draggonlaady

One last St. Louis thing...fun times on the train! One of our last rides on the metro, there was a hustler fleecing other riders at a card game in the aisle of the car. He called it "chug a lug", but there was no drinking involved. From the little I could see, I think it was a variation on 3 card monte. Anyway, he was apparently doing a fine job of luring new sheep and shearing them, as there was quite a crowd and good bit of noise and laughter. Until one woman ran out of money, and suddenly had to face the reality that she was gambling and losing.
She started begging the dealer to give her her money back... nicely, not threatening (at least at first) "Please can I have my money back, mister?" and that.
To which he had an eminently reasonable response, to whit: "Were you going to give my money back if you won? I don't think so. And I wouldn't have asked for it! If you can't afford to lose it, what are you doing playing card games with a hustler on a train?"
More begging ensued, which eventually turned to threatening to tell the cops that he robbed her. And again our clever dealer is witty: "I don't rob, I hustle. There's a difference, a big difference. Nobody forced you to play, I din't pull a weapon or pick your pocket. You ante'd up and you lost. Last time someone called the cops on me for robbing, you know what happen? He in jail. He in jail for filing a false report."

Travel to St. Louis was pretty smooth, unlike some prior flights I've ranted about. Yay! We arrived safely Friday night.

Unfortunately, we were immediately unimpressed with our hotel of destination.... we found the hotel shuttle waiting area, and after a bit of time a van prominently labelled "Millenium Hotel" drove up. And gave no indication of stopping. We stepped up and waved to get the driver's attention, and he stopped in the lane of traffic instead of pulling over. The window rolled down (and a cloud of smoke wafted out), and he informed us that he was not there to collect hotel patrons (read patrons with a sneer, and the whole statement with a put-upon tone), but if we really wanted, he could call the hotel and ask for a VIP pass to transport us to the hotel. The guy was seriously so rude about the whole thing that the woman on the sidewalk behind us, with whom we'd had no prior interaction, commented to us about his attitude and behavior.
We ended up slogging our luggage back across the terminal and catching the metro train downtown, then hiking the 3 blocks from the station to the hotel, because the Millenium doesn't run airport shuttles for mere patrons. I dunno who the Hell they think keeps them in business, but apparently treating those damn patrons like they're welcome doesn't enter the plan. They also don't believe in Wi-Fi in rooms (though there is Wi-Fi in the lobby), and while you can get internet access in the rooms by good old fashioned ethernet plug-in, they charge for it. There are 30 floors and they are hosting conferences, but there are only 3 elevators - it was faster to climb the 10 flights of stairs to my room from the lower lobby than to wait in line with the 200 other conference attendees for a lift.

So the prompter for this trip was a continuing education conference for me, which is how I spent most of Saturday. Bruce apparently met up in the elevators with another attendee's husband who was at loose ends, and the two of them wandered off to Hooters while we boring wives got educated.

We haven't done much exploration of town yet, but one thing I was unable to avoid noticing was the stench in the area where we were - standing on the sidewalk in front of the hotel, there was a strong and obvious reek of sewer, mixed with natural gas, and overlaid with diesel exhaust fumes. Stomach churning. I'm hoping that is not common throughout town.

Saturday night, Bruce and I returned to the metro to travel across town to a bar we'd been directed to, and tried the toasted ravioli, which is apparently a St. Louis thing... a St. Louis thing that Bruce is totally welcome to make me for dinner any time he feels like it, yum! We stopped by Hooters for dessert on the way back to the 'tel, because I had complained to him that he was supposed to take me with him when he went places I'd never been before. It was about what I expected; a sports-themed place with cute serving staff wearing tight shorts. The cake was good but not spectacular, and came in large servings.

Today I was once again conferencing most of the day, which left Bruce to pack up all our stuff and get us checked out of the room. At the end of the lectures, we hiked back to the metro station and caught the train back to the airport, where we caught the hotel shuttle to the hotel where we will be staying the rest of the week. This hotel is considerably lower-cost than the Millenium, but so far Homestead is kicking Millenium's ass in customer service. The shuttle driver was super friendly and helped carry our bags in to check in; the Wi-Fi is free and easily accessed; the building looks a bit older and less spiffy but the rooms have kitchenettes and we're on the ground floor, so no elevator lines.

