Quirky travel or where I, once again, prove what a weirdo I am

I never thought I'd say this but I'm beginning to hate to travel. Probably, because living out of a suitcase sucks, flying is a cattle car nightmare, and I'm never at these places for fun and relaxation. It's always...work, work, work.

So I've developed a few quirks. Nothing too outrageous. Just a few things that get me to the end of the trip without a major meltdown. Trust me, it is really bad form to meltdown in the lobby of a 4 star hotel. It freaks the front desk people out, not to mention the other quests.

Let me give you a quick list of my travel quirks.

Expensive room without free WiFi but with a comfy bed. Still doesn't make up for the lack of internet.

 

Quirk #1: The Train

 Usually, I pack as light as possible and take public transportation to the hotel. For some reason I love trains so anytime I can get on one I do. This does mean that I'm that annoying person on the commuter train with all the luggage. (Sorry, citizens of whatever city I'm in but you'll just have to get over it. I need my train fix and an not willing to wait until my luggage is safely stored at the hotel.) Unfortunately, this little quirk of mine makes it so I'm thoroughly tired of lugging my baggage through terminals, stations, and across busy streets by the time I hit the hotel. I check into my hotel as soon as humanly possible. If my room is not ready I drop my bags with the Bell Captain just to get rid of them.

The Terminal Market. Yummy food belongs here

Quirk #2: The Visitor Center

Before I leave my house I have already mapped the quickest route from the hotel to the visitor's center. Awww...visitor centers. How I love them. Whether driving, flying, biking or walking I have a nose for visitor centers. JR and I love to take road trips and as we pass from one state into the next I make him stop at the first visitor's center along the route. If we are going through 5 different states then we stop at five different visitor centers, at the least. You know that most towns and cities have them also. We have to stop at those. It's imperative. My theory on this is where else are you going to find the crazy corn museum, biggest ball of yarn, car show, or the best place to dine. Usually, the helpful desk people know ALL the best places. JR's theory is that it is always best to distract me while we pass the exit.

Independence Hall. Where all the important stuff having to do with the United States becoming the United States happened.

 
Quirk #3: The Concierge

Never underestimate the power of these people. 

Want to rent a car? Concierge

Want to eat at an exclusive restaurant that has been booked out for a year? Concierge

Want to see a sold out show? Yep, Concierge

You will have to tip them pretty generously if you want something a little more difficult to get than a good restaurant within walking distance but it is well worth it.

The Liberty Bell. It means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Interesting history belongs to this object.

Quirk #4: The File Folder

I am an absolute nut about file folders. Every trip has a file folder with every piece of paper that I might ever want or need for the trip in it. After I have checked the weather, the traffic, the visitor's center, the airlines, the train/bus/shuttle schedule and the hotel's websites. I will print off all the pertinent information to put into the trip's designated file folder. Not only does this plethora of paper go into the vaulted file folder but it needs to go into the folder in the same order as the events of the trip will run. Airline confirmation; boarding pass; work related reading material for the plane; directions for where the ground transportation is located, costs, and times; hotel reservations, etc it all goes in order.  Can you say anal retentive? I have killed many a tree with this obsession.

Steeple of Christ Church. This is the church that the founding fathers usually hung out in. The pews in this church has seen and supported some of the most famous butts ever. George Washington sat his tushy on these pews.

Quirk #5: The Shoes

The Shoe bomber guy ruined many a pair of socks I can tell you. Plus, made going through security that much more painful. There is nothing worse than being THAT traveler. The one that is wearing a pair of lace up sneakers that are double knotted. Who stands there fighting with their shoes in order to fulfill the stupid TSA regulations. So I have a specific pair of shoes. They slip on easily with socks (a must have since airlines think that if they are squeezing us in like sardines then they have to keep the temperature in the cabin just above freezing), are weather proof but still light weight. And, not bad to look at.

The Thinker outside the Rodin museum. Rodin is one of my all time favorite sculptors.

Quirk #6 The tourist

Every time I take a trip I try to add a half day or so to the length of the trip to play tourist. If I have to get up at the crack of dawn to get to the airport to make a flight at 6am that will get me into wherever I'm going before noon I'll do it. That extra half day usually gives me enough time to grab a tour bus or boat trip. I find that these prepackaged trips pack in a lot of the sites of the city in a short amount of time. If I have more time I will see more of the city sites on a more one on one basis but the prepackaged trips give me a great overall view. They also help me to make informed decisions about what I really might want to see. I've taken boat trips in Chicago, train trips in Durango, and a trolley trip in Philadelphia. All of them have been great fun.

The Old Woman by Rodin. Hey! He's never seen me naked.

These are some of my major quirks when it comes to traveling. I don't even want to start on my home quirks. They are legendary. 

Have you got any travel quirks? 

Or any that you'll admit to?

As always,

According to the artist the "O" is crooked because love is never perfect. I can dig that.

M

Mt Vernon the Home of our First President

I can totally understand why George Washington loved his home. The aspect from the front veranda is spectacular. This is the view of the front. The fronts of colonial homes typically faced the river. Why? Because river travel was easier than road travel.

When you walk from the ticket booth you are really walking up to the back of the house. Still impressive but notice the small doors. One doesn't spend a lot of money on places in or around the house where guest are not allowed.

