UMTravels

Nothing like getting back from Vega at noon on a Saturday with just enough time to take a shower and get to the shop in time for your 1:30-7pm shift, working again Sunday, and getting up butt-early (that’s a technical phrase) to head off again. This is a short turn time even for me!

Destination: Greece
Reason: Friends 25^th Anniversary Party

But first I have to get there.

I booked Vancouver (YVR) to Athens (ATH) via Paris (CDG) last fall in a fit of “I have to get my ducks in a row”. This is contrary to what I tell most people about international (and domestic flights for that matter) that you should book 60 days out for the best deal – when you book nine months out, you are basically getting “rack rate” – a phrase that refers to the highest rate that a hotel will sell its rooms for (think retail, versus on sale). With the difference in price of $1800 (r/t) for Economy or $2700 (again, r/t) for Business, I opted for Business Class on Air France – at least the food and wine should be good!

As for the SEA-YVR and the return of YVR-SEA, those were two separate OTHER reservations – outbound I found for $105, but the return was expensive so I used 12,500 miles for the return. One trip, three reservation numbers.

I bore you with all this because I had feared that I’d have to collect my multiple bags (see photo) in Vancouver, go through customs with them, then recheck them onto the Air France flight, then collect them as it would be the first stop in the European Union, and repeat the whole thing again. Needless to say, I’d arranged for LOTS of layover time in each city.

Now the reality. When I checked in, the guy said, “Final destination?” Answer, “Vancouver on this ticket, but connecting to Air France to CDG, then onto Athens on a different ticket.” I was pleasantly surprised he said, “Give me the flight numbers and I’ll check them in all the way to Athens.” Frankly – even this jaded traveler was amazed. Two reservations numbers, two different carriers. I knew you could do different carriers on the same reservation number.

And when I talk about multiple bags – this is what I mean. Two “carry-on” size bags, but both with liquids – like snow globes – in them:

The back pack with the computer goes with me on the plane, but in the back of my mind I’m going, “How will this actually work?” The Silver bag (and parts of the black bag) are filled with “airplane memorabilia” for one of the two boys whose anniversary I’m celebrating. I was there (the Island of Sifnos, in Greece) for their 10^th Anniversary, it only seemed right to return for their 25^th Anniversary.

Checked in, and time to go to The Board Room – here is the shot that I sent out in homage to Lambchop who always sends shoe/airport carpet selfies when he travels.

Seems that Alaska is upping its game in the airline lounge world. I usually start each trip with a Red Baron (sparkling wine and cranberry juice). Red Barons are my family’s traditional celebration (i.e. Christmas, New Year’s) drink. The Board Room used to serve Cooks (which is plonk – a British phrase), but they have now gone local, well, Yakima. Their new bubbles are from Treveri Cellars – we featured them at a tasting at the shop a couple of years ago.

So far, the day is going MUCH better than I expected.

• Baggage checked all the way through to Athens
• Better bubbles in The Board Room

Had a bagel/cream cheese and a hardboiled egg (and a Red Baron, and since the bubbles are good, a second glass of just the bubbles) before heading to the gate. Small delays boarding (crew late), and then a small mechanical delay, but really, I’d blocked plenty of time in YVR when I thought I had luggage issues, so it’s all good.

Turns out the both Alaska AND Air France use the same third-party lounge at YVR (Plaza Premium Club). Not a bad looking lounge:

With a better than usual food selection:

Soup and sandwiches – after the scrambled eggs and sausage…then kim chi fried rice and bulgogi

The only downside is that the bar doesn’t open until 11am – guessing that would be British Columbia liquor laws – and it isn’t self-pour. I did manage to get a couple of cocktails in (one featured above) before it was time for the plane:

That would be a 777-200 a bit past it’s prime as witnessed by the covering rubbed off the Senheiser noise cancelling headphones from a previous generation. These were hardwired so there was no way to use your own personal current generation headphones.

And the old-style 2-3-2 angled Business Class seating (no First Class service on this flight). At least there were universal outlets (sans USB) to charge things up.

Maybe that’s why they were giving away (at $2700 r/t) Business Class connecting service to Europe from the West Coast so cheap (or it could be the Canadian Dollar crisis). Here are a couple of more cabin shots:

They (Air France) have announced plans to upgrade their Business Class seating (Link Here), but I got the old product.

That said, the service was good, the food better, and the wine and champagne, better yet. This would be the start of dinner service for a flight leaving YVR at 2PM (though we were late). The champagne was a Joseph Perrier la Cuvée Royale Brut – both before take-off and after my whiskey on the rocks. But let’s talk food (and more wine)!

Starters and salad (though there was a Mise en Bouche [bent spoon] of salmon-cheese roulade with fennel salad) which would be from left to right:

• Seasonal salad with pecans
• Grill-seared dill-marinated scallops
• Smoked breast of duck with fig compote

Wine: 2015 Château d’Olliéres Classique Côtes de Provence Rosé

Followed by the main (choice of Beef, Salmon, Vegetarian Cannelloni, or the special of the day – which is what I had, the Roast Chicken Fillet with Tarragon Cream Sauce:

Looks like I was a little late photographing that one!

Wine: 2011 Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Château Jean Faure followed by the 2013 Gérard Bertrand Domain de Villemajour Carbiéres-Bouenac (at the shop we have featured wines by Gérard Bertrand in the past).

But let’s not forget dessert —

Cheese platter with at Graham’s 10-year-aged Tawny Port, and with the dessert trio (chocolate truffle, mini raspberry-chocolate cake, lemon macaron) and sorbet (cassis) a Eau-de-vie de poire (pear brandy).

I also had to try the Calvados hors d’âge (apple brandy) and the Bas-Armagnac Château du Tariquet
Folle Blance 12 ans (12-year-aged Armagnac from a vintner we have also featured at the shop).

Time for a movie and a nap – the movie, which was actually moving (to tears at one point, but then again, after all that booze there isn’t much of a lock on the emotions) was Boychoir, which featured the Fried Green Tomatoes lady (Kathy Bates), Dustin Hoffman, Debra Winger. Really, the only time I watch movies is when I’m trapped in a tube.

Nap time before breakfast showed up – luckily they still had some Champagne!

WAY too much food, but I managed to eat most of it. Fresh fruit, yoghurt, pastries, ham and vegetable omelet, bacon, roasted potatoes.

We landed in Paris pretty much on time – though to weather more typical to Seattle – drizzly overcast:

After minimal immigration (though another stamp in my passport) it was off to the Air France Lounge in Terminal 2E (after a train ride). This would be Terminal 2E at CDG which a portion collapsed in 2005 shortly after opening. Click on the CDG link for morning information – it’s actually rather informative. But today, it’s rebuilt and rather pretty.

