Thinking Back: Holiday Memories

Posted By: dan | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Growing up Military

Christmas certainly is the biggest holiday of the year. That first impression when you wake up and see Santa’s bounty – some of those will memories will never die.

But I think I’m writing about Thanksgiving this time. Strange way to start because it’s not my favorite holiday – that would be July 4th, but I remember more Thanksgivings than I do Christmas’s, Valentine’s and July 4ths combined. Crazy, eh? Starting in 1982 or so, we lived outside Anchorage, Alaska on Elemendorf Air Force Base. Most of the military families up there are without family nearby to celebrate Thanksgiving (I think most people’s families would either come in the summer or visit for Christmas) – so that afforded great opportunity to do something together.

We all used to rent a cabin and have Thanksgiving there. It was at a place called the ‘base lakes” – well that’s what us kids called it. And it wasn’t an ordinary cabin – it was the kind of cabin you’d have company banquets at or random family Thanksgivings. I remember there being 50 or more people there each time. Inside was a big room with long tables, and there was another room with the big kitchen. I think the moms were in the kitchen putting together the meal. Us kids – no way. We were outside.That’s why I don’t remember what the dads were doing.

For some reason I remember being taught, by some other kids, the song “On top of old Smokey, all covered with blood . . . ” and then something about a meatball. We all brought ice skates to go ice skating on the frozen lake, did some ice fishing, built snow forts and brought sleds for sledding down the hill and onto the lake. Just the idea that we all had ice skates and knew how to skate – that’s part of growing up in Alaska, I guess. None of the kids around here are prepared for that. (Did you know that most of the schools in Alaska have ice rinks?) I remember being very cold, coming in to get warm, and then going right back out again – many times. I guess the sunlight would have been pretty short lived – but I don’t really remember it being dark at all. That seems strange to me now. I wonder if it was dark . . .

I imagine the soldiers abroad share a similar holiday relationship with the other soldiers. When you’re away from home – away is home and everyone there is family. I don’t recall eating a single sweet potato or slice of turkey. I can’t recall anyones names or even their faces; I guess that’s the bain of moving a lot and losing permanent contact with people.  I do remember the laughing, playing and fun.

I guess the hole that is left from things you forget gets gelled over by the overall joy and happiness the memory brings.

Maybe Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday. I’ll have to think about that. . .

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Will Facebook Kill The Christmas Letter

Posted By: dan | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Growing up Military

So I’ve been against Christmas letters for some time, though what’s worse is the unsigned card or unsigned photo card. (I suppose most of you know that). If you get a card from me, (you got lucky because I just haven’t been motivated to get that done yet) but if you did I wrote in it. My goal in sending Christmas cards is to tell you that you’re important to me. I appreciate your friendship and truly enjoy hearing from you. Having moved around my whole life, I’ve really tried to maintain the friendships I already have. It’s not easy being friends with someone who moves all the time (me) – and thus those of you who still are – you mean a lot.

I wonder in the age of Facebook if the Christmas Letter is a thing of the past. Most of the ones I get just boast about how great life is. The Disney trip, fabulous and wonderful travels, how your kid is the best reader in the school. These are all things that  most people put on their social profile site. If you went to Greece – we’ll have enjoyed pictures the day you got back. If your kid was in the Christmas play – the same thing. What’s left to put in the Christmas Letter?

In one word – Sentiment.

Facebook isn’t good with sentiment. It’s a black and white piece of paper, words without sound, smiles without the accompanying laugh. But it’s also the daily contact with people you used to send cards to once a year, or talk to once a month. It almost provides reason to be more open and appreciative with those that you love. Finally, distance is no barrier to constant contact.

So here’s my attempt to add sentiment to Facebook. I give you my first Christmas Letter.
2008 – This year I re-learned another lesson. I went to Mike Cain’s wedding and felt like the outsider. It wasn’t in a bad way – a realistic way. You see I used to be one of Mike’s best friends  but that was during my Senior year of high school – his junior year. I learned, again, that when you leave life goes on. New ‘best friendships’ are made, new memories are set in stone, new inside jokes with new friends. There is no malice – but I must have learned it 5 times now – proximity creates the strongest bond. I hope that Facebook creates ‘proximity’ between you and your best friends.

