Polaroid Photo

Uncle Markie out and about.

Refresh for a different picture!

UMTravels

Choose a Topic:

Search Results:

Thu
15
Dec '11

Vancouver, Part II

Dinner With Helene, Tom, Hummingbird & BamBam.

Slept in this morning. Wonderful.

That meant “breakfast” at noon:

Yum.

A lazy afternoon reading my first issue of the New Yorker on the Kindle Fire. There are a couple of problems with the New Yorker app on the Fire. Problem Number One: you can’t read it in Landscape Mode which I’d like to try, and Problem Number Two: you can’t make the typeface bigger. Other than that, you get everything that is in the physical magazine except the blow in cards.

Company started showing up a little after six for a dinner of squash (yes, two days in a row), salad, and turkey breast wrapped in prosciutto. Here is the crew after dinner:

Yet another late evening, but well worth it.

[? ? ?]

Fri
2
Apr '10

Bored Sitting At Home.

After Being Home Only 3 Days.

Off To Olympia.

Wow — no moss under my feet (possibly between my toes)… back for three days (or is it four) and already need to leave town even though I leave for Panama on Sunday night.

Olympia is calling — dinner with Curt, Rich, and our young’en Brandon.

But before I get to that, just an update on my travel mileage so far this year on Alaska:

Elite Tier Status Qualification

YTD Alaska/Horizon Miles
Flown: 16,07 1     3,929 Miles to MVP
YTD Alaska/Horizon/Qualifying Partner* Miles
Flown: 16,071     8,929 Miles to MVP
YTD Alaska/Horizon/Qualifying Partner* Segments
Flown: 11     19 Segments to MVP
* Air France, American, Delta, KLM, LanChile and Northwest

With the flight to Miami sheduled for late September, that will take me over MVP status — should I go for Gold again?

Left the house at 2, stopped for a little drive-through lunch and headed south in the rain to Olympia. I was hoping that because it was Good Friday the traffic would be less. NOT.

After a stop to check out the Cabella’s Sporting Goods store in Lacy (HUGE) to get s new pair of shorts for the trip ($14.95) and a couple of emergency ponchos (.99 each) it was off to Safeway for the few last minute meal items (and some bug spray for the trip), then the liquor store and then onto Curt’s place. 4:30. Yikes.

Dinner was a roasted pork loin, salad, bread that I backed before I went down, with Rich and Curt donating many bottles of tine to go with. Brandon — he brought the book I’d ordered for Curt that UPS delivered to his office.

The book? Totally self-serving:

Gourmet Game Night: Bite-Sized, Mess-Free Eating for Board-Game Parties, Bridge Clubs, Poker Nights,  Book Groups, and More

Click on the book above and it will take you to the Amazon site. Here is the Tom Douglas review of the book:

“Oh my Yahtzee! Anything that brings friends and family together sharing delicious bites of food tickles my fancy. I’m going for an Orange Negroni and a Crostini with Wild Mushroom Tapenade. My domino train is open for dinner!”
—TOM DOUGLAS, James Beard Award­–winning chef and author of Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen

[223.2]

Sat
6
Mar '10

Not Exactly The Saturday I Was Expecting.

So, I thought my Saturday morning was going to be some quiet time on the train to Portland, reading, working on a web-site redo, having lunch…

Until Tom Hennessey came up to me in the train station in Seattle and said hello. I’ve known Tom since my (and his) late teens in the Midwest. I hadn’t seen him in at least half a dozen years — he and his wife (and two kids, all travelling together) live in Anchorage and they caught the red-eye last night to catch the train today — also in a sleeper!

p1090843

Needless to say, while the wife and kids napped from the long night, Tom and I hung out in my roomette catching up on the last few years. Too weird.

Got into Portland a little early, and was checked into the Modera by 2pm for a nap, followed by some work (to make up for what I was planning on doing on the train). The Modera is a boutique hotel right across the street from where Jamshed’s 70th Birthday Party is taking place.

p1090845

Hard to tell that this used to be a Day’s Inn other than the size of the rooms. Really nice rooms, good amenities, Jill would love it for it’s mid-century feel. The only odd thing is that even though there is free wireless throughout the hotel, a local phone call (or even an 800#) costs you a buck. Odd. Maybe if I get ambitious I’ll post a video of the room tomorrow.

No post would be complete without a picture of our birthday boy:

p1090846

The party ran from 6-10pm in the party room of a condo tower with heavy appetizers that took care of dinner before moving up to the condo of our hosts for another two hours with several more people dropping in.

A nightcap and it’s off to bed for me.

[223.1]

Tue
27
Nov '07

A Day In The Woods.

What a day today.

Up at 7:00am so we can get a car and go to the woods. Enterprise is where we end up after a short bus ride (handy to have that Metro Card from yesterday!)

Davey and MJ bought 11 acres of land about three hours north of their place on the lower east side of Manhattan. Raw land (much cheaper than improved), wooded, random stone fences cutting through parts of it. Pretty in the fall with all the leaves off the trees (except for the evergreens).

P1040097

We stopped at the BBQ Barn for lunch — it was OK — but HUGE portions. I should have stayed away from the fries — I felt like napping all afternoon.

After lunch we stopped at his friend Tom’s place one town over from the new land — great house — amazing patio cabana. Just a screened in room with a tool shed at one end. Would be great to hang out in the summer — no bugs.

