This week’s adventure is a mid-week trip to Palm Springs with Bliss for some serious pool time. But first we have to get there…and I’m an early airport person, Bliss less so. Always seems there is a last minute crisis, so I’m glad we are going to the airport separately, which makes sense since he is close to light rail, and I’m not.
The plan is to meet in the Alaska Lounge, but first he has to find it, so I sent him this:
But I think he came through some other security gate, not using the TSApre line (that was on his boarding pass). He made it in time for food and drink, but this was my second drink by the time he showed up:
They make GREAT Bloody Marys in the Seattle Lounges. We had a little food before getting onto the flight – where we’d been upgraded:
Round one!
And lunch followed…
Our mutual friend was running late, so, no ride from the airport – time for an Uber!
Until Craig gets here – no cocktails, just French pink wine in a plastic bottle…
And here is our unit…
And a wonderful view:
With Craig’s arrival – off to the Albertson’s to pick up food, booze, mixers…so dinner comes off the grill.
Salad, pork ribs, corn on the cob. Nice to be hanging out with friends in Palm Springs.
Followed in the morning by scrambled eggs…
And some serious pool time!
With Marines horsing around in the pool:
Followed by another grilled dinner – chicken thighs and grilled asparagus:
It’s a rough schedule that just centers around laying around the pool (Bliss and I), working out in the Gym (Bliss), writing at the coffee shop down the way (Craig).
But we did go out one afternoon for a very late lunch, or very early dinner at Sherman’s – an amazing Jewish Deli:
And I love the way they serve a Sparkling Greyhound…
In the background you can see some of the celebrity pictures – this one being my favorite:
Ricky, Lucy, Little Ricky, Ethel, and Fred of the I Love Lucy Show. And I love that they serve hot steamed onion buns and pickle spears:
And mammoth portions – Bliss’ corned beef with thick latkes instead of bread:
Or my Ruben, which looks like it has a half-pound of pastrami:
Can’t believe Craig ate all his – Bliss and I stopped halfway through (for leftovers), but Bliss then ordered this tiny slice of cake:
And there were TONS to choose from:
Our big deal for Thursday late afternoon was to head to the Palm Springs Art Museum for Free Thursday – and the closing weekend for the Andy Warhol show:
I’m going to do a separate post because the show was so good – so we’ll move onto the to the final breakfast in Palm Springs – at the Denny’s next door:
Above would be my $4 biscuit and gravy breakfast (off the $2, $4, $6, $8 menu), and Bliss’ Omelet off the 55+ menu:
Back to the condo to check out, put our luggage into storage and head back to the pool. Two hours for me, three for Kevin – once again taking separate vehicles…welcome to the Palm Springs Airport:
And up the escalator to the 12th Fairway Bar and Restaurant for a VERY EXPENSIVE Manhattan:
And some fish tacos to stave off hunger until our upgraded flight home with a light dinner included, but here are the fish tacos:
The food was cheaper than my drink – huge portion of Mahi Mahi on each of the tacos – thankfully Bliss finished the third when he caught up with me.
Speaking of which, here is our final meal of the trip:
Guess I’d better start working on that Andy Warhol post.
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:
Travelling separately to the airport
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:
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.
After a lovely couple of days in Santa Fe, it’s time for the relaxing train ride home – and our train is on time:
And before long, Bliss and I are settled into our compartment which is called “The Family Bedroom“, meaning no toilet/shower en-suite.
Here is the diagram from the Amtrak sight so you get a feel for the room configuration:
The Family Bedrooms are on the lower level and stretch side-to-side so you get lots of pretty picture taking opportunities:
Here is a short (one-minute) clip of the above…
As the sun goes down, we head into the dining car for dinner:
We both had the steak dinner and got our desserts “to-go” after dinner. Meals are included when you book a sleeping car. And it is nice to be able to stretch out – AND have a place to put your luggage since se don’t have any children with us.
Slumber time followed by a 5am breakfast call – because of the schedule it’s a short (1-hour) breakfast – and I noticed MANY of the Sleeping Car passengers just skipping it. As for me? I just went back to bed after.