I also raised my first son. Alex is our third child, but parenting was so new to me during the first two – and toddlers were so hard for me to adjust to – that I’ve found joy in Alex’s first year that wasn’t present before. For this I am thankful. I am thankful to my wife who has found boundless joy in each one of them.

And we’ve grown together as a family this year. I love my wife more than I did last year and I look foward to playing with the kids more. 2008 was not necessarily memorable (at least I can’t envision in 2018 thinking back about the great 2008) – but the memories will serve me well.

Happy Holidays to all of you,
Dan

(also posted on my facebook page http://profile.to/Danrmorris) .

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What is Twitter and How Do You Use It?

Posted By: dan | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in The Social Media Phenomenon

What is Twitter, exactly? Twitter is the ’status line’ you find on Facebook and on MySpace – but taken to whole new level. Right now you’re pretty much using the status line to be funny, make snide remarks, or just to tell everyone that you’ve just gotten back from the grocery store. All these things are good when you’re just interacting with friends and family. (Check out http://how-to-twitter.info for another angle on that) From a friends and family standpoint, twitter allows you to update your Facebook, MySpace, and Pownce status (among others) from anywhere – like via your phone. Instead of waiting to get home to update your status, send a text message to Twitter while you’re at the grocery store and it’ll do it for you. That’s the level 1 beginner stuff.

But that’s just the tip. . . as they say. Twitter, for me, is a business tool. It’s used by hundreds of thousands of people looking to become smarter at what they do. Get a Twitter account and ‘follow me’. Once you’ve got your account and are logged in go to www.twitter.com/danrmorris and click “follow” under my picture. Then look at the people I am following, a marketing guy at Google, CEO’s of a bunch of small companies, internet marketing millionaires and other internet marketers in my field. I see what they’re talking about all day long.

Then register yourself at Twollo. This is a service that will track conversations for you. Are you looking to become the next internet marketing millionaire? Then tell Twollo you want to follow internet marketing conversations and keep up with the pro’s. The marketing guy at Google might put a link to an article he just wrote, or an article he just read. The finance guys talk about the economy and include links to great YouTube Videos and other Digg articles. I follow Nutraceutical people to see what’s new in health and wellness, to keep up with our OPC Factor business. If you want to stay abreast – get an account and search out everyone in your industry. What are they talking about? What are they reading? Who are they following? Follow them all. Follow your competitors (which you can do by searching for them first on LinkedIn and then on search.twitter.com, by the way).

Suppose you’re looking to put yourself in a leadership position and plan to use twitter to provide useful information to people. Maybe you’re a tech guy and you’ve got lots of tips on installing a home theatre system. Well, come up with a “hash tag” and put it in every one of your posts. A hash tag is the pound sign followed by some letters of your choosing, like #iht (for installing home theatres). Then, when you meet people who are truly interested in installing a home theatre, tell them to go to search.twitter.com and search for #iht.  The results will be all the tips you provided on installing home theatres.  That’s value.

Following people to learn is one thing – a very important and useful thing. But don’t forget what Perry Belcher says in the meantime. Don’t be a nuisance and reply just to reply. Don’t become a typical used car salesman. Twitter is a chance to absorb what others have learned and to share a little of yourself. It’s a water cooler, a bar stool, a park bench. Twitter is a chance to interact socially with people. Be as much a friend of Twitter as you find from it.

Become better at what you do.
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Traveling the World as a Bill

Posted By: dan | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Growing up Military

Money really does make the world go ’round.  Here’s a true story that not only proves the point – but illustrates the power of money.

