United States – Page 13

ART, Attractions, DESTINATIONS, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, Shopping, TRAVEL, United States

Lucking Into a Good Time

October 14, 2020January 14, 2021 Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE: AN UNCOMMON EVENING AT KIERLAND COMMONS

So, we’ve had an amazing day. Early morning travel, fun shopping, spectacular art show and an itsy tiny set-back that was quickly resolved. The Westin provided us with a brochure called “Local Restaurants” and using what we discovered there, we headed our for round two.

A Confession

It’s hard for a leopard to change it’s spots, but not impossible. I’d vowed to be easy-going on this vacation and not let the schedule dominate my thoughts, but I had done my homework. I knew it was Thursday and so Scottsdale Artwalk was happening in Old Town. I had plotted out the trolley route on my handy dandy map and was ready ready with information to make it a good time.

However, I also knew we’d spent the best part of the day in the endless studios of the Celebration of Fine Art. Mr. Bill was ready to eat and trying to coordinate him with the trolley schedule to view more artists’ studios did not seem like a wise thing – even if Artwalk was happening. I recommend it to you every Thursday evening, but we didn’t make it.

Heading to the Commons

So, instead we headed to the Kierland Commons, a nearby playground full of restaurants, bars and shopping opportunities. Parking was a challenge akin to parking at NorthPark on the Saturday before Christmas, but the travel gods were with us, so we did find something.

Next we strolled around to take in the atmosphere and check out the dining options we’d seen in the brochure. After a little strolling, North, the restaurant chosen most likely to succeed back at the hotel, did win out as our choice. However, something was definitely happening across the street, so we went there first.

The Anticus Gallery Re-Opening Party

Describing Anticus challenges traditional categories. Yes, it’s an art gallery and studio. Yes, it’s a book store. Yes, it’s a jewelry store. Yes, it’s also a gift store. It’s most similar to a really good gift shop in a great museum, but instead of the museum you’ve got a studio AND they have a bar.

When we got there, Anticus had outgrown a space two doors down and was hosting their grand re-opening. We didn’t realize it was a by-invitation-only kind of thing, but the host soon found us and let us know it was cool for us to be there. I think it should be noted that Anticus has moved again and they are now down in Old Town (where Artwalk was happening), but please put them on your list and tell them I sent you! Spreading the word about them is the least I can do after they showed us such a good time.

Though we were serendipitous guests, we thoroughly enjoyed the party. Bill was feeling very artsy after his afternoon at the Celebration of Fine Art. He chatted up anyone who’d stay still long enough to start a conversation. We drank a couple of glasses of cheap wine and handled a good portion of the delicious merchandise. I doubt the folks at Artwalk had anything on us.

Closing time rolled around and even though no one was exactly running us off, I felt we’d more than worn out our non-existent invitation. Besides, we’d headed out to get dinner and hadn’t ticked that off our list, yet. With some resistance on his part, I dragged Bill out of the shop. I was afraid he was going to head back to the bar for his third glass!

North waited for us across the street. Come back next week for that delicious conclusion to an uncommon evening at the Commons.

Accommodations, DESTINATIONS, TRAVEL, United States

Hit the Pause Button on Perfection

October 7, 2020September 23, 2020 Jane Sadek

Here’s one room you don’t want at the Kierland Resort!

TRAVEL THERE: NOT THE VIEW WE EXPECTED

Having been up since since 2:15 AM, when 4:30 PM rolled around I was ready for a nap – especially since I woke up on Texas time and was living in AZ time. However, we were in the lobby of the Westin Kierland Resort and they were doing everything they could to prove to us they were glad we were there. I just wanted to lay down.

How Does This Look?

The check-in desk was a little overwhelmed when we got there, but the staff didn’t want us to think we were being overlooked, so they were trying to chat us up about any number of things. They were giving us all kinds of brochures and maps, marking off the things we’d be most interested in and telling us how lucky we were to be there. I just smiled and nodded. There was no way I’d remember any of it told to me in my catatonic state.

Finally, we got to check in and I got the definite impression that the cleaning staff hadn’t managed to keep up with the demand. We’d been pre-assigned one room, but they were hustling to get us into something else, because it was not done. Bill let them know I was about to pass out in the lobby.

