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Uncle Markie out and about.

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Mon
26
Jan '15

Trip Report: CanadaLand With The Boys (And A Little Girl)

This week’s adventure involves LOTS of people (well, for me). First through the door are Seth (31) and Maia (the little girl – 5½ years old). They drove up from Corvallis for our little adventure. Before long they set off for the airport to pick up Lunetta and Onyx who flew in from San Francisco.

Dinner for five – rib-eye steaks, saffron rice, salad, couple of bottles of Bonny Doon wine…rice instead of bread as I broke yet another bread machine a couple of weeks ago – probably should say “wore out” rather than “broke”.

And a good dinner it was…finding places for people to sleep was a little more problematic.

  • Maia in the single bed in the office so we could chat into the evening
  • Lunetta and Onyx in my bed
  • Seth and in in a double sleeping bag on the living room floor (until he couldn’t take it anymore and crawled in with the boys)

Up at 5am so we could get out of the house by six to catch our 8AM Victoria Clipper to Victoria, British Columbia.

At least it was a “pretty” early morning:

A pleasant trip north after a take-out breakfast at the Clipper Café (who also does the catering for the boat as well), though I’ll admit to sleeping through most of it – even forgoing my usual mimosa.

Wrangling a child means you are the last people off the boat and near the end of customs/immigration – which went smoothly as I’d warned Seth that he needed at a minimum a letter from Maia’s birth mother authorizing taking her out of the country. Seth made EXTRA sure and brought the custody agreement with him. Good boy.

Walked to the WorldMark Victoria, expecting to stash are luggage because it was noon, and check in is 4PM. To our surprise, our unit was ready – which rarely happens that early, but often does more in the winter than summer. Dumped everything in the room and headed out to Moka for Grilled Ham and Cheese with Potato Soup – seriously, we all got the same thing (limited menu). Thanks Lunetta for treating!

After the early morning, it was nap time for Maia, Onyx and myself – we send the engineers to the store for supplies that we didn’t bring. I’d packed:

  • 4 racks of lamb
  • 2 packages of shrimp (meant to bring the white fish to be breaded with the Panko, except for Maia who would get corn meal)
  • 2 cubes of butter
  • 1 pound of bacon
  • Artichoke Bruschetta
  • Cornichons
  • Corn and Bean Salsa
  • Panko Breading
  • The WorldMark Bag (pre-packed olive oil/balsamic, curry, brown sugar, flour, skewers, birthday candles, McCormicks Steak Seasoning, coffee meat rub, Korean hot sauce, etc.)

But you also need:

  • Salad (and dressing)
  • Bread
  • Eggs
  • Mixers
  • Cheese
  • Gluten Free Crackers (Maia goes bi-polar when she has gluten)
  • Corn Chips
  • Portabellas (to stuff with the Artichoke Bruschetta and top with the Panko Breading)
  • Etc.

Of course when you sent two engineers to the store, you get MANY more things in addition to those on the list. Take the generic category “Mixers”. They came back with:

  • 12-pack of Tonic
  • 12-pack of Diet Ginger Ale (mostly for me)
  • 6 pack of tiny Cokes
  • 100% Cranberry Juice
  • Handful of limes

Why so much? Did I mention what we picked up at Duty Free on the boat?

That would be 4 liters of hard liquor for a party of 9 adults tonight and 4 adults for the second night – and those Canadians like to drink hard at Duty Free prices ($85 for all four). And the guests are showing up with wine to go with dinner. And what a dinner it was:

In the foreground, the racks of lamb, Then the Stuffed Portabellas – which were a HUGE HIT, not just with the Vegetarian and Vegan guests (one each). For Maia it was an “adult night” when she was allowed to stay up until she collapsed.

Good food, good conversation (though not around the dining tables since it seats 6, not 10), good hot tubbing after dessert (thanks RobinHood and CrowDog!)

A late night, but luckily not an early morning – Seth was reading the schedule I sent out a laughed when he got to the first morning there, where it said brunch at noon:

The Boys Go To Victoria 

     

20-Jan 

12-4PM 

Seth arrives at UncleMarkies

 

4:16PM 

Lunetta and Onyx arrive at Sea-Tac. Seth picks them up

   

UA 492 

 

6PM 

Cocktails 

 

7PM 

Dinner 

21-Jan 

6AM 

Out of the house

 

6:30AM 

Check in and grab breakfast at the Clipper Café

 

8AM 

Clipper leaves for Victoria

 

8:15AM 

Order Mimosas and Duty Free 

 

11:45AM 

Clipper arrives Victoria

 

Noon 

Out of customs/immigration 

 

Noon+ 

Drop bags at condo and roam the city like a pack of dogs

   

Or grocery shop for the items we didn’t bring 

 

4PM 

Check in at the condo — 

   

Could be early, they will have my number 

 

6PM 

Cocktails with RobinHood, CrowDog, Royce, Kyle, + 1

 

7PM 

Dinner with same Royce = vegan)

 

8PM 

Hot-tub Party 

22-Jan 

Noon 

Sleep in, make brunch, explore 

 

6PM 

Cocktails 

 

7PM 

Dinner 

 

8PM 

Hot-tub Party 

23-Jan 

10am 

Brunch 

 

Noon 

Check-out, leave bags at desk 

 

3:30PM 

Check in for Clipper to Seattle

 

5PM 

Boat leaves

 

5:15PM 

Order cocktails and Duty Free 

 

7:45PM 

Clipper Arrives Seattle

 

8PM 

Pick up car from garage and head home

 

8:30PM 

Cocktails 

 

9PM 

Late Dinner if we didn’t eat on the boat 

24-Jan 

6PM 

Cocktails with Bliss

 

7PM 

Dinner with same Royce = vegan)

25-Jan 

3PMish 

Boys Uber to the Airport

 

4:21PM 

Lunetta and Onyx fly home

 

Yep, guess that makes me anal retentive in my planning – but that’s how it worked out.

