Here are a bunch of my tweets from the road. Start at the bottom and work your way up.
Cheers,
Maggie

# A bunch of kids just started a softball game in the empty eastbound lanes of I 90. And a couple just got their bikes out. Crazy. about 12 hours ago

# Snoqualmie Pass shut down for rock blasting. The interstate has become a makeshift campground. We’re all visiting & roaming around. Neat. about 13 hours ago

# Oh man, the leaves are starting to turn here in Washington too. Fall is my favorite season, but I’m just not done with Summer yet. about 17 hours ago

# Was buzzed by thee fighter jets about 100′ off the ground in a river canyon south of Wenatchee last night. Pretty neat. 4:59 PM Aug 20th

# Spending the night on the beach in Newport. Again. Lighthouse in the distance. Cool breeze. Reading a book. Supper cooking in the Read Full Article & Comments…

I’ve been a fan some time now of the political/news quiz show, wait wait… don’t tell me, broadcast weekly on Chicago Public Radio and picked up by NPR. My current job has me traveling 95% of the time and I get through Chicago frequently so I’ve been trying to time it so I could attend a taping, but I just haven’t been able to swing it.

I came to find out they would be touring this year so I checked the schedule and lo and behold, they were going to be in Seattle on June 3rd. So, I arranged some home time for the designated date, called my friend David, a fellow fan, and we got tickets to the taping at Seattle’s Paramount Theater.

We arrived with ample time to get seated in the nose bleed section, three flights of stairs up. I think there were only three or four more rows of seats behind us. Oh well, I am a girl on a budget, so… The staged was adorned Read Full Article & Comments…

4/30/10
I had been planning on taking the guided walk through Georgetown and George Washington University last night but wimped out.  Well, I wish I had gone.  This morning during a nice long leisurely breakfast, the gang all showed up to eat and share the previous night experiences.   They apparently had a good time, whilst I just sat around doing nothing.  Oh silly me.   Oh well, my loss. But it was nice to see them all and hear about it anyway.

So, Jason, the doctor, a pretty good guy.  I had this internal impression of him as a good looking, well educated, well traveled man, a fairly cool cat.  In the course of conversation, a passing reference to Star Trek was made, I’m not even sure who it was; could have been me I suppose.  Anyway, Jason had one of those lapses of clarity moments and confessed that Read Full Article & Comments…

04/29/2010

Didn’t get much sleep last night, having gone to bed at 2:00am and all.  Oh well.  Met a new roommate this morning.  As I was laying in bed I heard her talking with someone and it sounded Australian at first but I thought I’d wait a tic to make sure.  Sho ’nuff, I detected a little Kiwi,  so having that extra tidbit, I engaged.  I open my eyes and looked up and said “Kiwi”?  She said yeah and grinned, presumably at me not having confused her for an Aussie.  Her name is Mel (Melanie).  Had I opened my eyes first, I probably wouldn’t have had to invoke the full extent of my accent detector.  Mel is Maori, and has that exotic south pacific look.  Nice girl, we chatted for a bit.

After a nice long breakfast and chatting with most of the gang from last night as they trickled in and trickled out again, I got showered and dressed and out the door.  My destination today was Arlington National Cemetery.  I walked the five blocks or so to the metro station and hopped the train to the same named stop.  A short walk took me to the entrance to the cemetery and in I went.  We are free to roam about but there is a tram option for a reasonable $7.50 as well.  I got on the tram which makes drops and pick ups at three main sites throughout the grounds and we are free to hop on and off at any time.

I jumped off at the first stop and decided to walk most of the rest myself.  It was such a beautiful day; not a cloud in the sky, about 68 degrees, the birds were chirping, and the carillons were playing from a nearby church.  Magnificent views of DC’s monuments are had from the hills of Arlington.  It’s  a powerful place indeed.  The brochures say Read Full Article & Comments…

04/28/2010

After a fairly good night sleep here at the Washington DC HI Hostel, I got up and went exploring.  The first order of business was breaky and I found the dinning room that was pretty much packed.   It reminded me of University; the tables arranged family style and everyone sat together. People from all around the world, young and old, all having breakfast together.  Pretty neat. I noticed a few people in business suits, here for conferences and other meetings I heard some of them say. Interesting that they’re staying at a hostel.

There was this one guy though, sitting all alone.   He didn’t talk to anyone and no one tried to talk to him. A little rotund, long grey hair, grey beard, and he was wearing a black t-shirt that said Give Peace A Chance.  He was a spitting image of Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Perhaps some thought he was the ghost of Jerry or something, he was certainly freaking me out a little.  The only reason I didn’t talk to him though is because I was on the other side of the room.  Yeah, the other side of the room.

After breaky, I joined my hostel mates for the Library of Congress tour in the lobby and waited for our guide to arrive.   I overheard one guy mentioning that he had done the Art Gallery the previous day and he didn’t seem too impressed with much of it.  “I could have done that when I was three” he said.

After our guide arrived, we all introduced ourselves and were informed of the the big plan to get to the library.  I met Megan, a young Aussie chick and we chatted a bit along the way.  Nice girl.  We set off on a short hike to the Metro station, where we learned how to get our passes and actually use the metro.   That was much appreciated by all.  We hopped on board and rode from Metro Central to the Capitol South station and another short hike to the Library of Congress, right across the street from the Capitol building.  On the way, a couple guys behind me were talking about snow in their respective countries.  Henrik, from Denmark, was describing how Read Full Article & Comments…

04/27/2010
One of the cool things about my job is that I get to take “home time” pretty much wherever I want.  This time, I chose Washington DC in the springtime.  I had been planning this trip for some time now, hopefully to catch the cherry blossoms and general blooming spring.  I’ve just arrived but I fear I may have missed it, we’ll see.

Getting here last night was a chore.  After a long day, I parked at a truck stop in Jessup, MD; it was about as close as I could get.  After packing and emptying out my fridge, I hiked up to the main building to get a taxi.  I had called a couple of cab companies two weeks ago to get an idea of how much it would be to get me to downtown DC and I was told about $50.00.  After calling one taxi company, I got a call back from the driver on approach an said he was driving a Lincoln Town Car.  “A Town Car” I exclaimed. “I called a taxi, not a Limo”.  David, the driver, said “it’s all good, I’m a taxi service”.  When he pulled up, I opened the door and Read Full Article & Comments…