My absolute favorite hobby is reading and this can be an expensive and wasteful hobby when buying books new. So I've decided to only get mostly used books and to often frequent my favorite used books store, Paperbacks Unlimited. I used to go there as a kid and I loved it.
I know the library is another option, but I like to keep my books and loan them out to people who are interested. Any books that I don't want to keep, I take in for store credit.
If a book comes out that I really don't want to wait for it to be 1) in paperback and 2) available at Paperbacks Unlimited, I'll buy new, but then I'll either pass it around or trade it in for store credit.
http://paperbks.com/
Showing posts with label One a week- Erica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label One a week- Erica. Show all posts
Friday, July 27, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Green traveling
I found over our vacation that traveling green is hard! Something simple like recycling is difficult when you aren't near a recycling bin, so you have to tote garbage as well as four people's worth of stuff around the country.
I planned on making our vacation as green as possible. What happened was almost the exact opposite!
I read an article how Motel 6 is going a tad greener, so I went to book a room for when we stayed in Eureka. Accidentally I booked Super 8 (those hotels with numbers confused me I guess).
I found great places for Ashland and Portland though. We stayed in a granny unit of a local family in Ashland. They didn't have regular hotel amenities like cleaning service and I noticed Seventh Generation under the sink, so hopefully they are green themselves :) But nothing beat Portland... McMenamins! If you all are ever around Portland, you HAVE TO stay at Kennedy School! It's an old school that was closed in the 70s and McMenamins reopened it as a hotel with a movie theatre (you can drink beer in), a restaurant that had the best food ever and a soaking pool. They have their own brewery and coffee roasting company. I could have stayed at the hotel for the full two days and been perfectly happy. Each room looked like an old classroom with chalkboards and all! I loved it's quirkiness. Plus they had recycling bins in each room and they didn't change bedding unless requested.
We had planned on driving the hybrid, but it was totally impossible once we tried to cram everything in there. I planned on eating local in each place, but sometimes fast food prevailed. We ended up buying more packaged food things since we had little space and needed the convenience.
I only bought a couple souvenirs and I really like them: an organic onesie from a local Ashland coffee shop we went to several times, some natural, organic bath soaps that smelled good made by a local in Ashland and a book for Emma made by a local in Ashland.
Overall, I was disappointed in my resolve to stay green over that ten days. From now on, when we travel I will put more effort into making the entire trip as eco-friendly as possible. We did well but not as good as I had hoped. Live and learn...
I planned on making our vacation as green as possible. What happened was almost the exact opposite!
I read an article how Motel 6 is going a tad greener, so I went to book a room for when we stayed in Eureka. Accidentally I booked Super 8 (those hotels with numbers confused me I guess).
I found great places for Ashland and Portland though. We stayed in a granny unit of a local family in Ashland. They didn't have regular hotel amenities like cleaning service and I noticed Seventh Generation under the sink, so hopefully they are green themselves :) But nothing beat Portland... McMenamins! If you all are ever around Portland, you HAVE TO stay at Kennedy School! It's an old school that was closed in the 70s and McMenamins reopened it as a hotel with a movie theatre (you can drink beer in), a restaurant that had the best food ever and a soaking pool. They have their own brewery and coffee roasting company. I could have stayed at the hotel for the full two days and been perfectly happy. Each room looked like an old classroom with chalkboards and all! I loved it's quirkiness. Plus they had recycling bins in each room and they didn't change bedding unless requested.
We had planned on driving the hybrid, but it was totally impossible once we tried to cram everything in there. I planned on eating local in each place, but sometimes fast food prevailed. We ended up buying more packaged food things since we had little space and needed the convenience.
I only bought a couple souvenirs and I really like them: an organic onesie from a local Ashland coffee shop we went to several times, some natural, organic bath soaps that smelled good made by a local in Ashland and a book for Emma made by a local in Ashland.
Overall, I was disappointed in my resolve to stay green over that ten days. From now on, when we travel I will put more effort into making the entire trip as eco-friendly as possible. We did well but not as good as I had hoped. Live and learn...
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