Anyway, future updates will be more food and vacation/touristy stuff oriented.... we are considering heading to the Chocolate Bar for dinner tonight.

Vacation in St. Kitts was much fun, so this will be long, with lots of links. Feel free to skip if you're bored by my ramblings. Bruce's comments are in italics.

The trip down was quite long. We flew on Delta this time. Overall, Delta treated us much better than United did on our Knoxville trip. Bruce slept most of the way down. I didn't get to sleep on the plane at all—the leg I was trying to sleep on, the seat was broken and wouldn't lay back, so I couldn't get into a comfortable position. I ended up sleeping a couple hours in the airport during layover though. We had a brief bit of panic when we belatedly realized that the gate had been changed on the last leg of the flight (the important one, as Delta only flies to St. Kitts once a week) and we were waiting on the wrong concourse! We hauled butt across the airport (Atlanta is BIG) and made it to the correct gate just as they were pulling our bag out of the cargo hold and giving up on us. It was 35F when we boarded in Atlanta.

The 85F and 90% humidity when we deplaned in St. Kitts was a pretty brutal change! But we made it through Customs and Immigration with only a small issue (we only got one of the two forms we were supposed to've been given to fill out, so had to fill the other out while standing in line. Hardly the worst Immigrations complication to have!) and Bear and Georgia met us as we staggered back out into the heat. We went to their place and changed into summer gear. Chased lizards in the back yard for a few minutes (little brown anoles with an almost transparent yellow tail, and medium/big brown anoles with stripes, and tiny quick little lizards—you'd think they were teleporting, they're so quick). Then we headed for the beach to chase critters and waves. I'm sure you'll be terribly surprised by all the parts where I list what critters we saw! I did my best to ID birds for Nessa, but didn't get very good pictures of most of them, sorry. I did get a lot of pictures of lizards though! (surprised, anybody?)

So the beach called The Strip was our first St. Kitts play destination; we found a bunch of little sand crabs and one camouflaged crab, watched the Brown Pelicans diving for fish, and the sunset over the water, then hit Buddie's for some BBQ. Pretty good stuff, and had our first experience with restaurants that hand you a bottle of mosquito repellent when you walk in. And our first taste of the nearly absolute lack of customer service exhibited at restaurants on the island. Then we went home to sleep off the travel exhaustion.

Day 1 Bird list: Brown Pelican (http://www.bio-diversity-nevis.org/images/Nevis%20Birds/Sea%20Birds/1%20Pelican.JPG)

Cattle Egret (http://www.bio-diversity-nevis.org/images/Nevis%20Birds/Shore%20Birds/Cattle%20Egrets%201.JPG)

Wood dove (Zenaida Aurita) (http://www.bio-diversity-nevis.org/images/Nevis%20Birds/Land%20Birds/Zenida.jpg)

 

Next morning we got up late and had delicious strawberry pancakes with banana syrup. Bruce and I spent a couple hours swimming and hanging out on Whitehouse Beach while Bear and Georgia had their final sailing lesson. Wind was from the wrong direction, so water was too choppy for snorkeling, but was fun to play around anyway. Tons of different tiny little shore snails; took pictures of some of the more striking color patterns. Scraped my ankle up on something underwater. Chased some birds around, and debated the pros and cons of the waterfront property for sale at the corner of the beach... Bruce's new goal in life is to move the the Caribbean and become a Cabana Boy. We went to PJ's for dinner; no bug spray on the table there, because they have an automatic sprayer in the doorways (every 19 minutes—how's that for a random time cycle?). Chicken picatta is yummy, mon.

We went home and met a friend and previous student of Bear's, Laura. Laura is a wonderful outdoor warrior type; she came over to borrow Bear's sewing machine after having done a 50 mile bicycle ride on the neighboring island of Nevis. FIFTY MILES! For fun! That means, by the way, that she was making laps of the island, because seriously, the island isn't that big.

