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Uncle Markie out and about.

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Tue
28
Jun '11

Dinner With Swanda,

With A Wonderful Last Minute Addition.

I was up a little after 8, and into the studio by 9 after a piece of toast. Today’s goals — talismans for the Faerie Gatherings.

The original plan for the first talisman was to be a swirled globe wrapped in a cross-hatch pattern of orange and black threads. It was an ambitious plan and one that we abandoned after the second (and successful) attempt to put the orange bands on. No black band. It just too crazy trying to balance the rods, the heating, the everything. At least it came off the pipe easily in the end.

Talisman number two was just the “standard” twisted globe, chunk of glass, steam, chunk of glass, and another blown section with two sealed compartments and a glass tail. The top bowl has a hole at the top which will be cleaned up with a Dremel, filled with beans and sealed (cork? Clear silicon?).

Talisman number three was the same as number two, but no swirl on the upper globe, and a color wrap of orange near the top of the stem and a wrap of black around the bottle of the stem. Hopefully tomorrow or the next day I’ll have pictures to show off.

Left the studio a little before noon with five more glasses packed in the car: two single martini glasses, two double martini glasses and a beer mug.

Needless to say, these aren’t the final publicity shots!

The plan for dinner had been me cooking over at Swanda’s place, but with the weather being warm enough, dinner al fresco! Not exactly sunny, but overcast and warm. Apple cinnamon marinated pork roast, roasted asparagus and a big salad, and a last minute guest of Wonderful (who I bought my house from years ago).

A wonderful dinner and what a welcome home from two days of blowing.

Last random thought: coming back from Canada with Rich last week, I saw my old motorhome (Bob) headed in the opposite direction pulling a car. WOW. Though I can’t be completely sure, there aren’t that many Bluebird Wanderlodges from that era with that paint job left still on the road. It was good to see it, but I’m so glad it’s somebody else’s problem now.

[? ? ? ]

Thu
26
Apr '12

Thursday Madness,

Wonderful Dinner.

More running around town today – Swanda’s to drop off Handicap Placard, Jim’s in install DropBox that didn’t install yesterday, liquor store for Swanda, Wonderful’s to pick up an item of clothing for next week, and then home to start marinating the boneless country style pork ribs for dinner tonight.

Today’s humorous picture – Jim’s home desk and his collection of readers:

I admit that I have a few pairs – though they don’t usually end up all in the same place.

More organizing and labeling. At this rate, by the time my brother arrives this weekend, there might be a clean office for him to crash in.

Oops! Almost forgot to post this — the first hundred people to click on the link below get a free download of the Sign of the Times Anthology in eBook form:

Libboo is testing a new feature to spread books virally, and we’d like
you to be a part of it!  We haven’t announced it publicly yet — you’re
part of our sneak preview.

Below is a link that you can share that will allow the first 100 people
who follow it to download a free copy of your book.  We will then work
with you to encourage them to spread the word and get even more people
reading your book.

LINK - Sign of the Times Anthology:
http://www.libboo.com/free/34327bc4-8fdc-11e1-971f-b8ac6f9911bd

Email this to fans, post it on social networking sites, spraypaint it on
a wall… do whatever you like to get this link out there.  We’d love to
hear feedback about how you use this so we can tweak our process.

Now I’m done.

[209.1]

Sun
26
Aug '07

What A Wonderful Way To Waste A Day.

The big item for today? Late brunch (2pm) at J. Steves. Why anyone would actually LIKE to make eggs Benedict for 20+ people is beyond me, but I’ll be first (and middle) in line. Add mimosas, and you really have wasted (well, there WERE pretty boys there… Maroon, and someone who came as I was leaving — all these long-haired boys) an entire day since the beginning is waiting around until two, and after is feeling bloated back at home on the couch. Guess that third Benedict might have been too much.

Means that it’s an early night — which is good since tomorrow I’m off to the island for a Great Art Party wall run — oh, and the spiral binding equipment.

Sun
21
Apr '13

Bad Day At The Shop.

Wonderful Dinner With The Boys.

The shop wasn’t bad as in unpleasant, just bad in a sales sort of way. Four sales all day – luckily at least some of them were big buck bottles, like a lovely $48 (+tax) Chateau Nuif de Pape.

Got ahold of DancingBear to see if he’d be home so I could drop off some re-bottled Bourbon for our upcoming cruise from Los Angeles to Vancouver, BC. Below are the bottles for CaddyDaddy and I:

The nice thing about running things north is that I usually get dinner out of it… and this time was no exception.