The desk clerk wanted us to be perfectly satisfied with our room and he was a little concerned we’d be unhappy with seeing a little of the parking lot from our balcony. So he showed us a picture from the room and asked, “How does this look?” It looked fine, because it wasn’t a live shot and it didn’t have that green container with all the trash bags in it. He went about checking us into that room.

How Does This Look Now?

Here’s the funny part. If the clerk had not made such a big deal about the view, chances are we would have gone into the room and directly to bed. What lay out our window would have been the least of my concerns. Instead, since he’d made such a big deal about it, I walked to the balcony and whipped open the curtains – and look what was there!

Bill immediately wanted to get another room, but I knew that if I didn’t lay down, I was going to fall down. I was actually trembling from exhaustion. I let him go to the lobby and laid down. All I wanted to do was get a few moments of rest. Instead I fell dead asleep and my precious husband wouldn’t allow anyone to disturb me.

Hours later I came awake and my first thought was, “Where the hell am I?” Bill was anxious to go check the room they were ready to move us to. I was still a little groggy, but totally appreciative he’d let me get my nap, so I was willing to do pretty much whatever the man wanted to do.

We checked out the new room and gave it our seal of approval. The first thing I wanted was a bath. After that I unpacked and got our suite organized. I figured the day was over and we’d just grab a bite at the resort.

Au contrare! Our little nap time and the chance to get all cleaned up had re-freshened Mr. Bill and he was all for heading out again. One part of me thought, “Are you crazy?” But another part of me was like, “Alight, alright, alright.” My inner Matthew McConaughey won the day. I got cute and headed out into the world with my marvelous husband.

ART, Attractions, DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Scottsdale’s Celebration of Fine Art

September 30, 2020September 30, 2020 Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE: PUT IT ON YOUR BUCKET LIST

Remember that marvelous Scottsdale Visitors’ Guide I ordered online for free. Well, on the events page, they listed Celebration of Fine Art and a few pages over was a full page ad. From there I went to the celebrateart.com website and I immediately knew there was at least one thing I was not going to miss in Scottsdale.

Celebration of Fine Art

If art is your thing or one of your things, you need to plan a trip to Scottsdale during the Celebration of Fine Art. They have it every year during the months of January through March. It’s more than just another art show or gallery. One hundred artists come to Scottsdale and for three months they set up their studios right there in the big white tents.

What’s more, this is the art bargain of the world. Tickets are only $10 each and they will get you into the tents for the entire three months. Unfortunately, we were there such a short time, we only spent a few hours in the tents, but if I lived anywhere near there, I would probably be there every weekend. Even the parking is free. I’ve spent a whole lot more to get into an art event and have gotten a whole lot less out of it.

We loved this show. We walked in, paid for our tickets and before we could even get our bearings, we were overwhelmed by a larger than life statue of a Native American being carved at the first booth. For the next few hours, we walked awestruck from one booth to the next. In each, we were able to see the artist working away at something new. Bill was enchanted and stopped to chat at every booth.

I liked the fact that there was every sort of art you could imagine. Various mediums, from sculpture to painting to weaving. You name any material you want, from canvas to plastic, and someone was doing something with it or to it to make it art. There were modern deconstructed pieces cheek to jowl with classical figurative and landscape paintings. Too often you go to a show and there is booth after booth where everyone is virtually doing the same thing. That was certainly not the case here.

Another marvelous thing was the quality of artist’s work. I’ve been to juried shows where I wondered who the jury was. This show was the best of the best of the best. There just wasn’t anyone there that made me wonder how they got their spot. It was all obviously high quality with great artistic value.

Eventually, our senses were just worn out. We could not begin to take in even one more art piece or chat with one more artist. We were done, but we had not even scratched the surface. We walked back towards the entrance, making sure to pass by those artists who were our favorites.

We wanted to take something home from virtually every booth, but we managed to get out of the tent empty-handed. The price tags easily discouraged us from impulse shopping. It was fine art and the value was there, but we’re only visual collectors, in part because we just can’t afford to be otherwise.

Time to Check In

It was about time to check into the Westin, but we had a few errands to run. First of all, we needed water, but instead of picking up individual bottles at a convenience store, we found a grocery store and bought a gallon. It wouldn’t be our last gallon on this trip. The calories from Bill’s French Toast had all been used up, so he grabbed a burger at Jack in the Box.

