UMTravels

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:

 

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.

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Next stop, San Diego where I have a two-hour Harbor Cruise booked for the morning, most of the afternoon free, and drinks with Lunetta just before the boat sails.

I liked the Harbor Cruise (Hornblower Tours) and got a great “selfie” on the way to the tour (which was walking distance from the ship)…

The two-hour cruise cover both the North and the South bay – and man there is TONS of military stuff going on in the harbors, and random seals as well. Here is a small sample of my tour:

Had drinks with Lunetta at Anthony’s Seafood Grotto – definitely a throw-back to the 60’s – but it was half a block from the boat and four blocks from his office. I was so happy to see Lunetta that I totally forgot to take pictures, though I do have to include this one picture…apparently they are swapping mattresses out on the ship…

Hopefully they are recycling them!

Before you knew it I was back on the boat for drinks with the LGBT crowd (now down to half of the original members) and dinner. My parting shot from San Diego – not a bad selfie:

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At least one adventure per week (sometimes three) for two months running. This week it’s Berkeley to delivery some wine (and have a good time).

Yep, that’s one of the pieces of luggage I repaired a week or so ago. But as we all know, trips start in the lounge with a Red Baron:

Lunetta picked me up at the airport (an option when I fly into Oakland mid-day) to pick up me (and the wine):

But when we get together, it’s really about the company and the food – as witnessed by the lovely ensalada caprese I made:

To go with the scallops for dinner:

But it’s really about the company…

The following day was errands in the afternoon, and q quiet dinner with the boys in the evening after making a condolence call to the family of a friend that had passed recently. I’m not good at those things, so I was happy that there were time constraints on the visit as the bird was in the oven (as they say):

Yes, that is gravy to go with the chicken…

Nothing like good food to put one at ease.

And ease I needed with the text/email (got both) the next morning. I had a 1ish flight out of San Francisco, but got this notice at 7:35 am:

An important update about your flight.

Confirmation code: XXXXXX

Dear MARK

Due to weather conditions, FAA Air Traffic Control has issued a ground delay program for San Francisco. In order to minimize your delay, we will be operating out of San Jose, CA. We are offering complimentary shuttle service between the two airports. If you need the ground transportation, we are asking passengers to be at the San Francisco airport 3.5 hours prior to flight departure time. See a representative for information. 

Seriously – you moved AIRPORTS on my flight – to one that is an hour and a half away from SFO?

Lunetta was planning on running me to the BART station so I could catch the train to SFO so I got him up early since I needed to be there 3.5 hours before the flight. Luckily, he saw the silliness of taking an hour-long BART into SFO just to retrace the trip to get to San Jose. He got his clothes on and just drove me to San Jose – an hour each way in morning traffic. Maybe we should call him Saint Lunetta.

So, instead of having noodles in the Cathy Pacific Business Lounge (which is why I booked that particular flight in the first place, I had a mimosa and eggs benedict in the San Jose Airport at San Jose Joes:

All’s well that ends well?

Home about the same time as expected…but I don’t really need that kind of stress. Luckily, I have friends.

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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).

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Well, this week was supposed to be a couple of nights in the Bay Area. There are a variety of reasons why it didn’t’ happen. A laundry list of things….

• Lunetta (who I stay with) got the week wrong and is in San Diego all week
• Onyx (partner of Lunetta) is having post-gathering fragility issues
• Bonny Doon isn’t open Tuesday/Wednesday, not sure if I want the slog to get to Napa/Sonoma
• Shop printer stopped working, part arriving, need to fix
• It’s the end of the month and it’s wine club shipment time and Jim appreciates the help
• I have 7 cases of wine under the table that needs running through the still
• I’m headed to Turkey in three weeks for 10 days – and I have the first three days planned but not the trip to Romania
• The house is a wreck from all the new printing equipment that arrived

One of the convenient things about being MVP Gold on Alaska is that you can cancel the trip and they just hold the value for you online – and it’ not like I won’t use it before November when it expires. Yes, I cancelled a trip that I’d already been upgraded to First Class on the way down.

I will miss the double EQM – but I think that offer is good through the end of the year. And airfares to the Bay Area are running at $138 mid-week.

So I’ve spent this week running the still and researching Turkey – asking any and all friends for assistance.

So far I’ve booked three night in Istanbul at the Ramada Grand Bazaar which gets me miles and I get 20% off lowest rack rate because of my WorldMark membership. Booked an airport transfer with them as well as I’ll be a bit groggy after the 21 hour trip.

I’ve been printing out various tourist maps on the printer that Josh helped me move into the office last night (no, the correspondence desk for visitors isn’t done yet, though the maps are lying on it):

And I’m working on the train itinerary:

The plan is to take the overnight train from Istanbul (Turkey) to Bucharest (Romania) and on the return stop for a night in either Sofia or Veliko Tornova in Bulgaria on the way back. More passport stamps!

Leave at 10pm from Istanbul, get into Viliko Tornova at 11:18, then into Bucharest at 6:30pm. In theory. Can’t book it other than at the train station so who knows whether I’ll get out on Friday the 21^st… or beyond. I don’t fly back until the 27^th so I have some time. I’d go hang with Zagreb and visit Obrad, but there isn’t really time.

