"I was lost in the cities, Alone in the hills"

After two weeks of hotels, airports, casinos, meetings rooms, and taxis, I am finally home on a weekend. I have to say, I feel rode hard and put away wet, not to mention a little bloated and greezee. Below are some thoughts, mostly chronological, from my travels of the last two weeks.
-Vancouver is a strange city. Very "European", which up until recently I thought translated to "topless" but as near as I can tell means that it is full of a bunch of really skinny dudes who all dress better than me. But the downtown area is pretty cool. From my hotel window I could see the water with sea planes landing and taking off, a green, hilly park with lots of runners and Frisbee players, and huge peaks with ski slops (still covered in snow) running all down them. Unfortunately because it is in the Pacific Northwest, I could only see these things for the first two days before the sea fog and rain moved in.
-I believe we all knew this, but Canadians can drink their weight on a daily basis. I can't hang with those guys....but I sure tried.
-Went to a casino on the last day. Pretty standard casino except for a couple things: It had floor to ceiling windows that looked out over the water and it had large clocks all over the place. It was almost the anti-Vegas, like they wanted you to leave so they could get someone else in there to take your place. Oh, and they also charged for drinks while you're playing (stingie bastards), so even though I was on quite a spectacular run I only walked out of there with an extra $120 Canadian ($93 US, thanks sagging dollar) in my pocket.
-In the airport on the way home, I managed to lose my cell phone. The whole customs process there is a massive cluster. They really need to get it straitened out before 2010 when the winter Olympics role through town. It didn't help that it was 4:15 in the a.m. and they were woefully understaffed.
-Was home long enough to repack and catch the Drive By Truckers show on Friday night. Great show but I will say till I'm blue in the face that they miss the Isbell songs in a live setting. As good as it was, the show needed one massive, lighter in the air ballad like Outfit or Decoration Day to anchor the whole thing. Great show though.
-Left early Saturday for New Orleans and then drove right over to Biloxi. Stayed at the new Grand. Hotel is very nice but the casino is small and kind of a dump. I think they are just using it as a stop gap until Margaritaville (which connects via walk bridge) is finished next year. Also played at the Beau Rivage which is beautiful and the I.P., which is surprisingly nice. The real jewel, however, is the Hard Rock. Fantastic casino, beautiful location, great pool that's right on the water and has a beach entrance and a swim up bar. Definitely where we will stay next time.
-Back to New Orleans on Sunday. Conference was pretty decent and afforded us plenty of time to have some nice meals, get fairly wrecked on Bourbon Street, walk around the French Quarter, and tour the Garden District. A very nice get away overall.
-I am now back in town for a whopping 10 days before heading down toFt. Lauderdale.