I was on my last leg. We’d been up since the wee hours and while Mr. Bill can grab a nap sitting in a terminal or in an airline seat, it really doesn’t work for me. We navigated our way to the resort and got checked in, but we did run into a little problem there. Come back next week and I’ll tell you about it.

DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Getting Our Arizona Fun on Early

September 17, 2020September 23, 2020 Jane Sadek

Love Field, Southwest Airlines — Early Risers

TRAVEL THERE: UP WITH THE CHICKENS

So, remember how Southwest Airlines sent me an email with cheap airfare. To get to our destination with the cheapest fares, we either had to be on a plane at 6 AM or virtually lose the first day to travel. So, I convinced Bill Arizona was worth getting up for. Here’s how it went.

There’s Early and Then There’s Really Early

The alarm went off at 2:15 AM. I rolled out of bed. Bill rolled out at 2:40. By 3:15 AM the car was backing out of the garage. No, it was not fun, but we were determined to make the best of it.

At Love Field, since it was raining, Bill unloaded me and the luggage at the terminal and went off to find parking. I dragged the luggage into the terminal and stood by it, praying to the travel gods that Bill would navigate the parking lot and get back to me. Parking lots are not his favorite thing in the world and I didn’t want to start the trip off on the wrong foot.

He returned and we set about trying to figure out what was next. When you’re flying, there’s always a bunch of people who seem to know exactly what they are doing. This is particularly true in a Southwest terminal. Their customers are more like a cult than anything else. I was frantically trying to read every sign I could see and Bill was watching the crowd. We sort of captured the rhythm of the system and ended up in front of one of the ticketing machines.

We failed miserably. The self-help machine treated us just like the infrequent, senior-citizen, not-Southwest flyers that we are. Somehow we managed to press the right buttons to find our reservations and get our luggage tags, but we didn’t end up with boarding passes.

A Southwest employee quickly identified us as inept and came to our rescue. With boarding passes she procured, we were able to progress to the bag check. That’s when we discovered my other ooops. I had attached both luggage bags to one bag and none to the other. It was more than early. It was really early!

Still, this trip made me fall back in love with Southwest, though we hadn’t flown them in years. Thanks to their liberal baggage limits, we were able to check all three bags, rather than trot around dragging a carry-on. I had everything I needed for being in transit in a small backpack. I felt like screaming, “Free at last. Free at last.”

What Bill really thought about waking up so early

Getting There

In truth, I think we could have slept for another hour, but we didn’t realize that. For years we’ve been fighting the battle out a DFW. Southwest can’t get you to the Mediterranean, Egypt and the Danube and international has been our focus for years. Besides, it’ only been in recent years that Southwest was freed from the Wright Amendment, making flying them from Dallas a better proposition. I think Southwest will be seeing a whole lot more of us, especially since we’re abandoning the International scene for a while, to catch up on some American destinations.

The flight was blissfully uneventful and arrived on time. We made our way to the rental shuttle and were delivered to the Alamo facility. That’s when our luck really kicked in. There on the appointed row, among Hyundais, and Toyotas stood a Jeep – a Jeep with four while drive! He went back to the attendant and confirmed the Jeep was truly one of our options.

We just knew this was going to be a magical trip. Sure we’d had to get up early, it was raining in Dallas and we’d had a little trouble at the ticket kiosk, but even with those little hiccups we’d had smooth sailing and we had no reason to think it would change. One of my blogging friends accuses me of making up our little dramas to make my blogs sound more exciting. Well, we’ll see, because this trip was breeze – not a single headache to report. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Come back next week and we’ll have breakfast in one of the Phoenix area’s top ten breakfast spots.

DESTINATIONS, TRAVEL, Travel Books, Travel Planning, United States

The What Next of Arizona

September 16, 2020July 3, 2020 Jane Sadek

Arizona, Sc — Getting Away to the Desert

TRAVEL THERE: AZ MUST-SEE DONE, WHAT NEXT?

The first time you visit an area there are just things you must see and thanks to a great trip early in our marriage, as well as several times passing through AZ, we’d knocked out the musts. From Monument Valley in the northeast corner to the Grand Canyon in the west, to BioSphere down south and seriously, everything in between, I’d taken care of the must-sees. So why were we going back?