Josh was over last night for dinner – and helped me move the laminator into the garage (because I don’t do that much laminating) and get the Big Ass Printer into the Printer Room/Guest Bedroom. I’m afraid it isn’t looking like there is room for the other large high-speed black and white printer in the garage:

It’s another couple of days of work to get the rugs back down (thinking of seeing if my carpet from Bodrum [Turkey] will actually fit). When I looked up Bodrum I realized I missed a whole bunch of stuff in my four hours in Turkey as part of a 2-week sailing trip around the Greek Islands with a bunch of old friends who ended up at Microsoft.

I have a couple of good pictures from this week that remind me of why I love living in the Pacific Northwest…

Driving with the top down… and Spring flowers…

They say snow this weekend – that would be MARCH in Seattle. That is soooooo wrong.

And in a final photo I’d like to say I actually got a REAL haircut, rather than just whacking at it in the bathroom….

But is he cutting my hair or inserting still parts into my brain – he looks so serious, I’m thinking still parts.

Sweet man who cuts hair for a great dinner.

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Yes, both this and the next post are tagged Friday… that tricky International Date Line.

Guess the day started when I woke up from my Ambien/Bourbon nap in time for the third and final meal service of the day. Slept through the 2^nd service, though I found some in the galley.

So, what amused me (apparently I’m amusing myself a lot this trip) was during the flight I realized that I have a massive layover in San Francisco – which I remember thinking about when I booked the trip months ago that it would be a great excuse to take BART to Berkeley and hang with the boys.

Arrived and texted them with a lunch date request – sure – they were planning on going to the courthouse to get their marriage license for getting hitched sometime within the next 90 days.

Synchronicity Number 1.

Here is Lunetta filling out the application:

Where the choices were:

• Groom
• Bride
• Neither

Both chose Neither… guess that makes them Mr. & Mr. Neither.

Here are the boys listening for the fourth time how to NOT screw up filling out the witness and preacher section:

The boys on the courthouse steps after getting their license to legally wed in the state of California:

And then we started thinking about lunch – that little omelet on the plane was long gone and was starting to get that blood sugar thing goin’. It was decided, GREEK! But a glint showed up in Lunetta’s eyes… “Wonder if Fang (the officiate) is available this afternoon.” Turns out Fang had cancelled an afternoon meeting… and was free.

Synchronicity Number 2.

One more in the car headed to the Greek Restaurant – Troy, in Berkeley. Table for four upstairs, please…. The wedding was on in all its spontaneous glory.

What started out as going for a license turned into the whole ball of wax… five hours start to finish.

The Bachelor Party – appetizers with a nice Italian Pinot Grigio – which when it arrived at the table I read the back label and this quote was on it:

Bivio: [Italian] N. : A fork in the road.
Bivio Italia celebrates the joy of exploring life’s many forks in the road with spontaneity and style.

Synchronicity Number 3.

The ceremony. We needed a piece of cake and three candles. The dessert menu had two items – baklava (hard to put a candle in) and TUXEDO Cake.

Synchronicity Number 4.

And for the 1:01 minute ceremony (my favorite is the Akbar and Jeff moment):

The ceremony was something like, “Do you promise to do what you’ve been doing over the past 16 years and stop doing it when it no longer works?”

And for those of you not familiar with Akbar and Jeff, here is a little illustration by Matt Groening of Simpson’s fame:

With the ceremony over, it’s time for the wedding banquet – and all four of order the same item: The Gyros Platter which has beef and lamb gyros, tzatziki, grilled vegetable and horitiaki salad.

Synchronicity Number 5.

After it’s all over, we drop Fang off, and I pick up from the free box a lovely red saloon girl outfit, sorry, no photos. Wish I’d had that at the wedding – I could have been the “flower girl” in addition to the “wurst man”, “made of honour”, “cock ring bearer” – whoops, weren’t any of those.

As the boys said – the two of us are the ones that they’ve know the longest and really wanted us to be the ones in an intimate ceremony.

Mission accomplished – even if it wasn’t planned at the time.

The boys dropped me off at the house for a nap (turned out to be 2.5 hours) while they went back to the courthouse to get the official stamps. Done and done.

Onyx was a jewel and took me to the airport – I felt bad looking at the traffic for his return commute.

As for me – half a dozen oysters on the half shell, a cup of chowder, a little bourbon, a little shopping the discount rack at the book store… and onto the plan am I – upgraded to Seat 1E, bulkhead aisle on United. I loves my Bulkhead Aisle – nobody putting their seat down into your space and you can brace against the bulkhead wall on impact.

And for our last moment of Synchronicity… so, June Cleaver (I kid you not, that’s what her apron said, though I’m guessing it’s not true) is serving me drinks while I’m watching old reruns on the television system. Here is June:

So, there I am watching an old episode of Parks and Recreation, a sitcom about a Midwestern (Indiana, I believe) Parks and Recreation Department. A humorous sitcom about bureaucracy. What happens in this episode? Amy Poehler’s characters boss grabs the woman he’s been seeing, goes upstairs (it is a county office building after all), gets the license, has the judge do the ceremony – though theirs was more like 5 minutes.

Synchronicity Number 6.

I’m done for the night. Got in at 1am to Seattle, was up until 3am, and had to be at work at 1:30 the next afternoon.

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The sore throat has advanced. I’m not feeling in the best shape. Especially since the Zinfandel tasting starts at 10am and runs (for the trade) until 1pm when all hell breaks out and the public is invited in.

Here are some lovely pictures from the event:

The queue up to get in.

Shot of the hall 15 minutes in.

Lunetta with a baguette and spit cup.

An hour and a half in.

