The year was 1963.  It was one of those rare moments when things are on the verge of becoming something else.  We were off to have adventures during a Spring Break, with no direction anywhere, much less home.  It wasn’t like the last time I was out on the road, in March of 2009, and had a Modesto hotel reserved for the end of the day.  This was a different time.  In this time I was not driving, I was certainly not in charge, and I really didn’t care if we had a reservation anywhere, simply because we were on our way.

This was us, the three of us, me, Jack and Dale.  We’d been going to school together forever, and it seemed like we’d always be going to school together.  Little did we know that this 1963 trip was close on the tail when we’d last hang out together as friends.  It was close to Modesto, I’m sure of that, because the Gallo was getting cheaper, and you could find more locals who had good advice on how to drink their special economic offerings.  We’d been through different kinds of juice, but had not considered cranberry, and that might have been the thing that turned everything so very strange.

I don’t really regret 1963, now that it’s 2009, because there’s a lot of water under that bridge.  For many years, I didn’t even care to know where that bridge even was, but now these things do matter, just because I want to be able to do right by the people I knew.  On that trip, there were lots of missed turns, and a hundred directions that went out of our teenage ears.  We did end up somewhere close to Canada, eventually, and it seemed like as good a place as any to stop and get out for awhile.  For me, awhile lasted for some 15 years, and for the others, I don’t know when they made it back home.  If they did, however, I hope they don’t remember the last moments of the trip, because it wasn’t terribly pretty.  But the first part, that was something worth remembering.

My friends Mike, Joe and I decided to take a two week road trip through what is known as the treasure coast of Florida. It’s actually a really cool stretch of coastland that basically extends from Hobe Sound to up north above Sebastian, I believe. Anyway, a lot of the legends about the Spanish treasure ships crashing into the shores is supposed to be true and pieces of those treasures are still found. So it’s not uncommon for guys like us, and even some tourists sometimes, to search the area along the treasure coast and try and find some of those lost gems.

So, it was actually Joe’s idea to take this trip but it sounded great to Mike and me so we planned to take a full two weeks and find our treasure. We figured we could afford it since we really thought we would recover a fortune. I mean three guys with our search and recovery skills and two weeks of dedicated hunting, there was no way we were walking away with a treasure chest of some kind. And then, not only would we be financially set, but we would also keep some of the loot, you know? I mean, could you imagine a better gift for your girlfriend than a ruby or something that came off a Spanish treasure ship?

Okay, so we really put effort into finding our treasure for about, oh, I’d say the greater part of the first morning we were out there. We stopped to have lunch and Mike mentioned that we weren’t too far from Blue Cypress Lake and suggested we put up our tent there. No luxury accommodations for us, we were roughing it. We decided to call it a day and head on over to the lake. It was actually incredibly beautiful and we all loved being there. We swam a little and thought we could fish the next day. In the morning the sunrise reflected off the water and made the cypress trees look blue. It was pretty incredible to see Mike, always the poet, said that might be the treasure we were looking for. Well, it’s the only one we found on that trip, but then that first morning was really all the treasure hunting we did.

Singapore was really a great amount of fun. Of course, it is a huge contrast to the little island paradise we were just at, but it was a great relief to be in a country that is fastidious. All the politeness and the strict attention to details caught us off guard. Every tourist information desk we stopped off at were actually very informative. All the employees in all the establishments we entered were helpful, polite and honest! At first, we didn’t know if we were on a different planet, like we entered the Twilight Zone or something, but after spending a whole day, we were becoming acclamated, as it were, to being in a nice country.

Naturally, there was a price to pay for all this niceties, cleanliness, organization, air-conditioning, over-the-top service, it’s called piles of Singapore dollars. In two days, we saw our budget go to pot. It was all worth it though, like I mentioned at the beginning, we had a blast. We found this site to help us find a restaurant, which we went out to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. All the restaurants listed on this site were marvellous. We found several sites online for interesting things to do in Singapore, which it was hard for us to choose what would be more exciting or more interesting, because they all seemed great. We spent one entire day at the Botanical Gardens, and even that wasn’t enough time.

We found Singapore to be a shiny, sparklling jewel, the sidewalks are immaculate, no stray dogs, cows or elephants like in India. But, we did find one thing wrong with Singapore, there really isn’t enough time to do everything, even if you were here for two weeks and there are too many places to spend our well earned money, just too many places.

I don’t do ghost tours, except when I have to.  And sometimes I have to.  It’s my job.  I’m a ghost cop.  I don’t have to explain what I do, but I do explain it all the time, because I like to, because I like to talk.  You spend as much time alone as I do, you’d talk, too.  I talk to myself and I’m not afraid to say it out loud.  I do, all the time, when I’m alone.  This is more interesting to me, though.  If your job was to walk down dark paths hoping that you’ll catch sight of some spirit, and then realizing that if you do catch sight of one, you’ll probably start screaming and running like in Scooby Doo, you’d talk to yourself, and even loudly, I would bet.

