New Orleans

Just returned from what is probably my only visit to N'awlins.  As everyone does, I will note that it is hot.  Way too hot for the likes of me, a born northerner who is more comfortable in blizzard than in humidity.

Secondly, of course, the food is generally spectacular.  See the photo of the crawfish etoufee that I had on my first night there.  It was the first of a few really great meals and a couple of pretty indifferent ones.  Much depended upon whether one got out of the hotel and into the local restaurants.  This one was from the Oceana Grill, on the corner of Bourbon and Conti Streets in the French Quarter.

My impressions of the city, pre-arrival, were based upon the novels of Anne Rice as well as a travel memoir by Robert Heinlein which included a description by him (in the 1950s) of a visit there.  Not much to base expectations upon, but it was a buzzy layer in the back of my mind regardless.  Needless to say, many things were much different there than I had expected.

I didn't get to the Garden District, nor were we able to ride the streetcars (unfortunately they were off line for repairs), so I think I missed a lot of the "old South" of the city, with manor houses and such like, which I did really expect.  On the other hand, the French Quarter had tiny narrow streets, a lot of iron railings on the upper stories of the buildings, and the open doors of the shops poured their air conditioning into the streets.  (My grandmother would have had a stroke about the waste.)

I did see, on the way to and from the airport, a huge old cemetery with all the above-ground tombs.  It is very unusual, one could say, from a midwesterner where a half-dozen tombs are the maximum in our cemeteries, where people are otherwise put in the ground.

Other than that, our time in NOLA was spent walking (slowly!) and eating.  Here I am with colleagues at the Cafe Du Mond, very sweaty but ready to sit down for coffee and beignets.

I did not know that beignets were the shape of pillows (for some reason I imagined donut holes).  They are covered with powdered sugar and since they are deep fried and served while still hot, quite tasty.  Also, probably, they are something I don't need to eat more of.  Once was definitely enough!

All in all, a worthwhile trip but if I ever go again, it will not be in July!

Las Vegas

A business trip to Las Vegas in July was my first time in that city, although not my first visit to the state of Nevada.  It was hot, of course, with temps in the 100s throughout the visit, but most of the strip is a series of well-air-conditioned hotel/casinos, so one can walk with relief always nearby.  An interesting innovation is that outdoor dining and drinking patios are often surrounded by waist-high railings with sprinklers attached.  They continuously spray a fine mist into the air to cool the patrons nearby.

It is a culture shock to walk down the Las Vegas strip and see things you would not see in any other major US city.  Walk-up bars, where you can take one "to go" -- I drank a beer on the sidewalk as I walked but I felt extremely self-conscious, as if someone would stop me at any second. 

Another rare sight were the men handing out flyers on the street corners, wearing T-shirts with the legends - "Girls sent to your room in 20 minutes" followed by the phone number.  Seriously.  This is commercialized in Vegas.

On the other hand, they are not shy about routing you through casinos to get anywhere else.  Overhead walkways are accessed by escalators or elevators, but those are inside the building on that corner, nine times out of ten, and to get to them, you have to walk through a casino.  When checking in to our hotel, we had to then haul our suitcases through about one-third of the casino in order to get to the guest elevators.  There was no other way to do it.

Did I gamble?  Yes, a bit,  although I am strictly a slot machine person.  I don't play table games - they are much too expensive for me.

The other attractions of Vegas, besides scenery, are shows.  The one I saw at my hotel was called Zarkana.  It was a Cirque du Soleil show which are very popular now, combining acting with acrobatics for an interesting show.  In Zarkana, one performeer was wired, at one point, to soar out over the first twenty rows of the audience.  It was definitely worth seeing, although again the experience is VERY EXPENSIVE to my little tightfisted mode of thinking (ranging from $170 to $108 depending upon location in the theatre).  But this was probably my only visit to Las Vegas and so I considered it a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  And spent accordingly.

I wish I had had the time and means to have gotten out of town.  I saw desert and mountains during landing and takeoff at the airport.  I also realized that the Grand Canyon was not that far away, and if I had gotten a rental car, I would have enjoyed a day outside of the glitz and glitter.  Not this time, however.