By the end of the first hour we were only stopping at booths that there was nobody in front of… with the exception of Ridge Vineyards where I just muscled my way to the front of the line.

By the end of two hours I was spent (but Lunetta was only half way through his bagette). We headed back to the East Bay, with me scoring an extra ZAP Tasting 2013 glass – more freebie glassware for the shop – guess I should bring in the 4 that I have from the Boston Wine Expo of several years ago (where we [Pucci and I] got comped in as well). Joe Fico from Tucson was supposed to be on this tasting but work didn’t clear up until last week, and all the cheap fares were gone.

Oh well.

On returning to the boy’s place in Berkeley it was straight to bed for me, only waking at 3:30 in the afternoon because of hunger. I ate the remains of my breakfast I couldn’t finish this morning, and went back to bed, getting up at 5pm feeling a little more rested and less funky. I think an antihistamine is in order in case the scratchy throat was due to the grocery run on Thursday and pollens in the air.

The boys were kind enough to take me to the airport (SFO = 40 minutes each way) before their “date night”. BART is convenient to their house, but sitting in the back seat is way more comfortable.

At the airport in plenty of time, and nicely settled into the Board Room having snacks of tiny carrots, dip, cheese, and yes, two damn packages of those Club Crackers® which I can’t seem to turn down.

No room on the flight that is an hour earlier (well, no room in First which I have on the later flight) so it’s time to update the blog, read a newspaper, and generally hang out.

In theory due home at about 11pm tonight (that earlier flight would have helped). It’s funny – I think Oakland has more flights these days, but it’s SFO with the Board Room location – though no soup or salad in this location, but they do have the Pancake Machine for in the mornings. Either way, the Board Room is the place that I stock the fridge with oranges for DancingBear’s Old Fashions.

If something screws up, it will be on tomorrow’s blog report.

Good night all, I’ll be sleeping all the way home with luck.

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For some reason I set the alarm for 7:30 rather than 8. I made coffee and went back to bed without much success sleep-wise.

Got breakfast in me and headed to the airport around 9:30, and was parked, through the speed line at the airport and in the Board Room by 10. Still no upgrade, though at the time four people hadn’t checked in and I was number two on the list.

Got a bunch of papers read, had a couple of drinks, had a little food and headed to the gate. I don’t really like the N gates that Alaska uses as they are a fifteen minute walk-tram-walk from the Board Room. I might like them better in a couple of years when they build a new club on the roof of the N Satellite.

Still no upgrade. Oh well, another day.

Got to SFO and had to find something to eat before heading into the city. After two strike outs (too starch based) I found a food court in the International Terminal (pre-security) and got some surprisingly good Mongolian Beef (no rice) to hold me over to dinner.

By 4 I was waiting outside the boy’s house – they weren’t answering their cell phones. But it was a sunny day which is a nice change after Seattle.

Dinner tonight was out – at the CrêpeVine in Berkeley – they are a small Bay Area-based chain. Denver omelet for Onyx (with salad rather than potatoes), big Asian Chicken Salad for Lunetta, and the pulled pork sandwich with Caesar salad for me… I only ate a quarter of the potato bun, but I succumbed to the fries. Really, they are just a vehicle for catsup. Tasty and not too expensive, not that it matters since Lunetta picked up the tab.

Back at home it was time to set up my workspace:

Yes, another crappy cell phone picture.

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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]

The travel season is here for Uncle Markie – this week it’s a quick trip to Berkeley to see Lunetta and Onyx. I realized when I got down there it had been a year since I’d been to see they. Didn’t seem like that long since they visited me in Victoria last January.

Three selfies to start the post. Lounge, plane, and BART:

     

It’s wonderful flying into the Bay Area now that both SFO and OAK are connected via BART. No trips to the airport during rush hour – I just get off the plane and BART to Ashby Station – though I might start having them pick me up there as my knee and foot weren’t really happy. Still beat the 30 minutes each way to OAK and 45 to SFO (depending on traffic).

Got there to find them working on their front steps – a project that has stretched for years and should be able to withstand a magnitude 9 earth quake.

Tonight we are holding dinner until 9pm so that Alicia and Devon can come after work – they are stunned to find dinner waiting for them after their group sessions let out (they are both counselors so no pictures). Yum, grilled scallops and a citrus salad – and wine provided by Uncle Markie.

Lots of reorganizing downstairs – one of the reasons I hadn’t visited in a year is they had a roommate who stayed longer than they were expecting – so now my office/bedroom downstairs looks like this:

Which sits atop this wonderful old rail freight cart.

Following day did my booze shopping at BevMo, cashing in a 5% coupon I’d just scored. Made California booze even cheaper!

Tonight’s dinner was equally wonderful grilled chicken breast with a salad with lots of roasted pine nuts in it. I brought a magnum on Scarello with me (a light Italian Red).

Before I knew it – time to go back to Seattle. Two nights passes quickly – but at least I didn’t hit the dreaded three night when fish and houseguests start to turn:

“Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.”
Benjamin Franklin

And besides that, the stuffed animals were starting to attack me:

Learning my lesson, Lunetta gave me a ride back to the BART station for my trip to SFO. I went HOURS early because Alaska Airlines in temporarily in the International Terminal and with no lounge they are contracting with Cathay Pacific for lounge services – and Cathay Pacific’s lounge is only for Business and First Class passengers on when flying with them. They really knock it out of the park starting with the cardboard cutout that greets you down a long hallway:

I got there just as they opened up their made-to-order noodle bar featuring Dan Dan Noodles, Won Ton Noodles and one other selection – could have sworn I took a picture of the menu!

