city
2008: The Year In Cities & Towns
Taking a cue from Jason Kottke, this is a list of cities and towns I’ve visited in 2008. One or more nights spent in each place. Those cities marked with an * were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days. Travel for me this year was probably slightly above average for my life. None of my traveling was for work last year, it was all for leisure and fun.
Vail, CO
Edwards, CO*
Denver, CO*
Niwot, CO*
Frisco, CO
Breckenridge, CO
Henryetta, OK
Tulsa, OK
Salt Lake City, UT
Philadelphia, PA
Napa Valley, CA
Santa Cruz, CA
Big Sur, Ca
San Luis Obispo, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Laguna, CA
La Jolia, CA
Jacksonville, FL
Live Girl Show
Before Santa Fe had it’s recent little clean-up near the Hampden exit there was a place called the Adult Palace. The Adult Palace had been around since I was a young child. For as long as I can remember really. It was in a windowless, non-descript, squat, gray building with parking in the rear. On the front of the building was a large white sign that read in large, red, script, “ADULT PALACE – LIVE GIRL SHOW”.
photo courtesy of ewy.
Whenever the family drove past – whether it be on our way to our uncles, or perhaps to a movie at Cinderella City – somebody would make a comment about the “Live Girl” that worked their. We would all chuckle at the fact the Adult Palace bragged about the fact it contained a live girl. We were all relieved that the girl was alive, but shouldn’t she be nude, or at least topless? And why only one girl? We would all laugh a little laugh, and shake our heads. I’m sure my Father and Brother’s minds, much like mine, turned to what sort of naughtiness must be happening inside with the live girl. Mom mostly just crossed hers arms and looked straight ahead.
For years and years and years I would drive by the adult palace and say to myself, “Someday I’m just gonna pull over a see what’s going on in there”. Unfortunately I never did. And as of this summer, The Adult Palace on South Santa Fe is now gone. It’s now a Super Target. But the wonderful (and incredibly hilarious) Ewy has captured the essence of this building and its live girl, “Crystal Rayne,” in his photo essay. Go check out his blog while you’re at it.
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Brotherly Love
I was really impressed with Philadelphia as a city. I only spent a long weekend there but I felt like I got to see most of the sights and get a real flavor of the city (though that flavor was slightly greasy [in a good way]). As soon as I stepped of the plane it was straight to Johnny Manana’s for their giant griddle of melted cheese. The queso was excellent, the margs were horrible. I then got settled into my friend’s house who were hosting me for the week, at a yummy home cooked meal and washed it all down with a few beers at the Dark Horse in the city. The Dark Horse is a Philadelphia style Irish pub with strong roots, located in a 2 story colonial rowhouse complete with dark wood, exposed brick, and one of the oldest working fireplaces in the city.
We kicked off our first full day in the City Of Brotherly Love with Philly cheese steaks of course.
One of the people I was staying with was a highschool history teacher, and a native Philly who’s in love with his city. He was the perfect tour for all of the historical sights we visited on Saturday. We spent the entire afternoon seeing all the historical sights. The liberty bell, Independence hall, First national bank, The oldest residential street in the US, the National Constitution Center, and a bunch more. I think I might have been a little bored if it weren’t for the interesting anecdotes and facts provided by our good friend/tour guide.
For dinner we went to the tasty but slightly overpriced White Dog Cafe. A restaurant known for there social activism as much as their food. The atmosphere was cool and a little fancy. It made for a great “nice night out”.
Sunday I slept in and had a leisurely breakfast then went to the Mütter Museum. This has to be one of the most interesting museums I’ve ever been to. It was filled with biological/anatomical oddities – conjoined twins, casts of heads suffering from acute, a 30 foot colon, the soap woman, the Chevalier Jackson collection of over 2,000 objects swallowed and removed from the trachea, celebrity body parts, encased longitudinal slices of the head showing the brain. It’s all enough to make you gasp and then get a little queasy. Muffled shouts of “My God, look at that BABY MONSTER!” are often heard and quite appropriate.
Then it was off to the impressive Philadelphia Museum Of Art. I must have spent nearly four hours exploring this place.
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On Monday we spent the morning hiking around the Wissahickon Creek. It’s so great that Philly has a such a large, heavily wooded park right next to the city.
In fact, Philly was filled with parks and was one of the many things I found attractive about it. Anyway, our trip ended shortly after with a flight back to Denver that seemed to take forever.
2007: The Year In Cities & Towns
Taking a cue from Jason Kottke, this is a list of cities and towns I’ve visited in 2007. One or more nights spent in each place. Those cities marked with an * were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days. Travel for me this year was about average for my life. Most of it was for fun but there were a few work trips stuck in there too.
Vail, CO
Edwards, CO*
Denver, CO*
Boulder, CO*
Ft. Worth, TX
Snow Bird, UT
Poipu, HI
Honolulu, HI
Manhattan, NY*
Saucacus, NJ
Jacksonville, FL
Atlanta, GA
Bright Lights, Big Pity
I’m back and back to normal. NYC was turbo-incredible. I’m not really sure how to describe the city in a single blog entry so I won’t even attempt it. So much happened that I’m not really interested in trying to rehash it all for you. On top of that, I left my camera at my brothers the other night so you’ll have to wait a while for pictures as well.
I’ve given NYC a hard time in the past. And I still think it deserves a hard time. There isn’t enough glass, brick, and steel in the entire city to contain it’s ego. But I’d be damned if a New York city doesn’t change you a little bit. Of all the things offered to me in NYC, I think a different perspective was the one I enjoyed the most. I have a new lust for NYC and a greater appreciation for all that home has to offer as well. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get there and it’s good to be back.