On some jobs, it’s the only thing that saves me.  Now like I said, I don’t do the tours, but when I found myself in Ocean City, staying at a hotel from this site I got excited.  I’d heard that Betsy Ross actually lived in one of the houses here.  That was exciting.  And there might be some ghost activity connected to that house.  Now we’re getting warm.  I mean hot.  I meant to say, that’s hot, red hot.  So I took the ghost tour, deciding that I might find some rather interesting threads that I could tie together and make into a nice quilt.  We’d see if I was right.

I was wrong, actually.  Dead wrong.  But don’t get me wrong, it’s got nothing to do with the flag, or the house, or even the Betsy.  The Big Betsy, that’s what I started calling her after a day or two.  The fact is, ghost tours are terrifying things.  You find yourself walking through neighborhoods, crossing streets, and sometimes even going into places, and all of it can be overwhelming.  So overwhelming that when you’re walking with the group and you’re realizing that you’re treading up on the trail of the Big Betsy, your heart is already beating before the cat in the tree above you decides to meow, and that’s enough to make anyone start shoving people aside and running through the streets screaming, “Help me, help me, ghost cat above my head, gonna rain down grief, ghost cat, watchout.”  And they won’t let you on tours any more.

Valentine’s day was in two days, so we decided to go to San Antonio, Texas; we thought it might be an ideal romantic place to visit. We took off on Friday morning, so we could have 3 days wonderful days to play and explore.

I looked up on the Internet for the better hotels in San Antonio to stay at, I rented a car online and I looked up some places of interest just in case we leave our hotel suite. Believe it or not, that only took my 10 minutes! 10 minutes to book a room, rent a car and find fun places to check out! I don’t know what I’d do if there wasn’t the Internet. I mean, how did  people do it without the Internet? How?!?

We started out at 5am in the morning to beat all the rush hour traffic, we put one hundred miles on the rental, when my husband realized he left his wallet at the car rental place. I was a bit peeved for only a minute, but as we were heading back, I remember one time when I left my purse at home and we had to turn around when we were 300 miles out! So, I began to laugh and so did my husband, we were even!

When we got to the car rental place, they were ready for us, they had my husbands wallet and gladly turned it over to him. We were back on the road, still missing the rush hour and we made good time (speeding) and made it to San Marcos by 9am. We stopped off at a donut shop and downed a couple of donuts with coffee. We reached San Antonio around 10am and before we checked in to our hotel, we headed to the Alamo. At the Alamo we saw the 1845 war reenacted by city volunteers all dressed in 1845 garb. The Alamo was a Spanish missionary, which became an important landmark for San Antonio, it’s where The Texas War of Independence took place and where many Texan soldiers died.

After the Alamo, we headed to our hotel and checked in. I have a few more places of interest to check out while we’re here, I just don’t know if will get a chance to leave our room.

For many of us, when we buy a home it is an investment in the future rather than a strictly monetary investment. Even though house flipping was all rage a few years back, with the real-estate industry still deep in a slump that has never been truer. Although we would love to see the value return to homes someday, they have truly become a place of refuge for raising our families and escaping the world. Since most of us will be staying where we are for awhile, there are a few things that we can do to help increase our homes value as well as benefit from them ourselves. Albeit on the pricey side, investing in dual pane windows is a wise investment. Not only will cut down seriously on your electric bill, but they will also add value to your home should you decide to sell. They are easy to maintain and look really good as well. Many companies even offer warranties should they get broken. We bought ours through the Home Depot and when my husband nicked one of the panes while cutting the grass, they replaced it free of charge. Another, less expensive, home investment is window blinds . Not only will they improve the look of your home, but they will also give your home a more finished look should you ever decide to sell. When you move into a new home and are knee deep in the unpacking process, the last thing you want to think about is buying new window treatments for all of your windows. Other small improvements, such as replacing old appliances and improving the landscaping, are simple ways to increase the value of your home while still being able to enjoy living in it now. With these small changes, you’ll be all ready to go when the market does turn around.

Malta is one of those islands that is one of the lesser-traveled tourist destinations, making it rather ideal for the discerning global traveler.  There aren’t as many developed tourist agendas here, and it’s possible to really get in touch with the local population, along with the local rhythms of place.  It is also completely equipped to take care of every guests needs, offering contemporary amenities that will make you feel connected to the world.  There is also a spectacular opportunity to get lost in the mystery of the place, and disappear from all of your usual responsibilities and obligations.  Malta has plenty of luxury hotels so that a vacation here can be spent in splendid style.

It is also the home to Ruth Bianco, digital and combined media artist, and being here also offers a wonderful opportunity to see her work in context.  She is far ahead of the wave of contemporary art practice, using her skills and talents to move contemporary forms of visual art in new and exciting directions.  She was born and raised in Malta, and currently divides her time between here and the U.K., where she earned her Master’s and Doctoral degree in fine art.  Her work is shown widely in Europe, and Malta in particular is an ideal location to get to know her complicated body of art.