There’s a dollar bill that was printed in 1999 in a mint in Delaware. It’s probably still out there somewhere, still changing hands, still making people happy one purchase at a time. In March of 2002 it had made its way to Dayton, Ohio and 61 days later it showed up in Scottsville, KY. A server at a Sonic acquired it as a tip. What did she do with it? Along with her other tips, she probably paid bills, downloaded music, bought a soda or paid for her gas. 48 days later someone got it as change at a Shell gas station in Chapel Hill, Tennessee. By January of 2005 it had made its way through Texas, Louisiana, Utah and Michigan. That’s over 4,000 miles in 6 years.

In each of those instances, the dollar  bill enabled someone to buy something they needed or just wanted. The economy runs on this dollar, on your dollar, on every dollar.  And strangely, no matter what you do with it, it’s not wasted. You may have squandered an opportunity to get something else, to pay a bill that would have alleviated some of your stress or to help someone out. But no matter what – that bill will travel and it will help someone, and then someone else and then someone else.

Take a dollar out and go to where’sgeorge.com and plug the serial number in. Maybe you’ll be the first person to do so, maybe the 100th. See who’s life was changed by that dollar.  Envision the joy the 5 year old experienced when he sold some lemonade, or the waitress whose tip topped $100 that night. Respect that dollar – and use it wisely. But know that whatever you do with it, it will travel many miles and your spending it will make someone else smile.

P.S. And don’t worry, even if you take it to the bank and put it in your Savings Account – the teller will shell it out to the next customer and the happiness will continue.

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Santa Claus’s House is Just As I Remember

Posted By: dan | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Ever Been There Before?

I lived on Elmendorf Air Force Base when I was a kid. That’s the one just outside Anchorage and just down the street from Sarah Palin’s Wasilla. It’s a cool place to grow up, let me tell you. Having grown up in 11 or 12 different states I feel like an expert on ‘cool’ places to grow up. Think about this from a kid’s perspective. In the summer – it’s light all the time. 2:00 it’s light. 6:00 it’s light. Bedtime it’s light. Playing outside never ends. And Anchorage is not too hot, not too cold – just right. And then in the winter you get to make snowmen, go sledding and build snow forts from October through March. Did you know that just about every elementary school has an ice rink? And then there are moose walking around and they are the biggest animals ever. The neighborhood dads used to make an ice rink in the backyard by shoveling out a big 20 x 30 area and using the snow to make walls around the outside edge. Then they’d all put their hoses into the middle and fill it up overnight.  Like I said, living in Alaska as a kid is cool.

Well one year we drove north to Fairbanks. Do you know what’s in Fairbanks – Santa Claus’s house. Cool, eh? Yeah, just outside of Fairbanks is North Pole, Alaska and alongside the highway is the cheesiest, giant Santa themed gift shop. Oh wait, from a kid’s perspective – and then when you’re leaving Fairbanks you get to a place where the snowbank is really high, you turn into the parking lot where the reindeer land and you get to go into Santa’s candy covered house. It’s filled with toys and ornaments and elves and music and colors. It’s awesome. And all the toys are on racks that you can spin around and there are toys hanging on all sides of the racks. And toys are on shelves down low and way up high – so high your dad has to help get things down. Santa Claus’s house is the greatest place to visit because it doesn’t matter when you go there – it’s always Christmas.

Anyway, I think we visited it in July. But for some reason I remember all that snow. What’s funny is I remember all kinds of stuff like that.  It’s kinda like the smurfs. I remember them so vividly all blue with white hats and yellow mushrooms, green trees and Gargamel’s grey cat. I have this clear vision of life when I was a kid that’s so different than reality.  I have 3 kids now – and I wonder.  Are the smurfs blue in their world?  I wonder – because I remember them so vividly and yet we had a black and white TV.

I hope your childhood memories are as kid-like, and you have memories of Santa too.

