Weekend
Spent the past long weekend traveling to Kansas and back for my lady's tri-annual family reunion. We took a fairly leisurely trip. Flew in to KC, MO's airport on Thursday, spent the night near the airport, putzed around until after lunch before driving the 90 minutes for our 3pm check-in. Coming back was equally unhurried.
Stayed at the Ramada next to the airport. I was picturing Ramadas as being a bit fancier, not that it was horrible. Our AC did not work, which they checked out while we went for dinner. Came back and they gave us a new room. The SleepNumber bed in that room was unadjustable and very hard. But we put up with that since my lady likes hard beds anyway (not, as it turns out, that hard). Our stay on the second night had working AC and regular bed. The service was friendly enough and did well with directing us to nearby food and such. No free breakfast, but had a ten dollar buffet.
For breakfast, we discovered Waffle House and liked it well enough that we ate there on our return also. I'm sure I've seen one in MD. Also joined jferg and family to grill some Mongolians compliments of Genghis Khan, which was pretty good.
We saw Ironman and enjoyed that. Still have to see Prince Caspian and Indian Jones.
For a rental car, we asked Hertz for full-size. We got a Dodge Magnum. Admittedly, it was pretty big and had four doors. But I didn't realize station wagons were in that category. Besides being a bit long, it drove ok once I got my seat and steering wheel adjusted. Actually, the most annoying part was due to my own habits. I drive a stick and the shifter is between the seats. When I drive my lady's truck (and in rental cars, up until now), it is an automatic on the column. The Magnum was an automatic and the shifter was between the seats. I was scared to leave my hand on the shifter for fear that I would try to change gears reflexively.
We also requested the GPS, which we have had pretty good luck with. But, since I will probably be no longer using Hertz...
This isn't really Hertz's fault. When CollegeGirl graduated, she started in Enterprise's management program. Which includes sales. Needless to say, there has been some pressure for me to use a different rental car company. And, considering that Enterprise starts off cheaper than Hertz (even with my AAA discount) and that I would get a family member discount, I'm certainly willing to give it a try
...using Hertz, I thought that I might break down and buy a GPS rather than renting one. Still going over reviews and such. Not really interested in anything but navigation (i.e. I don't need it to answer my phone or to watch Indian Jones in between turning points). Hertz uses a Magellan system, which has been pretty good. I think that I like that better than the Garmin one that my padre has. Haven't seen the TomTom one (or any of the myriad of other brands) in action.
Oh, just to finish up the food. Our first night we went to a slightly yuppie Irish pub in Zona Rosa plaza. And lunch, the following day, was in Parkville at Roxanne's Cafe, which was down home type cooking. I had the day's catfish special.
Stayed at the Ramada next to the airport. I was picturing Ramadas as being a bit fancier, not that it was horrible. Our AC did not work, which they checked out while we went for dinner. Came back and they gave us a new room. The SleepNumber bed in that room was unadjustable and very hard. But we put up with that since my lady likes hard beds anyway (not, as it turns out, that hard). Our stay on the second night had working AC and regular bed. The service was friendly enough and did well with directing us to nearby food and such. No free breakfast, but had a ten dollar buffet.
For breakfast, we discovered Waffle House and liked it well enough that we ate there on our return also. I'm sure I've seen one in MD. Also joined jferg and family to grill some Mongolians compliments of Genghis Khan, which was pretty good.
We saw Ironman and enjoyed that. Still have to see Prince Caspian and Indian Jones.
For a rental car, we asked Hertz for full-size. We got a Dodge Magnum. Admittedly, it was pretty big and had four doors. But I didn't realize station wagons were in that category. Besides being a bit long, it drove ok once I got my seat and steering wheel adjusted. Actually, the most annoying part was due to my own habits. I drive a stick and the shifter is between the seats. When I drive my lady's truck (and in rental cars, up until now), it is an automatic on the column. The Magnum was an automatic and the shifter was between the seats. I was scared to leave my hand on the shifter for fear that I would try to change gears reflexively.
We also requested the GPS, which we have had pretty good luck with. But, since I will probably be no longer using Hertz...
This isn't really Hertz's fault. When CollegeGirl graduated, she started in Enterprise's management program. Which includes sales. Needless to say, there has been some pressure for me to use a different rental car company. And, considering that Enterprise starts off cheaper than Hertz (even with my AAA discount) and that I would get a family member discount, I'm certainly willing to give it a try
...using Hertz, I thought that I might break down and buy a GPS rather than renting one. Still going over reviews and such. Not really interested in anything but navigation (i.e. I don't need it to answer my phone or to watch Indian Jones in between turning points). Hertz uses a Magellan system, which has been pretty good. I think that I like that better than the Garmin one that my padre has. Haven't seen the TomTom one (or any of the myriad of other brands) in action.
Oh, just to finish up the food. Our first night we went to a slightly yuppie Irish pub in Zona Rosa plaza. And lunch, the following day, was in Parkville at Roxanne's Cafe, which was down home type cooking. I had the day's catfish special.