Tales of a Reluctant Tourist

I got back from my conference in Jacksonville, Florida last night. It was a great conference, full of info on my favorite subject (veterinary dentistry). I traveled alone, and found a great restaurant 2 blocks from my hotel where I could sit at the bar and talk about wines with the bartender. They had a bunch of new wines that he said he needed to try, so he poured both of us tasting portions of a bunch of them.

I was traveling alone, which was great the first day. Then, I got tired of hearing the sound of my own voice in my head. I guess I am so used to hearing the requests of my family, plus my work environment is pretty interactive -- the silence was deafening. Loud in a conference full of people.

Anthony usually goes with me on these things, but I hated to waste a trip together when he doesn't really like Florida. Anyway, I am usually so tired by the end of the day I am not very lively company. He did a great job holding down the fort, and hopefully we'll get away together soon.

Traveling there and back was pretty uneventful, and passed quickly thanks to a good book. I read "The Whole World Over," by Julia Glass, which was almost as good as her first novel, "Three Junes." The best part of the book was that one of my favorite characters of all time, Fenno McLeod, reappears in this novel. Although she does not write from his point of view, it was lovely to hear his Scottish accent again. I am sorry to say I won't be passing this book along to our family book club, since I got it from the library, but I would recommend it.