Virginia Vacation - Day 10

Not sure how much of a vacation day this was; I suppose it depends on how much you like being in the car. We spent the whole day driving back, leaving before 7 am and getting home around 5:30 pm. I worried about getting stuck in traffic around the Meadowlands as the Giants were home, but it was fine (even stopped at the Vince). The traffic hit once over the GWB and on to the New York Thruway, which was very slow. Another argument for taking the long way around.

The only notable part of the trip was on 128 coming up from the Pike to home, where we got to see a fully engaged car fire. Thankfully, it looked like everyone got out of the car before it went up.

All in all, a much better vacation than Indiana, which was only a vacation for one of us (and even then not much of a vacation, as there's only so long you can hang out by yourself before you start to go a little batty). Then again, vacationing with in-laws can often lead to the same thing.

Virginia Vacation - Day 9

We finally connected the Historic Triangle by going to Colonial Williamsburg. It was pretty interesting, though we'd have appreciated more clarity between what buildings were recreations and what ones were original. Guides would usually note this, but not always (the guide for the capitol building never mentioned that it was rebuilt), and if you didn't go into a building you really had no way of knowing.

Also interesting were the number of buildings on the site that were serving as private residences. You'd need a very high tolerance for strangers traipsing through your backyard, among other qualities. I don't think I could put up with it.

Consequently, you can just walk on to the site from the town. You'd not be able to enter buildings (the staff is very alert to people not wearing a ticket badge), but if all you wanted to do is nose around and see the performances (there's a drum and fife procession, and on the day we were there a number of street theater pieces telling the story of local reaction to independence), you certainly could. And for the money we paid, I almost think I'd have preferred to nose around for free.

And that wrapped up the actual vacation portion of things. All that was left was the drive home.

Virginia Vacation - Day 8

We put the history aside for the day and took up geography, so to speak, by going to Busch Gardens Europe.

For those not familiar with the park, it has nationally-themed sections whose rides and attractions theoretically tie in to the country. For example, in Scotland you'd find the Loch Ness Monster roller coaster, in New France the log flume ride, and in Poland the Escape from the CIA Secret Prison motion ride.

(OK, I'm kidding about the last one. Poland isn't represented in the park.)

One of the things I've noticed as I've aged is that I've become a bit of a wuss where roller coasters are concerned. For me to go on one I need to see it in operation, gauge the height of the initial hill, find out what sort of restraint system is used, and then take a few minutes to ponder if it's for me. The Griffon was clearly not a coaster I was going to ride, given the 90 degree drop after its initial hill (and the way that the riders are held at the top, over the edge of the drop, for a few seconds before plunging to, what I see in my mind's eye, as a splatterific death on the pavement below).

To that end, I wound up passing on the Loch Ness Monster, which the wife went on about five minutes after we entered the park. If she'd been willing to wait a few more minutes I may have joined her, multiple loops be damned.

I do not have this same problem with other rides, so I did go on the variety of motion rides, the log flume, and even the bumper cars (I love bumper cars, they were always the highlight of summer trips to Canobie Lake Park when I was a kid). I did squeeze in one coaster, the Big Bad Wolf, which isn't too bad (though it has its highest hill towards the end, which seems a little cruel).

We also took in a few of the shows, which was kind of disappointing as they had all been changed for Howl-O-Scream. Seemed to early for that to me, but as Halloween candy has been on sale in our supermarket for a month I suppose it's the way things are going. While I wasn't looking forward to the shows, I would have preferred step dancing and guys and liederhosen slapping their feet to vampires singing covers of '80s music.

I will say that Busch Gardens is marginally less of a gougetastic experience than the Disney parks, and going on a Friday in mid-September pretty much guarantees minimal lines. It wasn't a bad way to spend a day of the vacation, and I'd go back if I was in the area (and it was a day where it wouldn't be too crowded), but I'm not exactly plotting my return trip now.

Virginia Vacation - Day 7

This was our second day of historical nerditry, as we went over to Yorktown. Same deal as Jamestown, the state has their own facility with recreated period scenes and the National Park Service is in charge of the actual location. Unlike Jamestown, though, there's been no numerically-significant anniversary to spur spending, so both locations are a bit disappointing.

The state's facility, the Yorktown Victory Center, has a decent museum area, but the movie they show is not very good at all. It tries to tell the story of the battle and the revolution by going through an American encampment before the last big push of the battle and hearing what various soldiers are talking about. It's not content-free, but it doesn't tell you much.