Tonight’s fare was a mixed grill of rib-eye, sausages, and chicken patties – with some green beans for me and some rice for the carb boys.

Home early, but with a commitment from BreticusMaximis to buy my old (well, not THAT old) Kindle Fire HD. With the new Windows tablet I bought, I just put the Kindle Reader software on it. We will see how this works when I take the cruise on the 7th, which I actually get free internet time!

Maybe I should think about packing. Nah, its two weeks from now.

[208.6]

Fri
20
Jul '18

Trip Report: Wonderful Week In Whistler – Part One

As is my usual summer holiday routine, it’s off to Whistler to enjoy some “hiking”, which for me means the one Black Diamond hike that is the only way to get to the Whistler Peak Express chairlift. But we’ll come back to that – first we have to get there.

I booked Sunday night at the WorldMark Birch Bay, to cut the drive in half so we’d get there in the early afternoon Monday. Decent view from the 2-bedroom unit. The view toward Mount Baker, which I’d never realized you could see from the resort:

And the view of the water:

Not as nice as the 3-bedroom penthouse units at the front, but also not as expensive (and hard to come by).

And I brought us food to cook on the grill since Whistler Cascade Lodge has no BBQ’s on the deck, or even the premises. We split a big steak, salad, baked beans, and a bottle of Uruguayan Tannat I brought back from Boston this spring.

Got a decent start in the morning, and the wait wasn’t too bad at the border, even with Rache not having his Nexus card yet. Of course, our room wasn’t ready, but we walked over to Guest Services and picked up our Season Passes. This makes the fourth (or fifth) year running I’ve been up there with various people:

On the way back, we stopped at Araxis for their happy hour, and still managed to spend a little over CAN$100:

While we couldn’t bring in any vegetables, we did bring in the protein for the week, helping to offset the “snack” above. Tonight, it was pork loin with Cajun rice, salad, and a bottle of Bordertown Cabernet Franc that I couldn’t find anywhere last year.

We got out of the condo around noon – Rache had already toured the village, found breakfast, and basically gotten the lay of the land. Overcast today, so NO LINES at all to get on the Whistler Village Gondola. But the views were a little obscured:

And then onto the Peak 2 Peak Gondola….

When we got to Blackcomb, we caught the bus to the 7th Heaven chairlift to the peak.

And as we got closer to the top, the less visibility:

Yes, there is a ski bowl somewhere down there…you can barely make out the T-Bars coming out of the clouds.

Grabbed this shot on the way down – man was I glad I’d borrowed one of Rache’s hoodies! It was about 34 degrees at the top.

Back we went to the Whistler side…

And eventually back down into the valley.

Tonight’s dinner was a butter chicken, salad, leftover rice, and a nice rosé:

.

After dinner I went down to the pool area for a quite soak in the hot tub. It was NOT to be:

Think twenty 6-10 year-olds.

Weather tomorrow is supposed to be better. To be continued.

[224.0]

For more blog posts, CLICK HERE.

'

Trip Report: Wonderful Week In Whistler – Part Two

Rache was up and out and on the mountain before I’d dragged my lazy ass out of bed. At least I was out of the condo at 11am.

Oh, what a difference a day makes – yesterday, no lines to get on the gondola, today, 30 minutes of wait time, even with the season pass:

Rache and I kept in contact via Facebook Messenger and decided to meet at the Roundhouse – this was the view today, as they were getting ready to install glass panels on the deck:

Yesterday, you couldn’t see much beyond the railing, today – miles of visibility. Back on the Peak 2 Peak:

To the Blackcomb side:

Back on the bus to 7th Heaven, then the lift up the hillside:

A quick side by side of yesterday and today, taken from the same location on top of Blackcomb Mountain. Yesterday:

Today:

From the edge you can actually see into the bowl to watch people skiing and snowboarding…

Oh, what a difference a day makes!

WOW! Now you know why I come up every summer…it never gets boring!

And back down the mountain we go…the two of us on the chairlift, and at least one skier on the slopes…

And you can see the bus we take back to the Peak 2 Peak:

One of the highlights of my summer trips is to blow a wad of money at Christines – the upscale restaurant on Blackcomb. Great views, and expensive enough that there aren’t many children in the place.

We started with drinks:

Followed by burgers (CAN$28).

I have to say that I was disappointed. The burger, while pretty, was seriously expensive and messy as hell to eat. Add service more interested in pushing glasses of bubbles and more cocktails at a slow pace, might be my last visit for anything other than cocktails and a view.