P1040094

It was dark by the time we got back to pick up Tom and bring him to the city. Called MJ from the car when we were close, and the saint ordered Indian food that arrived just after we did (which was 8pm)! Dinner and drinks for all — good conversation, and amazingly enough, a special on the Colorado River after dinner.

Rest of the evening catching up on email, blogging, and all the other stuff that has been interrupted by the site outage the other day. I still need to locate the original images for the blog header — there are ones from the SOB blog in there at the moment, and that ain’t right.

Mon
20
Nov '06

Partly Sunny Vancouver

Up early for me – 7:30. Ready to get the day going with cornmeal encrusted back bacon and French Toast (from the leftover bread from the weekend — no waste here!)

A morning of relaxing and reading the New Yorker.

A late lunch with Tom and his boyfriend — a salad with tandorri chicken breasts sliced over the top and a glass of wine or two since we still can’t drink the water.

Tom and Stephen (the BF) run me to the train at 4pm for a 6pm train. Business class seat. Nice view. Home at 10pm. A quiet day all and all. Well, that was the plan. Yes, they got me there…. but they couldn’t get the train there, so I am on a 5pm BUS (not happy, no snacks, no paper, no dinner) that gets stuck in traffic for an hour, then manages to get one passenger bumped from the bus at the boarder (the train clears customs at the train station in Vancouver), pick up a transient, the driver doesn’t realize, the passengers point out, the bus turns around to drop him back at the border after another wasted half hour, and I get home a tad bit cranky with no dinner.

Just enough time to get a snack, throw laundry in, try and pack for the 7:45am flight to Phoenix to spend turkey day with the family.

Bed at midnight, alarm set for 5am!

Sun
9
Sep '12

Now That’s A Lot Of Fruit.

Another work Sunday for both me (the shop) and Jill (the orchard – well, two trees). While I worked the shop and hosted an Artist Reception for Tom Hoffmann (watercolors), Jill we busy clean up the droppings from her two Asian pear trees.

Here is a shot from the reception:

That would be Tom in the yellow shirt.

After work Jill came over with her two bins of dropped fruit and proceeded to start chopping and grinding fruit in Suze’s juicer while I started working on dinner. A lot of work and it didn’t all get done tonight – so I’m guessing that will be my chore. All this for “cider”.

The “cider” finisher broken apart waiting for its next run.

And “Murphy The Wonder Dog”:

Off to bed, apparently I have chores in the morning.

[208.8]

Sun
19
Apr '09

A Day In The City.

Got out of Birch Bay a little before noon and by 12:30 I was across the border with a bottle of scotch on the front seat.

A quick call to Tom and Stephen and a lunch date it set for Red Burrito — yummy, quick, but no Visa/Mastercard so Tom had to pay with his Canadian dollars.

After lunch I took a tour around Hummingbird and BamBam’s burnt out house that has finally started to be worked on:

Got checked into the WorldMark at The Canadian a little after three:

A quick trip to the wine store across the street and to the IGA for salad stuff and I’m ready for dinner company.

BamBam arrived at 6 for a wonderful steak dinner on TV trays since the unit doesn’t have a dining room. Much conversation before he had to catch the last bus home. I offered him the other bedroom (or mine) but with a pile of cats at home if was more important to not return to a disaster.

Oh well.

[? ? ?]

Mon
29
Jun '09

Monday In Vancouver.

Great dinner party last night with Swanda, Nathan (Bam Bam) and Hummingbird — tonight’s dinner party is with Tom, Stephen and Bam Bam (Hummingbird has a meeting). Pork roast last night, salmon tonight. Yum.

So, as promised yesterday here is a video of the digs here in Vancouver…

And here is a shot of Nathan in a shirt that Tom sewed that I no longer fit into, and he looks great in, and loves.

p1070868

That’s it for today. Home tomorrow.

[? ? ?]

Mon
8
Nov '10

Dinner With Clergy, Part Two.

Work in the morning was the plan, but it turned into work in the afternoon with Nathan – nice to have some fresh eyes on the logo that I’m working on.

And we got a show as well…. Window washers working on the building.

Window washer gal… late twenties is my guess, quite amusing.

Next up for the afternoon was the JapaDog stand a couple of blocks from here:

Nathan had the one with grated dikon and wasabi mayo, I had the one with fish flakes on the top. Interesting, but not cheap — $7-8 each.

And here is today’s clergy picture – taken before Tom arrived….

Dinner was salmon steaks, grilled asparagus, salad, wine, conversation, bread and laughter.

Back to Seattle tomorrow.

[? ? ?]

Sat
17
Apr '10

Cabin Fever.

Woke up with a feeling of “cabin fever”… the need to just get out and about. What to do about it — drive.

I gathered all the stuff laying around needing to be delivered and headed out the door:

  • Panama Taxi license plate and taxi meter for Tom, Marybeth’s son who is getting the Checker Marathon as his car when he gets his license
  • Lowes for a replacement grill grate for the BBQ and batteries for the scale
  • Fluffernutter’s to drop off an enamel public telephone sign (and chat with Aaron, his roommate)
  • The apartment to pick up a DVD (which reminds me, I really have to watch If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium since I had it for months)
  • Darcie and Jeannes to drop off a book — and have cocktails and enough snacks that it made dinner

Started at a little after noon and got home at 7.

