Hotels...wow...

My blog hiatus didn't stop me from continuing to take snapshots of my hotel windows. Boy have there been a few! Here, you'll find the TEN hotel rooms I had the pleasure of laying my sleepy head. Its actually much more interesting to look at these windows as a grouping. The bland uniformity of hotel furniture is striking...although a few hotels get kudos for mixing it up a bit :)

See if you can pick out the locations: lots of McLean and Seattle. Some southern California in there. San Antonio. Honolulu (ok...that one is obvious). LOL and a lovely shot of scenic DC (hint...its the brick wall).

Dated humor...

As I was digging through my work travel photos, I ran across this snippet from the USA Today. This edition came during the height of the swine flu hysteria...AND while I was on travel with the sniffles...thinking that I had surely picked up the swine flu on the flight.  Sooooo, I found it particularly humorous...or disturbing...that USA Today chose two stories to highlight from its website:  swine flu and American Idol.

Inspiring...

There is a quirky art installation near Inspiration Point in the Presidio. In a recently cleared and re-planted section of the aging historic forest, artist Andy Goldsworthy has assembled a tower of felled lumber called The Spire.

Pretty...

We spotted this odd rainbow on a drive through Sonoma. It was unusual (to me) to see this rainbow hug to close to the ground.

Night at the museum...

The new California Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park has become an instant landmark...it is also INCREDIBLY popular. Since it opened last fall, we have tried to visit several times, only to be met by amazingly long lines. And then the Academy did something ingenious...it opened the museum on Thursday nights...and made it adults only.  They served alcohol and played club music. They made it a hip destination.

When we visited, it was still crowded, and we couldn't see everything...but we got a nice walk-thru of the major parts.  We didn't get to go into the planetarium...so we will HAVE to go back. (I can't imagine what the museum is like during the day, with kids running everywhere and strollers clogging the narrow passages.)

Under one part of its eco-friendly, undulating, living roof, the museum houses an enclosed, multi-level rain forest (above). Since most of the museum is glass and steel, this glowing green orb is visible from 2/3 of the main floor...surrounded by pools of water that give you a glimpse of the aquariums on the floor below.







And yes, the museum also houses non-living (or formerly living) displays, such as its historic African diaramas, and jars upon jars of animals in various states of dissection.