.001-04:00

We went through a lot of tunnels. Most were short and easy, but then there was the Moffat Tunnel, 6 miles long. It took over 10 minutes to go through it.

And finally, 6+ hours later, we are in Glenwood Springs!!

8/9/11 Amtrak Away!

2011-08-09T14:02:00.001-04:00

This isn't nearly as elegant as Denver's Union Station. :( I was really looking forward to seeing that. It's a landmark train station anyway plus I have a memory or two tucked away of it from when we lived in Arvada in the 1960's. Oh well. I'll just have to come back and see the new and improved station after they finish it.

So we got to the station by 9:30, mostly because we were running out of things to do to kill time. But then we found out our train was delayed even more. Then when it did arrive, we had to wait for passengers to disembark and then they made us wait a while before they would let us on. But we finally did and we were assigned awesome seats. By noon, we were finally on our way.

Once we were out of Denver, it wasn't long until we started climbing up. Most of the train ride will be in the Rockies themselves and a big chunk of it, we will be right next to the Colorado River. It's a gorgeous day outside with lots of big white puffy clouds. Awesome!

We made our way to the observation car which was full to the brim. We found a nice couple who was sitting on one side of a booth and we asked if we could sit on the other. They were glad to have us join them and we ended up striking up a great conversation with them. They are from a town near Melbourne, Australia and were in the States for 6 weeks. Their 2 weeks on the Vacation by Rail package trip was just a small piece of their big journey.

Here you can see a dam and in the far left, way in the back, are snow-capped mountains. In this and all scenery photos taken from the train, you'll just have to ignore the funny cast and odd reflections on them cuz of window tint. Just know the scenery was even more fabulous in person.

The Colorado River (the calm part . . . later we would see rapids proving why it's so popular with rafters).

We cross a lot of bridges, so the Colorado switches which side of the train it's on, but it's never very far.

8/9/11 Dealing with Delay

2011-08-09T14:00:00.000-04:00

We were up and at 'em at 5am in order to be ready to leave at 6am to be at the bus station (fighting downtown morning rush hour and a long walk from the only available parking we could find the night before) by 7:15 for our 8:05 train. But we called the number the lady gave us last night and guess what. Our train is delayed. . . . By nearly 3 hours! It's now scheduled to leave at 10:50.

What do you do when you're already up and packed and ready to go? Rodney had heard about a great local restaurant famous for its breakfasts, so we decided to enjoy a big breakfast instead of the breakfast-on-the-run that we had planned. Sam's was awesome.

And the bonus for me? They're famous for their green chile. So I got the breakfast burrito supreme (and trust me, it was BIG) that was delicious. And smothered in green chile.

Next stop: The new IKEA which just opened 2 weeks ago. We arrived at 7:55 for the 8:00 opening only to find out they don't open until 9:30. Better check your own website, IKEA. We left there and headed downtown to REI. Rodney had an errand to run at REI and it's only minutes away from the train station. REI is always a good time, but this one was especially special as it was built in an old power plant. They did a great job of keeping the look and feel of the historic building while making it a viable store space.

8/8/11 Downtown Denver at Night

2011-08-08T23:00:00.002-04:00

Rodney picked me up at the airport and we decided to head downtown and find the Amtrak station while it was still light before we have to be there at 7:15 in the morning for an 8:05 train. We had read that the old Denver Union Station was going through some serious renovation and they had created a temporary Amtrak station that had no parking nearby. Oh joy. So we toodled around and found it, then we got the brilliant idea of picking up our tickets now instead of in the morning. We met a great ticket agent who gave us lots of info that we didn't even know to ask for, learned about some parking, and were given a phone number to call in the morning to check for actual departure time. The flooding in Omaha NE (that started in May) has caused diversion of all trains (freight and passenger) and lots of delays.

After we got all that figured out, we headed down 16th Street on the free 16th Street Mall shuttle. It's a pedestrian walkway with lots of shops and restaurants and even though it was now 9pm on a Monday night, we found plenty of places to choose from to eat. It was quite an active area with lots of people; it was clean and we felt very safe. The Larimer Square area, which was THE downtown shopping and dining district when we lived in Colorado in the '60's is just as vibrant as ever and just a block off the mall.

We picked the Tilted Kilt just because, and it was good! We didn't care for the waitresses' attire, but the service was good as was the food.

I had their specialty Irish stew.

8/8/11 Denver Bound

2011-08-08T22:59:00.000-04:00

Planes, trains, automobiles, and buses. Off on a great adventure that will include all 4 modes of transportation. First off: An auto from Farmington to Augusta, now a bus from Augusta to Boston, then a non-stop plane from Logan to Denver. Woo hoo!

I arrived safely at Logan Airport in Boston on time. The ticket counter line was packed and slow (I think there were 50 people in front of me who had never checked in on an airline before, or at least they acted that way). My flight was an hour late leaving. I'm glad it wasn't any later than that because we are getting up EARLY in the morning to catch an Amtrak train from Denver to Glenwood Springs, CO.

On board my flight, I used one of the many Southwest Free Drink Coupons that get issued to me whenever I get a free ticket, but which I rarely use. I'm not driving when I arrive, so why not?! Look how cute this tiny bottle of Bailey's is.

This has nothing to do with my trip except I've never seen a Tornado Shelter in an airport before, or at least not one that was labeled. This was obviously an after thought, but I still find it interesting. Just in case Denver gets a tornado. ;-)

I'm not counting this as my train for the trip, but it is a short train ride. Actually, it was a long train ride as I arrived in the last possible gate (#49) in the last possible terminal (C) at Denver's airport. But it's still short compared to tomorrow's train ride. :-)

Can you guess what this is? Hint: It's in the baggage claim area at Denver's airport.

Yep, it's a special baggage conveyor just for skis and golf clubs (mostly skis) that have been checked as baggage. Not something you see in most Texas airports. Actually, I've rarely seen one in any airport before.

7/30/2011 Taverna Opa

2011-07-30T21:48:00.045-04:00

We couldn't find KC today to get another recommendation, so we asked the concierge who suggested Taverna Opa, a Greek restaurant. Probably better described as a Greek "experience." We arrived too early for the belly dancer, napkin-throwing portion of the evening, but we still had a great experience with some delicious food.

"On the house" hummus prepped at the table. Here our waiter is crushing the chick peas, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper together at the table. Oh my goodness! That's the way to have hummus. And it was served with freshly made, warm from the oven, pita bread slices.

Here's the appetizer we ordered: Saganaki, which translates to flaming cheese. Our waiter even yelled "Oopa!" as he lit it on fire.

I ordered slow roasted lamb...

And GJW ordered lamb chops which were marinated for 36 hours. Both dinners came with lemon potatoes and yiayia vegetables which were green beans with onions in a mysterious but delicious sauce.

And of course, dessert. Our reward after 2.5 days of hard work. (Plus, we've had dessert every night and you can't stop a streak like that!) This is Galaktoboureko. The description "honey phylo filled with custard" hardly does it justice. Super yummy.

Look closely at the girl with her back to us. Yes, she's wearing a veil and a satin sash like Miss America would wear. We're pretty sure this is a bachelorette party because she's wearing the veil and everyone else brought gifts. I've never heard of this trend, but Google it and it's everywhere. In fact, when we were waiting for the trolley after dinner, we saw 12 girls out walking, 11 dressed in black and carrying gifts, and 1 with a sash and no gifts wearing pink and yellow. You never hear of it and then it's everywhere.