The recreated areas are small, and the encampment is too clean and ordered to suggest that the troops stationed there are fighting a war. There's also a farm/homestead area which doesn't quite fit in, though I liked that they were growing hops.

The NPS site's visitor center is suffering from age a bit, and the movie appears to have been made no later than 1981. The short walking tour we took did an excellent job of covering the basics of the seige and did take us through some of the remaining earthworks. But to see the whole site requires a driving tour, which we decided not to take. Which is too bad, as I'd have liked to seen more.

We did go through the actual town on the way to the NPS site. The downtown appears to mostly be an open-air mall-type thing, which we thankfully did not stop to explore.

One thing we noticed on the way home was the preponderance of gates on the on and off ramps that would cut them off from the roadways. From what I've read they seem to be there to allow for contraflow during hurricane evacuations, though I imagine they'd also help if the military had to get a lot of people in or out of the Norfolk/Hampton Roads area quickly.

So that was two-thirds of the Historic Triangle down.

We're back from a week-plus vacation to DC and Williamsburg, Virginia, and rather than try to recap it all at once (which has worked out so well for past trips to Devon, the Dominican Republic and Indiana), I'm going to do a day-by-day recap, with each day this week subbing for one day (or more) of the vacation.

So today, it's Virginia Vacation Days 1-3: Friday through Sunday

We left Boston on Friday night, hit the expected rush hour traffic but once we got through it was smooth sailing... until we got to New York. I think we averaged 4 miles per hour on the Cross Bronx Expressway. While that's never the speediest stretch of road, we've had bad luck through here the last three times we've driven through, so it may be time we take the Tappan Zee route permanently. Stayed the night at a Holiday Inn Express in Edison, New Jersey, where the front desk guy apologized for not getting us a ground floor room, which we found odd.

At least until the next morning, when a tour group where the average age was about 70 descended upon the breakfast bar en masse just as we were finishing up. We got out before they started to riot for Postum.

We made it to DC by 11 or so, and after getting thoroughly lost (as usual) and finding no luck with parking, we finally stopped in West Potomac Park and embarked on an afternoon walk around the monuments. This included several I'd not seen before, including ones for George Mason (a little creepy being larger than life-size), FDR (impressive, but we walked through it backwards, which I think diminished things a bit), the Korean War (very well executed) and World War II (which I liked, probably fitting that it was more traditional than the Korean or Vietnam memorials). We also saw Bob Dole at the WWII memorial, who was doing meet and greets with members of a veterans group.

The walk was over three miles, and it being over 90 degrees with significant humidity we were pretty wiped by the end, and looked forward to cooling off at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel. Which we couldn't find, although we probably drove under it at least once before sorting out which ramp we had to take to get up to hotel level. It's not a bad hotel, but it clearly caters to business folks, between the charges for everything and the lowel level shopping area that was closed up tight on a Saturday afternoon. Both HUD and Transportation have buildings in the area; HUD's may be the ugliest government building in the district. You be the judge.

We then took the Metro over to Union Station to have dinner at the Capital City Brewing Company. I have serious subway envy when it comes to the Metro, and while it is showing its age a bit it does at least have certain amenities that the T lacks, such as signboards that tell you when the next train is arriving and automated fare machines that work better than the Charlie Card system, even though they're at least 20 years older. I know everyday riders would be able to give me its faults, but as a casual rider I still enjoy it more than my daily trip.

Sunday was to start with a trip to Mt. Vernon and then the drive to Williamsburg. We decided to squeeze in a quick stop at Arlington National Cemetary. That quick stop wound up being almost three hours, forcing us to scrap Mt. Vernon. We got turned around leaving Arlington, putting us back into DC, which was more or less shut down thanks to the National Triathlon. We spent nearly an hour getting to a place where we could get the hell out, and I'll admit that I lost my shit at least once. I usually don't over traffic, but this time the whole delay was so obviously avoidable that I couldn't contain myself. There were no detour signs or police officers to direct traffic or provide directions. Actually, I did see two officers, but they were firmly entrenched in their cruiser (too hot to get out, I suspect). A better metaphor for federal governance could never be created. The wife navigated our escape, and we got down to Williamsburg in late afternoon.

The afternoon saw us take a quick view of Williamsburg as we tried to get to two different CVS branches to get prescriptions filled. It's probably a good thing I never visited when I was planning to go to law school at William and Mary, as I never would have decided to stay at BU if I had. Although the number of shopping centers may have put me off.

As I mentioned in passing over the weekend, I was away for a while last week. The wife and I had a vacation planned, but shortly before going she got the word that she'd have to travel for work. So, instead of neither of us going on vacation I still took the week off and traveled with her.