Champagne-Urbana (or Urbana-Champagne)

I took a small trip to the University of Illinois earlier in October.  This was my annual Big Ten trip (last year, as you may recall, I was to make my first visit to Nebraska but my flight was canceled due to a snow storm). 

I had been at U of Illinois before, but this time I found out the reason that the city calls itself Champagne-Urbana but the univerisity is said to be in Urbana-Champagne.  The university straddles the two cities which are separated by Wright Street, but the home of the university president is in Urbana, which gives it the precendence, apparently.

Anyway, it is a nice city, we had some nice meals, and it was a good trip.  Even the drive - which skirts Gary and I have made meny times, always in terror, surrounded by semi trucks -- was not as bad as it has been for me in the past.

The "Amazing Race" Tour

I don't watch the Amazing Race, but one of my colleagues put that tag on this trip - three cities and four airlines in seven days - a real whilrlind tour.  Traveling like this is neither as bad as I feared nor as good as it could have been, but I survived and we learned a lot.

With four of my colleagues from the university where I work, we set up visits to three other schools to talk with them about their student computer systems.  We were able to set up all the visits for the same week.  So, on Sunday we set out from Detroit (after a two-hour drive to the airport) and flew non-stop to Seattle, Washington for our first visit.  Due to the time difference, the five hour flight deposited us at 2pm PDT, or apparently two hours after we left Michigan.

After finding our hotel and a quick check-in to leave our luggage in our rooms, we met in the lobby for a walk about the hotel and into the campus proper. 

The University of Washington is a traditional campus with lovely buildings.  The center feature of the campus is a massive fountain (right).  Gorgeous.

We arrived on a rare sunny and warm day.  Coming from Michigan, where it has been hot and dry for a month or more, we enjoyed the relative coolness but weren't properly respectful of the sunshine.  We would learn better as Monday and Tuesday were both grey and cold. 

So we walked, returned to the hotel and dressed for dinner, then met a local friend of one of my team for dinner.  We went to a microbrew called The Ram, in the University Village (looked like an outdoor shopping mall, very close to the UW campus).  I had a beer called Buttface Amber Ale.  It was great.  We also ate seafood (as we had resolved to do in Seattle - we would also later have Mexican food in Arizona and barbeque in Texas).

After a nice dinner, we got a ride back to the hotel (they had a shuttle, which was very nice).  I went to bed (although not to sleep as the time change worked against me here).

Monday was our first all-day meeting with a university.  I found the exercise room in the hotel and did my treadmill time, then got some coffee in the shop off the lobby.  Not a Starbuck's, although that company originated in Seattle, but instead Tully's Coffee, also a chain. 

Four of us later met for breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then we all walked across the street to the meeting.

After it was over, we rushed back to change to more casual clothes and grab the hotel shuttle to take us to downtown Seattle.  The driver let us off near Pike's Place market.  That is where the guys who work in the fish markets throw the fish around.  We arrived in time for a show but it was so crowded that one could not get a good photo.  It was fun, though.

Then we went looking for a restaurant, and the walk was enough to work up an appetite.  The streets are sharply canted toward the Sound, and one is often digging in to walk up or down hill safely.  Nothing like home, and a bit intimidating, really.  I almost felt that I could fall off my own feet.

We ended up at a restaurant called Etta's that was near the waterfront and just across the street from Cutter's Crab House, where I had eaten the last time I was in Seattle, over 15 years back.  The food at Etta's was decent, but not special (sorry to say).  Still, it was a nice meal.

We then wandered off to find a bar and located a wine bar in a mall that one of our group remembered from one of his previous trips.  I wasn't up for wine so I had a bottle of pomegranate tea which was different - not sweet at all as I would expect with a fruit juice and tea blend.  It was good.

We returned to the hotel and some of my colleagues continued to drink in the hotel bar but I actually had hopes of getting some sleep so I headed to my room.  However, it was another long night as I dozed fitfully until about 4 am.  After that I slept hard but of course had to get up at a reasonable time on Tuesday morning as we were headed for Tucson.  At least we had a direct flight.