Day 2 Bird list: Thick billed plover (http://www.bio-diversity-nevis.org/images/Nevis%20Birds/Shore%20Birds/Charadrius_wilsonia.jpg)

Grey Kingbird (http://www.bio-diversity-nevis.org/images/Nevis%20Birds/Land%20Birds/Grey%20King%20bird-Tyrannus_dominicensis.jpg)

 

Monday there was no sleeping in, as we decided to join a Ross University Adventure Club hike. Why yes, we ARE crazy. The hike was lead by Warrior Laura, you see... Mt Liamuiga is the volcano responsible for forming St. Kitts. We hiked all the way up to the crater, and the view was incredible. For future reference, when the warrior woman says “moderate hike” she means “do try not to die, as it would be moderately inconvenient to have to carry you out”. But we managed to hup our out-of-shape and not-heat-accustomed selves all the way up. It wasn't all that bad. There was one girl who almost quit out crying, and one guy who got heat-sick enough that he threw up. They were not us! Only new bird for Day 3 was the Antillean Crested Hummingbird that hung out with us on the edge of the crater for a while. I failed to get good pictures, as he was a speedy critter, but his crest was a beautiful iridescent green. This picture utterly fails to do him justice: http://www.bio-diversity-nevis.org/images/Nevis%20Birds/Land%20Birds/Antillean%20Crested%20Hummingbird.jpg. Several other pictures available here: http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/antillean-crested-hummingbird-orthorhyncus-cristatus/lateral-view-perched-adult-male.

 

Tuesday, Bear had to work. Georgia dropped us off in the tourist area of town, and we wandered around shopping, had a good bit of fun watching how people's attitudes changed when we told them we were not on a cruise ship. (There is a distinct range in the prices a lot of places charge ranging from local/native through local/student or uni employee up through visiting-but-staying-in-an-actual-house and topping at cruise ship tourists. There are some places where there is literally a 4-fold difference in prices for things depending on which category you are.) Met Bear and Georgia for lunch at Circus Grill. Bruce got Bear into a fight with a street vendor outside the restaurant. He wanted to try the local carrots, as Laura had told us they tasted different. Bear told him that the price the vendor was asking for carrots was too high, which apparently seriously offended the woman, because when Bear asked what she wanted for the sweet potatoes, the vendor said “You can't afford them,” and refused to give her a price or sell her anything. I stood back and tried not to laugh too loudly. Had “Caribbean Creole” chicken for lunch, which was significantly milder than I expected. The ginger beer was made in-house, and VERY gingery. And thick! Like whole milk thick. Scoops is a wonderful ice cream place in Port Zante. The coconut ice cream is made with actual coconut, and the rum raisin ice cream is made with actual rum. A shot per scoop, according to our guides.

Day 4 bird list: Magnificent Frigatebird (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Magnificent_Frigatebird/id)

Terns (http://www.bio-diversity-nevis.org/images/Nevis%20Birds/Sea%20Birds/Common%20Tern.jpg)

Black headed grassquit (http://www.bio-diversity-nevis.org/images/Nevis%20Birds/Land%20Birds/Antillian%20Grass%20Quit.jpg)

 

Mostly lounged around the next day, Bear headed back to the States to be a bridesmaid for her friend in New Orleans. Georgia and Bruce and I walked down the hill from the house to Bird Rock Hotel in the afternoon to play fetch in the water with the dogs. Saw some big black crabs on the road, not the beach (body big as a fist) and a huge skink (http://www.bio-diversity-nevis.org/images/Reptiles/Geckos/Ameiva%20erythrocephala%20%28ground%20lizard%29.jpg). We went out with Laura that evening to catch Dr Kevin Fitzgerald's comedy routine (he was on the island to do some guest lectures for the students at Ross, and had an evening comedy show). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Fitzgerald

 

Thursday we walked back to Bird Rock Motel and played with the snorkeling equipment. Saw 3 different types of fish, but since I know nothing about fish identification, I can only tell you that the blue ones were probably Yellow Tail Damselfish. No idea what the slightly larger black ones, or much larger brown and black fish were. Did not see the huge skink, probably because we had the camera with us this time. While there, we had a lovely “you're not in the States anymore” experience. Watching this gent I'm still unconvinced that both X and Y chromosomes were present with a baby girl playing in the sand... he strips the kid naked, smears on some sunscreen, and then walks off and leaves her alone. On the beach. With nobody between her and the water. Not that the kid DID anything but sit there and play in the sand, but still... that'd never happen on a US beach without someone freaking out.

