I must've missed if they did, so I'll start one.
Mine was spent in Chicago; it was my first visit. What a fabulous city.
Unlike Houston, Chicago has marvelous mass transit and a taxi whenever you need one. I was mightily impressed with the ease of my utilization of the trains, as well as their low cost. (For those of you snickering about my rube-ness, well, I haven't traveled much in the Northeast.)
I met my wife in Lombard as she completed her work week, and spent a lovely afternoon bumping around the Oakbrook Terrace Mall. We went into the city on Friday, staying downtown at the Hilton on Grand. We could walk to just about everything, and did so until my shin splints fired up. We spent Saturday rolling on the River Architecture Tour, then Navy Pier, the Hancock Tower's observation deck, and the Chicago Chop House for dinner.
On Sunday we took a bus tour called "Untouchables"; it was entertaining and drove us past all of the famous gangster landmarks (although most of them were paved over some years ago): the garage where the St. Valentine's Day Massacre occurred; the Biograph, where Dillinger ate lead; Little Italy, Chinatown, Cabrini Green.
Monday we took in the Cubs-Pirates game at Wrigley Field. The captive bald eagle Challenger, from the Last Chance Forever folks (they're from Houston) flew in from center field to the pitcher's mound.
Tuesday we wrapped up with a visit to the Sears Tower.
In between we ate like Roman emperors, listened to some great blues and enjoyed wonderful Midwestern spring weather--highs in the 60s, lows in the 40s, sunny, clear.
I'll hurry back there again soon.
The Albuquerque Gathering looked fun; I hope the one in Texas comes together for the fall.
I found a nice sentiment for Memorial Day written by Bill Moyers. Here it is, along with the link at the end:
Quote:"Every Memorial Day I think about what these men did and what we owe them. They didn't go through hell so Kenny Boy Lay could betray his investors and workers at Enron, or for a political system built on legal bribery. It wasn't for corporate tax havens in Bermuda, or an economic system driven by the law of the jungle, or so a handful of media buccaneers could turn the public airwaves into private sewers. Sure, to paraphase Donald Rumsfeld, freedom makes it possible for people to be crooks, but so does communism, and fascism, and monarchy. Democracy is about doing better.
It's about fairness, justice, human rights, and yes, it's about equality, too; look it up.
I was never called on to do what soldiers do; I'll never know if I might have had their courage. But a journalist can help keep the record straight, on their behalf. They thought democracy was worth fighting for, even dying for. The least we can do is to help make democracy worthy of them."
Bill Moyers on being a journalist