Yes, I am still traveling

Hello!

I know I haven't posted for a while.

Today I am sitting in a Panera Bread in Westminster, MD. (I had to look at my GPS to remember where I was!). I am waiting around for a meeting this afternoon, and this seemed like the easiest place.

I am having problems with my back and traveling, but so far this year I have been to:

Oakland, California
El Paso, TX
Alamagordo, NM
Tampa, FL
Miami Beack, FL
Little Rock, AK
Orlando, FL
Pittsburg, PA
Summit, NJ (x3)
Wilkes Barre, PA
Cherry Hill, NJ
Boston, MA
Marion, OH
Nashville, TN

I know there are more, but that's all I can remember off the top of my head. I have been able to carve out two or three weeks home this year, but, for business, it is a good thing to be busy.

More travel later.

I'm baaaaaaaaaccckkkk!

I slipped away again. This time I can blame my DH. A simple outpatient operation with an optional 3 day stay turned into 9 days in the Hospital.

I had just one trip this week. I flew out to "Raleigh-Durham International Airport (WWW.RDU.com) in the Research Triangle Region" and back within 24 hours. Can you tell they promoted themselves all over the airport? I flew in and out of the newer terminal, and found it quite nice. There is a direct flight, from CMH to RDU, but not at the time of day I had to travel.

The following pictures are from my "haven't posted yet" stash. These mosaics are found at the San Antonio Airport.

Next to most gates in Terminal A there are beautiful mosaics. I got a portion of the column in this picture showing the column mosaic that matches this dancing lady.

I have a Monet print in my bedroom, and I love ponds, so this one spoke to me.

The red posts you see in the picture are the tall handles on the airport wheelchairs. They use these to manage multiple wheelchairs at once (when not in use, we hope).

Whenever I see mosaics like this, I see counted cross-stich patterns, or griddler patterns. If you don't know what griddlers are, see: http://www.griddlers.net/. They are my obcession du jour.

These were my favorite mosaics. To see all of them go to: http://www.sanantonio.gov/Aviation/info_art.asp. There is plenty more for me to see the next time travel through San Antonio.

Hello again!

I realize I have not posted for quite a while. Travel this year has been brutal. I recently saw this at an airport.

All I could think was: "I wish I was home...I wish I was home....I wish I was home". Well, it worked, the last couple of weeks I has just one day trips.

I think this was John Wayne Airport in Anaheim. I had't been at this airport before. I also saw the following:

Another very appropriate sculpture for the way I was feeling. Notice I caught the nice pilot also.

I have a backlog of pictures to post, so I hope to communicate at least one a week.

Providence Rhode Island Airport

I apologize for not posting for a while.

For a tiny state, RI has a very nice airport. Last time I was there (for the only state in the union that my company does not have a client in, I have spent an inordinate amount of time in Rhode Island this year) I took this picture

This is the hallway that international passenger take to come into the concourse. There is a matching installation on the other side done in blue.

I spent two weeks at home and got out of the habit of posting. Now that I am on the road again, I will be posting again.

I am at home this week

This is an unusual week...for this year. I am at home this week. I get to sleep in my own bed for at least 10 days in a row. I didn't even have to take a vacation to get this!

The amount of travel I have done this year so far is nuts. However, if I have several weeks in a row like this, I will go nuts, also. Especially since DH is still home full time.

I have a picture taken at Providence, RI airport that I will post as soon as I download it from my camera.

Since I was traveling home an unusual way, I added my location to my Facebook page. In the course of less than 48 hours I posted:

I am in Providence, RI

I am in Washington, DC.

I am in Columbia, TN

I am in Nashville, TN

I am in Milwaukee, WI

I am in Columbus, OH.

I got a couple of WOW!s. I rarely travel to that many states in that short amount if time, but it was fun.

New Stones

It has been a while since I have posted. The same week I took the last pictures (of my favorite airport), I came across the following area in my least-favorite airport.