F30 was my gate, FYI. But for my multi-hour layover (I’d rather have spare time than no time) I was in the lounge:

Where I had a nice workspace:

THIS is the reason you either have status on an airline, or pay for Business Class. AND there was an open bar, which expanded….after 11.

Which is when the wine came out – but if you wanted ice in your drink you had to snag it from the wine bucket – you’d think they were ENGLISH with regards to ice:

More food in the lounge (have yet to pay for a meal on this trip). I nibbled on breakfast stuff and lunch stuff after 11:30.

But more importantly, after an overnight trip, access to shower facilities (albeit a tad humid from constant use):

There was some worry about my checked bags (really, I don’t have to tend to them?). Wanted to make sure – went to the front desk – much punching of keys before, “Shows here that they were loaded onto the plane at 9:20.” And it was about 10:15 at that point.

Boarded the final leg of the trip to Athens knowing that “Business Class” within Europe should always have parentheses around it. Economy seats (albeit in leather) with the center seat blocked out.

And no extra leg room:

But, again, the food is better than in back:

That would be lentil salad with sautéed oyster mushroom and sun-dried tomato, sautéed chicken thigh in a lettuce cream sauce, crisp vegetables, a thyme potato crisp, cheese and an apple tartlet, all served with their covers on (a bit tacky to my mind).

We move from tacky to tatty – seems even their intra-Europe jets are showing their age. Look at the magazine rack:

But I the grand scheme, all I care about is being united with my bags in Athens – and to my surprise, they are on the belt.

Collect bags, exit through an unmanned customs booth, find the Metro Train to the city with a stack of bags (luckily one of my bags converts to a hand truck):

One of the anniversary boys gave me the number to his “driver” because Athens is notorious for aggressive cab drivers especially towards tourists. Just 38-50 Euro (plus tip) from the airport, depending on time. I was happy to skip being met at the airport and pay 10 Euro to get to within two blocks of my hotel. Mind you, the above photo was taken closer to the airport than the city, before the commuters started piling on the train.

All settled in my room – time to go in search of easy food.

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For those of you who got to this page with a direct link from FaceBook – you can see other posts at https://blog.unclemarkie.com with the latest first and going back in time.

Minor issue with the cab driver this morning for my 8am Time Call… he called at 7:45… lost. At least I knew the cab was coming.

Got to the train station an hour early as is my usual…and the station is looking good – you can now even get up to the second floor viewing gallery (previously hidden by a hideous fake ceiling):

And I spotted a place that would make a great “Metropolitan Lounge” on the second floor that LOOKS like there is still some construction going on. It would be FABULOUS to have a Metropolitan Lounge with an open air view of the main waiting hall. I’d posted that I hope they’d “pimp out” the paint to highlight the details, but the semi-gloss white is starting to warm to me:

It is great to see the station come back to life – the other train station in town (Union Station) is basically the lobby for one of Paul Allen’s office buildings (co-founder of Microsoft, my former employers.

Onboard the Coast Starlight Train Number 11, Room Number 8 – I settle in a half an hour before departure with a couple of splits of California Bubbles and get the “office” set up:

In honor of my mother I mixed the bubbles with a wee bit of cranberry juice to make a Red Baron. I really liked the suction window mount for the tablet until the seal gave hold and it tumbled to the ground, dragging the cell phone with it. Maybe tomorrow I work on seeing if it mounts (and stays) on the tray table.

This is what awaited Dwight when he boarded the train in Olympia (he is headed to his Moms for the holidays):

His xMess (thanks for the phrase CharmPop) present and a Santa Hat (which he refuses to wear for “father-son” pictures, or at all. Sigh.

Here is a great shot of Dwight and I at dinner:

And then again at the Klamath Falls smoke stop – yes, Dwight still has that habit, though at 2 packs a WEEK it could be worse:

Not the best selfie but at least you can see the snow in the background.

Dwight brought supplies for Black Russians (Vodka and Kahlua), and I packed Bourbon and Diet Verners and a couple of bottles of wine to have with dinner:

Did I mention that I brought real glassware on the trip? Thanks Swanda for the Vancouver Olympics booze glasses.

Burger for lunch, steak for dinner (with the Southard Syrah).

Let’s just hope the train stays on time.

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Final leg (unless you count the flight home) of the epic Panama Canal Adventure…and you can tell you are off the Texas coast when you start seeing oil rigs…

And then the chaos of getting off the boat…

At least it is downtown, unlike our hotel…

Not that it was swimming weather! Look at the surf.

So off to IHOP for brunch it was…

Complete with adult beverages…

And eventually, food:

After the 80’s of the trip, Galveston was about 40 degrees with a blowing wind off the ocean, and we weren’t really near anything to see, unless you count this closed for renovation theme park restaurant…

A rather unclimactic end to the trip, but at least we were able to start getting our non-sea legs back, and the hotel food was really quite good!

Their smashed toast…guac, poached egg, bacon – and add a Red Baron for a festive touch!

That’s it for this adventure!

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For more blog post, click here.

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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One of my self-serving pay-it-forward (can you actually do that?) is to put together trips for friends (and me) who are of more limited means – example – friends of mine who are teachers, lower level office workers, etc. This week’s trip is for my buddy, Bliss, who is on winter break from the school where he teaches IB (International Bachelorette) English to high school kids. Talk about a 12-hour-a-day job plus weekends grading all those college-level papers you’ve assigned.

He needs a break. And it doesn’t’ start well – his alarm didn’t go off. Luckily (for me) we are:

1. Travelling separately to the airport
2. On different record locator for our flights

Luckily I’d been texting him my progress through the morning and he finally got a clue it was time to get out of the house – and he’s a SLOW one in that regard. That said, I can chill in the Board Room. If he misses his flight, he can try for the Tuesday flight. Breakfast is served! Well, OK, it was self-serve with the exception of the Red Baron, which they have to make:

Followed by one of their world-famous Bloody Marys:

He finally made it with just enough time to slam down two drinks – which he’ll need since he’s in coach and I snagged an upgrade to my favorite seat (1C). Funny thing happened at the end of the boarding process – a customer from the shop (Madrona Wine Merchants) went flying down the aisle with her daughter in tow. Later I can to find out that her daughter noticed me and said to mom, “The think I just saw our wine guy sitting in First Class.” Bliss used miles (plus I think $5 or something like that for a ticketing/tax fee), I had a $138 one-way ticket – which when you end up in First Class for the non-stop Seattle to Albuquerque isn’t bad.

Nor was lunch:

It was only a two-hour flight, but it was nice to get a hot sandwich (and a couple of cocktails).

Landed, grabbed bags, grabbed the shuttle to the Rental Car Center (I hate those things – a giant time sink), got what they call an economy car (Nissan Altima with Bluetooth phone connection) and off to Santa Fe we head. With a stop at Albertsons where I picked up four half gallons of Evan Williams and two fifths of Swedka Vodka, a six-pack of Vernors, and a twelve-pack of Canada Dry Diet Ginger Ale – Bliss picked up six (count ’em six) bottle of Jose Cuervo Cinnamon Infused Tequila, which he likes, and was on closeout, and got an additional 10% for buying six (as did I).

