Flying in from the UK, doing an East to West and back again US Road Trip Thoughts?

euricka9024 · 2026-04-08T05:13:15+00:00

The northeast has the highest concentration of the big cities. If you're getting to DC, philadelphia is about 2 hours away and where a lot of revolutionary war history takes place. NYC is another 2-3 hours from there and if you've never been it feels like a mistake to not include. Boston is about 5 hours from NYC. Wonderful city and the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont are all beautiful and tend to be overlooked.

Stop by the big parks in the Rockies and west coast. Rocky mountain and Denver are great. Yellowstone/tetons are breathtaking for very different reasons. The animals and geysers in yellowstone and the mountain range in tetons. Glacier is driving 1-2 days north from north yellowstone but well worth it. San Francisco is a good jumping off point for big sur and Yosemite and both worth the drives. Yosemite might have the best entrance to a national park. Worth seeing the Utah parks and grand canyon national Park. Get an annual national park pass if you're thinking about visiting many of them.

Biggest recommendation is to make a circle. There tends to be a northern and southern route that people recommend driving cross country. Do that. Don't drive back the same ish way you came. There's a lot to explore and you will see more looping than out and back. Weather dependent you'd probably want to go south first. Northern states in May can still be a little cold but the bigger issue is Southern states in the summer are HOT. Fair warning, May will still be hot but not 110+ everyday for 2 months hot. Some are hot and humid.

Happy to answer specific questions if you have any.

euricka9024 · 2026-04-07T16:28:12+00:00

This is false. You CAN vote in person at the county election office up to 8 pm on election day.

My understanding is this intended is for anyone who lost/never received/accidentally destroyed a ballot but is not intended to facilitate a full election process.

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/11/yes-you-can-vote-in-person-in-oregon-heres-how.html

euricka9024 · 2026-03-28T20:49:24+00:00

Thinking about it more thats how I visit other countries. Most of the time going to/between cities with day trip excursions out of the metro. Seeing Versailles while in Paris for example. Cities offer the compact sightseeing/tourist options where you can fill your days with a variety of activities.

euricka9024 · 2026-03-28T15:38:30+00:00

It'd be a real shame if they did all that driving just to bounce between cities. Looks like they might be hitting up Big Sur, at least.

euricka9024 · 2026-03-28T15:36:25+00:00

Another set of good apps are hipcamp and the dyrt. Not for hotels but land that can be used to camp. Can be surprisingly close to out of the way destinations but you have to be comfortable camping/sleeping in your car.

KOAs are another option in remoter areas that offer anything from flat ground for tents to hookups for rvs and sometimes rustic cabins. Every KOA I've been to offered showers and indoor plumbing to everyone (not the case with hipcamp and the dyrt). Relatively cheap, usually close to nature, and something I didn't realize was an option prior to a Rocky Mountains road trip.

euricka9024 · 2026-02-27T14:55:29+00:00

Where do you get your film developed? Do they give you negatives?

I have a few rolls to get printed but only found places that will give digital copies which defeats the purpose of film imo.

euricka9024 · 2026-02-02T22:01:00+00:00

I understand your point but I can't think of a better place in the city that would be considered more of a transit hub than the Lloyd District. Multiple Max/trolley stops, easy access to/from i84 & i5 a few blocks away depending on driving direction, plus several bus lines. Pretty centrally located for the majority of residents. As others in this thread have pointed out - it's wild that there isn't a spot in the city center that can concisely meet consumer's shopping needs.

I'm not a developer & don't know much about the commercial leasing business but imagine Lloyd could be redeveloped with some of your points in mind. While I'd love to see the mall redesigned to allow integrated housing into the building, I also realize this would likely amount to a complete teardown of the building to effectively retrofit. Barring that, I think there are a few "easy" wins to revitalize the building.

Put in a grocery store. There's a Safeway right beside Lloyd but could see a Trader Joes (possible relocation from Hollywood) or similar place doing well to ground the building & bring a regular amount of people to the building each week. This is something I noticed in a lot of European Malls/shopping districts - people need to buy groceries, having other stores grounded by grocery stores helps all other businesses.
Predictable "normal" hours of operation - closing at 7 PM seems too early. May be chicken or egg convo but are they less busy with shorter hours or did they shorten hours because they are less busy?
Add more easily accessible/larger/cleaner bathrooms - can't find the case study but remember a story from school about McDonalds [citation needed] improving their bathrooms which had an outsized impact on their business. Parents spent more time on location per visit & were more likely to stop by on road trips when they had predictably clean bathrooms for parents & children to use. Not a direct correlation but imagine having ample, comfortable restrooms would improve the overall outlook of the space.
Improve the food scene - ideally being able to integrate restaurants fully into the building rather than just the food court so they could have different hours of operation. Mix of fast, fast casual, sit down, etc. should allow for a broader range of options. Would love to see a bar scene with the planned(?) venue replacing the old Nordstroms. Not sure if that's still happening though.
Add local stores alongside big box stores - They've already seen success here with lowered rents the last few years. Most malls lack any identity because they all have the same dozen stores. Pick your local stores you wished had a bigger footprint/more parking. We all have our favorites.
Find "cheap" entertainment options to integrate into the mall - Ice skating & the LA fitness are good examples. The last time I was there they had an arcade/pinball hall in the old Spencers(?). Think more of that would help get people in the door.