Which is how I spent my vacation week (mostly) in Indiana. And while it wasn't the sort of nightmare scenario one might expect, I can't say that I'd be the poster child for the Indiana Tourism Board, either.

This may or may not get recapped, though as I never recapped last summer's trip to England (or this spring's trip to the Dominican), don't expect anything soon. Or at all.

You may remember back in the fall I asked for suggestions on a location for a warm weather vacation. Or you may not, given the dearth of suggestions (thanks again to you happy few who did chip in your two cents). Either way, this past week was the week of the warm weather vacation, which saw us go to the Dominican Republic to stay at a resort on the Playa Dorada, which lies on the north coast near Puerto Plata.

I'm not sure if I'll recap the trip here, actually write something up separately, or do as I've done for last summer's trip to Devon and think happy thoughts about a write up before letting it pass. We'll see how motivated I can get to do something.

Anyway, happy to be back, or at least as happy as can be given that it's in the 40s and drizzling.

And, potentially, triply screwed. Which is problematic given the nature of the previous screwing. I'll try to stay away from sharp objects and open flame.

(That's a joke, or an attempt at one, I swear.)

40 Days, 40 Churches

Day 39: Immaculate Conception Chapel, Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre, QC, Canada

This is the lower level of the basilica in this small town outside of Quebec City, which the wife and I visited on our first vacation together as a couple. It's named for Saint Anne, Mary's mother and patron saint of sailors, who built the first church here back in the 17th century.

We didn't look at much else at the site other than the basilica and chapel, given that it was early March and still pretty snowy. There is a stations of the cross there using life-sized figures, which can be a bit much. It is considered a pilgrimage site, and a variety of health-related miracles are attributed to visits here. I can't say that I experienced any, though hopefully I'll get an eon or two fewer in purgatory for stopping by.

There is also a canyon nearby with a waterfall, which we also stopped at. At some point we have to go back there when it's above freezing.

40 Days, 40 Churches

Day 32: King's College Chapel, Cambridge, England

We'll stay academic for this chapel, which could probably hold every other chapel mentioned in this series and have room left over for a couple of the smaller churches. It's very impressive, especially the ceiling, supported by the world's largest fan vault.

Seeing this was the high point of our day in Cambridge, though to be fair we didn't have much of a day. The weather was awful, and we got stuck in one of the slowest restaurants I've even been to for lunch, so our sightseeing plans were curtailed a bit. We did have a nice chat with a local while watching the River Cam swell, and we did see the Mathematical Bridge, but it wasn't the best day of our trip by any means.

40 Days, 40 Churches

Day 25: St. Fachtnan's Cathedral, Kilfenora, Co. Claire, Ireland

We got a little lost on our drive out to the Cliffs of Moher, and wound up cutting through the edge of the Burren, an odd rocky bit of country. Figuring we had some time, we stopped at the Burren Center, which was OK, though many of the exhibits appeared to be at least as old as me.

Next door to the center is St. Facthnan's Cathedral, which as you can probably tell from the pictures isn't quite what it used to be. We didn't get much of a chance to look in the ruins, as there was some restoration work planned and most of the place was blocked off by scaffolding. It's a pretty impressive site nonetheless, and the standing crosses are pretty impressive, too. You'll notice in a couple of pictures a cross that's surrounded by a low pipe fence. That's to keep the cows away, apparently, as the field in which it stands was, when we were there, home to about 20 cows. Needless to say, we trod carefully when going to get a closer look.

40 Days, 40 Churches

Day 24: St. Colman's Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork, Ireland

We wound up in Cobh on a Sunday morning on our way back to Killarney from Cork, and while we first intended just to nose around town, we wound up actually attending Mass here, given the timing. The wife was leery of doing so as she was wearing jeans, but enough of the locals were also in jeans, so she sucked it up this one time.

The cathedral itself is pretty impressive, and as the website linked above notes it sits in an ideal position, both to see and be seen. We went to Cobh originally to see some of the Titanic-related stuff and because it's generally recommended as a tourist stop. But you can't really miss the cathedral, and we figured it was worth the hike.

This was probably my favorite of all the churches we saw, as I like the architectural style and the interior wasn't too over the top.

Oddly, the Wikipedia article on St. Colman is better than the ones available on Catholic Online or the Catholic Encyclopedia. Or maybe it's not that odd, given the relative amounts of traffic for each site.