A Desert State of Mind

We like the desert. There is a peacefulness that comes from the landscape. Some people like beaches and others prefer mountains, but I’ll take a desert every time.

Bill made it very clear that he wanted to take it easy, very easy on this trip. He wanted to play golf. I wanted to have tea at the Phoenician. The rest was supposed to be relaxation. Message received.

Those Free Guides from the Internet

For most trips, the first thing I do is go out and buy a travel guide, but I already owned an AZ guide and it had served me well. I just needed the latest information, including festivals and events. The internet is great for that and so are those free travel guides the cities and states will send you.

In the world of free travel guides, Scottsdale has won the prize. I pored over their guide the moment it arrived and continue salivating over it to day. It was full of information without being overwhelming and hip without being shallow. It had great maps and references to online resources that I really cared about.

Phoenix did not fare so well. It was virtually anonymous, merely a template someone sold advertising in. I yawned over it and it’s greatest contribution to the trip was some headlines I used in my scrapbook of the trip.

Sedona’s guide was somewhere in the middle – not as snazzy as Scottsdale, but not as boring as Phoenix. A map in the center served us during the stay and made it to the scrapbook.

Wonderful Websites

From various websites I was able to glean a lot of useful information about some art festivals and events that proved to be very helpful in planning the trip. There were Artwalks, Art Festivals and other Arty things just begging for us to take part. The trick is not to merely google the city, but google “visit wherever.”

I used the local New Times sites to find the best places to have breakfast. The internet is also where I found the amazing inn where we overnighted in Sedona. Thank you, Expedia!

Playing It By Ear

For those of you who say phooey on all that planning, I’m just going to play it by ear, I say good luck. I find it is a lot harder to be ready to play it by ear, than it is to plan things out in detail in advance. This only happens on the first Friday, that is only open one evening of the week, something else needs reservations at least two days in advance.

If you just show up somewhere, without doing your homework, and then try to play it by ear, well, you might have a great vacation, but the chance of you actually getting to see and do the things you were most interested in are slim to none in most cases.

The trick in this household it to be sure I know what’s most important to me and work it in early in the trip, then as the time plays out and the options get smaller, I haven’t missed my priorities. I work out a list of daily options, focusing on the one time or limited access events. I don’t get to see everything I want when Bill is playing it by ear, but I don’t miss everything either.

Next week, we’ll start out on our Arizona Adventure. Please come join me.

Accommodations, DESTINATIONS, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

We Can’t Resist a Bargain

September 9, 2020July 3, 2020 Jane Sadek

Arizona, Scottsdale, Westin Resort — Westin Kierland Resort

TRAVEL THERE: WESTIN MAKES AN OFFER WE CAN’T REFUSE

We’d talked about it. The Anniversary Cruise had eaten up more than its fair share of our budget. We needed to give traveling a break. Then we got the invitation from Westin. Come take a look at our Vacation Club it said. Stay four nights for $299 it said. Had they been offering a trip to anywhere else, the invitation would have gone into the trash, but they wanted us to come to Arizona.

I’m Just Leaving This Right Here

I opened the envelope, read the offer and then shuffled it around on my desk for a few days. As I moved the offer around on my desk, I started making a case for the trip. While the Anniversary Cruise had been expensive, I’d done a multi-year cost analysis and we’d stayed within the allotted amount. We just didn’t have anymore right then. However each month the travel budgets accrues a little bit…and we didn’t have to make the reservations until September sometime…and then we had a year to take the trip. It was at least worth running by Bill.

I went down to his office and made a disclaimer, “This showed up in the mail and it was too good to just throw away. I’m going to put it here in your mail pile and you can take a look at it if you want.” I think he probably moved it around on his desk for a day or two. Then he said, “What’s the deal with this trip? I don’t want to read the whole thing.” I cheered inside. The question was almost as good as a rubber stamp of approval.

I explained just how amazing the offer was. It wouldn’t be our first trip like this. We’ve been to Hawaii, Branson, Palm Desert and a number of other places, visiting time shares on the cheap. Bill hates the sales pitch, but he loves the price. And we love Arizona. I got the green light. We discussed potential travel dates and decided on February, because the real estate market would still be cool and we wouldn’t miss a bunch of shoots. Bill even said, “Why don’t you also look into a visit to Sedona? We love that place.”

