UMTravels

And in that order!
Dentist appointment at 10am, massage at noon, stove appraisal (and purchase) at 3pm, the dinner (avocado stuffed with bay shrimp, and sliced red bell peppers in dressing), then the task of packing (or is that re-packing) for tomorrow’s trip back to Hawaii.
I’ve learned some things. Less shoes — no beach booties, but [...]

Greetings from the Delta Crown Room in Honolulu — again.
Got through security by 10am, and a snack and into the Crown Room by 10:30am — meeting Jill’s flight that is scheduled to be in at noon, mine was half an hour early — and the website says hers is as well even though it left [...]

Up at 5:30am because I booked (badly) an early morning flight when I should have booked an afternoon flight — but at $19 each way the change charge would have been $100 plus the difference in fare, probably another $100. Flight was at 9am, and by 10am I was in my first room (166) at [...]

Morning:
Up early because some inconsiderate person set the alarm for 6:30 — decided to get out of bed at seven — blatter calls. And what the hell, at 8:30 there is the”orientation” for island activities, and I haven’t been in a year — and there is a lottery!
Donut holes, melon, and juice and an hour [...]

Up surprisingly early for a holiday — 7am+. It’s time to move condos on the Hawaii Condo Hop. Two nights at Valley Isle in a 2-bedroom, one night in a 2-bedroom (less desirable location) in Kihei, one night in a one-bedroom (limited view), followed by Monday night at the Castle Honolulu Airport Hotel.
This is my [...]

What a view to wake up to…
    
The second shot is of the kitchen/living room/dining room. The bedroom (the master, not the one with two twin beds at the back) is to the left of these shots, but has the same, if not better, view of the ocean.
I must have done something right in a [...]

Morning report:
Up at 5am, out of the house by 5:30am. In the security line at 6:10am when I realized I left my boarding pass in the car — thank god for electronic terminals rather than lines! Was drinking in the board room by 6:35am. TIP: Don’t Use The Alaska/United Seurity Checkpoint — Even The Handicapped/First Class/Premier [...]

Up early (7:30am) this morning to meet Graf with the laptop — means I get another couple of hours to work today on packing, bills, etc. Need to remember to get my taxes done for the state before I go. Should pay the mortgage as well, and those pesky utilities.
Got the photos out to Uli, [...]

On the way to shopping dropped off boxes and a book at Wonderful’s place. More stuff out of the house!
Morgan’s Plumbing on Stoneway is the shower shopping stop for today. Yes, they have a 36″ base (which I found out is code these days) — but it’s close to $400 — cast iron is $500, [...]

Got back from Olympia late morning, just in time for a meeting with MoonSong about a shower for the church. He brought the recent photos of the digs at the church, and which and how much wall will need to come out. It’s looking like a 36″ square shower. Time to go shopping!
Checked out Home [...]

Got on the road by a little after nine, and it’s ten hours back to Seattle. Mikal made a wonderful breakfast (again!) and I hugged the sleeping Mudd and left.
Stopped an actually sat down to have a bit for lunch, and read a couple more pages of The Sushi Economy, which will most likely get [...]

WOW — boys everywhere. Frat Boys, Farm Boys, Red Neck Boys, Geek Boys. Maybe it’s Mikal and Mudd’s neighborhood near Chico State. Makes me want to think about buying a house here!
Errands today: get the oil changed (1,000 miles late and a quart low), get the car washed. hit Trader Joe’s for liquor (only to [...]

The score from last night was: UncleMarkie’s van arrived first (after leaving last) at 7:45pm after stops for Chinese take-out and booze, Jamie, Paula, and crowd at 8:45pm (they left first) and Matt and crew at 9:45pm. Good thing WhiteWater knew where the key was!
Up at 7am this morning to wash, pack, and organize all [...]

Last night was spent in the lovely Silver Queen Motel in Kingman, Arizona. Getting all 14 of us into one hotel at the proper price is not unlike herding cats, with people starting to snip at each other and then there are the catty comments that follow — I think everyone is just exhausted.
Dinner was [...]

Here is the link to the unedited Grand Canyon pictures from this trip:
http://www.twango.com/channel/markso.GrandCanyonTrip
And here is a slide show…

More photos will be posted tonight as I sleep, and the machine works. Over the next week I’ll be going in an adding editorial comments to the previous entries. Keep on coming back.

9:30 on the water. By noon we were at Peach Springs, the take out point. Getting the rafts broken down and loaded back onto the trailers. Then the fun really began. It took us over 2 hours to do the 20 miles back to a paved road (and ice cold pop at the grocery store).
I’m [...]

Wow. Day 20 on the river. As Wine Czar I can report that there is most of a liter of white and six liters of red for tonight Thai Chili Lime Curry.
We are five miles from the take-out (mile 225) and finally my Northwest skin is cracking and drying from the constant exposure to sand. [...]

MarkMark is alive and well and eating dinner…he even had wine! It must be the Bambi air freshener that we gave him as a get well gift — she is vanilla scented and from Utah.

Made great time today — ended up doing the “7″ before lunch. Uli did the rapid as captain!
Had lunch at our campsite at 1pm — and got ice from a commercial for afternoon cocktails after some people hiked. I took a shower, washed me shorts, and did my toenails. Lovely day.
One more night on the [...]

After last night’s ABL (Alive Below Lava) party, today was one of calm waters with the largest being 3’s and 4’s.
We clocked 12 miles or so with two stops — one to hike to some pictographs (yes, I hiked!) and a sunny lunch stop.
Camp stop was a little before 4 this afternoon. Dinner is Sara [...]