photos:
- coming soon:
- philly 12/03
- new york 12/03
- baltimore 07/03
- philly 04/03
- ready to view:
- new orleans 11/02
- north carolina 10/02
- chichen itza 04/02
- cancun 04/02
- maroma 03/02
- cape hatteras 12/99
- chicago 08/99
links:
- frommers
- greyhound
- amtrak
- southwest
contact:
- email me
archives:
- - March 2002
- - April 2002
- - November 2002
- - December 2002
- - April 2003
- - July 2003
- - September 2003
- - December 2003
credits:
- adapted from a skin by
- francey design
- blogger
coming soon
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September 15, 2003 - crabtree falls
September 15, 2003 - crabtree falls
coming soon
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July 04, 2003 - baltimore
July 04, 2003 - baltimore
drove up on a gorgeous sunday with tickets to a yankees/orioles game and plans to stay at K&C's in-progress construction home near hopkins. we felt road-grimy when we arrived, so we stopped at the inner harbor to wash up and grab a bite to eat at harborplace. K was flying in that day from a weekend work trip so we didn't want to descend on her too soon. ended up at capital city brewing; i'd been to the one in DC a couple times & enjoyed it, so we had our maryland-visit-requisite crab dish, dip with spinach & artichoke accompanied by what appeared to be fried pitas. good food, great bartender. it was hard not to notice that the entire waterfront had been taken over by phillies fans, as the early afternoon game had just let out. we saw maybe one orioles jersey for every forty or fifty phils. sated, we drove out toward JHU to meet K, for the first time in several years, and see her house, which, in mid-renovation, was missing a few walls and, more to the point, air conditioning. she'd talked to B about it, who offered us room at his place in federal hill or-- whoa-- his catalina 34. we visited on the porch for a couple of hours, then rode down with her to federal hill to meet B&S at mother's. salmon with corn mango chutney for me, fantastic seared tuna with soy sauce, which is the house special, for P. K had to work the next day, as did S, so we walked S home & got a tour of their house (and said hi to mallard), then B grabbed us some towels for the marina showers and showed us to the boat, which we fell instantly in love with. B agreed to join us for a nightcap, so we headed first to the ropewalk, which had a nice vibe but was empty, then on to the thirsty dog, where the tall foxy bartender, kelly, greeted B with a warm hug & took very good care of us. i got the impression that mallard was a regular there. we told high school stories with eerily appropriate 80s music playing in the background til last call. back at the boat, P and i lounged on the deck talking til about four, when we retired to the soothing rhythm of the harbor.
next day, after loungy showers & coffee & a scan of the city paper, we caught a cab back to hopkins to fetch the car. headed back to federal hill, where we mysteriously got a prime parking place. walked through the cross street market then meandered around the neighborhood trying to pick a good lunch spot. oddly, all the restaurants there seem to close between lunch and dinner, so after striking out with more than a few locked doors, we called B for suggestions. sushi place? closed. the bar from the night before? closed. finally went back to mother's, which is generally against my travel rules, but we weren't disappointed. i was craving a burger, and they were out of american cheese, so i had to "settle" for fresh mozzarella. he had a yummy catfish sandwich with a great cajun remoulade(?) of some sort. we watched andy roddick play, talked sports, good times. back at the marina, we figured out the guest parking sitch and brought in our bags, looking very obviously NOT like boat people. lazed around and read, worked on the NYT crossword, and generally enjoyed being on vacation on a sailboat, until it was time to head to the game. we decided to trust our navigational skills and avoid parking headaches by walking to the stadium: oriole park at camden yards. we fortuitously ran into B taking mallard for a walk on our way, so we asked directions & headed off, up federal hill with its great view, through some neat old neighborhoods. once we figured out where will call & our tickets were, we made it into what i suppose is called the fairway, and i got all schmaltzy-- it really is a beautiful stadium. grabbed some beer and GREAT dogs, he bought us some programs, and we wandered around agog. he'd been before, but it was my first time. our seats were above left field, great spot for bathroom breaks, if not concessions, which were astoundingly plentiful, just not on our side. a zillion dollars later, we'd both seen our first yankees game, and although the orioles threatened, new york won in the end.