And We’re Off

I called up the Westin, picked our travel dates and started dreaming of desert nights. But I didn’t just dream. I went online and ordered up free travel guides from Arizona, Scottsdale, Phoenix and Sedona. As the guides arrived in the mail I started poring over them, turning down the corner of pages and highlighting the good stuff.

Then one day, out of the blue, I get an email from Southwest Airlines. We haven’t flown with them in decades and I’m not on any of their mailing lists, but there it was. They wanted to sell me some cheap air fares. I jumped on it with alacrity. It seemed as if the travel gods had sanctioned this trip and were doing everything they could to make it wonderful.

Come back next week and I’ll share how I put the trip together.

ART, Attractions, Decorative Arts, DESTINATIONS, Museums, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Birmingham Museum of Art

March 8, 2017March 5, 2017 Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE: THE JEWEL OF BIRMINGHAM

When the possibility of visiting Birmingham first came up, I checked out the city online. The city seemed to be a foodie haven with a great art museum and a nice botanical garden, but comparing their hours to our flight schedule and the hours of the thing I can’t tell you about, I wasn’t going to have time to do anything about any of that. So, I dutifully went about my business. Still, something in my subconscious kept clanging. I couldn’t exactly recall why, but I knew I really wanted to see the museum.

Perhaps, Maybe, Possibly

One day at lunch, before we took off on the Birmingham adventure, I mentioned to Hannah Beth that I regretted we weren’t going to have time to do the touristy thing. She assured me the museum was well worth seeing and mentioned a couple of possibilities we might have for seeing it. I assured her I had checked for evening hours, so that wouldn’t work, but skipping the final session – that would do.

I just happen to be one of those people who believe God is personally involved in my life. I also believe that if I’m willing to put Him first, He does everything he can to fulfill Psalms 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desire of your heart.” In fact, He’s proved it to me too many time to deny it.

So, while we were keeping an ear to the ground to find out how significant the final session would be, God was arranging to keep things ahead of schedule so that we could get out in plenty of time to make it to the museum. You may call that a coincidence. I don’t believe in coincidences.

An Embarrassment of Wedgwood

If you’ve been hanging around this blog for very long, then you know the Decorative Arts Wing of any museum is my prime objective when I make a visit. I love Decorative Arts better than anything else produced from the artistic mind. I can spend an entire day in a Porcelain gallery – a passion I learned from my mother.

What’s more, Wedgwood,especially their Jasperware, (matte porcelain with relief decorations) is among my most favorite porcelains. Don’t believe me? Take a gander at the photo of the fireplace my husband and I designed for our home. You don’t have one of these unless you love Wedgwood. It was inspired by two I’d seen in Mount Vernon.

Along with representative Wedgwood pieces gracing the mantle piece, there are various Wedgwood and Jasperware pieces spread throughout the house. For good measure, my everyday china is Wedgwood. Not Jasperware but Wedgwood. So imagine my delight when I glanced over the map of the Birmingham Museum and saw three galleries designated by the word “Wedgwood”.

The Dwight and Lucille Beeson Wedgwood Collection

If you love Wedgwood the way I love Wedgwood, then go ahead and book the flight. I’ve been in a lot of museums and so far, I’ve never seen one with so much Wedgwood. I haven’t been to The Wedgwood Museum at Stokes-on-Trent yet, but that’s only because it didn’t exist decades ago when I visited the city. I can assure you, this is the most Wedgwood you are going to see anywhere outside of Britain.

The galleries contain mostly Jasperware in a rainbow of hues, but they have samples of other forms of Wedgwood collected by the couple. I swear I could have visited the museum every day for a week and been perfectly happy studying the exhibits in the three galleries. Here are some samples.

That blue and yellow vase on the jade pedestal would be great in my yellow and blue French decor but the dark blue wine cooler with the white flowers must be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I’d leave it in the museum for others to share.

Giving the Rest of the Art Its Due

Even if you don’t like Wedgwood, the Birmingham Museum of Art is still a good thing to see. Porcelains from other places are prevalent throughout the museum, but there are also paintings and statues and other things to enjoy. I did run through the balance of the galleries at a high speed and then rushed back to gander at the Wedgwood a little more. However, I did get these two postcards to prove the museum has variety.