Yes, we're down to just 2. Luke missed last night 'cuz he had work stuff to do and a 7:00 Skype call. The conference was over today, so Luke skipped the last session and took a late afternoon flight. Pam's dad lives an hour away, so she rented a car and headed off to visit him for a few days before heading back to Maine. GJW and I are leaving in the morning and I should get back to my place around 7pm.

7/30/2011 math workshop

2011-07-30T21:47:00.002-04:00

There's really not a great way to capture in photographs all that we do all day long at this Institute. I actually took these photos for myself to remind me of things I wanted to remember later. But mostly I've been listening and taking notes and thinking. A lot of thinking. Oh, and talking with colleagues from around the country (and one new friend from Canada). They have us in sessions based on our breakout topic (my beginning algebra table includes Angela from Georgia and Shelby, a first year teacher, and the cool lady from Canada to name a few). They also put us in planning groups based on our roles--9-12 classroom teachers, supervisors/administrators, higher ed folks, etc. Pam and Luke were in randomly assigned groups for teachers of grades 9-12, and GJW and I were in a higher ed group together. But once we saw the resources they had for planning, the 4 of us left our assigned planning groups and formed our own planning group and used the time to do our own planning for the Dine and Discuss workshops.

This presenter is from Hawaii and it was all about "Equity for All." He used manipulatives to teach high level geometry concepts and had tasks that challenged all levels of math learners. Here he is demonstrating making a quadrilateral with folding straws.

7/30/2011 more chairs

2011-07-30T09:46:00.000-04:00

This hotel has a great lobby. It's incredibly clean, it's spacious, it's got good lighting and it's got GREAT seats!! Check these out! I already did. They're fun AND comfy.

7/29/2011 Thai Thani

2011-07-29T21:38:00.003-04:00

KC the Concierge did it again. Nothing can top Tu Tu Tango, but this restaurant was really fun, delicious food, great ambiance (I think we really were in a Thai palace), and fun entertainment. Three of us went (Luke had to stay back and do work stuff). We each ordered something different and then shared a lot plus we split the appetizer sampler platter (we had a $5 off coupon for an appetizer). On the way out, the Friday night entertainment of authentic Thai dancers began, so we watched that for a little before catching our great trolley back to the hotel. We had super duper good timing with the trolley tonight...Less than a minute wait on the way out and only a half full trolley and a pretty empty trolley with at most a 3-minute wait on the way back.

And what better way to end the day than a beautiful sunset out your hotel room window overlooking Big Sand Lake (I think that's what the water is on the left).

7/29/2011 Orlando Day 3

2011-07-29T21:21:00.003-04:00

Today was all work and no play. Well . . . when you're having fun with the people you're working with, I'm not sure that's entirely true. And we did treat ourselves to a fun Thai dinner with one of our new friends. Don't feel too sorry for me, but do know that I'm spending my time in Orlando working and learning.

This is one of the many unique and fun chairs in the giant atrium/lobby of our hotel. I came down early to do some work on the free Internet available in the lobby. It's not so hot. Hard to get on (the system is down a lot) and very slow when you do get on. Since the Internet service wasn't impressive, at least the chairs were.

7/28/2011 Cafe Tu Tu Tango

2011-07-28T23:57:00.000-04:00

KC, one of the sorta-concierges at the Renaissance, was awesome. I call him a "sorta-concierge" because he actually works for Expedia, which has a desk next to the desk of the hotel's concierge (called a Navigator). He can do all the selling of tickets where the concierge just has information. When we bought our shuttle tickets from KC, he told us about Cafe Tu Tu Tango--Food for the Starving Artist. The 4 of us (GJW and our two new best friends Pam and Luke) decided to go. We caught the crowded trolley (after a very long wait) and squished in. It didn't take too long and we were at our destination.

The premise behind "Tu Tu Tango" is everything is "appetizer sizes meant to be shared." Our waitress, Darcy, (whom KC told us to ask for and we were very glad he did 'cuz she was awesome) told us that two items per person will leave you full but with enough room for dessert. Sounds good. So we picked out 8 items to order: baby lamb chops, Caesar salad, duck confit salad on a home made flat bread, mushrooms Rockefeller, curry chicken skewers, steamed edamame (steamed baby soy beans with vanilla mirin glaze for dipping), calamari, and roasted pears on pecan crisps. Wait. We had more than that. People kept ordering. They bring the food out to you as soon as it's ready and there's a giant stack of salad plates on the table and a jug of silverware and you just take clean ones whenever you need.

And somewhere in there, we had a Flamenco dancer for entertainment and starving artists sit around in miniaturized studios and produce their art while you watch. All the art on the walls is by local artists and is for sale.

We just kept eating and ordering and tasting and oohing and ahhhing and yes, oh by the way, we laughed and told stories and laughed some more.

Then Darcy brought us the dessert menu. You have to have 4 desserts, too, right? Banana something or another on a dessert bread, creme brulee, cheesecake lollipops (little pieces of cheesecake dipped in dark chocolate and served on a stick), and chocolate calzone (with white and milk chocolate inside the calzone and ice cream and whipped cream outside the calzone).

New best friends bonded by an amazing dining experience:

7/28/2011 Around Town (or at least the iDrive)

2011-07-28T10:59:00.003-04:00

This conference starts at 2pm today. I've never had a conference start at 2pm. For all the folks that live in Florida (maybe 25% of the ~700 participants), that's nice. For us that it takes 9 hours to drive/fly here, that's not so efficient. But it gave us the morning to tour around. Our hotel is on International Drive, nicknamed i-Drive. And there's a trolley service that you can catch that goes up and down the drive. It runs 24-7 and is only $1.25 a ride OR you can get a 3-day pass for $6. (There are other combinations are available for the pass.) We bought the pass and then put it to the test.

Before we could even get out of the hotel driveway, *this* pulled up. It's crazy! It's a Volkswagen Beatle with a lobster on it! It's a promobile for Boston Feast, an all-you-can-eat lobster restaurant in town. Being from Maine, I think I'll pass, but I do like the car. I posted this on Facebook and comments included, "Where's the giant dish of melted butter?" which did sort of sound yummy, but I'm still passing.

We rode the trolley north and then south and just walked around. But only did a little walking around 'cuz it was 89 degrees with 65% humidity and it felt much much hotter than that. We got in a little sightseeing (including Wonderworks, which we did not go in but which sounds pretty interesting) and bought some bottled water and fresh fruit to avoid some of the extravagant prices you'd pay for those items in the hotel. Water here smells like sulphur from about 10 miles out. Even the locals don't drink it much. We made a few stops then headed back in time for the 2:00 keynote by Dan Meyer. What a way to kick off a conference. He was awesome and inspirational. Let the mathfest begin!

7/27/2011 Staying at the Renaissance

2011-07-27T23:59:00.014-04:00

Check out these fancy digs! Not that we'll be spending much time in the room, but it is nice to have a spacious room with very comfy beds and extra nice linens.

And there are enough plugs . . . a very important feature with two people trying to charge up laptops and cell phones for two and half full days of workshops and speakers.

Our room Stylists will service our room each day between 8:30am and 5:00pm. Wow. Never had a "stylist" before. At least not for servicing my hotel room. Is this politically correct language now or is this political rhetoric?

7/27/2011 Orlando bound!