And here is the buffet bar…

Pretty comfortable – and my “office” in the lounge:

Did I mention free mix your own drinks and wine. Feeling no pain on the flight home even though I was in 6D.

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It seems everyone was a little tired from yesterday. Nobody rolled out of bed until 10:30am. Personally, I needed that extra rest (and still had an afternoon nap as well).

“Breakfast” was at 12:30 after the boys returned from the coffee shop (no Half and Half or Splenda for Onyx’s coffee) and featured “European style breakfast sausages” which are basically small links of weisswurst and a cheesy egg scramble.

Lunetta and I headed out mid-afternoon to the “real” grocery store for ingredients for tonight’s dinner with CrowDog and RobinHood. On the menu:

• Poo poo platter
• Salad with yellow and orange tomatoes
• Sautèed scallops in a lemon Beurre Blanc
• Grilled pork chops
• Steamed broccoli
• Rolls from Heron Rock Bistro (that we got at Finest At Sea yesterday)

When we got to the check-out like at the Thrifty Food Mart we realized that all our groceries would be in handle-less paper bags. Yikes. It seems Thrifty has endorsed the voluntary ban on plastic shopping bags. Must be recent as the check-out clerk was pretty clueless when it came to double bagging (with paper you insert bag A into bag B BEFORE putting any groceries in, the opposite of plastic). It was a fun walk back on a sunny fall day.

The Salt Spring Island boys (CrowDog and RobinHood) arrived around six for a parade of hats. Lunetta bought three this afternoon and the Salt Springs Boys brought me one as a present:

What a fine meal and a fine evening.

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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.

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It’s amazing what I will do for $75 – sit through an hour long sales pitch. Luckily they were running behind on their appointments so it was sitting around for 15 minutes and 45 minutes of sales pitch. I always tell them up front that it can’t be longer than an hour as I have a conference call that I need to be on. It’s fun to watch them speed up their pitch as you anxiously look at your watch. Maybe I should just program my phone to go off.

Debbi picked me up at noon for our day of hitting the thrift stores and a little lunch.

First stop was the Sally Ann just down the street from the WorldMark San Diego. What I was looking for was a 5-line Western Electric phone to go with my Charlie’s Angels speakerphone. What I found was:

Looks nothing like a phone, but it was half price off clothing day so the two of them were $14.25. It’s hard to see the detail work on the Chinese gown which doesn’t fit me, but it did fit Lunetta. Strangely enough the beaded one does fit. Turns out I’m a size 24 in women’s wear.

Next up was lunch at the Kansas City BBQ where they filmed the sleazy bar scene in Top Gun with Tom Cruise. The BBQ wasn’t bad either.

Two more thrift stores in Chula Vista didn’t yield a phone. Damn.

Just enough time after shopping to walk to Albertsons and rustle up some dinner for Lunetta and Bev (his boss). Filet mignon, grilled asparagus, Caesar salad, and a couple of bottles nice wine. The things I’ll do to try and woo another client.

Dinner al fresco on the roof. It was a fun evening and it would be nice to world with fun people.

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It was February the last time that I was in the Bay Area – I travel so much I had to look it up!

This trip I have one night in the city and two nights with The Boys (Lunetta and Onyx).

Overcast, but a nice day to fly – not my plane, but a recent delivery in the Boeing 100^th anniversary livery:

Got the lucky upgrade to first on the way down – not aisle, but bulkhead:

Which means food…

And views:

This is Point Reyes coming into SFO:

The first night I’m staying just off Union Square and connecting with my buddy, Moody, who I haven’t see in a year.

This is the place that Salamander has booked for his birthday in the spring – though I booked him on the top floor which doesn’t have elevator access – you have to walk the last flight at the back of the building:

These are two places I’m sure he’ll want to check out since he’s a writer:

But he’ll probably spend all his time here:

Or Chinatown:

All are mere blocks from the condo.

Had dinner with Moody at Cesario Brasserie which had a 10% off discount from the condo. Oddly, they didn’t have a full bar, but they did have a Sochu (24% alcohol by volume Korean) Martini. Yes, a Korean-based drink in an Italian Restaurant. I’m a little surprised that two of the restaurants we looked at going to didn’t have a full bar (neither did the Saloon from my last visit).

Moody had the Lasagna, which was massive and “food coma” worthy – I went with the starter of mussels, sopping up all the juice with the bread. Oddly, no food pictures. Guess we were too engaged to get out phones.

He had an early morning, so alas, no sleepover which meant I stayed up late knowing I could sleep in

Got out of the unit just before noon and headed to my usual lunch spot, Maru Sushi:

And my lunch Bento:

Having left my bags at the front desk, my destination after lunch was a KLM pop-up store front…apparently they have just started SFO-AMS direct service – they even had a babe on the corner with signal lights:

And free coffee drinks (and water, and key chains):

And a working business class demonstration – though no entertainment system:

.

A fun way to kill some time before heading back to the condo, picking up the bags and heading to Berkeley on BART.

Tonight’s dinner is a duck/mushroom soup (yum) with a little white wine…nothing fancy, just tasty:

And Lunetta even made me a cruise ship bed:

Today’s agenda involves checking our one of our distributors (North Berkeley Imports), picking up a bottle of bubbles while there.