Next to security on a concourse I seldom travel through I found this wall. It consists of thin slices of marble with light shining from behind. This picture does not do the wall justice. The quartz and crystals in this granite/marble are unique per slab, and absolutely beautiful. There is a clear and shiny layer on top of the stone that keeps it clean and shiny.
This was the first time through Newark airport since their security faux paus where a person walked in through the security out portal. They were quite "grave". While TSA is not known for their humor...especially about anything security related, they are often pleasant and smiling. Not so in Newark. Anyone who knows me knows I have multiple sterling silver bracelets that I wear all the time. I have traveled for five years without having problems (more than once or twice). Since the holidays, it is hit or miss whether I need to take a bracelet or two off or not.

I don't call Newark International Airport the worst in the country because of the airport. It is true that it is full of New York/New Jersey people, who are known to be excitable and "brisk" (to put it nicely). The reason I call it the worst airport is because if there is any weather in the New England region, Newark will have delays and cancellations. I have been frustrated at that airport more than any other I fly through.

Beautiful Airport

I propose my candidate for most beautiful airport. I can't qualify that as the most beautiful airport in the USA, because I have not seen all of them, but in my opinion it is the most beautiful one I have seen.

Not a large airport, but the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre airport is very easy to navigate, and very easy on the eyes.

I do have a bias towards natural materials.

It starts in the bagage claim with terrazo floor, natural wood ceiling and exposed steel parts.

This shows the lobby and access to the gates. Here you see terazzo floor with the central compass rose done in coordinating blue and rose. Note the rough sandstone walls. No two blocks are the same. The second floor landing you see is done in aged exposed steel, and the natural wood ceiling continues.

Once you pass security, you see wide hallways lined with polished sandsone. I have never seen polished sandstone, and was not aware that it could be polished.

In addition to everything else, they have a free business lobby that offers wi-fi, copying, scanning and faxing. By signing up with them, I received a key card so I can access it after hours. That is way cool.

Orlando Airport

What can I tell you about the Orlando International Airport that you don't already know?

I enjoy this airport tremendously, even though it is "infested" with children (can you tell I'm a professional traveler and not the mom of little kids?). Besides open lobbies, fountains and world class shopping (which I'm sure you know already), the Orlando airport has a wonderful art program.

My favorite art at Orlando is one that few travelers see. Local people see more of this art than tourists. It's the art in the elevator bank of the parking garages. I caught one of my favorites last week.

They are designed to help you remember what level you parked at. Take a look at the entire permanent art collection at: http://www.orlandoairports.net/art/collection.htm. The pictures of parking garage art are at the bottom. I love the manatees cause they are my DS favorite animal (along with penguins)

Syracuse, NY

I was in Syracuse NY last week. I have been to this town several times, and even visited clients here. This time was the first time we drove downtown.

We stopped at a light, and my eye was caught by the building we were next to. I didn't have my camera on, and the light changed, but it was remarkable. I figured someone would have posted a picture.

I looked it up on the internet, and here it is: http://www.landmarksociety.org/historicny/chapter8.htm

Who would have known, it is a world famous building. One of those seridipity things.

Happy New Year

I haven't blogged for several weeks. This isn't because I haven't been traveling. For several weeks I drove "the vacation I'll take next summer". From home it is three hours to Pittsburgh. Along the way there is John Glenn's home, a national cemetery, the town of Zanesville know for its unique pottery, and others. As I drove back and forth several weeks in a row, I tried to talk myself into stopping somewhere for fun, but I wanted to get home.

I'll be traveling with my camera soon again, and I will post regularly.

Back in Florida

Yes, folks, once again I'm back in Florida. This makes three trips this month. I guess it beats Florida in August.

The system installers grouse and ask why they can't install in Florida in the winter. We sales people aren't stupid, we don't sell in the summer, we sell in the winter. That means that they install at the hottest time of the year.

