Geneva, New York - September, 2006

Seneca Lake - Geneva, New York

This is the view from the Ramada Inn. Geneva is billed as The Gateway to the Finger Lakes. You won't find a more beautiful area of the United States in my opinion. Growing up on the Texas Coastal Plains makes me a sucker for the lush greeness of the Finger Lakes region.

City of Geneva, New York http://www.geneva.ny.us/
Finger Lakes Region http://www.visitfingerlakes.com/
Ramada Inn - Geneva http://www.ramadageneva.com/hotelhome/

Rochester, New York - September, 2006

Rochester Airport

Sinbad's on Park Ave

These were taken on two different September trips through Rochester. I was working in Geneva, but couldn't resist stopping on Park Ave for dinner at Sinbad's, my favorite Lebanese restaurant. Before moving to KC, I lived about a mile from this restaurant and walked to Park Avenue most summer days. John and I probably walked 100 miles in that neighborhood over the summer, fall, and winter months of 1998.

Welcome to Park Avenue http://www.park-avenue.org/

Victoria, Texas - September, 2006

Victoria, Texas Town Square

For this trip, I flew into the San Antonio airport and drove 120 miles to Victoria. The original colony was founded in 1824 and was named for the first president of Mexico, Don Guadalupe Victoria. Although it was part of Mexico, the colony had its Texan supportors during the Texas War for Independance.

I noticed numerous healthcare construction sites. A fella in the restaurant said Victoria is becoming a regional center for healthcare and that he figures healthcare will be the major local industry of the future.

Here's a quick little history on Victoria's Chamber of Commerce site

http://www.victoriachamber.org/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&btitle=CE&mid=&ceid=63

This history is longer, but better.

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/VV/hcv3.html

Syracuse, New York - August, 2006

Downtown Syracuse

John started his young college career in Syracuse. I tried to find a sweatshirt from one of the campus stores, but just couldn't decide from the wide collection of orange shirts covered in big, plastic writing. I was hungry. John didn't get a sweatshirt.

Syracuse University http://www.syr.edu/

Syracuse, New York http://www.syracuse.ny.us/

Home Away from Home

Springhill Suites

300 Markham Center Drive

Little Rock, AR 72205

University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service

Home of the nation's only MSPS If you're hankerin' for a Master's in Public Service, here's the school for you. All sarcasm aside, this is a really cool building. It is the original 1902 Choctow Route Station. The Rock Island passenger train of the 1940s stopped here on its east-west route through Oklahoma, north Texas, and New Mexico. The college sits to the right of the Clinton library on the banks of the Arkansas River. Approach the entrance through long drives lined with young trees that will, one day, create a forested arch to rival any northeastern campus. http://clintonschool.uasys.edu/

Little Rock - William J Clinton Presidential Center

Bill's double-wide It rained today. All day. Pat, from the agency here in Little Rock, took me to dinner and gave me a tour of downtown. Before dinner, we stopped at the Clinton library for a view of the center, the Arkansas River, and the University of Arkansas' Clinton School for Public Service. The locals affectionately refer to the presidential library as the "double-wide" for good reason. It looks like the world's largest trailer. http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/

A local tourist publication says the library contains more than 76.8 million official documents, 1.85 million photographs, and 75,000 museum artifacts.

List of Places

Since October, 2003 when I started this job.
Because I don't have a spot where I keep all the places I've been, I'll just list them here. It's pretty bad - I don't remember all the places I've seen in the last three years, but this is what I can come up with. Considering the calendar, this list will be growing over the next several months.

Work Places
Arkansas - Little Rock (Went with John to Mountain Home, AR)
Florida - Bradenton, Ormond, Largo, Orlando
Minnosota - Minneapolis, Mankato
Georgia - Athens, Savannah (next month)
Ohio - Canton, Cincinnati
Illinois - Chicago, Springfield, Elgin
Louisiana - Covington
Massachusetts - Waltham, Springfield, Lowell
Michigan - Brighton (Detroit)
New Hampshire - Wolfeboro, Exeter/Portsmouth
New York - Geneva, New Hyde, Syracuse
North Carolina - Pinehurst, Greensboro
Oklahoma - Tulsa
Pennsylvania - Philadelphia
South Carolina - Columbia, Charleston
Texas - Houston, Victoria, San Antonio, Longview
Wisconsin - Waukesha

Family & Fun Places
Nevada - Las Vegas (We eloped!)
New York - Fredonia (Sneaked a trip in when the flight out of Rochester was cancelled.)
North Carolina - Outer Banks (Whoopee! A real & planned vacation!!)

Queens, New York - June 8, 2006

Queens, NY
I was too scared to get out of the hotel parking lot! That was a rough neighborhood. I was working about 10 miles north in New Hyde. I kept thinking - Wow! Here is this Flour Bluff girl navigating New York City traffic!

Maine - May 7, 2006

During one of the Wolfeboro trips, I stayed over the weekend and roamed around Maine for a bit.

