From Albuquerque to the Bermuda Triangle

Three weeks out of the office can take a guy to a lot of places.  And darned if it didn't this time.  Starting by flying into ABQ, then renting a car to drive the "back half" of Route 66 (the front half was done 11 years prior), we finished up in Santa Monica.  Along the way were plenty of iconic sights to see, from aging motels to desert landscapes to the Grand Canyon.

The sublime gave way to the ridiculous in Oatman, AZ

but we recovered the sublime the next day when visiting the man-made art-deco grandeur of Hoover Dam.

At Santa Monica, we said good-bye to Route 66 and turned north on "the 1" to drive Big Sur, and finish up north of Oakland in the wine country of Alexander Valley.

You might not think that Healdsburg, CA and Hamilton, Bermuda have much in common, but one thing at least connected the two:  stately palm trees.

After two weeks of vacation, business (yes, really) took me to the northern vertex of the Bermuda Triangle.  Didn't seem mysterious at all!  It was lovely to look at, both from my hotel balcony and from above a fine restaurant for a business dinner.

Some things were curious about Bermuda, though.  One in particular: a urinal at a high-end luncheon spot.  It was certainly a conversation piece, but I'll bet the cleaning staff just despise it.  ;)

After business meetings were done, a conference was up next at a different hotel, but with a similarly lovely view from my room's balcony:

Breaks were on the veranda, and dinner was at the beach club.  

Tough duty, this traveling on business...