By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea…

Spent a weekend in Daytona Beach doing research for my Explorer’s Guide series. The best part about staying in an oceanfront room is the natural soundscape generated by the waves and the sounds of gulls wheeling in the background. Followed by the sea breeze… and, if you’re lucky (or willing) enough to wake up in time, watching the sun rise over the Atlantic. We stayed in the century-old Plaza Hotel, which has undergone an extreme makeover to make these oceanfront rooms some of the best on the beach, and this will be a new (and very welcome) addition to the book.

Result? A restful and relaxing stay, despite the time stresses of a research trip.

In the Nautilus

Years ago, I caught a routine with comic Stephen Wright who said “I’m not afraid of heights…I’m afraid of depths.” At a young age, I wasn’t bothered by dangling from a ski lift, or leaning over a cliff to take a photo. As I got older, Ferris wheels and other skyborne leg-dangling devices became terrifying.

So you’d think, looking down the spiral stairs inside the Ponce Inlet lighthouse, I’d be bothered. Nope. Not even at the top, staring out across the sea to to Smyrna Dunes Park, walking the slender walkway around the top of the lighthouse. Instead, on the way down, I was fascinated by how the pattern of the staircase mimics the inside of a nautilus, a cross-section of seashell, and stopped numerous times to take photos, to the consternation of folks worried about their own climbs up or down the inside of the lighthouse — worried about me getting dizzy leaning over the rail with my camera. Not so. Fascinated, instead.

Select-a-Candidate

If you’re like me, you read a lot … you keep up with some of the news … and NONE of the Presidential candidates stand out as someone you’d like to see in the Oval Office, especially with how it’s become such a fixer-upper.

To help you (and I) along, the Internet works its magic with your choice of Select-a-Candidate quizzes that help you determine (somewhat) whose platform parallels your thinking. Caveat emptor and have fun with these!

http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html
http://selectsmart.com/president/2008.html
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ongoing/select_a_candidate/
http://www.speakout.com/VoteMatch/senate2006.asp?quiz=2008