The boys and Maia set out to explore the city while I stayed home for some quiet time (much needed after all the excitement). My job was to fill in the gaps in the night’s meal (smoked fish, more cheese, and chocolate) and to grab a little lunch snack for me at the food truck in front of “Finest At Sea” a local fish wholesaler that has a small retail shop in the back:

I got the special – three rockfish cakes with hot dipping sauce. I had one, saved the other two to share with tonight’s pupu platter. After the shopping, NAP TIME!

Tonight’s menu (after the pupu platter):

  • Curried Shrimp Skewers
  • Salad
  • Bread (not for Maia!)
  • 3 bottles of various BC Red Wine

Life is HARD on the road.

And before you knew it, it was time to check out – this is what we put in storage since the boat doesn’t leave until 5PM:

Not like we pack light. The plan for today:

  • Store luggage
  • Head to the Royal BC History Museum and watch an IMAX film (mostly to entertain Maia)
  • Have lunch
  • Go to the boat

Here is a great picture of Seth after the movie (in the gift shop):

Lunch was at Santiagos, which is close to the ferry terminal (though we had to backtrack to grab out luggage). I’ve eaten here often because they always have muscles on the menu, AND they have HUGE drinks by Canadian standards, and cheap ($11) – again, but Canadian standards.

I had the Thai Mussels, Seth and Maia the HUGE nachos, Lunetta and Onyx the Ceviche and the quesadilla. We ended up taking a bunch of the nachos for the boat trip home.

Did I mention the pitcher of Sangria? And my favorite shot of the lunch:

Yes, they supply crayons, which was great for entertaining Maia.

Got to the terminal later than I wanted, but we were already checked in and had our boarding numbers, it was just the line to check in luggage that was a pain. And luggage we had – four checked bags.

But we did get a table for all of us. Here is Seth sating his Solitaire addiction:

Technically that’s 8 seats, but on the inner section so less coveted.

Three hours later and the last people through customs and this is the scene:

Four and a half people and their crap in a Saab. Tight quarters, luckily for only 20 minutes.

Once back to the house, an exhausted Seth and Onyx claim the big bed, Maia in the small one, and the Marks (Lunetta and UncleM) on the floor after staying up for hours beyond the others.

Seth /Maia/Lunetta/Onyx were out of the house before I was up – Seth /Maia headed home and dropping Lunetta/Onyx at the Rental Car Center at Sea-Tac to pick up a car for the overnight.

Work until 4:30 for me, then back to the house to prepare dinner for the boys, Bliss and myself for the final night of the CanadaLand holiday. Tonight’s menu:

  • Little lamb chops (LOTS of them)
  • Salad
  • A Spanish Red
  • MANY COCKTAILS

After another late evening – it was time for me to head to a real bed, albeit a tiny one in the office.

I was out of the house for work before the boys were out of bed, feeling a little spent. While fun, it wasn’t one of the more “relaxing” holidays I’ve had recently.

[226.8]

Sat
30
Aug '08

Day On The Road And In The Air.

Nothing like a little roll in the hay to send you off into vacation land — with less sleep than I’d like.

This evenings report is from the charming basement piet a whatever (apartment in a city that you don’t consider home) of Mark and Onyx though only Onyx is in attendance as Mark is in Fort McMurray which is not quite as far north as the DC-3 that I want to take. With me so far?

Great Art Party work in the morning — and yes, go buy a ticket — they need to sell tickets — yes, go buy a ticket. Got the catalog posted in PDF form — 20 megs worth uploaded over a slow EVDO cell phone connection, twice.

Eleven in the morning saw my rescue by Lynne for my morning flight to the Bay Area. The gods smiled on me with lunch in the Board Room for Alaska Airlines and an upgrade to First Class from United for the flight down to San Francisco — and more gods smiling because I’ve secured an upgrade for the return flight as well. These days what an upgrade means is that you get the snack mix and a free cocktail or two. And for you fans (or non-fans) of United, there are precisely two minis of Chivas Regal Scotch in the First Class cabin and one in the rear — which means that once again, I drank an entire plane out of Chivas Regal.

Onyx was (as is) a sweetheart for picking me up at the airport. I’m guessing he won’t be so sweet when it comes to my early return on Monday.

If you have been following posts you know that I haven’t actually fessed up to any of my other friends in the Bay Area that I’m actually here. Most of my previous trips I’ve taken over Mark and Onyx’s house and entertained my friends (and Mark and Onyx) with dinner parties — and they have been wonderful, but I do feel like a roll into town like a tornado and roll out just as quick. This trip has no plans and will unfold as Allah wills.

And what is Allah’s will today? Home for cocktails and then off to pick up Mouse (whom I had a crush on years ago when he had long hair) before heading to the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco for dinner at Pinnochios— an Italian restaurant.

Tips for finding parking in San Francisco — have the guy in the car who doesn’t own a car go hold a table for you. Everyone else pray for parking. And for us, on the next block after Mouse went to get a table totally worked. The fact that we were seated immediately made up for the crowds waiting to get in.

So Onyx had the veal — and Mouse and went for variations on the pasta, clams, and mussels — I should have gotten the pasta as well, but live and learn. We actually got after dinner drinks and a couple of desserts of which I preferred the poached pears smothered in semi-sweet chocolate — and I’m not even a chocolate fan.

Mouse went off to an Industrial Rock concert, Onyx suggested a movie, and I suggested home (away from home) and bed. A fine evening all the way around, but the hay is calling. Tomorrow there is something about Eldergerry Mead in the works.

[217.9]

Sat
21
Mar '09

Happy Birthday, Alicia.

What started out as a calm morning… with Raf and his girlfriend showing up to paint, at noon turned a little crazy.

As I’m trying  to pack to leave at one, a knock comes on the door from the neighbor — over spray on their cars. Shit. At least Raf was there to deal with his mess before Jeremy got home to discover his pride and joy with over spray on it. Maybe I should give him the cover to my Jag.