40 Days, 40 Churches

Day 23: St. Brigid's Cathedral, Kildare, Co. Kildare, Ireland

Just before our wedding we became godparents to my niece Bridget, so it made some sense that as we drove to Dublin we'd stop here and get her something. Turns out that would have been hard to do in the church itself, as it was closed. We did poke around the grounds a little, but wound up buying our Brigid-related material (two St. Brigid crosses, one for her and one for my aunt) across the street at the tourist information office. There's a metaphor for something here, but I can't quite grasp it.

It was on this drive that we also saw a bar called Tipsy McStagger's, which was apparently in Ennis. Always appreciate a Simpsons reference, especially that far from home.

40 Days, 40 Churches

Day 22: The Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity, Waterford, Co. Waterford, Ireland

We made a stop here while going from the waterfront to the city center, and while it's a fairly impressive building it's a little too busy inside for my taste. The Waterford crystal chandeliers are a nice touch, though.

We did take a look at St. Patrick's Church as well, though it seems that several of the former priests are either entombed in the walls or buried under the alleyway that leads to the church. So if that sort of thing creeps you out, you should probably give it a pass.

40 Days, 40 Churches

Day 21: Church of St. Ann Shandon, Cork, Co. Cork, Ireland

On our day in Cork we did not actually visit this church, but saw it as part of our bus tour as its steeple is one of the city's major landmarks. Two sides are clad in red sandstone, the other two in white limestone; red and white are prominently used by the city and its athletic teams (which is something we could identify with, being BU alums and all). The tower is topped with a weather vane featuring an 11 foot gilded salmon. Coming from the home of the Sacred Cod, I could identify with that, too.

The clock on the steeple has the nickname of the Four-Faced Liar, as winds off the river and the varying thickness of numerals on each face will cause each clock face to be a little off from the other three. I can attest that when we were there, the two clock faces that we could see told different times. Though the story could cover for a habitually drunk clock keeper. Not that would ever happen in Ireland. No siree.

40 Days, 40 Churches

Day 20: St. Mary's Church, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland

Mary, the saint so nice Killarney used her name for churches twice (though this one is C of I). This one is right downtown and is of normal parish size. I know we looked in on this one during our trip, though I think we were killing time before the Ring of Kerry tour we took. I'd need to go back to the pictures, but I think this is one of the gaudier churches we saw in Ireland, and I think it creeped the wife out a bit, though I could be making that up.

I don't think it hit me at the time, but going back and getting the links for the two St. Mary's made me realize that for all the stuff in Kerry and around Killarney, there's not a great deal to see in the town itself. Still, it's a good base to work from, especially if you prefer guided tours to going on your own.

40 Days, 40 Churches

Day 19: St. Mary's Cathedral, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland

Another theme week for you as we spend a week with churches in Ireland. It's a little surprising how many churches we saw on our honeymoon, but then again you can't swing a dead monsignor without hitting a church in Ireland.

I can't say I remember a great deal about St. Mary's - I'm pretty sure we didn't go in - but I do have a picture of its spire, which had a ladder running up the length of it. Not sure if it was permanent or there for some sort of repair work (or perhaps for penitential purposes). Thought it was funny, regardless.

40 Days, 40 Churches

Day 18: Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London, UK

It's hard not to think of Westminster in terms of history, from its role as Britain's coronation church to the array of individuals buried within its walls. But it is an actual church as well, though I can't quite imagine going their for service every week. It seems like overkill, like using Fenway to play wiffle ball.

The one time I've been there was nothing service-related going on, but we did walk around the grounds and got to see some of the young choristers in its choir school at lunch. It was pretty much what you'd expect from a cafeteria full of elementary school-aged kids.

And if there's not enough history here for you, the houses of Parliament are located across the street. Or if you want something more modern, the London Eye is a reasonable walk away on the other side of the river. This trio of sites was pretty much one of our days in London.

40 Days, 40 Churches

Day 17: St. Mary and St. Gregory, Frithelstock, Devon, UK

I tend to agree with W. G. Hoskins, who notes on the linked page that St. Mary and St. Gregory is unexciting. Still, it's very atmospheric, especially when examined at twilight. I have some pictures of it, which of course I don't have anywhere that I can link to right now. That fits in with my general lack of a write-up about the trip to England last summer, not to mention my laziness in putting up links to the travel-related material.

In any case, should you find yourself in this part of England, stop by and take a look after a nice dinner at the Clinton Arms, though based on group feedback you'd be better off avoiding the clam appetizer (too small). I'd highly recommend the "Dover smokey," a fish and smoked cheese dish which is much better than it may sound.