We actually have a customer that calls and picks up her Wine Club curbside – didn’t know other folks did that as well. Nor have I ever seen such a specific time amount on a parking sign:

Then off to The Berkeley Bowl for tonight’s meal – marinated black cod, salad, bread joined by Devon and Alicia.

But first, the rosé bubbles that I brought.

Luckily the black cod is rich enough to stand up the 2007 Château Nuef du Pape that Devon brought! So much for the magnum of Bonny Doon Vin Gris rosé I’d brought with me.

It was a fun evening – and sadly I have to head to the airport in the morning.

No upgrade to First Class on the way home, I’m 7^th down the list – but I do have access to the Singapore Business Class Lounge – I chose my flight specifically to be in the lounge when the noodle bar is open:

Hard not to love this lounge. But alas, I have to fly away – only had an hour to stuff myself before snuggling into Seat 6D.

Maybe next time I’ll get lucky – though the mid-day flight is ALWAYS packed.

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An old 737-700 on the flight to Oakland – no outlets, no extra legroom for rows 7-12 (I was in row 6 which does have extra leg room since its bulkhead) and a completely packed flight.

Got my one free cocktail and nursed it – and they gave me the fancy chocolate too!

So, old plane, and no boarding bridge – the infamous Gate 12A/B/C/D:

Thankfully, it was a sunny day. It’s a miserable way to board a plane.

The boys were there to meet me at the airport – and thankfully provide me with a breakfast sandwich. I’m starting to rely on those snack boxes in Premium Class!

With my early departure, it was nap time for Uncle Markie…

But, as always, the food at the Lunetta/Onyx palace is marvelous….

And this was leftovers! I’d eat it again and again.

Having dropped off a case of wine, it was time to go to BevMo and fill my suitcase:

Wished I’d brought the new credit card to put that on that I need $3K in spending in the next couple of months. Still, WAY cheaper than Seattle.

Got a bunch of work done during the day, just in time for another FABULOUS at-home meal – from scratch (well beyond my skill set).

I am soooo lucky!

And the WINE!

I’ve dated guys that weren’t around when that wine was made – well, probably not, but close.

I’ve got a late flight out of SFO, and Lunetta kindly gave me a ride to the BART station at Ashby. Since I’m flying Virgin America, I don’t have lounge access even though I’m a Board Room member, seems to not extend to Virgin flights. Thankfully I’ve got a pass for the United Club one terminal (through security) over.

Creamy Chicken Corn Chowder, a little salad, a cocktail, some newspapers….life is good.

Nice club – only been open a couple of years.

And they even have one of those snazzy Coke Mix Your Own Blend dispensers…

Spent a couple of hours there before heading back to Terminal Two where my Virgin America flight is leaving from. To get to the gate, walked past an Admirals Club – odd that they won’t accept my Virgin ticket, just Alaska ones but by this point I was just a few minutes from boarding.

Terminal Two has (at the moment) an interesting display of old typewriters, including a couple of Japanese ones:

Actually booked a First Class ticket since it was only $160 – and they ARE comfortable seats:

And a nice amount of legroom:

For some reason I didn’t get a picture of the “Protein Platter” – other choice was a Thai Chicken Salad – and after that, they brought around a tray of Dean and Deluca treats.

Life isn’t bad.

Didn’t get home until almost midnight, luckily I don’t work this Friday.

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Checked out at noon — jut under the wire.

Curvy drive back to 101 south — stopped in Santa Rosa (or there abouts) for Carne Asada in a strip mall (how appropriate since it’s strip steak in Carne Asada) — which was stunning good, or I was stunned from hunger.

Gassed up — 20.5 mpg on the last tank — it seems to be going down.

Hit Berkeley about 3:30 — and really needed a nap, from the lunch, but didn’t get one. Unloading, catching up, stuff.

At 5 killed the rest of the GlenWhatEver before catching up on business work, then making dinner for the boys (Mark and Onyx). Tried to replicate the carrot recipe from the Basque restaurant in Gulf Port that Dan and I escaped to during GeckoFest. My version was baby carrots sauteed in butter, a little olive olive, frangelico, touch of nutmeg, touch of pepper. The boys loved them — and they were good, not as good as the Basque place, but not bad. Rest of the meal was an Indian spinach dish, and pupu platters of leftover warmed up bbq’d pork (from last night), cheese and avocado. Damn fine snacking (but filling) menu. Steele’s Shooting Star Black Bubbles (sparkling syrah) was the dinner drink.

Immediately after dinner we are all back on computers — Onyx has a build due, Lunetta is helping, and me — no bedtime until blogtime.

The evening drink is more scotch courtesy of Lunetta.

Night all.

Back on the train to the reason for this whole ramble, The Wedding. Off I go way too early in the day from the Emeryville Amtrak station (chauffeured by Lunetta).

And they are still serving breakfast!

Followed by a nap (do you see a pattern here?), followed by a late lunch:

With some scenery thrown in. Just FYI – I booked at bedroom:

The last photo is of the train station at San Luis Obispo.

Called Budget to snag a ride to the rental car office and signed out a car that had seen better days (like the driver’s side mirror had tap wrapped around it that had been there awhile and was yellowed). But soon enough I was checked into the Best Western Casa Grande in Arroyo Grande. I splurged on a suite:

Which has a VERY NICE lobby area:

And my suite wasn’t too bad either:

Went to the store for some dinner and drinking supplies….