Back to the house to shower the sand and salt off, and then off to the Veterinary College with Laura to catch a couple of Dr Fitzgerald's exotics animal medicine lectures. I got left behind with Georgia. Then a walk-around of the campus, which was quite nice. Things you only hear from veterinary students: “Look, a pig skeleton! How cute!”

Went to Bary's for dinner; really good BBQ. Says Bruce “He's not afraid of flavor and this is obviously not toned down for the tourists. That's not a complaint.”

And on the walk home, saw geckos! Sadly, no camera.

 

Friday we thought we'd try out Sky Safari (http://www.skysafaristkitts.com/) but turns out they only go by appointment. Made an appointment for Sunday morning, and went to the Caribelle Batik (http://www.caribellebatikstkitts.com/) instead. Got some pretties, wandered around the grounds and took pictures of purple plants and pretty Brahmin cows. Despite the doubting Thomases, I got a really nice picture of a Green Throated Carib. Bruce claimed to see a monkey, but sure looks like a silver tabby cat in the photos... Stupid shape-shifting voodoo monkeys. Then we went to dinner at Pizza Shack at the Marriott. Decent pizza, but a bit spendy.

Day 7 Bird List: Green Throated Carib (http://www.bio-diversity-nevis.org/Bio-div%20Thumbnails/1%20Green%20Carib.JPG)

Lesser Antillean Bullfinch (http://www.bio-diversity-nevis.org/images/Nevis%20Birds/Land%20Birds/Antillian%20bullfinch.jpg)

Bananaquit (http://www.bio-diversity-nevis.org/images/Nevis%20Birds/Land%20Birds/Bananaquits.jpg)

 

 

Saturday we slept late, then spent the afternoon at Sandy Beach. Did a little snorkeling, and saw a stingray; he was pretty cool! Some silvery fish with blue dorsal line and blue around the eye, apparently called Grab Jacks? Lay on the beach reading for a while, then headed off to dinner. On the walk back to the car, Bruce saw a mongoose, but I missed it. Not the voodoo kind. We went to La Belle Vie, which, as you might guess from the name, is a fancy French restaurant. It was quite nice, though it's rather an odd cultural dissonance to sit in a fancy restaurant and be handed a bottle of bug spray...

Goat cheese absolutely should be served warm over salad with bacon and a nice vinaigrette. It was quite yummy; easily the best thing I've ever eaten with goat cheese. Tomato slices would have been nice. Steaklet of duck in green and black pepper sauce was quite delicious also. The rack of lamb in thyme sauce was also nice but the sauce was not as flavorful. The assortment of cheeses was pretty good too; finally was introduced to a cheese in the bleu family that does NOT taste overwhelmingly of mold. Bleuforte is much mellower, though a bit salty. Salty is an understatement. Good stuff, though.

Bird of the day: Red Tailed Hawk. Looks shockingly like the Red Tailed Hawks at home.

 

Sunday we got up early to get to Sky Safaris. Zip lines are fun! Sadly, it was a pretty short course... I was really expecting it to be longer. Ah well. Got some good pictures of “rasta” Bruce (I'd braided and beaded his hair the night before). There is nothing I wouldn't do for her, obviously, nor is there such a thing as a "good" picture of said devotion. Shortly after finishing the Sky Safari, the drought broke and boy howdy can it rain down there. Beach out of the question for the evening, we decided to check out the shiny new 8-screen cinema. And give our host a bit of personal time, rasta style. We went to the conveniently located Domino's Pizza (right next door to the theater) for dinner. It was absolute insanity. The group that shoved in front of us while we were politely waiting our turn at the counter was led by a young girl (10 years ish?) followed by a very tall woman who didn't seem to think children needed any controls, and a very fat woman who had no good grasp of communication. She pointed at the sign and told the lady that she wanted the chicken sandwich. Fine and dandy, but there are 4 different chicken sandwiches listed. When the lady behind the counter asked which sandwich she meant, they went around in circles 3 or 4 times about there being more than one chicken sandwich. She storms out, the tall lady starts to order. Then the fat lady comes back with reinforcements in the form of a guy and 2 more kids. *sigh*. All in all, it took them about half an hour of arguing and fussing to actually give their order. Then the kids proceeded to run in and out of the building randomly, taking extra stuff from the chip rack and refrigerator case, so that the tall lady ended up standing at the counter and just passing over money every few minutes when some kid ran through and grabbed something. All for a small pizza, a couple sides of bread sticks, and an untold number of sodas and bags of chips. The chaos was such that the lady working there forgot to bring us our pizza until I went up and asked for it again. Daybreakers was a pretty darn entertaining flick.