cabbed it out to fells point afterward, i believe (days run together even on vacation-- maybe more so then), and wandered around til we found an open bar... if i recall correctly, we went first to a place that had a zillion different kinds of beer as well as P's favorite golf video game, maybe the wharf rat, and then wandered around the corner-- not too far, as it was raining cats and dogs by then-- and ducked into another dog-themed place, kooper's tavern, and watched sports highlights til last call. i don't remember the details, but there was an odd, stained-glass looking framed "picture" of the UVA mascot, cav-man on the wall, which we commented on. when we told the bartender we were from virginia, he encouraged us to take the picture. turned out he hated it and further, had no idea what on earth the tacky guy on the horse was supposed to be. so we took it. it's now sitting behind my dresser, because by the light of day, i don't much care for it either.
tuesday, then, our last full day, we went back to fells point to check out the shops, as well as to buy our gracious host a bottle of spirits for his boat bar. we were planning on taking the water taxi back over to the marina for our planned sail in the afternoon, once K got home from work, but when we called B from fletchers, one of my favorite bars in baltimore, he generously offered to be our personal water taxi, to take the boat over to pick us up. brilliant! he took us all around the harbor, allowing us to see the streets and sites we'd been touring, this time from the comfort of the cushy sailboat. tons of others were out as well, partly because of the gorgeous weather and partly because there was some sort of club regatta going on, which we inadvertently sailed right into the middle of. as the sun began to set and the harbor became even more beautiful, we happened near pier 6, where concerts are held in the summer, and none other than hairy has-beens hall & oates had just started playing. unfortunately, boats were forbidden from mooring there, to keep people from clogging up the pier to watch the shows, i guess, but we cleverly circled for quite a while so we could enjoy the schlock. after we'd had enough, and B got tired of circling, we headed back to the marina to get cleaned up. for dinner, we walked right around the corner to a hoppin' cuban place, little havana, with an outdoor patio where we could bring mallard. the food was unexceptional, but the mojitos... mmmm. pitchers full of sugary goodness. i tried to replicate them at home but it's just not the same. (mallard was a huge hit with the ladies, incidentally.) eventually everyone had to head home, our hosts because they had to work the next day, us because we had to drive home in the morning (through a torrential rainstorm, as it turned out.) many thanks to B&S and K&C for showing us a fantastic time.
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July 01, 2003 - pittsburgh, via roanoke
next day, after loungy showers & coffee & a scan of the city paper, we caught a cab back to hopkins to fetch the car. headed back to federal hill, where we mysteriously got a prime parking place. walked through the cross street market then meandered around the neighborhood trying to pick a good lunch spot. oddly, all the restaurants there seem to close between lunch and dinner, so after striking out with more than a few locked doors, we called B for suggestions. sushi place? closed. the bar from the night before? closed. finally went back to mother's, which is generally against my travel rules, but we weren't disappointed. i was craving a burger, and they were out of american cheese, so i had to "settle" for fresh mozzarella. he had a yummy catfish sandwich with a great cajun remoulade(?) of some sort. we watched andy roddick play, talked sports, good times. back at the marina, we figured out the guest parking sitch and brought in our bags, looking very obviously NOT like boat people. lazed around and read, worked on the NYT crossword, and generally enjoyed being on vacation on a sailboat, until it was time to head to the game. we decided to trust our navigational skills and avoid parking headaches by walking to the stadium: oriole park at camden yards. we fortuitously ran into B taking mallard for a walk on our way, so we asked directions & headed off, up federal hill with its great view, through some neat old neighborhoods. once we figured out where will call & our tickets were, we made it into what i suppose is called the fairway, and i got all schmaltzy-- it really is a beautiful stadium. grabbed some beer and GREAT dogs, he bought us some programs, and we wandered around agog. he'd been before, but it was my first time. our seats were above left field, great spot for bathroom breaks, if not concessions, which were astoundingly plentiful, just not on our side. a zillion dollars later, we'd both seen our first yankees game, and although the orioles threatened, new york won in the end.
cabbed it out to fells point afterward, i believe (days run together even on vacation-- maybe more so then), and wandered around til we found an open bar... if i recall correctly, we went first to a place that had a zillion different kinds of beer as well as P's favorite golf video game, maybe the wharf rat, and then wandered around the corner-- not too far, as it was raining cats and dogs by then-- and ducked into another dog-themed place, kooper's tavern, and watched sports highlights til last call. i don't remember the details, but there was an odd, stained-glass looking framed "picture" of the UVA mascot, cav-man on the wall, which we commented on. when we told the bartender we were from virginia, he encouraged us to take the picture. turned out he hated it and further, had no idea what on earth the tacky guy on the horse was supposed to be. so we took it. it's now sitting behind my dresser, because by the light of day, i don't much care for it either.
