Why I Oughta...

I made a stop in Memphis, Tennessee recently (my first trip there) and I didn't stay at the Peabody Hotel.  Nope.  I stayed next door.  At a...ummm...not so great place.  It was fine.  But it wasn't the Peabody.  And, I do love me some historic hotels, so I had to stop in during one of the breaks to take a look around the lobby. From their site : Known as the “South’s Grand Hotel,” The Peabody is legendary for its charm, elegance, gracious hospitality and rich history. This Memphis icon, opened in 1869, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is world-famous for its five resident ducks, who march daily through the lobby at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Of course, I had to see the ducks.  But, I didn't see them arrive or depart.  They were just kind of hanging out in the fountain in the lobby. And...that two-story lobby?  It is spectacular.  Worth going to have a drink there if you are in town. I've covered some oth...

More than 130 years old , this Dragon Tree at the Hotel Del Coronado is a stunner.   Even the hotel itself says that the tree "is almost as iconic as their signature red roofs" .  And it is right outside the front door of the hotel.  Well, it is a little bit offset, but if you are walking up the walk from the beachside area towards the front door, you walk right past it. Check out the marker below: It reads: Dragon Tree  Dracaena Draco  Native to the Canary Islands, this unusual tree was planted at The Del prior to the turn of the century where it thrives in our temperate southern California coastal climate. The dragon tree was used as a backdrop in the Marilyn Monroe movie 'Some Like It Hot', which was filmed at The Del in 1958. I haven't seen the movie, but I guess now it should be on our list, right?  The film has a 97% Fresh ranking on Rotten Tomatoes , but it is NOT at all about what I figured it was going to be about.  The ...

View from my room at the Marriott Nagoya .  Not quite a sky bar.  But a nice view.  Saw more from here on this trip than I saw from the ground level. 

I spent some time last month back in Japan, this time in Nagoya.  This was my second time in Nagoya - the first was a few years ago when I visited for the Cherry Blossoms . Sure, there are plenty of things to see around town, but let's start with the Marriott Associa Hotel.  I stayed on an upper floor and had a room with a twin bed.  But the carpet in the hallway right by the elevators?  Beautiful, isn't it? Reminds me of Spaceship Earth.   Am I nuts?  Or just Disney Drunk? Or maybe the pyramid that the holistic healer placed over George's head?

If you're a Disney person, you've probably heard about the Disneyland cats.  This Vice story does a good job unpacking the whole feline operation in Anaheim .  There's more than 100 feral cats that live in and around Disneyland Park that are fed and tended to (even tagged and neutered!) by Disney cast members/staff.  All in the name of reducing the rodent population - which they do a pretty great job. Just to be clear here:  We're not cat people in the Parrillo household.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to rain on your cat parade.  Just not going to be besties with Beth O and bring in cats to our house.   Seeing cats out in the wild?  Just fine, though.  And, for the record, this is the first entry into the archives with the [ Cats ] tag. As a Disney fan, you likely know the Disneyland cats story.  But, here's something you may not know:  there are cats at Disney's Aulani in Hawaii, too.  Here's a couple of phot...

Back at the end of June, I added a coaster (and glass cover) to the #CoasterCollection here on the blog and kind of just glossed over the actual hotel.  Being a fan of old-school hotels, the lobby at the Roosevelt deserves a post of it's own here in my online/travel diary.  Check out the photo above to see the mosiacs, the fixtures and the all around glamour of the place.  They don't build hotels like this any more - in terms of the materials but also the space.  There is so much 'useless' space that isn't in rooms.  The areas around the elevators on the upper floors is generous.  Today? They'd build that space into the rooms.  There are these little weird half-floors that are totally NOT ADA-compliant.   And in keeping with the Waldorf-Atoria tradition of featuring significant clocks in their lobby , the Roosevelt has a beautiful piece called "The Paris Exhibition Clock.  Turns out, despite the clock being made in 1867, it has o...