Finished packing with Raf cleaning up the mess, or so I hope. I’ll need to drop MaryAnn a note on my return. Oy Vey. Just what I need.

Left on schedule for the airport and by 1:30 was sipping a drink in the Board Room. And worrying. Detailing for two cars… let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

Three drinks later it’s off to the North Concourse. Alaska Airlines has outgrown it’s space in C and D terminals and is now encroaching on United’s N Terminal.

Flight left a couple of minutes early — and could have been more than that considering we started boarding 45 minutes prior and it’s only a 737-700.

My seatmate in 1A was travelling with a baby less than a year old — she looked relieved when I pulled out my Bose noise cancelling headphones, though in general the kid (Nash, as in the automobile) was a pretty good flier. I’ve had worse adults next to me.

Flight landed on time (amazing with the head winds) and by 6 I was at Mark and Onyx’s place unpacking dinner. Yes, I packed dinner in my carryon:

  • two containers filled with shrimp stuffed with crab rolled in Procuitto (6 each)
  • one container of croutons
  • one container with seven baby orange bell peppers (which I then stuffed with goat cheese and broiled with the seafood bombs)
  • one bag of romaine hearts, 3 heads, two for tonight, one for tomorrow

From Mark and Onyx came the salad dressing from my last visit, and cocktails (scotch for the Marx and Devon when he arrived, pomegranate margarita for Onyx and the girls, Birthday Alicia and Devon’s daughter Maggie). From Alicia and Devon, a couple of bottles of red wine.

The only thing missing? A picture of the before and after:

  • in the container
  • on the broiler pan
  • done
  • served

Oh well. It was a stunning dinner. Not bad for a 50th birthday dinner. The birthday guests left around 10 to head back over the bay, and Mark and I chatted away until well past midnight. Onyx had the sense to go to bed at a more normal time.

Happy Birthday, Alicia.

[216.4]

Sat
22
Oct '11

Hello Canadaland.

It was a VERY early morning after a very late night. It was mid-morning that I realized that I was so asleep in the shower that I forgot to shave. There was lots of napping on the boat ride north.

Interesting what happened at immigration. We were the ones picked for more scrutiny. Not only passports, but drivers’ licenses which I never heard of before. Onyx was annoyed, but Lunetta and I were more like “they need to justify their jobs.” Check-in time isn’t until 4pm, so we had plenty of time to kill.

With the room not ready (they hadn’t even checked out yet), it was stash the bags and go to Barb’s Place for fish and chips (yes, me — that will be my carbs for the month), calamari, shrimp, chowder (the boys). This is there last weekend being open until they return in the spring (just like salmon).

Still no room at 1:30pm so off to the coffee shop we went. VERY comfortable chairs — so comfortable that the boys managed to fall asleep mid-page in their books.

By 3pm we were in the room and trying to decide on dinner. I checked out the mini-mart around the corner (was too tired to think about walking to the big market twelve blocks away) and picked up some soda pop, water and chocolate. Once we decided that we were cooking in, it was off to Finest At Sea, a boutique seafood shop a couple of blocks away for scallops and sable fish (black cod) for the grill and iceberg from the mini-mart for the salad (cook thing I travel with oil and balsamic, though Onyx used lemon juice instead) and stuff for a poo poo platter. Finest At Sea isn’t the cheapest (nor is the mini-mart), but it is definitely the freshest.

And here are the results (yes, another blog food shot):

For the first time ever dining with the boys, we had the TV on because PBS was showing “After The Thin Man” with William Powell and Myrna Loy (and a very young Jimmy Stewart). There were about six of these films mad (late 30’s early 40’s black and white) and the earlier ones are the more boozy ones (before they had a child, just the dog).

Onyx was in bed early, and Lunetta and I headed to the hot tub to lessen our woes (or aches and pains from aging).

[? ? ?]

Thu
11
Jan '18

Home Report: Home For The Holidays

Yep, it’s already a third of the way through January, and I’m finally documenting my Christmas/New Year fun.

After visiting friends in Forks the first two days of Mark and Onyx’s visit, I returned home to a full holiday feeding schedule. Look at the Beef Wellington that Onyx (and Mark) made for a group dinner at his cousin’s house in West Seattle:

I brought a 3-liter bottle of Bonny Doon Le Cigare Volante Blanc – a replacement for a bottle that died a year ago Thanksgiving. We put a good dent in it!

Talk about a WONDERFUL meal:

Next up on the holiday parade was dinner up north at mutual friends, Seth, and his daughter Maia. As you can tell, it was a mess of wrapping paper:

More dinners with friends but no photographs….but I did get photos of Mark helping me with making some pillow covers at xMess presents:

And, mind you, I’m also working the shop in the holiday season:

Christmas Eve dinner found me working until five, while Onyx and crew worked on a Beef Bourguignon
in my kitchen:

It was a nice hearty meal to go with our Christmas Eve snow…

And it’s not the holidays unless the plumbing goes south, first it was the dishwasher not draining, and then all the connections to the kitchen sink dripping…

As you can tell, this isn’t the first time – the above is with all the racks ripped out. And below with a heater drying everything out:

Having the Ford Escape DOES help in the repairs:

I used basement subflooring turned the wrong way to give the cabinet a waterproof base:

And because of the cold, the outdoor icemaker stopped working….

Between Christmas and New Year’s, more Bay Area friends showed up – and out to lunch we go, to try the new Mexican restaurant on 14th:

Excellent food, but a bit on the pricey side….

 

And for dinner, Roxy and his boyfriend showed up for shrimp fried rice:

Eating well this holiday season!

Trip Advisor sent me this little video about my 2017 Travel:

And the plumbing issues continue…, now the washer/dryer combo is washing, but not drying – time to rip that apart when I start running out of clean clothes. Oi!

