Travel in style -- Porsche plug

What is your favorite way to travel?  I tolerate flying, never been cruising, and hiking is what we do once we arrive at our destinations.  But in order to get "there", at least here in the States where public transportation is often lacking, that usually means driving.

Well, if you're going to drive, there's no finer way to enjoy our roads than in a new Porsche.  I had the fortune of working at Porsche Cars North America from 2003-2011 and as an employee you can lease their vehicles at a decent rate.  Employees used to be able to enjoy the Porsche Driving Experience (PDE) at  Barber Motorsports once a year.  Apparently that's no longer the case, so if you're interested in racing Stuttgart's finest then go here instead: Porsche Driving Experience.

Enough promotions concerning my former employer.  Let me list all of the cars we were able to enjoy over the years.  Yes, we name most of our cars, a tradition started by our kids after they played the fabulous Putt-Putt games from Humongous Entertainment in the late 90's.  Over 8 years we drove 3 Cayennes

• Black Dog
• Blue Dog
• Ugly Dog

2 Boxsters

• Raven
• BABS (Big Ass Boxster S)

plus 1 Carrera (Sally) and very briefly one Cayman (Snowflake).  We also borrowed a Cayenne S and a Panamera for one week.  We took these vehicles all over the Southeast, driving up to Nashville, TN in one of the Boxters and down to Sarasota, FL in Sally.  I must say, some of the looks we got on the roads and some of the compliments we would receive at gas stations would make me feel a little sheepish.  I would usually reply with me "it's not mine, it's a company car" to which the retort would be along the lines of "Nice company!".

Here is the first Cayennes we leased, Black Dog, parked in our garage:

This was the first series of SUV's sold by Porsche in the USA and it had a couple of minor issues.  The one that annoyed most was the broken cup holders.  Yeah, I know, "First World Problems".  Black Dog was followed by Blue Dog:

To this day I wondered what our distant neighbors thought when they would see a new Porsche driving in every 6 months.

Here are some picture from the PDE.  The first year Mary talked me into going (yeah, I'm not a car guy).  The second year I was able to take some friends (on the right of the photo) thanks to my colleagues on the left.

It was quite expensive, so we only drove Sally the 911 for 6 months.

Here is the Panamera (before this series had been released to the public for sale) we enjoyed for a few days:

The 4-door sedans and SUVs saved Porsche the company.  It turns out that rich soccer moms don't like small 2-seaters and dads occasionally want trunk space beyond just storing golf bags.  But Mary loved her Boxters.  To this day she pines about no longer being able to drive somewhere with the top down.

All good things must come to an end.  I left the company in 2011 to join a hard-core software development firm.  Our last company vehicle was a Cayman, which is a 2-door coupe that is half-Boxster, half-Carrera.  So your journey in style ends with Snowflake: