Friday Five

1. What's the last place you traveled to, outside your own home state/country?

New England and New York. I haven't been out of the country (to Canada) in about 25 years.

2. What's the most bizarre/unusual thing that's ever happened to you while traveling?

While traveling? Nothing bizarre that I remember. I do recall that the first time we drove cross country, my dad was determined he would not burn out the engine of his car the way he had with his brand-new Kaiser back in the 1950s coming home from Florida. So he was going to do regular oil changes on the trip and we had stopped in Nebraska to get that done. The jerk who did the job didn't fasten the drain plug on properly, it fell off, and we had to have our oil replenished and a new plug bought at the very next exit.

The most bizarre thing that every happened to me occurred a few miles from home--at Rocky Point Amusement Park in Warwick, RI. This was sometime in the late 1960s. Someone at the park had gotten the bright idea to add some animals to the park as a "petting zoo" attraction. The first two animals were a donkey and, why I don't know, as it doesn't strike me as being petting zoo material, a camel. The Sunday we visited there, the donkey was grazing next to the fence, which was low enough that I could get my arm over it to pet him.

Was the camel jealous? Attracted by my shirt color? Dunno, but he walked up and grabbed me by the upper part of my left arm. I let out a scream and my dad ran forward and began hitting his jaw and face to get him to let me go. The pressure of his teeth was very painful and my screams drew one of the park employees, who got the camel to let me go. His teeth never broke the skin, but my arm was all swollen and bruised with very clear teeth marks on both sides. I was rushed to the emergency room and treated, and I had the marks from the camel's upper teeth on the inside of my left arm for a good ten to fifteen years before they finally faded away completely.

3. If you could take off to anywhere, money and time being no object, where would you go?

Back to New England. Or Old England for that matter--I've always wanted to see Great Britain. Runner up: a cruise to Alaska or a trip to Australia (during our summer which would be their winter; I don't want to go anywhere in the summer anymore).

4. Do you prefer traveling by plane, train or car?

Car. I've been a pushover for road trips since I was knee high to...well, you know the drill. I goggle at the parents that have video and DVD players in the car to keep the kids busy; I always thought it was the most fun just looking out to see what was on the road because it was so different from at home. Maybe it's different traveling now because there are national chain stores and hotels everywhere and all the areas look alike? I remember discovering all the different regional restaurants and their specialties. For instance, out west cinnamon toast was very popular and I ordered as much of it as I could. Now everyone just stops at McDonald's or places like that.

Trains are neat, but there's not much train service around here. In Atlanta, there's one train going north a day, and one train going south. Ho hum. We've taken the commuter train the last two times we went to Boston. It's fun, if not exactly scenic! Would love to do a scenic railway ride someday.

5. What's the next place on your list to visit?

I really, really would like to spend a few days in New York rather than a few hours. I've heard so much about the Museum of Natural History and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; I'd love to see the Hotel Pennsylvania now that they've fixed it (when I used to go there it was still the Statler-Hilton) and show James the Macy's flagship store and where Gimbels used to be and go to the Museum of Broadcasting and Teddy Roosevelt's birthplace and the Tenement Museum. Oh, and I've never been to the Strand Bookstore, although I've heard so much about it.

We talked about this when we were in NYC to see Say Goodnight Gracie and figure we just need to get one of those New York package deals, or get a cheap Air Tran flight and find a good hotel deal on Travelocity or Expedia. There's a commuter train from Newark directly into the city now.

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:24:00 AM

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