9:30 they rousted us to the platform. It’s a bit of a hike, but walking was quicker than waiting for Red Cap service – and since we’ll be sitting for the next two days, best to walk.
After getting settled I took a shower (down the hall) which I probably should have down after breakfast on the Southwest Chief. I might have been less cranky. Or maybe just a Screwdriver with a splash of Pomegranate Grenadine:
Orange Juice (and coffee) courtesy of Amtrak. Each Sleeper Car has a coffee pot and juice station. These days it’s only orange juice, in the past it was orange, apple, and cranberry AND actual oranges and bananas and the complementary mini-bottle of sparkling wine when you boarded. Yes, the quality has gone down on Amtrak trains in the last couple of years – no amenity kits any longer as well.
But where did we get the Pomegranate Grenadine? Well, in addition to the 6 bottles of hard liquor I bought in Santa Fe, and the 6 bottles that Bliss bought – my sis-in-law also gave me the remnants of my late mother’s liquor cabinet. If you are keeping score, four people have given me their liquor dregs (one in recover, one dead, two people moved). No bourbon left, but things like the Grenadine, Blood Mary mix, Crème de Menthe, odd mixers…
Next up, a Bloody Mary with cracked pepper on the top (courtesy of Alaska Airlines – for the pepper) complete with swizzle sticks (courtesy of Cathy Pacific and oddly in my laptop bag):
Beautiful views as we sit down to lunch. The section between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara is really stunning:
And lunch isn’t bad (these would be the bar-b-qued lamb shanks with garlic mashed potatoes and a side salad, plus iced-tea…
More scenery shots from our room after lunch:
Tanks of Fire Water – like moonshine? And the rolling hills outside of San Luis Obispo:
San Luis Obispo is also a smoke stop (or in our case, a stretch your legs get some fresh air stop):
Random tourist, the guy in the engineer’s hat is a regular at the station – not an employee, but “challenged” guy with a love for trains (notice train band radio attached on his back pocket), and our conductor Joy – who I’ve had before so he knows the drill (with the help of a $20) about keeping us stocked with ice – LOTS of ice:
While we are stocked on booze and ice, after several days on the train we are running low on Ginger Ale – luckily, after dinner we are passing through Emeryville and a couple of texts to Lunetta & Onyx, we have more mixers, and a wine shipper (much better than the WalMart cheap duffle I bought in Santa Fe) and a bonus of a bottle of their Honey Mead – and a platform visit!
And said box of supplies:
Time for bed as the Emeryville stop is at 10pm.
Breakfast at a more reasonable hour (7am) but I still went back to bed after:
Because outside it looked like this.
By lunch, the weather has improved:
But we are an hour behind schedule because of signal problems in the mountains (most likely from the now). Every Amtrak trip I have to have the Angus burger at least once:
It’s a mouthful but I cut them in half.
I’d planned on getting out for a stretch in Eugene, but when I got to the door – it was dumping rain. Back to the couch for me.
Almost an hour late getting into Portland – and rain – a parked a long way from the terminal, no Metropolitan Lounge in Portland stop for me this trip – and they cut the time of the stop in half to make up ground.
The downside of the current Coast Starlight schedule is with an 8pm arrival time in Seattle you have dinner service starting at 5pm – and we had lunch at 12:30. For dinner I opted for the crab/shrimp cakes like the previous night’s meal (more shrimp than crab), but without the side salad – and I still only made it through one of the two cakes – still full from lunch!
Opened the shop this morning and we were pouring four wines in honor of Earth Day, and on the way out I packed out some of the excess boxes – a constant problem. What you can’t see is that the front passneger seat is full of recycling as well.
Tonight’s dinner is with Mr. Bliss – and this is the view from his rooftop deck (well, the building’s roof top deck):
And with Mr. Bliss himself hanging out in the sun having a cocktail:
Dinner was a lovely large salad of greens with some chicken breasts and the remaining wine from the tasting bottles.
I have a great idea for a hallway table for him, now I just need to sand and finish the slabs of black locust, which apparently glows under black light.
OK day at the shop – at least I made better than last year in sales. Maybe I should stop tracking day/week comparisons to last year. People buy or they don’t, we market, sometimes hit helps.
