A Milwaukee Day Trip
The Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians at Holy Hill is located at 1525 Carmel Road in Hubertus, Wisconsin.
Last weekend, my parents were in town for a quick visit, and we decided to take them on a scenic day trip around the Milwaukee area. We started off at The Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians at Holy Hill, which is located just a few miles north of Milwaukee. I lived in Milwaukee for six years, but it wasn’t until moving out of the city that I discovered this gem. This was the first chance I’d ever had to take my parents to see it.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you feel about being challenged to climb an endless supply of rickety stairs to breathtaking heights,) the scenic tower was closed for our visit. But, the view from the balcony in front of the main chapel is still amazing, even if you don’t make it up to the top of tower. (more…)
AWP 2012 Conference – Chicago
The lobby of the Palmer House Hilton in downtown Chicago - Image via Wikipedia
Well, I returned safely from my quick two days at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs’ 2012 Conference and Book Fair in Chicago. The conference was a whirlwind of activity with over 10,000 attendees filling ballrooms at both the Chicago Hilton and the Palmer House Hilton in downtown Windy City.
I came home with a good 10 – 15 pages of notes on the sessions I attended at the conference, so there’s no way I will hit it all in one blog post. But I do have a lot of useful information I’d like to share with my readers, so I think I will just touch on some of the surface fluff for today and then do a series of posts discussing the down and dirty writing stuff I picked up.
Since I wasn’t able to make it to Chicago until Friday afternoon (I was teaching a class Friday morning,) they were all out of AWP tote bags and conference programs by the time I arrived. So, I was a little disoriented trying to find my way around. By the way, I’d love to get my hands on a program still, so if you went and happen to have an extra one, I’d gladly take it off your hands!
I went to a couple of sessions Friday and then went out to eat with a professor and one of her friends at the Tamarind (I’m planning a restaurant review blog post too, so stay tuned for more info on that) before heading back to my room for the night. (more…)
Windy city-bound today
I’m off to the Windy City today for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs’ (AWP) 2012 Annual Conference and Book Fair. This year’s conference includes a variety of readings from published authors, a keynote address by author Margaret Atwood (pictured at right,) and a plethora of educational sessions. There are so many options to choose from, I’m having a hard time deciding which to do. But here’s a quick-list of a few sessions I’m hoping to hit today: (more…)
I need a hotel room
Image via Wikipedia
I’m going to a convention in Chicago in a few weeks, and I need to get a hotel room. Of course, I’ve waited too long, and now the Palmer House Hilton, where the convention is being held is all booked up. So, what next? I’ve been looking at rooms online, and there are just way too many options. And way too many questions.
For example, where do I park my car that isn’t going to cost me $40 a day? Am I going to have to park my car someplace and just leave it? Am I going to end up walking several blocks from my hotel room to the convention on the 2 days I’ll be there? Could I take a train into the city? If I do that, where do I leave my car then? And how the heck do I figure out what train to take to get where I need to be? (more…)
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