[218.0]

For more posts from the blog, CLICK HERE.

Wed
11
Feb '09

Paging Seaside.

Oh, the pain of an early morning after entertaining.

Alarm at 7am — the theory is out of the house at 8am to drop off the computer for MB’s son in Tacoma, then to pick up friends at the airport — the Portland Airport.

The reality of this morning was more like 8:30am with the windshield wipers frozen to the front window of the mommy van. It would have been more fun in the Jag, but with snow possible in the mountains, not the best move. Years ago I rented a Jag from Budget and went for a ride in the Colorado mountains and came VERY close to getting stuck — tires spinning for MILES to get back over the pass from the first turn around.

The boy’s (Mark and Onyx) flight was early, and I was late. Still slightly addled from the night before I missed the correct turnoff and headed us up the gorge instead of the the coast — bonus was a beautiful view of Mt. Hood without clouds.

Got to the WorldMark Seaside at around 1:30 — to find our room READY — amazing.  My guess (from the amount of ice in the freezer) was that the room was vacant last night as well.

Lunch at Girdles. We all ended up with variations on a theme… French Onion soup and a crab laced salad for Mark, Clam Chowder and a crab laced salad for Onyx, and Shrimp Bisque and a crab laced salad for me.

Dinner tonight is yet another rack of ribs (this time with Arthur Bryant’s sauce rather than last night vinegar based wash), salad, grilled asparagus, and a loaf of sourdough bread (from last night’s dough). Wine, of course (red for the Marks, white for Onyx.

Dessert – yes, courtesy of the other Mark. Chocolate… maybe we should open one of the bottles of port tonight.

Tonight’s free movie (courtesy of WorldMark) is Burn After Reading. I understand it’s a comedy.

[217.8]

Mon
11
Mar '19

Trip Report: Bay Area For Friends And Wine

Grabbed a ride with Rache to the airport – it was an hour earlier, than even I, the early arriver, arrives. Maybe I should have waited…since this was what I looked like in the lounge:

No upgrade to First this time, I was number 8 on the list for only 12 seats since it was a 737-800. Upshot is that I was a little hungry by the time I landed in Oakland – but thanks to Onyx (and Rudy’s Can’t Fail Café), we solved that problem with a Rueben and a Poinsettia:

Just down for a couple of nights, but off to Livermore we go to check out a couple of wineries – first stop is Concannon Winery, who claims to the oldest continually operating “label” winey in the US.

Ended up grabbing the Petit Syrah (which they introduced to California in the 1960’s).

Next up was Wente – which ALSO claims to be the oldest continually operating “family” winery in the US:

It both wineries, lots of extra tastes because I flashed my business card at the beginning. It also meant that it was best for us to stop in the town of Livermore for a little snack for the road – that would be the First Street Ale Street:

Which contained a bunch of local wines, including some we’d tried earlier:

Including a large display of beer cans:

A lovely afternoon south of Berkeley….but then we were back home due to light traffic (we were headed against the grain).

I should mention that Onyx does amazing bronze sculptures – here is one in process:

You can see his portfolio here: http://www.onyxvcrimbil.com/

Onyx shouldn’t have all the photo bombs – here’s Mr. Lunetta:

Before long, it was back to the airport, headed home. Booked myself into First because it was a Friday, and upgrades would be scarce – comes with a sandwich!

Another week, another adventure!

[227.2]

For more blog entries, click here.

 

Sat
4
Sep '10

Longer Distance Travel Day.

I got the upgrade to First on Virgin America – or shall I say, I paid for an upgrade. $70, which is a bit steep considering that I only paid $78.60 for the whole round-trip ticket – but it is 55 inches of seat pitch, and the seats are damn comfortable.

Notice the mood lighting? Gotta say, they got cool interiors — lots of full spectrum lighting, leather seats, the works.

Good thing I got the upgrade – we sat for 45 minutes on ground delay because of fog in San Francisco… at least I had a drink in my hand.

I had a bagel and cream cheese in the Board Room at Alaska before walking to the other end of the airport for my flight – and the flight itself had a small breakfast of exotic fruits (more than your standard melon and strawberry) and a slice of cranberry bread – but it did leave me a little lacking – I was starving by the time I got to Mark and Onyx’s place in Berkeley. Luckily, I’d texted for a pick up and breakfast was in process when I arrived —- and what a lovely way to arrive it is.

The afternoon was given over to napping and runs to Costco, Marshalls, Ross, BevMo (twice) for various weekend supplies.

The evening started with this:

A combination scotch/bourbon tasting for the benefit of Onyx, who was confused on the differences in what makes something a scotch as opposed to a bourbon, or a sour mash. I love being teacher when this is the subject.

My apologies for the quality of the photos — it’s the camera in my phone.

Dinner and a movie afterwards – yes, I went to a movie in a real theatre… a 3-D movie – Despicable Me. It was amusing, more so to the boys who were howling.

That made it a late night for me.

[228.5]

Thu
18
Feb '16

Trip Report: Bay Area

When I booked this bargain ticket I didn’t know whether Lunetta would be in town so I also booked the WorldMark San Francisco, which is between Union Square and Nob Hill/Chinatown.

But first I have to get there – doesn’t this look like a good day to fly?

Luckily all of Alaska’s planes are equipped with RNP (Required Navigation Performance) which is great for inclement weather, though by takeoff time it looked more like this:

Didn’t snag an upgrade, which you all know how I feel about that…

That would be seat 6C – which is a bulkhead seat – But 6A was open over I moved (and the lady next to me moved to the aisle) Now I have a view (but more of a pain to use the lavatory):

Maybe I should get window seats for often! That was the view coming into San Francisco…

And the perks of MVP Gold extend to the back of the plane (barely), so I get a free cocktail with my bag of kibble:

Since I was bringing a case of wine with me, Saint Onyx picked me up at the airport (yes, I do deliver wine to customers of Madrona Wine Merchants) – and off to a wonderful lunch at Maru Sushi as a thank you:

That would be the Sushi/Sashimi Combination Platter ($25) plus a Nigori Sake ($16) to share.