We had a late lunch at a nearby sports bar, then split up.  Three of my colleagues were having a horseback ride in a nearby national park but I declined.  It has been at least 15 years since I have ridden and I had images of suffering a major injury a thousand miles from home.  So I took a long walk around the area, scoping out places for dinner, even though it was very hot (mid to high 90s).  We ate late, once everyone was back, and turned in fairly early.

After our meeting with the University of Arizona folks, we got a cab for an authentic Mexican restaurant.  I had a chimichanga that was pretty good, but then I skipped the hot sauce (not much for really spicy foods, so much of the menu would have been wasted on me).  Rather than cab to another location afterwards, we just went back to the hotel, then took a walk through campus, took some photos, and then ended up at a wine bar near the hotel for a couple of drinks and some intense, work-related conversation.

The next day, it was on to Lubbock, Texas, via Dallas.  For the first time, we had a flight delay (this time we were on American Airlines), but still got to Dallas in time for our flight to Lubbock, although since Dallas is such a large airport, we worried ahead of time about the connection.  But the tram/shuttle between the terminals is convenient and fast, and we had plenty of time.  One member of the group had time to pick up a Texas Longhorns ball cap (not the university we were visiting but something he had always wanted) and another of us got a purse with the leather panels dyed like the state flag.  I just picked up a book, a diet soda, and some mints.

Lubbock was the only place we had to rent a van as the university was some distance from our hotel.  Even though we had reserved ahead, we had some trouble getting the size we needed - 5 people with luggage for a week cannot fit into a standard car, or even a normal SUV.  Finally we were on our way to the Overton Hotel, which I noted with amusement was on Mac Davis Lane.  Not all of the group were old enough to remember him, but I did.   He hails from Lubbock.

We arrived after 6pm so we stopped only briefly at the hotel to check in and unload our baggage before heading out to dinner.  We ate at J & M Bar B Q, which had a menu on a chalkboard that listed the types of mesquite barbequed meats you could order (by the half pound or the pound).  Or one could order a one meat, two meat, or three meat dinner and specify meats and sides, which is what we did.  Almost all of us had brisket as one meat - you could get it shredded or sliced.  They also had ribs, sausage, pulled pork, etc.  I had shredded beef brisket and german sausage, with an extra cup of sauce on the side, mashed potatoes & gravy and baked beans.  I didn't like the beans - they were not the sweet and molasses-heavy style I am used to, but rather a tart barbequed style with no sweetness.  I didn't care for them.

Because the restaurant had no liquor, we went afterwards down the street a short ways to the Cap Rock Cafe.  This is a bar that is the "Best Place to Have a Beer" - so their coasters say.  They did have good beer, and served it in a heavy glass goblet.  I used to have one of these about thirty years ago, which I used to keep loose change in.  Quite a blast from the past!

Again, we spent most of our time thrashing through the things we had learned thus far on the trip and how we could approach our written proposals.  Those of us who were less techie got an illustration on the relationship between our mainframe and web files and how they talk to each other, using coasters, drink stirrers, sugar packets, and other table trash as props.

The next day, after our final meeting, we went to dinner at a steakhouse near the city's Friday night Art Walk.  We did have to wait a while for a table.  There was at least one convention in town, and the restaurant was full of people wearing badges of Meat Processors.  Wow, who knew?

After a nice meal and some good beer, we got on the Art Walk shuttle and visited a display area of photos, jewelry, and yard sculpture, then took another shuttle to the Buddy Holly Museum on Crickets Avenue.  There I picked up a T-shirt for one of my cat sitters, and we took photos near the statue of Buddy Holly across the way.

Back at the hotel, we settled on the outdoor patio for a drink.  Even though it was evening, and the sun had set, it was over 90 degrees outdoors, but we were becoming used to the heat.  Of course, the next day we would be headed back to Michigan.  But we had to have a drink to celebrate the successful conclusion of our trip.  We shared a toast with shots all around, then spent some time winding down before heading up to bed.  We were flying first to Houston, then Detroit, and then driving the two hours back to East Lansing, and had to leave the hotel shortly after 6am.  We would then arrive home approximately 12 hours later (with time change figured in), and would be both glad, and slightly sorry, to have the trip be over.

