The Dyas Family

So, I have a bit of an obsession with tracking the states I’ve spent the night in.  In fact, my buddy Loubert and I once hung a map on our office wall and used different colored pushpins to indicate where we’d been.  To celebrate this, I’ve decided to commemorate each of these states with the number of times I’ve been there and my thoughts about my experiences there.

Current Count: 21

Alabama (1)

The one time I’ve visited Alabama was to attend a Lockheed leadership conference at the Mariott in Point Clear, which is right along the gulf coast.  It was beautiful down there!  That trip was also the first time I parasailed, which was a really cool adventure.

Arizona (1)

My experience with Arizona also stems from a Lockheed conference – this one about DoD communication technologies in Sierra Vista.  I stayed in Tombstone, which is as much like one of those old western towns you’d see in the movies as any place I’ve ever seen.  I honestly didn’t know if they had dressed the town up for tourists or if that’s really just the way things were down there.  While there, I took a tour of Arizona State University.  It was an awesome campus and reminded me much of Penn State, except with less squirrels and more palm trees.  Pictures from this trip can be found here.

California (1)

Seal Beach
- Hot Off the Grill
- Ayres
- Very nice
- No bar/restaurant
- Small gym
- Free beer M-R
- Decent breakfast
- Free internet
- Spaghettini’s
- Good jazz band – ended too soon
- Good looking waitresses/bartender
- Looked like a nice place to eat
- Claim Jumper
- Beef Tri tip decent

PCH/Malibu
- Gorgeous
- Dolphins
- Surfers
- Neptune’s Net

Santa Monica
- 3rd St. Promenade
- Pier
- Dinosaurs

Westin
- Nice lobby
- Otherwise sort of run down for a 4-star
- Good coffee/coffee maker
- Comfy bed & chair in room
- Crappy TV
- Internet fee

Hollywood
- Kodak Theater
- Walk of Fame
- Mel’s Diner
- Sunset Blvd.
- Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive

Departing
- Lame food court
- No wireless access

Future Trips
- In-n-out burger
- Hollywood sign
- See a show (Wicked?)
- Pasadena
- Venice Beach
- San Diego

Colorado (1)

Another Lockheed leadership conference took me to Colorado Springs.  We had a lot of fun out there including white water rafting, dinner at a microbrewery and brunch at the Broadmoor.

Connecticut (1)

My first and only trip to Connecticut was on our way to Boston in July 2008.  We spent the night at a Days Inn in Hartford, which is nothing to write blogs about, except for it’s value (We paid $60 with a AAA discount).  There’s a restaurant called MaArgarita’s across the street looked fun, but we didn’t hit it up.

Delaware (8-10)

I’ve been to Delaware on a number of occasions.  Our good friends the Sliwas live just outside Bethany Beach in Selbyville, and we have visited them there on a number of occasions.  Additionally, my sister graduated from the University of Delaware, so I believe we spent a night there for her graduation.  One other time I hit up the Dover area with my friend John Walker and spent the night there after a trip to the race track.

Florida (Many)

Aside from the standard trip to Disney World and Universal Studios, I’ve been to Key West for a Lockheed leadership conference, and to the Ft. Lauderdale area to visit my grandmother at her condo there.

Georgia (1)

My only trip to Georgia was to watch Penn State Men’s Basketball play in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.  We had a blast driving down there with the Sliwas which included an adventure in Buckhead and funny stories about Cracker Barrel and the Elk Inn.  If I remember correctly, we returned to State College just in time to drop Melissa off at a class she could not skip.

Indiana (1)

My only trip to Indiana was to see Penn State take on Notre Dame in South Bend.  It was an excellent road trip adventure with Carroll, Swisher, Nuss and Jess DeSalvo that included drinking beer at the bar in the campus center, flip pie in the parking lot, a really really long walk to the stadium and Carroll pouring coffee out the window of our moving car that flew right back in the window.

Kentucky (1)

My only overnight trip to Kentucky was for a Technology Student Association trip in High School, where I was in a public speaking competition.  I remember very little of this trip other than using a laptop and a portable projector to project “adult” images onto the hotel walls with someof the guys I was out there with.