To save on expenses we are staying with my sis-in-law who is married to my bro-in-law. How that works is that she is my dead brother’s widow, and Kennan is her husband. It’s amazing to me that this extended family likes each other, actually loves each other, warts and all – and enough to have me AND a friend stay over.

Tonight’s dinner is:

Minus the dressing step which makes me want a crock pot – guess I should forward this to Salamander and DancingBear, who do have crock pots.

Beautiful sunset before dinner:

Watched the Academy Awards and the Pruett/Souder/Girdner clan headed to their usual early bed.

Slept in, and then it was off for some sightseeing that included hiking (yes, I said HIKING)

I was surprised that on a Tuesday afternoon in the middle of February that the parking lot would be close to capacity!

Best fuel ourselves up with a Green Chile Cheeseburger at the gift/snack shop at Bandelier National Monument:

Messy but good! I feel a Trip Advisor review coming on.

As I do every couple of years I decided to purchase the yearly National Parks Pass which has some useless name like “The Inter-Agency Multiple Park Pass”. The real name is Interagency Annual Pass (aka The America The Beautiful Pass) – but here it hangs on my rear view mirror. It was $80, but the entrance fee to Bandelier was $20, so all I have to do is visit Rainier (where a car is $30) a couple of times and it will have paid for itself. I find it odd that the individual park entrance fees have gone up, but not the price of the pass. I try to buy my passes at the smaller national monuments because they get to keep a chunk of the pass money and they need all the help they can get.

Bad shot, but you get the idea – I put this on mostly for my buddy Sierra who is a park ranger. Speaking of which, he is at Denali this summer – might have to use the pass again up there!

I’ve been to Bandelier many times but this is a first for Bliss – a lovely day for a light hike:

It’s a pretty amazing place just an hour twenty minutes from Santa Fe, very close to Los Alamos if you want to combine a trip – no time for us this round.

Got back to the house in time for cocktail hour before Jen and Kennan got home from work to make Ginger Scented Shrimp (sorry, no recipe or picture). And then after dinner drinks:

I guess we know where my priorities lay…

Up earlier the second morning in Santa Fe – want to hit a museum or two before we leave for Albuquerque in the afternoon. But first, breakfast at Tia Sopia’s just off the plaza. Bliss had the Wednesday Breakfast Special (quesadilla) and I had the Green Chili Stew with flour tortilla:

Tia Sopia’s is just across the street from the Lensic Theatre where my mother often saw shows:

Bliss really wants to see and original Shakespeare
Folio at one of the museums – it takes us two museums to actually find it – both pretty much on the plaza of Santa Fe – and both members of the North American Reciprocal program which I got because of my Tacoma Art Museum membership (see blog post here on what I saw and why I joined).

The Folio itself was not terribly inspiring…

And the rest of the surrounding exhibition looked like an afterthought – they should have combined the two exhibits (there was peripheral materials at the New Mexico History Museum), but it was nice to spend some time downtown…

After the musems, it was time to return to Albuquerque, and because we had the time, stop by the Gruet Winery for some bubbles! Some of you will remember my post from December on the sparkling house the Gruet built. I didn’t even have business cards with me this trip but we managed to get the production manager to AGAIN give a tour – when I found out the disgorgement line was running I got super excited. This is the process where they freeze the necks of the bottles and blow out all the yeast before adding back a little wine and sugar to get the bubbles going.

And then onto popping the corks, refilling, and cork/wire/label:

So fun to see the process in action – and so fun to taste the results!

The unlabeled bottle is of a “no dosage” Rose sparkler – the advantages of being in the business is you get to sometimes taste “experiments”. I highly recommend stopping by for a visit if you are in Albuquerque.

They even have a little museum of old champagne equipment:

But we are on a schedule – next up is to find some distilled water for Bliss’ C-PAP machine, grab lunch (the Sonic Burger joint does a Green Chili Cheeseburger that is REALLY good), gas up the car and return it to the airport – did I mention gas is cheap in New Mexico?

Dropped the rental car and hailed an Uber for the trip to the train station with our many bags and boxes.

Next up, the train from Albuquerque to Seattle via Los Angeles.

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Planned this trip months ago, and as the timing turns out, perfect since my buddy I’m going to visit is returning state side in a month…but first I have to get there.

The bag is packed with 10 short-sleeve Hawaiian-esque shirts, all nicely rolled in a line:

Add cotton bathrobe, shorts, sandals, a few socks, toiletries, beef jerky (request from my buddy) and we are set to go.

The first leg is Seattle to San Francisco for an overnight and dinner with friends. When you redeem miles to get a free ticket in business class, you aren’t picky about the routing. The other request from my buddy, that Pigletté join me for the first time in years (13 to be exact, though I had to look that up), leaving BóBó and Mr. Lobster to hold down the home front:

Pigletté looks pretty comfortable with a Red Baron in the Board Room…

And the plane is here…

Now just the weather needs to clear in San Francisco to get all the backed up planes in safety – add 50 minutes to the departure time.

At least Pigletté and I are in my favorite seat – 1C – doesn’t he look comfortable!

Sadly, the seat next to us does get filled, so Pigletté has to ride as a “lap pig” – think “comfort animal”.

A nice Cobb Salad on the way down – healthy food!

Luckily, Alicia and Devon pick me up at the airport and off to Bernal Heights for Peruvian food (Piqueo’s) with Pigletté in tow.

GREAT COMPANY!

GREAT FOOD!

With a fine meal over (and the pitcher of Sangria – best damn Sangria I’ve had in ages), it time to head up the street to a neighborhood institution – a gay bar called The Wild Side:

It’s a cash-only bar, luckily Pigletté has cash and a desire for a Manhattan or two:

The bartender “warms” to Pigletté when there is money on the bar…

Running low on cash, time to head to the WorldMark San Francisco to tuck in for the night.

I just got the Studio Unit since it was just for one night…

A little tight…maybe I should have sprung for the one-bedroom, two-bath that was only $20 more (studio was $68 which is CHEAP for being just off Union Square).

Up too late, but luckily tomorrow’s flight doesn’t leave until 3:30pm.

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It seems over the last couple of years that I’ve always ended up in Santa Fe early to mid-December. It’s the combination of cheaper tween holiday’s airfare and my work schedule on said holidays. This year was no different, except that I’m down to two people to visit in Santa Fe – my sis and bro-in-law. Mom died last July, and the last niece is out of the house – back east for her first year of college.

Had a good meal the night before with friends, including Roxy who has gone from vegan before I knew him, to vegetarian, to pescatarian, and now to “freegan” which means he’s feeling a money pinch and will eat whatever (including pork ribs) is put in front of him.

