SYR EUG - Snow & Silent Movies

Here is the recap of Syracuse to Ithaca (Cayuga Lake of the Finger Lakes) continuing on to Eugene, OR via Portland, OR. (Luckily I got out of Pittsburgh, PA to write this part :) In Syracuse, I met up with Laura, where we ventured over to Ithaca, NY (Home of Cornell University and lots of the braintrustafarians). As we drove down the highway, Laura yells "SNOW". My immediate reaction is "are we going to hit a snow bank or something, why yell?" Laura lives in Gainesville, FL - hence the reaction. I pulled over on the side of the highway so she could snap a fabulous picture of the "ski hill with snow" :) It's called "Labrador Mountain" (aka Lab Hill). I'm going to hold my Colorado ski based commentary at this point :)
After the demo, Diane, Laura and I were able to go to a viewing platform in town (that would be the Hilton Garden Inn with a window view at the end of a hallway) to see Cayuga Lake, and a view of Cornell on the ridge - very pretty, very old and quite a revitalized college town I have to mention. We reviewed our day's work at Kilpatrick's Publick House. The founder, Brendan Kilpatrick, heard Ithaca, NY was the center of the industry for silent movies so moved here to find his fame! Historic and blogworthy link: http://www.kilpatrickspub.com/

After arriving in Syracuse, I got on the earlier delayed plane to Chicago, where in Chicago on way to Denver, I got on a later plane as my 777 (mine!) was being fixed - lucky me :)

On Thursday, I turned my trip from DEN to PDX to EUG into a day trip to Eugene, OR. At the end of the day, I drove EUG to PDX to catch the last plane to DEN - whew! In the morning, barely awake, I met Mike from Boulder, on his way to Portland. Anyone who slaps down a package of Emergen-C to match my pack is immediately ranked in the "worthy, he gets it" category :) Mike is an empathetic and extensive business traveler, who is soon to earn fame and fortune with one of his ideas to ease the pain for business travelers. Stay tuned for an update on Mike's progress!!! It will be bloggable!

PIT SYR EUG - The Pittsburgh Part

My view out the window of the downtown Marriott in Pittsburgh, PA revealed the sign "Van Halen rescheduled to April 30 from my arrival, March 31". This is also the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and other teams I'm sure.

As a business traveler, there is nothing more desolate than being the last flight to go out of an airport at night, such as my experience this week in Pittsburgh, PA. Arriving at the airport at about 5pm, with a plane departure bumped from Pittsburgh to Syracuse from 8:05pm to 9:15pm, I called my worldwide traveler partner and expert, Kimberly, to inquire "what's the best hint for passing time in Pittsburgh airport". Alas, she had great hints for Tampa and Detroit delays, but had not had the recent forture to hang in Pittsburgh.

My discovery - The Hyatt. Connected via long series of moving sidewalks, The Hyatt is an exceptional travelers hangout. I approached the front desk and said "someone at the airport said there was a Starbucks here. Where is it?" The front desk said "we brew Starbucks coffee here, but no retail outlet". Ok. I walk around, scoping the place out. I wonder into the conference room area, pick up a "free" bottle of water and some Lemonhead candies for the Tobacco company conference in play. (I'm sure others have permanently borrowed water from my company's conferences, right?) http://pittsburghairport.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

I walk back to the front desk, and ask the nice lady, "How much would it cost for me to use your fitness center for an hour or so?". She promptly offers "here, just let me get you a room key - have fun" :) WOW, that rocks! I went up, changed clothes, used the treadmill for 50 minutes, did some streching, changed clothes and went down to Olives, the restaurant/bar. There I have a nice glass of wine, ordered the most fabulous crab cake appetizer that was seriously 2 inches thick, and a to die for spinach/parmesean cake salad. I used the free wifi to work, and at 8pm wandered back to the airport.

At this point, upon arrival at my gate for my 9:15pm departure, the "sign" moved to 10:40pm departure.........As I sit and write the blog since I have so much time, the departure is yet delayed again, but I've been assured "this flight is going". Looks like a 1am arrival night :) By the way, did I mention that all the airport stores (tax free shopping on clothes in Pittsburgh CLOSE at 8:30pm? Did I mention that? All 120 stores -closed.)

SJU - Ummo-Argentian Grill

Exploding onto the restaurant scene on Ashford Avenue, in the Condado area of San Juan, Puerto Rico is the new Ummo - Argentinian Grill. This gorgeous new restaurant is a feast for the palate and the other four senses as well. Enjoy the warm contemporary setting indoors, to watch the masters work the grill, or dine al fresco on one of many beautiful San Juan nights.

Joined for a late evening of wine, food, friends and heavenly warm weather, Kimberly and Steve and I enjoyed time at Ummo. We had such a fabulous time, I have not the words to write about it in this blog :)

Enjoy the warm contemporary setting indoors, to watch the masters work the grill, or dine al fresco on one of many beautiful San Juan nights. The Ummo – Argentinian Grill is located at 1351 Ashford Avenue, San Juan.
Tel: (787) 722-1700.