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Adventures of Mark and Dan – Part 3

Posted By: clippershiptravel | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Adventures of Dan & Mark

by Mark and Dan

I’m a list guy, Mark not so much. Mark is a memory guy and a people guy. When we travel, he doesn’t want pictures without people in them; whereas, I’d rather have a few good shots of my traveling companions and a bunch of the things we saw.  Pictures of “things I saw” serve as lists of “things I saw”. How dumb is that? I’ve got a map on my office wall where I highlight all the roads I’ve traveled on and circle the cities I’ve lived in. Another list. I’ve got pint glasses, fridge magnets, books, a blog and christmas ornaments all from the places I’ve been. Lists.

Mark’s got a list, too. But he keeps his in his head like some sort of job security. For me it’s like friend security – without his head I don’t have nearly as many memories. He sent me a list yesterday of memories – almost all of which I remember but wouldn’t have recalled otherwise.  Mark, on the other hand, would likely recall all the roads we’d traveled on without looking at the map. So am I compensating for my lack of a good memory – or are we actually different?

The answer to that is yes. We’re completely different – but the differences work perfectly when we travel. Let’s make a list of the differences . . .

I comprehend Spanish, French and Romanian. Mark’s fluent in German and Hungarian. Together we can conquer Europe.

I’ll start the dancing and get everyone on the dance floor. Mark’s the reason people actually talk to us and the reason I don’t get killed for my ‘outgoing-ness’.

Mark’s the one women see when they enter the bar (brawny, blonde, tall). I’m the guy on the roof drinking Tequila with the Guatemalans.

Mark will climb the side of a cliff without equipment, get stuck and somehow not die. But he’s also the guy that will mountain bike down a mountain, get all the way to the bottom, hit a bump and get thrown into the street. I’m the guy that drives the hour to Denver to get him from the hospital and then locks the keys in the car.

I’m the guy that tries to make as much money as he can so I can live like I don’t make much money. Mark’s the guy who’s content not making much money – but lives and travels like he makes millions. (Yeah – downtown Scottsdale Condo and an almost annual trip to Europe for the summer.)

No matter the differences, we’re both ready to scarf down a giant fried pork tenderloin pizza, once. And we’re ready to use the free rowboat that came with the hostel – even though it’s raining (but that’s a different story). Seriously free means free.  We don’t pass up free.

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Culture Shock: Going Up in Paris

Posted By: dan | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Ever Been There Before?, Growing up Military

Two point five days in Paris. It wasn’t our only days in France, but for some reason it was our only time in Paris. We’d spent Thanksgiving in Nice (Antibes, really) and then had taken the TGV (that really fast train) directly from Monaco to Paris.  Our quarters was an apartment that belonged to a friend of ours. He lived on the oustkirts of town, not at all within walking distance of the cool stuff – but staying in an apartment (for free) was cool all by itself. I don’t remember how we got from the train station to the apartment complex but I remember arriving and walking inside. He lived on the 4th or 5th floor so we took the elevator up.

That brings me to a question, what is culture shock? I think part of it is realizing that you don’t squat about the world. At this point in time I’d lived in something like 9 states, traveled to a bunch more, had been living in Romania for a while and now had traversed my way across Europe to get to Paris. I guess all that contributed to the false sense that I was ‘worldly’ and had seen some stuff. And while this seems strange now, getting into that elevator was one of those moments. It made me realize that none of that other stuff mattered because there are plenty of things in this world that are going to surprise me. Maybe that’s not culture shock, but it left an impression.

It was the elevator that did it, not the apartment complex, the elevator. Back in Romania, the apartment I lived in had a funny elevator, not funny ha ha, but funny different. It was typical shape, a few feet wide and a several feet deep, but you had to manually open a sliding gate and then the door to get in. Then you manually closed them both and pressed the floor button, but it wouldn’t always stop at the floor. Sometimes it would stop a few feet above or below the floor – and sometimes the gate or door didn’t close – but no matter what it got you there. Even though it was different the gate and the floor stopping problem weren’t culturally strange. Even though you may not have seen one you see stuff like on TV and movies occassionally.