And they were good considering it was the convection oven, not the smoker that produced these.

It being the holidays (anytime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’ve broken out the pussprint Santa hat for my travels. It’s hard for fellow travelers to be grumpy with a dumpy Santa in pussprint (and a Red Baron in the Board Room).

And you get better service onboard as well:

That would be a Cobb Salad with blue cheese, a cookie, and a cocktail. And while I prefer the aisle, a freebie upgrade a First Class bulkhead window is fine considering the view:

The original plan was to take the Rail Runner north, but the lateness of my flight meant getting a rental car was easier, and it allowed me to do some shopping on the way north.

Tiny, but it worked. Here is the stuff I’m planning on taking back with me:

That would be Mom in the middle, well, the ashes of Mom – she’ll be joining Dad in the Rattan Elephant they bought in India in 1976,

Good to see sis and bro-in-law, though the house is so oddly quiet without any teenagers around! We ate in the first night, but the second night we went to Harry’s Roadhouse and had a meal that started with an appetizer of Latkes – which in the Seattle tradition should always be accompanied by tequila because of a tradition dating back to the Great Snowstorm of 1999 in Seattle. At 3pm, everyone in the Seattle Metro Area looked out the window and said, “Oh, shit!”, and all got into their cars to head home at exactly the same time. Result? Instant snowy gridlock. It took me an hour to get around the block and back into the parking lot at Microsoft where I promptly requisitioned a magnum of bubbles from the storeroom and popped the cork. A concerned co-worked expressed worry that I was going to drink all that and then drive. My answer, “I’m planning on sharing this with everyone else who is going to be stuck here sleeping under their desks for the night.” In the end, one of the woman in our department who lived snowshoeing distance took in a dozen of us for the evening. It being the last night of Chanukah, what she had in the house was a bag of potatoes, Costco-sized apple sauce and sour cream and a ½ gallon of Tequila. Hence, a tradition was born, but I’ve forgotten the lyrics to the Chanukah songs she taught us in Hebrew. Here is this year’s celebration:

No Commenortivo Tequila, think it was Hornitos.

It was a quick visit – Thursday morning I got an email from the tasting room at the Gruet Winery in Albuquerque responding to my late Sunday request for a behind-the-scenes tour of their winery since we had just featured their Blanc de Blanc Method Champenoise the previous Saturday. Since I hadn’t heard back I was still in my robe! Up and out the door to the winery I go.

Since the bottling line was running and the Production Manager busy, they started be having me taste ALL their wines, both still and sparkling:

And that only HALF of them – the full list (with my notes) below:

There is a much more in-depth report on my trip to Gruet on the Madrona Wine Merchants site.

Time to return the rental car and get the hell out of Dodge (I mean Albuquerque)., but I have to share this sculpture that is outside the fire department the exit before the airport – it’s too damn cute:

Got through security and up to the observation lounge to do the blog for the shop, post some entries on other sites, catch up with mail. The nice thing about the Albuquerque Sun Port (the name of their international airport) is that it’s also a working military base, so you get to see lots of interesting planes and helicopters:

Sorry the contrast is so bad – nothing like shooting into the sun. Four-prop bulbous nose military plane of some sort.

Got the last night upgrade to first on the way back – even a last minute bulkhead aisle – and some of the flight crew even remembered my Santa Hat! And even better than that, Mr.Whippet gave me a ride home from the airport, and in exchange I took him out for dessert (dinner for me):

At the end of the day, my parents were reunited in the rattan elephant in my living room…

Dad’s is the dark set of ashes, Mom the lighter set.

Guess I need to build a pedestal for them now.

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The plan: two nights at the WorldMark Victoria in the handicap access Penthouse with its own hot tub and BBQ with DancingBear.

Revised plan: add a date for myself since its two bedrooms with queen-sized beds in both.

Outcome: FAIL.

I think that I set a new record in travelling with a “high-maintenance” guest. It is surprising that there wasn’t a death on this trip. Oh, let me recount the “I need it this way” ways:

• No meat other than chicken (which has the highest rate of E.coli of any processed meats)
• No seafood other than Salmon (and he’d probably be happy with Farmed Salmon filled with food coloring)
• Two pairs of underwear PER DAY, the morning set and the evening set
• Which requires AT LEAST showering twice a day
• And when people pack THREE different things to wipe their bum with in between all those showers….

And then there is the constant “chatter”. God forbid there should be a moment of silence. My nickname for him is “SeaPrincess”, while DancingBear prefers “Magpie”, so he will be Christened Magpie SeaPrincess throughout the land.

Dear Load, the boy is HIGH-maintenance. My evidence:

That would be MY toiletry bag, next so some of his “wipes”.

That would be Magpie SeaPrincess’ toiletry bag, NOT including any of the wipes. And let’s not talk about all the towel exchanges through a two-night stay.

Before the trip when I inquired about luggage (I drive a Miata and so there is only so much space for luggage) his response was 14x18x22 which is carryon size…that was NOT what showed up at the dock.

Lemonade out of lemons? You do what you can do. I felt particularly bad for DancingBear who signed on for a relaxing holiday, and got less than that. He was amazingly helpful at offering tips to get the poor (and unemployed) boy’s life back on track. Way more patience than me, but luckily all the knives in the unit were dull as dirt.

But I digress, the trip:

Arrived in Victoria and got the shuttle to the rental car place, where Magpie when into overdrive flirting with everyone trying to get an upgrade. There was a possible plan for going to the West Coast of Vancouver Island on a day trip so a bigger car would have been nice.

I’m No, No, No, and the agent is coming Down, Down, Down in the price of an upgrade, whispering so the other clerk doesn’t hear (actually guessing that they didn’t have our car class), and when it was $10 CAD ($7.50USD) per day for twice the size I finally bit.

With the ferry arriving at 11:30, and a hold-up in immigration because DancingBear and some other Canadian fugitive have the same name, it’s noon-thirty when we get to the WorldMark Victoria. Not surprising that the room isn’t ready (though it was on the January trip which was a total shock). Off to Santiago’s we go for, as DancingBear would call it, an expensive lunch, even if the drinks were cheap by Canadian standards.

As we are putzing around afterward I check email – apparently calls weren’t coming through but email was – unit is ready!

Check in, get everybody keys, send the boy out to explore, DancingBear hanging in the apartment, me chopping for groceries….

Did I mention the muffins – poppy seed, like the ones from Costco. 15 freaking minutes in the store looking for Poppy Seed muffins (had to settle for Cranberry Orange, which, of course he didn’t eat – though I did and they were damn tasty).

The meal plan, grilled salmon the first night (wild caught, none of that farmed crap) and a roasted chicken the next night.