I seldom get to Orlando that I don't go to my favorite restaurant. It's called RANGETSU. Actually it's called Rangetsu of Tokyo. There are two restaurants...one in Orlando on International Drive, and one in Tokyo in the Ginsu district. If you are ever in the area, and have a taste for traditional Japanese restaurant, I heartily recommend their Suki Yaki, or Shabu Shabu. They are the Japanese version of fondue, and are cooked right at your table.



No, these Koi were not on the menu. They have a beautiful koi pond as soon as you walk in through a moon door. If you stop on the bridge, they come up and beg. You may see a hint of the netting that is strung across the pond. This is to discourage great blue herons from frequenting this fishing hole.

Only the best traveling for us! The flight from Orlando to Pensacola flew in a small plane. It could seat 18 passengers...19 if someone took the middle bench seat at the back of the plane. It was not full.

No bathroom...no cabin crew...no door to the cockpit.

As a matter of fact, the pilot opened the cockpit curtain for landing. This is not a good picture, but I couldn't resist snapping a shot. It is rare you get to see the cockpit any more.

We asked for a restaurant recommendation that night, and since A loves everything Irish, that was where we went. Delicious food, but the ambiance was what blew me away. Take a peek at their website: https://www.mcguiresirishpub.com/index.html. Wait on the home page for their pictures to scroll. Yes, you're not seeing things...the pub is papered with signed dollar bills. Both the ceiling and most every wall are covered in dollar bills. You get a certificate, a picture, and join the club if you donate a dollar. I was asked the next day if I joined. I said no, but I wanted to grab a handful. That didn't go over very well. I hope it didn't cost the sale!

The IRS comes once a year and estimates the dollar amount. They take several representative square yards, and figure out the total. They say it's about 800K now. Yes, they have a very sophisticated alarm and sprinkler system.

The last shot is out of my hotel window. As usual, I bite the bullet. I guess someone HAS to stay at the beach in Pensacola for the company. I'll make the sacrifice.

Last week's photos

This was the view from the restaurant Mattison's. Excellent food, and great bread pudding.

This was the view from my window at the Courtyard Marriot on the river in Bradenton. The picture doesn't do it justice. I recommend it.

This was inside Bradenton Airport. A very nice airport for the area.

We sat at a restaurant next to this fountain for several hours, working on our notes. The server at this restaurant is one of the nicest I've met for quite a while.

Grey skies

I spent several days in Lake City, FL last week at a client where I have visited quite often. It is always a pleasure to visit.

Unfortunately, the "Sunshine State" didn't live up to its name. Humid, rainy, foggy, blah. Well, better luck this week. I am back to Florida for the third week in a row.

It seems I have done more work in Florida since I have moved than the three years I lived down there.

If you are ever in the area, the Hampton Inn in Lake City, FL is quite nice. I recommend it. The week before we were in Sarasota. Stayed at a Courtyard Marriott on the River in Bradenton, FL, and ate at a restaurant housed on a historic pier. Crab with Pesto over linguini. Check out Mattison's Riverside. They also serve one of the better bread puddings I have had in a while. That is the only desert I cannot pass up, and I'm glad I didn't.

Fall Colors

I noticed the pictures on a fellow blogger's site about fall colors, and that reminded me of a trip I took while my blog was lost.



I spent the week in Vacation Land. I spent a day in the Poconos, and visited a hospital there. I was traveling with B and he asked me if I thought they had a heart shaped bathtub at the hospital. I told him probably in the cardiac unit.



We had time to travel to and from the meeting in daylight. That is a luxury that seldom happens. The colors were just starting, and I could tell it would be beautiful. The next week we were at an account in the area, and our flight to Philadelphia was cancelled. We drove instead, right through the Poconos mountains, and the height of color. I have never seen reds so bright. The oranges and yellows were subtle, and there were still greens in plenty.



On the plane this week I read the airline magazine and found out that the Poconos region is one of othe top ten color spots in the country. I couldn't agree more.



The next day I was in Roanoke Virginia at the foot of the Great Smoky mountains, surrounded by still green ski slopes. On days like these I think that I could spend the entire day in a laboratory (usually with no windows), and appreciate my job.