Arlington

The time I spent in Virginia was primarily going to and from DC, but I did spend a considerable time at Arlington National Cemetary on one of my first visits. I knew a few things about Arlington before my visit - that it is primarily a cemetary for members of the US armed services, that it has the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and that John F. Kennedy is buried there under an eternal flame.

I did not know there was a monument to the astronauts of the Challenger, who were lost on liftoff in 1986.  That was very moving when I came across it, as I remember well seeing that on television when it happened.

I hope to visit more of the state in the future.

Grand Rapids

I used to live in the Grand Rapids area - granted, it was many years ago, but I don't remember it being so interesting.

Last month I was in the city for a short conference, and I was pleasantly surprised at both the diversity and cleanliness of the downtown area as well as the tour of the Fredrick Meijer gardens that was one of our evening entertainment events. The only thing I really did not like was the room in my hotel.

As I arrived, the downtown area was very busy with the Art Prize event. There were art pieces on the sidewalks and in the downtown museum, and there were crowds of people strolling the streets to look at them. The weather was sunny and crisp, which was perfect for viewing the pieces. There were a lot of great pieces, but here is one I liked - an ape made of forks.


The evening excursion to the Meijer garden was also art-related. There is an outdoor sculpture garden, indoor greenhouses (I especially liked the greenhouse containing the carnivorous plants), and an art gallery. The latter had a piece I really loved - it was a light installation with mirrors and pieces of colored glass that filled a wall. There were only two small, powerful spotlights, but the reflections, deflections, and color changes made a great piece. I really wanted it but I don't have that much clear wall space. Tragically. I don't know how you buy a piece like that, anyway. Do they come to your house and install it for you?

The hotel was, of course, the Amway Grand (that is the major conference hotel in Grand Rapids). The meeting rooms are beautiful, and the reception we had in the 27th story restaurant and bar was wonderful and gave a great view, but my personal hotel room was in the "old side" of the building and was not very comfortable. The obvious things were missing, such as a coffeepot and a fridge. The layout was a bit strange, with a lot of open space in the middle of the room but the desk faced away from the bed and the TV and was poorly lit for working.

But the trip was nice. I would spend more time in Grand Rapids.

Boston

I returned to Boston for a conference last week, but really, I didn't see or do much (the weather there was hot and humid, as it was in fact across most of the country).

Boston this time was all about food. My single vow was to consume as much seafood as I could while I was there, and I was pretty successful.

The first evening, I met a few friends when I was scoping out the convention area and attached hotels and mall. We ended up at a small restaurant on Columbus Avenue near Dartmouth, called Coda. We were wandering along looking at the menus posted outside when a young man stopped and told us, "Don't bother with that one, there's a better one around the corner." That's how we found Coda. It was a nice, quiet, and not too busy bar and grill. I had Prince Edward Island mussels.

The second evening, I went alone to Legal Seafood - there are many of these in the Boston area. Because I was alone, I sat at the bar and had a Sam Adams, then the special (chowder, a 1.5lb lobster, and strawberry shortcake). Another lone diner two seats down had the same meal, except for wine rather than beer. He decided I was his dining buddy and talked to me throughtout the meal. (Apparently, he also knew everything about pretty much everything.) I did like the food, though.

Third evening found me in the Cheesecake Factory with several colleagues, where I had their New Orleans shrimp (made with andouille sausage) and a half-slice of carrot cake. I had heartburn that night, but it was so worth it.

The final evening in Boston, I met another friend and we ventured to Newbury Street and had sushi at a sidewalk cafe, where we could watch the passers-by and catch up. Also excellent.

On my way home at Logan Airport, I must admit I also picked up a crab cake sandwich. I just didn't get enough seafood, even though I did have it every day. I would like to visit again, just for the food.