TravelStream™ news feed for member ahartry on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/ahartry en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:39:47 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ahartry/51/1258738682/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ahartry/51/1258738682/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ahartry/51/1258738682/tpod.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:39:47 -0500 The MPR Trips

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San Diego, California, United States

Began the day with a very nice walk, from the hotel to the cruise ship dock, along the waterfront, past the Seaport Village, to the Hilton Hotel, then into the Gaslamp District, then back to the hotel. Spent the rest of the day at SDSU -- it was much warmer today than yesterday.Pix are of the Museum of Contemporary Art/Train Station ... and of a boat in the marina ... I loved the reflections ... too bad I only had my cell phone camera...
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San Diego, California, United States

Not a terribly productive day ... drive to campus (too many cars! too much hyper traffic! no parking!), then back to the hotel, then a walk around the Gaslamp Quarter, then back to campus (too many cars! too much hyper traffic! no parking!), then back to hotel. ... but I did learn that there is a "Little Italy" in San Diego. I think it's made up -- they had a couple of Italian restaurants along one street and so deemed it Little Italy. Probably very cynical of me. The W Hotel is happening tonight ... some big wine tasting event. Lots of sleek young bodies in high heels and/or tight pants. Both men and women. Very amusing. I definitely felt out of place ...
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San Diego, California, United States

At work all day, then late afternoon flight. No problems with flight at all ... arrived, got rental car, then drove the few miles to the W Hotel. Very swank. The "living room" bar was happening ... but we just went to our rooms, then met for dinner at Rice, the embedded restaurant, which serves Cuban/Asian fusion. Food was fine, not fab.Room is fun ... there's a chalkboard (that received a bit of J. Alfred Prufrock from me) and a window seat. And the linens are wonderful.
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Sacramento, California, United States

A lovely day -- with an easy drive out to Sacramento, a good day visiting Sac State (which is a very pretty campus, especially this time of year, with the leaves changing), then an easy drive home. Definitely a long day, and I was exhausted by the end of it, but not a bad one at all.
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Winter Park, Florida, United States

The day was warm and clear -- attended a few sessions and managed to talk another walk around the Shingle Creek Nature Trail. In the evening, a colleague and I went to the Morse Museum of American Art to see the Tiffany glass -- I particularly wanted to see the Tiffany windows they had on display. Although the windows were limited, they were very fine -- one from the Mellon home in Philadelphia in particular. Also enjoyed the several iridescent vases they had. We had dinner at a Thai restaurant along Park Avenue -- quite tasty, and a very nice presentation. Then, back to the hotel, to bed.
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Orlando, Florida, United States

Had two presentations today -- one went very well; the other just okay. But I only take part of the blame for the second one.Did manage to get out for a brief walk around Shingle Creek Nature Trail today -- it's about a mile and a quarter -- one leaves the hotel, crosses the golf course, then walks through the cypress trees and glade to see Shingle Creek, the headwaters of the Florida Everglades ... it was a pleasant walk, though the signs warning me to stay away from "Alligators, poisonous snakes, and other harmful creatures" was a little disconcerting. But just a little disconcerting. Wish I had my camera with me.
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Winter Park, Florida, United States

I had a couple of sessions in the morning, then ran into a good friend. We went to lunch, with a colleague -- sitting outside, enjoying the lovely day. I had arranged for a late check out, which was good, but I still could have lingered. After saying goodbye to my friend, then checking out, I drove to Winter Park, to find a book -- bookstore listed in Winter Park. Spent an hour browsing the book store, then another hour just wandering up and down the main street (Park Avenue), and sitting out having a cup of coffee and people-watching. Nothing too interesting ... although I did overhear a funny snippet of conversation from a man on his cell phone: "Sorry I didn't call you right away. I just ran into Mike and Stephanie ... no, she was polite enough, but I didn't really know what to say. We talked about things that happened last week, so that was okay." Wonder what Stephanie might have been sniffy about. I had some extra time, so I decided to drive back, avoiding the tollways. Googlemaps on my phone, however, kept leading me astray ... so I gave up and jumped on the toll way. With the long drive to reach the airport, then the long drive around the airport, then the long drive through the parking garage, I arrived at the departure gate just as my group was boarding. Did have an exit row, which was nice. Read my book ("The Heart of the Nile") for the entire time. Arrived on time in LAX, but now have two and half hours (!!!!) until my flight to San Jose. Then have an hour drive. Ugh. Why did I decide to save the project a couple of hundred dollars?At least it has afforded me the opportunity to overhear a businessman walk back in forth, talking on his cell phone with his hands-free set: "TMI. TMI. TMI. TMI..." he said the first time. Now, he just walked by again, saying, "Why do you continue to talk like this? TMI! Don't you remember..." Very amusing.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ahartry/51/1257983717/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ahartry/51/1257983717/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ahartry/51/1257983717/tpod.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:23:19 -0500 The MPR Trips

