Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

I’ve been on the road for the last two weeks on behalf of a client. Since she is a member of the Priority Club, I stayed at a couple of Holiday Inn Express hotels along the way.

I’m very impressed with this chain. I don’t remember Holiday Inns being this nice.

It seems like every hotel (at least all the random ones in the numerous states through which I traveled) has been completely redone.

The rooms are clean and well designed. The front desk personnel were all very nice. And the free breakfast offerings (bagels and pastries, cereal, yogurt, hot cinnamon rolls, eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy) are certainly added values.

There is usually a pool and a workout room. Always, there’s free wifi. I also appreciated the free coffee and tea in the rooms—along with the mini-fridge. No microwave though. I found that strange.

Anyways—Good job, Holiday Inn Express people. I think you’ve made some good choices here.

At $99 a night (rate I received regularly), these hotels are higher than their competitors next door, but if you’re looking for a clean, comfortable, and reassuring place to sleep, they are a good bargain.

Tags: Recommendations, Starting a Business, Travel by Ms. SP
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Just two hours away from Chicago, Rock Cut State Park is an easy get-away.

There are a lot of campsites available, but they do get filled up on the weekends.

On the weekdays though, you’ll have your choice of sites.

Electric sites are available for $25 a night. Fishing enthusiasts can get non-electric tent sites ($12 a night) right on the edge of the man-made lake.

I saw plenty of people pull up, set-up, and put their poles in the water.

There are convenient water pumps, trash dumps, and pit toilets in the non-electric area. You can even walk to the free showers at the RV stations.

Each tent site has a picnic table and a fire pit. All the facilities are very well maintained.

The main down side I see with the set up is the proximity of one site to the other. Unlike Starved Rock, where trees and bushes isolate and separate each site, many of the tents are going to be right on top of each other. On a full weekend, I don’t think this would be very quiet or relaxing.

Tags: Travel by Ms. SP
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Here are my favorite reads from the past week:

• It really floors me sometimes that more people do not know about Patty Griffin. It seems like such an unjust oversight. Of course, someone just sent me over to see this. The Dixie Chicks have been long-time supporters so it’s really nice to see Natalie Maines join in on this classic song. Two great voices.
  
• While I’m at it, let me plug Cheryl Wheeler’s newest CD as well.
• As a history nerd, I’ve always advocated those simulation/strategy games. It’s nice to know that real historians, like Naill Ferguson, also agree.
  

  Ferguson discovered something that fans of war-strategy and civilization-building “god” games have realized for years: Games are a superb vehicle for thinking deeply about complex systems.

  So the next time I’m engrossed in Civ? Please leave me alone. I’m thinking deeply about complex systems.

Tags: Recommendations, Travel by Ms. SP
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