Poking around the WorldMark site I realized that I could put together the Yellowstone/Montana prison trip for mid-May. Last night I had been playing around with a trans-Atlantic crossing with a stop on the way to London in Iceland so I could do a land-air tour of Greenland and a couple of spare days in London — the Norwegian Epic (which I’m planning on cruising with on my birthday) has studios available on the inaugural London to New York transatlantic crossing before going into service on the Caribbean routes for the next year (around $3-4K by the time all was said and done) and the evening before that it was a trip to Jasper up in Canadaland before dismissing it as too expensive (for the sleeper — $1200 round-trip from Vancouver). I never should have made that damn travel hit list!

Fence project tomorrow, I promise.

[223.2]

Sat
28
May '11

Off To Another Gathering.

At Least For A Bit.

More last minute printing while packing for ??? number of nights away.

I was delayed because my internet provider, ClearWire has my internet connection bouncing up and down like the bedsprings under a hooker.

When I finally got out the door with the top down it was after noon, and by the time I was at the Longhouse Gathering it was a little after 1pm, a few crumbs left from lunch and everyone headed towards Heart Circle — something I couldn’t imagine doing just driving in, and then unloading, as it were.

So that left me sitting at a picnic table and starting to fold and stuff. For a while it was me, but as with Tom Sawyer, soon, others were showing up to fold, stuff, seal. Many hands make light work.

Today’s picture is from dinner (pasta with marinara sauce, salad, garlic bread) with a little wine that the rubber chicken seems to be drinking.

After dinner was the talent show — I’ve posted pictures on Facebook for those of you interesting. Well, I posted all but the ones that didn’t meet Facebook Standards. I think it’s the first time in a while that there was a full-fledged talent show at the Longhouse gathering — thanks to the Venusian’s for constructing a stage.

I was able to snag a spare tent for the night, but it seems that I forgot to pack socks. I didn’t want to set up the tent I brought as it’s a bit small, so it was a relief to find an open spot. We’ll see if I spend another night celebrating in a peat bog just off the highway.

[229.4]

Mon
2
Jan '12

Inventory Day.

After waking up to a dead coffeemaker in the hotel room (they got me a new one in 15 minutes), it was onto the shuttle where the driver took me directly to Uwajimaya, even though it is usually only a “game day” stop on their shuttle route. And yes, I tipped him.

Got to the store 45 minutes early, Jim arrived 30 minutes early, so we started plowing through the inventory. Good thing to since I’d forgotten I’d scheduled an oil change and a slow leak fix for 12:30 and inventory was supposed to start at noon.

We actually wrapped up the count in 45 minutes including all the “gift accessories”, and I just realized that we forgot to inventory the salts, peppers, and sauce. Tomorrow, me thinks.

After the wild night last night, after inventory I dropped off the car at the shop and went home and took a nap. The joys of being underemployed.

For today’s random pictures, the topic is cars, as my previous sets of wheels:

BMW 2002tii next to Tom’s Civic in front of the Silver Streak at Point No Point on the tip of the Kitsap peninsula outside Hansville. So many memories.

My second Miata, parked next to Pugsly, a 1964 Bedford Romany Dormobile (complete with hand crank for starting if you were that daring) parked behind the first house that I ever owned, in the NE section of Portland. Bought it for $39,500 (the house) and sold it for $80,000 five years later to the real estate agent that I had originally purchased it through.

1975 Checker Marathon, the second time I owned that car. Sold it to Marybeth, who put at least one new engine in it, and now it’s the car of her rock-n-roll guitarist 20-year-old son. Perfect car for a musician. Now it is Forest Green. Parked in front of the Boylston Street house on Capital Hill, assuming when it was still a duplex that I shared with Greg from the lack of gate and the size of the bushes.

Well, that’s our stroll down memory lane for today.

[? ? ?]

Mon
21
May '12

Monday, Monday.

Lots of time working on making a PDF form that you can fill out, and then click and submit. All day, three versions, none working yet. Frustrating.

This is before and after a wine tasting downtown – wines from the Loire Valley in France. Mostly whites, with a few bland reds. 77 wines later at the Palace Ballroom (a Tom Douglas venue). It didn’t hurt that there were three different “terrines” there to feast on: rabbit/pistachio, duck, and country. Great for a low-carb diet.

And with the rain today, we have today’s picture of the combination of water and blooms on the Empress Tree:

I’ve been thinking of chopping down the big one as a new smaller one is coming up two feet further from the Arbutus/Madrona by the walk, allowing it to grow away from the walk, and towards the sun. The Madrona does not transplant well, so the fact that one self-seeded itself in my front yard is a lucky break – funny that there was an old Madrona in front of the church on Lopez as well.

And, of course, the star of the photo is the out-of-control rosemary tree at the front left.

Steak and salad for dinner, what’s new.

[212.2]

Wed
16
Jan '13

Hello Vancouver.

Out of the unit a little after 11 to catch the 1pm ferry to Tawassan. Everything was going fine until suddenly the road was blocked by police and the detour was long, crowded and inconvenient – NOT what you want when you are trying to make a ferry. Instead of the ½ hour or so drive, it turned into an hour. And we know how I like to be early for things.

This is a lovely shot from the ferry:

Might have been better to go up to the sun deck and take this picture, but since I’d left my jacket at the condo, it would have been damn chilly.