The elevator in Paris hit me like lightning. Again, this might seem silly but I never would have expected it. When the elevator door opened, the back of it was right there. I mean the elevator was 12 to 18 inches deep. You had to get in backward, really. And then you sidestepped to the right, past the elevator buttons about 6 feet into this ‘pocket’. And the next person slid in next to you. So if you wanted to get off on the next floor, everyone had to slide out, let you out and then slide back in. It was the strangest thing and I just remember thinking that my life is so shallow if I didn’t know an elevator could surprise me. I mean this was an elevator – not a war torn village in the mountains of Afghanistan. An elevator.  And I’m standing in a pocket 18″ deep, at the most, looking at wall, holding my luggage by my side -smiling.  Life is good when you can go somewhere and be surprised by the elevator. Where in your hometown can you expect that to happen?

Travel. Let yourself be surprised – and then tell me about it. I’d love to hear your story as well. By the way, that was our point five day in Paris – wait till you hear what happened when we got off the elevator on Day One.

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What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

Posted By: clippershiptravel | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Turning Travel into Money

How many times were you asked that growing up? How about now? It seems the frequency you get asked that question diminshes as you get older. As if you’re finished- finished picking what you’re going to be or finished growing up. What’s more interesting is the idea that you have that choice when you’re young. I mean you do have a choice – but you’re just not armed with the right ‘decision making tools’.  Teacher’s say ‘ you’re good at math, you could be an engineer’ or ‘you’re good at music, maybe you’ll be a music teacher when you grow up’. When you’re in 5th grade it seems every girl wants to be a marine biologist or teacher or doctor – and the guys want to play football or basketball or be president. But what’s crazy is what we end up being might just be who we already are.

Since birth, and before actually, I’ve been on the move. I’m not sure you could call it traveling when you actually live where you travel to, but in the end it’s travel. And to some degree it’s actually better than just visiting a place for the weekend. By 5th grade, I’d already lived in Wyoming, Ohio, Florida, Texas, Washington state and Alaska. But I never answered “I want to be a travel advisor”. For a while I wanted to be a truck driver, then a farmer, then President, then no idea.  I even took those personality profile tests in high school that told you what careers you’d be good at.  I think accountant, business analyst and lawyer were on that list. (Crazily, I actually like those things and think I could’ve been good at them). Anyway, nothing you’ll probably be good at has anything to do with what you’ll probably like.

Maybe you don’t really change as you grow up, it’s just that you are offered more opportunities and are drawn to the ones you like. For instance if you really like helping people, are a good listener and have always wanted to be a candy-striper,  maybe you’d jump at the chance to visit a nursing school.  See. . . because you already liked it – you gravitated toward the nursing school idea.  Had someone invited you to the Auto/Diesel College you may have said ‘no’ and thus you wouldn’t have ever considered that kind of profession. Again, maybe what you become is really what you are.

After high school I did the college thing, executive assistant, waiter, manager and then went looking for business jobs. But I’m a travel guy. I can talk travel for ever. If I’ve never been to the place we’re talking about, I’ve already got 52 questions. In fact I learned how to correctly pronounce ‘Tehran’ today after meeting a Persian from Iran. And after 35 years of being a travel guy, the opportunity to be an independent travel agent, travel advisor and internet marketer of travel ‘fell in my lap’. And what’s really funny about this 35 year journey back to the beginning, is now I can’t think of any cooler job.

Not only is it fun to talk about travel, help people figure out what they want to do on their vacation, and meet other people who like to travel – but the IRS makes travel a tax-deductible expense for me. Oh yeah, I also get to travel cheap on travel agent rates, and make money helping others travel. I get to write travel reviews and get paid for it. I get to visit resorts and make money. I get to spend my evenings researching travel ideas, writing this blog, becoming an affiliate with different tour agencies and more. Who would have guessed that what I am is what I do. When someone asks me what I want to be when I grow up? I can say – I want to be a good dad, but I want to pay for it by helping people travel.

Tell me - are you making your income doing what you are?

