Travel 2009: A Year for the Home Fires

Tonight, people will say goodbye to 2009. Don't let the door hit you in the ass.
A tough year in many respects, 2009 was a year to stay relatively close to home. Many of us, despite the wanderlust in our hearts, did just that.
The stay-cation became an accepted norm. In New York, the stay-cation is no raw deal. People pay good money to get here; we don't have to sink the airfare or hotel cost to see a Broadway show or visit the Met.
In more certain times, we take one big trip out of the country and several domestic trips every year. But we only left the borders of the city a couple of times, though we did reach the left coast once.
The moment my job was assured, we spent a week in California, driving down Highway 101 and spending some time in both endcaps, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
In August, we went to Milwaukee for a week, since we skipped it in 2008 in favor of Austin. Milwaukee is my adopted hometown and 2009 was a year for going home.
Not everyone confined themselves to the continental US. Good friends went to Turkey and Greece, another just headed to India.
Where, if anywhere, did you go in 2009?

Times Square Subway Art

As New York City prepares for the ball-drop madness that is a Times Square New Year's Eve, I recall walking through the empty 1, 2, 3 train corridor in the near silence of a Saturday morning earlier this month.
Forget about tomorrow's crowd. With just the normal weekday throng of commuters hustling through the station, you can easily miss the art embedded in the station's walls.
I noticed the lit, metal-framed images one quiet Saturday morning, pre-coffee, on my way to a class. Get up close and you'll see the ceramic glazed iconic images that draw a parallel of New York revelry to Paris in the 1890s. The color and the party themes remind me of the surreal debauchery of the movie Moulin Rouge!
The artist is Toby Buonaguiro and you can check out all 35 of the ceramic New York images.
The New York City subway system is filled with art. You just need to take the time to notice it.

It's Christmas Eve in the City

Well, ring-a-ling, it's Christmas Eve again.
Spend Christmas in New York, that magical city, with millions of others.
There's so much to see and so many ways to spend your money. And so darn many people.
To feel the real deal, spend a few minutes on the corner of 34th Street and 7th Avenue. The bells of the Salvation Army Santas ring louder than the sirens of impatient emergency vehicle. But we're all impatient, aren't we?
Try crossing that crowded intersection, especially from the northeast corner to the northwest corner. The people move in a lattice pattern with an enforced speed limit of a zombie-walk. But there are no rules of the road here in the wild, wild northeast; no alternate merge. The aggressive ones overpower the weak and the out-of-towners. Here, the best defense is a double-wide stroller.
What's not to love? Merry Christmas, everyone!
Get home safe, or at least in one piece.

Grand Central's Christmas Light Show

What Made Milwaukee Famous

Gene and I took another trip to Milwaukee this summer, visiting some of our favorite places and some new places as well.
I took Gene to Miss Katie's Diner for some wet Milwaukee barbecue ribs and buttery hash browns. We celebrated my birthday in typical Milwaukee style with a vast intake of calories. We noted changes since our last visit two summers ago; Elliot's Bistro is gone and Von Trier's is just a shadow of its former self.
We got a kick out of the rumors of The Pfister Hotel's haunting. Hey, if it brings the room rates down, I'm all for it.
Check out my photos and journal of the first half of the week in Milwaukee.