Tammy Armstrong
I did plenty of travelling with my last employer, Nortel. I was on the
road to do field upgrades on Cell Sites.
My first adventure was to St. Paul/Minneapolis in the middle of March when
working outside and in the dirt was cold, but I managed through it just
fine. It was the late 1990’s. We saw the Mall of America and Hooters, not that impressed with the food, but I’m sure that’s not why the guys wanted to check it out!! They didn’t have Hooters here in Canada yet.
One of my next stops was Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. Now that’s a place
where I can live happily ever after. Had spent 3 months there from August
to October. Temperatures there ranged from 90 – 110 degrees in the
humidity during the day, and didn’t seem to cool off much in the evening.
My shift was during the late evening and wee hours of the morning and I spent the days by the pool suntanning. Weekends were spent in my favorite
watering hole called Filthy McNasty’s in the Ft. Worth Stockyards. Great
music, good people and I will always remember the good times I had there.
Dallas was a replica of Calgary only with a Southern accent. It too had
great people and great places to see. We had gone out to a nightclub and
right across the street was a 24 hour sex shop. Only in America huh?
After returning home from Texas, I got a lot of comments on my tan. One
of the most memorable was “beer bottle brown” and have used the term ever since. It’s funny how you can remember exactly where you were when
something tragic happens. Lady Di was killed that September.
On another occasion, I was happy to return back to Texas, and this time it
would be San Antonio for 5 weeks. The weather was hot and the food even
hotter!! Best Mexican food I have tasted and as far as the salsa.....it
wasn’t made in New York City!!! I worked there during the month of
November eating dinner on the Riverwalk, on a patio, in my shorts and a Calgary Flames Jersey. Seemed to me this could have been the closest thing to paradise I had found in a long time.
Got to see Mission Control in Houston, sat in the cockpit of a space shuttle
and even brought home some freeze dried space food. And whether you
believe they put a man on the moon or not, I even brought home some moon
dust!!
One of the most adventurous places I had visited, and worked in, was
Birmingham, Alabama. Spent one month there. Locals still call their
underwear “drawers” and their pants “britches”. Not a word of a lie.
Just like in the movies! While spending time there, I did frequent the
“Disco Swing Party” at the Holiday Inn as it was close to the hotel I
stayed. One night after the Holiday Inn, was invited to an all night club
with live music until 5 am in the morning. On this same excursion, I
managed to go to Graceland to see how Elvis lived, and died for that
matter. Never imagined the house to be that small, or as “70’s” as it
was. We left there and stopped in Tupelo, Mississippi Elvis’s birthplace
and hometown. If you blinked, you would miss it. A very small house
on Elvis Presley Road. I wanted to steal the roadsign, but was talked out
of it not wanting to face charges at the border coming home!!
Since I was driving distance to Atlanta, Georgia, I decided to go there for a day. Crossed over the Chatahoochi River too (I think there is a famous
song about it?). I finally reached Atlanta and the first place I hit was a
shopping centre to purchase a disposable camera as I did not have a “real” one at the time. As I entered the mall, I had noticed, quite blatantly, that I was the blondest, whitest girl in the mall!!! I felt very “minority” (for
lack of a better word) but I did get treated very well noticing of course that I was a tourist!!! I purchased my camera and was off to site see. Saw
Brave’s stadium and also visited places where the Olympics were held there.
Another encounter while stationed in Alabama was to spend a weekend in
Nashville, TN. Nashville’s Bell Tower looks like the ‘Bat Tower” and when
I find the picture of it, I will post it!! Checked out a nightclub on the roof of a very high building. An outdoor bar and dancing. Very nice and the first time I had ever experienced this. Of course who would go to Nashville and not check out the Grand Ole Opry? Well, me!!! We did not go in as they only had two kinds of music in there. Country AND Western!! We did, however, get a picture of the place. On the way to Nashville, we stopped in Huntsville, Alabama because I had noticed fields of “white”. Well it couldn’t be snow this far South. Turns out it was “cotton fields”. We pulled over, got out and actually picked cotton from those fields and fled before a farmer could confront us with his gun!!! One more stop. Lynchburg, Tennesse to the Jack Daniels factory. Never got a free sample but did pick up some Jack Daniels mustard.
While down South, I was also privileged enough to take in New Orleans.
Needless to say, anything goes!! The French Quarters with Rue Royal,
Bourbon St., Boy’s Will Be Girls clubs and a feeling that you may be approached by a Vampire at anytime!! Cajun food, blues and Cajun music, voodoo, witches and the mighty Mississippi donning riverboat paddlewheels. Again, just like being in the movies!!! Where are Rhett and Scarlett???
Hurricanes are the drink of choice and they were very tasty!!
I actually had an argument with the person I was staying with there in New
Orleans, and ended up sleeping in my work van that night in a casino parking lot!!! Talk about naive? Woke up alive the next morning and off to
the nearest gas station to clean up.