Back to the Whistler side to explore a couple of lifts that haven’t been open for tourists in previous years. Guessing this to make up for the inability to get down on the Blackcomb side as they replace two open chair lifts with 12-seat enclosed gondolas.

It’s a bit of a hike to the Big Red Express…

If you look closely, you can see the new suspension bridge between two peaks of Whistler Mountain.

I only have a couple of shots of descending into Whistler Creekside, where the other WorldMark is (though it’s a SERIOUS trek to get to the lift).

Tonight’s dinner is lamb with Caribbean rice and beans, and the usual salad.

Another fun day on the mountain! One more to come.

[? ? ?]

For more blog posts, CLICK HERE.

Sun
22
Jul '18

Trip Report: Wonderful Week In Whistler – Part Three

Well, it’s time for the final day on the mountain – and to beat the crowds we are actually AT the lift entrance just before it opened at 8:30.

I think the trick would be to show up at 8:45 when the initial crowd has cleared through.

We got up the mountain so early that we’d neglected to see what time the trail opened to The Peak Express – turns out it was 10:00, so we had plenty of time to take a Peak 2 Peak gondola ride to kill time. Almost had the gondola over to ourselves, but a handful of people jumped on at the last minute.

We were in for a surprise for our return run back to Whistler – the popular “glass-bottom” car pulled into the station, and NO ONE was in line for it.

We had the car to ourselves! I’ve occasionally had regular cars with just me in them, but never the glass-bottom car. Maybe there is something to be said for getting up early.

Got back to Whistler side and had to cool our heels for 15 minutes or so until the trail opened. Personally, I think they should have given the old men a head start as we were immediately passed by everyone else once they opened the trail.

We are headed own a steep hill to the Whistler Peak Express:

Everybody had passed us, so there was no line at the chairlift, and up we go…

Rache is calm enough on these no to pay more attention to the phone than the scenery…

Here is a short video of our ascent:

At the top, we found the new suspension bridge open:

And some great views:

There was always a trail to the other peak, but it was a serious hike up and down.

Speaking of down, here is the descent off the cliff on the chair lift:

And the view of The Roundhouse from the lift:

Once we got back to The Roundhouse – it was a slow slog for me back up that hill. I would have given a pinky for a PediCab up that trail, we went back down the mountain for a light lunch at the Beacon Pub:

I’d eaten there other years and there was semi-shaded outside seating. And booze.

Rache had the Buffalo Wings – which looked exceptional:

And I had the Seared Ahi Salad:

We split the fried pickles – some of the BEST I’ve had.

Our last stop was at the new full-service bar on the deck of The Roundhouse. What a welcome addition! Which meant going back up the mountain. Thank goodness for the Season Pass.

After our cocktails we headed back to the condo for a little nap before our final dinner. Indian-spiced chicken thighs.

I wasn’t up as early as the day before, but in a couple of hours we were at Duty Free, followed by the border:

Not more than 20 minutes or so delay (would have been 5 minutes in the Nexus lane).

All and all, a fun week in Whistler. I’ve already started to cobble together another trip in August even though there are no contiguous days available. Got to get the most value out of my Season Pass!

[? ? ?]

For more blog posts, CLICK HERE.

Sat
17
Nov '07

Packing, Dinner, and Mandolins.

Got to get all the tools and other junk in the car, now that the shower stall is already in there. I really want a shower in the bathroom of the church by the New Year’s Gathering.

Dinner keeps going from 3 to 4 to 5 to 4 to 5 with people adding themselves (Mick), dates dropping out (Wonderful) and being replaced (Wonderful again.) Final count for BBQ chicken thighs, salad, home-make dill rye bread, and home-made ice cream was five people: Swanda, Wonderful, Wonderful’s date, Mick, and myself.

Early dinner so we can make a 7:30pm show — a Mandolin Orchestra performance by Misha (and many others) in West Seattle. Amazing show. Truly wonderful Christmas piece along with some good soprano work.

Luckily — all was done by 11 — off to bed with me.

Sun
8
Mar '09

On The Road With Sun And Snow.

Greetings from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Earth.

First — the review of the opera and the seats. For the first one-act opera , Bluebeard, we sat in the replacement seats — the next to the last row of the first teir — and soooo much better than sitting in orchestra center and having to step over people as we shoot out of the hall to hit the parking garage before the masses. For the second one-act opera we went back to our regular seats.