 

Still raining on Monday, so we mostly lounged around and read all day. Checked my receipts to put them in my check book, and was unpleasantly surprised by the Sky Safari charges. Called and inquired why I was charged $100 (US!) more than expected. Explained that we are not rich cruise ship tourists, and would really appreciate the Ross University price (nicely, really. and the lady was quite nice too. But we have to go back in person to get a refund, and can't get there today; they're closing early because of the rain.) Bear got back from the States, so Bruce and I headed out for the evening to give her and Georgia some alone time. Took Laura to see Book of Eli; good stuff. Rather more overtly religious than we were expecting, but good fun.

 

Tuesday we went back out to Sky Safaris and got refunded. Wandered around downtown, saw the Spencer Gallery (some interesting artwork, but not a big selection). The honey bees in the ceiling were pretty darn cool. Best viewing of active honeycombs I've ever seen. Bought Bear a new phone, since her old one went swimming with us at Sandy Beach, oops. Georgia went to pick Bear up from work, and Bruce and I wandered through a little toy store with a crazy mix of really old toys and new stuff. Bear wasn't feeling well, so we didn't do much exciting for dinner, just back to the house.

 

Wednesday, Georgia kicked us out to fend for ourselves while he cleaned the house. Heh, but that's a story for another time. We taxied up to Brimstone Fort, an old British military fort (http://www.geographia.com/StKitts-nevis/knbrim01.htm). We spent about 4 1/2 hours wandering around this place. This day was a lot of "you're not in the States any more" stuff. There was only 1 warning sign in the entire place, and there was "you could die" stuff at each step. Drop-offs down rock walls, stairways in the middle of sloped floors with no indication of which end of the opening is the top of the stairs, no guard rails anywhere. It was great! Truly, she speaks. Though apparently my feelings of "you could die" were not unfounded; during an Easter picnic years ago, a rush to get out of a sudden rain ended up with 10 dead...

Deciding that the taxi was way, way too expensive to call back, we caught the local bus home. The bus system in St Kitts is completely unlike the US systems. Buses are privately owned and operated mini-vans, that have vaguely recommended routes but no real set times or stops. almost entirely along a single road on the coast. A bus coming through town with space on it will honk when approaching people, and if you want on, you just step up and wave. They'll stop anywhere to pick people up, usually in the middle of traffic with minimal warning. They don't bother to pull out of the lane, so traffic just goes whipping around past them. Switching buses consists of signaling your driver, who begins honking at other buses until one of them honks back, then both stop (blocking the whole road, of course) and people jump off one, run or saunter, depending on their mood across the road, and climb on the other. To get off the bus, you just tell the driver where you want to stop; there aren't scheduled stops any more than there are scheduled routes, so you say "that pink house" or whatever, and the driver stops and lets you off. Again, they don't bother to pull off to the curb for this, just slam on the brakes and stop in the road. The maximum speed limit on the island is 40mph. Buses commonly disregard such niceties, and accelerate as fast as possible between stops, so you go 0 to 60 to 0 to 60 repeatedly and suddenly. It's like a roller coaster ride, in traffic. And much (1/10th of the price) much less expensive than the taxis. If we ever go back (or to a different island) we will absolutely be using the bus system! It was exhilarating.

We asked a random taxi driver on the street where we should eat dinner tonight, and he sent us to Chef's Garden, which was great food, once we convinced them to cook it for us. Then as we were walking downtown, we crossed paths with the lady from Scoops. By this time, we'd been in so often that she recognized us on the street and asked why we hadn't come in today...