But the high spot of the day was dinner with Bliss and a friend of his. Cocktails (the olives in the martinis were our salad), and the tasting bottle I brought from the shop (no good by Wednesday) to accompany a lovely stew/soup with tiny cornbread muffins from scratch – and yes, I succumbed to the lure of carbs, cornbread carbs.
It was an early night as Bliss has a ton of papers to grade – the joys of being an International Baccalaureate English Teacher.
Tomorrow is a champagne tasting in the afternoon and then dinner with Daniel.
In the meantime, I dream about the next motorhome, the Airstream Interstate that seats 8 for travel, 2 for sleeping.
Most of the day was as dead as a morgue at the shop, even with the art opening for Suze’s sky paintings… luckily there were a couple big spenders at the end of the day that pulled us to where we needed to be. The odd Sunday conundrum – how to get more sales on Sunday. Maybe I should open a nice bottle and call it Super Bottle Sunday.
Off to a dinner with Mr. Bliss after shop hours. Chicken parmesan minus the noodles as we are both on low-carb routines, a little asparagus, a nice salad, and the remnants of the tasting wines from today.
I did get a chance to scope out the condo next to his – 1300 s/f, two bedroom, $399K, $700 monthly maintenance dues… think I’ll keep my little place in the hood.
Back home before 8 to print up the postcard calls for the winter gathering.
Dropped Sven in Pioneer Square at the Klondike Museum, the smallest National Park in the system – a store front museum really.
After the museum he was headed to the Seahawks game. He wanted to see a US football game, though probably didn’t realize exactly how expensive a good ticket at a football game where the team is headed to the playoffs… $242 is the answer ($131 was the original ticket value). But he got a good seat:
Yep, that’s the 50 yard line. Definitely a great seat – first row of the “charter” section.
Meanwhile, I went to work for a “morgue-like” day. Don’t know what it is about Sundays that are so slow.
Sunday at the shop wasn’t too bad, not as good as the last three Sundays, but respectable for a Sunday.
A big shout to Swanda – today’s “whale” who called in two orders (first was six assorted Sauvignon Blancs under $15, second was for two Proseccos, also under $15) over the course of the afternoon. It’s nice to have some people’s credit cards on file in the safe for these “emergency” white wine orders.
After work it was off to dinner with Bliss – grilled chicken, asparagus, salad, wine – after a martini, of course. I’d ask him to read scholarship applications but he’s an International Baccalaureate teacher a local high school – just what he needs: MORE papers to grade.
Left around 7:30pm so he could get back to grading those papers – a task that fills most evenings and weekends. After seeing his workload I have extreme sympathy for every high school English teacher.
Next stop the apartment – two weeks til Swanda moves. I see boxes awaiting filling, but with only 600sq/ft it won’t take long. He shared some interesting news which I’m not going to share – let’s just say, things are looking up.
Home by 9:30, in bed by midnight, for tomorrow I work at 10.
Today was cleaning day with Moonsong. Slowly but surely he is scrapping 50 years of accumulated burnt on crap off my Wolfe Range. Not my burned on crap, the previous owners burned on crap.
After a year of nagging from MoonSong I finally ordered replacement filters for my vacuum cleaning… the set of four set me back almost $50 with shipping. Good thing I only need them every 10 years (should probably do them every couple of years.
Another purchase was for car camping. I would have stayed longer at the Longhouse Gathering this May, and probably longer at American Ridge last year had I one of these puppies:
I was online looking for camping cots when this popped up on Amazon. I’d really like the wider, longer version of this, but it has a different folding leg mechanism which doesn’t break down small enough for my trunk. This one clocks in at 7″x7″x39″ when packed in its bag, or you can just use it as a cot. And yes, you can click on the tent and go right to Amazon and order one for yourself.
