Love Me, Love My Stuff, Part 4

This time--Heather* on places we've been together.**

*Heather is my older sister. She is a serious but serious fan of Firefly. If you were to stand between her and her Firefly DVD set, she would put you down. She, my little sister Laura and their fat cat Burrito live in a fabulous boudoir that they made out of a dentist's office--which is just as weird as it sounds.

**I realize that 'places' are not exactly stuff. But Sam had Crystal talk about people she thinks are hot. So I feel justified with a broad definition of stuff. Besides, Heather didn't want to talk about books. This is a jumbled list of places we've been throughout our childhood on various trips, road or otherwise.

The Memphis Zoo: "I don't remember the Memphis Zoo. It must have been tiny. If I don't remember half these places are you gonna tell everyone I have Alzheimer's?"

Montreal, Canada: "The riverside walk we took was really pretty. That was where we went to that maze thing, isn't it? That was cool. I still have the brochure, somewhere. You know what you should do, instead of writing all this down? You should call the NSA and get the phone records. Get the recording."

Cancun, Mexico: "We stayed in a hotel shaped like a pyramid. It was all white. And Dad spent a bunch of time talking to a bellman in Spanish out in the hall and he was really proud of it. And Mom has this picture of us on the mantle in their room where we are at this restaurant outside the pyramids, Chichen Itza, in sombreros and holding a parrot. And you have a mischevous look on your face. But you do in most pictures, at that age [I was five. --Stephanie]."

The Denver Natural History Museum: "Was a lot of fun. It was a long way to walk, and we probably shouldn't have attempted it, but it was a more interesting story than the museum [William, Heather and I walked to the museum from downtown Denver. She's right. It was a hell of a long walk. - Stephanie]. And I don't remember any of the exhibits - although there may have been a dinosaur in the hall - or that could be another museum."

The Empire State Building: "It was not as long a line as it could have been but there were all these weird pictures in it. The view was spectacular, though, just like they have on 'Law and Order.' Or I might be thinking of the wrong show, but on some show they have an aerial view of Manhattan. And wouldn't you know it, Manhattan looks the same?"

Chinatown, San Francisco: "Chinatown was so much fun. Especially eating in that restaurant where we didn't understand anything. But the food was good, I think. Not great, but good."

The Continental Divide, Glacier, Montana: "I have lots of vague memories of us and snow, but you know there's Yellowstone, and Glacier National Park, and Rock Mountain National Park and they're all starting to glaze together, although there are probably big age differences there. But I don't remember the continental divide specifically."

Salt Lake City, Utah: [While I was catching up with writing down Heather's answer for the question above, I told her to think about this one. She said, "You already know what I'm going to say. Why don't you just say it for me?" To which I said, "No! You have to say it! But hold on!"] "You didn't let me lick the salt flats!!! (And you can be judicious with the exclamation points on that.) I mean, the city seemed well-designed. And the big mound of salt at the Morton Salt factory was impressive."

St. Augustine, Florida: "I liked St. Augustine. It was fun. It was hot, I think. We spent some time in old St. Augustine and that was cool. It was really...short. [I laugh.] No! I remember these buildings with exposed wood and little parks with bits of grass...shut up!"

San Antonio, Texas: "Oh, I loved San Antonio! Now, the riverwalk there I remember really well, because we did it and then when I went with the house-building people from church and Mom, we did it again. It felt like a million different places. The Alamo was...blah. I know. I have a callous lack of respect for history, as a history major."