tuesday, then, our last full day, we went back to fells point to check out the shops, as well as to buy our gracious host a bottle of spirits for his boat bar. we were planning on taking the water taxi back over to the marina for our planned sail in the afternoon, once K got home from work, but when we called B from fletchers, one of my favorite bars in baltimore, he generously offered to be our personal water taxi, to take the boat over to pick us up. brilliant! he took us all around the harbor, allowing us to see the streets and sites we'd been touring, this time from the comfort of the cushy sailboat. tons of others were out as well, partly because of the gorgeous weather and partly because there was some sort of club regatta going on, which we inadvertently sailed right into the middle of. as the sun began to set and the harbor became even more beautiful, we happened near pier 6, where concerts are held in the summer, and none other than hairy has-beens hall & oates had just started playing. unfortunately, boats were forbidden from mooring there, to keep people from clogging up the pier to watch the shows, i guess, but we cleverly circled for quite a while so we could enjoy the schlock. after we'd had enough, and B got tired of circling, we headed back to the marina to get cleaned up. for dinner, we walked right around the corner to a hoppin' cuban place, little havana, with an outdoor patio where we could bring mallard. the food was unexceptional, but the mojitos... mmmm. pitchers full of sugary goodness. i tried to replicate them at home but it's just not the same. (mallard was a huge hit with the ladies, incidentally.) eventually everyone had to head home, our hosts because they had to work the next day, us because we had to drive home in the morning (through a torrential rainstorm, as it turned out.) many thanks to B&S and K&C for showing us a fantastic time.
July 01, 2003 - pittsburgh, via roanoke
coming soon
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April 14, 2003 - philly, for my birthday
April 14, 2003 - philly, for my birthday
we left home midday on thursday, right on schedule to skirt dc traffic. it was 83 degrees. about halfway there we had to roll the windows up-- seems our warm weather was the exception on the east coast. by the time we arrived in philly, we were digging in the trunk for our coats. (the last time we were there, for a week, the temperature didn't get above freezing until just before we left.) after dropping our stuff and meeting up with P's dad and his girlfriend, A, we went to the same corner spot we'd hit the last first night, matteo's, for some scrumptious neighborhood (italian) fare. H had told one of the chefs that P was coming back, so they had the gorgonzola ravioli ready that he liked so much last time-- not on the menu-- it was so good that i don't even remember what i ate, smitten with his food as i was. after dinner we were exhausted from the drive, and H & A were leaving for a quick work overnight in jersey the next day, so we all headed home to rest.
friday we had tickets to the phillies home opener, the last opening day at the vet. the weather was not cooperating-- the news said that IF the sun came out, it would hit 58 at first pitch, but the sun never did come out. just as we were about to walk out the door with our cheap nosebleed tickets for the sold out game, A's sister called. seems she'd scored some free tickets from work and had left early, and wanted to know if we'd like to sit with her. she didn't know where the seats were, but they had to be better than ours simply because they came packaged with a parking pass. we bundled up & headed down through the construction (of the two new fields for next season) and were amazed to find that we were about 20 rows behind home plate, off to the side of the foul ball screens. (we were sure we'd catch one, and no less than three came our way, but we weren't in our seats at the right time for the first two-- the woman behind us got the 2nd-- and when the 3rd shot at our section, P was too polite to jump over me & B to grab it.) by the end of the 1st, the phils were down 5-0, so we wandered the stadium, got some drinks & dogs, and poked our heads back in just in time for what little action the phils pulled off. by the 6th, most of the people who hadn't already cleared out were huddled under blankets. our toes were cold. we beat the traffic out & tried to watch the end of the game at the philadium, but it was wall to wall people, some of whom we'd seen leaving when we did, so we gave it up & headed back to the neighborhood to warm up with an early dinner at bomb bomb's. after a nice rest, P & i got dressed up and headed downtown for some classy drinks at a hotel lobby bar, then ducked in out of the rain at a little place called saint jack's, & found the same basic crowd we hang out with at home, which was comforting. i'd wanted to take him to the khyber but there were bands all weekend (unlike last visit, when we had such a hard time getting a cab down there-- we called to ask who was playing & they answered "depends what records you wanna bring down"). once the rain abated we grabbed a cab to delilah's den "to see the naked girls dance," as he likes to say. we'd asked around about the classier places, one you'd feel safe taking your girlfriend to, and we weren't misled, though it wasn't a particularly friendly place. we did meet a gal who dances for a wacky band called wolfpac but other than that no one really seemed to be there to do anything but gawk and tease. i suppose that's how most of those places are by nature.