Maine (1)

My only time in Maine was spent with my cousin Tom and my Gradparents when we spent a week at Lake Thompson at my grandparents’ friends place.  I was pretty young, but I remember having a blast swimming in the lake, shooting pool in their basement, laying in a hammock and playing some tetherball-like thing.  This trip also marked the time my cousin accidentally slammed the truck door down on my grandmother’s head, which made the next few hours in the car a bit awkward.

Maryland (Many)

Maryland is one of the 4 states I lived in.  I spent a year in Silver Spring when I first joined Lockeed and moved to the DC area after college.  A few years later I worked in Gaithersburg for a while, which is when I met Loubert, my partner in Greaze.  Now that we live in Virginia, I still make it to Maryland fairly often, though usually not to spend the night.

Massachussets (1)

My only experience with MA is our trip to Boston for our 5 year wedding anniversary in July 2008.  It was an awesome time that I captured in a blog posting (including pictures).

Nevada (Many)

I’ve been to Nevada 6 or 7 times now, and yet have only spent the night in one city – Las Vegas. Some friends and I have made a bi-annual (if that’s the once every two years one…) journey out to Sin City since 2005.  It’s probably my favorite city in the U.S. for a whole host of reasons.

New Jersey (Many)

I grew up in Northern, NJ, so it will always hold a special place in my heart, no matter what other people say about it.  It seems I’m defending its qualities at least once a week to someone.  Sure, there’s some blemishes, as with any state, but the part I grew up in was pretty rural, and also houses the primary manufacturing plant of M&Ms.

New York (Many)

I’ve been to New York City on a number of occasions.  Every year, a group of my friends plans a trip right before Christmas time for an extended weekend usually spent catching a show, dining in Little Italy and lots and lots of drinking.  Our favorite place to do that has been this little bar called Fiddlesticks.  I’ve also been up to the NY side of Niagara falls on 2 occasions – once with my friends BJ and Joe and once with Melissa for Fall Break at PSU.

North Carolina (3-4)

I’ve been to a few different cities in NC for a number of reasons.  I took a college tour of Wake Forest with my dad back in 1997.  Then, for Christmas one year Melissa got me tickets to see a Duke vs. UMD basketball game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, which still ranks as probably the greatest single gift EVER.  More recently, my family has made an annual reunion trip to Corolla, NC in the Outer Banks.

Pennsylvania (Many)

Pennsylvania is one of the 4 states I’ve lived in.  I spent four years at the illustrious Penn State University where I had entirely too much fun for one individual.  I met my future wife there and managed to emerge with a degree in Computer Science.  In addition to my stint at PSU, we visit my wife’s family fairly often in West Chester, PA so they can get their grand daughter fix.  Fall 2008 should also mark my first trip to Pittsburgh, where Mike Carroll will be my tour guide.

South Carolina (Many)

I could almost call SC one of the states I’ve lived in, because my sister and I used to spend an entire month visiting my grandparents there every summer.  My grandparents still live there at Myrtle Beach and now my parents also inhabit the state, out in Greenville.  I envision many more future trips to SC.

Virginia (Many)

Virginia marks the fourth, and current state I’ve lived in.  After my year in Silver Spring, MD and in conjunctionw ith Melissa moving down to the DC area to teach after graduating, we took up residence in Fairfax, VA.  Two years later, we bought a townhouse in Centreville, where we live to this day.  I don’t have much more experience with the state outside the DC area except for a college tour of Viginia Tech in Blacksburgh that had convinced me to go there until I toured PSU a few days later.

West Virginia (2)

My two experiences with West Virginia have been wonderful.  I had the opportunity to take in a Rutgers vs. West Virginia football game in Morgantown, which was a blast.  They let us take beer into the stadium and tailgaiting was in full effect.  The other trip was to the Hillbrook Inn bed and breakfast on the recommendation of my former boss.  It was a beautiful place, and we had a superb time there.  Highly recommended to anyone looking to get away.