The bottom floor is the pubic space. It is fancier than the upper floor, the family space. You don't have to provide fancy modelings, murals, and mantels for family. Just like the front of the house has all those tall columns and the back of the house is all flat and boring (I say that like I could ever afford something half as nice).

The house started out as just the middle section. Pretty much the area where the cupola is or the five windows in the middle of the top floor. When George (George and I are on first name basis. You don't do the research on Founding Fathers that I have and not feel like their best friend) inherited and after the Revolutionary war was over he expanded the house on both sides.

Kitchens were almost never inside the house. Most were attached with a breezeway. Kitchen fires were always a threat. One could not be too careful.

Big open fireplaces provided plenty of space to cook a variety of dishes. Dutch ovens on stands could cook a stew or bake biscuits. By moving coals under the stand and piling them on top of the lid you could cook by convection. The small oven on the right side was used to bake bread. Chances are Martha would never come into this building. She would have supervised the housekeeper who would relay messages to the cook.

The long pole like things that are stored over the fireplace are spits for meat. They were attached to a mechanism inside the fireplace than a small child would turn the handle slowly.

As I walked through this small building all I kept thinking about was how I could work in this space. It's pretty big. You don't have to do too much to the floor to keep it clean. Who mops brick? I've never had much trouble cooking over an open flame, whether that is a modern gas range or a campfire.

(Okay, where did the picture of the pantry go? Damn Blogger! It was there last night.)

The pantry space is fabulous! It is below ground level so it is naturally cool. It could use a few more shelves. I think instead of dead birds hanging from the hooks on the ceiling I think I'd add hanging baskets. Notice the flagstone floor instead of the brick that is in the kitchen. There is enough space between the rocks that drippings (ewwwww..) can drop down and be absorbed.

There you have a little of Mt. Vernon. If you ever get a chance to visit pay a little extra to take the boat cruise on the Potomac. The views are unrivaled.

Happy Friday and Happy Independence day. Wow! You would have thought that I had actually planned to make some sort of fourth of July celebration with this post. Yeah, right! Like I plan that far in advance.

Love,
M

Randon Tuesday Thoughts on Wednesday

So I'm a day late? I'm also a dollar short. Does anyone say that antidote anymore? Yeah, I didn't think so. And, with the economy in the toilet it should read: A day late and 10 dollars short. We can just say I'm late today.

As most of you know I was at a Librarian's conference this weekend in lovely but busy Washington DC. Our nation's capitol, where the air is humid and the drivers are crazy. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to stop by your blogs but the conference site didn't have wireless. I KNOW! How crazy is that.

Here are some random highlights of my trip. Details to follow.

Wine on patio of restaurant in Annapolis, Maryland.

Very pretty
Very peaceful
VERY HOT!
VERY HUMID!

Exhibit hall in conference center.

Busy little bees work down there.

Cooking/cookbook demo in exhibit hall.
You knew I couldn't pass this up
Hey, I got a free cookbook out of the deal
and that gentleman up there, we had a meaningful discussion.
Okay, we traded business cards. Shut up! It was too meaningful.

Cookbook section of the Mt. Vernon gift shop.
I really haven't found a gift shop I didn't like
but one that carries cookbooks is my favorite.

Mt. Vernon. The home of George Washington.
He was there by the way.
Of course, he's dead.
So he probably doesn't smell too good.
He probably didn't smell too good when he was alive.
Bathing wasn't an everyday occurrence back then.

Pretty flowers.

We'll get into some more details in the coming days. I need to make some apologies to the drivers in the Washington DC metro area, I have some thoughts on conference sessions held after lunch, the best thing I ate and many more exciting topics. Can't wait, can you?

Off to work now,
See you all later.

Love,
M

Somedays I Have the Coolest Job on the Planet

This all happened Friday:


Yeah, I'm a librarian. Yeah, librarians get to see all the good books. Yeah, our reputations proceed us. Yada Yada Yada. But, I'm not that kind of librarian. I'm the kind of librarian that digitizes old stuff and displays it on the internet.

In the course of my work I get to see some really cool stuff but today I got to see the coolest thing on the planet. Okay, maybe not the coolest for some of you but I'm a Jeffersonian and Colonial period historian. Which make this item the coolest thing I've ever seen.

What was it?

It was a letter from George Washington to Israel Shreve written in 1778. I got to hold it. I got to read it. I got the chills from it. I refrained from drooling on it.

I immediately went back to my office virtually wiggling with excitement. I had to tell someone. Someone who would understand. Someone who would appreciate the enormity of what this meant to me. My oldest boy would be great because he too has a history background but he's not online. Who is online? My youngest son. Here is our chat.



me: OMFG I just got to touch and read a letter written by George Washington in 1778
The Boy: who?

me: George Washington

you know

father of our country

3:31 PM The Boy: ohh right

me: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uhsc/00024/hsc-00024.html

The Boy: good ole georgey boy

me: it was one of these

wooden teeth boy

3:32 PM crossing the Delaware guy

3:33 PM The Boy: could you imagine splinters in your gums

me: no I can't imagine

think of the canker sores

3:34 PM The Boy: think of the cholera!

me: think of the bleeding

The Boy: bleeding gums murphy

me: without the saxophone

Some of the excitement drained out of the occasion. I still had the chills. They were just a little less chillslike. Whereas I was laughing my a*& off.

Love,
M