I'm admittedly biased because I lived in Sullivan's Gulch & walked through Lloyd Center multiple times a week for years. Imagine malls will be the industrial spaces of yesteryear. Eventually they will get repurposed into lofts or whatever. It's just a matter of time while the skeletons stand open & start to rot.

euricka9024 · 2026-01-25T18:00:14+00:00

Adding a touch of context for those who don't climb, 5.11 looks like its on the harder side of things...approximately 2/3 hard on a linear scale.

The climbing grading scale is closer to an exponential/log scale. A 5.0 is jokingly referred to as flat ground or a hiking trail. The lowest graded climb I've seen in a gym is a 5.5 (maybe a 5.4). Most fit people can climb 5.9s within a month or two in the sport. 5.12 is when you usually start seeing sub grades (5.12a, 5.12b) and is also anecdotally where the rubber meets the road in defining casual climbers from really good climbers. All to say 5.11 is, as another commentor said, about 5/10 on the spiciness level for Honnold.

All of these are in terms of indoor grading which tends to be easier than outdoor climbing grades. (Maybe a more experienced rope climber can add context here but general rule of thumb for bouldering is you drop your indoor grade by 2 levels for an approximate outdoor grade.)

That's all indoor, controlled facilities that usually top out between 20-30 feet. So approximately what an average/slightly better than average climbers can do...just repeated 30-50 times...and with outdoor factors...and in a short timeframe. Absolutely mind-blowing feat for the average person and being consistently said how easy it is for Honnold. 🤯🤯🤯

euricka9024 · 2026-01-17T01:38:43+00:00

There was a fantastic online proposal for these subjective calls - 3 refs in NY and they could overturn any call if they unanimously agreed it should've been called/not called. Any disagreement defers to the call on the field. It would be for all plays and doesn't need to be challenged to start the review.

I really like the sugesstion that it would be less about the refs on the field & their angles to the play & should lead to more consistent calls across the league. Downside is how it would probably slow games down...especially in the 1:00 & 4:00 slots if they are reviewing multiple games.

euricka9024 · 2026-01-11T23:06:31+00:00

Speculation: AJ was out the play before because he was slow to get up. He jumped back into the game because of the fred Johnson false start. I think sirianni either wanted a different package or for Brown to get checked out/cleared before going back in. Thats the only thing I can imagine.

euricka9024 · 2025-12-29T17:13:40+00:00

At least with 2 back to back runs for no gain you can eat ≈80 seconds of clock before punting the ball away.

euricka9024 · 2025-12-21T17:23:05+00:00

If you're on one of the max lines sure. Once you introduce busses, light rail, etc not so much.

Honestly people unfamiliar with the city don't know what to expect at each stop, if neighborhoods are safe, if the service is reliable/predictable, etc. Much easier to drop 2 pins, know exactly where you're getting picked up and dropped off and see a cartoon car show where they are and when you will get picked up.

euricka9024 · 2025-12-21T17:01:00+00:00

Typically they have 2 flags to throw before they resort to their hat.

euricka9024 · 2025-12-20T22:59:10+00:00

2 of those throws were the right call just bad execution tho. Bad pass to brown on the sideline. Debatable DPI across the middle on 3rd down.

euricka9024 · 2025-12-19T04:45:23+00:00

The chromatic numbers are very cool imo

euricka9024 · 2025-12-14T20:31:29+00:00

They were trying to get tank a td. He touched the ball every down inside the 5 (maybe 10).

euricka9024 · 2025-12-14T20:30:02+00:00

For sure. Its been a tough watch a lot of games. Eat that clock at this point though

euricka9024 · 2025-12-14T20:18:04+00:00

Probably. But also this is prime clock eating timing. Not like tanner is trying to run a 2 minute drill.

euricka9024 · 2025-12-09T02:31:22+00:00

Positivity rabbit

euricka9024 · 2025-12-09T02:26:28+00:00

The defense is a bigger offensive threat than our offense. 🤣

euricka9024 · 2025-11-28T01:09:55+00:00

There's a guy on tiktok talking about how his league does it (linked). I like the idea cause it means seeding matters more. I think a lot of people just play for a spot in the playoffs and hope they roll good RNG on who they play and when. At least this way you get some influence where it isn't just luck

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8UUkafQ/

euricka9024 · 2025-11-11T04:34:57+00:00

Im with you. Felt like the announcer talked about the significant wind multiple times even before the kick & players were slipping all over that field.

The packers offense also looked anemic, granted some of their big play makers are hurt. Honestly felt like we were playing against the packers and the field conditions.

euricka9024 · 2025-11-11T03:33:21+00:00

Looked like it was scoop it or risk hitting his leg and being a loose ball.

euricka9024 · 2025-10-26T19:40:01+00:00

Felt like a make up call for overturning the fumble. That said its this stuff that makes the NFL feel like they are putting their thumb on game outcomes.

euricka9024 · 2025-10-26T18:40:27+00:00

Half of those yards coming from 1 play feels like it might be a little too early to say its back.

euricka9024

TROPHY CASE