Chattanooga

Haven't been in this city for almost 10 years. Alot has changed since my last visit. The town was in a "revitalization mode" last time I was here and just opened up the aquarium. They've seemed to build themself around the antique arts theme. In general, a cute enough town. Stayed at the historic Sheraton Read Hotel in downtown. Very nice, I dig the traditional wood and trim styles typical of the South in the 1800s. The room w

as very nice, was given a suite. Chattanooga seems to be a hotbed for weddings as there were about seven weddings going on this weekend in various hotels in the city. Had some very tasty breakfast at Aretha Frankenstein's, the best breakfast potatoes - they used garlic and jalapenos in the mix. Also, I've actually found scones!! Well, they called them biscuits but they looked and tasted like scones from the UK except they were the size of my fist. I also wondered through a fair and found some cool chicken sculptures from Hammock Ironworks. Might even order one.



On the way back home, had to fly through Chicago on American. I'm impressed with what American has in its Chicago terminal. Given that Chicago is United's hub, I assumed United would be the nicest terminal. AA doesn't do a bad change, it just makes me wonder why LAX sucks so much, Terminal 4 is the crappiest terminal of all the terminals at LAX.

Famous sighting of the day: Reverend Jesse Jackson on AA flight from Chicago to LAX.

Denver

For a change, I'm staying in Denver for more than a day. NAGAP is having a conference in Denver and I'll be in town for 4 days. Unusual, since I only visit Denver to go to UC-Boulder and that is usually an overnight trip.

I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn near the Convention Center. Very nice hotel, unlike any other HGI I have stayed. Full bar and restaurant and the decor is very modern. They've strayed away from the typical HGI layout. The rooms have your typical amenities of microwave and refrigerator but the decor is far nicer than I've experienced. The hotel is very new and the inner workings show it but they try and I will give them that credit. Lately, I've noticed the online Hilton reservations website isn't as good as it used to be. This is the second time where I've had a different room rate in the hotel's system versus what I booked online. I typically make reservations far in advance and check the hotel rates intermittenly to see if the rates have dropped as I get close to my check in date. I can't trust the website to securely and accurately make the changes I do online. Hmmmm, Hilton needs to invest in better IT people....

Walked around the downtown area, very much reminds me of a longer 3rd street Promenade in Santa Monica. They even have buses that run up and down the boulevard for us lazy people. Apparently, there is a large Mexican population as there was a Cinco de Mayo celebration near the civic center of Downtown. In general, I found the entire downtown Denver area very navigable and livable. Probably what every major city would like its city to be designed except for New York and San Francisco. :D

Going to check out the Rockies stadium before flying home. AND the Dodgers are in town, it'll be good game to see.