Monthly Archives: July 2013

On another sunny afternoon…

Posted in Out & About, Randomness by

Me: Hmm… going for crabs in a few hours and I just got off from work. It’s not raining, so what to do?

Siri: ahem

Me *rustles with map* Let’s see… not too familiar with Baltimore, but there must be something in that area I’d like to check off the list.

Siri: AHEM

Me *studies map and consults Great Oracle the internet*

Siri: You can only ignore me for so long.

Me: Actually, all I have to do is think back to my glorious CIA adventure and I can ignore you quite well.

Siri: Look, we all have days when perhaps we are over confident in our facts. Besides, there was a road there. It’s not my fault the CIA fenced it off.

Me *goes back to studying map*

Siri: And let’s face facts here. You’re going to need me to get wherever you’re going, so you might as well clue me in now.

Me: Until your battery runs down.

Siri: You will recall that on the trip in question I was giving directions, finding places to go, taking pictures, and playing music FOR THE ENTIRE DAY.

Me: True.

Siri: Not to mention I found that great restaurant in Fredericksburg for you.

Me: Also true.

Siri: So where are we going?

Me *types in address*

Siri: Woo hoo! New Mexico here we come!

Me *sigh*: We are not going to New Mexico.

Siri: Sure we are! Look, it’s right there in the address! Turn on this road and head towards New Mexico!

Me: New Mexico. In Baltimore.

Siri: Yep. Right there, ‘N.M.’

Me: N.M. stands for ‘National Monument’, not New Mexico.

–Later–

Siri: Well it’s certainly feels like it’s 3000 degrees out here, but I always thought New Mexico was less humid.

Me *facepalm*

Travel Part 3: Holy Cow Part 2

Posted in Out & About by

Chicago: Saw that blog post you did.

Me: Good times.

Chicago: ‘…’

Me: I wish I’d had my camera in Pike Place Market. That food was amazing.

Chicago: You know what else you wished you had in Seattle?

Me: What?

Chicago: Readily available cabs to get you places easily. And a really great but inexpensive hotel literally walking distance from local awesomeness. You know… LIKE YOU HAD IN CHICAGO.

Me: Uhh… yeah. Chicago was great, but the post was getting long so I thought…

Chicago: Oh no, that’s okay. I mean, obviously nothing amazing happened in Chicago. Like looking down on FIREWORKS from the top of a SKYSCRAPER. Or The Bean. Or an entire exhibit of miniature rooms, which you’ve loved since seeing some at the BMA years ago. Oh no, nothing like that!

Me: … that I would break it up into two sections. Hence the title you see up there.

Chicago: Oh goody. I’m in Cow Part 2. How awesome for me. I suppose it’s okay that I’m ranked behind a place where you got seasick on a whale watching cruise. And the Bee Capital of the World.

Me: THERE’S NO RANKING. I just couldn’t fit all the cool things in one post!

Chicago: Cool things? Like falling in love with Monet because seeing his works in person just doesn’t compare to a book?

Me: Alright, let’s talk about that hot dog.

Chicago: That hot dog was not my fault.

Me: Or the pizza.

Chicago: Also not my fault.

Seattle: Hey, I didn’t make anyone seasick!

Niagara: And I’m not the Bee Capital of the World! Besides, honey bees are important for the environment!

Chicago: No one asked either of you!

Me: Chicago was amazing. I want to go back, if nothing else than to see this again:

The Bean

The Bean

Chicago: Whatever.

Seattle: ROUGH SEAS ARE NOT MY FAULT!

Travel Part 2: Holy Cow Part 1

Posted in Out & About by

There are experiences in travel that move you, from something that reminds you how awesome the world can be to a horror movie amount of flies moving you and your picnic back to the car. Every place I’ve been has had at least one.

Hurricane Deck, Niagara Falls: I realize Niagara is the punch line to a lot of travel jokes, with a reputation for tourist hordes and honeymooners. But if you mentally prepare yourself for the stop and go traffic and detours necessitated by group photos, you can see why so many people have the same idea. There’s the usual suspects like Maid of the Mist (which you might as well get used to having in 95% of your pictures) and surprises like Three Sisters Island. But to experience the intense power of the falls, the Hurricane Deck is it. I loved every single minute. And there were a lot of those, since I stood up there until my skin was a nice prune consistency and bystanders started wondering if I was trying to get a month’s worth of showers in one go.

Shark & Ray Touch Tank, New England Aquarium, Boston: Seattle’s aquarium was my first touch tank experience, and was awesome. It’s based on their local tide pools, so you can exasperate sea urchins and the like. But as the name implies, Boston’s is filled with small rays and sharks. I danced around like a little kid from the time we got there until we could go in. There’s something surreal about sticking your hand into water with creatures you would normally do your best to avoid. The rays loved it, forming a circular conga line to get a pet. The sharks? Not so impressed, but I did manage to touch one (sandpaper, and I don’t know how but it felt dry even though it was under water).

Seattle was before I took pictures with wild abandon.

Not Pike Place Market: Seattle was before I took pictures with wild abandon. At least this was taken in Seattle. 

Pike Place Market food tour, Seattle: I’d seen this place on TV so much I felt like I knew it. It was on my ‘someday list’, and noshing our way through all good stuff without waiting in lines was the best way to check that box. We also went Super Tourist at Market Spice, and I came home with an ounce of every salt they sold. Apparently TSA dogs don’t like salt as much as gourmet brownies because my treasure trove made it back, but I’m sure if one of those airport reality shows had been around then my suitcase and it’s tiny baggies would have been on it.

Now that would have been a blog post.

Travel

Posted in Out & About, Prompts by

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I discovered my love of travel while in New Mexico. Even though I was only in the Southwest for a few days, it was the first time in my life I felt I was ‘somewhere else’. When I got in it was dark, but the next morning I walked outside and saw a huge brown mountain rising behind the Target across from my rat trap motel the place I had stayed the night before. I stared at it so long anyone going by must have thought Target was putting out some kind of homing signal.

Travel can teach you a lot. For instance, during the New Mexico trip I learned:

  • If you’re planning to zip tie your suitcase closed, remember not to put your scissors in the suitcase.
  • When trying to rent the smallest possible car at the airport, if the agent stares at you and starts talking about ‘mountains’, bite the bullet and get a bigger car.
  • Japanese toilet seats are heated.
  • TSA dogs like gourmet brownies. At least that’s what the note next to the empty container in my suitcase said.

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What started out as a solo trip has morphed into a yearly tradition where my mom and I hit the road to check things off our ‘someday list’. We have our must-dos: market, aquarium, art museum, Duck tour. We do touristy things and eat ourselves to ruin. I usually come back with hundreds of photos and at least one fridge magnet.

And before we’ve even unpacked, we’re discussing where we want to go next year.