Soundin' Off

We were in Williamsburg, and…

Williamsburg, Va. Not Williamsport, Pa. Big difference. That’s what I did when pried away from my summer vacation, 2008 edition. (Besides, that’s Pickens’ problem this time.)

So we were in Williamsburg. And the hotel would have been incredible if certain things had been updated since the Reagan administration. We had this pull-out couch that only sort of pulled out. Even before I got on it, the mattress was well lower than the frame.

This is presumably why we were able to afford to stay there.

So the second night we were there, I pulled out the couch and got in and turned out the light. I started to doze off…

And then this spider appears on the bed.

I jumped up, shoved the pillow at it, jumped, jumped backward, scrambled and flailed my way out of bed. And…

I paused. This spider was huge. Like, cartoonishly huge. Like, Greg Brady’s tiki idol wouldn’t bring forth a spider this huge.

The spider may have been a dream, but the li’l rips in my legs from the frame of this ancient pull-out couch? Not.

So what did I bring with me from Williamsburg? Probably lockjaw.*

Glenallen Hill Moment aside, it was a nice tour of the Mid-Atlantic, truly. Started off in North Carolina to visit cousins who moved down there. Suburbia truly is suburbia, wherever it’s found. N.C. was also my 25th state visited. Halfway home. The second half is the hardest, though.

We went up to Williamsburg from there. Drove around Yorktown. You get out at one stop and read the sign. Near that spot, it said, Cornwallis sent his No. 2 to visit the French and Americans. He went to the French first, and Rochambeau sent him to the Americans. He went to Washington, who stood on protocol and sent him to the Americans’ No. 2, Benjamin Lincoln. And near that spot some 229 years ago, the greatest power in the world surrendered. Chills.

Williamsburg was OK. Jamestown wasn’t bad. No chills like Yorktown.

Off to DC from there for a few days. The Holocaust Museum punches you in the gut; heart-rending. The new World War II Memorial is a worthy monument; grandeur. Always fun to knock around the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History. One exhibit honored the Apollo Theater, really well-done, packed with neat artifacts and films. One young woman pointed out a Bob Marley record to her young son. The boy looked at it and puzzled. “What’s a record album?” I laughed for five minutes to avoid feeling old.

For all of DC’s vaunted mugginess, and I’ve felt it before, it was without a doubt muggier when we got back home than it was at any point on the Virginia/DC part of the trip. Lucked out.

The Georgetown Suites is a nice little place. Got a deal through a Web site; not too far from the sights, but not bank-breaking, either. But it struck me in there: I can remember staying at nice little places where you could pipe the TV audio into the bathroom. But I haven’t seen that since I was in college. Why have we gone backward? (Or am I staying in the wrong places?)

Love the Baltimore accent. Waitress at the diner asked Mom if she wanted “hewm fries” with breakfast. Was all I could do not to pump my fist.

Lots of catching up to do.

Wilton’s Brendan Milnamow re-upped with Idaho.

Seen on Jonathan’s blog: Matt Bertani’s old Penn State posse is talking about Division I hockey.

Got a kick out of our profile today of Senate candidate Peter Schiff. One of the folks he’s talking to in Darien? AHL linesman Dave Spannaus.

Dave Gagner home Nighthawks sweater on eBay.

As part of a review of last week’s Futurama, Zack Handlen linked to this Isaac Asimov story. Is it weird that implications of all that — that, and some of the stuff from the Futurama episode, too — have kept me up more than once? (Don’t even let me near Peak-Oil horror stories.) Further reading, if you’re not depressed enough. Bring on that time machine, Farnsy.

Related, sort of: The 25 Greatest Hubble Telescope Photos, though I rather wish they came with captions. (Hat tip: Newmark’s Door.)

Other TV thoughts: Dear “free”creditreport: I still vote for the pirates. Dear Quiznos: Please bring back the Spongmonkeys. And do you still have the deal where I get a dollar off if I bring you any coupon? For things to eat or oil changes or pony rides or for hair plugs?

Darn right Don Draper’s a hockey fan.

And RIP, Jack Tatum, Mitch Miller, Lorenzen Wright, Wayne Stephenson, Penguins PA announcer John Barbero and Billy Loes.

*-Last tetanus booster: 4/27/06, obviously. Still good, right?