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Adventures of Mark and Dan – Part 2

Posted By: clippershiptravel | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Adventures of Dan & Mark

By Dan

We were living in Frisco, Colorado during the summer of 1995. That was the year this story took place.

Prior to the summer’s inception, we’d looked over a bunch of those books that help you find resort work during the summer. I wasn’t pretty enough to get us on a cruise ship – and Mark needed a wingman so he wasn’t going to do that alone. We ended up choosing Colorado, likely because Keystone, Breckenridge, Aspen and Vail were all in close proximity, and we figured someone was bound to hire us.

We left our place in Frisco intent on making a 1:00 appointment with human resources at the Ritz-Carlton in Aspen. We hadn’t been to Aspen yet but looked at the map and knew we had plenty of time to get there; we opted for the scenic route. On the map, the scenic route involved us taking Highway 70 to State Route 24 through Leadville and then north again on 82 up the ‘backway’ to Aspen.  It was so simple, it almost didn’t require a map. Leadville was the first cool town we passed through.  Did you know that it is the highest incorporated city in the United States? According to Wikipedia, it is situated at 10,152 feet above sea level, so don’t plan on running a 5K there until you’ve taken a few deep breaths.

After Leadville we continued our trek south toward State Route 82. Now it’s June and there is some snow on the ground still, but the weather is quite nice. Though we’re dressed quite nicely, it wasn’t cold enough for gloves or boots. We did see a sign or two indicating that Independence Pass was closed – but that was the only real sign that winter was dragging on. State Route 82 ended up being a bit smaller than SR 24, the road through Leadville, but it was still a nicely paved 2 lane road. Not much traffic – just beautiful views.  Shortly after turning onto 82 we came upon another sign indicating Independence Pass was closed. It was a good thing we weren’t planning on going hiking.

A few miles farther up the road, we came to a gate that had apparently been blown closed and actually blocked the road. Mark stopped and I got out to put the arm of the gate back in place so we could continue our journey to Aspen. About 10 minutes more up the road and at a higher elevaation, we noticed that the snow plow had stopped plowing the shoulder, which created a wall of snow right next to the car. A few minutes later it was clear that the snowplow hadn’t finished clearing the other side of the road because the snow was now starting to encroach onto that lane. It was now going to be very tricky to pass on-coming cars if there wasn’t a wider area for passing coming up.

Moments later, the snow plow guy stopped plowing the snow on that side of the road altogether because the road was down to one lane with extremely tall walls of snow on either side of us. We were getting a bit nervous about falling snow – but knew we had to be getting past this soon. Just as it was getting a bit scary and crazy, we rounded a bend to see a giant wall of snow right in front of us. And there sat the snow plow – no workers in sight. So there we were, after having opened a gate that shut off the road, stuck between two 10′ walls of snow on either side of us and directly ahead of us an ice wall.  It was then that we realized why we hadn’t seen much traffic over the last hour.  And clearly if there had been a road sign now- it would have said, “Welcome To Independence Pass, Idiots!” 

I’m sure someone, somewhere got quite a laugh to see two kids in a Pontiac driving frantically backward hoping to get back to civilization before one of the walls melted and landed on our car. To this day – it’s funny to think that we ran into a wall of ice on our way to get jobs at the most prestigious hotel in the Rockies. Boneheads unite!

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The Search For Pizza

Posted By: clippershiptravel | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Ever Been There Before?

I filled out a profile on reunion.com today (www.reunion.com/tri4time).  Reunion.com sent me an e-mail to tell me that a friend of mine from Alaska ‘linked’ to me. (that’s so thoughtful of them, eh?) So I clicked the link knowing that I hadn’t been to Reunion.com for some time and figured I had to update my address and whatever else they collect. I found out that I move a lot – I’ve lived two places since the last time I visited that site. Nevertheless, my profile is completely updated. I know that makes you feel better. They ask a lot of questions there. Normally, I skip some questions. I don’t even think I answered the basic profile questions on Facebook – and that’s just gender and age and stuff like that.  But for some reason I got sucked in to my top 5 movies, books, places, foods, dates – it went on and on and on. Don’t get me wrong – it’s nothing compare to all the questions you can answer on MySpace. Nothing.