2011-07-27T23:50:00.016-04:00

Orlando bound! Via Atlanta. Where better to grab dinner in the airport than Atlanta Bread, eh? I had the avocado sandwich, just because I could! (You can't get good avocados in Maine 'cuz they have to travel too far.) Yum!

So why am I going to Orlando, you may ask. This fall, GJW and I will co-teach the class on "math methods" (how to teach high school math). It's our first time to do it and though the course is mostly already designed, our department said they would send us to this Institute to get the latest and greatest research and information on teaching math. It's going to be an amazing 2.5 days.

In addition to learning a bunch of good stuff that we can use in our class, we found out that two high school math teachers from Maine are coming as representatives of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics in Maine (ATOMIM). They were planning to give "dine and discuss" workshops across the state about what they learned at this institute. We tracked them down and said, "Let's work together on this." So each of the 4 of us are taking a different strand at this event (beginning algebra, intermediate algebra, data analysis & probability, and geometry) and together the 4 of us will put on these workshops. It's going to give GJW and I a great way to meet math teachers from across the state which will only help us be even better at our jobs plus be a lot of fun. We haven't met Pam and Luke in person yet, just corresponded via email. But we will meet them before the keynote and then spend time together planning these events.

Here's the atrium/lobby of The Renaissance Orlando at Sea World . . . our hotel and our conference location. We are exactly across the street from the pedestrian entrance to Sea World. (Not that we'll have any time or money to attend.) Our room is on the 8th floor. Here's the view out our front door.

7/11/2011 A Thought About Canadian Crossings

2011-07-11T23:52:00.000-04:00

I figured out, when we crossed into the US through yet another new border crossing (new to me), that I have crossed the border in a lot of different places. I especially love that I've been through five different Maine-Canada crossing points. In recent years:

July 2006 with Karen
from Michigan to Ontario: Detroit (return trip through same crossing)

July 2009 with Rodney
from Washington to Vancouver, British Columbia: Blaine, WA
from Vancouver to Washington: Sumas, WA

October 2009 with Dr. Grace
from Maine to Sherbrooke, Quebec: Coburn Gore, ME (return trip through same crossing)

April 2010 with Karen
from Bangor, ME to Saint John, New Brunswick: Calais, ME
from Prince Edward Island to Maine: Houlton, ME

July 2011 with Karen
from Maine to Quebec City, Quebec: Sandy Bay Township, ME (some call it the Jackman, ME crossing)
from Tadoussac, Quebec, through New Brunswick to Presque Isle, ME: Van Buren, ME

7/6/2011 Chateau Frontenac

2011-07-10T20:42:00.002-04:00

The Chateau Frontenac (now a Fairmont Hotel) *IS* Old Quebec City. It is the focal point and in terms of history, it really is the start of Old Quebec. So if you're going to Old Quebec, even if you can't afford it, you gotta spend at least one night at The Chateau. And so we are. First night!!

It's not ostentatious but it is elegant. It is indeed everything they said it would be and everything you think it should be.

Even the elevators (and there are a lot of elevators) are elegant in every detail.

My favorite feature!! Every good hotel has one of these. :-)

There is so much to explore in this hotel. Tomorrow we're taking a tour. :-)

7/6/2011 Lower Town

2011-07-06T23:56:00.000-04:00

From Old Quebec City Kiosk's Web site: "At its center of Lower Town you’ll find Place Royale, the historical market square that has been faithfully restored to its former glory. Notice the the 17th- and 18th-century houses surrounding the square now in pristine condition The oldest part of Old Québec, Lower Town is clustered on the narrow streets between the ramparts of Haute-Ville and the Old Port.

"The cradle of North American French civilization, Lower Town is again stylish with boutiques, popular restaurants and chic galleries. This community is home to about 850 people who welcome visitors looking to step back into the 1700s."

After dinner, we took the Funicular (French: Funiculaire du Vieux-Québec) railway down to the Lower Town. Wow! What a great place! Everyone said that Old Quebec was like being in Europe. It really is!!

Looking down on Old Town from the Funicular:

Some of the shops and restaurants (with apartments on top):

A few of the stairs that it would take to get up to the Upper Town . . . but we didn't cuz we took the Funicular:

Looking up at The Chateau:

Notre Dame des Victoires Church, dating back to 1687:

Rod and Margaret's favorite restaurant (we didn't get to go, but at least we found it):

The Funicular railway:

7/6/2011 Dinner at the Chateau

2011-07-06T23:36:00.002-04:00

If you're going to spend every possible moment you can at your hotel, that would include dinner, right? So we decided to really splurge and eat dinner at The Chateau. Well, we didn't go for the very formal French restaurant, Le Champlain, instead, we went to Le Café de la Terrasse. Great decision! Perfect Chateau/Fairmont ambience. Incredible food. Expensive, but not over priced. From the moment we entered and were seated, we knew we were at a classy place.

I had rack of lamb. Beautiful presentation, more food than I expected, and incredibly delicious.

Karen had a delicious chicken dinner

We were seated right next to the window and had this wonderful view.

7/6/2011 Jackman, ME

2011-07-06T13:32:00.001-04:00

Not sure if this belongs in my Maine blog or my travel blog because though it happened in Maine, it's really just the start of my trip to Quebec City and Toudassac in Quebec, Maine. So I'm posting it in both blogs. :)

Quebec City is only 4 hours from Farmington. That's such a weird thought that a major foreign city is as close as south Boston. So my sister KMO and I are going there for 3-day whirlwind tour of Quebec City, then heading to Toudassac (which I never heard of but KMO discovered in her research), and then back to Maine for the Potato Blossom Festival in Fort Fairfield, ME. Can't wait.

Halfway to Quebec City is Jackman, ME. I've had the privilege of being here several times when visiting Marcus and Heidi and their kids. One of the things I learned is that the rest stop outside of town at the top of the hill is the only place in the area to get cell phone reception. When you pull in, you never know if the other people around you are tourists like you or locals who've come out to place a phone call!

What I didn't expect at the rest stop were lupines in full bloom and black flies. The lupines were gorgeous. The black flies were horrid. I've never seen this many in one place at one time. I've heard about the swarms of 'em, but never experienced it. Ugh. Hope I never experience it again! I tried to take pics of the lupines and the scenery but could only get this one. The original version has my finger in the top left corner, this is the cropped one. hahahaha. It took us a while to kill off all the black flies that got into the car. It really was bad.

7/6/2011 - 7/11/2011 KCanada 2011

2011-07-06T10:46:00.008-04:00

How fun is this feature in Google Maps. I can embed an interactive map that shows this amazing trip. Thank you, Google!