Here’s the description:
Versatile Kamp – Rite Collapsible Combo Tent Cot spells elevated comfort! Fully assembled, it’s a Tent and comfy Cot in one for full “above ‘n below” protection from weather and wet ground. Don’t need the cot? Simply unzip the tent and use it separately. Using somebody else’s tent? Of course the cot section works by itself too. Smart! More: Sets up in about 3 minutes, however you use it; Heavy-duty powder-coated steel frame; Rugged 210D nylon tent material, with no-see-um mesh on all windows and entries; Fully taped seams and included rain fly make sure you stay dry; Folds down to just 39 x 7 x 7″; Bed size is a roomy 80 x 28″; Triangular windows can be closed while inside the tent; Superior-quality clips, buckles, and corrosion-resistant buckles; Includes ground pegs, rain fly, and carry bag; Fully-assembled size is 80 x 28 x 42″h. Weighs 15 lbs. 300 lb. weight limit.
And in TRULY INTERESTING NEWS my former house a.k.a. “The Church on Lopez” is back on the market after the current owners truly pimped the place out. New roof with rigid insulation, skylights, hot tub/spa, and all for only $100K more than I sold it for, and I’m guessing they spent most of that in the upgrades. Check out the pictures:
Tonight’s dinner guest is Bliss (as his last name) for a roast chicken dinner with broccoli and some fresh bread. And, of course, we had to do more product testing on the martini glasses before dinner.
Art opening this afternoon at the shop, leading to a decent (for Sunday) sales day.
After work it’s steaks off the grill and coleslaw al fresco – the first outside dining of the season. The reason, it hit 83 at the airport this afternoon.
And this just in from Saturday’s party, a picture taken by the birthday girl:
How odd that FaceBook puts a black border around pictures. That would be me on the right, wearing my derby-day hat.
Sucko day at the wine shop – I think the weather has everyone gardening and not sipping wine.
First sale wasn’t until almost three, and we open at eleven. Last hour was good, just needed several more good hours.
Swung by Harbor Freight on the way home – zip ties (which I didn’t know I needed until I saw the price) and a couple of four piece anti-fatigue mats that I like to use camping.
Tonight’s dinner?
A pork tenderloin covered in bacon spread from Skillet:
$14.95 – click on the photo to go to their website. This was a gift from Swanda – we used it as a topping on last night’s rib-eye steaks (with deviled eggs and green bean salad). Let me tell you … it kept the tenderloin moist and tender.
After dinner we did something I haven’t done in what feels like years… watched a DVD. An oldie but a goodie.
This movie came out the year I graduated from high school (1974) and it is as funny today as it was then. Click on the DVD cover for more information about this wonderful Mel Brooks comedy. And I did something I haven’t done in a decade — made popcorn for two people who try and avoid carbs. I didn’t even know I had popcorn kernels – must be left from a couch surfer.
Today’s big excitement at the shop is the closing reception for the current artist at the show. Not much of a wine drinking crowd, so I bugged out at 4:30 since Jim and Suze would be taking down the show after closing. Let’s hope they at least bought some wine on the way out (the art patrons that is).
It was so quiet for sales during the reception that I had time to book a return ticket on BoltBus from Portland to Seattle in late August — cost? $6, plus a $1 transaction fee. Had I gotten it together a day ago, could have picked it up for a buck (plus the $1 transaction fee). The first seat on each bus is sold at a buck, and since my ticket is A-02, that means I missed it by one seat. The A is for first boarding.
Home to start working on dinner with a stop at Safeway that changed the menu. Was going to be chicken breast BBQ’d with a nice green salad. Turned into to racks of ribs and cole slaw.
Looks yummy doesn’t it?
What I can’t believe is that we finished both racks with the exception of one lone rib.
There are several things Seattle lacks in the fall. Heat and sun. Hello Palm Springs.
I booked the 3-bedroom place for Gay Pride weekend, but with Covid, no celebrations, and only two of us in a place that sleeps eight.
As is my way these days, my trip starts at the Alaska Lounge for a Caesar and a light dinner:
My flight arrives about eight hours after Bliss gets in, so I put the reservation in his name. Bliss chose his flights based on the cheapest “Basic” fare on Alaska since he isn’t concerned with being able to get upgraded and gets a free bag with the credit card. I chose my flights based on what was the cheapest First-Class ticket ($325 roundtrip, Bliss’ was maybe $150).
This Airbus had the new First-Class seats installed. Sadly, still no cocktail service, just beer and wine.
