A Room With a (Spectacular) View + Update

I'm off at a conference for the next 7 days, so it'll be silence around here once things get going. At least when I travel I get reading time on the plane and such.

But, the conference is in a place I've wanted to visit for nearly 30 years - Banff in the Canadian Rockies. So far it's just as beautiful as I've always thought. Later in the week I get to hike around on a glacier (awsome!) - which is great geologist cred (I've also felt an earthquake and closely observed a volcanic eruption). And to top it off I'm staying in one of the nicest hotels in the world - Fairmont Banff Springs (did you know it's a castle?). The view is great.

The Hotel: Fairmont Banff Springs

The view to the northwest from my room

The view to the north/northeast from my room

Room With A View and an Update

I was in Denver, Golden, Denver again, Boulder, Denver again this weekend. Yes it went that way and it was all professional society related meetings. So, a few drinks, but no real outside enjoyment - but it was cold and a bit snowy, so I'm not too bummed by that.

I've finished up Shadow Ops: Control Point by Myke Cole (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound) and should have review up soonish, but it could easily be a week out if I don't find some free time somewher. I'm almost done with The Hungar Games by Suzanne Collins  (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound). I can see why it's spoken of so highly - it is good, and I can see it translating very well into a movie. I'm not sure what I'll read next, but I'm leaning toward Arctic Rising by Tobias Buckell  (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound). I should also have another whisky review up soon.

So, on to the room with a view.

Denver, CO

And a bonus - not truly a room with a view, since it's the view from my new office that I moved into late last month. It's nice, but it can get a bit warm in the afternoon. It's February, if it gets a bit warm in February, I dread July.



Phoenix, AZ (west)



Phoenix, AZ (west-southwest)



A Room With a View, an Update and a Bonus

Well, I'm back from Alaska and an very fun but very exhausting conference. I did actually see some Alaska, but mostly I was confined to a hotel in Anchorage. The red-eye back almost killed me (it didn't leave until about 2am). I did do some reading, but not much. I finished up The Edinburgh Dead by Brian Ruckley (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound), which I really enjoyed. I'll probably start up The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound) next, though I still haven't decided for sure. So hopefully I'll get some nice content up soon - and stay tuned, I think I've decided to do a giveaway with a book or two that I've received multiple copies of.

So, here is the view from my room in Anchorage, Alaska.

And for a bonus (not really), here is my view from a hotel room in Green Valley, Arizona from a trip just before the Alaska trip.

Room With A View - San Diego

So, I'm in San Diego for a conference. It's a nice hotel right on the waterfront. All the rooms have balconies. I had high expectations of lovely view of the bay and nice balcony to enjoy it from. This is what I have...

I suppose the garden is better than the parking lot it's blocking out, but still - first floor? The lobby is even higher than this. And do you see the manhole? Yep, that's for the sewer. When the air is still I get a lovely odor of sewer gas while sitting on the porch. I guess that's what you get with the relatively cheap conference room rate I have. Oh, and there isn't any decent food nearby for a reasonable price.

Ok, enough complaining. Hopefully some real content soon. I've been reading good stuff lately.

A Room With A View: St. George Utah

I had to do a fast-turn-around project at the end of last week outside of St. George, Utah. I'd never been there before, so it was nice to see. Especially since I spent a few hours in Zion National Park on the way.

St. George, Utah

Room With a View: San Antonio

I was in San Antonio last weekend for a wedding - so, a new room with a view post.

Room With a View: Charleston

As I started here, I am continuing my new (and 100% original) tradition of posting pictures from my hotel room while traveling. Below is the view from my room in Charleston, South Carolina. I wish all hotel rooms had such a great view (the picture really doesn't do it justice).

Back to schmoozing (and generally having a great time) at my conference.

A Room with a View

It’s very often true that the best, most original ideas in blogging are blatantly ripped off from another blogger. In this spirit, I will blatantly rip off John Scalzi for the totally original idea of taking pictures out of my hotel window when travelling. To begin, I’ll give you 4 of the 5 hotel views from my recent trip to Romania (I missed the first hotel in Bucharest).


Here’s the view from my room that I had for only 1 night in Hotel Edinburgh in a city in southern Romania that shall remain nameless since I’m not supposed to talk about where I was working in Romania. I will say that this city is known in Romania as ‘The City of Stupids’ (not an exact translation I’m sure) due to such things as building a building around a crane and being forced to leave the crane inside the courtyard. It's very curious that this hotel has been re-done to look like a castle and is named after Edinburgh. This place is far off the tourist map and yet it seems to be going after a distinctly 'Western' clientele. Well, we kept it full for a while, so I guess the owners know what they are doing.


This view is from the Hotel Primavera where I spent 11 lovely nights in the same city as above. There was a nearby gyspy house (I was instructed to not walk in this neighborhood at night) and many, many roosters. Did I mention the roosters? What a wonderful way to experience dawn every morning. Did I mention it was every morning?


The view from the Ramada in Sibiu. I would have preferred a more ‘backdoor’ style hotel, but there are few options when arriving in one of Romania’s biggest tourist attractions on a Saturday night in August with no reservation and needing a parking space along with the room (and wanting to be within a short walk of the city center). It was a nice place, if a bit more expensive than I was looking for.


My final hotel in Bucharest – again a Ramada. I only stayed here for a few short hours as I had a 3:15 am wake-up call to get to the airport for my trip home. A wonderful view of the media building in Bucharest, constructed by the communists to let everyone know that Big Brother is always watching.