View Larger Map

6/20/2011 Green Chile Tally

2011-06-20T23:54:00.002-04:00

Looking back over my 25 day trip, here's the green chile tally:

Thursday 6/2/11: Standard Diner in ABQ: dinner with the theater gang: green chile cheese burger
Friday 6/3/11: Tomasita's Restaurant in Santa Fe: lunch with the "Dining Divas": chicken quesadilla with green chile
Friday 6/3/11: Sweet Tomatoes in ABQ: they do not have any New Mexican food on their buffet line, but I did find green chile Ranch dressing
Saturday 6/4/11: Milly's in ABQ: Saturday brunch with "the usual suspects": breakfast burrito with green chile
Tuesday 6/7/11: Chili's in ABQ: lunch with folks from the Newcomer's Welcoming Coffee: green chile chicken soup (yes, the two are spelled differently: Chili's and chiles)
Tuesday 6/7/11: Golden Corral in ABQ: dinner with my parents after the cousins were a no-show at Outback (we rescheduled and they showed the second time): chicken fajitas with green chiles
Wednesday 6/8/11: Copper Canyon in ABQ: Prime Time Monthly Dinner: combo plate with enchilada, taco, and chile relleno, all covered in green chile and cheese
Friday 6/10/11: Mother and Daddy's house in ABQ: a "partly party"--potluck hors d'ouevres: tortilla roll-ups with green chile
Saturday 6/11/11: Milly's in ABQ: Saturday brunch with "the usual suspects": breakfast burrito with green chile (it was so good the first time, I had it again)
Sunday 6/12/11: Sandiago's in ABQ (at the foot of the tram): dinner with "family"--Stephanie, Terri, Mark, and Mark's girl friend: steak tampequeña--"steak with spicy green chile sauce & cheese, creamy calabacitas, and poblano mashed potatoes
Monday 6/13/11: Mother and Daddy's house in ABQ: a 5:00am breakfast of leftover tortilla roll-ups with green chile
Thursday 6/16/11: Chuy's in Austin: fried avocado filled with green chile sauce (and other chiles and peppers as I recall)

6/20/2011 The Marathon is Over

2011-06-20T21:36:00.000-04:00

Wowser. I've been gone for 25 days. That's a long time to be away. I basically had 3 separate trips end-to-end, which is the only smart way to travel out of Maine because no matter what trip you're on, it takes two full days to get there and come back, so you might as well make the most of it. I figure I saved 4 travel days by doing the back-to-back thing. And fortunately, I was able to do laundry in all 3 places, so I packed light (one 36-pound roller bag). I did some shopping in Albuquerque, but I shipped a box of stuff home from ABQ, too.

So today's marathon was: up at 0230 CDT to shower and pack, leave KMO's casa at 0400 to arrive at airport at 0430 for an 0600 flight. I flew to BWI (sat next to a delightfully inquisitive and articulate 1st grader), changed planes, flew to Boston, B A R E L Y caught the 12:35 Concord Coach to Portland (Maine), waited 30 minutes, caught another Concord Coach to Augusta, drove my car from Augusta to Farmington arriving 1715 EDT. What a day. I stopped at the grocery store then went home where I opened all the windows (storm windows were still down 'cuz it was still cold when I left) then sat on my veranda and soaked up sunshine and cool breezes . . . very cool breezes, not like the ones in Austin. But I was exhausted. I started to listen to the Red Sox game on the radio while I was unpacking but went to bed when the game was still tied 3-3. I missed the 42-minute half-inning where we scored 10 points and went through the lineup at least twice. Go Sox!

So this marathon trip was more than just today . . . I was gone for 25 days! That's a long time to be gone. But when traveling from Maine, it makes sense to put your trips end-to-end 'cuz any one trip involves two full days of travel just to get to and from your destination. I saved 4 days by putting 3 trips together: a week in Dallas for Hank's ordination to the priesthood and lots of great friend visiting, 11 days in Albuquerque with my parents and all of their/my friends, and the big KMOve.

Thank you, God, for safe travels, fun adventures, and amazing friends and family. Here's to the next adventure!!

6/19/2011 Austin Symphonic Band

2011-06-19T23:21:00.064-04:00

I changed my airline ticket 3 times for this trip. First, I was going from Albuquerque directly to Austin to "visit KMO at her new house" because she was going to be moved by mid-May. Then I was flying from Albuquerque straight home and skipping Austin because KMO's plans were so uncertain. Then this arrangement came up where I would fly from Albuquerque to Greenville, SC and help with the move. On plan #1, my return flight was going to be on June 18. Then, KMO found out that the Austin Symphonic Band was giving a concert in the park on June 19 and I knew when Plan #3 came up, that I would have to leave after the concert and not before. Why? Because the director of the Austin Symphonic Band for the past 26 years is none other than the amazing Mr. Richard Floyd, our band director at Pearce High School in Richardson back in the 1970's. So tonight was the icing on my cake--the fabulous treat on top of all the fun.

Apparently, these concerts are usually packed and you have to get to the park extra early to get a seat (though, on their Web site, they request you not come more than 90 minutes early). But with the heat the way it's been, I believe their audience was a bit smaller than usual. We were not, however, going to let a little heat (okay, a lot of heat) deter us. It turned out though, that it was quite breezy and we were up on the hill, so it was pretty bearable. The program included a lot of patriotic songs as well as classics like Gershwyn and songs associated with Bob Hope (my favorite was the Texas medley, Spirit of Texas).

Not very long after we sat down, I went to get paper copies of the program and right after I sat down, someone came up behind me and said, "Hi Theresa!" It was SB, daughter of L O N G time Girl Scout friend, Cathy. Then she pointed up the hill to where her parents were sitting. Months ago when we contacted her when plan #1 was in place she said we would miss getting to see her because she was going to be out of town. But it turns out, she got home a day early (2 hours prior to the concert in fact) and they made the last minute decision to attend the concert. So obviously we had no idea she would be there. How fun is that that we run into one of the only people I know in Austin at a concert in the park? Cathy knows KMO as well. Our Girl Scout memories are much intertwined. We were last all together in Washington DC for the Girl Scout Singalong on the Mall in honor of Girl Scouts' 90th birthday. And we'll all be together again next year for the 100th birthday celebration.

After the concert, we hovered near the podium and finally got our turn to say, "Hello!" to Mr. Floyd. It was great. He was most gracious and even let us take a photo to capture the memory of the noteworthy occasion. He always was a gentleman.

6/19/2011 Souvenir Shopping

2011-06-19T23:20:00.032-04:00

Part of The Oasis is a gift shop. They had some great tacky Texas souvenirs, but they were a little pricy (very pricy, actually). My tiny bathroom in my apartment in Maine is decorated in red, white, and blue Texas tackiness, so I'm always on the lookout for fun, new, small additions. This shop had a beautiful glass dish that looked like the Texas flag. It turns out it was meant to be a sushi dish, but I thought it would make a fabulous soap dish. Until I saw the $32 price tag, that is.

But that got us started on a quest for Texas souvenirs. We did some Google searches and found the Texas Store in Barton Creek Mall. It was on the way home (at least, not too far out of the way) and the Yelp reviews made it sound perfect. We went to all the trouble to get there and saw this:

It's closed!! Must be fairly recent, but it doesn't matter, we weren't going to be able to shop there. We went ahead and explored the mall a little, even though neither of us are big mall shoppers. Found the Apple Store and the Clarks shoe store, so it was worth the walk around.

We also read about Austin Gift Company but weren't sure it was going to suit our needs. But with the Texas Store being closed, suddenly Austin Gift Company sounded really good. Turns out it was really close to the mall and was open on Sunday (yes, we called ahead this time). It's part souvenir store, part craft/antique mall kind of store where folks sell stuff on a commission basis. I didn't find a soap dish but we both found some fun trinkets. And I took pictures of some of the roadrunner stuff I saw to send to my mom. This one was roadrunner AND Texas.

6/19/2011 View from The Oasis

2011-06-19T23:19:00.025-04:00

Part of the new enterprise at The Oasis includes an observation deck that juts out between the restaurants over Lake Austin. All those umbrellas you see are on the patio of The Oasis. The islands in the middle of the water are sand bars that are usually under water. Can you say, "drought"? It's pretty bad here this year. Somehow this "lake" (it's really just dammed up portions of the river that feeds into Lake Travis or something weird like that) is still beautiful, even when it's only half full.