A double feature:  Coaster #28 and a little lid for a hotel-room glass - both from The Roosevelt in New Orleans.  This place is super old-fashioned and my kind of hotel:  rooms that are weird sized.  Big, odd-shaped spaces near the elevators.  Half-floors with like 4 or 5 stairs.  They'd NEVER build a hotel like this today.  Similar 'old fashioned' hotels in the [ coaster collection ] include the Adolphus in Dallas and The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.   This was my second trip to New Orleans with the first back in 2011 where we made a stop at Central Grocery . 

On a recent trip to NYC, I ended up spending some time in Midtown.  And found myself close to The Plaza Hotel.  I, of course, couldn't help myself and went to find the Eloise painting that is adjacent to the Palm Court.  You can see that above.  I didn't stop for tea in the Palm Court, but did wander down to the lower level and perused the Eloise store - the sign you can see below. I'm more of an Eloise guy versus a Home Alone 2 guy when it comes to the Plaza.  But, the folks running the hotel sure give Home Alone 2 a little bit of billing, but not nearly as much as the Eloise story.  Who knows...maybe one day, we'll be like Charlie Sheen .  But without the trashing of the room.  And the tiger blood.  And the whole #winning thing?  So, maybe nothing like Charlie Sheen.  Rather...(or Rawther as Eloise would say) more like just a guy who stays at the Plaza in the Eloise suite.  Bucket list stuff, right? Think this might...

The last time that I added a coaster to the [ Coaster Collection ] here on the blog was back in December of last year when I added #22 - The Adolphus Hotel in Dallas .  Right before that was #21 - The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs .  The coaster you see above is also from a hotel, making the streak 3 straight of hotel-related coasters.  This one is from the Arlo SoHo in NYC .  The Arlo is right directly across the street from our office, so it is super convenient, but man-o-man...the rooms are small.  I think they call them 'micro rooms', actually.  The coasters, however, are normal size. 

I would stay at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs 10 out of 10 times.  I posted about my stay at the Broadmoor back at the beginning of the month when I added it to the coaster collection .  As I mentioned in that post, I only stayed one night at the hotel and it was far too short of a stay.  I arrived late in the evening after dinner and headed out for an early flight in the am.  But, I woke up early and strolled some of the property to take it all in.  It is a special place .  When Spencer and Julie Penrose opened The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, the master plan was to create a place where European elegance met Western hospitality in the perfect blend of style and service excellence. More than nine decades later, their vision is intact and their dream is still alive. Since The Broadmoor opening, it has been the destination of a long list of presidents, statesmen, foreign dignitaries and celebrities. I *do* love a good, historic hotel....

A week or so ago, I posted a coaster from the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs here in the [ coaster collection ] that made it the #21.  Today is another sweet hotel - the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas - that is now #22.  I stayed at the Adolphus for a few nights and had a huge room.  I guess I shouldn't expect anything less down in Texas, right?  I have a soft spot in my heart for vintage, old-fashioned hotels and the Adolphus lived up to it's billing. 

Now entering #21 in the [Coaster Collection] here on the blog.  This one from The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.  Which...is a delightful place.  Turns out, it is owned by the same folks who own Heaven errr...Sea Island .    That explains a lot .  I have a few photos of my stay (which was entirely too short) that I'll post up here on the blog with more details at some point. The most recent coaster prior to this one was Abracadabar down on the Disney Boardwalk . You can find the full coaster collection here .

Earlier this Summer, I found myself in Philadelphia for a few days.  I posted about the beer I drank while waiting for my delayed flight home and the not-so-great steak I had at the airport , too.   I stayed at a placed called The Logan that had quite a collection of art around the place.  In the areas by the elevators on my floor, down the hallways and in various places around the lobby were mixed media, paintings, sculptures and more.  They're pretty proud of the art and it seems to be a big part of the hotel's personality.   Here's the page showing off a bunch of it on the hotel's site . The piece that I took a photo of above is called - of course - "Join, or Die".  Here's a look at the little plaque to the left of the piece.  It is right across from the main elevators and one of the more prominent pieces. The description from the Logan's site : “Join, or Die” is a well-known political cartoon, created by Benjamin Franklin and first pu...

