So here I am today, browsing around the ol' interweb and I'm reading one of the handy info sites on flying. FlyerTalk.com. This site has a lot of insider information about flying, and tips to make it more enjoyable - and lucrative. I've been a member over there for several years now, and find it useful most of the time. Beware though, there are a lot of pesky grumps that are snobs when it comes to their levels of knowledge on that website. Before you post, research to see if your questions has been answered already - otherwise, prepare for an onslaught of people telling you to research better and find the needle in the haystack BEFORE you post. It's a pet peeve, but worth the information I guess.
Anyway, I read about a user that used a site called Kayak.com. While writing this post, I realized that I have heard of this site before, but never used it. I checked it out today, and WOW, what a useful tool.
On Kayak, you can plug in your trip origination, and destination, and poof, you're presented with 1,000's of options for flight travel. There are also options to check for Hotels, Vacations, Cruises and other deals. It's a smorgasbord of travel information, and the best part? You can filter out what you want and don't want.
For example, I'm a Premier member on United. I only want to fly United because, why earn miles on another airline when it doesn't benefit me? You can filter on an airline. It will show you the cheapest fares out there for any trip you can think of.
So "How is this better than any other travel site?" you ask. Simple. Kayak is culling all the data it finds from over 140 sites that offer fares for airline travel. I don't know about you, but I don't have the time, nor the desire to search 140+ websites for the best prices or that golden nugget of a deal that occasionally pops up.
So the next time you're looking for the cheapest fare, check out Kayak and see what it has to offer. And if you're looking for a mileage run (more about that topic in the future) you may just find something that will fit your budget. I have added links to the right hand side of this page for easy access to both FlyerTalk and Kayak. Have fun and happy travels.
dave.
24 October 2008
20 October 2008
Fall in New England...
This past weekend was quite a trip. One of the more memorable in a while. The pictures that I got out of it, were absolutely amazing (if I don't say so myself). We left from Maryland on Friday afternoon and headed up to Connecticut. After driving through NYC at night, we got into Shelton, CT. In the morning we headed up to New Britain. Matthew was practicing with the symphony in preparation for his solo the next day so we headed off towards New Hartford, CT. New Hartford, NY as it turns out was settled by the same people who settled New Hartford, CT. Below is a view of Main Street in New Hartford, CT. The history of New Hartford, CT can be found here. New Hartford, CT was formed along with seven other townships from settlers from Hartford, CT. One of the seven townships formed was Kellogsville, who are related to the Kellog's who settled in New Hartford, NY and Kellog Road is named after (unconfirmed).
Once again, geocaching played a role in this trip. I had been watching a cache called "100 Steps" for some time due to the panoramic views of Connecticut from the cache location. We drove up a long winding road in the People's State Forest to the parking location and hiked the rest of the way to the cache. The name "100 Steps" comes from the natural or man made (you can't really tell) stone steps leading up the hill to the panoramic views of the valley. Once we got to the top, we realized that the hike was well worth it.
Once again, geocaching played a role in this trip. I had been watching a cache called "100 Steps" for some time due to the panoramic views of Connecticut from the cache location. We drove up a long winding road in the People's State Forest to the parking location and hiked the rest of the way to the cache. The name "100 Steps" comes from the natural or man made (you can't really tell) stone steps leading up the hill to the panoramic views of the valley. Once we got to the top, we realized that the hike was well worth it.
We had packed a lunch and had plans to make a day of it, so we went and found the cache which was nestled under a rock outcropping about a hundred yards away. We pulled out our lunch that we picked up at Trader Joe's (it tasted kind of gross - I don't know how people eat organic all the time), and sat at the lookout taking in all the changing leaves, and the untouched horizon in front of us. We even saw a bald eagle fly through the valley below us.
After we had lunch and snapped A LOT of photos, we ran into a few other hikers. Surprisingly the people from this area were really outgoing and friendly. We met a couple of guys who mentioned that there was another outlook about half a mile up the trail. Later on another couple came up the mountain and we chatted with them for a while. We decided to head over to the other lookout which gave a more Northerly view towards the Massachusetts border. Below are a few pictures from that lookout.
After taking in the views at the second lookout, we headed back to the car. The walk through the woods was great. The leaves in the area were just starting to peak, but we got a couple trees that were showing their colors. The one below had some really bright red leaves carpeting the ground, so we stopped for a photo opportunity (yes, we were like Japanese tourists on this hike, getting plenty of use out of the camera).
That about wrapped up the walk through woods, and we realized we had spent almost five hours on top this mountain. We drove back down the mountain, and realized there was a cache at the park across the street which is also part of the People's State Forest. There was an amazing grove of trees with a quasi road cut through it, which made for an excellent photo. I turned one into a black and white photo. The ground was completely covered in an orange carpet of pine needles. In the black and white version it almost looks like snow covering the ground.
We finally headed back after finding the cache to have dinner with my Mom, Bro, Aunt Amy and Uncle Dave. We went to a really jazzy place called Trumbull Kitchen - or TK for short. Rather on the expensive side, but they had a tasty menu. The Opa Opa beer that I tried was really good, and I finished dinner off with a Dalwhinnie single malt Scotch.