Oh ya! As Karen wrote on Facebook about this sign: "Nuff said."

Oh it's good to be back in Texas. I needed to get a refresher course in Attitude. :-)

6/19/2011 The Oasis

2011-06-19T23:19:00.024-04:00

The Oasis is an Austin classic. I came once before, a bazillion years ago, with a big group of friends from church on a crazy Austin-Road-Trip-Weekend. Since then, it's burned down, rebuilt, and now--just in the last 6 months or so--built itself up into a big commercial complex. It'll be interesting to see if it makes a go in this latest reincarnation. But today was a perfect Oasis kind of day. Hot and sunny and clear blue skies. The Oasis is famous for its patio dining that overlooks Lake Austin.

KMO's friends Katy and Brad were taking relatives on a crash-tour of the Hill Country and to them that included The Oasis. So we joined them for lunch. When we arrived, plans had changed a little--we were going to try out Uncle Billy's--a new restaurant with a Barbecue and Beer focus but affiliated with The Oasis.

We started with a basket of "Red Neck Road Kill" (essentially very spicy nachos made with homemade thick potato chips instead of tortilla chips) that set the tone for a great lunch.

Though I didn't order any beer, I did love this glass:

It was an advertising campaign to help pass a House Bill that would allow people in the beer business to brew it, sell it on site, and distribute it (right now, you can only do any 2 of the 3 but not all 3). Turns out, the bill was already defeated, so these are outdated glasses, but still very fun.

Mmmmmm. My last chance for more barbecue and this didn't fail me. Yummy to the very last drop. That's mac and cheese (quite delicious) and mashed potatoes with it. But the BBQ was the best part of all.

6/19/2011 Fathers Day Church Service

2011-06-19T23:18:00.020-04:00

Phillips, Craig, and Dean are a great Christian singing trio. All 3 guys are full-time pastors of churches, but they formed this group 19 years ago and have been singing and "pastoring" ever since. Karen had read a wikipedia article on the group and remembered that Randy Phillips's church was in Austin. So she figured out where it was and that's where we went for church this morning. It was a great service! The church currently worships in Westlake High School's theater. What a place! It's nicer than most university and community theaters that I've been to. Jeff Allen was the guest "presenter" today. He's a comedian. I'd never heard of having a comedian speak at church before. But he was great. He was funny but incredibly inspirational. It was impressive. Great music, moving sermon, . . . all in all, it was a wonderful Sunday worship.

6/18/2011 Dinner at The County Line

2011-06-18T21:18:00.008-04:00

We ate dinner tonight at The County Line. Barbecue!! Very yummy barbecue, actually. This is the view from the patio.

6/18/2011 SoCo

2011-06-18T21:16:00.030-04:00

South Congress Street (SoCo) is artsy, trendy fun. Very Austin. Probably part of the inspiration for the "Keep Austin Weird" campaign. The food trucks we visited are on South Congress (there are other areas of town with food trucks). We looked around (just a teeny bit). An art show was just setting up. Here are some earrings made with string art (good old geometry) . . . we mostly saw jewelry at this show.

Next was the Uncommon Objects. What an amazing place! It really was all uncommon objects--part junk, part antiques, all uncommon. The place was packed with stuff, but it was so artistically arranged, you just enjoyed the looking. This Statue of Liberty replica (not to scale) was only $1600.

I photographed this roadrunner for my mom but check out what else is on that table...keys and bobbins and typesetting letters displayed in china bowls.

Outside the store window announcing their 20th anniversary:

I love how Congress Street dead ends into the state capitol.

6/18/2011 Food Vehicles

2011-06-18T21:15:00.030-04:00

Food trucks, food carts, food trailers . . . it doesn't matter what you call them, they are very popular here in Austin and the ones we visited for lunch had delicious food. Yes, we left Franklin Barbecue without getting to test America's best BBQ. We met up with Joann, a Girl Scout buddy of mine, who is a native Austinite and a heck of a lot of fun. When we made the decision to leave Franklin, she called her brother who knows all the good food places in town. She told him we wanted something delicious and very Austin-ish. We had heard about the food trucks, but there are many of them all over town. He knew the best collection in the most fun part of town. Even though it was after 11:00 on a Saturday when we arrived, Austin folks must not get up early because few of the food trucks were open yet.

This particular location on South Congress is going to be a luxury hotel, but until they start construction, these trucks are set up here. There's even a parking lot (for which you have to pay $5 in order to utilize.)

This one fascinates me. What might look like an ice cream place is really a lunch place. They serve all their food in paper cones! How clever. It makes everything really portable. Check out the picnic tables, there are even holders to keep your cones upright so you can get more than one at a time. We learned from this vendor that Austin doesn't have fried food, it's only "highly sauteed."

We went shopping and then came back. By then, Fry Baby was open and I had fresh sweet potato fries that were delicious. But the proprietor's secret caramel sauce on top was amazing. I wonder if I'll ever enjoy naked sweet potato fries again.

The food at this one wasn't as great as the trailer, but it was still fun.

KMO got a pulled pork taco from this place featuring New Mexico Hatch green chiles. Yum!!!

6/18/2011 Award-Winning BBQ

2011-06-18T21:13:00.026-04:00

We heard about it on the news last night and decided we really had to go here today. Franklin Barbecue was declared best BBQ in the United States by Bon Appetit magazine!! It started in a little trailer/food truck and just a year and a half ago, opened in this building. They only serve lunch and they serve until they're sold out and then that's it for the day. Aaron Franklin uses beef raised in Montana in a cruelty-free environment and cooks it for 18 hours. Rumor is you have to get here by 10:30. We figured since it was on the news, we might should get there a little earlier. We figured wrong. We should've gotten there a lot earlier. Here was the line when we arrived (and you can't even see the front of the restaurant or the front of the line in this photo):

About 5 'til 11, Aaron himself came out to tell the folks in the back of the line that their chances were pretty slim of there being any food left by the time they got to the restaurant, and it would probably be over an hour before they even got there to find out.

At least Aaron let us take a photo with him. :-)

6/17/2011 Farewell to the Truck

2011-06-17T19:50:00.020-04:00

Yesterday we stopped at the Penske place and got help getting the car off the carrier and unhooking the carrier from the truck. The Penske people let us park the truck on their lot overnight. Today, we went back and got the truck and met 3 guys from Worry Free Moving (KMO found them through the movinghelp.com Web site) who unloaded the cargo off the truck and stacked it in the storage unit. I was most impressed with the guys who loaded KMO's truck for her back in Richmond. They did a great job. But these unloading guys did a great job, too...and in this heat! Ugh!!!

One of the goals of our driving trip was to never have to put the truck in reverse. (Backing up big vehicles is hard enough, but with a trailer on the back??? No thank you.) And we pretty much accomplished that! The exception was the two parking spaces at the last hotel, we had to back up about 3 feet in order to have enough room to pull out. And both times, we were backing straight up, so it really wasn't a problem. And then today, KMO had to back up to get the truck in the right position to unload it. But she did it beautifully. I'd say we pretty much met that goal.

So here's a pic of our last moments with Big Yellow. Thanks! It was a great ride!!