Yes, the view for Bluebeard (a STUNNING opera by the way) from the replacement seats was much better. The stage setting had a giant see-through scrim (that darkened in our usual seats) encased by a giant gold leaf frame.  Yes, we would have missed most of the action in Bluebeard by sitting in our (Wonderful and myself — though I’m looking for a partner for next season due to the economic downturn) regular seats. The full review of Bluebeard… I didn’t nod off, as I usually do during the first act of every other opera. Ertawag, or whatever the name of the second opera, was only saved by fully naked man rolling to and fro on the stage — strangley enough the plot stopped halfway through, and they took a bow (while we jetted towards the garage).

After performance cocktails back at my place. Woke up groggy from all the culture… and headed out the door fully packed at noon — destino (destination in Spanish, but I don’t know the French which would be more appropriate) Vancouver, British Columbia.

Sun, snow, fog, just plain odd weather headed north. Maker’s Mark (liter) and Alize (a passion fruit, cognac blend — Wonderful’s choice) from duty-free and then the cluster-fuck of the border where getting back into traffic going northbound means crossing the  Nexus lane and having to merge back into backed up traffic. Got to the WorldMark Vancouver at The Canadian a little after 3:30 to find the room ready.

Want the tour? Here it is:

 

Dinner tonight (as seen on the video) is a pork roast over potatoes and onions, a salad, lots of whiskey and wine and good company. In addition to myself, it’s Wonderful, my priest, and his hottie boyfriend.

[218.5]

Tue
12
Feb '08

It’s A Small Art World, Afterall.

As the “Legs of Christ” saga continues… I decide to sell the lovely church on Lopez and all the artwork has to be taken down for the “staging”. It is around this time that Wonderful (whom I bought my Seattle house from) is organizing The Great Art Party to endow Floating Bridge Press — a Washington State poetry organization that publishes a yearly anthology of Washington Poets.

Several of the pieces head for their 1st Annual Great Art Party and the “Legs of Christ” is supposed to be part of the auction as a Big Ticket item. This is where we start researching into the piece (which at this point needs restoration before it goes on the block) and find the connection between the “Legs of Christ” and Burning Man. It turns out that David Best is the mastermind behind the giant burning man that gets burnt each year in the playa of Nevada.

Click here for the whole WikiPedia article on David Best and his Burning Man Temples.

At this point, Wonderful and I am wondering if the way to go is to restore the piece and send it off to an auction house to get a larger donation to the endowment.

But there are problems — the Apollo figure at the top of the piece has had a hard life. Here is a detail shot of poor Apollo.

legsofchristdetail.gif

Sorry the picture is so small and fuzzy, but the poor guy has a couple of broken arms and legs. Wonderful’s wondering if it is even repairable without some help from the artist himself.

Fast forward a couple of days — like the the beginning of this three part post. I finally get  a return call from one of my contractor/friends in the Bay Area. It’s a nice hour+ chat on a Sunday where it doesn’t ding my limited minutes plan on T-Mobile. So we are chatting away when Davey (the contractor/friend) brings up the “Legs of Christ” —turns out that he is friends with David Best and spent five weeks helping build the 2007 Burning Man sculpture.

Turns out a while back he stayed overnight at the Best’s place in Petaluma, and in the morning over coffee with David and his wife he commented on two pieces that were hanging in the house that they looked like the same artist that did this piece called the Legs of Christ that hangs in a friends house. Deer in the headlights look on David’s face, almost spit coffee on Linda’s (wife) part.

Guess I’d better connect Wonderful up with Davey to connect up with David.

It truly is a small art world.

Fri
27
Mar '09

Two Down, Thirty To Go.

Well, buy the end of the evening, the second case of beer was gone through. That leaves the stack in the garage at thirty cases. Does this mean that I”m going to be working on this project for a month?

Details for the trip to London on the 11th are starting to firm up:

  • Leave April 11th
  • Arrive London the 12th
  • Tube to East Hounslow to meet Peter
  • Bus to their house
  • Leg of lamb for Easter Dinner
  • Dinner on the 13th with Andy
  • The Play “Men Fucking” afterwards
  • Back to Peter and Linda’s place
  • Fly home the 14th

How fun to fly back just in time for my dentist appointment. We’ll see how the water-pick-like-thingee on my shower head is helping my gums.

Dinner tonight was supposed to be with Wonderful’s daddies, but one of the daddies’ daddies is in the hospital with serious health issues, but it’s been postponed. Instead, Wonderful came over here for a dinner of ribs, bread and wine — he brought the salad.

A wonderful evening with Wonderful.

After dinner it was an initial look at all of this years scholarship applications. There are 19 applications and they what the top six picks to give them a little more flexibility — like if someone we like already has received a couple of scholarships, they’d choose the next one down. Guess I’d better figure out when I’m going to get a group together to read these things.