But, again, I digress from the good parts of the trip. Maybe some photos will help. The waterfront at sunrise:

I hate getting up this early, but it is a really nice view of Mount Rainier (Tahoma) with the Edgewater Hotel to the left.

This would be DancingBear and myself on the boat:

Red Baron anyone…

And where was MagpieSeaPrincess?

Blessedly at the back of the boat taking pictures. An hour in and we were already trying to ditch him.

Welcome to the Inner Harbour of Victoria.

Lunch at Santiago’s….our entrees. DancingBear’s burger:

My ceviche…

MagPieSeaPrincess’ quesadilla:

Company for dinner tonight… though not Royce (who came to dinner my last visit), who I found at the grocery store working his shift:

It was just DancingBear, UncleMarkie, MagpieSeaPrincess and Elliott “The On-line Psychic”.

A good time was had by all, but I have no photographic evidence. Pupu Platter, slab of salmon on the grill, big salad, bread (except for Elliott who has issues with gluten). No pictures of the hot tub party (just as well). Elliott brought the wine, we supplied the hard liquor. It was a fun evening.

There was a concept of taking a drive up the West Coast of Vancouver Island. It soon became clear that DancingBear wasn’t going along on a 4+ hour “journey from hell” (his words), and I wasn’t up much for it as well, so we cast off the boy to make his own adventure, and DancingBear and I went out for lunch and shopping. I needed lunch, DancingBear needed shoes (and lunch).

This is the Finest At Sea food trailer in their parking lot – much easier than putting in a full kitchen, and if it doesn’t work out, you sell the rig. We both had the Halibut and Chips (one-piece for me, two-piece for DancingBear) which was stunningly good. I’d had their rockfish cakes in January and was impressed. Guess it’s time to dust off my TripAdvisor account.

Next stop, shoe shopping (for DB, not me). But before we found a cheap shoe store we found a Target that was going out of business. All the Target Stores in Canada basically filed for bankruptcy. They were even selling off the store fixtures:

DancingBear ended up buying an iPad for his husband at 10% off (when do you ever see Apple Products discounted!) before we found him some shoes at the other end of the mall at 50% off, plus the 20% off discount because the Canadian Dollar is in the toilet compared to the US Dollar.

UncleMarkie with shoe (and cocktail):

Another evening, another meal where I forgot to take pictures. Lemon stuffed roasted chicken, salad, bread… but it seems someone forgot that there was going to be dinner and gorged on Chicken McNuggets. Clueless youth. Home cooked food vs. industrial food.

In my defense, I offer the following photo:

Ah, youth. When your beauty fades, may you have an interesting life, as the fortune cookies says.

The boy was off in the morning – at least he’d learned that until I’ve had my coffee, best to not try and engage me in conversation. Having decided to turn in the rental car at exactly 48 hours rather than 53, we were in a rush to get out of the condo…but someone decided to do a load of laundry with everything he had to wear, because “those clothes are dirty, I can’t be seen in public in “dirty” clothes”. He’d already called the front desk and brow-beat them into a late checkout (for him), DancingBear and I were out at 11:30. God know when he actually got out of the condo, and I’m hoping my stellar reputation with the WorldMark Victoria hasn’t been damaged.

For our part, we loaded the car, I dropped DB at the ferry terminal to check out bags, I gassed up, dropped off the car (and saved $50 CAN by not needing the extra three hours) and had a lovely QUIET walk back to the ferry terminal. I could have had the shuttle drop me, but a quiet walk with no one yammering…was delightful – and it let me pick up the schedule for the IMAX at the Royal Museum since we don’t sail until 4.

The film was something about the Grand Canyon – which I spent 3-weeks rafting through many years ago. My assignment was to show up with 115 liters of wine – and it wasn’t enough. My blog posts HERE, but I’m guessing the picture links are dead.

On my Victoria post for January I have a picture of Seth and this bear (which is in the gift shop of the IMAX theatre):

That killed an hour and then I found a great way to kill more time – DRINK! Did I mention we had lunch and drinks before the movie?

Inside the Empress, there is a lovely lounge (and restaurant) called the Bengal Lounge – VERY East Indian in theme:

Complete with Curry Buffet (lunch and evening $30).

And my drink, a LOVELY Manhattan, complete with Luxardo cherry:

And my new favorite bartender, Len:

From the Empress we decamped to the ferry terminal – we had boarding number in the 100-150 range, so with luggage already checked, it was fine to be at the end of the line. I was shocked we got a table upstairs on the way home (a first for me).

In the end, MagpieSeaPrincess didn’t show up for the boat home, he’d “fallen in LOVE”. Instead we got 50-75 Junior High School Band Camp students, who strangely were quieter than the Magpie.

And in the end, we returned to this:

Customs was a breeze – they held off the (two) band camps until the rest of us had disembarked which is good because that many kids, passports, birth certificates, oy.

In all of this I realize that I haven’t given you any pictures of the view from our condo, which is one of the major reasons I go to Victoria, so I’ll close with these:

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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.

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Met up with the kids in the check-in line at the Victoria Clipper – actually not in the line, at the counter…I was running a few minutes late getting there. Turns out we were some of the first people on the boat so we had our choice of tables. I prefer the ones in the back closer to the Duty Free counter.

Joe and Lisa on one side:

Me on the other side of the table with fixin’s for a Red Baron (also known as a Poinsettia):

Three hours later we are queued up for Customs and Immigration in Victoria:

Lisa had signed us up for the City/Butchart Gardens Tour through The Clipper which is basically a driving tour of the city on the way into and out of town on the way to The Gardens. Here is Chinatown:

And then the world-famous Butchart Gardens:

We tried to have our pre-tour lunch in The Dining Room but the soonest they could seat us was 2:30 – it was noon, AND the bus was due to return to the city. The Blue Poppy was where we ended up. Cafeteria line, but sit down, and with wine. I had the pulled pork sandwich and a glass of Cabernet. Lisa and Joe had sandwiches and shared a Salmon/Clam Chowder which looked like it had too many potatoes for my taste.

Back in the city we were the last hotel drop off as we are at the far end of inner bay. We only had to wait a few minutes for our room to be ready:

We were a little far for my tablet to get a good connection in the living room so I set up shop in the guest bathroom:

And even that took some work to get a connection – the redirect on their site after log-in wasn’t working so I had to call technical support and to have the phone close enough to the computer to work through stuff with tech support I had to string both the unit’s telephones together using the data jack on one to feed the other:

The things I do for a computer connection, at least with my status it’s free.

But the view is great – even for being on the first floor:

That would be the Coho Ferry heading back to Port Angeles – it’s the other ferry connection direct to Victoria’s Inner Harbor.

Joe went off to do the grocery store shopping while Lisa and I went around the corner to the mini-mart for the heavy items like Diet Coke, Tonic, Ginger Ale and ice since the clean out the ice bucket between guests which is a pain when you really want a cocktail ASAP.