 

Thursday we thought we'd try the Bat Cave/Bloody Point hike. Bloody Point (and Bloody Beach, and Bloody Canyon...sensing a theme here?) is where the British and French decided to cooperate with each other long enough to kill essentially all of the native population of Karibs. During a religious rite, no less. The canyon is a very narrow, very deep gorge in which the tribes gathered for ceremonies. The Brits and French split up the top of the gorge, and shot them all during their ceremony. Since we're both terribly masochistic, we called on the lovely warrior woman Laura to lead us on this hike. Unfortunately, with the past several days of rain, the hike was undoable; the trail was thigh-deep in very quickly moving water. We followed the top of the gorge for a while, but started running into fences and such. Backtracked and waded through the river again, then followed the old narrow-gauge rails for a while. The trellis was fun; ties were definitely not evenly spaced. Good thing neither of us is scared of heights!

Home for clean clothes, and then back to the Strip to see The Fireman at Mr. X's Shiggity Shack. The ginger chicken was quite good, and they didn't stint on the spice in the jerk pork. Not even a little stinting. The Fireman is a fire-eater/fire-breather guy who puts on a weekly show, somehow managing to not burn down the very crowded eatery. Well, in fairness, the fire-breathing happened outside. Then he comes back inside and limbos under a burning bar.

 

Friday's trip to the neighboring island of Nevis didn't happen, because it was (surprise!) still raining. Somehow, walking down to the ferry, ferrying across the way, and renting a scooter didn't sound like a good heavy rain plan. She can be so reasonable, sometimes. So we spent the day lounging about with Bear (who'd taken a sick day from work, but was feeling rather better, thankfully) and Georgia. Silly movies were watched, books were read, naps were taken. Good relaxing day.

 

Saturday we packed it all up, and headed to the airport for the return trip. Gotta say, the 24 hours of flying is not the best part of a vacation to St. Kitts! The flight into Atlanta was uneventful, until we got to Atlanta. And spent the first hour of our 2 hour layover sitting on the plane, on the tarmac. No gate to unload at, and then no crew to set up the available gate. Re-routes from some other airport that took priority. All manner of excuses, none of which actually got us deplaned. We finally got to head into the airport and check through customs, and then got the unpleasant news that we had to go pick up our baggage and recheck it, because for some unexplained reason the airline can't/won't shift it to the next plane at this point. Nevermind that this process consisted of standing around a baggage drop, picking our bag up, walking it to the next room, and handing it to someone to put on a different baggage carousel. Very frustrating and pointless. Speaking of pointless--we now have 30 minutes to make it across the Atlanta airport to our next flight before it departs. Which means it's probably boarding already. So we can run for it, right? WRONG. Instead, we have to go through security again. I guess the hand search of every bag, and pat-down of passengers after going through metal detectors and x-raying bags at St. Kitts wasn't sufficient, we have to go through the whole process (minus things like hand searching bags and pat downs, which are too...what... primitive? effective? annoyingly useless? to be bothered with in US security). So we end up with less than 10 minutes to get to our next plane before it departs without us. Good thing Atlanta's airport has trains, because I don't think we could have made the run.

 

When we got to Washington DC, we had 7 hours to kill. Too early to check in for our next flight (can't check in more than 6 hours early), so we weren't sure what the protocol on baggage was. Asked the steward and he said to ask the lady at the gate. So we asked her. She said we should go pick the bag up, since it might not get transferred to the next plane. So we trekked down to baggage claim and waited for it. Tried to check it into the baggage storage area, but they wouldn't take it. So we ended up packing it along with us the rest of the time. Not quite long enough to be worth getting a hotel room, but we thought we'd grab a taxi, and have them take us to food. Now, I don't have much experience with taxis in the States. My experiences with taxis have been on Caribbean islands, where if you ask a taxi driver for recommendations on just about anything, he'll have a list of places he likes, and a list of places that tourists like, and will be happy to (for a small fee, of course!) take you to any and all of them. Apparently, that's not how it works here. The taxi driver seemed to think that we were total nutjobs when we asked him what was a good place for late-night (it was pushing midnight at this point) dinner. He could not grasp the concept that we didn't have a hotel reservation. Finally came down to give him an exact address, or get out of the car. So we got out of the car. Went back inside the airport, found a yellow pages, and started calling restaurants listed as "late night". Got info, directions, and address, and went out to hail a different taxi. Gave address to this taxi driver, who asked what the place was. When we told him the name, he says "oh, I know that place! Good food!" Turns out the place is a 5 minute drive from the airport, frequented by cops and taxi drivers. So why the F did driver number 1 think such a place didn't exist? aarg. I hypothesize that the first driver had spent fewer hours in our nation's capitol than the tourists he was driving around. Ah, the power of a navigation system. Anyway, if you need a late night place in DC that will give you huge portions of food lest you waste away to nothing before breakfast, check out Kabab Palace. (http://www.yelp.com/biz/kabob-palace-arlington-2).