Had the curry chicken wrap as my snack (other was the famous Cheese & Fruit Platter).
Being one of the last flights in, Lyft/Uber drivers were scarce – ended up booking an XL, some massive black Yukon thing – but I made it to the condo.
Some shots of the condo:
And the view with my morning coffee:
I did get some pool time – which you need to book in 2-hour blocks to limit the number of people. Bliss used it more than me:
In the pivot to online festivities, bars were trying interesting things to provide support for Pride, having lost the ability to serve people alcohol to people who don’t’ order food. Trio (restaurant/bar) was offering Cocktail Kits as a benefit for the Pride Foundation – bags of booze, mixer, swag. Wasn’t a bad deal. Web site said they were 750ml bottles, but the ones I got had liter bottles. By the end we got 4 bags (three for me, one for Bliss). This is the haul from just TWO of the bags:
Yes, Bluetooth headphones, a wireless mousepad/charger, cups, frisbees, t-shirts, hats, bandanas – the Effen Pack ($30) came with the nicer swag than the Jim Beam Bag ($20). Between us we ended up with three of the Effen Packs, which had really nice polycarbonate party glasses.
Bliss went to the store before I got there, so we had supplies for all our meals – which included these amazing nachos he whipped up:
Yes, I brought wine in my checked bag (along with my brandy and Verners).
Took a walk down the street to pick up the second set of bags while trying a couple of the Bud Light Hard Seltzers – as you can imagine, they were hideous and I ditched mine in a recycle bin:
And passed a Tiki Bar (Bootlegger Tiki) that I’d love to try, assuming it survives the Pandemic. Check out their website for all the new rules in place.
Afternoon cocktails on the deck with the view of the mountains which I never get tired of:
Thursday afternoon we had a late lunch/early dinner at one of my favorite places in Palm Spring – Sherman’s Delicatessen. They only have limited outdoor seating which is what I felt the most comfortable. This was the first time I’d been to a meal in a restaurant since I was in Waikiki in mid-March.
That was taken as we were leaving, and the sun had gone down…but the meal!
They don’t have a full bar, but they do offer a fresh squeezed pink grapefruit Greyhound (Cava instead of Vodka). Love them, but only one. Too much citric acid for more than one, or heartburn. Same reason I drink a Caesar rather than a Bloody Mary.
I love that they serve a platter of pickles with the meal – should have gotten more!
Bliss got the Early Bird Dinner of chicken and ribs which came with a full salad as well:
His was actually cheaper than my corned beef Rueben by $2:
But that IS a lot of meat – and I took half home. So, I got two meals for the price of one.
Bliss actually got dessert from the giant case:
Speaking of restaurants, the Denny’s has moved to outdoor seating in the parking lot – doesn’t look comfortable:
My final breakfast on Friday I took on the porch:
A Facebook comment on this photo was – “Looks like the Eifel Tower”. We were drinking Champagne (which I also brought down with me) in an early celebration of the news that would come the next day.
Final lunch was the other half of the sandwich:
Back to the airport – no lounge, sadly. But I was back in my new usual seat (used to be 1C, the aisle, now it is 1A the window because they are blocking the seat next to you for until the end of the year):
Got home and installed the Effen Vodka in the drink dispenser – good timing as the old bottle was dead.
It cools the liquor before it spits it out. Totally unneeded, but amusing.
Seattle tends to be gloomy in the winter, hence decamping to Austin a couple of times. First with Bliss, second just me.
As usual – the trip starts with a Caesar!
Bliss booked himself into a Saver seat for $129 round-trip, I booked myself into First for $360. Kevin’s seat comes with nothing, mine comes with breakfast (and wine).
For the first trip, we are booked into a two bedroom which means we have a small deck. Bliss took a nice video of the unit:
As well as taking one of the 10th floor pool and lounge area, complete with infinity pool (though, oddly, no hot tub – not that it would be open during the pandemic):
Speaking of deck, here is a shot of the two of us on ours:
And on the roof:
One of the things I do in Austin is to use Drizzly to deliver booze and mixer to me:
Two of those bottles are coming back to Seattle with me.