SJU - Puerto Rico

Having to travel on Easter holiday is a hardship, it is a long flight from Denver, CO to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I decided to come to P.R. one day early for my business trip to "scope it out" for possible future vacation. Upon arrival at 5:30pm, I was amazed at the lobby lounge mambo music in celebration of not only Easter, but the passing of legend Cachao Lopez, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cachao_L%C3%B3pez I went to the beach to walk, dip my toes in the surprisingly warm ocean and watch the surfers outside the Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino.
Dining tonight included a stop at the only Puerto Rican Iron Chef, Robert Travino's Budatai - fabulous! http://tsdg.typepad.com/restaurants/2007/11/budatai---puert.html After dinner, I wandered the streets, and stopped in at La Concha Renaissance Hotel for a nightcap while listening to the ocean waves on the beach.

Monday I went for a long walk (3 hours) from the hotel toward Old San Juan.
I walked along a park area, saw some old fort structures, ran into the Puerto Rican Sports Hall of Fame by accident, and saw the best "protest beach development" signage ever :) I'll be sure to upload more photos later, but I have to go experience more P.R.

DEN - Are you an Expert or Beginner? & MedEmer on board

This feels like "what color is your parachute".........our tax dollars at work.

The green lane is for families with small children and other people who need help with the security process. The black diamond is for experienced travelers, intent upon speeding through the terminal. The TSA also had an intermediate blue lane, but non-skiers found it confusing, so the blue has been dropped.

Families in the green lane cleared security in 11 or 12 minutes. Black diamond travelers usually were through in a minute or so less. A few of the expert travelers were forced to wait up to 20 minutes while TSA agents gave their carry-on bags a more rigorous search.

So on the North Terminal there are "Green Lanes, Black Diamond Lanes, the Puffer Machine Lane, the Employee Lane and the "First Class" lane - of course I'm in the First Class lane and cannot tell a difference in any of this mess :)

Another travel first this week, on way from Denver to Portland, OR was hearing the flight attendant ask after wheels up and on ascent at about 15,000 feet, "Is there a medical doctor on board? Please ring your call button to assist two Registered Nurses. We'll come get you." The good news is, the person with the emergency seemed to be alive at least upon departure from the plane, which circled back to land in Denver, had paramedics come meet the plane and took off again a bit later for Portland, OR. Airline staff had things in control and were quite private with the matter. Bad news is - the extra take off and landing did not count for additional segment :(

St Patty's Day - Golden, CO Style!

Don and Judy Bruns (center/right) came to visit Don's brother, Keith(left), in the Denver metro area for a few days. I was fortunate enough to be able to see them a couple times during their busy stay in Colorado! Don, Judy and Keith made tracks on the snow cat tour in Winter Park, CO, visited Pike's Peak, hit the Irish Jackpot in Black Hawk, and stopped off in Golden, CO home of Coors Brewery, visited Boulder, CO and shopped til they dropped at Flatirons Mall.

I met up with Don, Judy and Keith at Bonefish Grill Friday night. Bonefish is part of parent company OSI who also owns Cheeseburger in Paradise coincidentally. (Judy is a card carrying member to be sure) http://www.osirestaurantpartners.com/insidethecompany.asp No wonder we liked it alot, great fish and great service.

On Saturday, instead of attending the St. Pat's parade in Denver where we would blend right into the festivities, we made our own parade in Golden, CO. We started the day with a tour of the Coors Brewery, complete with samplings of a wide variety of beverages at the end (and all before 12:30pm - but it certainly had to be "five o'clock somewhere".
Remember when you couldn't buy Coors "east of the Mississippi" and people packed it in trunks to bring to you? How about that Ford/Dole bumper sticker on the going to New Jersey :)

After the brewery tour, it was time to head for pizza and a look at Golden, CO. No doubt about it, if we had extra hats to sell for all the comments we received about our little parade group, we could have made a fortune as Judy pointed out! http://www.woodysgolden.com/index.html I had to leave Don, Judy and Keith so they could find their Pot O' Gold in Black Hawk!

FCA GEG SGF ORD

The blogette is back from thinking about still being on vacation. Over the past two weeks, I have been to hot spots Kalispell, MT, Spokane, WA, Springfield, MO and fabulous as always, Chicago, IL. Highlights of these business trips were the absolutely inadequate slow speed internet at each hotel along the way. Hotel management has been notified in each case with some responses of appologies offering me a "free night" upon my return - not gonna happen :)

In Whitefish, MT quite near Glacier National Park, Eric and I went to Big Mountain for late lunch on the way to the airport to get a glimpse of the mountain. Know as "Big Fog", we hit the area on a great day and Eric is quite sad to not have his skiis as you can see. The Hellroaring Saloon http://www.bigmtn.com/index.php?a=content/hellroaring has been voted one of the best apre ski bars having been established for well over 35 years (and it looks it) http://www.bigmtn.com/

One interesting thing this week was the Seizure Response Dog in Chicago airport. Quite interesting and I did stop to ask the woman about the dog and it's capabilities. Quite amazing. The website info says more than I will ever be able to describe here. Awesome program it seemshttp://www.k94life.org/html/seizure_alert.htm