Got to the Vancouver condo a little before four after a little last minute shopping at Safeway for salad and such. They were running a bit behind so it was almost 4 by the time I was in the unit.

Solus+, Marmot, Epick, and Tom for dinner tonight. Pork loins over a bed of potatoes, a nice salad, after the appetizer course… sounds like a broken record. And speaking of records we might have set a new one. Irish whiskey killed, bourbon killed, two bottles of wine killed… not a drop left in the house.

And Solus+ used the spare bedroom for the night and think he was happy to not have to head back to the suburbs.

[? ? ?]

Fri
4
Oct '13

Dinner With Dwight.

Time to start tackling the to-do list from Jim and I’s business meeting a while back. Today will be the second attempt to make a rolling wine rack for the shop. We will eventually need seven of time. The prototype I hacked together last week was too tall and didn’t offer enough storage — so much for the easy way. Looks like almost from scratch.

Picked up a ½” 4×4 sheet of plywood at Home Depot to go with the casters I picked up last week at Lowes. A couple of cuts, a lot of glue and nail gun work, and this is the result of a couple of hours of work:

The space below the bottles it turns out with hold two cases side to side.

On the way aback from working in the garage I noticed that my quince tree had all this downed fruit:

Normally I get like two quince in a season – must have been the warm weather this summer. They are still tiny, but I was thinking about making a quince infused moonshine. Thoughts?

After that was built and the glue drying it was off to see how the bridge work is coming – they announced that the other leaf of the bridge would be mounted today:

And before you knew it was time to start working on dinner. Dinner with Dwight tonight – and a fancy dinner it is. Seattle restaurateur Tom Douglas’ Braised Lamb Shank recipe that he modified for Amtrak to use on the Coast Starlight. I thought I’d shared the recipe before but couldn’t find it on the blog so here it is:

Amtrak’s braised lamb shanks with Portobello mushroom, tomatoes and oregano

Total time: 3 hours

Servings: 4

Note: Amtrak serves the lamb shanks with garlic mashed potatoes and an array of vegetables.

4 (1 pound each) bone-in lamb shanks, well-trimmed

1/4 cup canola oil, divided

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup finely dice red onion

2 large Portobello mushroom caps, gills removed, cut in medium dice

2 tablespoons minced garlic

3/4 cup dry red wine

2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano leaves, preferably Greek

1 1/2 cups (8 ounces) diced plum tomatoes in tomato juice

3 cups beef demi-glace (or 3 cups beef broth thickened with a slurry of 2 tablespoons each cornstarch and cold water)

2 bay leaves

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, toss the lamb shanks with 1 tablespoon oil, one-half teaspoon salt and one-fourth teaspoon pepper.

2. Heat a large, heavy-bottomed sauté pan over medium heat until hot. Add the oil, and when the oil is hot add the lamb shanks in a single layer (do this in batches, if necessary). Brown the shanks uniformly on all sides, then remove the shanks to an appropriate casserole or braising pan with a tight-fitting lid.

3. Pour off and discard any excess fat, leaving only 1 to 2 tablespoons in the pan. Add the onion and mushroom and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 5 minutes, then stir in the garlic. Cook another minute, stirring, so that the garlic does not burn. Add the red wine, bring to a near boil, and reduce the liquid by two-thirds. Stir in the oregano, tomatoes with juice and the demi-glace. Bring the mixture to a boil, remove from the heat and pour over the lamb shanks. Add the bay leaves and cover the lamb tightly with the lid.

4. Transfer the lamb to the oven and cook for 1 hour, then reduce the heat to 300 degrees and continue to cook the lamb until it is fork tender but not falling off the bone, about 1 additional hour.

5. Remove the casserole and allow the lamb to cool , uncovered, for 15 minutes. Remove each shank to a serving dish and cover with foil. Remove the bay leaves from the casserole and discard.

6. Skim any fat from the top of the sauce. Check the consistency of the sauce (it should be the consistency of heavy cream). If the sauce is too thin, reduce it on the stove-top until it is the proper consistency. This makes about 2½ cups sauce. Taste the sauce, adjusting the seasoning as desired, then pour over the lamb shanks and serve.

Each serving: 730 calories; 74 grams protein; 33 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 34 grams fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 30 mg cholesterol; 4 grams sugar; 1,795 mg sodium.

Mind you on Amtrak it’s done using sous-vide cooking (“20 hours at a precise 160 degrees”).

Between doing the lamb shanks (three hours) and the fresh baked bread (two hours, though with overlap with the lamb), it’s a more involved meal than I normally do. Add a salad and a nice bottle of wine and you have a fine meal – and with Dwight staying in the guest room tonight, no worries about driving.

[209.6]

Thu
12
Dec '13

Train Day Two.

I love how Amtrak pads their schedules for the last stop of their long distance trains… Fullerton to Los Angeles they said it would take from 6:34am from Fullerton to arriving in Los Angeles at 8:15am. Round numbers an hour and a half… what their schedule shows for the outbound times…. 6:15pm LA, 6:50pm Fullerton – so the real time is half an hour. Means that while technically “running late” this morning we arrived on time. The same is true in/out of Seattle. Schedule time inbound = hour and a half, outbound time = forty five minutes.

