Photo of the Week: Scotland

Corgarff Castle, Scotland

A Day At the Hershey Spa

This summer I spent a day at the Hershey Spa with my friend, Tara. 

The Hershey Spa often offers promotions for, a day at the spa, using specific packages.  Packages vary, but Tara and I took advantage of a package that included lunch at the Oasis, a traditional massage and a 30 minute facial.  Becuase this was a day at the spa package we were also allowed to use the pool at the hotel.

Heaven, this was a fantastic day of relaxation. 

Check-in was easy, though you should arrive early since there is some paperwork you need to fill out.  The staff was friendly and professional. 

Our first stop was lunch at the Oasis.  It was a nice lunch, but I thought it was overpriced.  They offered all cold foods, mostly cold meats and salads.  They tasted very good and were high end, healthier foods.  But the best part was the desserts.  They also offered juices and teas to drink.

After that we had a good hour or so before our massages and decided to check out the indoor and outdoor pools.

The indoor pool was a smaller pool with hot tub next to it.  It was a nice quiet area with a couple other people who were visiting the spa there.  Otherwise it was unremarkable as far as hotel pools.

The outdoor pool was great though, one of the best I've visited.  There was a family pool with slides and sprinkler types of things.  It looked like it would be fun if you were traveling with children.  However, I was with adults and headed to the adult pool, which is an infinity pool.  The pool was the perfect temperature.  I've never been in a pool where you walked right in and never noticed a change in temperature, it was heaven!  There were ledges around the pool making it a nice place to sit in the pool and hang out with friends.   

When our massage appointments were due we headed back to the spa and hung out in the aroma room (since you can't talk in the quiet rooms).  I found the people who came and went through the room were fairly friendly.  The massage was great and after I was done I met with Tara in the aromatherapy room again and waited for my facial.  Tara and I had slightly different experiences with the facials.  It was nice, too short, and did not consist of a hard sell at the end, thankfully!  I've had massages and facials at many a spa over the years and in terms of the quality of the massage and facial I thought they were just as good, if not better, then other spas I have been to. 

Tara and I are already discussing when the next day at the spa will be, though I think we'll stay overnight at the hotel to make it an even more relaxing experience.

Credit Cards

On Tuesday I was reading John Heald's blog and got a lesson on Credit Cards, not really what I expected from John Heald, Cruise Director for the Carnival Splendor. 

For a while now I've been hearing about the europeans having these mythical credit cards with chips in them.  And I've also heard that in some places in Europe if you don't have one of these special cards then you can't use your credit card - the street bike rentals in Paris is one example.  I know many are bummed about this, especially since US credit card companies don't seem interested in this model. 

I am also aware that thieves, when they steal credit cards, will sometimes go to a gas station to check the credit card, it's an easy place to do it and not have to encounter a person incase it has been reported stolen.  I guess the credit cards and gas stations heard about this and many gas stations in the US now ask for your zip code before approving your credit card.  Sounds easy.  Except if you don't know your zip code (usually people with business cards), or you are from another country and don't have a zip code, as John found out.  ACK!

I guess we all have our issues with credit cards and it's not just a plot against non-european bike riders.  For those of you visiting the US, bring cash for gas!

Photo of the Week: England

Bath, England

North Dakota, the scary state

Right now I'm in training and at the facility I'm at there are a lot of people from different places around the country.  It makes things quite interesting.  The last time I was here I learned a bit about Wyoming, which if it wasn't so cold there might be a great place to visit.  This time I learned about North Dakota, the scary state!

The only thing I really knew about the Dakota's before tonight was that they are really separated by East and West culturally, not North and South.  I need to listen to fewer podcasts because they didn't know what I was talking about.  But it's a crazy ass place that I don't know if I ever want to visit.

Here is a briefing of the conversation, which did involve alcohol:

A 20 year old giving birth to her 5th child, in an ambulance.
The girl I was talking to lost her virginity in the backseat of a pick up truck on a windy night and got pregnant.
"Fixing" a dog at home, improperly, while the woman from Head Start stops by.  The men were not fans of that one.
Trying to commit suicide but measuring the rope wrong, everyone else's fault.
How to properly shoot up a barrel so it can be used for a fire.
Burning your trash at home, also burning yourself and having the medicine woman help clear up the burns.
Getting eaten by (at least 5) dogs, and living, but losing several limbs.

Individually each story was ok, when you put them all together you would rather drive through Canada to get where you're going.

If you're from North Dakota and normal, I'm sorry to offend you, but I'm a little freaked out.

