Econo Lodge Doswell

... cafes in case you had more time. That would have been a very good place to spend the better part of a day as well. The object of this excursion was not just to see this charming little shopping district, but to buy what Catherine considers the best ice cream in Paris. The displays are like those for gelato in Italy where there are rows of rectangular metal pans which each have a different frozen treat of some kind. Often they are decorated with ...

... man, who was looking right back at my.

This is when the alarm bells started going off in my head. He just made me uneasy, the way he was staring at me. He asked wh**e I had come from and I answ**ed "Washington DC". The look of hatred in his eyes startled me, and he spat "you're full of **** if you're from DC". I hastened to clarify that I wasn't, in fact, from th**e, but I had only been visiting. This was when I knew he was some ...

... the trip the price for the same tickets had reached $1600 with very limited seating choice.

Hotel for 3 ranged from $95-$295 per night (all included an Israeli breakfast)

The $295 included dinner as well.

In my research I discovered that adding a third person to a room was always a significant increase probably because of the added food cost.

An average nice hotel ran $200-$300 a ...

... couple bars and played "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down" five times on the jukebox and we sang every word like it was 1865. We became the hit of the party after asking the bartender to turn it up and to put on the Yankees-Red Sox Game.
We hit the road early in the morning and knew we were going to have a good day when we read signs that said we were entering "Goochland". Next stop...Western Virginia.

... to change, pack up and head out!

We were finally on the bike and headed south towards Cary, North Carolina to visit Luba’s family at about 12pm.

The ride south was very pleasant. I really enjoy riding on small highways with really tall trees along both sides of the highway. It just seems like a much more peaceful ride. It’s so much different from the west coast riding where there a lot of open space.

... activities), and I would have checked it out if I had a car. After a little traffic, we arrived at Kings Dominion!

I used to be quite an avid rollercoaster fan- back in middle and early high school days. I even got a season pass to 6 Flags over Georgia a couple years in a row... They were only $50 or so for the whole summer. My guy friends and I would strategize how to maximize our time by using the Flash ...

... my image of all historical figures talking like pirates might be misguided, but my elementary school textbooks can't compete with Johnny Depp and his roguish charisma.

It was a fun couple of weeks though, and I need time like that with my mom to supplement our primary communication of Skype calls from 10,000 miles away. From there, it was off to NYC to see the city sans my previous fog of jet-lag and incessant vomiting. Sans. Who talks like that?

... drink on campus, she went to a bar with her police ID that she altered the birthdate on. The bouncer that night also works for the police and noticed the forgery right away. So she was sent home. I find it funny, although not something I plan on doing in the near future. Trying to get in bars is one thing but tampering a federally issued ID that you are using for an internship, bozos. Later another meeting, this time only 1.5 hours ...

... I asked. Her voice got very soft and droned out, "I can't talk here at my desk because I'm in a cubicle. There are always people listening. Give me a moment so that I can go outside and call you on my cell phone where it's safer. Bye!" My jaw dropped. What was going on? Who was this girl and what could she possibly want from me that required such clandestine activities? And worse yet, why couldn't she talk at her cube? I mean, here I am, at my ...

Reader Response: Since I get so many letters and emails from all of my loyal readers out there, I like to take some time every now and again to answer a few questions directly. Since I never have time to write back to all of you individually, I'm glad I occasionally can answer some really pressing questions in my column. So thanks to everybody for writing in, and please, keep those letters coming. -- Dear D., Gosh, I love your column. You make me ...