Anecdotes From The Road

It’s funny because some of the shuttle drivers at Austin Bergstrom have begun to recognize me…one even asked if I come to the airport to ride the shuttles for fun… I replied, “Uhhh…well yea, doesn’t everyone do that??” We both got a good laugh.

Morning arrives, I leave bright & early! Beautiful sunny day & SO thankful to be on the non-busy side of MoPac for once. (I think anyone in Austin who must take MoPac or 35 can relate!)

There have been many things I’ve passed while driving that make me think to myself: “…Hmm.well, that’s interesting…” Such as this truck with a little stuffed animal man teathered to the back:

There are also many little things I never cared about / noticed…but now make all the difference in the world. Such as a rental car with an AUX port and car charger. And cruise control. (=

When selecting a rental car, I also never though I’d base my decision on the car keys.  However, because upon arrival I have about 12 taped shut boxes waiting to be opened… and because scissors always seem to be nonexistent at this exact moment, a “good” set of keys is worth its weight in gold.

What makes a good set of keys, you might ask? If you take a look at this set of keys – no bueno. Why? The big key has potential because it’s thick and longer, however untimately fails because there are no sharp edges to cut through tape / stickers. The little keys aren’t long enough and are too thin. Keychain fail.

(…and in case you’re curious…the Corolla, so far, has had the best set of keys.)

Moving on…

I never thought I’d get so excited about pavement / asphault quality. However now, getting on a stretch of road such as the one below (potholes, uneven surface, random patches of new road) drives me BATTY!

I hate to admit the extent I depend on Google Maps…but it is what it is. And I do. And had there not been Google Maps, I’d probably still be trying to find my way out of the Appalachian region.

Whew!

So there we have it…a day in the life on the road. (though no two days are ever the same…) And with that said…more stories to come… (;

A Few Days In Colorado

A month or so back I spent a few days in Colorado – had a great time! A few observations / thoughts…

Coming from Austin, I was FREEZING the entire time. 1 1/2 years in Texas and suddenly I can’t handle any temp. under 60 degrees. (;

Boulder reminds me of a mix between Eugene and Portland.

Aside from the Rockys, I never realized how flat Colorado is.

While in downtown Denver & Boulder, I felt as if I was walking around one of those little cities found inside a snow globe.

Some photos I took from the trip:

Cam across this self serving bike kiosk on the University of Colorado campus. By no means am I a biker (I know my weaknesses and me attempting to bike would just have a sad, sad ending), but I still enjoyed knowing that CU is bike friendly / “green”.

Walk sign with a twist:

Did a little geo-cacheing in Boulder:

There were mini outdoor ice rinks all over downtown Boulder & Denver. So cute!

Lots of neat statues. Including this guy:

I’ve noticed that many towns have downtown art displays, where various artists paint their own idea on the same item. (such as the horses I found I Kentucky).

Well, in Colorado, I found a bunch of painted pianos downtown! It was AWESOME. Why? Because people could play these pianos…and they did! You know how awesome it was to be walking around downtown and to see a random person sit down at a piano and go to town? Such as the guy in the pic below?? Love it.

Spent an afternoon in Golden:

At lunch, I ordered a hamburger and it was served with an apple! There’s a first for everything I suppose!

Walked around downtown and came across this sign:

All in all a great trip and solid 1st Colorado experience!

4 states, 4 days

It might seem by what I post on here that I have lots of free time to roam the city…but no, that’s not true. We all know that everything posted online is only a small snapshot of an entire picture. It’s certainly been a crazy 1 ½ years since moving to Austin, but I’ve been lucky.

Why have I been lucky? Well, there are countless reasons that I could write about for days. However, for this post, I’ll focus on luck with my job. Let’s start with this little bit from one of my favorite planners/strategists, Paul Isakson:

“If you truly believe that the future of marketing is about finding ways to make people’s lives better by doing things with and for them, you aren’t going to find the best ways to do that sitting in the office or hanging out at a research facility. You can’t see the red horses, purple hills, golden towns and wild skies from behind a two-way mirror or in a pile of survey data. You can only do that by taking the road and watching the sky; not the other way around.”

So I’ve been lucky to be able to travel for work and see parts of the country and hopefully world that I probably would never have had the opportunity to see. As a planner, this is a huge opportunity. It’s one thing to delve into pages of market research or learn about something via Google; however, we gain an entirely different level of understanding by experiencing these people, places, locations, culture, societies, etc. firsthand.

So a few weeks back I traveled up to the NE-ish part of the country – getting to 4 states in 4 days. Whew! It sure was a lot of travel, but I learned so much about this region, these schools, students, cultures, mentalities, etc. in just a few short days – it was awesome.

Started out on Monday from Austin to Charleston, WVA. Drove to Huntington, WVA., then down to Wise, VA (Tuesday), down through Cumberland Gap, TN to Corbin, KY (Wednesday), up to Berea, KY, then off to Lexington, KY to fly back to Austin (Thursday). Whew!

Here’s a map of my trip:

Like I said – it was an awesome trip. I took so much in and had a pretty ethnographic 4 days. (=

WVA’s capitol building:

WVA:

WVA:

WVA:

WVA:

Welcome to VA:

downtown Norton, VA:

Is this how others see America?

Welcome to KY:

Smoke stacks:

More smoke stacks:

Even more smoke stacks:

It POURED for about 15 minutes:

VA:

VA:

En route to KY:

Beautiful views through the Appalachian region:

Random hill side cemetery. Quite picturesque though, no?

A Few Days In Kentucky

Went up to Kentucky for a few days last week. I had never been to Kentucky before, so I really was excited to see what I would find! Aside from visiting Tennessee once in high school, I’ve never really been to that region of the States, so it was def. a new adventure for me!

…and p.s. on a side note, I was reminded of Anchorman when talking about this trip. Why? Well, whenever I’m talking about Oregon, I refer to it’s region as the Pacific Northwest, California is the west coast, any of the New England states as the east coast, Texas as the south, Nebraska as the mid-west…but when I was looking to refer to Kentucky’s region…I was at a loss…and could only be reminded of Brick Tamland referring to this region as the “middle east” during his weather report on Anchorman. (click this link and watch the clip at :30). Is the middle east accurate? No. Humorous? Perhaps.

Anyway, I digress… Continuing on:

I liked this – in Chicago’s O’Hare airpot during my layover:

Check out these clouds from the airplane! Doesn’t even seem real!

The University of Kentucky has a BEAUTIFUL campus!

UK J. School:

Another UK building / amphitheater…

LOVE the trees at UK!

And this is perhaps one of my favorite parts of the campus. Look at the next picture to see a closer look…

LOVE IT!

Beautiful Kentucky evening:

Had a few free hours so I walked around the downtown area. Found a street with these AMAZING old houses / incredible architecture!

So many stories involving this house, I bet:

This one too!

Downtown Lexington!

Legal self help. Hmm.

So then I ran into a decorated horse …and then I few blocks later I found another decorated horse…and then another! Looks like Lexington had something going on like those cows found back home in Portland! So, of course I needed to investigate. Check out the horses I found on my horse hunt:

And heading home, flying over Chicago. So beautiful:

« Older Entries Newer Entries »