[221]

Tue
19
Jun '07

Off the Leavenworth.

Lots of little things to do in the morning before heading to pick up Wonderful hopefully at noon (or whenever his shipment of bottles arrives).

We are headed to the WorldMark Leavenworth for a quickly overnight mid-week mini-vacation in a 2-bedroom unit. This is part of my quest to stay at as many of the WorldMark units as I can. We all need goals in life.

Plans are to visit the Fish Hatchery before checking in if we get out of town around noon. If not, we will do it tomorrow afternoon on the way home. It’s a beautiful summer day for a top down drive. Turns out not. Maybe tomorrow for the fish hatchery — didn’t leave Wonderful’s until 1:15 because for once “I” was running late.

Nice drive over — made it in a little over two hours which means we were checking in a little before the 4pm check in — but the room had just been finished so in we go.

The room sits up on a bluff with a set of baseball fields in the bowl below — free entertainment! Cute guys playing ball. Both starving, I put together a pupu platter and cocktails. Life is rough.

Of all the things I remembered to bring, I forgot to bring the EVDO card so I’m stuck on T-mobiles slower network to check mail, cruise the web (in the slow lane) and update the blog. Wonderful went for a walk down to the river where we’d seen bunches of people getting off rafts — apparently its a big thing here.

Dinner is hunks of pork on the grill marinated in a Havana Citrus glaze. Wilted spinach — no bread, guess I should have either baked or bought some.

Quite evening around the fire with the air conditioning on with both of us seriously affected with allergies.

Sun
5
Apr '09

A Sunny Sunday. There Is A Switch.

How many runs of errands can I go on today with the top down?

How about Ballard for more chemistry parts to to hang out a bit with my friend Jacob? How about getting the car washed? How about grocery shopping?

Got two runs through today — not the cort of pictures I want to post here, but if you ask, I can send you a link to Uncle Markie’s Beer project.

Gnarlene and Wonderful due for dinner tonight. Had to call Wonderful to remind him — should have called Gnarlene early to remind him as when he did get the reminder call he’d already had fish and chips in Alki before biking back home. The sun affects people in the Pacific Northwest by bleaching their brains when it comes out.

Of course, with the sun and the temperature rising, we did have dinner with Al tonight, that would be Al Fresco, for the first time in six months:

p1070187

That would be wonderful holding up his wine glass in salute to spring. Spring lamb that is. It was baaaaautifuly cooked in a Caribbean jerk rub with a long log of challah (fluffy, just not braided), and some lovely mixed greens. Gnarlene joined us for wine after dinner — bringing along the scotch he promised for helping him move in new living room furniture.

What I need to get on these sunny days are shots of me and my sexy car together, alone, in some beatufil surroundings.

[219.7]

Mon
28
Feb '11

Open Letter To United Airlines.

Or My Long Day In The Air.

Dear United Airlines…

Thank you for buying Continental Airlines, and here’s what I’d like to do with it. I hear you are going to add Economy Plus to all their planes, that’s a GREAT idea, but I think you should adopt something of theirs as well, like a staff that actually seems to care, a staff that isn’t snarky, mean, demoralized and bitter. Maybe a cross-training program could accomplish that mission. The flight attendants even shared their fesh hot warm garlic bread with me from their crew meal when I went back to the galley for another round of drinks.

At least you got a bunch of newer planes in the deal. And while you are at it, why don’t you make the TV free on flights that are weather delayed… what does it cost you – not much. How does it make the passengers feel? Like you care (not that Continental did that on my delayed Newark-Seattle flight). Of course that means that you’d (United) have to add a modern entertainment system to your planes.

Your customer with just shy of 800,000 flight miles under his belt on United,

Mark Stephen Souder

AND NOW BACK TO OUR REGULAR SCHEDULED PROGRAM….

Another early day up and out – almost not early enough – no time for duty free with the THREE security screenings to get from the check-in desk (30 minute wait) through the immigration (30 minute wait) to US Border Customs (30 minute wait) that was actually in the Belfast airport which also means no duty-free on the plane as you’ve already cleared customs and are technically on US soil as you board the plane. On the upside it means that you can make a tight connection at Newark… like my four hour layover.

Flight from Dublin to Newark was packed – seven hours packed three to a row… all I could think about was how Colonel Eric would have been feeling – not happy. With the weather delay in the Newark-Seattle flight, at least it meant that a ton of people missed their connections and there were open seats… including the one in the bulkhead (normally an additional $109 up-charge) that make the other two people in my row VERY happy when I moved, as they could spread out.