OK – so, the four on the right came down with me, the two unboxed flasks are for me at the wedding – the six boxed (and filled) flasks are for some of the wedding party.

Spent the morning of the wedding tasting wine in downtown Arroyo Grande…

Visited Timbre first, then down the street to a winery that was closing, Phantom Rivers, where everything was 50% off. Here is the haul:

Great – I thought I was going to make the final leg WITHOUT the box in tow. Oh well.

Jameson and Carolynn (the wedding couple) arranged for shuttles to run from the hotel to the wedding venues. The ceremony was at Carolynn’s parent’s house (where she grew up):

It was good to see Julian (Jameson’s brother who I visit in Japan):

Nice that they were serving Gruett Rose bubbles (from New Mexico) before the service.

Then down to the clubhouse for the reception…

And I was on wine duty to pour the 5-liter bottles of Bonny Doon that I brought down a couple of weeks ago.

And the first dance….

The “after party” ended up in my suite – wish I remember more of it. Woke up to popcorn scattered everywhere!

Needless to say, I slept in really late. Fortunately, I don’t head south until Monday, which left time for an intimate dinner with the wedding couple and two others at Hapy Bistro which is half wine shop, half restaurant, with cigars thrown in…but the food was stunning.

It was an early night for me since I have a VERY early train in the morning, AND I have to get the rental car returned.

Tomorrow, the adventure continues!

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For more blog posts, click here.

Birthday time in Berkeley, California, just not mine. The birthday boy is Lunetta – who is turning an unspecified age. But first, I have to get there, and it’s a morning flight, so this is what I look like in my favorite seat, 1C:

But they wake me up with food – it’s an hour and a half, so it’s the fruit/cheese/cracker plate (with a Seattle Chocolate):

And finally awake by the time I’m at the Oakland airport….

I should have stepped further down to be under the Alaska sign – as that’s my airline of choice.

Lots of plans this trip. Booze shopping (maximum per checked bag is 5 liters, all of which must be under 120 proof), dropping off my passport at the Vietnamese Embassy for a visa for my January trip to visit Sean, and, of course, cooking the birthday boy a birthday dinner of braised lamb shank.

Here is my adventure in pictures….

After a lovely welcome dinner (scallops and a citrus salad prepared by the boys), it was time to get out of bed and get to the Embassy to stand in line, but first I have to get there. BART to the Civic Center exit:

But when I got there – a police involved shooting that shut down many intersections (and most of the Civic Center BART exits):

Walked a handful of block to where traffic was moving and hailed a cab – when I mentioned 1800 California, I’m going to the Vietnamese Embassy – he corrected me, “That is 1700 California, I’m Vietnamese – when are you going?” The Embassy’s Visa Section is on the 8^th floor of a random medical building:

But since I was early (they have a LONG lunch from Noon to 2:30), I popped across the street for a Vietnamese snack (Summer Rolls) from Whole Foods:

I was third in line when the Visa Section opened….

Took less than 15 minutes….and $100 – maybe I should have just showed up at SGN (Ho Chi Min airport, though the code is left over from Saigon) with the “invitation letter” and paid the $46 – oh well, less time at the airport in January.

An amusing truck in front of the embassy – modified with tape…

So much for the Budget brand.

This morning in a moment of clarity I emailed my buddy Moody to see if he was around since he hadn’t been answering text messages – he was, so after I was done at the embassy, I started the zig-zag walk to the Union Square area where he goes to school. It has been years since I’ve walked around San Francisco as a tourist, especially in The Tenderloin. Here are some of my favorite photos:

That would be a bad deal on their part for me as a customer…

Love these old neon signs around The Tenderloin:

And who can’t resist an amusing Chinese restaurant name…

That’s how I like them, Hung Phat. It actually looks like it’s permanently closed with someone living in the space.

Hooked up with Moody at the Powell BART station for the ride to Berkeley for dinner with the boys. It’s good to see him again – last time was in July – way too long!

Tonight’s dinner was BBQ’d Chicken Breasts with a lovely salad.

Wish he could have stayed the night, but it’s a school night for him – damn higher education!

Morning with strata (and egg dish) and a shot of my work desk in Berkeley:

Life is hard on the road (#lifeishard, #unclemarkie, #ontheroadagain) and the birthday dinner is no exception. I did a shopping run of BevMo and the Berkeley Bowl (dangerous place) to get the supplies for the Birthday Meal of Braised Lamb Shanks….first you braise:

Then you boil:

Then you plate:

Then you eat:

My trip ended with a SERIOUSLY early from back from Oakland – at least I was in First coming and now going – easier for me to sleep, especially with a couple of Red Barons (Champagne & Cranberry Juice, also known as a Poinsettia) in me. Odd thing is what I was travelling with – a BBQ that I bought at BevMo because it was $9.95 (plus tax), and a couple of pounds of rabbit meat:

Landed at a little after 11am, so that I could have a quick nap before reporting to the shop at 1:30.

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After a lovely couple of days in Santa Fe, it’s time for the relaxing train ride home – and our train is on time:

And before long, Bliss and I are settled into our compartment which is called “The Family Bedroom“, meaning no toilet/shower en-suite.

Here is the diagram from the Amtrak sight so you get a feel for the room configuration:

The Family Bedrooms are on the lower level and stretch side-to-side so you get lots of pretty picture taking opportunities:

Here is a short (one-minute) clip of the above…

As the sun goes down, we head into the dining car for dinner:

We both had the steak dinner and got our desserts “to-go” after dinner. Meals are included when you book a sleeping car. And it is nice to be able to stretch out – AND have a place to put your luggage since se don’t have any children with us.

