The Garage (Off Topic) #7: So what have you done lately?
 

Exactly. There are towns and communities - and not just in New York - that have retained elements of the culture of the immigrants who founded them. Sometimes they are tourist traps (see Helen, Georgia), but they can still be fun and give you a taste of the original culture - even if it's a somewhat commercialized one. There's natural beauty that rivals anything you can find on any of the other continents. I bet most people in this country could find a fun and interesting place within a couple hundred miles of home if they just look.

Thankfully I'm pretty good at spotting tourist traps. :lol: There's a "Man Eating Salmon" thing in the U.P. that is literally a man, eating salmon.

My dad was a tourist trap magnet. He would stop at any roadside attraction and drag us kids out of the car to see something stupid. But when we're traveling from Washington State to Texas, could we stop at the Grand Canyon - NOPE!

Well, I'm in New Jersey! My friend lives in a surprisingly quiet area with a ton of non chain restaurants, I swear I just had the best shrimp linguine.

I love little small town restaurants. It can be hard to find the good ones unless you have a local guide - but they're totally worth it when you do.

When I travel I generally just ask a hotel or campground worker what the good local places are. We've found some incredible ones over the years.

At least once before I *move* to NC, I want to go down for a visit and stay in a B&B that my brother found for me that is right in the old town section of Winston-Salem. It's in the middle of a district that includes a lot of old neighborhood restaurants that are just wonderful, and if you don't want to go out, the B&B folks will pick up an order from one of them and deliver it to your room!

Honestly whoever invented food delivery was a saint.

I don't live where anyone delivers but they're still a saint. :lol:

I am SO going to miss it. Where I'm moving I'll be able to get pizza delivered, that's it. Up here, I can get delivery from hundreds of different restaurants. Some of it is pretty pricey, but there are a few that do free delivery, particularly this one Chinese restaurant that is just amazing.

Although, in NC, almost every restaurant has a drive thru, and many you can call ahead so your order is ready when you get there. Not quite as convenient as just opening your door, but if you don't have to get out of your car, you can drive over in comfy clothes.

Yeah, no one delivers out to me but most of the restaurants have very easy pick up so on the rare occasion we order food, that's nice.

I live right next to Arlington Cemetary. It's not unusual to hear loud booms because they occasionally have cannon fire for a funeral, or they are testing the cannons.

It is a little freaky when you hear a round of booms and right afterwards hear a whole bunch of sirens. :eek: Hopefully nobody misfired.

We hear booms quite often out here in the country too - so we get to play the fun game of "firecracker or gunshot?"

One thing that will probably drive me a little crazy is the LACK of noise. I'm used to sirens and planes and helicopters and kid noise just about all the time. The last time I visited I was so HAPPY when I woke up one morning and heard a train whistle in the distance.

They turned on the A/C today! :clap:

I'm back home from Kentucky, I'm exhausted and I'm sick and in the next 30 hours I have two shifts at work as well as a baby shower to attend. :spinface:

Ugh. Sorry to hear that.

This is the first weekend I've had in over a month where I didn't have to work all day Saturday. I can think of dozens of things I could do. So far I have:

• Cleaned the Kitchen
• Taken a long bath and washed my hair
• Signed up for a 30 day free trial of Hulu so I can binge watch the rest of my weekend away. :D

Binge watching is great.

Last night I managed to finish a fic as well as update another one, so I'm managing to be productive in and among my struggle bussing. :lol: But nothing else but Kentucky Derby this afternoon for me! So thrilled to have coverage from 2:30-7. I'm so used to just an hour or two, if racing is on network TV at all.

The Internet is trying to tell me something. I love horse racing - but I pretty much never bet. I just root for horses for fun unless I'm physically at the track. This year I have a particular favorite in the Derby for an unusual reason, so I thought, "Why not?"

I've been trying to deposit money so I can place this bet for the last 20 minutes. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that I'm getting nothing but 504 Gateway Timeout errors.

I guess I won't be betting, after all.

I did great betting on Friday. Today with the rain I was trying to play some longshot exotic bets and that did not work out at all. Should have just stuck with my gut. :lol:

I'm surprised that my pick came in middle of the pack. Usually my horse is somewhere just shy of dead last.

I am a bit miffed that I couldn't get in - although I it doesn't surprise me. I might set up a small account for future such impulses. But had I been able to get in and bet, my place selection would have at least allowed me to break even. :)

Yeah I was gonna say, you had my man Magic in there!

Going into the race I honestly didn't think I felt super strongly about any horse in terms of emotional attachment - and then Justify and Good Magic led the charge down the stretch and I actually cried because those two are my favorites.

It was a fabulous race, especially considering that track. It was nasty.

Three of my friends were working it for media sites - they were soaked through, today they're sore and their cameras are sitting in rice.

Today is my mom's birthday. She passed away 14 years ago. My sweetheart of a brother sent me flowers so I can have happy memories of mom.

Oh that's so sweet. Yesterday was Roxanne's mom's birthday. The day before her and her sisters all got tattoos in her memory.