I’d hoped to meet up with Mud, my Egyptian fling from the summer – but alas, he has disappeared into the wind so it’s dinner by myself tonight – THE WORST Rueben in almost 60-years of the Perfect Ruben Hunt. The honor goes to the Sutter Pub. You can read the review here:

I had planned on eating out, but when I discovered the “Pub” only served beer and wine, I opted for takeout since it was just a block from the condo – and I forgot to show pictures of the 1-bedroom condo:

Staying in the city is a nice chance from the East Bay – so I explore parts of the city that I’d never wandered through, like Chinatown:

And Ash Wednesday to boot – so EVERY church is packed, and ash-laden people are wondering the streets:

Gorgeous day in the city…swung back to the condo for a take-out wrap from the little grocery store (Food Fair Market) that was a spicy chicken curry thing that was wonderful – it set a nice base for me to handle the next stop of my city exploration…the world-famous Tonga Room at the San Francisco Fairmount Hotel:

And the crazy-ass Tiki interior:

I just stayed for one drink – the Lychee Martini featured above.

And what San Francisco posting is complete without a cable car shot – this line is two blocks from the condo…

One day I’ll get an all-day pass and just ride them around, but not this trip.

The next morning it was off to Café del La Presse (a block away) for the BEST Eggs Benedict I have ever had in my life:

The next day I did an owner re-education dealy for $125 and lunch…

Who can’t resist a neighborhood that offers this, and who knew Thursday night was “Circle Jerk With A Porn Star” night:

Late afternoon finds me making my way to the East Bay for an overnight with Lunetta & Onyx – giving up my last night in the condo for a home-cooked meal.

Nothing like a “small” ham…

And the company of my niece and her boyfriend…

Nice to be able to just hang around the house, not having an early flight – and hang out in the sunshine:

Headed home Friday afternoon – got to spend a little time in the Cathy Pacific Business Class Lounge, alas, not while they were doing their buffet set-up, but at least there were chips, drinks, and newspapers….

And a pretty sunset:

Before you know it, I’m back in coach winging my way home with my one free cocktail and my 3-ounce carryon.

[? ? ?]

Sun
15
Feb '15

Trip Report: Bay Area — Part Two

Slept late, then went for the Owner Update in the Shark Tank — $75, a big glossy hardback book of all the resorts in the system, and a fairly lame lunch. And thirty minutes longer than advertised Man did I need a drink after that!

Tonight’s excitement is dinner with Lunetta, Onyx, and Onyx’s old BF Caliph, starting with drinks at the Pied Piper Bar and Grill in the Sheraton Palace on Market Street:

Behind the bar is a huge Maxfield Parish mural of the Pied Piper leading all the children out of town:

Here is a great 2 minute (or so) video that is on the Palace website about the painting:

Many Manhattans with our appetizers of oysters (stunningly good with a little apple slaw and fish roe), cheese and fruit plate (how healthy!) and the calamari (very good, but not very healthy, but it did come with a squid ink dipping sauce.

And a photo of the boys, though not the best:

But it does give you an idea of the lobby.

Up the hill we went – back to the condo to order take-out for the real meal. That was my tab since Lunetta picked up the cocktails. Did I get a picture of the food – no. But I did manage to get one of the bar. The boys showed up with a couple of bottles of wine for dinner, and some bourbon for me to take back to Seattle:

Dinner was from Million Dollar Thai, which several days later I got a notice that I got miles for dining there – they are part of the Dining For Miles program. I picked them because they were in the resort handbook and they offered free delivery for orders over $25, which certainly wasn’t a problem with the four of us.

Another late night, but at least I have a late afternoon flight. Hung out in the condo until the noon checkout and then it was back on BART to the airport. And the final tourist shot – the entrance to Chinatown, just a block or so from the condo:

A light lunch at Chili’s Too (enchilada soup – perfect amount of food) and then it was back to my bulkhead seat in First Class. Even I’m amazed at my luck some time. $96.20 round-trip, and upgraded to first in both directions. The joys of travelling mid-week in the winter.

Another hard flight day.

[225.0]

Wed
23
Nov '11

Not Exactly A Day Off.

The morning was spent redoing all the bookings for the WorldMark Santa Fe for the second week of December. Why use points when it’s available cheap at the last minute.

And then came the panic.

The call from an unknown cell phone number with an area code I didn’t recognize — turned out it was Jim calling from the shop where we had internet service, but no phone line. Panic. No phone line on the day before Thanksgiving — one of the big wine shopping days of the year. Yikes.

Trip number one to the store: On the phone to Qwest. They confirmed no dial-tone. Escalation to the switching office. Right, no dial tone. Escalation to the programmer. Yes, the phone is programmed correctly, but it doesn’t have a dial tone. I head back home to put up my MajicJack — which is a VOIP (voice over internet protocol) device since we have internet service. Add a stop for ribs at the BBQ place on Cherry where a ½ pound of pork ribs is $7.50 and I swear it weighs in at over a pound. Several more calls from CenturyLink while I was driving home.

Trip number two was interrupted 2/3rds of the way back by…  a call from the shop (Madrona Wine Merchants came up on caller ID). The phone is working. Jim got a call from CenturyLink and the rep said, “Well, it’s working again, and I have no idea why, but we’ve cancelled the service call for Friday.”

Needless to say I installed the MajicJack and trained Jim on it just in case. The thought of not being able to run credit cards for three days was unnerving. Maybe we should get one of those wireless merchant machines.

Done with the panic I went home and tried to relax. Should have had a nap, but it didn’t happen. Instead are started worrying about the Hawaii trip at the end of March to the south end of the Big Island. At the summer gathering I bought 3 nights in a three-bedroom three-bath house a couple of blocks from a clothing-optional black sand beach. The plan is to split the place ($350 for the three nights split three ways, and an extra $150 [again split] for an extra night) with Solus+ from Vancouver and DancingBear who has a boyfriend in Hilo, about 45 minutes away.