I’d brought up Flank Steak for the first night large enough for leftovers with the eggs in the morning, and T-Bone Steaks for the second night. Protein is about double the price in Canada as in the US so it made more since to clean out some of the 50% off cow I had in my freezer. And dinner was good:

And breakfast was good thanks to Joe’s cooking:

For our full-day in Victoria, Joe and Lisa headed off on the water taxi to check out Chinatown and Antique Row:

It being Thursday I stayed behind to get the wine shop’s website updated. We met up for lunch at Barb’s Fish and Chips at Fisherman’s Terminal – my guilty pleasure when I’m up there. The one-piece for me, the two-piece for Joe, and Lisa had the Salmon and Chips.

Little did we know that Labor Day Weekend was an antique boat gathering called Classic Boat Festival. That might explain us not getting a Penthouse Suite with the hot-tub.

Quite a schedule of events – that we will miss since we have an 11:35 boat back to Seattle. At least we got to see them arriving in the harbor”

The afternoon for the kids was poolside. I joined them for an hour before heading of on the water taxi to the marina downtown to check out all the boats:

The ride into town was amusing with this group of partiers… apparently for $15 you purchase a wrist band from the water taxi folks and it gets you four ferry rides between various waterfront bars, and if you have at least four people in your group you get a free appetizer to share at each bar. Sounds like a smashing deal to me (Pickle Pub Crawl):

And here is a really great selfie on that same trip – so good I used it for my FaceBook profile picture:

Several people have commented that it makes me look like a young Pappa Hemingway. But the point of the trip was to see the stunningly gorgeous wooden sail and power boats:

Even the dinghies are pimped out…

And maybe one of the stunningly gorgeous captains…

And the wicker chairs in his cabin that he hates but can’t get them out of the cabin without cutting them in half…apparently they were loaded in before the roof was put on:

Sorry for the glare…gives it an odd “impressionist” feeling. And speaking of pretty boys, these buskers were also talented:

Time to head back to the condo for drinks and dinner…

Our condo from the water…we are one unit back from the front on the 1^st floor:

And the dinner that I mentioned:

Up earlier on the final day to catch the ferry home…

Very crowded it being the Friday of Labor Day Weekend:

Not a free seat on the entire vessel – and for the final photo of this post, some crisps we shared with our tablemates:

Home a little after three and turned in for a power nap for tomorrow is a work day.

What a fun couple of days.

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Well – it’s another early day – luckily my buddy Ray is in town to get me to the airport at a little after five for my three-hop to Dublin for Mark Pucci’s wedding:

• Seattle-Portland (Coach)
• Portland-Atlanta (Business)
• Atlanta-Dublin (Business)

Left the house a little after 5am, and here is a selfie of what I look like at that hour (with an Alaska 737 with Disney livery in the background):

Looking a little “gruff” – but then again, the bar doesn’t open until 6am – time for a couple of bagels with cream cheese. I’m looking a little better in Portland, and another Red Baron (bubbles and cranberry):

And yes, that’s my plane, which I thought was a 737-400 because it didn’t have the winglets that the majority of Alaska’ fleet has. Turns out that it’s a 737-900 that is in the middle of renovations – the new Recaro seats in the back and no hard divider between First and Coach – apparently they haven’t gotten the curtains installed yet since the current divider seems to be blue painters tape. Classy. I wonder if it’s the same on as in this YouTube video? LINK

But my seat is comfortable (notice the lack of divider):

I tried reading my current book – but it’s more of a page-stoner than a page-burner. I picked it up several trips ago at Compass Books in the San Francisco Airport on their remainder stack. The book is Pornographia, by Polish author Witold Gombrowicz. This is a new translation direct from the Polish. The previous edition was translated from Polish to French and then from French to English. Not a good idea.

I should say, tried and failed – at least so far. I hate travelling with hardback book (even when skinny) and then not reading it. It reminds me of the six weeks touring Europe while at Evergreen trying to get through Lewis Ferdinand Celine’s Journey To The End Of The Night.

Instead it was the call of dinner and reruns:

That would be The Big Bang Theory and:

• Farro Salad
• Warm Dinner Roll
• Blackened Chicken
• Creamy Polenta
• Creamed Spinach
• Chuckanut Huckleberry Cheese Cake

And both of their red wines to sample. I’ll give the book until the end of the trip and then it’s getting left behind, read or unread.

Got to Atlanta with enough time to walk across the airport, do some duty-free shopping and head to the lounge for a couple of drinks. Between my United Gold and my Alaska Board Room membership I’m pretty much covered. It did amaze me that the Knob Creek (at 100 proof) was the same prices as the Jack Daniels (80 proof). In stores there is a big difference in price:

Nice international lounge in Atlanta:

Even opted for a quick shower:

And I needed it since it is another 6+ hour flight before I get to Dublin.

The plane boss, the plane (as Tattoo would say on Fantasy Island):

That would be a 767-300 and what the business-class seats look like:

My two movies for this leg (before I got into the reruns) were classics – which is what I’m seeming to revert to in my on plane movie watching:

Started with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and moved onto Breakfast At Tiffany’s. I’d forgotten how light-hearted Ferris was and the dark themes of Breakfast.

With a two-hour delay (mechanical) out of Atlanta I was almost done with Ferris (and pleading for more champagne) by the time we took off. It was with dinner that I watched Audrey:

• Shrimp with avocado
  
• Mixed greens with cranberries, pecans and feta cheese
• Squash soup
  
• Beef tenderloin (amazing tender that loin) with Béarnaise sauce, buttered asparagus, lobster macaroni and cheese
  
• Some cheese and sweets for dessert
  
  

I passed on the ice cream sundae (second shelf) because before you knew it some more reruns and little naptime:

About 90 minutes before landing it was breakfast time:

• Seasonal fresh fruit
• Portobello mushroom omelet with asparagus, potato wedges and bacon

I was actually impressed with bacon since you know everything is reheated. So much for the diet.

There was a curious thing about the meal service…the silverware was magnetized and you could do amazing balancing tricks with the cutlery:

One of the things that I like about flying into Dublin is the “low key” entrance form you fill out:

They don’t even ask for your passport number. And it’s quick when you are on the ground, especially if you are in seat 1A and they are disembarking from the front door.

By 11:30 or so (should have been 9:30 or so) I was at Mindy and Jeff’s – sadly only Mindy as Jeff (aka Mork) was in the states for “management training”. The perils of becoming a General Manager for a tech company.

Chatted for a bit with Mindi before heading upstairs for a 5-hour nap, waking just in time to start working on that duty-free Knob Creek.

[? ? ?]