The Metropolitan Lounge in the Los Angeles Amtrak station, which had just opened when I was through last December, has been upgraded further:

They should put these chairs in the airport lounges. Each chair has two outlets on the side (that black box) and the table and drink holder pivot. Seriously cool… not sure if I have room for them in the living room though. And big FLAT arms to set more crap.

The trip north out of Los Angeles is one of the most stunning chunks of rail line in the US – there are rumors about moving the Coast Starlight inland (which would cut time out – not like they are planning for the chunk around Point Defiance in Tacoma). The dining car and the view:

Luckily I’m on the ocean-side of the train so whatever water view there is, I get it. Unfortunately in the mountains of Southern Oregon it means that you are on the mountain side rather than the valley view.

Grilled chicken Caesar in the Parlour Car for lunch. When you eat in the Parlour Car you eat with however many are in your party… be it one or four – no forced communal seating. Downside: limited menu which usually doesn’t thrill me. Upside: being about to read in piece. Downside: you don’t to get met random interesting people. Upside: you miss the crazy ones.

Wine tasting in the afternoon (with trivia contest). Two California whites, two California reds – tomorrow it will be Washington/Oregon wines… included free with your sleeping accommodation (as are all meals). And there are several cheese varieties to try as well. Very civilized. I like the cheddar with lavender in it. The smoked was good as well. Ah, life.

Dinner was the Ancho Short (in theory a Tom Douglas recipe) ribs with mashed potatoes – and half a bottle of the Paso Creek 2012 Zinfandel from Paso Robles – the other half will die tomorrow with dinner.

But the joy of the evening was on our short layover in Emeryville: a visit from the boys, Mark and Onyx who I was witness to their ceremony last week.

Thanks to my Car Attendant/Cabin Boy/Porter – not sure what the phrase is for taking the great picture. I have long envisioned a book entitled, “Station Hugs” where the theme is friends meeting at the train station for quick hugs while passing through.

Another late night – rocked to sleep by the train.

[? ? ?]

Tue
28
Oct '14

Trip Report: Santa Fe To Visit Mom

My little “Board Room Ritual”—a Red Baron (also known as a Poinsettia) to start the travel day. That would be sparkling wine and cranberry juice. Kill the liver, cure the kidneys.

My good travel luck is holding – got assigned Seat 1C without even having to log in a move it. Maybe the computer finally knows what seat I like. Uneventful flight. So uneventful that I forgot to take a picture of my lunch which was a warm chicken thigh sandwich that was actually pretty good.

Albuquerque has one of those consolidated rental car centers that I despise and it didn’t help that the customers in front of me were playing twenty questions with the lone rental car agent. Even if I had status with Alamo it wouldn’t have been any quicker with just one agent.

Luckily right next to Alamo was their sister company, National, and that agent did my paperwork and I was out the door in a 4-door Nissan Sentra lickity split.

Here is my little “Leaving Albuquerque” video:

Got to Santa Fe, swung by the office at El Castillo to pick up a parking pass – something I’ll have to do daily as parking is at a premium with the construction of their new Alzheimer unit.

Here are a couple of shots of the building that my mother is in:

Before long, the in-laws start showing up, all in separate cars. Brother-in-law Kennan, sis-in-law Jen, niece Karen. Off to dinner we go, to Rio Chama and boy was the food good.

Starters of oysters – lots of them. Half a dozen for me, a dozen for Mom, and another half dozen split by the Pruett/Girdners (the in-laws).

Then for my main, there wasn’t much of a decision since rarely to you see Elk Tenderloin on the menu – with a little broccolini, on a bed of pancetta roasted new potatoes and quash.

Yum, yum, yum.

Mom was in bed by 8, me by 2…which meant not rolling out of bed in the morning until 10am.

Fed myself some leftovers and headed out on the errand run – working through the “honeydo” list.

  • Staples for pens, paper, and ink for Mom
  • Albertsons for soda and bourbon for both of us

As I was loading the trunk this guy came up to me and asked if he could talk to me about shopping bags. Turns out Santa Fe banned plastic bags in an effort to get people to bring their own. But since they didn’t put a fee on paper bags, needless to say it isn’t reducing waste and it’s costing the grocery stores more. He even took pictures.

Some of the results of my shopping – like mother, like son:

Cocktails at 4 with two other residents of El Castillo whose daughter also went to Evergreen. Martinis for Mom and I, white wine for The McCarthys. Mom loves good gin – and her favorite was the Tanqueray Malacca Gin which hadn’t been produced in a decade before last year when they came out with a limited release in liter bottles. That’s all gone, but she snagged a bottle of Tanqueray’s latest limited release of their Old Tom Gin. Damn tasty, hence the plug here:


Of course it isn’t cheap, but might have to pick up one on my next trip.

Dinner was take-out from Whole Hog BBQ. The food is good, but I’m always surprised that there aren’t many people in their – guessing they do a huge lunch business through:

Thursday was the big day for us, especially when one more item got added to the list. I got an email in the morning from Kristina Hagman asking if I was in Santa Fe, as was she. Turns out she found out about me being in town because I made the front page of the Santa Fe New Mexican – above the fold!

That would be me on the right. Guess there goes my 15 minutes of fame…

Here are the links to the newspaper article and the link to my picture: ARTICLE
PICTURE

So Kristina popped over for a bit, and posed for a “groupie”.

