Indianapolis--part 2

Place: downtown is pretty much what I expected, though I did see a public square last night that reminded me quite a bit of Madrid in that a memorial column thingy was in the center, people and bikes parked on its steps, and all around the square were restaurants with outdoor patios & people actually sitting outside enjoying the last of the warm (i.e. 60 degree) weather. There is a Hard Rock Cafe here, which I didn't expect at all, as well as a couple "Irish" pubs and some very nice restaurants downtown, one of which is in my hotel--called Shula's--and is horribly overpriced but the food tastes good. The hotel itself--the Westin--has a magnificent lobby but room doors that don't open on the first try and drains that don't drain properly and bath towels as rough as sandpaper and a 12-oz bottle of water that would cost me $3 to touch. Speaking of water, the water that comes out of the tap here is positively undrinkable (yucky yuck yuck!). Ah well. At least there's free HBO and a very comfy bed.

People: at the conference I met a couple colleagues from South Texas College and one from a community college in Western Pennsylvania. Had dinner last night with the STC peeps: it was very nice of them to invite me out and I was not completely neglected, bu they did spend quite a bit of time on their Crackberries and reminiscing to each other about past trips to other places with other people. Hmph. The guy from Western PA was a PhD in Higher Ed, married, originally from Rhode Island (where I lived for a short time when I was younger), not completely satisfied with his job and trying to figure out what would make both him and his wife happy ever after. At the pub next door to the hotel tonight (where I went for dinner, thank you very much) I met four fine gentlemen between the ages of 26 and 70 who kept me entertained until I no longer had the will to finish grading papers. One of said gentlemen is a bartender at Shula's, two are bartenders at pub-next-door, and one is a Vietnam vet who is a regular at pub-next-door and who complimented me several times on my cleavage. Hmm.

Indianapolis--part 1

I am off to Indianapolis for a professional conference. Am far more excited about the conference than I am about Indianapolis. I've never been there, but I've never heard anything about the city that would cause me to be curious about it either. And the tourism photos I've seen feature downtown modern glass skyscrapers, which doesn't particularly appeal to my imagination.

Then again, a lot of the Portland tourism photos feature our downtown skyscrapers, with or without the river and bridges included either in the foreground or background, and while it's a nice view, it's not representative of the Portland I've come to know and love.

So here I am at PDX, having arrived at the gate a couple hours before departure time, taking advantage of the free Internet and trying to imagine what Indianapolis will be like while knowing full well that I won't have time to explore more than a few downtown blocks around my hotel. At least I'll be staying in a nice hotel.

I realized shortly after arriving at the airport that I hadn't even thought to bring my camera, which might be an indication either of how rarely I take photos or of my assumption that there won't be anything worth taking photos of. We shall see.

photos posted on Facebook

If you're interested in seeing the photos from our trip, click these links (separately):

Album 1: Manchester & Wales

Album 2: The Cumbria Way

have reached Carlisle alive

We did it! And actually walked the whole way, despite entertaining thoughts of taking a bus or train from time to time.

Yesterday was the longest & hardest day for us, 15 or 16 miles made more difficult by sheer exhaustion. Main lesson learned on this trek: we were not as in shape as we thought we were.

Celebrated our arrival in Carlisle last night by hobbling a few blocks to a lovely Italian restaurant, where we ate 4 courses and drank lots of wine. Delish!

At the moment is pouring buckets outside while we finish up our time on the Internet in the Central Library. Don't have much on the agenda today except Starbucks and getting back to Manchester. Is so refreshing to not have to walk across poop-littered fields and through mud and over miles and miles of uneven, stone-covered paths. No steep climbs for us today. Whoopee!

A brief sketch of our Lake District walk: dripping sweat, beating sun, aching feet and legs, lots of sheep and cows, even more sheep and cow shit, losing the trail every day and walking at least a mile out of the way, hating the stupid guidebook, learning to read the map (sort of), clear streams, wildflowers galore, dramatic hills, mountains and valleys, long blue lakes, wading across fields of tall grass, a grand sense of accomplishment.

Still in Conwy

Turns out that we love Conwy so much and there's so much to do from here that we've decided to spend the rest of our Wales time here. Hooray!

The scene: Conwy lies at the mouth of an estuary, its medieval castle perched on a rock above the river. It was a walled city back in the day, and much of the wall has been restored and is still walkable today. To the west along the coastline lies the ocean. To the south lies the rolling hills and mountains. The colors are deep blue, vibrant green, and intense purple.

The first day we were here we walked along the town walls and all around the little town, along the promenade, onto the grounds of the cricket club.

The second day we walked along the river/coast to Llandudno (pronounced Cthlan-DID-noh), around that town and back again.

Day three took us along the Conwy side of the estuary/coast walk to the Conwy marina and beyond to a rocky shore.

Day four we hiked up Conwy Mountain on turfed paths among the sheep and rabbit dung, the foxgloves and some other beatiful purple flowers growing out of low bushes. The sea was on our right, the mountains on our left, the sky was cloudless and bright blue, the colors of the grasses, flowers and water were unreal. We couldn't imagine a more idyllic walk in Wales than this.

Day five, yesterday, we took the bus to Trefiw (pronounced TREH-view), checked out the Woolen Mill store, walked across a field to Llanrwst (CTHLAN-roost), walked along a creek to a tea house that had been recommended to us, ate a homemade currant scone with strawberry jam and whipped cream and butter, caught another bus to Betws-y-Coed (too complicated to explain pronunciation) where we took a walk along a river across a field dotted with sheep and through a wood. Was also a good food day, as the placed we lunched at in Betws-y-Coed and our dinner place here in Conwy cooked us probably the best meals we've had so far.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Mom and I joke to each other that it's a good thing we experience Rhyl first so we could really appreciate where we are now.

I admit I'm getting tired of the sunshine and of having to slather on the 50 SPF every day, but the good news came this morning that we're supposed to get a thunderstorm this afternoon. Woohoo!

Tomorrow or Sunday we'll head to Ulverston, where our Lake District walk begins. If it's anything like our Conwy Mountain walk, it'll be gorgeous and perfect.