That weather delay also added another couple of hours to that layover… the dinner I had around 5pm didn’t hold up through the flight – luckily I had some dried spicy shredded squid jerky with me. My rule these days is always pack jerky of some sort (had buffalo on the way over) in the brief case because flights WILL be delayed and I get really cranky when I’m hungry and stuck.

And a nice SHOUT OUT to Wonderful who picked me up at the airport at 11:30pm…. For my 8:33pm arrival (according to the screen print he captured). Luckily he was waiting for my call, and not depending on the website….

Guess they are putting all the IT money into combining the United and Continental websites, and not to actually reporting real-time flight conditions.

Now if we hadn’t stayed up chatting and drinking until 3am – AGAIN – hell you’d think I was back in Dublin!

At least Wonderful got some wonderful advice from me about his hopeful job interview.

[? ? ?]

Mon
21
Sep '15

Trip Report: Quick Trip To Berkeley

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.

[217.4]

Sat
8
Oct '16

Trip Report: Birthday Ramble 2016, Part Two – Canada Loop

Nothing like flying in, working for two days, and then leaving again. Hit town Sunday night, did a trade tasting Monday, followed by a private event at the shop Monday night (and baking bread in the afternoon for said event), and boxing wine club Tuesday before heading to Blaine for Tuesday night.

Seaside Boy flaked out, but Rache was in tow, and Surf Betty came up from Bellingham for dinner in the 3-bedroom, 3-bath Penthouse at the WorldMark Birch Bay.

Not a bad unit – and then there is the sunset!

And it comes with presents!

Oddly, no photos of dinner or Surf Betty – who slept over but was gone before dawn headed to Seattle for a work week.

In the morning we were off for CanadaLand, with not much of a wait at the border after hitting Duty Free – and we had a reservation, so no worries:

And it’s a comfortable 90-minute run to Swartz Bay…

With lots of WONDERFUL scenery along the way – this is one of the nicest ferry runs in the Northwest:

We were an hour early for check-in – but the place was ready, though being on the ground floor by the pool was a bit confined:

Especially with the new balcony furniture – the old stuff was better sized:

I had to chuck one of the chairs past the BBQ to be able to cook! But the views are great:

Made a run to the grocery store for dinner for four – all of my usual Victoria dining buddies couldn’t make it (dissertation, cabaret, on a plane to NYC) but one of them sent emissaries!

And we feasted well!

What a WONDERFUL way to turn the BIG 60 – old friend, new friends!

Birthday Ramble Part Two is just three single overnights – so we are one the road again in the morning – but first breakfast:

With a ManMosa (so they call it):

We tried to have a cocktail at the Bengal Lounge at The Empress – but alas, since my last trip, it’s no longer a bar, but a banquet facility. Bad Empress, no links!:

For the pictures of when it was actually a bar, with a WONDERFUL Chinese bartender, CLICK HERE. It’s a LONG post, one that Rache found VERY amusing for so how my nerves where frayed that visit. I miss the that lounge – even with the Curry Buffet that wafted through the space.

We opted to put the car in the ferry line and get a MUCH cheaper cocktail at the Days Inn across from the ferry terminal:

When we hit the lot to load – there was a SERIOULSY cool Land Cruiser-like vehicle – turns out it’s a Bandeirante – a Brazilian manufactured Toyota Land Cruiser.

 

Nice views from the harbor (harbour if you are Canadian):

And of our boat coming in:

We loaded, had some snacks, didn’t take any pictures and suddenly we are off the boat, through immigration, and checked into our final night on Discovery Bay – in a2-bedroom loft – spread across FIVE split-level floors with the master on the lowest floor with a Jacuzzi IN THE BEDROOM.https://www.worldmarkbywyndham.com/resorts/db/

It was nice:

And the views were good:

And we had a nice steak dinner off the grill:

Only a small hiccup on the way home – the Hood Canal Bridge was open and we were 1.5 miles in a backup. Towards the bridge:

Behind us:

And a pretty day for a boat ride….

Home safe and sound.

[214.4]

Tue
4
Dec '18

Trip Report: Waikiki!

Time to head for sunshine…but first, got to bottle the holiday Cinnamon Brandy…by Christmas the liquid will be a dark mahogany color:

And get the wine shop’s
wine club boxing started – and I get to do it in our new space (so I can actually start it on a Sunday while the shop is open):

Some hiccups, but easier than last month.