We decided not to try getting a taxi driver to tour us around DC to look at pretty monuments, partly because it was very late and we were tired, partly for fear of asking taxi drivers questions after previous experience, and partly because it was (still, again, some more) raining. We caught a taxi back to the airport, and tried to find some place to sleep for a couple hours. Unfortunately, the DC airport seems to be determined not to provide a comfortable napping area. No benches anywhere, just rows of chairs with metal ridges and low armrests between each seat. We ended up just laying out on the floor, which was cold and uncomfortable and not good sleeping.

When check-in finally opens well 3 of the twenty terminals, anyway, the rest got confused by DST, we pass over the bag, and the woman behind the counter tells us that we should have just left it for the airline workers to transfer, because it was already checked clear through to Spokane (even though we weren't!). She just looked confused and had no explanation when we said that 2 people the night before had told us differently. Ah, consistency.

 

Next stop, St. Paul. In stark contrast to DC, the St. Paul airport actually has at least one corner cubby with a floor pad in it for sleeping on at the gate. Too bad we were only there for an hour. The rest of the trip home was pretty uneventful, and Monday I returned to work to a pile-up of messages from clients. It seems I was missed... Bruce (the lucky lucky bas...er... gentleman) had the day off, and got to sleep in. And sleep in I did.

Slept in this morning, and that was really pleasant. Happy to report that we did not wake up covered in bedbug bites. Headed back downtown for lunch at Tomato Head. winnett, if you are ever in Knoxville, find this place. You'll love it. Lots of vegan choices on the menu. Pepperoni rolls were fun but not spectacular, the tomato sauce to dip them in could maybe have used simmering a little longer. The cheese melt sandwich Bruce had was really quite good, and the cheeses were really nice quality all around.

Then we wandered about town randomly, hit a bunch of little stores. Found dessert at Rita's; the frozen custard was really yummy but I was a bit disappointed by the mango ice--it tasted more like orange, very citrusy.

Yee Haw Printers was amazing to wander through. They have banks and banks and drawers of lead printer strikes, carved wooden print presses, some just beautiful stuff. I didn't realize people still did old letterpress printing any more, I guess.

Dinner at Calhoun's for BBQ ribs and pecan pie. Really cheerful, friendly staff, and balcony seating out by the Tennessee river was pleasant. Good place all around, I think.

After dinner we decided on some lechery, and headed out to The Emerald Club for some dancing girls. It was fun, but the variety was all in the girl and not in the dancing. Seemed like they all did very similar routines, and several of them didn't really put much effort into it. Which, you know, Thursday night and only about 10 customers (we were seriously outnumbered by dancers!) I guess they were probably pretty bored. The one lady that really stood out was actually the heaviest of the dancers, but she looked like she was having fun with it, you know? Talked to her a bit after, and she had just started at this place yesterday, after a 4 year hiatus since she danced in Florida. Sweet smile that lady had!

And now, back in the hotel for some sleepings. We'll be flying home tomorrow, wish us better luck than we had on the trip out here!

You can fly from one end of the country to the other for a moderate fee and little effort.

Or so I hear.
What actually happened is that we had repeated problems, hassles, took forever, and both of us had massive headaches by the time we got here last night.
We had a schedule for a single layover in Denver, switching to a plane from the same company. We were to leave for Denver at 6 am, arrive at 9:30, catch the plane out of Denver at 10:15, get to Tennessee at 1:30 pm (local time, there's some time zones in there). Easy-peasy!

Except that the first flight was 20 minutes late leaving, because they had to feed it new hydraulic fluid, and the tech/engineer/whoever couldn't come out right away. Inconvenient, but we still should have 15 minutes to get to the next plane, and since they're same airline it's all in the same area. Doable. Until we arrive in Denver and spend half an hour sitting in the plane on the runway because there is apparently no gate open at which to unload. We don't get off the plane until the next flight has already flown. I rather wonder if we didn't take their gate after they left.

