Saturday, March 24, 2007

Traveling

So there's this cool site ( http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedcountries/ ) that lets you map out all the places you've visited. I decided to compare my travels to my husbands.

It seems I'm at 4% of the world and he's at 11%. That's insane to think about how much is left , but I suppose work and lack of funds have an impact on that. On a high note, I've been in 62% of the US. Work probably had quite a bit to do with that. I don't know that I would consider my work travel "seeing" a city or state. Sometimes I get to see the office, a hotel and, if I'm lucky, the local bar.

There have been a few instances when I dragged my co-workers out to see things that annoyed them (I secretly think they enjoyed it).

I saw the OKC bombing memorial which was awesome. Conveniently it was nighttime which, as it turns out, is the best time to see it. That happened to work out since that was the only time I could go.. http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/index.php

The Art Institute of Chicago....you really can't pass up a chance to see Nighthawks in person. I don't know that I love it, but it's iconic. http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/amer/highlight_item?acc=1942.51

You haven't lived until you've eaten Burnt Ends in KC - http://www.jackstackbbq.com/ mmmmm, meat.

I don't know if this qualifies as fun necessarily, but we went. http://www.gatewayarch.com/Arch/index.aspx What was really cool about the whole experience was how they get you up there. If you think about it, you have to ride up in an elevator that goes sideways. Yes, it does make you a little queasy when you look down from the top..... A boss I had later in life, not the one I visited this with, told me he peed on the arch. He then proceeded to laugh like a lunatic. Needless to say he didn't last very long.

Been to the original McCormick & Schmicks in Portland, OR. Guess what, it's the same as the one down the street....

Drove from Seattle to Portland instead of flying - awesome drive - got to see Mt. Rainier as well as gorgeous scenery.

For those of you who know me, you know I don't eat meat on the bone. It skeeves me out. The one and only time I broke this rule was at Mary Macs in Atlanta, GA. http://www.marymacs.com/ Many of you may know Mrs. J as well and so you also know that we don't "fry" anything in her house. As a result, this was my first run in with fried chicken and good lord I could have eaten 30 chickens fried that day. Screw the trans fats that was a little slice of heart attack heaven. And don't even ask me about the Mac & Cheese....

And San Antonio would not have been complete without a few drunken evenings on the Riverwalk http://www.thesanantonioriverwalk.com/ . The Alamo on the other hand was about the size of my garage and the first time I drove past it on my way to the office, I blinked and missed it.

And since right now I can't think of anymore places worth writing about I'll tell you about one I was dragged to and hated. It's like a consumer disneyland hell with alcohol and children, fat people and tank tops, lots of artificial sand and Jimmy Buffett......you get the picture http://www.universalorlando.com/cw_index.html .

PS - Don't eat at "Marley's" - I did and I drank enough to kill a large farm animal. Then I bought a Jamaica tee shirt. Enough said. No good can come of purchasing tourist merchandise.

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