Just call me Dory

OK, folks, I have to confess. My boss has given me a new nickname...you got it, I'm now Dory from the Disney movie "Finding Nemo".

I don't know where my brain has gone lately, but I have lost everything under the sun including........


wait for it......



my blog.


Well, I found it back today, so I can now let you know of the best trip I've had since I have been traveling. We had a corporate and client occasion in Houston, Tx. Since one of our clients is NASA in Houston (we also have a client at the NASA location in Fl), a tour was arranged after the weeks work was completed.

I met an interesting character.


We learned alot in the atmospheric chamber. This is where they can take you up to high altitudes, teach you how it feels, and learn ways of dealing with oxygen deprivation.



If you can see the glove hanging in the background, that has about a pint of air in it. This is what is usually found in an average stomach. When raised to a high altitude, that glove will be larger than a basketball. You can imagine how your digestive track would feel at that point. We hear that the two exit points to the digestive track are greatly used during testing.

No, we didn't go to altitude, but we learned alot.

We had a guided tour at NBL - Neutral buoyancy Lab.

This is a picture of that pool. It is very deep. The item you see across the center is a mock-up of the international space station. It does not all fit in, so if you see any movement in the picture, that is people setting up the pool for the next day. The astronauts were done by the time we showed up.

The yellow cranes are to lower the astronaut (in all his gear) into the water. They add weights to the suit so that he/she is neutral in the water. This is as close as they can get on earth to the feel of working in space weightlessness.

The astronauts have to spend 6 hours working in the pool for every hour of EVA (extra vehicular activity) during a mission. There were all sorts of cool mementoes. The movies "Armagedon" and "Space Cowboys" shot here.

In corners of the pool there are mock-ups of the shuttle doors they jam to train in un-jamming doors. The Hubble telescope was in the pool at one point, but it stuck up almost to the ceiling.

After the guided tour we walked all over the campus. We were accompanied by someone, but I was surprised by all we could see. We went into a large building where they have mock-ups of all different things. The whole international space station is there, mock-ups of the proposed new vehicle, and several mars and lunar rovers.

They also have mock-ups of parts and pieces of the shuttle. Things like the living quarters, which include escape hatches where they practice rapelling.

We saw the old control room...as in "Houston, we have a problem" control room. It was in use until 1993. The new room was locked, so we couldn't see it, but we had permission.

The coolest was where the lab was. The lab has been in the same location for 40 years. The whole building was created to house and test moon rocks. All the astronauts that were exposed to the moon spent at least two weeks there in isolation after returning. If you are old enough to remember the lunar splashdown you would remember they were put right into an Airstream. That Airstream was brought right into the building, and an airlock was attached.

We got to see where the astronauts gave press releases, had physicals, and we were in the room where the moon rocks were first un-packed after being packed into containers on the moon.

The building is still chock full of scientists and testing, including all the food that is sent to space.

We saw a registered national archive. Their "antique" server has all astronaut testing information since the 1940's. Within the next several weeks, all this information will be imported into one of our databases, as the old server is on its last legs, and you can't buy anything that out of date.

It felt like my little brush with fame.

This was by far my favorite trip. It surpasses being behind the scenes at NASA, Florida, but that one has only been pushed down to number 2.

Now that I found my Blog again, it won't be so long til I post again.

Baltimore BWI care rental

I haven't been able to blog for a while, but I've been saving an image to share.

After traveling for 5 years, I am starting to remember where certain places are. This is the rental car facility at BWI - Baltimore Washington International.

Every time I walk in this building I have to look up for a couple of seconds to make sure the ball doesn't move. It never does, thankfully.

It reminds me so much of the game that Grandma D and some uncles and aunts had as I grew up. A couple of metal rods, attached on a board at the low end, and fitting through a side-to-side slot at a higher level. The object of the game was to balance the ball on the metal rods, and hold them wide enough so the ball would roll forward, but not so wide as to let it fall through (to the scoreing holes below. I never was very good at the game, and the ball always fell down.