Slumber time followed by a 5am breakfast call – because of the schedule it’s a short (1-hour) breakfast – and I noticed MANY of the Sleeping Car passengers just skipping it. As for me? I just went back to bed after.

Train was early into Los Angeles’ Union Station so we hung out in the Metropolitan Lounge in the station – it’s for the use of Sleeping Car passengers and Business Class passengers on the Surfliner.

9:30 they rousted us to the platform. It’s a bit of a hike, but walking was quicker than waiting for Red Cap service – and since we’ll be sitting for the next two days, best to walk.

Our train (The Coast Starlight) backing into Union Station:

After getting settled I took a shower (down the hall) which I probably should have down after breakfast on the Southwest Chief. I might have been less cranky. Or maybe just a Screwdriver with a splash of Pomegranate Grenadine:

Orange Juice (and coffee) courtesy of Amtrak. Each Sleeper Car has a coffee pot and juice station. These days it’s only orange juice, in the past it was orange, apple, and cranberry AND actual oranges and bananas and the complementary mini-bottle of sparkling wine when you boarded. Yes, the quality has gone down on Amtrak trains in the last couple of years – no amenity kits any longer as well.

But where did we get the Pomegranate Grenadine? Well, in addition to the 6 bottles of hard liquor I bought in Santa Fe, and the 6 bottles that Bliss bought – my sis-in-law also gave me the remnants of my late mother’s liquor cabinet. If you are keeping score, four people have given me their liquor dregs (one in recover, one dead, two people moved). No bourbon left, but things like the Grenadine, Blood Mary mix, Crème de Menthe, odd mixers…

Next up, a Bloody Mary with cracked pepper on the top (courtesy of Alaska Airlines – for the pepper) complete with swizzle sticks (courtesy of Cathy Pacific and oddly in my laptop bag):

Beautiful views as we sit down to lunch. The section between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara is really stunning:

And lunch isn’t bad (these would be the bar-b-qued lamb shanks with garlic mashed potatoes and a side salad, plus iced-tea…

More scenery shots from our room after lunch:

Tanks of Fire Water – like moonshine? And the rolling hills outside of San Luis Obispo:

San Luis Obispo is also a smoke stop (or in our case, a stretch your legs get some fresh air stop):

Random tourist, the guy in the engineer’s hat is a regular at the station – not an employee, but “challenged” guy with a love for trains (notice train band radio attached on his back pocket), and our conductor Joy – who I’ve had before so he knows the drill (with the help of a $20) about keeping us stocked with ice – LOTS of ice:

While we are stocked on booze and ice, after several days on the train we are running low on Ginger Ale – luckily, after dinner we are passing through Emeryville and a couple of texts to Lunetta & Onyx, we have more mixers, and a wine shipper (much better than the WalMart cheap duffle I bought in Santa Fe) and a bonus of a bottle of their Honey Mead – and a platform visit!

And said box of supplies:

Time for bed as the Emeryville stop is at 10pm.

Breakfast at a more reasonable hour (7am) but I still went back to bed after:

Because outside it looked like this.

By lunch, the weather has improved:

But we are an hour behind schedule because of signal problems in the mountains (most likely from the now). Every Amtrak trip I have to have the Angus burger at least once:

It’s a mouthful but I cut them in half.

I’d planned on getting out for a stretch in Eugene, but when I got to the door – it was dumping rain. Back to the couch for me.

Almost an hour late getting into Portland – and rain – a parked a long way from the terminal, no Metropolitan Lounge in Portland stop for me this trip – and they cut the time of the stop in half to make up ground.

The downside of the current Coast Starlight schedule is with an 8pm arrival time in Seattle you have dinner service starting at 5pm – and we had lunch at 12:30. For dinner I opted for the crab/shrimp cakes like the previous night’s meal (more shrimp than crab), but without the side salad – and I still only made it through one of the two cakes – still full from lunch!

In the end we were only ten minutes late into Seattle where we split up and ordered up Ubers home. (Click on the word Uber to sign up and get a free $15 ride).

08:32pm 269-299 S King St, Seattle, WA 08:47pm 1029-1045 S Rose St, Seattle, WA

CAR uberX miles 6.41 TRIP TIME 00:15:01

$15.00 from the Amtrak station to my house – not bad. I’m sure Bliss’ was less than $8.00.

[215.0]

Another week, another trip, or so it seems. This week it’s the red-eye after closing the shop after a special Château Nuef du Pape Tasting. Getting home at 8 left just enough time to put together a chef salad and grab an Uber (click on Uber for your first $15 ride free) to the airport. Luckily, the Alaska Upgrade Gods smiled on both Rach and myself – seats 1D and 1F (after a little switching around)

He looks comfortable – as for me, I’m just crazy:

It’s a red-eye that leaves at 12:50am, so you don’t get much in the way of food:

Rach slept after food, I, foolishly watched all sorts of movies, drank all sorts of drinks, and generally DIDN’T look this good at our 5am arrival in Chicago, the three-hour layover (which I did sleep), and our eventual arrival in El Paso:

I actually know a couple of people in the El Paso area, and one of them (Aaron – a former couchsurfing guest of mine) met us at the airport for the ride to our hotel – The El Camino Real.