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Lake Wales, Florida, United States

After checking in for the conference, and determining there was nothing I needed to do until late afternoon, I decided to go sight-seeing. Wanting to avoid all the Attractions, I got in my car and started driving ... then pulled out the Where magazine to find Things to Do. A place called "Bok Tower and Gardens" caught my eye. My smartphone led me the right way -- about a 60 minute drive into the center of the peninsula. Nothing around but housing developments, strip malls, and flat, flat land. Bok Tower and Gardens were definitely worth the drive -- the gardens were established in the 1920s as a bird refuge. Built on one of the few "hilltops" in Florida (at the grand height of 324 feet), there is a Gothic Art Deco tower and carrillon, plus Olmsted-designed gardens surrounding the tower. The Tower includes scultpures by Lawrie, the artist behind "Atlas" at Rockefeller Center in New York.I arrived at 1pm, just as a carrillon concert was beginning -- there are two everyday (at 1pm and 3pm). It was a program of Patriotic Music (as today is Veteran's Day), so I decided to begin instead at the Visitor's Center, watching the brief and fairly cheesy video. It did provide some background about the gardens and tower. Then, I started up the path to the top of the hill. The gardens definitely reflect local plants -- and paths wander through the palms and flowering shrubs as one climbs the hill towards the tower. I went off to view Pinewood Estate (which was, unfortunately, not open because they are preparing it for the holidays) and drifted along a few paths. Given the time of year, very little was in bloom, but it was still pleasant. The temperature was perfect, and the breeze made it ideal.The Tower was interesting to view from the outside, but it would have been nice to get closer and to see inside. Still, I circled it a couple of times and paused at the oak grove to look at the view and enjoy the breeze. The sun dial also includes a carved graph that provides information about how to convert what you see on the dial to Eastern Standard Time ... not sure I've ever seen one of those before. After viewing the gardens, I walked the Pine Ridge Preserve Trail -- it begins at the "Window by the Pond" -- a viewing shack for bird watching. As I entered, I thought, "It's like those viewing stations in African nature preserves -- blinds, where you can sit comfortably but not be visible to the animals." After sitting for a long time and seeing no wildlife, except a lizard inside the building, I thought, "Yep, this really is like a viewing hut in Africa..."At 3pm, I had walked through almost all of the gardens, so I had an iced coffee in the cafe and listened to the carrillon concert. It was a lovely afternoon.Then, back to the hotel, for the poster session. 
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Orlando, Florida, United States

It was a long day, but at least I was able to walk nearly four and a half miles around Concourse B at the Denver Airport (back and forth and back and forth and back and forth) ... and learn about all the conspiracy theories surrounding the Denver Airport. Like it is a hiding place for aliens. And the New World Order plans to launch genocide from here ... check it out on You Tube ... just look for Denver Airport and Conspiracy Theories.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ahartry/micronesia-1975/165701400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ahartry/micronesia-1975/165701400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ahartry/micronesia-1975/165701400/tpod.html Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:49:36 -0400 Micronesia 1975

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Palau, Palau

My sister, then age 10, wrote:When we got up we hurried to get dressed and eat breakfast then we went down to the PCAA to tell the people that we were going out with that we were going to go to the store for lunch goods. We were having some trouble but we finally found a store that had bread but in a weird way - we had a flat tire - Dad fixed the tire and Mom bought the stuff. Then we went out to the dock and got in the boat. We went across the bay and then into a tunnel under a road. Then we just toured around. We went to see if we could find some alligators in the grotto but couldn't. After that we stopped on a sandy beach and snorkeled then ate lunch then we started out. When we were about two minutes away Ardie remembered that she forgot her shower shoes so we had to go back and get them. It was a rough ride and we wanted to check the crab rock but weren't any crabs because the water was too rough. On the way back we went into a cave and saw our hotel from the water. We couldn't dock at the same place we shoved off from because the tide was too low. When we got back to the PCAA I could see why we didn't dock there. Before the water was about nine feel deep but now was dry! Well we went back to our hotel and Kathy and Val came over to talk to Mom and Dad. We went to bed while they were gone.
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