The sculpture looks like a giants version of the game, and the whole area blow is the scoreing section.

More later.

Tired trip

This weeks trip was thankfully short, as nothing seemed to go right. My home port flight had problems. When scheduling the trip it seemed that a five hour window to drive two and a half hours would be sufficient.

I ended up at my destinationg half an hour late, although earlier than the physicians. Alls well that ends well, but I was extremely glad to arrive back home the next morning after a too short night at a hotel. I believe this was the first time I ever fell asleep on a short plane ride.

My parents are here this weekend, my DH is having surgery in two weeks, the kitchen refacing group is still working in my house, and work keeps plugging along.

Can you say "STRESS"?

This too shall pass.

Road trip

My last trip was not for work, strange as that may seem. My DD and I drove to pick up my DS and his SO. Our family now consists of five adults, one teen (for a couple of months yet), four dogs, five cats, a lizzard, a guinea pig, and a tank of fish.

There is enough activity around my house to more than satisfy this introvert.

This week my kitchen re-do starts, I have a business trip, and my parents come next week. I need to call off my cleaning service, so I have to clean before they get here. I will write more this week.

Philadelphia

I had a very easy trip this week. A direct flight from Columbus to Philadelphia. Of course, we flew a small commuter airplane, so we landed at Terminal F.

Travel arrangements changed after they were made, so I was sitting on the airplane when I realized I had no transportation away from the airport on the other side. Thank goodness for "M". One call and within a minute, I had a car. I can tell I have been traveling for a while, cause I remember where the car rental area at the Philadelphia airport was.

Our trip involved a walk through the day before the demo, so we stayed close to the large hospital complex at Penn University. Very cool area to stay at (a Hilton, no less) since there are hotels, bookstores, and all sorts of things for students to do in the area. What did "B" and I do? Ate at the hotel. At least I didn't have to eat alone.

Mom asked me today what I saw, and I said "Nothing"! How sad, how true.

On the way home I went on standby, since I was at the airport at least five hours early. I must be getting alot of segments this year, because I was one of four out of nine that got on the early flight. A little known traveling fact that I am letting out of the bag: once you get to a certain level with an airline they guarantee that you will get on an earlier flight on the same day if you want. This means that they will offer to pay people to take a later flight just so you can get on. If you want to earn some free flights, select one that leaves a busy airport in late afternoon. All the frequent flyer business people who want to get home will fill up the flights.

I get to be home just over 48 hours this weekend, and then I'm off again. TTFN

First Week

This week I had two one day trips. First I landed in Fayetteville, NC. This seems to be the town you can't pronounce unless you have a southern accent. It sounds so much better with a drawl. The flights were delayed slightly, but everyone was in a great mood.

About three quarters of the passengers to Fayetteville were service personnell. I've never seen so many polite and quiet young people in one place. I did not get to play tourist, but some day I will. The town was named after LaFayette, and has quite a bit of military history.

I find the people in North Carolina to be very polite. It is one place I would consider retiring to.

The trip on Thursday was to Newark area. My Sales Guy "B" lives near there, so I often travel to that area to meet him. Wednesday started stormy in Ohio, and it just moved on to the east, so by the time I traveled to that area, the air traffic was all backed up.

My five years of traveling came in good stead. I figured out soon after arriving to Columbus Port that my flight, already 3 hours late, was in danger. While I still had access to my company's travel agent, I switched flights to an airport that has less delay problems. I flew to White Plains through Washington Regan. We arrived to the hotel after midnight, but we arrived. My travel agent "M" let me know the next day that my original flight cancelled.

The flight into Regan is always a hoot. We landed from the north, which I had never done before. I was on the left side of the plane, and had a great view of the Mall while we came down the Potomac, and turned over the lagoon to land.

I stayed at my home away from home. Of all hotels, I think the Homewood Suites in Mawah is the one I stay at the most often. I believe it surpasses even the one near the home office.

One of these days I will visit Ellis Island when going to Newark. After getting some geneology information in my father's memoirs, I have some dates and town names to work with.