40 Days, 40 Churches

Day 16: Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland

We visited here during our honeymoon, and in retrospect it's kind of funny to think that during our brief period in Dublin, the two churches we actually looked at were Protestant (though perhaps not surprising, given the long presence of Britain's official representatives in Dublin). Christ Church is one of two Anglican (or Church of Ireland) cathedrals in Dublin, which is an odd set up and one that has apparently led to some friction.

Christ Church is also still recognized by the Catholic church as the official seat of the archbishop of Dublin. He's been making do with another church for some time.

Three notable tourist points about the cathedral:

1. It's the resting place of Strongbow, a leading figure in the Norman invasion of Ireland and namesake of a tasty hard cider.

2. There's a 13th century crypt below the church that's open for touring. Nothing really gruesome, but some interesting historical items are on display down there.

3. By the choir there is a mummified cat and mouse on display. Apparently they were found in an organ pipe in the 1860s, mummified by the dry and airy conditions within. They are posed as if in chase, which suggests a somewhat disturbing episode of Itchy & Scratchy.

For anyone thinking about getting a passport who may be worried about long application times, you may want to act now. I filed a renewal just before Christmas, and got my new passport yesterday. Pretty good, considering how long the wait times were not that long ago and that the estimated time I was given was 6-8 weeks.

That being said, I may have benefitted from renewing rather than applying first time. Not sure if that makes a difference or not.

The new one is one of the ones with the RFID chip in it, making me a prime target for Big Brother or identity thieves. It's been redesigned quite a bit, comparing it to my old one. The cover is stiffer, and instead of my picture being on the inside cover it's been moved to the back of the first page. And while it's not as bad as my driver's license photo, there is a Whitey Bulger's bagman look to the picture.

The pages have replaced the state seals with scenes of Americana (rocky coasts, purple mountains majesty and so on) and various quotes from famous (and not so famous) Americans. So if nothing else, the propaganda value of the passport has improved.

Three things I learned this weekend about the airport in Chattanooga, Tennessee:

1. They seem to be reducing their carbon footprint by turning off lights - even when people are still in the terminal. I was waiting for a couple of people, and while sitting near the gate where my plane came in the lights in that part of the terminal were shut off. I got the hint and moved to the gate where I expected one, if not both of the flights I was waiting for to come in. Both flights were late, and when the second one came in and both were boarding they shut off the lights in that part of the terminal. While people were still there waiting to board.

Maybe they needed the extra juice to run the baggage return? I mean, there were probably a dozen people with checked baggage on those flights.

2. Before flying in I checked to see if there was a bus or something to get from the airport to downtown. The bus system doesn't have a stop at the airport. I found this odd, given that in most places a public transit link at the airport is the norm.

I now know why there isn't one: the local transit authority is getting a cut of the extortionate rates that cabs charge for runs from the airport. For two people, they charged $33. Renting a car for the day would have been cheaper. Now, we didn't ask the rate before getting in, which is a total failing on our part. Thinking about it, I wonder if this is some sort of off the books thing, as the meter wasn't even on during our trip.

Can you tell I don't take cabs too often?

3. Skybus flies to Chattanooga, which you think would be handy as they also fly to Boston. Except in this case "Boston" actually means Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Which would be great if I were leaving a car, as the free parking (referred to several times, always in all caps, on the Pease website) would compensate for the longer drive.

The other problem is that the Skybus flights aren't necessarily coordinated. So while I could go Portsmouth-Columbus-Chattanooga, it wouldn't work in reverse as they only have one flight from Chattanooga a day.

I also ran across something called Allegiant Air, which offers flights from Bangor, Maine to Orlando, apparently. Something to keep in mind for the in-laws.

For the first time since Wednesday, I'm home. What happened in between?

Finger - I spent part of Wednesday morning having the final couple of stitches removed, as things had closed up well enough to allow the job to finish. Much less painful than the first destitching, though I still have to keep things covered as there's still some closing up that needs to happen.

This is expected to happen over the next couple of weeks, which will be just in time to have the finger cut open again to fix the nerve. Surgery is scheduled for December 7, and I'm a little concerned because it appears I'll be knocked out in some fashion for it. Seems like overkill for working on a finger.

Turkey - went down to my sister in law's and stuffed myself with the requisite amount of holiday food (a quick plug here for Spinelli's, a function hall and baker in East Boston and Lynnfield, from whom we got a blueberry pie, a pumpkin pie, and a Black Forest cake). I also watched about 30 hours of football, although none in person, which was too bad given the nice weather (another quick plug here for the high school alma mater, who won their conference with a Turkey Day win over dreaded rival Georgetown, and will play Brighton High School in the first round of the playoffs on Tuesday).