I’m feeling poverty stricken so the goal was to use as few as miles as possible while still flying First Class and not missing any days of work (since I’d like to actually take off the Breitenbush weekend in February). I was successful, but boy to I have an odd routing:

  • Sunday, after working until 5pm, fly from Seattle to Oakland, arrive 10:30pm, have a night cap with Mark and Onyx
  • Monday morning at 11am, fly from Oakland to Kona (direct on Alaska Airlines)
  • Friday afternoon fly back to Oakland and have a night cap with Mark and Onyx
  • Saturday morning at 9:30, fly to Seattle with enough time to show up at the 2-4pm tasting.

Whew!

Solus+ is now looking into arriving/leaving Kona the same dates using miles since he is going to the faerie gathering in Thailand at the end of January and is counting his pennies. It was made easier now that he doesn’t need to add a side trip to Maui onto the trip. Now I just have to get DancingBear on board since the dates we picked match when his boyfriend is out of nursing school on spring break. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow night when he meets up with Swanda and I for my Thanksgiving Number Two.

Nothing much to say about dinner other than a stir fry of ginger pork with a side salad. For once I missed rice.

[210.7]

Thu
29
Oct '09

Dinner For Two At 7:30.

Or Maybe This Post Should Be… Finally, The 10 Rules To Be A Good Houseguest.

I woke up this morning with a kiss on the forehead from Jamie — a recent other house-guest for ark and Onyx. It’s a lovely way to wake up. I wish it came with coffee — which was brewing.

By the time I got out of bed Jamie was gone, but fortunately the coffee wasn’t.

Cleaning out the in-box in the morning lead to a new assignment from E&A — if you have time, drop in on the Bay Area offices and check-in. Rational? “That should scare the hell out of them.” So ordered, I did the Santa Clara office today. Lovely traffic with the Bay Bridge closed.

Tomorrow the San Francisco office — via Bart. 15 minute walk on the front end, 5 minute walk on the back end. $7.00 round-trip… cheaper than the gas I used today.

So, the 10 Rules To Be A Good Housewife:

  1. Bring a bathrobe, no matter how thin — it saves from embarrassing moments
  2. Offer to purchase meal materials and cook for your hosts — they will love you
  3. Remember that you are saving $50-100 a night, restock their liquor cabinet and buy the wine for dinner — they will definitely invite you back.
  4. If you are meeting someone at the airport — make sure you have their mobile number — saves greif for everyone
  5. Dishes. If you know how they do their dishes, do them the same way. If you don’t ask. If they are anal about them (like my father), rinse and stack.
  6. Rules. As what the household rules are. Then realize that those aren’t all the rules. Watch. Learn. Get invited back.
  7. Assume that your hosts have lives. Just because you are on vacation doesn’t mean they are.
  8. Clean up after yourself — if there is a squeegee in the tub area, it’s there for a reason — use it.
  9. If your borrow their car, wash it, return it full of cash, even it was empty. You just saved $30-50.
  10. Write a thank you note. Snail mail is better than email, but both will be appreciated.

So, that’s the list that I promised you weeks ago. Maybe I should print it out and put it in some stored goods here at my host’s house.

Dinner — yes, dinner. Lovely rolled rib steaks under the broiler with basically the same salad as last night — but with the proper cheese (goat cheese). No Onyx for dinner tonight — he’s in the city watching Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D with a friend — he needed to get out of the house.

The schedule at this house is work/play/eat/work/drink/play/eat for about 18 hours a day — and we are all still working.

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Sat
29
May '10

Impromptu Dinner For Four.

Was Planning On Three.

I love mid-day flights. Begin about to get up at the usual time and still be able to pack your bags.

Got out of the house around 10:30 with a bag full of frozen pork and shrimp, and a resealable jug for Onyx. By 11:30 I was at the airport and checking into the Board Room for lunch. Not bad considering that in that hour I’d driven to the apartment, left the car in the garage, walked across the street and caught light rail to the airport, had to check in since a bag was going in the belly of the plane, and made it through security. And it was Memorial Day weekend with tons of people.

Flight was running early because of a tail wind. Spent more time waiting for my bag (I wish Alaska would tag First Class bags with priority stickers like United does) than for my ride (Onyx) to show up. Mark was back at the house embroiled in a work crisis.

After several calls from Tokyo Dave, decided he should just come to dinner with the boys and I. Twice in one week, in two different cities. How fun.

Country style pork ribs marinated in a plum sauce, on the grill. Broccoli with hollandaise. No salad, none in the house so we made do with what we could find, but as usual, wine.

No pictures today, sorry.

[223.5]

Fri
1
Feb '13

Just Dinner With The Boys

And I’m Not Cooking!

Another day of conference calls and me sitting outside in the sun working on this lovely book:

The book is Chasing The White Dog by Max Watman. It’s an interesting mix of history, folklore, prosecution – and most interesting to me, how the quality of moonshine plummeted when prohibition kicked in – suddenly is was all about the money to be made. Click on the book and you will to taken to Amazon where you can buy new, used, or Kindle® editions.

Onyx was in charge of tonight’s dinner – chicken Cordon-Blu from scratch with a side of steamed broccoli – here’s do you George W. Bush – French food AND broccoli!

Just the three of us tonight. Too bad I forgot to take a picture of the sculptures that Onyx is working on… maybe tomorrow.

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Fri
6
Oct '17

Trip Report: Birthday By The Bay

Another weekday, another trip – this one to the Bay Area to visit Mark and Onyx, and celebrate my 61st birthday!

It’s always lots of luggage when I visit – bringing wine to the boys. A lot of stuff for three nights!

Another early morning flight….

And no upgrade to first…

But plenty of room in the overhead!