Off to the airport in the morning…no upgrade (sigh). I hit the lounge, but bought the sandwich onboard since it’s a five-hour flight:

The Granola Bar is a freebie are a perk of Premium Class (along with doubles of Woodford Reserve) is a and the JcoCo Chocolate is a perk of being either an MVP Gold, or MVP Gold 75K.

Since I just had smaller carry on, I opted to take the “cheap” way to get to Waikiki – TheBus, the local city bus, a whopping $2.75 and an hour of my time. You can do the airport shuttle, or 808-EXPRESS for a direct transfer if there a couple of people. Don’t know what the UBER would be, but there is service.

I got into Waikiki in the early afternoon – and they gave me a choice of rooms that were ready:

  • 23rd floor, no lanai (that’s deck in Hawaiian)
  • 7th floor, lanai

Uncle Markie always loves a deck.

Not much of a kitchen (microwave, fridge, toaster, coffee maker, but plates, glasses, dishes, etc).

The closest grocery store is a dozen blocks away, and I’d rather have food now, rather than later. Headed down the street to Cheeseburger Waikiki, which used to be Cheeseburger in Paradise, but are still under the same corporate umbrella.

I started with some weird drink special of whiskey, gin, orange juice….

One was enough, and I ordered something for the starter menu, the Cheeseburger Sliders – still a lot of food. Should have taken one home for breakfast!

Headed back to the condo to just hangout and recover from the trip – nice view:

And plenty warm:

Yes, there are Speedos involved.

Wonderful pillows meant a wonderful night’s sleep – so I could get up in the morning and revisit a place Bliss and I had breakfast on our trip here: IHOP for the 55+ Menu.

Next up was another local bus ($5.75 for the full-day bus pass) to the Salvation Army because it’s Senior Day which is a 15% discount. I usually am able to find nice Aloha Shirts at a great price. I DID find some finds, at .50 each – and one of them a TRUE FIND.

Yep, the middle one is a PanAm glass, the other two, Hawaiian Airlines.

Across the street at Ross Cross Dress For Less…

Oh, I bought a new small carry-on suitcase – I started the trip with a Hawaiian print small duffle with a shoulder strap – I wasn’t even to the Alaska Lounge in Seattle before I realized my mistake. I needed something small enough for the city bus…but with wheels.

On the way home courtesy of my “all-day bus pass” was a stop at Food Pantry for a little pupu stuff for dinner – go Poke!

Here are some more pictures from my deck, but during the daytime…

And some of the Royal Gardens amenities….

The next noon thirty I was off for a Wyndham Timeshare presentation…Wyndham is the parent company of WorldMark, where I usually stay, but they have no places in Waikiki so I traded points with The Colonels for this stay, and my next one – which, as part of the tour, was a two-bedroom deluxe upper floor at the Waikiki Beachwalk – sadly, next door to this:

But here is the Wyndham Waikiki Beachwalk property…

And some nice additions…

And the view….

For the ninety-minute presentation I got a $125 AMEX card, and a tour of the type of unit I’ll have the first week of January when I’m back in Waikiki with DancingBear.

Next stop was at CVS to see if I could transfer a prescription that I had two doses left – and my pharmacy in Seattle, while truly wonderful, is only open Monday-Friday, and I’m on the road M-F this week and next. Since I’d just changed insurance, I wasn’t sure….but they said they’d text me when it was ready.

Across the street was a Tommy Bahama, with a bar on the second floor and a restaurant on the third… a little snack was in order. Turns out their happy hour was 2-5. Woohoo!

With a decent Manhattan ($12.50, not Happy Hour pricing):

A great view:

And KILLER Two For $10 Mahi Fish Tacos!

The “signature” coconut prawns were good, but next the tacos…..

Turns out both the CVS and Tommy Bahama are just across the street (and down an alley) from The In Between (and the porno store upstairs):

Dinner tonight was going to be the Wailea Coffee Shop….which Rache and I ate at on another visit…now closed, along with Hy’s Steakhouse next to the Royal Garden. Lot’s of “old school” restaurants seem to be closing. I ended up at the Korean place across the street sub-street-level. Korean Kang Nam Style BBQ Yakiniku.

I should have just ordered a “Highballu”, because the concept of whiskey and Diet Coke (they served Pepsi) barely made it through translation:

But it was served with Kim Chi! And some interior shots:

I ordered the BiBimBap in a stone pot:

Nice to have some more vegetables in my system.

Waikiki, being a tourist Mecca, you have t-shirt shops with Obama’s picture, saying, “Miss Me Yet?”, and this:

Oi.