Got checked in on the second try and the room was adequate. I was hoping for nicer considering how cool the lobby is, but more on that later. First up it was lunch at Anson 11 Bistro. I had the pork belly tacos, as did Aaron:

Rach had the Tomato Mozzarella Sandwich with Prosciutto after his Asparagus Soup – and the fries on the right are Truffle-Parmesan Fries (YUM):

And, of course, there were cocktails!

After that meal, both Rach and I needed a nap since we (Uncle Markie, Aaron, Aaron’s Ex, Johnny [who also surfed my house], and Aaron’s 22-year-old US Army husband) are headed out for a Mexican food dinner tonight – actually Brandon (the husband) is just joining us for cocktails in the lovely lobby bar with stained glass Tiffany Dome:

And the rest of the lobby rocks as well – love the stairwells:

Actually, downtown El Paso has a lot of nice old Art Deco era buildings that have survived:

Later I’ll show you the train station, but that’s tomorrow! First we have to get through dinner at Kiki’s Mexican Restaurant:

I had the Chicken Molé which was tasty and I could only finish half it – in the background you see a glass of sangria that wasn’t overly sweet – went well with the spice:

After dinner it was off to the scenic overlook where you can see all of El Paso, and Juarez on the Mexican side of the border:

Beautiful sight – but CROWDED with people. Lots of couples.

I headed back to the room, Rach and Aaron headed to a brew pub to wait for Brandon to get off work – then we all reconvened in the room for cocktails – it was a great evening of catching up and getting to know Brandon.

Morning brought me sleeping in late (as usual) with Rach up early to journal (usual) – and a late (just prior to the lunch menu) breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel – La Huerta Café:

We both had the “Divorced Eggs” [$8.00), mine with Green Chile, Rach’s with Christmas Chile [half red, half green] – funny that it’s served with a small quesadilla, but it was all tasty. I almost had to go back to bed after this breakfast – but at noon we were off to the railroad station – which was a TAD further than I expected. Probably should have had the hotel shuttle take us with all the bags we had. We went shopping in El Paso yesterday after lunch to pick up Bourbon and Ginger for the trip.

Found on the trek to the train station – it was a great day for a walk:

And the train station itself – now if the train weren’t running late, though after the late heavy breakfast, not sure if I’d be ready for lunch at 1:30:

And a gorgeous interior – I love how Amtrak and the cities they serve have been resurrecting and renovating their old stations:

THE TRAIN BOSS! THE TRAIN!

Settled in for lunch, at almost 3PM, well past the usual time they serve, but they extended it for the El Paso folks. Burgers for both of us:

I like that shot! And the lunch view – yes, that would be Mexico on the other side of that fence:

Steaks for dinner (see other Amtrak posts for pictures) – but I had to rush through dinner so I could get a “platform hug” from my buddy Joe:

He didn’t have long, but enough time to see our Bedroom unit on the train. This is my compartment selfie with him:

This is his compartment selfie with me:

I think I like he surreal one better.

From past experience – time to take a shower because we arrive in Los Angeles VERY early in the morning, and I’ve found I’m cranky if I’m not clean while waiting for the next train:

And then bed:

Alas, you can no longer leave your shoes for the car attendant to shine while you sleep – the door, long since removed on the outside, just the frame left on the inside of the closet:

We arrived in Los Angeles early – which I didn’t really want to happen, since the arrival time was already early: 5:35am. At least we have the Metropolitan Lounge to hang out in until our 9:30am boarding:

Even the non-First Class passengers have a nice space to hang out in:

There is even a piano for people to play!

Lots of Amtrak trains coming and going from Union Station in Los Angeles:

We get boarded – and get comfortable – making early morning Bloody Marys as we roll out of the station:

Between the two of us we have great connectivity – Rach has an ATT HotSpot that I’ve been using since ATT coverage in the Southwest is better than my T-Mobile coverage which we switched to after our Eugene, Oregon stop. You can see his HotSpot attached to a mount on the table mount. But Eugene is a long way from where we are at the moment – one of the most beautiful chunks of this trip, the stretch between Los Angeles and Santa Barbra:

And here is a little video clip from that section of track:

Salads for lunch after our big breakfast in the morning (and my return to bed):

More good weather as we head north – here was are at a “smoke break” in San Luis Obispo – also a crew change stop for the train engineers:

Please note the fetching Hello Kitty cap from my trip to Maui.

And talk about a little snack before dinner (since we have a late reservation), how about chopping up the remainder bagel dog from breakfast (they were $5 each, or two for $8) – with a little dark mustard. I had one for breakfast while Rach had a ham and cheese croissant – decent food (and a small grocery store) in Union Station in LA:

The sundown waiting for dinner:

Dinner – the braised lamb shanks in the Parlour Car. This is one of their most popular recipes!

Sorry for the blurry photo, but it was as good as always – click here for the recipe.

After dinner, it was another “platform hugs” moment – once again with Onyx and Lunetta in Emeryville – this time no delivery of mixers needed!

Breakfast at 8, lunch at noon, an early dinner at 5:30 – means that it’s our last day on The Coast Starlight.

And now for a station break, starting with Eugene:

And Portland:

And a shot of our lovely Parlour Car exterior. For those that don’t know, the Parlour Car is reserved for use by Sleeping Car passengers on The Coast Starlight, the only train that has Parlour Cars.

To close this post – Mount Rainier in the background, passing over the Columbia River headed into Vancouver, USA.

Such a lovely journey.

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