Her work is particularly focused on the idea of territory.  Drawing on the theories of Gilles Delueze, her video installations are particularly suitable toward exploring the notion of deterritorialization.  This concept takes geography as a beginning point, looking at notions of political boundaries and nationhood.  Deterritorialization refers, then, to the physical movements and migrations of peoples, but also refers to concepts.  It can suggest that fixed meanings get lost in movement, but it also suggests that there is a possibility for liberation, both philosophical and personal, in dislocation, where new meanings are possible in the moment.  Her work is a deep interrogation into history’s great rubbish heap, mining concrete space along with accompanying abstractions to suggest new lines of flight.

I visited Boulder for the first time in my life a couple of months ago. It was actually on accident. I was in Denver with a friend of mine. We were going to go skiing and flew into Denver to make the trip. We were having lunch in a local café when my friend Tom casually mentioned that his uncle lived in Boulder and he just realized how close it was to Denver. Well, naturally I thought this sounded like a preplanned set up but I wasn’t annoyed with my friend and actually supported the idea of visiting his uncle. I come from an extremely family oriented background and just support and enjoy relative connections and closeness when I see it in others.

So, Tom and I decided we would take an entire day, we were going to stay the night in Denver, and explore Boulder and visit his uncle. It turns out that Boulder is actually a really interesting and dynamic city. It is one of Colorado’s more progressive green cities and the entire town has a vibrant feel. This might be partly due to the fact that although there is a large population of families and couples that live there it is essentially a college town, or so I’ve heard.

We picked up Tom’s uncle and then had lunch at his favorite Mexican food place in town. One of the things I love about visiting people in cities that I’ve never before been to is having food at their favorite restaurants. This serves two purposes for me. One is that I like to explore new cities through their food and the other is the same though based on the individual. I’m terribly interested in what people eat and if they like it. It’s one of my personal obsessions I guess. And if you’re interested, I found out that Juanita’s Mexican Food in Boulder is absolutely fabulous. I had the chimichanga plato and the green chile sauce was delicious. Tom’s uncle had the chicken chipotle, which is one of his top two favorites. Tom had the fajitas and they really smelled and looked good. We enjoyed our meal so much that the following day we checked out of our hotel rooms and ate there again.

Twenty-eight years ago, a museum opened in New York City that’s unlike most others.  It’s the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, which now receives ten million visitors a year to a place that is focused around the Interpid, an aircraft carrier (CVS-11) that’s now a national historic landmark, and one of the city’s great attractions.  She was commissioned in 1943, and utilized in World War II.  In later years, she was the main vessels used to recover NASA capsules.  The ship served three tours of duty off the shores of Vietnam and was used in the North Atlantic to surveil for submarines in the Cold War.  Now the ship is a museum, a center for education, and a testament to all those in the nation’s military service.

Aboard the Intrepid, you’ll find a number of exhibits that you can see and touch.  There’s recreations of history with the exhibit, Kamikaze: Day of Darkness, Day of Light.  There’s also an A-6 Cockpit Simulator.  You can visit a Virtual Flight Zone, and you can walk inside the Concorde, the world’s fastest commerical plane.  Considered a national icon, the Intrepid receives more than seven hundred and fifty thousand visitors a year.

From February 13th to February 21st, it’s Kid’s Week aboard the Intrepid, so if you’re traveling to New York with kids, it’s the perfect time to view the ship and all of its exhibits.  There will be giveaways and raffles, as well as science demonstrations, and the opportunity win a free week at Camp Intrepid 2010 (normally a 450 dollar value), where kids engage in outdoor activities (tug of war, relay races, and so on), as well as exploring the new Pier and Flight Deck, and even dine on the aircraft elevator, which overlooks the Hudson.

Once you’ve let the kids explore, then you might take time for youself and a loved one to tour the New York meant for adults, such as its casinos, which you may find in many hotels.

Jenny anticipated that she would spend a great deal of time on the beach when she accompanied her husband Phillip to Florida for an, as he put it, essential business convention. He didn’t like to go on business trips as a general rule, primarily because he wasn’t comfortable sleeping in hotels, the reason for which Jenny never knew or attempted to understand. And when he was asked to take part in the convention in Southern Florida he thought his wife might be willing to go along. He convinced her that she could spend her days lounging in the sun and sand while he attended to business and he would take her out for a nice dinner every evening. Jenny didn’t have near the problem with travel that Phillip did but she acted like it was an enormous favor just in case she needed the leverage at some point.

Her husband was true to his word except for one thing, Jenny wasn’t able to spend her days lazily enjoying the sun and sand. It wasn’t that there was a complication, obstacle or problem it was that there was simply too much else to do. From the moment they checked into their room in one of the cozy hotels along the Florida beach she was filled with excitement about shopping and sight seeing opportunities. She loved the Old Town area felt she could easily lose herself on the historic streets. She also spent an entire afternoon at the Key West Museum of Art and History.

On Phillip’s final day of convention he ended up getting finished early. He called Jenny who had to be dragged from the Key West Botanical Forest and Garden. When she met up with Phillip she begged him to take her to Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, which he was happy to do, still being in a state of gratitude. They had such a great time that night and spent much of it exploring some of the local dance clubs. Phillip was so tired when they returned to their room he completely forgot that he wasn’t able to sleep in hotels and immediately closed his eyes and drifted off to dreamland.