Chicago in summer

I learned something interesting on my trip to Chicago - it's HOT there in June. Seriously HOT; even hotter than it was in Austin at that time. It probably would have been better if I had planned my wardrobe a bit better! I did enjoy the trip and I would love to go back. My favorite parts were the water taxi tours of the river and Lake Michigan.

The John Hancock Center.

This is Cloud Gate, a 110-ton elliptical sculpture found in Millennium Park.

Cloud Gate is big enough to provide me shelter in a rain shower. (Hence the grey sky.)

One can tour Lake Michigan on a sail boat. Sadly, the departure time didn't work for me.

A view of Navy Pier from the ferris wheel.

If you're still with me, you might also like to check out a place called ENO. It's in the InterContinental Chicago hotel. The sign reads "wine. cheese. chocolate. sensation." It's true.

Las Vegas 2

I was thinking that the next time I go to Las Vegas I might just take pictures of the people. One of my favorite things to do is "people watch." Seriously, Las Vegas does NOT disappoint. So. Much. Craziness.

I love chocolate. I heard that there was a huge chocolate fountain in the Bellagio. Clearly I had to check it out. It turns out it's the "world's tallest and largest volume chocolate fountain." And it's BEHIND GLASS. Remember that old Mervyn's sale commercial with the woman standing at the glass door chanting, "Open! Open! Open! Open!"? I thought about doing that but thought better of it. But just barely.

The fountain...

The details of the fountain. Click on it if you feel the need to read it!

We decided to head down the strip to the M&M Store. Need I say more about this? I love M&M's, but managed not to buy anything but a couple of decks of playing cards. Who knew M&M's had a smell. They do, or the store did at least. Too much of a good thing, I think.

Who doesn't love a whole store based on candy?


This is about 1/3 the wall of M&Ms. Yum.

Las Vegas 1

The Bellagio.

Have you been to Las Vegas? I had never been, but was able to tag along with friends in February. By tag along I mean that I didn't have to plan any of the trip. My friend Bonnie had most things already planned for herself and her two granddaughters. When she heard I hadn't been, she said I should come along and she also invited her two daughters (my friends from growing up and mothers to the aforementioned granddaughters). Bonnie did most of the planning. She reserved another room at the Bellagio and added tickets to each of the shows. Because of Bonnie's hard work we had great seats to three shows: Blue Man Group, "O" (Cirque du Soliel), and Celine Dion.

Me and a Blue Man.
This might be my Christmas card this year - act surprised!

You should stay at the Bellagio once in your life. Get the lake view room, it's worth it to see the fountains. If I ever figure out how to do it, I'll post a video of the fountain/light show.

From the room.


From the street.

The pressure is getting to me... (or more Australia pictures)

See, I started this blog for fun. It is supposed to be a place to catalog thoughts and share pictures. I really like blogging. I DO NOT like struggling to figure out a subject about which to write. It's clear that I am not a "writer." Some days I click through a list of blogs and read amazing entries. Entries written by real writers. These are folks who get paid to write and those who do not. Still and all, they are real writers. I am not!

But I can take a good picture now and then... And I would post one or two, but Blogger (no longer called Blogger beta) won't let me post pictures!!! Again. I'll keep trying, but this isn't doing much for my momentum.

Update: I can upload pictures through IE, but not Mozilla Firefox. Therefore, here are some more pictures of my trip to Australia in 2003. Cairns was my first stop in Australia, and I arrived just in time to lay awake for hours before "waking up" early to go up in the hot air balloon I mentioned in an earlier post.

The view from my hotel in Cairns, Queensland.

The Cairns Yacht Club.

Giving it another go...

I'm not sure if anyone checks my blog anymore. I mean, if you were checking, then you gave up months ago, right?

Let's see if I can do a better job in 2007! I plan to post more frequently and use more photos. Here's hoping I keep this resolution (along with several others to be discussed at a later date).

I made another long weekend trip to New York City in December. I had a great time visiting a friend and seeing some shows. I recommend both The Radio City Christmas Spectacular and Jersey Boys.

Backstage at Radio City Music Hall with my friend Beth.

I took the Staton Island Ferry (free!) to get some pictures of the Statue of Liberty. After taking a few (or 100) pictures, I had to take a moment and enjoy the view.

Sunday, December 11, 2006