Happy Holidays!

I don't have any real travel for the next two weeks, but I wanted to write and wish everyone a happy holiday season!

Miami, Florida

This week was an interesting travel week. I went from Detroit, MI (19 degrees) to Miami, FL (82 degrees). Apparently, this was near record heat for the area. I had the Will Smith song -- welcome to Miami -- stuck in my head during my stay in Miami.

Luckily for me, NWA has a direct flight. And, even better, I was upgraded to first class for the 3 hour flight.

My first class breakfast included breakfast. As I had already eaten breakfast at my hotel, this was second breakfast. It's hard to beat a day that includes two breakfasts.

As soon as I got to town, I headed to south beach. South beach lived up to my ultimate tourist expectations. Pretty beaches, interesting art deco buildings, and versace's house. I also drove by -- unfortunately unable to take pics -- by the kardashians' boutique (dash).








Versace's house. The house was surrounded by European tourists. Apparently, when he bought the building it was a hotel and he converted it to a house. After he was murdered there, it was eventually converted back to a hotel and restaurant. It did not appear to be in business when I was there.



Even though it was 82 degrees, it's still the holiday season.

Paris, Texas

From Bangor, ME I traveled to Paris, TX. Paris is about two hours north of Dallas. According to my vast internet research, this Paris claims to be the second largest Paris outside of France. And, it is home to a 65 foot tall replica of the Eiffel Tower wearing a cowboy hat.


I definitely could not leave town without a visit. Weirdly enough, this roadside attraction was off of a small two-lane road out in a field. I have to admit that I was a bit underwhelmed.

The most exciting part of this portion of my trip (besides the wicked outlet mall outside of Dallas) was the opportunity to go to Sprinkles in Dallas. I have a soft spot in my heart for overpriced cupcakes. This time my poison of choice was a peppermint chocolate flavored cupcake. All I can say is yum.

Bangor, Maine

This week I went to Bangor, Maine. Regardless of what the locals said, it was pretty cold while I was there. But, it was beautiful and a lot of fun. It was also somewhat educational as I learned that people in Maine say wicked. For example, it was wicked cold in Bangor.

My trip began on the right foot when I picked up my rental. My love affair with Hertz continued when I discovered that I had been assigned an Infiniti. The best part of this car was the seat warmers. Definitely a perk in 30 degree icy weather!

The first thing that everyone told me when I told that I was going to Bangor was that Stephen King has a house there. I scoured the internet and found his street address. Once I arrived at his address, I immediately felt like a dork and circled the block. When I stopped to get out of the car, I discovered that a group of tourists were pulling up to take pictures. For some reason it felt a lot better to not be the only dork taking pictures. His house -- a brick color victorian -- was in a neighborhood full of well-kept victorian style homes with large yards. It was surrounded by an interesting fence that included bats and gargoyls.

If it hasn't become painfully obvious from my previous posts, I'm a sucker for touristy road side attractions. After some time spent on Wikipedia, I discovered that Bangor has a Paul Bunyan statue. Naturally, I had to make a stop.

After Bangor, I made a long trek to Paris, Tx. Please stay tuned...

Daytona Beach, Florida

So, my love affair with Hertz at the Orlando airport continues. I got a convertable volvo again. But, this time I had to drive to Daytona Beach (a little over one hour drive) and back. On the way back to the airport it was 79 degrees and sunny. Perfect day to drive with the top down. I shed a tear when I turned this one in. Incidentally, I also shed a tear when I realized I left my sunglasses in the bathroom at the airport.

I didn't really have time to do much while I was in Daytona. This time my hotel was by the airport (and the racetrack) rather than being on the beach. I drove around the track a little bit, and I shot this picture from the hotel parking lot. The track is in the far background.

Blast from the past: random things that I have seen in the airport

I spend a significant amount of time in the airport. So much so that I'm really wondering whether I should file income taxes with the state of georgia as a nonresident. Along the way, I've managed to see one "celebrity" -- Ron Jeremy. Unfortunately, that predated my Iphone and so there is no photographic proof. And, to be honest I was sad that I recognized him so easily. I've also seen/heard some odd parenting. Once I saw a lady feed her children chips and coke for breakfast. I'm no stickler for healthy foods, but that's even below my standards. Another time I heard a man tell his son to go ahead and go to the bathroom prior to boarding the plane because he wouldn't want to drop a doozy on the plane. I think that's sage advice. Once again, sadly, I have no photographic evidence of these events either. But there have been a few things along the way that I've taken pictures of.

First, birds in the airpot.

