Kevin Williams <me@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> The Econo Lodge in Niagara Falls near Rainbow Bridge is ratty. Stay
> somewhere else if you can, probably on the Canadian side since there's a
> lot more stuff over there. Our room had a good view of the fireworks
> show, though. Not much to choose from WRT food on the 'Merkin side
> anyway, unless you like Indian (yum!).
I'd say the Econo Lodge /anywhere/ will be a little ratty. There's one I
stayed at in Santa Barbara what was exceedingly so. But with enough good
Indian food around, I can make myself not notice.
> tour (Canadian side) right up on the river downstream. Lotsandlots of
> rapids. In my geeky way, I sat and stared at a pool for a while, musing
> on chaotic systems as the water washed over it regularly and
> unpredictably. Also, it takes an object (well, spit) about 10 seconds
> to hit water from the bridge, and the Canadian customs officers were
> generally friendlier than ours.
I love dropping small buoyant objects into such pools, just to see where
they go. Hours of fun.
IME, it doesn't matter what job they perform - if it's a Canadian doing
it, they'll be friendlier than an American.
> around out front who was mildly retarded and/or mentally ill. :-) I ate
> at McDonald's, and remembered why I haven't done that for nearly ten
> years.
My wife, for some odd reason, loves McDonald's, though she doesn't eat
there very often. (Especially because, if I'm in the car with her, it
isn't an option. I'll eat dirt before I eat McDonald's.)
> Loved Gettysburg[2]. Toured the battlefield, saw where the 20th Maine
> made its stand and bayonet charge on Little Round Top, where Pickett's
> Charge was, Cemetery Hill (you can almost see the rebels coming up at
> you), played on the stones opposite LRT ("Devil's Den"), and just had a
> fine old time. The visitor's center has an amazing museum of period
> military hardware, including a complete Napoleon cannon and its limber,
> and many dozens of muskets and breechloaders; it was also really neat to
> see all the artifacts pulled off the field in the years after the
> battle, such as a Confederate musket, bayonet still attached, rusted out
> and with a half-rotten stock, and a revolver in similar condition that
> was still loaded. Don't waste your time on the Lincoln train ride/train
> museum, unless you've a thing for model trains. Gen. Pickett's Buffet
> is pretty good home-cooking style food and cheap. There's an
> /excellent/ ice cream parlor in the downtown area, Kilwin's. Not cheap
> but definitely worth the price, and they give free samples. There are
> still buildings in the area with bulletholes, one with a cannonball
> hole, and another with a cannon-bolt still imbedded. Take the
> self-guided audio tour if possible, or meet up with a park ranger for a
> free group tour.
I've always wanted to visit Gettysburg. My brother and brother-in-law
were part of the reenactment for the 1993 film. They said it was quite
an experience. It's somewhat bizarre to me to think that munitions and
equipment still come out of the ground from time to time.
I do love model trains.
> DC: Meh. Neat to see the monuments up close, but the weather is awful
> and the prices high. I made a point of turkey-cursing the White House
> but didn't have the same op****tunity for the Capitol. I definitely
> enjoyed the Air & Space Museum and spent five hours walking around in
> it. I had expected it to be bigger (there's airplanes all over it!);
> one of these days I'll go out to their facility at Dulles, IIRC 3x
> bigger. We only had the one day to run around DC, or I'd have visited
> more of the Smithsonian. SWMBO wanted to visit the Holocaust Museum,
> but they'd run out of tickets until later in the day and she didn't want
> to visit it alone (me being in A&S all day). Don't eat the food at A&S,
I think my wife has been to the Holocaust Museum. I don't know that it's
the kind of thing one enjoys, per se. But people should see it. I'd love
to visit the Air & Space Museum. The California Science Center (which used
to be the California Museum of Science and Industry, which I think is a
much better name) has an Air and Space section (including things on loan
from the Smithsonian), but it's pretty slim pickins, compared to what
you get in DC.
> btw; either sneak in a granola bar (eat in the restroom, kplzthx) or
> visit a vendor elsewhere. Low quality and overpriced (essentially a
> giant McDonald's that also serves pizza and some Boston Market meals).
Something in DC is low quality and overpriced? Shocking!
> Also watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown
> Soldier, which was nifty. The sergeant of the guard told us to stand
> quietly out of respect, then some poor sod's kid immediately started
> screaming and he (the sod) hustled him away. :-)
There's always some kid who'll start screaming. I'm glad it's almost
never mine.
> Near our hotel in Crystal City (across the river) was a Legal Seafood
> restaurant. Not cheap, but also worth it. I had the Total Tuna, which
> was very good. SWMBO was disappointed that they didn't have crab legs
> and/or a lobster tail, though. Wish I'd had time to check out the
> Ethiopian restaurant, since I've yet to try that sort.
Oh, Ethiopian is /tasty/ - I highly recommend it. Just be careful,
because when they say something is hot, they really mean it.
> Trip back reminded me why one should avoid O'Hare. Weather delays
> totaling four hours, one spent on the tarmac at National.[4] It was
> good to be home.
I've only been through O'Hare once, and I'm never going back again
unless absolutely necessary. It's absolutely the worst air****t that
I've ever been in. And that was before the TSA had a hand in things.
> Insert rant about air****t security theater here. When's that
> revolution coming?
Did you see Bruce Schneier's interview with Kip Hawley? Doesn't sound
like reform in their forward planning.
> [1] ObNerd: wish I'd brought a copy of _Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen_ so I
> could compare where we went vs Hostigos and its neighbors. :)
I've toyed with the idea of writing a short story (or novelette) about
some poor unfortunate who gets whisked away to alternate universe/the
past/wherever. He has no special skills, isn't particularly well
educated, and dies quickly.
> [2] M-i-l[3] wishes the South had won the war; Gettysburg was what
> she wanted us to see, f-i-l wanted us to see Niagara. DC was
> a bonus.
> [3] A dear old woman, but she has Views on some things.
Every family has one. I should introduce you to my brother some time.
(Though his views don't involve the south - all my ancestors lived in
(and in some cases fought for) the North.)
> [4] I won't refer to it as Ray-Gun since I don't wor****p at his
> personality cult.
You know, if I had the choice - keep W or get Ray-Gun in his stead,
I'd take Ray-Gun in a heartbeat.
--
Gene Sullivan :: curiousgene@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
:: http://curiousgene.com
It's a small apartment, I've barely enough room to lay my hat and
a few friends.
-Dorothy Parker
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