Buying the Book

In this digital age, when you can find almost any piece of art you’d like to see by searching it online, art books might not seem a good investment to some people. Maybe other people spend their time cruising museums online, but I’ll confess, I want to be there and see it in person. Seeing it online is better than not seeing it at all, but it’s not even on the same continent as first hand observation.

By the same token, while I have broken my habit of buying a book in every museum I go to, sometimes I just have to take a catalog home. This was one of those times. In fact, I anticipated facing down the fury of my husband if the only thing available was some $160 hardback number.

I guess God was doing me another favor, because there was a reasonably priced soft cover edition of the catalog – only it had a large sticker designating it as the display copy. I chatted up the clerk, who was a volunteer. She looked in the stockroom – nothing. She offered to have someone take a gander in the warehouse in the next day or so and call me if they had anymore. I just stood there clasping the display edition as if my life depended on it. “I’m leaving town this afternoon,” I all but wailed. “Oh we can ship it to you,” she assured me.

I put off replying to her suggestion by telling her about my fireplace. Then I mused as to what in the world I would do if there were no more of the books in the warehouse. She decided to sell me the display copy at a discounted price. BINGO! I’m getting a whole lot better at this negotiating thing than I used to be. I’d have paid full price just to have it, but I’m sure the fireplace story did the trick!

The flight home was not as trouble free as my flight to Birmingham. The flight was delayed for hours and as a result I know more about the food vendors at the Birmingham airport than I should. I’d been on a diet, which had been seriously threatened by the fast food offerings served to us at that thing I can’t tell you about, but what damage had not already been done got done. So much for dieting. And so much for Birmingham. Come back next week and see what I’m up to.

Architecture, Attractions, DESTINATIONS, Gardens, Museums, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Vulcan Park Tower, Birmingham AL

March 1, 2017February 20, 2017 Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE: A STEEL CITY LANDMARK

So my boss had just arrived back in the States from someplace else that I can’t tell you about to join us at the thing I can’t tell you about. At the end of the second day after a meal provided by the thing I can’t tell you about, there was supposed to be a worship and praise service, but the boss needed a change of scenery. One more large meeting room filled with people and he was a goner, so we escaped.

Hannah Beth Helps Us Play Hooky

Since the meal we’d been provided was lukewarm hot dogs and stale potato chips (no offense intended, but that’s what it was), we wished we’d decided to play hooky about 30 minute previous to our boss’ confession of meeting room fatigue. A nice dinner would have been a treat. Still, we weren’t going to waste an opportunity for some team building activities outside the meeting room. So Hannah Beth took us on a tour.

Now I know young folks to things differently than I do, so this is not meant as criticism, but merely an observation. While Hannah Beth has been to Birmingham several times and has the inside scoop on what to do, she depends on GPS for directions. Her modus operandi is to take off in the direction which she thinks something is and then use voice commands to tell her phone to find the way. This means she has one hand fully on the wheel, while she holds both the wheel and the phone in the other – all the while chatting up everyone in the car.

Yep, I’m a Nervous Nellie, so the entire time we were driving in Birmingham, I’m in the backseat praying we actually get to the place we’re headed. Since I’m here to tell the tale, you know my prayers were answered in the affirmative, but while we were playing hooky from a praise and worship ceremony, I felt a little guilty about praying for protection. Proves God listens all the time, I guess.

Vulcan Tower on Red Mountain

Vulcan Tower via http://birminghamal.org

According to the Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau:

“Vulcan is the largest cast iron statue in the world and Birmingham’s unofficial city symbol. Standing high atop Red Mountain, the 56-foot-high statue has an observation balcony on its pedestal for a panoramic view of the city. Vulcan is patterned after the mythical Roman god of the forge, a nod to the city’s powerful position in the iron and steel industry in the first part of the 20th century. The statue was created as Birmingham’s exhibit in the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis and won the exposition’s grand prize. The museum at Vulcan has interactive exhibits and displays that portray the region’s history and progress. Museum open Monday- Saturday, 10am- 6pm; Sunday, 1pm- 6pm. Observation balcony open Monday- Saturday, 10am- 10pm; Sunday, 1pm- 10pm. Admission.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself, but you can learn more on the actual Vulcan Park website.

