Though the Denver Airport is not nearly as charming as the Portland Airport, it does have a Ben and Jerry’s. And tornado shelters. I stopped at B&J for a scoop and some hot fudge. And then I looked out on the beautiful day and contemplated how the scrap of paper with the number 302 came to be sitting on my table. I bet there’s a story there.
I got very excited because the Minneapolis airport has the round luggage carousals. Then I got excited to see Sara and Shawn.
Dude. What the hell is that?
This was the question I didn’t ask, but rather took a picture on the sly. Although I didn’t have to be that sly because while the mouth and nose are free, the eyes are covered.
The flight attendant wanted answers too. “I gotta ask.” she said eventually.
The guy said it was called the Ostrich and that they were really popular.
“I fly all the time,” she said, “and I have never seen anything like that.”
When I got to Minneapolis, I said to Sara and Shawn, “I gotta show you the thing the guy on my flight was wearing. It was weird.”
“What if it was that Ostrich thing in the SkyMall catalog” Sara said. It was! And we both marveled at the craziness.
Since the SkyMall catalog doesn’t exist anymore in flight, I’ve included this link, so you can purchase your own. But people are going to stare.
This woman spent the entire PDX to DEN flight going over song lyrics. I assume she was a singer. She had this “You sing the songs of Taylor Dane” printout that was very interesting to me. But I can’t find an example of it with quick googling.
Wonder if the company in charge of the Jantzen Beach redevelopment planned from the beginning to lose the historic carousel. Get grumpy. 
Walk the secret hallway between the D-E and the A-B-C gates. Enjoy how deserted it is. 
Covertly watch this mother and son entertain themselves pre-flight, by taking pictures. Enjoy how the son narrates his thought process as to why he was taking the pictures.
I procrastinated a lot getting ready for my vacation, at one point thinking, “Why am I going somewhere else? It’s so much work!” But I eventually got around to getting everything done and by the time I found myself at the airport (thanks Matt, for dropping me off) and made it through security, my mood rapidly improved. PDX is awesome! They had a piano player right outside of security and his cheery take on “Ode to Joy” calmed my frazzled nerves. And I noticed this amazing clock! It’s a tremendous specimen and I had a great time studying all the details.
Then I found the poster with the explanations. 
Also, the Portland Airport has Cafe Yumm! I love Cafe Yumm and bought an Edamame Bowl to eat on my flight.
I already had a basic sketch of when we would be where. Now I know where we will stay in our travels outside of Minneapolis. And I have interesting things marked onto index cards in the towns we will travel through. It’s time to get excited about vacation!
I took myself on a short vacation to kick off my spring break. Here’s where I went and you can see the bus stop where I disembarked. It takes about 90 minutes door to door to get to Edgefield. Only one transfer!
Copula as seen through blossoms.
Grape vines ready.
I planned to check in exactly at 3:00, so as to maximize my stay. Since I was early, I took a little walk. Of course I headed straight for the vegetable garden.
Potatoes had been planted, and this chard was doing well.
The first asparagus I’ve seen this year!
Mustard. Bolting;
Edgefiled has many nice cobb benches.
It turns out many people had the same idea to check in exactly at 3:00, so there was a bit of a line. But just look how big my room was!
Two beds, two chairs and a couch! I booked late, so all the regular Full-single rooms were taken. But I was very happy with the couch and chairs. There was a lot of sprawling and reading.
On my way to the Power Station for some food I found this pretty plant.
Fulfilling my stamp requirements, I purchased a Beer sampler. I discovered that 1) I was not a fan of the Termanator Stout (too bitter). 2)Both IPAs did not wow me. 3) I was completely in love with Ruby Ale. Like I would actually order it of my own volition, not just to get a stamp. 4)I liked the Seasonal Madness, which had the word “red” in the title. 5) I really liked the Brewer’s choice, but alas do not remember what it was.
Also, as a public service announcement, I also did not drink all the sampler on my own. I drank three of the samples and sipped on the other two enough to confirm I did not like them. Even with eating a pizza, three samples were probably my limit. Which is how I like it. Being a lightweight is quite cost effective.
Also, I never did read the back of the sheet. Perhaps when we order another sampler so Matt can get his stamp.
The rest of my Edgefield visit involved reading quietly in my room, doing my usual McMenamins plan of choosing a different bathroom every time, soaking in the soaking pool in the morning when the pool was mostly deserted and it was pouring rain.
It was a lovely visit.
We stayed in the Roly Poly at the Caravan Tiny House Hotel. But here are the other houses you could visit.
This is the Caboose. It is 134 square feet and has seating for 4-5 people as well as two bunk beds and a loft bed.
This is Rosebud, a 120 square feet traditional tiny house design.
This is the Tandem which is 160 square feet. It has two queen beds.
This is Skyline, which is 160 square feet, but with a shed roof, so it seems larger. Of the tiny houses here, this is the one I would choose because I could put a desk upstairs where the second bed is and have my cozy “reverse loft” that I’ve become rather obsessed with.
This is the Kangablue, which is another 170 square foot traditional tiny house.
I’m hoping to book another stay one of these tiny houses in the future. It’s fun for a night away.
View from my window. That’s the fire pit and hidden between the two tiny houses you see are the fixins for s’mores. It was a very cold night, so we just ate the chocolate.
More pictures from inside. The bathroom door.
Standard sized toilet hooked up to city water. There was also a tiny shower, which we did not partake in, sadly, due to the fact it was cold enough that the water froze.
More storage.
Our departing photo.
Great front porch, with our room service tray from the night before.
Back view. That was my bedroom window.
Of course, I had to peek in the box on this side.
Where am I headed on a cold winter day?
To Caravan! My friend Deborah gave me a stay in a tiny house for my birthday. Caravan is the first tiny house hotel in the USA.
We stayed in the Roly Poly, which is 80 square feet. Here’s the main section. The ladder stores on the wall when not in use.
Standing against the ladder wall you can see the house from the other direction. I was particularly enchanted with the string art.
Additional storage space built in under the lofts.
The queen-sized loft bed.
Deborah playing the uke. A tiny guitar for a tiny house.
Storage space above the kitchen.
After warming up the soup dinner brought by Deborah, we spent the evening chatting, her on one loft bed, me on another. Deborah tried out different songs from a new songbook. I caught up on the newspaper. Around 10:30 we got hungry and ordered room service from the Radio Room, a restaurant across the street from Caravan. Delicious pork tostadas were consumed.