Brought home some beer from the Dixie Brewery. One case of “Crimson
Voodoo” and one case of “Blackened Voodoo”. Also brought home Voodoo Dolls, spell crystals and some good old hot peppers!!
Omaha, Nebraska wasn’t quite exotic as these other places, but did spend
another 5 weeks there and the corn fields of Iowa. Made it down to Kansas
City as well where I took in a hockey game. AH....felt great to watch a
hockey game.... I just happened to be in Kansas just before Halloween and
the local radio station was having a “Night of the Living Dead” monster ball and one of their DJ’s would be “resurrected” from the casket he had been buried in for the last few weeks, only to arise on Halloween Night.
I think the biggest highlight of my travels was to work in NYC. Well,
actually the work was on Long Island just outside of Ronconcama. I went in
December of 2001, 3 months after 9-11. Scared to death, I boarded the
plane along with the Calgary Roughnecks who were playing in NY that
weekend. With only 10 days there, I didn’t get to see everything I wanted,
but hope to be back someday soon....maybe to catch hockey? I did manage to get some “touristy” things in. Even took the subway almost an hour to Coney Island only because of “The Warriors.” Walked into Tiffany’s on 5th Ave. with lip ring, back pack and jeans.
Besides all of the travels with my last job, I love travelling in general. Doesn’t everyone? My favorite activities are hockey, football, baseball, hanging out with good friends and singing some karaoke now and then.
The Flames in the NHL, the Heat in the AHL, the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL and the Hitmen of the WHL. I have travelled to California to see the Flames, to Abbotsford to see the Heat, and to several WHL cities to see the Hitmen. Travelling to ALL of the WHL cities is on my bucket list.
I am a Stampeders fan, and as an added bonus, my son’s cousin plays on the
team. It’s a great feeling to have family who have made it in the Big League and are able to watch them.
Being a Toronto Blue Jays fan, I travelled to Toronto to watch them as a
birthday present to myself!!
I was in my 20’s during the 80’s and therefore, love that music!! I am from the Mountains, small town Alberta, and was not exposed to all the “cool” punk music of the day. We were lucky to have one radio station and the closest record shop was 90 miles away!!!
I have come a long way since those days, and now I listen to quite the variety of music. The 6 fav channels of mine on Sirius Satellite Radio are: Liquid Metal, Faction, Octane, 90’s on 9, Boneyard and 80”s on 8.
I have attended many concerts over the years, too numerous to mention.
But I can if you wanted. HAHAHA...
road to do field upgrades on Cell Sites.
My first adventure was to St. Paul/Minneapolis in the middle of March when
working outside and in the dirt was cold, but I managed through it just
fine. It was the late 1990’s. We saw the Mall of America and Hooters, not that impressed with the food, but I’m sure that’s not why the guys wanted to check it out!! They didn’t have Hooters here in Canada yet.
One of my next stops was Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. Now that’s a place
where I can live happily ever after. Had spent 3 months there from August
to October. Temperatures there ranged from 90 – 110 degrees in the
humidity during the day, and didn’t seem to cool off much in the evening.
My shift was during the late evening and wee hours of the morning and I spent the days by the pool suntanning. Weekends were spent in my favorite
watering hole called Filthy McNasty’s in the Ft. Worth Stockyards. Great
music, good people and I will always remember the good times I had there.
Dallas was a replica of Calgary only with a Southern accent. It too had
great people and great places to see. We had gone out to a nightclub and
right across the street was a 24 hour sex shop. Only in America huh?
After returning home from Texas, I got a lot of comments on my tan. One
of the most memorable was “beer bottle brown” and have used the term ever since. It’s funny how you can remember exactly where you were when
something tragic happens. Lady Di was killed that September.
On another occasion, I was happy to return back to Texas, and this time it
would be San Antonio for 5 weeks. The weather was hot and the food even
hotter!! Best Mexican food I have tasted and as far as the salsa.....it
wasn’t made in New York City!!! I worked there during the month of
November eating dinner on the Riverwalk, on a patio, in my shorts and a Calgary Flames Jersey. Seemed to me this could have been the closest thing to paradise I had found in a long time.
Got to see Mission Control in Houston, sat in the cockpit of a space shuttle
and even brought home some freeze dried space food. And whether you
believe they put a man on the moon or not, I even brought home some moon
dust!!
One of the most adventurous places I had visited, and worked in, was
Birmingham, Alabama. Spent one month there. Locals still call their
underwear “drawers” and their pants “britches”. Not a word of a lie.
Just like in the movies! While spending time there, I did frequent the
“Disco Swing Party” at the Holiday Inn as it was close to the hotel I
stayed. One night after the Holiday Inn, was invited to an all night club
with live music until 5 am in the morning. On this same excursion, I
managed to go to Graceland to see how Elvis lived, and died for that
matter. Never imagined the house to be that small, or as “70’s” as it
was. We left there and stopped in Tupelo, Mississippi Elvis’s birthplace
and hometown. If you blinked, you would miss it. A very small house
on Elvis Presley Road. I wanted to steal the roadsign, but was talked out
of it not wanting to face charges at the border coming home!!