Our boss covered the entrance fee which was just a dollar or two and we climbed the stairs to the top of the hill. Someone who will remain nameless desperately needed to visit the rest room. Even though the sign said the museum was open, it wasn’t and that’s where the restroom was. In desperation, the drain in an unlocked utility room sufficed as a toilet. That’s all I’m going to say about it, but as tired as we were, that was just the crowning glory of the day and we got a serious fit of the giggles.

Above It All

Though the tower is lovely and the park is very nice, the real draw to visiting the Vulcan Tower is that you can climb up in it. So we did, still giggling like fools. Now yours truly is has a slight case of acrophobia. OK, so maybe a large case, but as we took the elevator up I was distracted by the giggling. We walked across a steel grate which was a bridge to the steel grate which was the balcony around the tower. There was also a fence, but all the ground around us was visible from our vantage point.

At first I just looked out toward the horizon and enjoyed the scenery (see picture from previous post). Then I looked down. MISTAKE. I tried to be cool. I tried standing away from the rail and looking toward the tower. Didn’t work. I started getting lightheaded and broke out in a cold sweat. It was time to go.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a grocery store, to get some necessities. That list might have included individual bottles of screw top wine, but if it did, I’m not telling. As much fun as this adventure was, the best is yet to come, so make you way back here next week.

Accommodations, DESTINATIONS, Restaurants & Bars, TRAVEL, United States

Steel City Stories

February 22, 2017February 20, 2017 Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE: BIRMINGHAM FOR BUSINESS

My business is ministry and that ministry targets Central Asia and the Middle East, so I can’t always be an open book about where I go and why. However, I can tell you I made a visit to Birmingham, Alabama for business at an unspecified time for an unspecified reason. While I can’t give you those details, I can tell you some of the stories related to the trip.

The Crack of Dawn

My traveling companion for this particular trip was my work buddy and good friend, Hannah Beth. I’m old enough to be her mother and she’s gracious enough to treat me as if I’m her age, and I love it. Our flight to Birmingham was ridiculously early and we had to bring along some signage, so both of us were concerned about getting there, getting checked in and getting on the flight. In our eagerness we got to the airport hours before we needed to. We were there so early I had plenty of time to walk around and take pictures of the mosaics on the floor.

An Over Easy Arrival

We arrived in Birmingham in time for breakfast. While I’m used to being the tour guide pretty much anywhere I go, I was happy to turn the reins over to Hannah Beth on this trip. Her sister goes to school there, so she has the inside track. She proved that when she took us to Over Easy. She had a breakfast-something and I had lunch-something. Both were delicious.

The decor and atmosphere was very California: modernesque furniture and semi-hippie waitstaff. Because it was a late morning on a weekday, most of the clientele were students who didn’t have early classes and a few moms who’d dropped the older kids off at school.

We arrived at the restaurant via her sister’s campus. We Uber-ed there from the airport. I’m not a natural Uber-er, but Hannah Beth treats it like it’s her second car. We may work together like two peas in a pod, but we do come from opposite sides of the generation gap. At the campus, we picked up her sister’s car – another evidence of working in ministry. No rental cars or swanky hotels.

Speaking of the lack of swanky hotels, we stayed in a La Quinta. Don’t get me wrong. There was nothing wrong with the place. It was clean and convenient. The breakfast was good. It was a fine place to stay, but let’s face it two stars is not exactly plush.

So that’s the basics – an early morning flight, a little transportational shuffle, a hearty breakfast and an economy hotel. The rest of the meals were either breakfast at the hotel or something served to us at the thing I can’t tell you about. However, this was me and I had Hannah Beth with me. Adventures are in store. By the way, Birmingham is called the Steel City, because it used to be the home of most of the world’s steel mills. More about that next week, so please come back to visit.

DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, Shopping, TRAVEL, United States

San Marcos Premium Outlets

February 1, 2017January 12, 2017 Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE: MY KIND OF SHOPPING AND MORE

I love shopping. Actually, it would be more correct to say I love buying. I’m perfectly capable of wandering through a bazaar or market in a faraway place, just to get a feel for the place, but for me, it’s a lot more fun if there’s buying involved.