Onyx was a saint (a hungry saint) and stopped at a small burger stand on the way home.

Pretty good stuff (even if the staff is a little surly).

Got settled in and took a nap before getting rousted for a dinner of take-out Ethiopian which, for some reason, I don’t have a picture of, even though the boys had company over – must have been having too much fun.

Was up late (Mark [the other one] was up until 4am working), so slept late. Hit BevMo in the afternoon for bourbon, rye, and ginger – because at 6pm we are due at Rosenblum Cellars on the Oakland waterfront for the start of my birthday (61) evening:

Devon is a member so the first flight is on the house….

A good time was had!

Even the hipsters who are playing Giant Zynga on the lawn:

We had some little nibbles, but it was off to dinner at Marica, starting with a Beefeater Martini in honor of Pucci:

It was a fine meal…. with free mussels for the birthday party!

Followed by swordfish for several of us:

Meatballs for Devon:

Salad and Calamari for Mark (I thought about those, almost wish I’d ordered them):

A damn fine birthday meal!

Friday was a laid-back day, I took BART into town to hook up with Rache who as on a day trip to the Brazilian embassy for our upcoming trip to Uruguay in November.

Takes about 15 minutes to walk to the station, and 20-30 minutes later, you are in downtown San Francisco. I found Rache in the Ghirardelli chocolate shop having a coffee:

We headed out for an afternoon of drinking, starting at The House of Shields:

Next up is the Pied Piper (which didn’t open until 4pm):

The Pied Piper is the home of this WONDERFUL mural by Maxfield Parish:

Just the three of us having scallops and Brussel sprouts as our dinner.

All the fun came to an end with an early Saturday morning run to the Oakland Airport for my return home. Had enough time for a real breakfast at Chili’s…

Which, as it turns out, sadly I wouldn’t need when I heard my name called:

But really, all I wanted was a place to sleep, not a huge breakfast burrito and a fruit place (though it looked REALLY good).

Next week is Kansas City, and the completion of my quest for Alaska MVP Gold 75K!

[? ? ?]

Fri
29
Aug '08

Over And Out Of Here.

Well — the contract is done with Events and Adventures, except for a couple of hours next week with some niggling details. The final bill is in the mail. The working files CD is in the mail. The thank you notes are in the mail. Yes, Swanda trained me well about those “bread and butter” notes as my mother used to say.

I got a nice thank you email from the owner this morning — with the possibility of more work in January, which would be nice.

Tomorrow it’s off to San Francisco to visit Onyx. Mark is in Fort McMurray, Canada which isn’t as far north as I want to go (Yellowknife and Hay River) but is nearly at the top of Alberta. It will be a quick trip to SF — fly out tomorrow, fly back Monday. The Monday flight is already upgraded to first class, which I might have gotten on the way down but somehow I neglected to request it when I booked. Yes, Me! It’s a nice mid-day flight — and getting picked up at the airport as well!

Here is a picture of Onyx from camp this summer:

P1060085

I haven’t decided if I’ll actually tell anybody else that I’m coming to SF, or just assume that they will read the blog and email me if they want to see me. I’ll probably go for the lazy option.

Tonight Lynne is coming to dinner to have a little piggy send off meal — and she’s taking me to the airport tomorrow (and picking me up Monday so that gives her Saint status in my book). Add wine and a tomatoe, basil and feta salad, and you have my (and Lynne’s) version of a happy meal.

[219.2]

Sun
28
Jan '18

Trip Report: Hiding Out In Berkeley For A Couple Of Days

After a week of work and crazy travel, I’m taking off a couple of days to visit the boys in Berkeley.

I was pleasantly surprised the morning of my flight to get an upgrade after checking in last night, but before heading out to the airport – means I’ll eat less in the lounge before the flight.

And it was a good breakfast considering it was a 2 hour flight:

The yellow stuff is a sliced egg salad – went on the warm croissant with the lettuce and actually ripe Roma tomatoes.

After my week of flying I set up my computer at Mark and Onyx’s place, and tucked in for a three-hour nap – which I seriously needed.

This trip is all about hiding away in Berkeley for a couple days so I can catch up on the blog, and more importantly work on my taxes.

Well, that, and stocking up the suitcase with Bourbon for the return, and enjoying some FINE meals out of their kitchen.

The first night was bacon-wrapped filets with roasted potatoes and a lovely Peruvian Tannat that I brought with me from Seattle:

The next (and final) night Onyx made these massive meatballs to go with a wee bit of pasta and a lot of peas! The meatballs are a day-long preparation in the crock pot and are the size of a hardball baseball – but much tastier.

I did get my tax preparation done for both the shop and my own business – so mission accomplished. And on the flight down I made Alaska MVP status through 2019.

Lunetta ran me to the BART station hours before my flight so I could hang out in the Cathy Pacific Lounge while they still had their noodle station open:

Sadly, I got their at 10:30am and they started shutting down noodles at 10:45 and the hot food was taken away by 11am – I got a round of noodles and two hot plates:

That said – it is a nice lounge:

After the hot food went away, it was just green and pasta salads – fortunately the left the bar out!

The current downside to flying Alaska out of SFO is that they are spread between two terminals – that aren’t connection behind security. While I have access to most American Lounges, it doesn’t include the one in SFO since there were too many Alaska people using it (and it’s the terminal with the domestic Alaska flights). So, after the food, it’s back to the other side of security, catch the train to Terminal 2, then go back through screening.

At least there is a great bookstore in Terminal Two – Compass Books, which always has a good selection of “remaindered” books:

They also have this great “typewriters through the ages” exhibit as well:

Before I knew it, I was back in my comfy seat with a snack in front of me:

Hours later I was home in time to make myself a little dinner – for tomorrow I’m working the shop.

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Wed
19
Sep '07

RRR (RedNeck Riviera Review).

A fine breakfast of leftover pork products from last nights dinner. Oh, and coffee that I brought.

