Houston

This is my month of U.S. travel. I've not been this many places in this short a time in a long time. Atlanta, Houston, and Ohio all in one month.

Houston is where my sister, her husband, and my new niece live now. I've been there twice now. I'm not a fan. But I don't hate it either. It reminds me of any other U.S. city. Lots of highway, lots of buildings, lots of strip malls, and a park here and there. But I like a city with a little more character.

I was there for the 4 days that it was 97 degrees here in Boston. I missed that awful heat wave completely. And, being in Houston, you'd think I would've still suffered, since there, it was 88 by 7:30 a.m. on a cool day. The major difference is two-fold. One, everything and everywhere in Houston is air conditioned. Everyone's house, the schools, every shop, restaurant, everything. Second, nobody walks anywhere. In going from the car to the house or whatever building you are going to, you barely notice it's hot, because you're only outside for 45 seconds.

While I definitely appreciated that, and was able to wear my jeans in the 90 degree heat, I would hate to live like that. I love to walk. I love that Bostonians don't need cars and even those of us who have them are able to stretch a tank of gas out over three weeks or more if we work it right. My car allows me to be lazy if I want to be, but mostly it just sits there.

I also love the outdoors. I can't imagine 5 months of the year where I can't go outside. Now, I realize that those in the South think that we up here can't go outdoors 5 months of the year because it's too cold, but we just don't think like that. We spend as much time outside in the winter as we do in the summer.

The real fact is that I want to live somewhere where it never gets over 65 and when it does people complain of the heat. Northern Scandinavia? Not sure. It's not going to happen, of course, but one can dream. I wouldn't even mind 8 months of winter as long as it was sunny most of the time. Like Denver, only perpetually. (Denver gets mofo hot in the summer.)

Dreams. I know.

Atlanta

Here I am in Atlanta. I'm here for a conference. I wasn't looking forward to coming down here because I hate the heat and feel like 4 amazing spring Boston days have been stolen from me. (I'm a little crazy, I know.) The last time I was here was in August last year for a training when it was so hot I thought I would melt. I am also finding that when I travel in the U.S., I am increasingly snobby. I actually think to myself, "Why would anyone live here?" Am I serious? Am I that in love with Boston? It was only 4 years ago that I was still bouncing all around the U.S. living anywhere but Boston. Age changes us, I think.

First night here, two of my young colleagues and I went out to get food. We walked about 15 minutes through downtown Atlanta to get to Varsity, a place that was recommended to me. The walk was interesting. I don't think it was all that safe. First of all, it was dark. Secondly, it was through some sort of dodgy-looking areas. Third, my college roommate, who just moved here for work and who I had dinner with the next night said white women should not be walking alone downtown at night. Okay.

We were approached by a significant number of homeless men on the street. They were all friendly. They all said hello first. Some were leering, others were just saying hello. I never felt unsafe, but I was sure annoyed. I am such a Bostonian. I want my homeless people to be as rude as regular Bostonians, and not try to make friends with me while asking me for a dollar. These folks didn't even ask for money. They just chatted with us. Is it because we're in the South and people are just friendly here? I don't really get it.

Shirley Franklin, the mayor here, is working on ending homelessness in Atlanta in the next 10 years. They are apparently tearing down the housing developments and building significant section 8 housing to re-place folks in homes. She is also personally meeting with every graduating senior from the Atlanta public school system. Personally. To discuss their future plans and where they are headed. Wow. She spoke to us yesterday and I was impressed. (And she could actually articulate her words, which is a trait you don't get in a mayor in Boston, at least in the last decade and a half.)

So back to the Varsity. It was established in 1928 and when you walk in, you wonder how the hell to get to the food. It's enormous. We had a debate about how many people could fit inside it. I just looked it up and it can have over 800 people inside and over 600 cars pulled up at any time. (It's a drive-in diner, too.) Holy crap.

We were barraged by the staff at the registers yelling "What'll ya have?" over and over again. It's their tag line. Finally, after wondering what a heavy dog was, I asked. It's a hot dog with extra chili on it. Extra chili? Jeez. I ended up with two cheese dogs (regular hot dogs with cheese sauce on them), fries and a peach pie that I shared with my colleagues. One of them had a burger and the other had chili fries, which were conveniently served with the chili and cheese sauce in separate little dipping cups. The food was fine. Diner food.

Apparently, two miles of hot dogs, a ton of onions, 2500 pounds of potatoes, 5000 fried pies and 300 gallons of chili are made from scratch daily, according to their website. Gross? Delicious? You decide.

It's on the edge of the Georgia Tech campus, and they have 5 other locations. I got a Varsity hat, you know those paper ones that the old-time diner-workers wore? They still wear them and you can take one home.

Not sure there'll be anything else of note to write about Atlanta, but if there is, I'll update.