My husband has finally cured me of that – at least when he’s around. I used to come home from trips with a souvenir from every stop. I collected trinket boxes and Christmas ornaments. I loved to find handmade clothing and jewelry. I gathered up souvenir booklets like some people collect baseball cards. In the early years of our marriage, this practice created great discomfort for Bill. He followed me around with his eyes full of pain and flinched at every purchase. I didn’t pay close enough attention, so he started helping me understand his point of view.

Collecting just doesn’t make any sense to him. To Bill, all my gorgeous trinket boxes seemed like clutter. He’s suggested I store most of them and only put out a few at a time. What once held pride of place, on the fireplace mantle of my apartment, is now hidden away upstairs on a shelf in my office – along with all my framed family photos, my large collection of books and … well you get the picture. I don’t have to allow much room for souvenirs in my return luggage, anymore.

From time to time, I’ll have a lapse of judgement. We’ll be traveling and I’ll pick up an item with that look in my eye. Bill goes into panic mode. Trinket boxes and Christmas ornaments are strictly taboo. If I’ve picked up an item for the house, Bill wants to know exactly where I plan to display it and of course, he really loves what’s there and doesn’t want to replace it. Whatever it is, it won’t be coming home with me. Clothing and jewelry? Forget about it. He asks what I’m going to throw away or donate to make space for the new item. My only hope of making a purchase is when I find a gift for someone else. It takes some of the fun out of it.

The Exceptions to the Rule

While he can’t see the value in that cute straw purse on the beach or an embroidered sweater in the Alps, Bill does understand I know my way around an outlet mall. He fully endorses my outlet shopping. Mind you, he rarely goes with me, but he also doesn’t need resuscitation when I come home with armloads of shopping bags. See, he knows that cute straw purse on the beach has a mark-up somewhere in the range of 100%, but if I buy a top at an outlet mall, they’ve almost had to pay me to get me to carry it out.

I’m also allowed to buy shoes at DSW. I never look at anything unless it’s on the clearance rack and even then, I’ll only look at things that are 50% or more off. What I love is the yellow stickers, because that means they are marked down 80% or more.

San Marcos Premium Outlet

For some reason I cannot fathom, I never shopped at the San Marcos Premium Outlet – at least not in the last 20-30 years. It seems as if long ago I might have gone with Mom and Aunt Edie, but I think the stores may have been on the other side of the road – and none of the stores I loved this time were there.

You know I love San Antonio and get there every time I can, but for some reason, we’d just drive right past this outlet mall or stop in Salado. It pains me to think of all the bargains I’ve missed.

Deb and I started at Off 5th, the Saks outlet. I’d been looking at white pique dresses all summer long, but could not tolerate spending $150-200 for one dress. At Saks, I took several reasonably priced options to the dressing room and found one for about$20 that I loved. (I didn’t even know I was headed to Egypt on my next trip. Imagine how cute I will be, going out to dinner in Sharm!) Then off to the shoe department. Score!! Ellen Tracy brown crocodile pumps with a leather stack heel for $16.99! $16.99!!

After that auspicious beginning, my purchasing slowed down, but I did pick up a few items here and there. Then we wandered in to Dream Land. I pride myself on looking designer without paying designer prices, but I confess, there are designers I love and if money were no object, as my spouse if fond of saying, I’d load my closet up with them. My new favorite is Carolina Herrera. To my utter delight, she has an outlet store in San Marcos. The prices are still a little out of my reach, but they are closer than the ones at Northpark. Armani, Brahmin, Coach, Ferragamo – all these and more grace the sidewalks of the San Marcos outlet mall.

But let me tell you my favorite. I love St. John. I can pick out someone wearing it a mile away. There’s a sleek elegance I aspire to that exudes from each St. John creation. Their store is not exactly on the main drag, so we had to wander a bit to find it, but I adored the few moments I spent there. No reason to spend any more, because nothing was in my price range.

At a final stop, we found a handbag for my bestie. She’d been willing to pay $100 for something adequate at the Saks outlet, but we agreed to keep looking. She got a Brahmin for about $120. I was giddy. She hoped I was spending her money wisely and now I think she agrees I did.

Then it was time to head back to join the women who had spend the day in Gruene, because we were headed out to dinner. See you next week!

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