Adventure of the month

Back in 1999, I had a work trip that to this day, holds a place in my heart as one of my best work trips ever. It was one of those situations where everything that could go right, absolutely did. We went on a sunset booze cruise, only to learn that the whales were in season and were in a breaching kind of mood.  It's possible they had been rehearsing for our arrival. The synchronized swimming display they put on  would have wowed the most persnickety of Olympic judges. Once off the boat, we decided to continue the party at Sammy Hagar’s then newish bar, CaboWabo. We were drinking, playing pool having an all around good time. I remember I was chatting with a cool tatted up guy when a waiter surreptitiously approached and recommended we stick around. Seeing as we had no plans of leaving, this was not a big ask. Maybe 30 minutes later, a divider opened onto a separate room. The bar got quiet and four guys sauntered onto the stage. They were Sammy Hagar, John Entwistle from the Wh...

Back in January, I had a couple of days off in Buffalo. To be clear, I think we can all agree that there are at least two things horribly wrong with that last sentence. 1. Up until recently, Buffalo was not a place I'd choose to be under the best of circumstances. 2. Anytime that you combine Buffalo and the middle of winter, that is anything but the best of circumstance. Yet here I was. Trying to make lemonade out of bored and bitter lemons, I figured that I could go to Niagara Falls and get some of those cool frozen waterfall pics that pop up on all those nature sites. Or to rephrase, when faced with the dilemma of what to do in the Siberian hellscape that is western New York in January, my first instinct was to get the hell out, even if it was to a possibly colder place.

I knew approximately three things about Portland: 1. It is located somewhere in the Northwest. Ask me to differentiate it from Seattle on an unmarked map and I would have, at best, a 50% chance of getting right. 2. Based on reporting by famed documentarian, Fred Armisen, it is a designated hipster preserve. 3. A new friend, who is earning cool points by the bucketful, has spent a lot of time there. As a result of this, he send me off armed with what some would call an exhaustive list of recommendations. Now here's one thing I did not know: 1. How cold it could get. By conflating it with Seattle, I pictured gray, rainy days but nothing that would require serious layering. I was oh so very wrong.

For the past six years, figuring out New Year's Eve plans has been pretty simple. Seeing as I live in a mid-rise in the middle of downtown Miami with a view to most of the area's firework displays, it was a given that the party would be at my place. It's always worked out wonderfully. We don't have to pay exorbitant cover charges. I got to play hostess, which I love, and my friends always had a place to crash once the party was over. Problem is, after my latest run-in with the evil that is mold, my apt is a demolition zone and not in the cool fashion-shoot kind of way. It's an uncomfortable mess and definitely not suitable for entertaining, no matter how much champagne we pour into little plastic flutes. Therefore, we were in need of a plan B.  This where my friends, Ivon and Sylvia came up with an always wonderful idea. A road trip. We would move this shindig to St Augustine.

I feel like so many of my blog posts begin in one of two ways. Either there is somewhere I've always wanted to go to and Woo-Hoo, I finally did it. Or I kind of stumbled into something not knowing what to expect and found it to be way cooler than anticipated. Then we have my latest adventure, which is a combination of the two. Anyone who knows me is aware of my love of all things Halloween. I begin preparing my costumes months in advance and insist on dressing up, no matter where I am. This can result in some awkward situations, such as the time I was the only person in all of Leipzig, Germany dressed up for the occasion (as a Gothic Barbie Doll no less) but I don't care. It is a holiday dedicated to fun and candy and I am on board 100%. Lately, there feels like there has been a conflation of Halloween and Mexico's Day of the Dead celebration. Both fall roughly around the same time, involve costumes and prominently feature skulls and other "spooky" symbols. Al...

Traveling is all about learning. Sometimes it is something as lofty as learning about yourself when you are presented with different perspectives. Other times, the questions are much simpler. Questions such as: "What the hell am I going to do with all this time in Tulsa, St. Louis and Omaha?" Turns out the answer is: a lot. Like going non-stop and still not covering everything I wanted to do kind of busy. Let's start with the first stop, Tulsa. I kicked off my midwestern outing with a visit to the Woody Guthrie Museum, not mind you because I am a huge Woody head. I actually just wanted one of the "This Machine Kills Fascists" t-shirts I had seen on their website. I could have just grabbed one at the entrance which doubles as the gift shop and ran but since I had come this far, I figured I might as well see what this guy was all about.