Thursday, July 5, 2007

Highlights from the last week

Last week at this time I had my butt parked in front of a slot machine in Atlantic City. Oh, what a difference a week can make!

So last Friday I popped my ALA cherry, so to speak. It was my first ever trip the American Library Association's huge national conference. I was a newbie -- but I refused to attach the little sticker to my name badge. I would rather fend for myself than admit to not knowing what was happening. The last I heard, approximately 25,000 librarians invaded Washington DC. And let's just say that Stacy and Clinton would have had a lot to say about some of the fashions I witnessed there. Oh, and there was some strange librarian-initiated protest going on outside the convention center. They appeared to be protesting Madeleine Albright, though she was a speaker at LAST YEAR's conference. Julie Andrews was a speaker this year -- so maybe they were just trying to stir up some drama about that... who knows... The conference itself was only slightly better than ok. At least I had good company with me and a nice hotel to sleep in. Oh, and we had some excellent Mexican food, and brought the waiters home for some added entertainment. Maybe I should re-phrase that -- "I" didn't bring the waiters home -- some others invited them back to the apartment. Anyway you look at it, the evenings were much more entertaining than the time spent in libraryland.

I almost forgot -- here's the Book Cart Drill Teams Championships!



So, after 3 fun-filled days at ALA, we piled into the Echo and headed for the beach. Rehoboth Beach to be exact. Our hotel was what you would expect from an $80 a night 1-star beach hotel. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't great either. As all good hotel-stayers, we checked the sheets first thing. On the comforter was a ball of the nastiest hair I've ever seen! It didn't even look human! We decided it was from a drag queen's wig -- we were in Rehoboth after all... So, after Raul, our chambermaid, changed the sheets, the room was bearable. But check out the tv:



Yes, I am addicted to the game show network and it's a good thing we don't have that on our cable at home because I would spend weekends in front of the tv and never leave the house!

The weather was nice, but the water was cold!



From Rehoboth we took the Lewes-Cape May Ferry to New Jersey. That was actually very relaxing...


And then we ventured on to Atlantic City and Trump Plaza where we were greeted with hoards of elderly people in orthopedic shoes playing the slots. Two members of our traveling crew chose not to participant in our morally-questionable gambling activities, but the hubby and I got down to business and played the penny slots! (Yes, I said penny slots -- the nickel ones are too rich for our blood!) In the end, we broke even and we had a fun time, but I certainly wouldn't venture too far off of the boardwalk...

All and all, it was a good and relaxing vacation -- what more could I ask for?

1 comment:

Jenn said...

Oh, the fun we could have had with library carts! We missed a golden opportunity!

Sometimes when I watch the Game Show Network, I wonder how many of the contestants on the old shows are dead now.

LOVE penny slots! Tom and I went to the slots parlor they opened at the Meadows a few weeks ago, we ended up losing $9 when it was all said and done. We would have lost a lot more, but Tom put a $4 ticket in the machine on our way out the door, hit the button and won $34. We took it and ran!