Then Mom and I went out to lunch at SantacaFé. I had the Rueben (with enough left over for dinner) and Mom had the onion rings to start and the Lobster Roll for her main, but didn’t eat much of it after filling up on the onion rings which really were good:

We ate outside which was a little chilly when the breeze kicked up but still nicer than being cooped up inside on a sunny fall day.

Next up was the bank to add me to the checking accounts. It was the final item financially that needed taking care of so that there won’t be anything going through probate. I’m on one, by brother is on another, and my sister-in-law is on the third with all of us being on the brokerage account. No houses, no cars, just some possessions and we aren’t the haggling kind of family.

When 4PM rolled around it was time to head next door to a building-wide cocktail party. Man those old people know how to drink! Lots of wine, and more importantly for me, Jameson’s Irish Whiskey. They next door neighbors last name is Jameson so it was quite appropriate. Helped myself twice before we headed back to Mom’s apartment.

And I wasn’t kidding about enough food leftover to make a nice dinner:

That is the Dill laced hot potato salad that came with the sandwich.

My last day in Santa Fe (Friday) had me up and out so I could have brunch with my buddy Aaron from Las Cruces that had driven 4+ hours to Santa Fe to see me. Luckily his sister lives in Santa Fe and he’s going to stay a couple of nights.

Bunch was at the Swiss Bakery. Yes, those would be mimosas. With Eggs Benedict on the way:

I passed on the potatoes.

Walking back to the car I spotted these two train cars…

A little digging around and I came up with pictures from the interiors…

Seems these are now part of the Santa Fe Southern Railway which runs tourist trains between Santa Fe and Lamy. The last time I was on them they only had an enclosed car and an open car. Funny that the train ran right by my parent’s old house.

And digging further, I seemed to remember something about an outfit that wanted to run a high-speed privately financed train between LA and Las Vegas. Turns out that X-Train are those folks. What two of their cars are doing in Santa Fe is a mystery to me…one worth digging into.

So… X Train Rail Holdings Corporation (Ticker Symbol: XTRN) is an odd little beast of a company offering upscale rail holidays, rail car financing and leaseback, and apparently a roll out plan to have 20+ cars by the end of 2015 judging from this slide I found on their site:

The whole PowerPoint Presentation is here: http://www.vegasxtrain.com/uploads/2/5/7/8/25787513/x_rail_asset_fund.ppt

The slide mentions Mid America Railcar which lists both of the cars that I saw in Santa Fe as being in their fleet…stranger and stranger (the Keystone Grill and the Mohave).

Enough digging and you find that they now own Santa Fe Southern Railroad, but oddly they have suspended service. It will be interesting to see if they do the Holiday Trains as they usually do.

And here is their description of what they do:

About X Train Holdings
The company Las Vegas Railway Express, Inc. DBA X Train Holdings Corp., has developed a robust infrastructure of call center, travel agency, logistics planning management, food & beverage and unique passenger rail cars of the purpose of acquiring or affiliating privately owned passenger rail companies under the X Train Holdings umbrella. Independently owned and operated passenger rail companies can enlist the services of X Train to grow market share, improve operating margins by consolidating costs, and providing access to capital for asset purchase, repair and improvement. X Train is a publicly traded company under the OTCQB: XTRN symbol. It is a fully reporting company and its auditors are BDO and its securities lawyers are Sichenzia Ross of New York. By consolidating either acquired companies and/or affiliated companies, X Train Holdings can create economies of scale for its array of member companies. This is much more difficult for small privately held companies where the principals frequently must guarantee personally capital purchases or loans. X Train Holdings relieves that burden and provides a path to liquidity should owners wish to sell.

And the link to Yahoo Finance with all their press releases, news, etc.: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?uhb=uh3_finance_vert&fr=&type=2button&s=XTRN

But I digress – I really did go down the internet rabbit hole…now where was I…

Time to get back to Albuquerque and catch my plane to Seattle-Taco – or at least that’s what they sign says:

Would a Seattle Taco feature Seahawk meat?

No lounge at Sunport (the name of the airport), but a nice observation area to watch all the New Mexican Air National Guard jets, helicopters and transport planes take off and land.

It’s upstairs and underutilized – guess most people don’t know it is there – and soon enough I’m settled back into Seat 1C.

I’m so happy that my Friday night plans fell through (dinner with Josh and moving a painting). Nice to just chill at home.

[222.4]

Tue
7
Apr '15

Trip Report: Spring Break Number Two – Birch Bay & Vancouver

Spring Break trip number two – another student: Jonathan. Student Spring Break trips are on the cheap: driving. Teacher Spring Break trips, frugal, but flying.

The route:

Lots of miles on the Miata this Spring…speaking of which, when you travel in a small car, forget hard-side luggage, think lots of small, squishable bags:

And my stuff and ½ of Jonathan’s stuff in the trunk…not much room left:

But the reason that you own a convertible is for a little Miata on Miata action…..I really don’t know why they didn’t have their top down:

Thanks Jonathan for the great cell-phone photo with Dad’s Habitat For Humanity hat on backwards.

What I’d booked in Birch Bay was the WorldMark Blaine. I’ve stayed next door at the WorldMark Birch Bay in the 3-bedroom Penthouse units with the private hot tub that are out of a student’s network are lovely, but they just added the place next door (no private hot tub, no private BBQ). I’d booked the “2-bedroom Standard” and was somehow rewarded with a Penthouse Unit (again, no private hot tub, but the BBQs were just down the deck).