We all headed back to our respective hotels. The Hilton Hartford was a deceiving yet trendy hotel that must have been newly remodeled. The outside looked slightly run down, but the inside was anything but. A good place to stay right in downtown Hartford.
The next day my brother Matthew soloed with the New Britain Symphony Orchestra with Jesse Levine as the conductor. The show that day was called "3 at 3pm". There were three soloists, one of them my brother. He played a piece called "Konzertstück for Snare Drum and Orchestra" by Askell Masson. This video on YouTube gives you a flavor of the very different taste of music this piece was. It was a great concert, and it was also Matthew's debut as a professional musician. Way to go Bone!
After the concert everyone went their seperate ways for the start of the new week. Overall the trip was great, the music, the fall season, the family, and time spent with each other. Don't forget to check out all the pictures that we took at my Picasa Web Albums.
After taking in the views at the second lookout, we headed back to the car. The walk through the woods was great. The leaves in the area were just starting to peak, but we got a couple trees that were showing their colors. The one below had some really bright red leaves carpeting the ground, so we stopped for a photo opportunity (yes, we were like Japanese tourists on this hike, getting plenty of use out of the camera).
That about wrapped up the walk through woods, and we realized we had spent almost five hours on top this mountain. We drove back down the mountain, and realized there was a cache at the park across the street which is also part of the People's State Forest. There was an amazing grove of trees with a quasi road cut through it, which made for an excellent photo. I turned one into a black and white photo. The ground was completely covered in an orange carpet of pine needles. In the black and white version it almost looks like snow covering the ground.
We finally headed back after finding the cache to have dinner with my Mom, Bro, Aunt Amy and Uncle Dave. We went to a really jazzy place called Trumbull Kitchen - or TK for short. Rather on the expensive side, but they had a tasty menu. The Opa Opa beer that I tried was really good, and I finished dinner off with a Dalwhinnie single malt Scotch.
We all headed back to our respective hotels. The Hilton Hartford was a deceiving yet trendy hotel that must have been newly remodeled. The outside looked slightly run down, but the inside was anything but. A good place to stay right in downtown Hartford.
The next day my brother Matthew soloed with the New Britain Symphony Orchestra with Jesse Levine as the conductor. The show that day was called "3 at 3pm". There were three soloists, one of them my brother. He played a piece called "Konzertstück for Snare Drum and Orchestra" by Askell Masson. This video on YouTube gives you a flavor of the very different taste of music this piece was. It was a great concert, and it was also Matthew's debut as a professional musician. Way to go Bone!
After the concert everyone went their seperate ways for the start of the new week. Overall the trip was great, the music, the fall season, the family, and time spent with each other. Don't forget to check out all the pictures that we took at my Picasa Web Albums.
16 October 2008
Back from Tucson...
Last week I went out to Tucson, Arizona. This was my second time there - if you actually count driving through there. Quite a nice area if you ask me. 
The weather is awesome, and the scenery is some of the best I have seen. As far as activities, well, if you don't like the great outdoors, there isn't much. But there was a lot of geocaching. Since this is my first post, I should mention what geocaching is. Actually, why reinvent the wheel...check this out.
The picture of me on the side of the mountain is of me finding a cache at about 9,000+ feet.
This trip out to AZ was for work. The conference itself was an absolute bore, but it provided plenty of opportunity to get outdoors and do some caching. BTW, the best sunset I have ever seen was here in Tucson.
There is another picture below of me standing on top of a Titan Missile Silo that has been sealed over with concrete. After the Cold War, the SALT treaty called for the 18 Titan missiles around Tucson to be decommissioned. There are several of these silos in the middle of the desert in Tucson. You can read more about the Titan Missile program at this site. After the silos were destroyed and filled with concrete, they put these big metal domes over them to seal them up, so they could be verified by Russians and their satellites.
If you want to see more of the pictures I took, and some AWESOME sunset pictures while on the trip, visit my Picasa web albums here ---> Tucson Photos.
Thanks for reading....and stay tuned, I will be traveling to Hartford, CT this weekend so there's sure to be plenty of leaf peeping pictures.
dave.
The weather is awesome, and the scenery is some of the best I have seen. As far as activities, well, if you don't like the great outdoors, there isn't much. But there was a lot of geocaching. Since this is my first post, I should mention what geocaching is. Actually, why reinvent the wheel...check this out.The picture of me on the side of the mountain is of me finding a cache at about 9,000+ feet.
This trip out to AZ was for work. The conference itself was an absolute bore, but it provided plenty of opportunity to get outdoors and do some caching. BTW, the best sunset I have ever seen was here in Tucson.
There is another picture below of me standing on top of a Titan Missile Silo that has been sealed over with concrete. After the Cold War, the SALT treaty called for the 18 Titan missiles around Tucson to be decommissioned. There are several of these silos in the middle of the desert in Tucson. You can read more about the Titan Missile program at this site. After the silos were destroyed and filled with concrete, they put these big metal domes over them to seal them up, so they could be verified by Russians and their satellites.
If you want to see more of the pictures I took, and some AWESOME sunset pictures while on the trip, visit my Picasa web albums here ---> Tucson Photos.
Thanks for reading....and stay tuned, I will be traveling to Hartford, CT this weekend so there's sure to be plenty of leaf peeping pictures.
dave.
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