The next day found me poolside:

And then back in yesterday’s neighborhood to check on my prescription (it was ready, but no text), and another stop for Fish Tacos at Tommy Bahama – this time I went for the Happy Hour Cocktail of a Vodka Martini (which my mother claimed, “There is NO such thing as a VODKA martini!”). It nicely came with small olives, but they were stuffed with Blue Cheese – rest in peace Swanda.

Sadly, check out at the Royal Garden is 10AM. Meaning I ate some cubed papaya, and got back on the city bus to the airport – and with no checked luggage, soon I was in the shared AA/JAL Lounge with a Hot Asian Buffet!

And a “pour-it-yourself” bar!

With a nice view of the Japanese Garden that is in the middle of the airport:

And even bidets in the loo!

Before long I was back on the plane, yet again, not upgraded…but free cocktails, and thanks to Jonathan, a ride home from the airport.

Another week, another journey.

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For more blog posts, CLICK HERE.

Sat
14
Apr '07

Errands, Laundry, Dinner, and the Symphony.

Too much whiskey. A dog at Lowes helps, but I still have to drive back north after a stop at Rich’s Chevron to drop off a wine review.

Stopped by the house, scrapped a little paint, met the neighbor (Jeremy’s mother) when Wonderful showed up out of the blue. A lost day since I have to make time for to launder my symphony clothes.

Upside is that doing laundry I’m naked so all I can do is read the New Yorker and check email.

Dinner is salmon fillets marinated in sake lees, a greek salad, and a wonderful bottle of Ridge Vineyards wine. Jonathan is a little late — especially if you think that I ask him to show up a half an hour early… missed that, and the orginal time as well.

A close call making the symphony in time. Parking gods were with us. And the symphony was stunning — it’s amazing what a guest conductor can do with our symphony. Makes me want Gerry gone even more. It was my second time in a month to hear Debussy’s La Mer — the last time was by the London Symphony Orchestra.

Jonathan and I did a quick tour of the new house after the show — and then Jonathan was off to see if he could have a date in a dirty hotel room.

Not much work on the house, but then again, I don’t want to be getting supplies at Home Depot on a Saturday.

Fri
18
May '07

Copper River Salmon!

Today’s big project (albeit unplanned) was getting the rain barrels put in.

It started with moving the lawn because people were coming for dinner. By mid-day, the fence that had been annoying me on one side was down giving me access to the front driveway area from the back yard, the yard was moved, two trees planted, and four rain barrels installed (which meant cutting downspouts and putting in jogs).

Phew! Afternoon was SOB stuff, until Wonderful showed up for dinner early which meant he got to help me clean the office since he wanted a print for the Great Art Party Invitation off the big printer that wasn’t hooked up (and in the office/guest bedroom that still had boxes stacked everywhere). Rugs are now down, the bed is made, the printer running, and the boxes put away. Just needs some art on the walls to made it complete.

Dinner tonight is sponsored by Chris Schilling in honor of the opening of Copper River Salmon season. Alaska Airlines flew in 32,000 pounds of Copper River Salmon from Alaska on the first day of the season — the total for the entire season will be over a million pounds. They are putting their new fleet of 737-400 Combis (combination freight and people on the upper deck) to good use.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-400 Combi Seat Map

Dinner is two huge hunks of Copper River Salmon, and eight scallops — I hate to imagine what the seafood bill was! In addition, Wonderful made these lovely little cracker snacks, Chris brought cucumber salad and Marlin from Portland (person, not fish), I made Cole slaw — lots of wine. Good time at the BBQ tonight.

Wed
20
Jun '07

Lederhosen Anyone?

I’m up at 8:30 — and I take coffee to Wonderful at 9:30.

Breakfast is a scramble — brought all the ingredients from home. I have an 11am appointment with the WorldMark ReEducation Specialist…. which I get $75 and a copy of a book some member wrote for listening to their pitch again. A good use of 35 minutes. Covers the cost of the room tonight and the gas to get here.

The list of things I’d like to do on the way back to Seattle:

  • Fish Hatchery
  • Lederhosen Shopping
  • The Cheese and Sausage Monger
  • Maybe one or two of the wine tasting rooms.

Wonderful wants to be back 3-4ish so somethings gotta give on the schedule here.

The final order is cheese and salami, followed by wine tasting at Silver Lake, a loaf of bread and grapes at Dan’s Market for a picnic lunch by the Swauk River on the way home.

Dinner with Swanda and Helene tonight. Chinese. My guess is across the street from UVA. Then off to Home Depot for supplies for MoonSong in the morning.