6/17/2011 Eating Our Way Through Austin

2011-06-17T19:49:00.020-04:00

Dinner last night at Chuy's set the bar high for where to eat. But Austin is known for lots of really great restaurants. Let's see how many we can find before I leave. :-)

Lunch today doesn't really count. But there's a Cheddar's less than 10 minutes from Karen's casa and she'd never eaten at one, so even if it's not a local or an Austin-based restaurant, it's just a great restaurant that you have to go to. We split a spinach dip appetizer and an order of Spasagna and it was up to par. I do love Cheddar's. And I found out that it was founded in 1979 in Arlington, TX, so at least it's a Texas-based restaurant!

Don't know the history of Santa Rita or where it started, but this is only 5 minutes from Karen's casa and it's Tex-Mex so we went and it was quite enjoyable.

6/16/2011 Austin! We Made It!

2011-06-16T19:02:00.005-04:00

We made it! Here we are at Karen's new casa. (Well, it's hers until October.) But this was the destination and we made it. :-) Notice that the car is not on its carrier anymore. Tomorrow is serious unpacking. Most stuff is going straight into storage as the house is furnished.

What's the first thing one should do upon arrival in Austin? Chuy's! The Arbor Trails Chuy's is less than 10 minutes from Karen's Casa. Thursday night special: stuffed avocado. ... with green chile. I'm a happy camper!

This is the inside of the stuffed avocado. It was sooooooo yummy! "An avocado filled with chicken, cheese & green chiles, panko-breaded and lightly fried, served on Queso Blanco and Hatch Green Chile Sauces, with green chile rice & refried beans." Tex Mex AND green chiles--this is heaven!

At Chuy's. 'Cuz don't you want to know your silverware has been sanitized for your protection?

6/16/2011 Columbus, Texas

2011-06-16T19:01:00.000-04:00

We had lunch in cute little Columbus, TX. This turret is in the same town square as the County Courthouse that's under renovation with support from the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program.

There were lots of other quaint old buildings on the square, we just drove by too quickly and there was no way we were navigating our way back around in that van pulling the car.

6/16/2011 Houston

2011-06-16T18:59:00.009-04:00

Houston! We are getting closer.

R E A L L Y big flags outside of Houston. We saw about 4 pairs of these big ones and lots of little ones. It's so great to be in Texas--the only state that's allowed to fly its state flag at the same height as the national flag. :-)

On I-10 heading north out of Houston where the shoulder (break-down lane) can be used as an "Evaculane" in case the city has to evacuate for a hurricane. I guess this is the international symbol for Evaculane.

I'm not sure the difference between this plain white symbol and the blue and white one, but they both are marking the Evaculane. I'm glad they had this painted every mile or so. It took several tries to get these shots. I wanted them without the antenna in the way, but that didn't happen!

This must be the result of the disaster of Hurricane Rita evacuation--a classic case of locking the barn door after the horses were stolen.

6/16/2011 Greetings from KMO

2011-06-16T18:58:00.003-04:00

This is the front of the card that Karen gave me on the first day. Sure looks like Thelma and Louise to me!!

It's perfect!!! Thanks, Louise! It was an awesome ride.

6/16/2011 On the Road Again

2011-06-16T18:07:00.000-04:00

We had to park away from the hotel last night. So this morning, KMO decided to get "the car" and bring it closer. No easy feat! Fortunately, with our leisurely departure times, the lot was pretty empty. Today we will get to Austin! Today's predicted high temp? 103 with a "comfort index" of 135. 135!! The highin Maine today will be 83 and will feel like 83. Even in the sunshine...and the sun is shining today in Maine. I think it's time to head back. :-)

6/15/2011 T E X A S ! ! !

2011-06-15T20:50:00.000-04:00

Yeeehah! We are officially in Texas as we cross over the Sabine River.

Nice Lone Star at the Tourist Welcome Center.

Cool! This is the actual "Welcome" sign on the highway, but viewable from the safety of the tourist welcome center. We can take a photo of the real thing while still being safe.

Mindy would really like to take over the driving. (Or maybe she really wants us to stop driving.) Okay, Mindy, we'll stop. We are safely in Baytown for the night.

6/15/2011 Our Weight is Okay

2011-06-15T20:49:00.001-04:00

Very fancy electronic system that checks out the trucks as they pass under sensors and then tells you whether to pull into the weigh station or, as was in our case, "truck okay to bypass weigh station." We were okay both coming into and going out of the state.

6/15/2011 More Water

2011-06-15T20:37:00.001-04:00

Here's the bridge over Lake Charles (it's much bigger in person). I'm not sure why I feel the need to take photos of bridges and water on this trip. But here are some more. Actually, Karen took these photos for me because I'm driving!! Outside Baton Rouge, around 4:00, we stopped to fill up on gas and road food and Karen decided I could drive. w00t!

The really big river/water source that feeds into Lake Charles.

6/15/2011 Flag Day in Rosedale

2011-06-15T20:32:00.008-04:00

We pulled over at a truck stop in Rosedale. We didn't need gas yet (you can go much further on a tank of gas when it starts out full). We were actually going to change drivers! So I took Mindy for a walk and KMO went inside for a pit stop. She came out with refreshments AND she came out refreshed. She decided to continue driving. At least we got to see this nice flag display. I assume it's from Flag Day which was yesterday, or maybe they put their flags out from Memorial Day to Labor Day like a lot of towns in Maine.

6/15/2011 The Mississippi (in Louisiana)

2011-06-15T20:30:00.011-04:00

Here comes the Mississippi River!! (Note: Objects in camera may appear smaller than in real life.)

Mississippi River:

More Mississippi River:

Proof that it's the Mississippi River:

Okay, one last shot of the MIssissippi. We know from the news that there's lots of flooding up river . . . it just looks "very full" from here.

6/15/2011 Water Everywhere

2011-06-15T20:26:00.002-04:00

Bogs, marshes, lakes, streams, rivers, . . . lots of water. According to the GPS. (This is right outside Hammond, LA where I-12 (the bypass of New Orleans) meets I-10.)

Bogs, marshes, lakes, streams, rivers, . . . lots of water. According to real life out the smudgy window.

6/15/2011 Politics

2011-06-15T20:25:00.000-04:00

This highway is literally littered with billboards. They're atrocious. I can't believe the governor of Maine wants to allow this to happen to Maine. (Trust me, it looks a lot worse in person.)

Ugh, more billboards, both sides of the highway. Maine has had beautiful highways for over 30 years. Don't do it, Maine!!! Don't allow this to happen to us!!

6/15/2011 Roadside

2011-06-15T20:24:00.001-04:00

Pascagoula, MS! Are you singing Roger Miller's song about the day the squirrel berserk in the First Self-Righteous Church in the sleepy little town of Pascagoula? (Note: We are still in AL at this point, it's just the sign telling you how to get to Pascagoula.)

Mississippi! (They have a welcome sign in the rest stop for the tourist center as well as on the highway. This is a lot easier to get a good picture.)

6/15/2011 Apple-palooza!

2011-06-15T20:23:00.008-04:00

i-Pad for navigation, iPod for music, iPhone to update Facebook. It's our iVacation!

Note: we took this photo while stopped at a rest area, however, it is a factual recreation of many a moment during this trip, LOL. There were other moments when the MacBook was being utilized as well. ;-)

6/15/2011 Starting with a Fill Up

2011-06-15T20:22:00.001-04:00

Fill 'er up! Eeegads! It doesn't matter if gas prices are coming down . . . A 50 gallon tank costs a lot of money to fill. This is our first time to really "fill it up". We had to stop at a Penske service place to learn the trick for getting the tank more than 3/4 full. Now we know.