saturday we slept in, hung around the house staying in out of the rain, then we grabbed a couple slices & headed out to check out the local thrift stores. P had some luck at a tiny salvation army downtown, next to which we popped into a wacky adult bookstore that had a peep show attached (we didn't go into the latter), then i needed a bathroom so we grabbed a city paper and ducked into a cozy irish place for happy hour. the folks were all friendly, so we watched part of the phils game on tv & stuck around for a spell before we headed up to the north side to global thrift. kinda sketchy part of town, but i found two nice pairs of pants and another pair of black boots, steve maddens, which i need like a hole in my head, but hey, it was my birthday, they fit, and they were $3.99. we got a little lost heading back but we managed, which turned out later to be fortuitous... H & A had just gotten back in town & had eaten dinner on the way, so we visited a bit & then ordered in, giant hoagies, and ate some of the sweets i'd baked for the trip. later we went to yesterday's, the most cozy of the neighborhood bars in my opinion, for a few rounds & some good conversation and a birthday phone call to a friend back home.
sunday, my birthday, we had tickets to the sixers/kings game at the first union center. A had scored close seats, which turned out to be directly behind one of the 2 main TV cameras, right behind the press area, so our view was a bit obscured, but the sixers got creamed despite a fine performance by iverson, so by the last half we were able to scoot over and see just fine. P is a kings fan, and i'm more familiar with them from watching games with him, so we were torn about who to root for. mostly we kept our rooting to a minimum, given the ferocity of philly's fans-- a girl on the train home walked through our car yelling "whoever i see with a kings jersey on, i'm gonna cap the fuck outta them." afterward we headed down toward christian street (got to see the golden donut but couldn't tell whether they're still in operation) to the oldest family owned italian restaurant in the country, ralph's, for a fantastic meal. i regretted it later, but i actually cleared my plate-- veal with seared scallops (the best ones i've had in maybe a decade) and a lobster cream sauce. holy smokes, was it good. it inexplicably came with a side of spaghetti (i think everything did) but i pretended like i didn't see it until a day or two later (we brought home tons of leftovers, most of which are now long gone. there's STILL half an italian hoagie in the fridge!) afterward we were all stuffed so we headed home, watched a movie and headed to bed, though not before somehow managing to stuff even more food into our bellies.
which brings us to... monday? sounds right. started at wolf street, waiting for A to get off work. had some traffic adventures, rain, cold, ick, then to dinner at maggiano's, which is apparently opening a location in short pump this summer. we were told the wait was an hour, turned out to be double that, so we sat at the bar, & kept sending A & P up to check on our table. people from the convention center across the street didn't want to go any farther for dinner because of the weather, probably, so the place was wall to wall. the last time P went up to check, seems he made some hand movement that in philly means fuggadaboutit and they scratched us off the list, which we didn't find out til i was sent up to play bad cop. food was good, apps were great, ravioli with a pesto alfredo sauce which we'll try to recreate. too full for dessert; we'd been drinking all day at that point. P & i said g'night to A&H and went to check out another strip club, one that several people had reco'd, including our nutty cab driver home from delilah's, and it was nearby, cover was only five bucks. turns out that's because they make all their money in private rooms. the stages aren't even in reach, no real way to tip or anything, weird. fully clothed, too, so we only stayed for one drink, watched the end of the last ncaa game. decided to try south street, accidentally got on 95 trying to get across it, ended up getting off at the same sketchville exit as the thrift store. figured we were okay since we'd been there before, but we got lost anyway, diagonal streets & all that, front street not exactly on the waterfront. finally a cop happened behind us, normally not a good thing since he's got no insurance, so at the stop sign i got out (sticking my hands out first like a smart city girl, didn't want them freaking on us, out of state plates & all), & asked them directions back to 95, which we somehow STILL botched. found broad street eventually, made it to south, which was dead, being a cold rainy monday night. popped into mako's, which i've walked by a zillion times but never went in because it looked all yupped out, surfer theme or some such, but it turned out to have basically the BL type crowd from home. great jukebox, good bartender (probably the best looking girl we saw the whole time other than the strippers-- what's up with that?), pool tables upstairs. had to walk away from my last drink, realized finally that we'd been drinking for 12 hours, & i'd been switching back & forth between beer & liquor-- she was out of soco, said "when the college kids order it i just put some amaretto in jack, but i'm not gonna do that to you," good thing-- so i got a crown & water, must've been a triple because it was all i could do to sip it. managed one very badly played game of pool before they took the racks & kicked us out. next day we were up at the crack of mid-morning to head home and split up the termini's box that we grabbed sometime during our meandering drinkfest on monday. sigh... my birthday is officially over. must be time to get a job.