Dinner for the first night travelled with me…a bone-in pork roast and a green salad:
Or the breakfast Bliss cooked in:
Bliss is big on exploring and dragging me along…the river front:
I did get a little time in the sun when Bliss went off to explore on his own.
And then there is the food in Austin. Sadly, my favorite restaurant (Ranch 616) was closed on both visits due to winter weather bursting pipes (yes, in Austin). They reopen in May. Sigh.
And another day, a Bloody Mary with Biscuits and Gravy:
Or dinner out at The Grove where I got the Linguini with Pancetta and Mushrooms, Bliss the Steak Salad:
On the second trip I went to Irene’s and had the most amazing fried chicken sandwich (with a Manhattan):
Love the décor at Irene’s (and the waiter Manny), though I ate outside:
There was also delivery from Black’s BBQ – which for some reason after two trips I only have a picture of the lunch leftovers of sausage and mac/cheese:
No pictures of the ribs or pulled meat sandwiches.
For my second visit to Austin, I booked the Studio Presidential, which sounds like an oxymoron. But it costs more points than the two-bedroom Bliss and I shared, the only more expensive place at the WorldMark Austin is the Two-Bedroom Presidential. Here is a video tour:
The phrase “over-the-top” comes to mind. The “Studio” is twice the size of my 2-bedroom house! 2200 square feet is what I paced out (200 of that is the deck). There was even a turntable in the living room (ignoring the foosball table):
Which is kind of dangerous since they have framed records with their covers as art on the wall.
And a Bose soundbar system:
And a seriously nice shower:
Thankfully there is an Admiral’s Club at the Austin Airport to chill, get some mac and cheese, and fill my “water bottle” for the flight home.
The third of three Spring Break trips for friends of mine who are students or teachers…this one is with Bliss, who is a teacher, and can afford a plane ticket – so off to Waikiki we go!
Bliss and I are flying out of Bellingham, Washington which is about two hours north of Seattle. Why drive 2 hours when I’m ten minutes from the airport in Seattle? Round-trip for under $300 and $12 a day parking 50 years from the check-in desk, and a decent Manhattan (their bar pour is Evan Williams) at Scotty Browns.
In addition to a couple of Manhattans, we split half-order of Nachos, which was still a ton of food. And now onto the plane…
Luckily, the weather in Waikiki is slated to be 80 degrees and sunny, rather than 40 degrees and drizzly.
Bliss in the window (1A) and me on the aisle (1C). And up in the air we go for our six hour flight filled with food, fun, and laughter…
And Uncle Markie is getting into the spirt – or is that Uncle Markie is getting into the spirits….
Damn I look comfortable.
Landed, grabbed our bags, found our shuttle driver and headed to the condo – tried a new shuttle service this trip (Go808Express). $50 ($55 for us since we arrive after 9PM) for up to four people directly from the airport to your hotel – handy when you get in at 9:30 at night and don’t want to spend an hour+ on the shared shuttle stopping at every hotel in Waikiki. Even with two people, with tip, it’s a wash on the cost.
We are staying at the Wyndham Royal Garden courtesy of The Colonels who swapped some WorldMark points for their Wyndham Points – on my next trip I’m using my WorldMark points and paying the $99 “Club Pass” fee. I’ve stayed here before in a studio (swanky) and this time we are in a one-bedroom Presidential (even more swanky).
I ran across the street for some mixers to go with the bourbon and gin that I packed but before you knew it bedtime was upon us – with us sharing the king-size bed even though we are “little f” friends. Beats flipping over the fold-out couch.
Morning finds up late, and off to the IHOP for breakfast:
A milestone for Bliss – his first Senior Citizen (55 and over) IHOP Breakfast!
Next stop? Catch the free Hilo Hatties shuttle for my usual walk-through grabbing a free juice and looking at the sale rack, then headed a couple of blocks away for Tuesday Senior Citizen 25% off day (also 55 and over) at the Salvation Army. Found a new (to me) Hawaiian shirt and a couple of other oddities – a Suzy Wong dress for Jared, and some Thai Boxing shorts for me:
Not the most flattering photo of either Bliss or myself. Almost forgot to mention the Martini glasses that I picked up as well…
A quick run through the Kmart across the street from the Sally Ann for socks and aspirin, both of which I’m out of at home, and I’ll have room on the way back with the three bottles of wine and two half-bottles of booze are gone. Did I mention that one of the flight attendants gave us a full-size bottle of wine? I think they liked us! Means I’ll be packing one of the whites back home with us.
