Monday, October 17, 2011

As Dorothy so eloquently stated…there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.


Roses at International Peace Garden



I’m back from my recent trip to North Dakota, and I have discovered that there is truly no place like home.

Don’t get me wrong; there are good things and bad things about every place where you may travel.  Let me briefly touch on the not so great things and then I will take a peek at the good things.

Who likes air travel?  I’m not a large person but the seats on airplanes just get more and more cramped and if you think I’m making that up, think again.  I know for a fact that many airlines will move up seats (yes they are movable) a few inches in each row.  What do they gain, two extra rows!  Your knees press into the back of the seat in front of you.  The good thing is that if you are a short person you feel quite a bit taller so it is a fantastic ego boost.

Does anyone really enjoy Hotel beds?  I have stayed in 4 and 5 star hotels and I have stayed in mediocre ones, and I find there is one thing that they all have in common.  They all have crappy beds.  I always bring my own pillow as well.  It all takes some getting used to, but usually by the time I am down with the bed and getting good sleep it’s time to leave.  In addition it is an unfamiliar room and I have a tendency to get up once during the night.  During this trip I exited the bathroom and turned a bit too quickly aiming for the bed and walked smack dab into the wall.  You would think that humans learn from experience, but the next night I did the same exact thing.  So this trip I walked around with a headache and a knot on my noggin.  The benefit of repeatedly knocking oneself in the head (although my husband just couldn’t understand how I could keep doing it) is that when I lay me down to sleep, I slept.

Staying entertained in an unfamiliar state can be a daunting task.  North Dakota is a pretty large state by comparison to say…Delaware.  It is however more sparsely populated.  Nothing wrong with that, but with more population comes things to do, restaurants, and stores.  We discovered that anywhere you go in North Dakota it’s going to be about 100 mile trip.  That’s jus the way it is and the locals just take this fact for granted. Growing up 40 miles from Washington D.C. you can imagine that this was quite the culture shock for me.  As for restaurants, well when we asked a local about a good place to eat he told us, um…Applebee’s.  And since we have several Applebee’s within 10 miles of our house, we stopped and smelled the roses (yes there were still some blooming in the Peace Garden) and made ourselves right at home. 

12 comments:

maddyrose said...

I was thinking about you this morning and wondering when you'd be back home. I hate to travel any more for many of the reasons you mentioned in your post. It would take something pretty darn special to get me to get on a plane and road trips are out of the question so I guess I'm staying at home. Anyhoo, welcome back.

Lee Pierce said...

Welcome Home!

Ah! the joys of air travel...where did they go?

I love the difference between eastern and western states. Back east everything was a few miles away, here it's 40 miles or so but the trip tales 45 minutes by car in both.

Valerie-Jael said...

Hotel beds are really always extra crappy, the only time I got a good one was in Israel in Eilat. Glad to see you back, in spite of damages from walking into strange walls at night! Valerie

Daniella said...

Oh Crystal! Your poor head!!
I LOVE that they are excited about the Applebees!! Insane!! Sounds like a very interesting trip!!
There really is no place like home!!
xxDaniella

Anonymous said...

ouch! Your poor noggin! I think you weere very glad to be home for sure!

Dee ⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️ said...

It's always nice to be home.
I live in a busy area too. I can't imagine having to drive that far to get somewhere. Heck I could walk to most places. lol

Dee

Jehanne's doodles said...

Yes, I think that a couple of days after I have left home, and it is sweet to come back to my not so tidy house. My bed is the bestest- all the lump, bumps and hollows in the right place :)
I am glad I am not the only one who noticed that about the plane seat, and I am not short LOL

Gerri Herbst said...

Well we all have to suffer when traveling , but you did get to smell the roses! LOL. take care and thanks for stopping by. take care, gerri

Gail H. Ragsdale said...

I'm glad you are back! I too hate to fly and since 9/11 I haven't. Not pleasant with knee replacements and back fusion. If I have to travel, I drive.

Magic Love Crow said...

Welcome back ;o) I just came back from a little road trip ;o)

Wendy said...

Funny reading, Crystal!! Also brought back memories! It's been a while since I traveled extensively but BK (that's before kids!) I used to do so often across Europe and remember all too well the running for the plane, the lugging around of luggage and then the nights in a weird bed with strange speaking people! At least in America everybody speaks English! It's always nice to come home! :)

Heather said...

Glad you are back! xo

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