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December 15, 2002 - philadelphia
friday we had tickets to the phillies home opener, the last opening day at the vet. the weather was not cooperating-- the news said that IF the sun came out, it would hit 58 at first pitch, but the sun never did come out. just as we were about to walk out the door with our cheap nosebleed tickets for the sold out game, A's sister called. seems she'd scored some free tickets from work and had left early, and wanted to know if we'd like to sit with her. she didn't know where the seats were, but they had to be better than ours simply because they came packaged with a parking pass. we bundled up & headed down through the construction (of the two new fields for next season) and were amazed to find that we were about 20 rows behind home plate, off to the side of the foul ball screens. (we were sure we'd catch one, and no less than three came our way, but we weren't in our seats at the right time for the first two-- the woman behind us got the 2nd-- and when the 3rd shot at our section, P was too polite to jump over me & B to grab it.) by the end of the 1st, the phils were down 5-0, so we wandered the stadium, got some drinks & dogs, and poked our heads back in just in time for what little action the phils pulled off. by the 6th, most of the people who hadn't already cleared out were huddled under blankets. our toes were cold. we beat the traffic out & tried to watch the end of the game at the philadium, but it was wall to wall people, some of whom we'd seen leaving when we did, so we gave it up & headed back to the neighborhood to warm up with an early dinner at bomb bomb's. after a nice rest, P & i got dressed up and headed downtown for some classy drinks at a hotel lobby bar, then ducked in out of the rain at a little place called saint jack's, & found the same basic crowd we hang out with at home, which was comforting. i'd wanted to take him to the khyber but there were bands all weekend (unlike last visit, when we had such a hard time getting a cab down there-- we called to ask who was playing & they answered "depends what records you wanna bring down"). once the rain abated we grabbed a cab to delilah's den "to see the naked girls dance," as he likes to say. we'd asked around about the classier places, one you'd feel safe taking your girlfriend to, and we weren't misled, though it wasn't a particularly friendly place. we did meet a gal who dances for a wacky band called wolfpac but other than that no one really seemed to be there to do anything but gawk and tease. i suppose that's how most of those places are by nature.
saturday we slept in, hung around the house staying in out of the rain, then we grabbed a couple slices & headed out to check out the local thrift stores. P had some luck at a tiny salvation army downtown, next to which we popped into a wacky adult bookstore that had a peep show attached (we didn't go into the latter), then i needed a bathroom so we grabbed a city paper and ducked into a cozy irish place for happy hour. the folks were all friendly, so we watched part of the phils game on tv & stuck around for a spell before we headed up to the north side to global thrift. kinda sketchy part of town, but i found two nice pairs of pants and another pair of black boots, steve maddens, which i need like a hole in my head, but hey, it was my birthday, they fit, and they were $3.99. we got a little lost heading back but we managed, which turned out later to be fortuitous... H & A had just gotten back in town & had eaten dinner on the way, so we visited a bit & then ordered in, giant hoagies, and ate some of the sweets i'd baked for the trip. later we went to yesterday's, the most cozy of the neighborhood bars in my opinion, for a few rounds & some good conversation and a birthday phone call to a friend back home.