I guess that’s the good part of the internet, eh? Not the profile stuff but the connections. My friend from Alaska is the friend I’ve known the longest in my life. She and I went to 4th, 5th and 6th grade together just outside Anchorage. For some of you that means nothing – you probably have many friends from those grades – but for a military brat – childhood friends are like gold. Since leaving Alaska after 6th grade, I went to school in three other places in two states – thousands of miles away. And since then have lived in 10 or 11 other places. I can say that I am always excited to hear from her and look forward to any chance we have to chat. I guess that seems silly – but friendships take work.

So I obviously veered off course here. My original goal was to write about great pizza I’ve come across on my travels. Oh yeah, I remember now. I started with Reunion.com because one of the questions they asked was to list all the places you’d lived. For some reason (maybe I was filling it out at lunch time) but I was trying to think of my favorite pizza joints in each place. I couldn’t think of too many, which is sad, really. I’d love to be able to just rattle off the best pizza place in all the major cities or places I’ve lived. I know it’s cool to eat the native food when you’re traveling – but I find there’s always an extra day when you’ve tried the local fare and you want to see what the locals pizza tastes like. Maybe it’s just me.

So my favorite pizza to date is the Mediterranean pizza at Backstreets in Blacksburg, Virginia – home of Virginia Tech. I can never determine exactly what makes a pizza great, but I think I’ve narrowed it down to the sauce and the crust. They’ve got to mesh.  Pizza hut has sweet sauce and a basic dough – very consumer friendly – but not fantastic. Backstreets has a bit of a sweet crust and an extremely flavorful sauce that gets its sweetness from the crust. To top that off, all the ingredients looked like they’d been just picked from the garden.  Backstreets is a great stop. However, if you’re planning to go to Blacksburg to visit the beautiful Virginia Tech campus – stay home and get Pizza Hut. The campus might as well be a strip mall.

My grandfather’s favorite pizza was a place called Fort Ball Pizza in Tiffin, Ohio. I wouldn’t put this place on the top of my list. It’s your basic thick crust, greasy cheese pizza. I can’t even remember if it’s good. If you scoop a piece out and there’s a foot print on the box – I’m thinking grease. It’s hard to overcome grease – no matter how good the ingredients are. But Tiffin does have a better college campus with Heidelberg University. It’s not the University of North Carolina – but it is pretty.

Strangely, the City Museum in St. Louis has some pretty awesome pizza. I think I only had the cheese pizza – but a good cheese pizza is a sign of a great pizza chef.  It was Italian, had great sauce and was the perfect combination of spices.  For those of you in St. Louis you’re probably cringing because the City Museum is nowhere near The Hill. But having eaten on the Hill several times, I don’t even remember a pizza joint up there. Though the breaded ravioli is awesome.

My current hometown of Nashville has a little place downtown called Mambu’s. I’m not sure how to describe the place other than ecletic. It’s the kind of place that has a different menu everytime you’re there.  Everytime I’ve been there they’ve had personal pizzas. I think I’ve always ordered the Margherita Pizza. It’s basil leaves, mozzeralla and sauce. The crust bubbles up and has great air pockets, reminds me of a very fresh and tasty Boboli. Definitely give it a shot.

Other than that – in Dover, New Hampshire there’s a convenience store on Dover Point Road just down from Tuttles Red Barn that makes astounding subs and awesome pizza. I drove there from Boston once just to get a sub there.

Traveling is awesome. I’m a list guy so for some reason I like to keep track of where I’ve traveled compare the places and look for more. Pizza is one of my comparison points. If you know a place that has awesome pizza – let me know. I’ll make sure to check it out on my next journey.

Dan – Clippershiptravel.com

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