Dallas Fort Worth
Las Vegas - they probably got as bored of the slots as I did

Second, airport fast food worker asleep in the airport. It is common to see people sleeping in the airport. I'm not going to lie, I fell asleep sitting up in Burbank. But, this is the only time I've seen someone working in the airport sleeping. (Dallas Fort worth)



Third, puppy in carrier. This is more sad than weird. Sorry.



Fourth, and finally, man who took off of his shoes on the plane. OK, this is not in the airport -- but it's close. And, this is probably more rude than weird. Wait, not weird but gross. Totally gross. People keep your shoes on!

Great Falls, Montana

Some facts I learned about Great Falls from Wikipedia: population 56,900, founded in 1883, there are 82 sworn police officers, there was a UFO incident here in 1950 involving baseball players, Ryan Leaf is a native, A River Runs Through It filmed here, and it is a sister city of Sharya, Russia.

Some facts I learned about Great Falls from my visit: Lewis and Clark portaged through here, portages are paths where you must carry your boat when the water is unsafe to boat through, there is a dam on the waterfalls that Great Falls is named after, and Great Falls is obsessed with the lewis and clark portage

Great Falls was really beautiful. And, luckily for me, the weather was pretty nice. Since I arrived in the early afternoon, I had the opportunity to be a tourist for a little bit and I went to the Lewis and Clark center and Great Springs.

The Great Falls airport: decorated with a wide assortment of mounted, dead animals and references to the Great Falls Portage.
The Great Falls airport: Sacagawea statue and portage mural in the background.

Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and Interpretive Center.

Ewww Lewis and Clark

Roe River

Giant Spring

Giant Spring

Plane seating

On my last flight back into town I had the distinction of having the best seat on the plane - the last row next to the bathroom. Lucky for me, the bathroom was out of order (note the not for passenger use sign and duct tape holing the door shut). But, this inspired me to write a post outlining the best and worst seats on the plane.

Let me begin by stating that I am a window seater. I will take a window seat over an aisle seat any day. It provides a place to rest my head (the wall) and people are not constantly walking by me. Admittedly, it does create a challenge if you have to go to the bathroom.

The best:
1. The best seats (EVER) are in first class. This may seem obvious, but the point can't be stressed enough. The seat is bigger. The food is better. The flight attendants are nicer.
2. Exit row. Extra leg room at the low, low cost of being willing to help others off of the plane. Who is going to hold you to this promise anyways?



The worst:
1. The worst seat (EVER) comes on smaller planes. This is the very last row that is next to the bathroom. This location is horrible because of the inevitable bathroom smell. You may think to yourself that you won't have to worry about that because you're on a short flight. That's what I thought when I was on a one hour flight that left at 6:15 am. People will line up to use the horrible plane bathroom. Trust me. The other inconvenience of this seat is that it will take approximately 45 minutes to get off the plane.
2. The row in front of the exit row. This location has fooled many unsuspecting people. It looks harmless enough. The only inconvenience that you can imagine from sitting here is that the proximity to the exit row will remind you of the extra leg room that those people are enjoying. But, after you have been in the air a bit, your seat choice bites you in the butt. The seat won't recline!
3. The first row. This seat has the obvious benefit of getting you off the plane quickly. But, the downside is that you don't have a seat in front of you. Because of this, you must put all of your carry-ons in the overhead container. This is particularly annoying when (like me) you don't check luggage. Only sissies check luggage.



There are other factors that can make a difference in you flying experience. One factor is side fat. Side fat occurs when the person next to you is so large that they spill into your seat. I am a firm believer that these people should have to pay for two seats. Aren't they sitting in two seats? Another factor is open seating (Southwest). Boarding a Southwest flight takes a lot of thought. If I'm early enough, I dart straight to the exit row. If that is taken, I try to take a seat towards the front of the plane. But, in Burbank, Southwest tries to get cute. Because you're not boarding from jet bridges you can board through the front and back exits. So, you must watch the crowd to determine which entrance you should take to increase your odds of getting the coveted exit row seat.

Clearwater, Florida

This week I went to Tampa and Clearwater. If you haven't been to the area, they're all of 11 miles apart. Since the hotel I was staying at was only a couple miles from the beach and I had an extra day, I decided that some beach time was in order. But, it was insanely hot - 94 degrees in OCTOBER.

Pier 60 was the beach area I went to. It had a park and a public beach area. The public beach area had real life lifeguards.

Lifeguard booth

Beach and pier

View of the beach from the pier

View of the beach from my beach towel (a.k.a. hotel bath towel... shh don't tell the Residence Inn)

Sailboat!

There were a lot of birds on the beach. This one stayed near my towel for a while. We became friends.

This bird was on the pier. I tried to get closer, but it freaked out and flew away.

Cute anti-litter sign