sunday, my birthday, we had tickets to the sixers/kings game at the first union center. A had scored close seats, which turned out to be directly behind one of the 2 main TV cameras, right behind the press area, so our view was a bit obscured, but the sixers got creamed despite a fine performance by iverson, so by the last half we were able to scoot over and see just fine. P is a kings fan, and i'm more familiar with them from watching games with him, so we were torn about who to root for. mostly we kept our rooting to a minimum, given the ferocity of philly's fans-- a girl on the train home walked through our car yelling "whoever i see with a kings jersey on, i'm gonna cap the fuck outta them." afterward we headed down toward christian street (got to see the golden donut but couldn't tell whether they're still in operation) to the oldest family owned italian restaurant in the country, ralph's, for a fantastic meal. i regretted it later, but i actually cleared my plate-- veal with seared scallops (the best ones i've had in maybe a decade) and a lobster cream sauce. holy smokes, was it good. it inexplicably came with a side of spaghetti (i think everything did) but i pretended like i didn't see it until a day or two later (we brought home tons of leftovers, most of which are now long gone. there's STILL half an italian hoagie in the fridge!) afterward we were all stuffed so we headed home, watched a movie and headed to bed, though not before somehow managing to stuff even more food into our bellies.
which brings us to... monday? sounds right. started at wolf street, waiting for A to get off work. had some traffic adventures, rain, cold, ick, then to dinner at maggiano's, which is apparently opening a location in short pump this summer. we were told the wait was an hour, turned out to be double that, so we sat at the bar, & kept sending A & P up to check on our table. people from the convention center across the street didn't want to go any farther for dinner because of the weather, probably, so the place was wall to wall. the last time P went up to check, seems he made some hand movement that in philly means fuggadaboutit and they scratched us off the list, which we didn't find out til i was sent up to play bad cop. food was good, apps were great, ravioli with a pesto alfredo sauce which we'll try to recreate. too full for dessert; we'd been drinking all day at that point. P & i said g'night to A&H and went to check out another strip club, one that several people had reco'd, including our nutty cab driver home from delilah's, and it was nearby, cover was only five bucks. turns out that's because they make all their money in private rooms. the stages aren't even in reach, no real way to tip or anything, weird. fully clothed, too, so we only stayed for one drink, watched the end of the last ncaa game. decided to try south street, accidentally got on 95 trying to get across it, ended up getting off at the same sketchville exit as the thrift store. figured we were okay since we'd been there before, but we got lost anyway, diagonal streets & all that, front street not exactly on the waterfront. finally a cop happened behind us, normally not a good thing since he's got no insurance, so at the stop sign i got out (sticking my hands out first like a smart city girl, didn't want them freaking on us, out of state plates & all), & asked them directions back to 95, which we somehow STILL botched. found broad street eventually, made it to south, which was dead, being a cold rainy monday night. popped into mako's, which i've walked by a zillion times but never went in because it looked all yupped out, surfer theme or some such, but it turned out to have basically the BL type crowd from home. great jukebox, good bartender (probably the best looking girl we saw the whole time other than the strippers-- what's up with that?), pool tables upstairs. had to walk away from my last drink, realized finally that we'd been drinking for 12 hours, & i'd been switching back & forth between beer & liquor-- she was out of soco, said "when the college kids order it i just put some amaretto in jack, but i'm not gonna do that to you," good thing-- so i got a crown & water, must've been a triple because it was all i could do to sip it. managed one very badly played game of pool before they took the racks & kicked us out. next day we were up at the crack of mid-morning to head home and split up the termini's box that we grabbed sometime during our meandering drinkfest on monday. sigh... my birthday is officially over. must be time to get a job.
December 15, 2002 - philadelphia
coming soon
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November 30, 2002 - new orleans
November 30, 2002 - new orleans
coming soon
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April 30, 2002 - cancun
April 30, 2002 - cancun
so i went to cancun ... i wasn't all that surprised to find that it feels like a tornado picked up virginia beach and deposited it in mexico. we stayed at the gran caribe real, billed as a five-star. it's pretty, yeah, but i'm going to have to look into exactly how those designations are determined. you'd think "number of times guest must call before tub drain is unclogged" and "sheer force of time-share pushers in the lobby" would be factored in, but alas...
we arrived thursday and had dinner on the water at carlos and charlie's, r's favorite, one of those places where the staff is employed to force the customers to have fun with a capital P, as in pre-packaged for your american convenience. conga lines, songs that are easy to sing while drunk-- i'm sure even the girl at the table behind us who was puking on the floor could still spell YMCA. i could just barely see the yankees/mariners game over the throng, so i lived through it.