Who's in the driver's seat?? This is a staged photo. I drove the truck for the first time today (we just got me put on the approved driver's list yesterday at the Penske place when we stopped to learn how to fill the tank). But I only got to drive it 25 feet forward from the gas tank to the yellow line where you pull up. Karen was inside the truck stop getting breakfast and there was someone behind us. So the big debate is: do we share the driving or does Karen drive the whole trip just so she can say she did? Well, she drove the first two days. (Day 1, I was flying to Greenville and she was driving, so there was no choice and that's what started the idea. Plus I wasn't on the approved driver's list. Day 2, I got on the approved driver's list about halfway through the day, but then we thought of this idea of her driving the whole trip.) We'll see what today brings.

6/14/2011 State Lines

2011-06-14T23:51:00.004-04:00

Welcome to Alabama! (I wasn't fast enough to capture the Welcome to Georgia sign. Karen was too busy driving to capture the Welcome to South Carolina sign. We'll see if we can capture any others.)

6/14/2011 A Lesson in Economics

2011-06-14T23:49:00.012-04:00

World's largest fireworks store. Shelton Fireworks in Robertsdale, AL. This picture doesn't do it justice, it really was big!

I knew Saturns were made in Tennessee, but I didn't know KIAs were made in Georgia. But here you go . . . we saw it for ourselves.

Georgia has a KIA plant, but look! Alabama has a Hyundai plant!

6/14/2011 Journey on the Journey

2011-06-14T23:46:00.000-04:00

We are listening to Journey on our journey. :-) and thank goodness for great apps for the iPad: GPA Drive Motion X (great GPS with voice) and AllStays Camp and RV (GPS and map that shows truck stops for diesel fuel, low clearances, parks and campgrounds, rest stops, and more of your choosing).

6/14/2011 Atlanta

2011-06-14T22:22:00.002-04:00

Atlanta skyline: We are just driving through, not stopping. We also drove by ATL which both of us have seen many times...but only from the inside when changing planes.

In Atlanta, we drove under 7 bridges that had fire trucks on them...lights flashing and fire fighters standing around looking down on the passing traffic. What's that about? Nothing came up in our Google searches. Maybe they heard Thelma and Louise were driving through.

6/14/2011 Buying Gas

2011-06-14T22:16:00.009-04:00

Time to refuel. What in the world do these options mean? We just need diesel. (Thankfully a friendly trucker told KMO to pick tractor and so far that's worked out fine.)

Thankfully that's not our bill. Can you imagine 100+ gallons? (Our bill, however, was 100+ dollars.)

Arby's cup proclaims the truth! (We ate lunch at the Arby's that was part of our truck stop.)

6/14/2011 And we're off!

2011-06-14T22:00:00.010-04:00

Leaving the Holiday Inn in Greenville, SC. Today's goal: Mobile, AL.

Mindy says, "Let's go Aunt Theresa!"

Our version of the Thelma and Louise convertible...

...with car in tow.

6/14/2011 Gas Prices

2011-06-14T12:09:00.001-04:00

I rarely keep up with the news or read a paper, but in our hotel, they have USA available for free, so I took one with me to read. This headline was interesting, but the graphic was even more interesting. Of all the cities in the United States, they picked 3 to put in this graphic ("infographic" as they call them now) to demonstrate "Extreme Gas Prices" and one of them is the city where we just bought gas! We didn't pay $3.20 as they show, but gas is definitely coming down from the $3.97 I paid right before leaving Maine.

$4 gas a thing of the past, at least for now

headline and graphic from: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2011-06-14-gas-prices-slide-4-gallon_n.htm

6/13/2011 Welcome to Greenville SC

2011-06-13T20:22:00.000-04:00

What a great little airport! This is my first time to fly to Greenville . . . it may even be the first time I've been to Greenville. I know I came to SC in 1964 when our family took a 6-week trip to the New York World's Fair (and a lot of other places along the way) and I went to a conference in Charleston for SITE for work in 2010, but I don't think I've been to Greenville. You know you're in a small airport when there are only two baggage carousels. :-) But it's a beautiful airport and you know instantly you are in the south. Look how gorgeous, lush, and green everything is out the big window. What a great first sight of the city.

When you get outside, you discover it's not a facade, it really is that beautiful here. On the left, you can see that big "picture window" from the outside.

6/13/2011 Bonus!

2011-06-13T20:20:00.001-04:00

I love the new version of Houston's airport! It has 3 Pappa's restaurants: Pappa's Burgers, Pappadeaux (Cajun / seafood), and Pappasito's--best Tex-Mex ever! I ate at Pappasito's when I was in Dallas (I try to always get in at least one meal there) but didn't know I'd get another chance to eat Tex-Mex on this trip. Mother made a bologna sandwich for me to have for lunch on my flight but it just became dinner. I had a delicious quesadilla with 3 cheeses and steak fajita meat (with sour cream and salsa). Oh yum!!!

6/13/2011 Who knew?

2011-06-13T20:17:00.000-04:00

Well, obviously lots of people knew, but not me. (I probably got an email from SWA about it, but it didn't mean anything to me at the time.) So, in a sense, I just found out when I got this napkin with my glass of water that SWA just started flying to Greenville Spartanburg on March 13. Just in time!!

6/13/2011 Happy Birthday Southwest

2011-06-13T20:12:00.000-04:00

Even though the official 40th birthday of Southwest Airlines isn't until the 18th, gates at the Houston airport were already decorated for the occasion.

At Gate 45, they had party store 40th birthday decorations.

Gates 41 and 42 had posters from 1971 and the early years including stewardesses (that's what they were called then) in orange hot pants and white boots.

Gate 40 (how appropriate) had these big cut outs showing the change in colors of SWA's planes over time. There was an artist at work at this gate!

This balloon sculpture was in the middle of the concourse. There are L O V E balloons on the top with 4 0 balloons under that along with all the hearts.

6/13/2011 KMOve

2011-06-13T18:22:00.001-04:00

My sister, KMO, is moving . . . moving on to a third career after retiring first from the Navy and then from EDS (now HP) . . . and moving from Richmond, VA after 15 years to Austin, TX. And I helped! She asked me to help her drive the 22-foot U-Haul with the car in tow.

So here I am in Greenville, SC at the Holiday Inn--our rendezvous point. She's on the road, driving the first 7 hours on her own. (Greenville is a Southwest Airlines city and on the route from Richmond to Austin . . . cheaper and easier than rendezvousing in Richmond.) Mindy, the Wonder Pup, is with her. The three of us will share the bench seat in the front of the diesel truck for 16 hours of driving.I don't know yet how many days we will take. In fact, I'm not even sure what route we will take!

Our cousin texted KMO last week, "You and Thelma be careful on the road!" That makes her Louise.

So here's to the adventure!

4/4/2010 Portland OR -- last day already!

2010-05-14T00:19:00.003-04:00

Easter sunrise out my window at Dain and Sara's. And yes, that's Mount Hood in the far distance. You know it's going to be a great day when you can see Mount Hood in the morning.

Early Easter service at The Village church where Dain and Sara attend. There's a small live orchestra on the left and a big choir on the right. We opened with The Hallelujah Chorus and Jesus Christ is Risen Today. It was the Easter Hit Parade as far as I was concerned.