Top floor – out unit was on the end, at the other end was the communal lounge:

And then there is the view….

Before long, I was settled in on the deck in the sun, cocktail in hand…

It’s not a bad little place….

It was a two-bedroom 2-bath unit. Not quite up to WorldMark standards (no BBQ tongs, no non-stick fry pan), but the furniture was comfy.

Steaks for dinner the first night, then for me, it was off to WorldMark Owner ReEduction for a $100 AMEX gift card for an hour and a half of them trying to sell me more points. No more point purchases until I sell the next house, or Mom dies – and I don’t think either of those are coming soon.

The LITTLE “event” for today is Jonathan trimming my locks – thoughts? It’s short!

The BIG “event” for today is the Scholarship Reading….

The following morning we were up and out by noon (thanks for the GREAT breakfast strata DancingBear!). The only downside was that my laptop pack got put in the wrong car – no laptop on my next stop Vancouver.

But before I move on, a couple of other pictures:

It’s just me headed to Vancouver. Jonathan didn’t get his Enhanced Washington State ID figured out in town.

Easy border transit even with having to cross several lanes of stopped traffic to get from Duty Free and back into the Nexus lane…hopefully this will be fixed once they open the new lanes.

Destination is the WorldMark at The Canadian in Vancouver. One of my favorites. And when I got there after shopping for dinner, the unit wasn’t ready, but Hummingbird had already been by just getting off “work”. That would assume that being a priest is “work”.

But we did get a unit early – they switched us to get us in earlier…not a bad room:

Time for Hummingbird to start reading scholarships! And me to start working on the Pu Pu Platter for the friends arriving for dinner…

It was salmon on the menu tonight (with bread, salad, wine). Much fun. Guests were: Solus, Hummingbird, and his friend Kevin who was standing in for BamBam who couldn’t make it.

Slept in, and then couldn’t find the Cathedral where Hummingbird was doing the Maundy Service (the Thursday before Easter) so I went back to the condo and went back to bed. Another dinner tonight.

Second dinner of the visit was steak, brazed green onions, salad, bread – and of course — starting it off, the Pu Pu Platter.

No pictures—don’t know what I was thinking. Guests Helene, Tom, Stephen – and much good conversation (and knitting on Helene’s visit).

Out of the condo a little before noon – and the signs were saying 70 minute delay for the truck crossing – even the Nexus line was backed up past Duty Free – but I took a shortcut via the truck entrance to get to Duty Free which as a Nexus pass holder you get to park right out front AND get 10% off your purchases. Talk about cheap whiskey!

Between the 10% discount and the 20% exchange difference… that’s some mighty cheap whiskey, and a 1.14 liter bottle at that!

But back in the line (they shunt you into the existing line if you show your receipt) there were only a dozen or so cars in front of me:

And before you knew it I was home (after picking up my laptop bag that got put in the wrong car yesterday).

[222.0]

Sun
26
Jul '15

Trip Report: Santa Fe For The Last Time In A Long While

I’ve been putting off this trip report – still feeling a little raw since the nature of my visit changed from visiting to a memorial.

Had to move my plane ticket up by two days (dinged $360 additional) to be able to make the hastily arranged memorial service – the advance of being MVP Gold is that it was also an automatic upgrade to first.

In first, you get lunch – in this case a southwest salad with focaccia and a cookie.

This trip I’m staying all over the place:

Basically this means I’ve been living out of the trunk of my rental car which I got a great last minute rate of $10 a day plus crap fees.

The summer sunsets in Santa Fe are truly amazing…

And breakfast at the house isn’t bad either!

I shouldn’t have had the third half – had to take a nap after our late breakfast.

Lunch with The Colonel (the other Colonel was in booking class), who were also in town. We had planned this trip last December, with them coming out for the International Folk Art Market. Lunch at Tia Sofia just off the plaza. I had the chili relleno/enchilada combo which was quite good. But way too much food (again).

The service was Monday afternoon at the retirement community that Mom lived at – presided over by the local Unitarian minister who conducted the service with a chalice that my brother-in-law is working on for the church:

The final product will have more bling around the top.

Good attendance – my dead brother’s first wife even drove in from Gallup. Dinner for 13 from The Whole Hog in Santa Fe – with wine by yours truly:

Including a 3-liter bottle of rosé…

And those would be The Colonels…

Tuesday, headed up to Taos with a stop at the Bumble Bee Baja Grill for a green chili cheeseburger:

Damn fine burger from a Mexican place. And I love their drive-through sign:

The plan for dinner was with The Colonels, but they were pooped after the drive, and the altitude was affecting them a bit as well. Luckily I had a friend in town from Los Angeles cheering up a friend of his who just received a diagnosis of Parkinsons – a diagnosis none of us wants to get. At least he is in good spirits at The Alley Cantina:

We all enjoy the inexpensive house margaritas (after my shot of Commeritivo) while waiting for food tom come. I had the Carne Adavado with a side Caesar (in honor of The Colonel who learned to make them in cooking class) and the boys had the fish tacos:

Breakfast the next day with The Colonels at Michael’s Kitchen, where we ate lunch a trip or two ago when they were in town. This is the Poor Man’s Benedict:

Luckily the male Colonel helped me finish my hash browns – after he polished off the Biscuits and Gravy with Sausage Links:

Meanwhile, Kate had the Heavos Rancheros

None of us left hungry.