friday we went on a jungle tour, in which you pilot a "speed"boat (with a lawnmower motor) through the nichupte lagoon and out to the carribean to snorkel for half an hour. r bought me a snorkel when i was in lincoln, insisting that the ones they give out with the tours are crappy. that's true, but i'm afraid it wasn't money well spent, as i am not a very skilled mouthbreather. i wasn't too crushed, given that the spot we were in, right off of club med, was filled with about 150 other snorkelers. quite a surreal sight: scores of tourons floating face down in shallow water. for dinner it was back to C&C's, where a waiter took our picture, which will apparently be posted to a page on their website in a couple weeks-- oy. come to think of it, maybe the puking and neck-craning was friday night.
saturday we planned to explore isla mujeres, but for some reason or another we didn't. instead, we headed downtown for some shopping and dinner. aha, i thought, away from the touron traps! but no such luck. not so many hotels, mind you, but plenty of gringos. we wandered around & bought some jewelry at mercado 28, then cabbed it to perico's, where the bar stools are saddles-- stylish but not particularly comfortable. marimba from 7 til 10, then mariachi til who knows when. more goofy snapshots by the waiters-- this time complete with paste-on mustache and pancho villa outfit for r, braids and a poncho for me. sombreros for us both, natch. how do i get myself into these things? luckily this one won't be showing up on anyone's website-- i hope.
sunday was the highlight: a trip to the mayan ruins at chichen itza. words just don't do the place justice, so until i get the pictures... yes, we climbed the kukulcan pyramid. it's steep, but nowhere near as physically daunting as i expected. no, i didn't use the rope! i was particularly interested in the ball court, & i wasn't disappointed-- the restoration is excellent. tons of intact panels of the winners being beheaded, and the hoops are holding up quite well for being, what, 1500 years old? and in keeping with the turista spirit of the weekend, i had a mayan calendar glyph of my birthdate done up on a leather panel.
random note: aeromexico rocks.
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March 15, 2002 - maroma, aka paradise
we arrived thursday and had dinner on the water at carlos and charlie's, r's favorite, one of those places where the staff is employed to force the customers to have fun with a capital P, as in pre-packaged for your american convenience. conga lines, songs that are easy to sing while drunk-- i'm sure even the girl at the table behind us who was puking on the floor could still spell YMCA. i could just barely see the yankees/mariners game over the throng, so i lived through it.
friday we went on a jungle tour, in which you pilot a "speed"boat (with a lawnmower motor) through the nichupte lagoon and out to the carribean to snorkel for half an hour. r bought me a snorkel when i was in lincoln, insisting that the ones they give out with the tours are crappy. that's true, but i'm afraid it wasn't money well spent, as i am not a very skilled mouthbreather. i wasn't too crushed, given that the spot we were in, right off of club med, was filled with about 150 other snorkelers. quite a surreal sight: scores of tourons floating face down in shallow water. for dinner it was back to C&C's, where a waiter took our picture, which will apparently be posted to a page on their website in a couple weeks-- oy. come to think of it, maybe the puking and neck-craning was friday night.
saturday we planned to explore isla mujeres, but for some reason or another we didn't. instead, we headed downtown for some shopping and dinner. aha, i thought, away from the touron traps! but no such luck. not so many hotels, mind you, but plenty of gringos. we wandered around & bought some jewelry at mercado 28, then cabbed it to perico's, where the bar stools are saddles-- stylish but not particularly comfortable. marimba from 7 til 10, then mariachi til who knows when. more goofy snapshots by the waiters-- this time complete with paste-on mustache and pancho villa outfit for r, braids and a poncho for me. sombreros for us both, natch. how do i get myself into these things? luckily this one won't be showing up on anyone's website-- i hope.
sunday was the highlight: a trip to the mayan ruins at chichen itza. words just don't do the place justice, so until i get the pictures... yes, we climbed the kukulcan pyramid. it's steep, but nowhere near as physically daunting as i expected. no, i didn't use the rope! i was particularly interested in the ball court, & i wasn't disappointed-- the restoration is excellent. tons of intact panels of the winners being beheaded, and the hoops are holding up quite well for being, what, 1500 years old? and in keeping with the turista spirit of the weekend, i had a mayan calendar glyph of my birthdate done up on a leather panel.
random note: aeromexico rocks.
March 15, 2002 - maroma, aka paradise
coming soon
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