Maybe the weather scared people into changing their plane reservations, because I can’t think of any other reason that I managed to get upgraded in both directions on my Boston mileage run. For those keeping track, that would be 4,974 flight miles. By mid-April I’ll have Silver for next year, shooting for MVP Gold which I’d need an additional 15,578 miles. Too bad my Bay Area trip was cancelled as with the double EQM (Elite Qualifying Miles) that would have been 2712 miles right there. Maybe I should just start doing West Coast mileage runs while the promotion is still running. That would only be six roundtrips. I can hear the Senor Colonel groaning just thinking about it.

Took the red-eye out Monday night to Boston. 10:05pm flight so that means dinner in the Board Room:

• Red Baron, even though it isn’t morning
• Italian Wedding Soup
• Salad
• Repeat

From lovely Seat 1D, looking a bit tired already and it’s just the first leg:

Not the most flattering picture – makes me look a tad dumpy. By the end of the flight I’d watched a movie, had a little pasta and salad snack, and drank them out of Scotch – had to have Jack as my final cocktail. Nope – didn’t sleep on the 4.5 hour flight.

Arrived in Boston a little before six and the return flight is 7:45, so there is a little time in the Delta Sky Club for a little breakfast. No booze since bars in Massachusetts don’t open until 8am, or at least the airport ones.

I’ll call this one… Sunrise Over Logan.

Got back on the same jet I flew in on (Boeing 737-900 with the new Sky Interior), though my seat had gone cold since it was 17 degrees outside. Starting to feel a little ragged.

Switch to Jack and Diet for the return flight. Scotch is just not a morning drink, even if you do mix it with milk which I think is disgusting. That said, here is the recipe for Scotch Milk Punch.

Got home a little before noon and this is how I spent my afternoon…

One more mileage run next week, back to Boston, but I’ll be spending the night.

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Caught the first bus to the airport. 6:57am at the corner of the 2^nd Street Extension and Jackson, a mere two and a half blocks from my city apartment.

Only a couple of people in line in front of me to check in. Guess that’s an advantage of being a United Premier flyer. Didn’t get me though security any faster. I’m not a Gold level flyer, but it wasn’t bad at 15 minutes.

Next stop, the Board Room run by Alaska Airlines which is located close to the United gates. I start most trips off with a Red Baron — champagne and cranberry juice. Helps the kidneys while killing the liver. Add an egg bagel with some herbed cream cheese and you have a nice breakfast — complete with the Sunday paper. It costs $225 a year, and I figure I get that in the food and booze (that’s free) over the course of a year — and if I’m flying on Northwest, Delta, Continental and a couple of others, I get to use their rooms as well.

On the upgrade list for the flight to San Francisco, no hope of an upgrade on flight to Shanghai.

Up and out of the house to drop the car at Master Park and then hit the airport.

I’d forgotten the madhouse that early Mondays are at Sea-Tac. Even with the Priority Lane it took me half an hour to get through the mess.

The mountains are even out!

Quick breakfast and Red Baron at the Board Room, then off to the N Gates via the underground shuttle, only to find “Delayed” listed on the board.

The delay:

• First and hour
• Then only half an hour

Onto the plane we go, all settled in and taxiing to the runway when the flight attendants come on the PA and ask “Do we have any medical personal on board?” Never a good sign. Then the Captain comes on – “We are returning to gate.”

This isn’t looking good for my flight connection to Hong Kong…. And it wasn’t.

Arrived at for far end of one concourse Gate 85, then it’s basically walk to almost the check in desks, take a right, then go to the international terminal. At least ½ mile if not more. I figure I’ll do a lot of walking in Hong Kong so this is just practice.

Couldn’t wait until they started serving lunch – was defiantly starving. Had hoped for some oysters on the half shell at SFO with what supposed to be a long layover.

Good flight even considering a 2-year-old lap baby alternating between the seat next to me and the one beyond that. Only howled c couple of times (and not for long) – not bad for a 14 hour flight.

Best perk – flight attendant couldn’t find Glen Livet on the credit card machine so he just comped them – twice. Paid for the third round of two (remember – 14 hours) so I think I got my money’s worth – 6 mini’s for $14. Oh for the days when international flights had free booze. United is down to free beer/wine on its Pacific routes (not Atlantic)… and the wine is in plastic bottles, but at least is from the southern Rhone district of France.

Between the Scotch and the Ambien I managed to get 4 hours of sort of sleep – bless those noise cancelling headphones.

Arrived half an hour before schedule, cleared immigration fairly quickly, hit a cash machine for $900HKD (Hong Kong Dollars) and was off to the cab line with these wonderful instructions:

Of course it turns out that it’s really #1 rather than #4 but it all worked out – and right in the ballpark for cost ($40USD approx.). Not bad for an almost hour long cab ride.

Got in around 10, Michael and I stayed up chatting for a bit since he doesn’t have to work tomorrow – he swapped days to stay and hang out with me.

We’ll see how the jet lag goes – I’m guessing OK since I’m going to bed at what would be a normal time were I in the states.

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Up early. 6:30. Off to the apartment to park the car, then off to the Train Station.

A great shot of me settled in my Roomette with the complimentary champagne turned into a Red Baron with the addition of a little Cranberry Juice.

Lunch on the train (comes with Roomette price). By 2:30 I was at Julian’s house for his first day his spring break.

Some errands and then it was onto cocktail hour:

I brought down some of the new Spanish vermouth, the above is a vodka martini made with the blanco vermouth and a twist of lemon. Of course to get the twist I had to go out and buy a zester for their house.

Steaks, potatoes, salad for dinner. Then off to the airport to pick up Jameson and then feed him some dinner — stuffed mushroom caps, and the rest of the salad.

A VERY long night of hanging out and chatting.

[209.4]

Not enough sleep last night. Something about to bed at 2am, and up at 6:30 for a 9:30am train that leaves one a little groggy.

Well, it was SUPPOSED to be a 9:30am train — by the time we left the station, it was 10:30… something about an engine inspection that ran a little longer than expected.

On the upside, that gave me more time to enjoy a lunch in the dining car after my red baron courtesy of Amtrak and having booked a roomette for the four hour trip. It was an additional $51 dollars, but includes champagne when you get on, pretty much as much champagne after that, lunch in either the Parlour Car or the Dining Car, and, of course, your roomette with two seats, a table, and an outlet.

That has to be the worst graphic for explaining a roomette, but it’s what the Amtrak site has.

It’s a pretty trip south of Tacoma, which I think by 2012 they are going to cut this chunk out to shorten the Seattle to Portland run by 15 minutes, so check it out while you can.

It was actually a little clearer than the picture would suggest, but between the cell phone camera shot and the tinted train window, it makes it look pretty dreary. I took the picture to send to my friend Fernando who is coming to visit Seattle in about a month.