Sadly, 43 hours can whip by awfully quickly. It was an awesome Easter but waaaaaaaay too short. Suddenly, I'm already in Midway Airport in Chicago changing planes on the way back to Boston. Gotta teach 3 classes on Monday.

This is my favorite food to get at Midway for breakfast at a cute little Greek food stand.

But this time I went for a Potbelly sandwich.

I got into Logan Airport a little after midnight and sat in the terminal until 5:30am when I went outside to wait for the 5:50 Concord bus to Portland. It was a 2-hour bus ride in a very nice bus with free wifi. I liked that part. :-) I found my car in the Portland bus station parking lot (thank you, Grace!!), drove to Farmington, took a shower, and had a very long day teaching three classes from noon to 7:30pm. A long day but some awesome memories of Easter 2010.

4/3/2010 Portland OR

2010-05-14T00:06:00.002-04:00

In a spontaneous decision that even surprised me, I decided that since I was already on the west coast (I was in San Diego for a conference), I should just scoot up to Oregon and spend Easter there. I was only there for 43 hours, but it was a blast! I arrived on Friday late afternoon. We went to the grocery store and cooked dinner at Dain and Sara's house. Karen gave us her grilled asparagus recipe over the phone. It was delicious.

Saturday, we went into the city on the MAX rail (after a U-turn trip back to the house). We went to the mall and waited in line to see the iPad . . . 'cuz you gotta go the first day, right?!

Look! They even have a cart of free treats for those of us waiting in line for our turn.

At last we got our hands on the iPad. Of course, the photo of me is perfectly framed 'cuz you-know-who took it. I get all the good breaks. ;-)

We had a blast and we were glad we got to see it and touch it and feel it, but neither of us bought one that day nor did we really have the desire. Between our MacBook laptops and our iPhones, we're set. . . . for now.

Here you go Dr. Mari! Moonstruck is a chocolate shop in town (they have outlets at the airport, too). Those are little chocolate cows in the photo so of course the theme is "moooooonstruck".

4/25/2010 Houlton

2010-04-25T00:47:00.000-04:00

Today is our last day. We got up to cloudy skies (nice we weren't going to the covered bridge) and then crossed the border without incident and arrived in Houlton, Maine. It's only about 10 miles from Woodstock, NB, Canada. We stopped at the information center which looked closed but really wasn't.

Check out these great signs. Here's one but there were at least 3 different suggested exercises. My favorite part is the disclaimer at the bottom. (In case you can't read it, it says, "Produced by the State of Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT). MaineDOT assumes no liability for personal injuries suffered by travelers who try the exercises.")

We were driving into town to tour the historic downtown when we saw Marden's! I made Karen stop just so she could see what the lady in Canada was talking about. It doesn't take long to figure out what kind of place it is and it's really not my kind of place to shop, but then I found a stainless steel salad bowl for $6.99 and I've been looking for one for a long time, so it was doubly worth the stop.

Historic Houlton is old and quaint. There's a cute pedestrian bridge in town. Not sure what it's really for but there it is. And at the bridge is Houlton's newest attraction, the statue of the moose. We were hoping for the world's largest statue of a moose but we didn't even find a lifesize statue. This little statue is probably 3/4 lifesize. Oh well. It is, however, realistic, with the ribs showing through. (The bridge in the background is the pedestrian bridge.)

We drove (and drove and drove) around looking for a place for breakfast/brunch/lunch. They either didn't look good or we couldn't find them (places that Lee listed) or they were closed. So we settled on the famous (and it is famous . . . I've heard about this from Mainers) Irving diner. It had the most cars out front of any of the places we looked at as well--another good sign.

It did not disappoint! This is the steak tips and eggs breakfast. I couldn't eat it all but everything I ate was delicious.

AND I had heard that the best whoopie pies in the state were available at this diner, so I had to get one. I've had many whoopie pies now and I must admit, this one was pretty good! (I actually couldn't eat it after breakfast, so much later in the day, I finally broke it out and ate half. I finished the other half the next day).

And then we got to Bangor and suddenly we were unpacking the car and Karen was on her way back to Richmond.

4/24/2010 Woodstock

2010-04-24T21:09:00.000-04:00

It's our last night. I'm very sad to see this trip come to an end. There really isn't much to Woodstock except its convenience. It's close to the border and on the highway. We stayed at the Best Western. It was very nice and pretty new, so everything was spiffy. We even had a DVD player in our room and a nice selection of DVDs at the front desk. We watched "The Proposal" while Karen packed (repacked). She had to switch from car travel mode to plane travel mode...those are definitely two different kinds of packing.

We drove around town looking for a place to eat but there wasn't much to choose from. I did see a little mall that had the same name as a friend of mine:

We picked Dixie Lee for dinner because it was celebrating its 40th year. There really wasn't any other compelling reason to pick anything. But it turned out to just be an ordinary fried chicken kind of place. Oh well. Afterwards we went to Sobey's grocery store and bought some very expensive ice cream and went back to our hotel room and ate it there while watching our movie. It was an indulgent fun way to end the evening.

4/24/2010 Hartland

2010-04-24T21:08:00.000-04:00

What more could you want in a day? How about one more item in the "Guinness Book of World Records" day? Here's the smallest incorporated town in Canada. The town with the world's longest covered bridge is the smallest town in the whole country. Kinda fun.

4/24/2010 World's Longest Covered Bridge

2010-04-24T21:07:00.001-04:00

When Karen read about the world's longest covered bridge, we knew that had to be on our agenda. She worked out the details of the trip so we would spend the night in Woodstock which is only 20 miles from the bridge. The original plan was to go there on Sunday morning before heading back to Bangor for the airport. The reality was, we got close to Woodstock before sunset so we thought we would go check out the bridge, see what it was like, maybe get a sunset picture or two, and then know be able to use our time efficiently when we returned in the morning.

Unlike "Bridges of Madison County" and the other storytale versions of covered bridges that we know, this one is utilitarian. It's long and covered and serves a purpose and is in use every day. And that's about it. So we took pictures and decided that was fine. The good sunset photos didn't even include the bridge. ;-) It was the perfect ending to our rather "Guinness Book of World Records" kind of day. We saw the world's largest axe, the world's largest statue of a lobster, and now the world's longest covered bridge. Plus this morning, we drove across the world's longest bridge that crosses frozen water. What more could you want in a day?!

This is the sign as you approach the bridge. I'm not sure what it means, but I think you should beware of buses or triangles.

4/24/2010 World's Largest Axe

2010-04-24T21:06:00.000-04:00

A picture's worth a thousand words. Here are four pictures. We were definitely glad we pulled off the highway for this thrill!

4/24/2010 Nackawic

2010-04-24T21:05:00.001-04:00

It was a lazy afternoon and for the first time, I took a nap. Most of the time we were yacking together or listening to Anne of Green Gables on the CD together, but today I took a nap. When I woke up, we were on a side road, no longer on the highway. When I asked where we were going, Karen tried to tell me but she kept laughing. She was really chuckling so hard, she couldn't get the words out! We were heading to Nackawic. And the reason she was going there was the highway sign said it was the home of the World's Largest Axe.

Here's Nackawic. It's a beautiful, pastoral little town. It's hard to imagine that there's going to be a giant axe! Even if the axe is a disappointment, we were glad we got to see this cute little place.

This is in the park where the World's Largest Axe is located. These docks were out on dry land and not in the water (presumably for the winter). It reminded us of the docks at Camp Rocky Point!