New Orleans - June, 2006

The job site was in Covington, LA. Fly into New Orleans then drive across the Lake Ponchatrain Causeway and you'll be in Covingtown.

I made a very fast trip to New Orleans after work one evening. Instead of heading straight back into New Orleans across the causeway, I drove east to Slidell, then south and west into the city. Judy was really very lost in the French Quarter. She just couldn't get us out of there, so I had to take the initiative until she could recalculate her route with some accuracy.

The photos were taken through the car window at 30 mph, so I wasn't quite sure what the camera would capture. This was an area that had been cleaned but not yet reconstructed. The parts of town that are still devastated were too scary to explore that late in the evening.

Tulsa, Oklahoma - May, 2006

The potter who made those little bowls which are now in my kitchen.

This was a two-week stay. John was out of town that weekend, so I just stayed in Tulsa for Saturday and Sunday instead of heading home. I actually got to drive to this site. It was a nice outing for my car since all it sees is the airport parking lot.

Over the weekend, I zipped up to Wichita for a quick visit with my son on Saturday, then on Sunday, found the arts show downtown. My first Monday after work it took me two hours to drive the 20 minutes back to the hotel. I was hopelessly lost. When I got home, John presented me with Judy. Judy is my travel partner; we are never lost! Costco sells her (Magellan Roadmate GPS) at a good price.

Wolfeboro, New Hampshire - June, 2006

Wolfeboro Inn
This was my home-away-from-home for 5 or 6 different weeks throughout early spring to July. The Wolfeboro Inn sits on beautiful Lake Winnipesaukee. The original inn was built in 1812, but they've installed wireless internet since then and have done a number of other improvements. Click on the photos to make them larger.
http://www.wolfeboroinn.com/

Tyler, Texas - October 20, 2006 Antique Shop

Tyler Square Antique Shop
Uh oh! Had an hour to spare before airport arrival time. Found a couple of small mirrors here & three Vienna art plates. I think that brings my Vienna plate collection six plates.
Go antiquing in East Texas! Here's a guide.
http://www.antiqueshoppingguide.com/states/tx/t.html

Houston Hobby on the way to San Antonio Oct 2006

It was getting too confusing with all those photos piling to the top of the blog, so here's the rest of that trip. The layover was at Houston Hobby. Construction is either underway or planned for this rather deserted end of the airport, but when I was there watching my flight getting delayed..delayed..delayed, it looked like a shiny ghost town. Shops were open in the little food court, but no people stood ready to serve. Trash cans were empty. Floors were all clean. Every footfall echoed down the tube and around the corner. Houston Hobby - http://www.houairportsystem.com/houairportsystem_com/default.asp?cid=2070&mid=433&sid=474

San Antonio October 8, 2006

San Antonio! At least I knew my way around a little bit. After a quick web search on La Villita, I decided a trip to the weaver's store was in order. I've been looking for tapestries for the living room wall. As it turned out, La Villita shuts its doors at 5:00 or 6:00 pm. That's not a big help to people who are arriving after work. Of course, locals would never head downtown after work on a weekday, but it seems the town would be full of business travelers or vacationers who would spend money in these shops. Afterall, the River Walk is crowded with such people and La Villita is part of the River Walk experience. But! Lucky for me, the Weave shop was open until 8:00 pm. La Villita now has a great website, so I knew the weaver shop was open. I took away three tapestry/rugs, a table runner, and two pillow covers. Here is the shop. La Villita on the web http://lavillita.com/

Airports I flew Southwest on this trip - not my favorite airline. No seat assignments & you see the low-end of the airport. Here is the San Antonio airport - Southwest terminal A. I see these photos are not positioning where I want them. I'm not up to figuring the whole photo-placement thing out tonight, so just know if it's not the Weaver shop, it's an airport! http://www.sanantonio.gov/aviation/
Photos - The Texas flag photo is a shop at the San Antonio airport. The Alamo Extra shop is SA and the tiled mural is SA.

St Louis & Little Rock - October 22, 2006

St Louis & Little Rock Well, I'm starting this blog out of order since most of the airport pictures are on my computer at home. But, what the heck. Here I am in Little Rock, Arkansas and I'll just back-track when I'm home. Today I connected in St Louis before landing in Little Rock. The flight from KC was late so we landed in STL at 6:15p, exactly when the STL flight was supposed to be departing for Little Rock. After hot-footing it to the gate without even stopping to see if the flight had left, I discovered the next plane was late, too. So! Didn't miss the connection, but it was Southwest, and I couldn't leave the line. The only St Louis photo is this really bad one of the shop in front of the line with the milling hoardes of travelers between the camera and the shop. I was hoping we could see "St Louis" printed on the t-shirts in the shop, but that didn't work! Maybe I'll have another stop in STL sometime (maybe even this trip) and have time for better photos. The Little Rock airport looks brand new; seems lots of towns are busy upgrading airports these days. http://www.lrn-airport.com/