This photo is hanging in the lounge at the Boardwalk Inn down on Crescent Lake.  I think this is from the club-level floor either in the club or right outside of it.  Kinda love the sea shells behind the couples in each of the matching convertibles.  I took this photo months ago, but for some reason it just popped up in my Google photos.  Thus, why it is getting posted now. It reminds me of the vintage photos that they had hung up down in Sea Island . You can see all the of the Boardwalk-related posts on the blog all the way back to our first stop there in the summer of 2012 here on the [boardwalk] tag page .

Just about one year ago today (February 12th of 2016), I posted about the really neat animated headboards at the Disneyland Hotel .  I've long thought that the little details like those headboards made spending the few extra dollars to stay at one of Disney's hotels was worth it vs. staying off property. Above you'll see a different headboard.  With different animations.  This time, it is in Orlando at Port Orleans Riverside in one of Princess Tiana's rooms.  We stayed there recently and loved it.   These headboards don't play music like the ones at DLR , but they're just as delightful.  The girls loved the little Princess touches around the room and I loved the price.  So let's call it a win-win, right?

There are gingerbread houses and even castles.  But then there's this:  the gingerbread carousel that graced the lobby of Disney's Beach Club and Yacht Club's lobby earlier this year.  You can read the description above and know that this is the 17th year of them doing this and it *is* pretty impressive. And it moves! The kids loved it but, I stood and stared for a while.  It's no Mary Blair artwork, but as far as lobby displays go, this one is pretty incredible.

As part of building our #NewOldFarmhouse out in Downers Grove ( I posted about the sewer and water main installation here on the blog earlier this month ), we're thinking about including a big, deep front porch that provides a lot of appeal from the street and gives us something we loved in our old place at 274 a place to gather and spend time in the mornings. As part of that new porch design, we've been look at something called Sawn Balusters.  Those are the parts that connect the top and bottom of the front railings.  Sawn is different than what they called "turned". Turned balusters are either square or cylindrical and are exactly that:  turned on a lathe or cut from a piece of wood.  Sawn balusters are common from the earlier part of the 20th century and are flat, not turned.  They can be of various thickness.  We've worked with our builder to come up with a custom pattern for them (more on that in a different post), but they can take the form of ...

If you find yourself down in Orlando at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, take a moment to head over to the Villas - which have been recently renamed the Boulder Creek Villas - and go to the "train room".  There, you'll see a bunch of stuff from the Carolwood Pacific train line.  That's the line that ran in Walt Disney's backyard.   They have two of the cars there that you can check out: I took some other photos of the train room (it is a neat space with a roaring fireplace and lots of comfy chairs) that I'll post at some point.  But these two cars, and the box they're in - which has a tramp art style to it - are the stars of the show.  Take the ten minutes after your meal in the Lodge to wander over to the Villas to check them out.  Neat stuff.

Last week, I was, once again, at the Chicago Athletic Association building for an event called the Carrier Summit from one of my #clients at Edelman called Businessolver.  The folks at Businessolver are doing some incredible things for benefits administration and I'm honored to be able to partner with them to build their business and deliver solutions for HR pros.  Again...making sure I put this here:  #client.   But, while there was some good stuff during the sessions, one of the stars of the show, was again the building at the CAA.  I've posted about the building and my visits before on the blog ( here's the full set of posts ) and I have a super soft spot in my heart for the place.  My oldest sister was married at the CAA back in the early 1990's and I spent more than a few afternoons eating sandwiches with the great Tom Roeser back in the aughts where we talked about his blog and he told some pretty incredible stories.   And the buildin...

The folks at Disney are always conducting consumer research on a wide variety of topics.  Everything from parks experiences to transportation to hotels and amenities.  In fact, earlier this year, a big part of the online Disney community was up in arms because of a few survey questions that probed on the consumer's willingness to pay for things like in-room Wi-fi and the Disney Magic Express bus transportation from MCO to the Disney Resorts in Florida.   We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel earlier this year, but have also stayed at the Poly and Bay Lake Tower in Orlando at Walt Disney World in the past months, so I am not sure which visit this specific survey is tied to, but it focused on 'amenities'.   The survey opened with questions about how important things like coffee makers, refrigerators, a digital safe, hdtv, usb plugs, night lights, open shelving vs. drawers, etc.  They asked on a scale of 'not desirable at all' to 'extremely desirable'.  T...