Gotham - Yesterday we drove down to NYC to attend the BU-Cornell hockey game at Madison Square Garden. Traffic was awful (everyone in Connecticut was on Route 95 at some point yesterday afternoon), so we got to the hotel later than hoped.

We wound up staying at the Millenium Hilton, which is most notable for overlooking Ground Zero. We got a very good look into the construction site from our room on the 29th floor, but didn't have much of a chance to walk around the site (to the extent that one can).

We took the subway uptown and got off so we could walk over to Rockefeller Center. The tree wasn't lit, but there was skating and at least half of the people who were on Route 95 in Connecticut earlier in the day were there doing the same thing that we were doing.

After extricating ourselves we walked back down to MSG, met up with Chris (i.e. the Grim Reaper of occasional comment fame) and got to our seats... eventually. It's a odd system they use, as there are four "towers" with escalators, which you get off of when you get a floor with your "gate" number on it. It actually didn't work too badly going up (initial confusion notwithstanding), but going down there was a bit of congestion.

MSG bills itself as the World's Most Famous Arena, which is about the best thing you can say for it. It is on the old side, has a very interesting odor (left over from the years of circuses and boxing, I'd imagine), and the seating is done up in a very unappealing purple and teal upholstery which is made out of some sort of rubberized burlap. The sound works very well, at least in terms of volume, though I think at one point someone from JFK called and complained that they couldn't hear the jets take off.

The game went surprisingly well, as the Icedogs scored three in the first en route to a 6-3 win in front of a partisan Cornell crowd. Out of the 18,200 there for the game, I'd say about 16,500 of them were rooting for Cornell. We also heard the Cornell alma mater about 40 times, which is more than I've heard the BU song in 20 years (which is fine, as I'm not a big "Clarissima" fan). They even had Cornell folks locking arms and swaying while singing the song, which I don't think you'd see BU folks do without getting paid.

Not much else to tell of our time, as we went back to the hotel after the game. We did nose around the neighborhood a little in search of a convenience store, and saw St. Paul's Church, which looked interesting, but didn't think that sightseeing at midnight was such a good idea. I'd have liked to have had an extra day, but between the holiday, work for the wife, and the expense of staying down there it wasn't going to happen.

Book Log 2007 #51: The Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux

I first read this book my sophomore year in college when it was assigned as reading for an introductory geography class. I don't know that it taught me much beyond the idea that Asia was the place to be in the '70s if you wanted to have sex with prostitutes of indeterminate age and/or gender. But I did enjoy the book, and many years later decided to give it a re-read.

This time around I still enjoyed it, and probably appreciated some of the more unique combinations of time and place better than I did the first time (most notable here was a visit to Vietnam between the Paris Peace Accords and the eventual fall of South Vietnam). Though I was slightly more off-put than usual by Theroux's depiction of his fellow travelers, which was odd given that they're not that different from the depictions in all of his train books.

So I'd still recommend it, but with the added suggestion of finding the version with the original cover. The collage-style front is superior to the one used now, and there is a period photo of the author on the back that would be fantastic if it were in color. I'm sure it's nowhere to be seen in the new printing.

Notes on a weekend passed, which I will entitle "Of Course, I Saw the Losses in Person."

Thursday - Met the wife after work and got on the road. You can tell there was World Series madness in the air as there was an actual skywriter attempting to further thin the ozone layer with a "GO SOX" message. Only problem was that on the first pass, he drew the 'G' backwards.

We got roughly to Syracuse before stopping for the night, listening to Game 2 on the ESPN Radio affiliate out of Chicago. I've pulled in WFAN and WBAL here, though not with the sort of clarity that we were getting Thursday. We thank you, WMVP-AM, for your strong signal.

That being said, listening to Joe Morgan on the radio magnifies his inadequacy about a hundredfold. At least with TV there are the pictures and other distractions.

Friday - back on the road, and thankfully the WHTI passport rules haven't quite taken hold for driving into Canada yet, as I put mine through the wash when we got back from England. It's still perfectly legible, but I don't think I'd want to have it be the only thing between me and spending time in a Customs and Border Protection holding area.

It's also notable that we got through Ontario without the jack-booted thugs issuing us another speeding ticket.

Got into Livonia, Michigan at about mid-afternoon, at which point the wife had to do some work catch-up, scotching plans for dinner. We instead ate at the Red Robin across the street, as we'd never eaten at one and the chain was involved in a Top Chef challenge this season. I don't think the winning burger is on the menu, or they've changed it so significantly that it's unidentifiable. In any case, the food was fine but it's a loser on the value for cost principle.

