One More, Please

The  day I left Winston, a storm was hitting Boston. On the plus side, I didn't have to sit through a snowstorm with a foot of accumulation.

However, I was stick in Philly.

Despite being slammed by hundreds of stranded travelers, I was able to secure a room at the Philly Marriott. But, wow, it was depressing.

The River Grill—the hotel's restaurant—was under renovation, so  a makeshift cafe was set up in the lobby-area. The food was bad, and the waitress who was working the busy dinner crowd solo was grimly chipper. Just go with it.

I couldn't get a flight to Boston for a few days, but fortunately, I was able to fly into Manchester, NH the next morning. This actually worked out better for me since my folks picked me up with my dog, and brought me back to town...saving me a drive to NH. It was very nice of them.

But, altogether, from the warm weather, to the fun cafes in downtown Winston, to the lower hotel rates, I wish I had just stayed the extra night in NC. To say nothing of Michael.

Hutch & Harris part 2

I couldn't have written anything sweeter than my interaction with the restaurant manager, Michael.

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Welcome to Winston

After I left DC, I was on to the business portion of my trip: a week in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 

I was warned by my friend Steve that the city had gone through a bit of a revitalization in the past decade, with an artsy cute, downtown with good restaurants.

Check, check, and check.

Not saying I'd like to live there, but indeed, it surpassed expectations.

Criticism time: it's not the type of place that you can buy a postcard of. Which I really love doing. Ok, mostly I like to RECEIVE postcards (and, I have every postcard ever sent to me since I was a teenager. I love cheesy "greetings from—" postcards best of all!) but in order to encourage the receipt of them, I send out many.

The conference I attended was hosted by Wake Forest University. At the campus bookshop, I found postcards of the university, but it seemed like they were printed on the shop's inkjet on barely cardstock. But that's the best I could find, so there we go.

I was in town for the whole business week, so got to sample a good variety of the place. And spent some quality time with people I've known for years, but see just once or twice a year. That's always fun, despite the perma-hang-over.

Definitely enjoyed my time in "Winston," as Michael referred to it.