Since I was driving distance to Atlanta, Georgia, I decided to go there for a day. Crossed over the Chatahoochi River too (I think there is a famous
song about it?). I finally reached Atlanta and the first place I hit was a
shopping centre to purchase a disposable camera as I did not have a “real” one at the time. As I entered the mall, I had noticed, quite blatantly, that I was the blondest, whitest girl in the mall!!! I felt very “minority” (for
lack of a better word) but I did get treated very well noticing of course that I was a tourist!!! I purchased my camera and was off to site see. Saw
Brave’s stadium and also visited places where the Olympics were held there.
Another encounter while stationed in Alabama was to spend a weekend in
Nashville, TN. Nashville’s Bell Tower looks like the ‘Bat Tower” and when
I find the picture of it, I will post it!! Checked out a nightclub on the roof of a very high building. An outdoor bar and dancing. Very nice and the first time I had ever experienced this. Of course who would go to Nashville and not check out the Grand Ole Opry? Well, me!!! We did not go in as they only had two kinds of music in there. Country AND Western!! We did, however, get a picture of the place. On the way to Nashville, we stopped in Huntsville, Alabama because I had noticed fields of “white”. Well it couldn’t be snow this far South. Turns out it was “cotton fields”. We pulled over, got out and actually picked cotton from those fields and fled before a farmer could confront us with his gun!!! One more stop. Lynchburg, Tennesse to the Jack Daniels factory. Never got a free sample but did pick up some Jack Daniels mustard.
While down South, I was also privileged enough to take in New Orleans.
Needless to say, anything goes!! The French Quarters with Rue Royal,
Bourbon St., Boy’s Will Be Girls clubs and a feeling that you may be approached by a Vampire at anytime!! Cajun food, blues and Cajun music, voodoo, witches and the mighty Mississippi donning riverboat paddlewheels. Again, just like being in the movies!!! Where are Rhett and Scarlett???
Hurricanes are the drink of choice and they were very tasty!!
I actually had an argument with the person I was staying with there in New
Orleans, and ended up sleeping in my work van that night in a casino parking lot!!! Talk about naive? Woke up alive the next morning and off to
the nearest gas station to clean up.
Brought home some beer from the Dixie Brewery. One case of “Crimson
Voodoo” and one case of “Blackened Voodoo”. Also brought home Voodoo Dolls, spell crystals and some good old hot peppers!!
Omaha, Nebraska wasn’t quite exotic as these other places, but did spend
another 5 weeks there and the corn fields of Iowa. Made it down to Kansas
City as well where I took in a hockey game. AH....felt great to watch a
hockey game.... I just happened to be in Kansas just before Halloween and
the local radio station was having a “Night of the Living Dead” monster ball and one of their DJ’s would be “resurrected” from the casket he had been buried in for the last few weeks, only to arise on Halloween Night.
I think the biggest highlight of my travels was to work in NYC. Well,
actually the work was on Long Island just outside of Ronconcama. I went in
December of 2001, 3 months after 9-11. Scared to death, I boarded the
plane along with the Calgary Roughnecks who were playing in NY that
weekend. With only 10 days there, I didn’t get to see everything I wanted,
but hope to be back someday soon....maybe to catch hockey? I did manage to get some “touristy” things in. Even took the subway almost an hour to Coney Island only because of “The Warriors.” Walked into Tiffany’s on 5th Ave. with lip ring, back pack and jeans.
Besides all of the travels with my last job, I love travelling in general. Doesn’t everyone? My favorite activities are hockey, football, baseball, hanging out with good friends and singing some karaoke now and then.
The Flames in the NHL, the Heat in the AHL, the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL and the Hitmen of the WHL. I have travelled to California to see the Flames, to Abbotsford to see the Heat, and to several WHL cities to see the Hitmen. Travelling to ALL of the WHL cities is on my bucket list.
I am a Stampeders fan, and as an added bonus, my son’s cousin plays on the
team. It’s a great feeling to have family who have made it in the Big League and are able to watch them.
Being a Toronto Blue Jays fan, I travelled to Toronto to watch them as a
birthday present to myself!!
I was in my 20’s during the 80’s and therefore, love that music!! I am from the Mountains, small town Alberta, and was not exposed to all the “cool” punk music of the day. We were lucky to have one radio station and the closest record shop was 90 miles away!!!
I have come a long way since those days, and now I listen to quite the variety of music. The 6 fav channels of mine on Sirius Satellite Radio are: Liquid Metal, Faction, Octane, 90’s on 9, Boneyard and 80”s on 8.
I have attended many concerts over the years, too numerous to mention.
But I can if you wanted. HAHAHA...