Then it was off to the first of two BU-Michigan hockey games, complicated by getting lost, which I manage regularly when visting Ann Arbor. We parked downtown, leaving us a pretty significant walk to the rink. We did get to the game on time, and saw the team play better than they did against UNH, but still lose 4-2. The team still can't find the net with any regularity, and are now showing a tendency to allow odd man rushes. I hope that, by now, they realize that John Curry has graduated and will not be around to bail out sloppy defensive play.

We got a ride back to the car after the game (with thanks to Mike, who also gave us a nifty driving tour of Michigan's athletic facilities and a suggestion for parking on Saturday, important given that the hockey game was close after the Michigan-Minnesota football game).

No World Series game, so we pretty much packed it in when we got back to the hotel, though I stayed up for a while watching The Godfather.

Saturday - we slept in a bit, but eventually got over to The Henry Ford, the unusually-named historical attraction outside of Detroit whose showpiece is Greenfield Village. We didn't tour that given the rain, so we opted for the tour of Ford's Rouge assembly plant. Pretty interesting, though I'd have preferred more history about the plant. The most we got was on the "Battle of the Overpass" between union organizers and Ford security. We got to watch some assembly of F-150s, which was mostly people twiddling with hand tools. Though we did get to see robots put in windshields, which is less exciting than welding but still pretty neat to see.

Then it was back to the hotel and walk through the attached mall, which was too nice for us to buy more than a book and some ice cream. We napped, watched some football, got dinner, and headed back down to Yost.

And promptly got lost again. Turns out Ann Arbor has a Fifth Street and a Fifth Avenue, and we had directions for the wrong one. We eventually worked back to the road we'd missed the night before from our original directions, and got within three blocks of the rink, once again making it just in time for face-off.

We'd have been better off chucking the whole thing and seeing a movie, as Michigan scored in the first minute and never looked back, winning 6-2. I am not optimistic about the season, which is kind of sad given the healthy number of seniors on the team. Expect a quote from Jack about the team's lack of heart by the end of the year, earlier if they don't beat Cornell at Madison Square Garden over Thanksgiving weekend.

Sunday came early, as we were making the drive home in one shot. Nothing too amazing to report here, as we got through Ontario again without attracting enforcement from The Man. I did nearly get us impounded at the border when I misconstrued the CBP officer's question about where we came from as being general about the weekend, not specific about that morning. The glare he shot me was punishment enough.

We only caught the second half of the Pats game on the radio, as we couldn't pull it in until we were back in state. We ran across five different stations for Bills-Jets, which seems like at least four too many. I do wish I'd seen the Pats game, given the near-video game quality of the score. It's almost too bad we have to play the Colts next week, as if we had a more pliant opponent (let's say Atlanta), we'd likely put up 100.

Got home in time for the final game in the Series, though a poorly-placed nap led to some confusion when I saw the score was 4-3. There was a minimum of celebrating given the hour, so I was able to go to bed happy about the win and Mike Lowell's MVP nod (I chose not to consider free agency implications until today), and before A Rod decided all the attention on people who aren't him just wasn't acceptable. I look forward to seeing the last decade of his career unfold from San Francisco, where the fans are used to highly paid, prickly superstars on a megalomaniacal quest to break the home run record, even if it means very limited playoff appearances.

Now that I think about it, the real coda to our trip was the discovery that I'd managed to run my passport through the laundry. I didn't take it out of my jeans when we got home, and didn't think to check the pockets before putting them in the wash. It's pretty beat up, but the pages are all intact and legible. But I still think it's a good thing I don't plan on leaving the country any time soon. More time to flatten it out.

So like a true friend, I've been sitting on these interview questions from Paul for a couple of months. Thanks for nothing, right? Anyway, here's the interview, and if you'd like to revive this meme leave a comment and I'll send you five interview questions.

1) Now that you've entered into the homeowners club, what do you miss most about being a renter?

Not having to fix stuff. The combination of not being handy and buying a house in need of TLC is a great thing if you like to spend. I worry about getting to the point where we'll put too much money into the house and not at least break even on the resale. Of course, we could stay there for the duration, but that seems unlikely.

2) In your opinion, who is the best former Terrier hockey player that did NOT make it to the NHL?

This is a tough one, given how many former Icedogs had a cup of coffee (which is more of a baseball term, but I'm at a loss for hockey equivalent; feel free to suggest one) in the NHL. I actually went back and looked at some stuff on the Internet Hockey Database (which is a fantastic resource), and have determined that the best player who I've seen play who didn't make it to the NHL was Mike Pomichter, who had three seasons with great point totals, but who left to go pro the season before we won our last title. He then went on to have a long and not particularly successful minor league career.