Leave an hour late, get in an hour late, that’s how the train usually works, and did this time. The light rail connection is about a block from the train station, and it’s a straight shot to Julian’s house. Got the ticket, got hit up by a couple of street urchins who were looking for a couple of bucks “to get a bus ticket to Virginia” which I doubted since they had two straggly dogs in tow… no cash, but I did give them one of the splits of champagne that I snagged from the train — I do believe it made their day.

Spent the rest of the afternoon hanging with Julian while working on getting us a dinner put together — veal chops and grilled zucchini, with a roasted garlic bread/gorgonzola/paté plate to begin with. By the time we were ready to grill, two of his friends showed up. I knew there was a reason to have brought down four of the chops.

It was an early night for me… by 10pm I was in bed. The half-an-hour nap on the train wasn’t enough to make up for last night’s lack of sleep.

[228.5]

Woke up at 8, peed, checked mail, went back to bed until 9:30.

By 10:45am I was through security at the Oakland airport and having a lovely Chinese breakfast of beef and broccoli with soba noodles.

Flights on time today — make my lunch the same chicken salad that I had on the way down, though it was a little more wilted making me think they loaded food for both directions in Seattle.

Was back home by 2:30pm and by 3:30 I was taking a nap in preparation for tonight’s dinner and opera with Wonderful.

Dinner? Bahn Thai. Located in an old house and the atmosphere was pleasant — it was Wonderful’s choice that I think he regretted. My eyes went up when I encountered a room full of old white people eating there — warning sign number one. Warning sign number two — when they waiter doesn’t ask “On the Rocks or Up” when you order a Manhattan. The food was OK, not as spicy as we had requested, and luke warm. That would be a problem of the pre-opera crowd.

Next time (January) we will try my choice (Tup Tim Thai) further up the hill.)

On now for that scary opera (La Traviata). Woman with consumption (the no longer used phrase for pulmonary tuberculosis) ditches the Baron for some hottie and moves to the country where they live happily beyond their means until hottie’s daddy shows up and says leave his son alone otherwise his virtuous daughter can’t marry into an upscale family. Much singing, much coughing (from the consumption) and by the fourth act they realize how foolish they have all been where the woman with consumption not so quickly (30 minutes) dies. End of act four, time for the curtain call.

[220.1 but it was in the afternoon]

I took most of today off for what most people would consider torture.

I left the house at a little before 7am headed for the airport. For once, not first class. Lose 25 minutes in the security line. Maybe I’ll check out the United pay-for-access plan (even though I was flying Alaska). Or maybe I’ll just get the 40,000 flight miles to get MVP Gold.

Hit the board room for the usual morning Red Baron (champagne and cranberry juice) and order a Cape Cod that I transfer into a paper coffee cup with lid for a “to-go-to-the-gate” cocktail. Eat two toasted bagels with cream cheese and pack another “to-go” along with two yogurts and a spoon.

Get to the gate — still no upgrade, and when they load First Class and Gold MVPs I understand why. Forty people board. There are only 16 seats in First Class. Hence, no upgrade. But the first seat in coach on the aisle so the leg room is OK.

The flight to Newark I finished this great book that my brother Jon left for me: The Taqwacores by Michael Muhammad Knight. Quickie reviews from the back cover: “The Hunter S. Thompson of Islamic Literature” and “A Manifesto for the Muslim Punk Movement”. A great read — Muslims who drink, gay Muslims, riot grrl Muslims… This book is getting passed onto a Sufi Sheik friend of mine.

Newark. 45 minutes on the ground, and no Board Room affiliate in that terminal —so what good is that — yet another complaint letter.

Back on the plane for another 5 hour plane ride in the same seat back to Seattle. The book for this leg: The English Major by Jim Harrison. Great first line in the novel: “It used to be Cliff and Vivian and now it isn’t.” The book really makes me want to do a road trip. Maybe my 35 anniversary high school reunion in August. No clue at the moment who needs a good road trip book.

Plane was packed in both directions — but here is the math on the miles. Ticket was like $380 (plus $42 for food and booze, and $21 for parking) for 9,592 Elite Qualifying Miles and another 1199 bonus miles (because I’m MVP) for a total of 10,791 — or almost half a domestic ticket — or .035 per mile and anything under .04 per mile is a steal.

All this means that I’ve got MVP for next year — actually 5,062 miles more than I need — and once the Hawaii trip in in there (which is another 5,000 or so) Imight just “Go For The Gold” and rack up another 10,000 flight miles before December 31st. I did book some time for Cabo in late October — if I went first class using the $50 companion coupon that would be about 6,000 miles (with the 50% bonus for paid first class). Something to chew on.

Home a little after ten in time to update the Great Art Party website, and keep the blog current.

[too early for me to remember to weigh]

WHY do I book early flights! Why do I insist on being to the airport two hours early (oh yeah, free food and booze).

6am out of the house, 6:30am the bags are checked, and shortly after I am working on:

• 1 Red Baron (champagne and cranberry juice)
• 2 Bloody Maries (with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to keep down the acid)
• 3 Vodka Cranberry Lime’s on the flight to SFO
• 2 Rum and Diet Jones Cola with Lime at the Board Room in SFO
• 3 Single Malt Scotches on the way to PSP
• 20 minutes waiting for bags (while I rented the Jeep)

Curt and Brandon didn’t arrive until after five, and Rich and I should have had a snack — blood sugar problems for both of us with dinner not until 7:30pm.

But on the top side — here is a little video from the pool:

[219.1]

I must be home for the holidays. And no wonder I spent three days in the mountains — if I say here at the folks, its lazy daze time.

With three papers coming each day — and today being Sunday — yikes, what a pile of reading. I’m usually done with coffee and on to soda pop by the time I’m finished with the papers. Good thing I got a bunch of my stack of reading done up in Red River.

At least I left the house today — if only because my niece Karen called and needed a fourth for Aggravation. It’s the family game — now passed to another generation. I think it got it’s start in our family because it was something that the 6 to nearly dead could all play. In my web search I was able to find this graphic — though the boards in my family have been square with the marble holding areas to the right corner, rather than under the starting place.

Looks likes a nice board — this one is available from Smith’s Woodworking for $40 — it is red oak after all. It is your basic Parcheesi like marble get to your home base kind of game — bu it does bring out the competitive spirit in this bunch.

For dinner the parents (dad on the grill, mom in the kitchen) did a Grilled Copper River Salmon, pan fried potatoes, and cole slaw for dinner. Add a glass or so of the Navarro Pinot Noir and it’s a dinner that I might have made for myself.

Turns out Christmas eve isn’t today. My father and the nieces rebelled — Christmas Eve is the night before Christmas no matter my argument that the actual birth date of Christ is most likely NOT the 25th of December, but that it was a convenient date several millennia ago. So TOMORROW night is when we start drinking the Red Baron’s and maybe get to open a present or two. I’m no longer the family elf, so it’s doesn’t make all that much difference to me anymore. I’m here for the food and booze and family and presents, not necessarily in that order.