Shopping done, it’s time for some sun:
Uncle Markie in his natural environment. And before I forget – this is the view looking towards Diamond Head:
And towards the ocean:
We are on the 22nd Floor (out of 25).
After pool time it’s dinner time. I brought (frozen in a thermal bag):
Two pork tenderloins
One pound of bacon
Package of chicken thighs
Two ribeye steaks
Two sticks of butter
That will save us a TON of money on going out to dinner. The first night’s meal is bacon wrapped tenderloins on the grill. There is no stove in the unit for some odd reason, but at least there are two grills.
Life is rough in the islands!
Wednesday is a Wyndham Sales Pitch at 12:30pm for a $125 AMEX Gift Card. This presentation brings my year-to-date AMEX Gift Card total to $425 and a nice hard-bound “wish” book of all their properties. It’s almost like a part-time job. No need for Kevin to tag along as there is no additional card for him – off to the beach for him:
Our breakfast this morning was to turn the leftover pork into Hawaiian Roll Pork Sliders with a little extra butter. DAMN they were good. As for dinner, tonight are curried chicken thighs (with salad and MORE Hawaiian Rolls):
Note the butter plate in the background – I had a little accident where one of the booze bottles tipped over and nailed the plate. Oops.
Thursday is our last day here in lovely Waikiki. It being Spring Break, the only reservation I could get included Thursday night even though our flight is at midnight – but I have to say, it was convenient to be able to hang out in the room for the final day, along with being able to cook our last dinner of ribeyes:
Shuttle came back for us at 8PM so we have time to hang out in the United Club (even though we are flying Alaska) courtesy of Bliss:
But the cocktails and wine at the condo, and another cocktail in the United Club seem to have taken a toll on Bliss:
Luckily he is in a window seat (3F) and is planning on taking an Ambien. Me, I’ll drink a little and sleep a little on the plane and make him drive south.
And that finishes my third Spring Break – home for a couple of weeks, and then…back to Waikiki because I got a $278.20 round-trip.
Slow day people wise at the shop, but OK moneywise as the guy who ordered a case of moderately expensive French wine last Sunday paid for it this Sunday, but since he’s a Metro driver, I had to deliver it after dinner since he also lives in South Park.
I had time to get the website revised, adding some specials to spice up the front page (http://www.madronawinemerchants.com), downloaded a bunch more of my photo archive from Ovi (who is stopping that line of their business), and got two more issues of Sign of the Times artwork scanned into the system.
Dinner tonight with Mr. Bliss took an amusing when I went to take the foil off a bottle of white, to completely take off the top of the bottle:
And the closeup:
Ouch. After that we just decided to move to Prosecco:
Which really bubbled nicely in SurfBetties pilsner glasses.
Dropped off the wine after dinner and ended up chatting with the customer, who has some seriously nice inkjet printing technology in his house.
Slow day at the shop even an hour into the Greek Wine tasting, then it picked up – blame the weather? Finished out the day not too bad – half of our Saturday take. Guess I should really thank our bus driver customer who can’t come in the shop but gave me his credit card number and told me to pick out of case of interesting and varied white wines for him to try as he’s switching from red to wine to cut down on the teeth stains. A little Gruner, a couple of different style Pinot Gris, an unoaked Chardonnay, a little vino verde, a Torrontes – a nice mix. In the box I also put the tasting notes for all of the bottles so he can keep track of what he likes.
Today’s picture:
Hard at work picking wines.
After work (Jim stayed to close) which I’m thinking about moving to 6PM on Sundays as we always have a little rush at the end, it was off to see Bliss for cocktails and dinner. A little salad, some grilled asparagus, some grilled pork loin and three partial bottles of wine from the tasting – a white with the salad course, and the two reds with dinner.
A stop at Swandas to fix his CPAP machine and it was home before 11.
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