The Colonels are staying another night, but I headed back to Santa Fe to crash at sis/bro-in-laws, but with no need to rush, I hung out by the Rio Grande Gorge and watched rafters pull into shore:

Great dinner with the dwindling masses – brother Jon and wife returned to Coos Bay, Emily to San Francisco leaving just sis-in-law’s sister and me as extras. After all the heavy large meals it was nice to just have a nice salad:

And the next day it was back to Seattle with a nice last minute upgrade to first – guessing someone cancelled since I’d already checked in and gotten my boarding pass.

And not a bad meal on the way back either – too bad I forgot my noise cancelling headphones this trip.

Feels weird to realize that I won’t be going down there every other month. RIP Mom.

[218.8]

Sat
23
Apr '16

Trip Report: Puget Sound Circle Tour

You never know when you book several weeks out what the weather is going to be like. This time I lucked out.

This trip started because of KPop – Korean Pop music which I know nothing about, but the 13-year-old daughter of a friend is nuts about it. During a random conversation at the shop, it was mentioned that the 19th was said daughter’s birthday, and that she’d already gotten her birthday present in advance (a different KPop concert), but her actual birthday her favorite band was playing in Vancouver. As a surprise in case the parents relented, I booked a two-bedroom at the WorldMark Vancouver that just happened to be available.

In the end, they couldn’t make the date work, and rather than cancel the room, I decided to keep it for myself and string it along with a couple of other nights – and this was the result:

Day One – WorldMark Seattle – The Camlin

I already had the Camlin booked for this year’s scholarship reading party (part two), so after work it was setting up the nibbles for the readers (Salamander, Roxy, Courtney, Mr. Whippet, Jonathan and Rodney). Here is what the results were:

And all of us hard at work!

It wouldn’t be a post of mine without a couple of shots of the rest of the two-bedroom unit…

Day Two – WorldMark Victoria

The morning found me up early – off to an 8:30am “Owner ReEducation” presentation that “promised” to me an “information” session rather than a “don’t you want to get to the next level” hard sell. I agreed to an hour (for a $100 AMEX card), which was taken up with the information part, leaving no time for the hard sell since I had a ferry to catch to get to the next WorldMark…

Yes, that would be my ferry – and below, arriving at Bainbridge Island – I love the Olympics in the background of both these photos:

It was a good thing that I made a reservation on the Coho Ferry – I didn’t get to the terminal until a little after 1pm for a 2pm sailing because the rarely opened Hood Canal Bridge was OPEN, delaying my about half an hour. As you can see, I’m at the end of the line:

They even managed to get all the standby cars on!

And me looking grim with the mountains in the background…

Goodbye United States…

Hello Canada! Victoria, British Columbia to be precise.

Got all checked in – here is the view:

Since Courtney liked the video in a previous post I put a video here of the inside of the unit:

So far, I’ve had two-bedroom units, and no one to share them with – tonight, none of my Victoria peeps have the time to hang and have dinner. Sigh. I did get to see Royce since he is a checker at the Thrifty grocery store where I shop. Came back with a steak and a salad (and a view):

I do love the WorldMark Victoria – think it is my favorite of all the WorldMark Resorts.

Day Three – WorldMark Vancouver

Another day, another ferry ride. Had a reservation for this one as well, but it was only 25% full (MUCH larger boat). But the reservation did get me onto the boat before those without. A nice perk:

And it was a beautiful day for a ferry ride:

A slight hiccup checking in at the WorldMark Vancouver – I’d forgotten to change the name on the reservation – it was still in Courtney’s name – luckily as the owner, it was OK once they found the correct paperwork.

Here is the WorldMark Vancouver unit:

At least on this stop I have company for dinner:

The 2-bedroom at the WorldMark Vancouver is described as “Compact – No Dining Room” – which means eating on TV tables – but look how we made a table! Whole splayed (flattened) chicken, salad, rosé – though Epick and Tom weren’t drinking – Sebastian and I MORE than made up for them, also killing off a good portion of a bottle of whiskey as well. My kind of boy!

Our rosé…

Not bad – I’d buy it again. And again, nobody to fill the second bedroom on this stop either.

Day Four – WorldMark Birch Bay

Out of the unit at noon – US bound. Stopped at Duty Free – 10% off because of my Nexus Card, plus the 25% off because of the exchange rate – it’s like they like paying me to drink!

Got to the condo around 2pm – room wasn’t ready, but they weren’t full so they moved me to a unit that was clean – which was 308:

Not bad views:

That would be the sun going down over Birch Bay – I was here two weeks ago and we stayed with a MUCH better view (and it was available, but do I REALLY need 3-bedrooms and a hot tub just for me?)

Had a late lunch next door at The Shores – yes, a Rueben. Not the best but pretty good, didn’t realize it came with fries, would have ordered a side salad – because, yes, I ate all the fries:

What I couldn’t believe was a BRAND NEW BBQ on the deck – never used!

No company tonight – though it was on the agenda. Luckily I’m fine with flying solo.

Next time I think I might add the WorldMark Discovery Bay (east of Port Angeles) and one or both of the WorldMark Whistler resorts into the Circle Tour.

[216.2]