I'd also considered Petteri Koskimaki for this, as he had a couple of strong seasons while playing on teams loaded with future NHLers (McEachern, Amonte, Tkachuk, among others). He doesn't appear to have played anywhere after BU, even in Europe. That's surprising, though given his senior year numbers I wonder if he took an injury that put him out of hockey for good. I honestly don't remember; the seasons are starting to run together. Google doesn't even return post-BU stats for him.

Another possible answer: Jack Parker. I've occasionally wondered how things would have gone had he actually taken the Bruins job back in the early '90s. I'd like to think he'd have found success, but given that the average tenure of a Bruins coach seems to be about three years, the idea that he'd have wound up back at BU before too long isn't unlikely.

3) Among all your quiz bowl journeys, away hockey games, etc.., what was your best road trip (elaborate)?

In terms of actually getting to see things, I'd have to go with last year's TRASHionals trip to Austin, as we took a couple of extra days and actually saw things in Austin and San Antonio. Usually on these trips you don't see anything more than the host school and your hotel, but on this trip I actually got to see the Alamo and a bunch of other stuff. It was a nice change.

For weekend quiz bowl trips, there's more trips to the Philadelphia area that had at least one funny story than I can remember. For hockey trips, I do fondly recall our fan van trip to Lowell (well, Chelmsford, actually) where we wandered up the street and found that Chinese place. How we didn't get lost or hit by a truck I don't know.

4) If you could design a flavour of ice cream for Ben & Jerry's what would it be called and what would it include?

I was coming up with one when I saw that Dairy Queen kind of beat me to the punch with their Kit Kat Blizzard. But I'll do them one better with Kat Food: dark, milk, and white chocolate Kit Kat pieces in a combo of vanilla and chocolate ice cream. I was considering cinnamon as a secondary flavoring, which would pretty much make this my standard Angora Cafe frozen yogurt order from about 1993 to 1995.


5) Favorite Seinfeld episode and why?

A tough one given the options. There's "The Strike," which precipitated all the Festivus nonsense late last year. There are also some of the iconic episodes like "The Contest" and "The Chinese Restaurant." And after the two months I've had to come up with something, it turns out I don't have a favorite episode. There are several that I really enjoy, but none quite reigns supreme. Aren't you glad you waited for that answer?

According to Google Maps, the distance from Boston to College Park, Maryland is 435 miles, which, at highway speeds (or perhaps just a shade over them) would take about 7 hours to cover. The return drive to Beverly is a little longer, 455 miles, but at similar speeds would take 7 and a half hours to cover. Of course, the problem is the assumption that you can drive at highway speeds during the entire trip.

This was an especially bad assumption this weekend, as our drives to and from College Park took between 9 and a half and 10 and a half hours.

I blame myself for the delay on the drive down, as given our departure time I should have known that 95 through New York on a late Friday afternoon was an invitation to gridlock. I remember passing the exit that would have taken us to the Tappan Zee Bridge and wondering if I was making a mistake. I did not have to wonder for too long. We entered New York state just at 5 pm, and didn't get on to the George Washington Bridge until after 7 pm.

I'll also assign some blame to AAA, whose Trip-Tik didn't seem to think this would be a problem. On the other hand, it's not like you enter a time for your trip, so perhaps that's a suggestion I should make. In any event, I don't know if the Tappan Zee would have saved us any time, but I can't imagine it would have cost us any more.

And for what it's worth, traffic was pretty bad from New Haven to about Newark, so it's not like this was a New York-only problem. I also encounted what might have been the most empatic stop-and-go traffic ever in New Jersey, as we'd be moving right along at highway speeds and then have to come to a complete halt in about 100 yards. Not good.

On the trip home, the Jersey Turnpike was busy from exit 5 on up, though it moved pretty well from exit 9 to the tolls by the Meadowlands... after which things jammed up nice and tight. It took us about 20 minutes to get from the tolls to the exit for the Vince (perhaps longer), a distance of about two miles. Things didn't really thin out in the time during our stop, but we were at least given good information about the local route being the best way to get back over the GWB. We could have easily added another hour to our trip if we stuck to the "express" route.

I did learn during this trip that I do get agitated pretty easily at driving in such delays, I think from a combination of losing time and not being able to actually drive. On the positive side, I do not then resort to horn honking, multiple lane changes, or driving in the breakdown lane. So I've not completely lost it.

As you can imagine, it was a tiring weekend, but a fun one.