I’m sure most of you with blogs realize how annoying it is when you spend a decent effort in creating a post (complete with links), only to have the computer crash — or worse, WordPress not save it — no matter how many times that “last saved/edited” time stamp comes up in the sidebar. *sigh* [...]
The gang is embarking on another camping adventure in Boondock, PA today for the remainder of the weekend. While I’m reminded of several camping memories from when I was younger, there is one particular incident from a camping trip two summers ago that still affects me as though it happened yesterday: The SSD Voice Mail.
It [...]
I have another crazy story to tell. Shocker, right?
A couple Easters ago, my mom was out visiting my sister in Phoenix. When she returned, in an attempt to celebrate the holiday, albeit belated, she went out in search of candy for my two youngest brothers. She purchased these two large Willy Wonka Easter Eggs from [...]
This was the best camping trip yet! I am so happy I decided to go this year. I cannot believe for a second that I forgot how much I look forward to this trip every July. We had 99 confirmed campers — 88 of which were rafting. New River water levels were high, and I [...]
Here is my tent that I put up all by myself (comes with child’s size Spiderman sleeping bag):
A portion of Tent City 2008, population 99:
Here is the guy I made out with this weekend (*sigh* always a pig, right?):
And here I am FINALLY on the Boat with Balls, majority of the time feeling as though [...]
Cleveland should have beautiful weather this weekend! I hope I don’t get stuck in the murky stuff in West Virginia. You can bet there will be fun camping pictures posted next week.
I cannot confirm or deny any random acts of streaking.
will take me here. For no reason, other than I have wanted to stay at this gorgeous hotel for as long as I can remember. And it would be silly romantic. And I have never been to Washington, D.C. And this could possibly be the best date ever.
A few things I forgot to mention about the previous portions of the trip: the minute we landed in Frankfurt there was an amazing rainbow. AMAZING! Secondly, there was also public transportation strike in Berlin. No trains. No busses. A lot of walking and looking for crazy German taxi drivers.
After the solemn Paris tour, [...]
Upon leaving Brussels, there was still a certain tension in the air between my boyfriend and I. Because of stupid events like him breaking my camera and offering a half-assed apology with no recourse, to him getting pissed about 10 minutes later at ME for whatever unknown reason (we were crossing the street??), to [...]
(The quote is from the movie "In Bruges" with Colin Farrell for those interested…)
We decided to stay another night at our hotel in Brussels. The drive to Bruges was about an hour, highlighted by slightly overcast skies. What started out as a beautiful day, soon turned to a downpour for the
remainder of our afternoon. Bruges [...]
Still reeling from all things Amsterdam, we packed up early to drive to Brussels, Belgium. Belgium is separated by French, Flemish (a variant of Dutch) and German languages, with most everyone knowing English (or having an English-version menu). Before leaving the U.S., I searched online for potential hotel locations in Brussels because we expected this [...]
(Yes, They seriously said that on the radio!)
Ah, the drive to the Netherlands. We had to cross back over Germany. Somewhere near another McDonald's stop, we found a small village called (I think) "Apfelen" in the distance off the highway. The town was eerily unpopulated for a bright afternoon, but housed a super old church [...]
Our flight via Northwest began from Detroit and carried us just under 8 hours to Frankfurt overnight. I still couldn’t sleep — even with two pills. After a short airport shuttle ride to Thrifty, we picked up my
rental car AND proceeded to be upgraded to an Audi A3 Sportback… much improved from a
reserved Ford Ka, [...]
Miss me? I made the long trek home to Cleveland tonight. So many stories to tell…
Let me fix this jet lag thing first. Btw, the vegetarian option on northwest from Germany is just disgusting. The crew gave me something for lunch that looked like a scrapple-and-butter sandwhich (while cleverly telling me on the german labeling [...]
Last night (after finally breaking free of my anger cycle), I finally got really excited about my trip. I’ve been having overwhelming feelings of flight anxiety, with subsequent plane nightmares, and (the usual) monetary woes typical of any last-minute vacation planning, with a side of situational insomnia. The time change has not helped one bit [...]
Guess what sweet-ass homeboys and sexy bartenders? I’m going to Europe again… NEXT WEEK. Sweet, right? Magma and I will be traveling for a week, hoping to hit: Frankfurt, Cologne, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and Bern.
I intend to only pack a back-pack. Wish me luck.
Forbes Traveler just posted a list of signature drinks from around the world. Boring and typical, at best.
They missed one of my favorites: Becherovka
On my summer holiday to the Czech Republic, the name of this drink, affectionately nicknamed the "Christmas Drink" by locals, was on bar chalkboards across Prague. Produced in Karlovy Vary, this [...]
MONDAY
Manhattan, KS
Besides rumbling trains behind the cute little Comfort Inn hotel, eight hundred cable channels with an “Intervention” marathon and seemingly detached from their own city front desk clerks, our overnight stay in Manhattan was pretty much what we expected from a small town on the map in Kansas.
What we received once arriving to [...]
SUNDAY
Finding breakfast in downtown St. Louis proved to be difficult (per parking attendant, “There is nothing to eat downtown! Take 40 West!”), so we took off for The Loop, close by St. Louis University (which we must have driven past 8,000,003 times). After subjecting enough hunger pains and mild annoyances for NOTHING being open, save [...]
SATURDAY
We started the driving adventure by mapping out certain silly spots along the way — and continuing my spectacular knack for photographs beside inanimate tourist objects. First stop was Fortville, IN — Home of the… Pink Martini-Drinking Elephant. Donovan Hunt, the owner of the Wagon Wheel Liquor store behind the giant animal, allowed us to [...]