We are rescheduled... not to take the same path later, but instead to Chicago, and from there to Knoxville. First leg of this is another United, same gate we were supposed to be leaving from before. Enough time to grab a piece of pizza from Dominoes and eat it on the plane, but not enough time for anything else. Mild headaches for the both of us at this point, but the ibuprofen is in the checked bag. And we can't sit together, we're 6 rows apart, both in center seats.

Then we have a three hour layover in Chicago. Three hours is a long time to sit in an airport, but not quite long enough to bother leaving and going back through security. It is also not quite long enough to be worth friends from Urbana driving the 2 1/2 hours up to hang out in the airport with us on no notice. So we went hunting for lunch. Headaches still with us, drugs still checked.

We found The Great American Bagel. They are not the greatest, sorry. The cream of chicken with wild rice soup was ricy, which is good, but flavored primarily with salt. I rather believe that soup should not make you thirsty. Bruce had a bagel sandwich, said it was alright, but shouldn't bagels be chewy? We went to Brioche Doree and got a "brute chocolate muffin" for dessert. Asked what made it a brute, the guy behind the counter looked confused. I think the proper answer (which he could not, of course, have said) was that you have to be a brute to be strong enough to bite through the crust on the thing. We threw more than half of it away. Ya'll know me, I don't discard chocolate. For that matter, I threw half of the soup away, and I'm not all that keen on discarding food in general.

We rented a movie (Coraline) and watched most of it on the laptop while waiting for the next flight. This one was a United Express, so still sort of United and the luggage should be under control, but it was about 3 miles away from the gate we unloaded at. The one modern marvel that I really appreciated yesterday was the slide walks. Also, women in high heeled boots with tight pants, but I don't know if that counts. Whoever thought the flashing tube neon above the slide walks in the tunnel at O'hare was a good idea though? My headache did NOT agree with them, thankyouverymuchsir.

Then we get on the final plane. It's wee. No gate ramp, walk out on the runway and climb the stairs. It also loaded early, oddly, and we two were among the last three on. Didn't fret long about making folks wait though, because as the pilot started all the pre-flight run-up, the power went OUT. Total darkness. No exit lights, nothing. Stays dark just long enough for someone in the back of the plane to start giggling nervously. You know that giggle...high pitched with just an edge of OHGODWHATAREWEGOINGTODO!?!? in it? Then the lights come back on. Captain says on the overhead that we all have to get back off the plane now, but we can leave our stuff. So we do. Tramp all the way back up to the gate, and sit there for 20 minutes. Announcement comes out, you can re-load, we just need your boarding passes again. At which about 10 people holler almost in unison "You said to leave everything on the plane!" Attendant says "Bring your ID to the service podium, we'll print you new ones." Which satisfied most, but at least 1 woman is standing there saying, "no, no, I left EVERYTHING on the plane, including my wallet, because you said to leave everything on the plane!" Well, they printed her a boarding pass anyway, but still, what the Hell people? So we get back on the plane. And the pilot goes through the run-up again. Uneventfully this time. Explains that for some reason the plane's computer wasn't talking to the airport's and "couldn't figure out what city we are in." But everything's okay now. Oh, so comforting. Here's hoping we don't have a sudden total power-down in the air, yes?

And we get our third round of instructions in one day on how to fasten your seat belt. Really...do they honestly think people that can figure out all the hoops and regs of buying a ticket, checking in, getting through security, locating the gate, etc, and that have the technological acceptance to trust themselves to some giant metal tube hurtling through the sky, cannot figure out a seat belt?

Anyway. The plane did not power down mid-flight (as evidenced by my writing this in a hotel room, not a hospital room or Hell). We arrived, finally, at 10 pm. Raging headaches, neck stiff and sore and spreading into my shoulders from trying to sleep in the plane seat, and from dragging around my shoulder bag. Happily, baggage arrived intact and we pulled our checked bag off the carousel about 5 minutes after we hiked down to it. Drugs were taken.

A taxi was hailed. We loaded in. And then noticed the sign that says he doesn't take Visa. We unloaded. A second taxi was hailed. This one takes Visa. We re-loaded and headed to the hotel.

Yesterday was, quite simply, the worst flight experience of my life. Thank all the gods of mercy and gravity that the problems were all on the ground.