Disney Restaurant Reviews:

My resturant reviews from my May trip to Disney World:

Big River Grille and Brewing Works
Located at the Boardwalk Resort.  I didn't really like this place.  My Mom and I waited at least 30 minutes, probably closer to an hour to eat here.  Then the food was just average.  I got a pasta dish and it didn't have much flavor. Even though it's a brewery type of place I do expect tomato sauce to have flavor to it.  The service was ok, but the best part of the place was that you could watch sports games at the bar.

I doubt I would ever go back here, maybe if I was at the Boardwalk and despirate, but I would go to the ESPN Zone or Flying Fish first.

Wolfgang Puck Cafe
This was better then the Big River Grille, though not a place I would add to my highly recommend list. 
I had the BBQ Pizza, which was spicier then I expected and made it not as good as it could have been.  But I found the menu to be a little too fancy for a restaurant at Downtown Disney.  I've been to Wolfgang Puck restaurants in Vegas with a more basic, but interesting menu.  When my sister tried to make a reservation for us she asked for 6:00 and was given 5:30, which is fine if they're busy since we were a bigger group with kids.  But, when we left at 6:45 the place wasn't that busy, at least 1/3 of the tables were empty.  That left a bit of a bad taste in the mouth. 

I liked Wolfgang Puck Cafe and would go back.  However, I would pick another resturant that I haven't been to at Downtown Disney first.

Pilots and technology

In my surgery recuperation I was watching a show from one of the History channels (how many are there now?) about runway incursions - almost accidents.  They highlighted the 1977 crash of a KLM and Pan Am 747 - the deadliest crash in aviation history, a story of how a dozen little things happen to make a gigantic crash, it's terrible and didn't have to happen.

But the crash did happen and it had lead to some improvements to prevent such crashes from happening again.  The show moves on to talk about some of the technology to prevent crashes.  I have to admit I watched parts of the show 3 times because I kept falling asleep, so I don't remember what any of it is called.

-There are changes to runway design/layout - such as making taxiways that do not go through runways.  Takes a lot of money and 10-15 year until completion of such a project.
-Then there are red lights they can put in runways that will go on when a plane is going on a runway so that other planes know not to cross - costs lots of money.
-Technology that monitors planes and when it sees a possible incursion redirects the planes (or maybe just 1 plane).  From the show I thought this was starting to be used, but then they said no on is using it, so not sure what the story is.  It does cost a lot of money though.

Then I was reading a blog post which mentioned the whole Ryan Air wanting to get rid of co-pilots.  I had heard some pilot talk about how that might not be as crazy as it sounds with the new technologies coming out, it feels weird, but that doesn't mean it's wrong.

But back to my thoughts about the technology that identifies incursions and redirects planes.  I was resisting, I mean, doesn't the controller know better (possibly the guy who didn't realize it was happening in the first place).  Uhhh, ok, the computer knows which way it's directing planes and is giving everyone the same message.  Hmmm.  I remember watching some other show about plane crashes where the controller gave bad information and didn't correct an incursion.  I'm leaning towards the technology (and you should only know how technology hates me lately).

I'm switching back to Ryan Air's plan to get rid of co-pilots.  While it still doesn't feel right, I think if the technology is there, maybe it's not such a bad idea.  Most plane crashes have to do with human error, if we get rid of the humans wouldn't we reduce the chance of a crash?

In the meantime, wear your seatbelt on the taxiway, it's dangerous there!

Photo of the Week: California

Yosemite, California

Where am I?

I want to apologize for not posting as much lately.  I have a whole bunch of excuses, some better then others.  But here's what's been going on...

I was busy with my day job at one point, I worked a lot of extra OT in October, then the first weekend of November I was away for a Penn State game - got to see Joe Paterno get his 400th win against Northwestern.  It was one of the best games I've even been to, the crowd was great (once the team started to score), I could barely hear the Blue Band for most of the game!

I bought a new computer, a Mac and I'm so confused by it, I keep finding new issues every time I try something new.  My brain hurts whenever I try to deal with iphoto.  There's been success and hysteria, but I'm still wondering where exactly my pictures are on my harddrive?  Let's just say that technology has not been my friend lately.

Then I had surgery and I'm still feeling doped up over a week later and I stopped taking the good drugs a few days ago.

So what does the future hold, until I sort out a couple more things posts will come out slowly.  When will things sort themselves out?  I wish yesterday, but I'm thinking another 2 weeks.

Photo of the Week: London

Buckingham Palace, London, England