Next up was an “owner re-education” $50 AMEX meeting in the morning. Looks like if I want “TravelShare” which gives me a 3-week (rather than 2) for Bonus Time (4.4 cents per credit) and “Fun Time” (6 cents a credit for last minute booking, not using points) is to sign on for another 5,000 points — but the better deal is 6,000 points which gives you another 6000 bonus points in March, plus another useless RCI exchange week — though that would give me two weeks for some massive holiday off season somewhere. Tempting, and I got them to hold it until tomorrow — will have to look at the numbers again. Want the benefits, don’t want the added liability — of course, considering I sold Microsoft stock at the height of the market for my original points (and then the stock market crashed) — it’s like they were free, or at least 50% off.

Winery tours for the afternoon. First Tulip Vineyards, just down the road. Then Ceago — almost across the street (and recommended by the front desk, but no free tasting coupon), and then, my favorite — Steele. God, I love Jed’s wine — and his son’s (Writer’s Block branded) aren’t bad either. Signed up for there club (which I used to belong to) and got the 20% discount on their wines — and think I talked the tasting room into signing up for the WorldMark discount program — since the three people tasting when I was first there, we were all staying at the WorldMark Clear Lake.

Here is the wine list:

  • Tulip — a Magnum of 2002 Cabernet for dinner at Mark and Onyx’s
  • Ceago (where there were two really cute organic farmer boys from Hood River, OR — see picture link) — a bottle of Savignon Blanc for Onyx to have (loves whites)
  • Steele — a Barbera, a Aligot, a Franc, and a strange, but lovely Sparkling Syrah. One or two of them will die in Berkeley as well.

The afternoon snack was a couple of tacos from Jack In The Crack — 99 cents plus tax — and what I realized is that they are incredibly close in composition to my mother’s recipe which is half inch of oil in cast iron pan — pat half moon of beef in corn tortilla, pop in the grease, fold over the top, then turn over, pull out and put on paper towels, personally fill your own from bowls of cheese, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and salsa. Mind you Jack has preformed pockets that they quickly (a minute, maybe) drop in the vat of oil, then stuff with the fresh stuff — OK for takeout — much better than those pre-formed hard shells.

Dinner will be a total repeat of last nights dinner. Boring, but it’s what’s in the fridge.

Fri
9
Mar '18

Trip Report: Berkeley For Laundry & Good Times

With my washer/dryer still on the fritz, once again I’m checking two bags filled with dirty clothes. Sigh. On the upside, it’s supposed to be delivered and installed the day after I get back.

No upgrade on the way down, and I only had 80% of my seat due to a POS in the middle seat. POS is airline lingo for Person Of Size. And while Alaska (and Southwest) have very generous POS policies, this lady did not take advantage of the offer or possibly didn’t know about it. Here is their policy. In reading it, I learned something new. You can use your companion fare to purchase the second seat, and if there is one seat open, they refund the taxes/fees, and return the companion fare to your account. I’m not sure if she thought that a “Premium Seat” would be wider – it isn’t, just more knee room. Luckily, I know where the latch is to make the aisle seat armrest go up that that we were both (can’t speak for the person in the window) reasonable comfortable on our hour and a half flight. The same for a flight Jill and I took to Boston years ago where she was squished into the window, and I, the aisle as we were in row six, which has fixed arms that hold the tray tables. And this was before they had Premium Class with free booze, which might have made it better.

But, enough about that.

Onyx met me at the airport and we headed off the lunch as is the case when I arrive around 11. He usually hasn’t had food yet, and I’m usually hungry. Today’s restaurant choice was Rudy’s Can’t Fail Café where I had the Rueben (I usually can’t resist) with Cole Slaw, and Onyx had the Denver Omelet minus the bell peppers.

Did I mention Champagne Cocktails as well?

Rudy’s is in the old part of Emeryville – not the high-tech world of Pixar Studios down the road.

This visit is all about hiding out, hanging out, doing laundry, relaxing… and, of course, food. First night’s dinner:

Second day’s afternoon snack at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market up the street from the boys:

Second night’s dinner:

Usually I fly into Oakland and out of San Francisco (taking BART over), but when I booked this months ago, it was only $100.60 round-trip to Oakland and back. I’ll take a deal when I see it!

The reason from plying back out of SFO is that I love the Cathay Pacific lounge and its custom-made noodle bar. No lounge that I have access to in Oakland, but I might actually spring for this one on the next trip ($45, or free to American Express Platinum Cardholders, WOW Business Class, Azores Business Class) since I spent more than the entrance fee on a meal and two drinks.

Inside, before security I had a $25.00 Manhattan (shamefully expensive, but great other than the standard red cherries), and past security it was a couple of starters and a shot of Commenerativo.

Better to eat in the airport, and to subsist on drinks and the snack box on the plane:

Had lovely company in the middle seat on the return flight – everyone in a festive mood with the free cocktails.

The last of the mileage runs, for a bit. Was home by 10pm, in bed by midnight.

[? ? ?]

Mon
16
Feb '09

On The Road Again.

I think is the act of traveling – feeling movement in my body – that I care more about than the destination. It’s a thought that I keep coming back to. Maybe I should have been a pilot, a train engineer, or a bus driver.

The plan is to leave after lunch today, with Mark and Onyx being dropped someplace in Portland – plans unknown at the moment as we’ve left them to the last to not feel like the end is near.

With the occasional flurries turned to sunny days, the roads are good.

As luck would have it, we are out of the parking lot before 2pm — which is amazing for the boys. With stops at Starbucks (coffee and sandwiches again for me), Fred Meyer (to return the coat Onyx didn’t end up needing), we head to Enterprise so the boys can pick up a car for the day (using Mark’s frequent renter points).

I’m at home by 7:45pm after a stop in Olympia for groceries and gas.

It’s kinda nice to have a quiet steak and salad dinner.

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