UMTravels

What a lovely couple of days with The Colonels in town on their epic journey from Kentucky to Alaska (and back):

Now THAT is an epic trip. And as full disclaimer, I’ve raided their trip blog for some of the photos (and the map above).

I’d arranged for The Colonels to stay at the WorldMark Seattle at The Camlin for their three day stay:

The unit I got via the “waitlist” was a Courtyard Studio Plus – which means stairs to all the units. Luckily, they got a unit with only one set of stairs, AND had the bell-staff schlep all the bags and boxes into the room.

They arrived at 5PM from Eastern Washington, and I got stuck in traffic so I didn’t make it until 5:30. As the room was a little warm (no AC, but a fan), we had snacks and drinks in the courtyard. Had I thought about it I would have brought steaks and salad since there was a BBQ unit right across from their room.

We were at the table to the left (WorldMark photo).

After a couple of drinks – and a tour of the property (the museum in the basement and the Cloud Room on the top floor) we were off to Dragon Fish Asian Café which is walkable for all of us. Here is a picture from The Colonels blog:

The Lady Colonel took this photo as they were passing in front of Dragon Fish Asian Café on their way to dinner on Friday (that story to come later). His blog comment had to do with the ladies in blue dresses dragging huge crosses down the street:

Now, I know I’m an old white guy, rather conservative, and from a small town, but there were lots of folks in Seattle that just left me shaking my head. We didn’t get to photograph many of them, but the following photograph of two women in long blue dresses, each woman carrying a cross, might give you a sense of what I’m speaking of.

Our dinner at Dragon Fish was wonderful – I’d worried that the menu might be a little adventurous for The Colonels, but it turns out they like everything we had and shared – and then back the next day for lunch – that’s a testament to the quality of the food (or the close proximity to The Camlin). Here is what we had (as best I can remember):

• CHICKEN POTSTICKERS 7
  garlic, ginger, cabbage, sweet hot soy sauce
  
• ASIAN CURRIED STEAK FRIES 3
  curry spice, ketchup
  
• KOREAN BULGOGI SKIRT STEAK * 8
  pickled cucumbers, sesame seeds
  
• GRILLED MISO RIBEYE * 11
  tempura onions, sweet miso sauce
  
• WAWAII ROLL WITH TOASTED COCONUT 12
  smoked salmon, macadamia nuts, blueberry wasabi sauce
  
• CHICKEN YAKISOBA (wheat noodles) 8
  vegetables, yakisoba sauce, sesame seeds, pickled ginger
  
• LIME RICKEY SHRIMP ** 8
  quick fried. peanuts, hichimi, lemongrass vodka sauce
  

Hung out at The Camlin with The Colonels for a bit after dinner, and headed home for tomorrow we are doing The Museum of Flight, then a tour of Madrona Wine Merchants, then dinner at my place.

Here are a couple of photos from our adventure at The Museum of Flight. But first a stop at The Taco Truck:

It was pronounced good – and a good thing I talked The Senior Colonel into only one burrito – those things are HUGE. Beef for The Senior Colonel, Spicy Pork for me (we both had burritos, a rare treat for me), and Lady Colonel has three tacos, one each beef, pork, and spicy pork.

Not a bad selfie with the three of us. First stop was the new building that I haven’t seen which is on the “air park” side of the museum, over the new bridge over East Marginal Way that I haven’t been over. The new building houses the mock-up of a space shuttle that we got from Houston – alas, no retired shuttle, just the full-size mockup. This will give you an idea of size:

And then to go crawl around some planes:

In front of a retired 707-based Air Force One – think ancient technology. And The Colonels inside a retired Concorde – like one I flew on several years ago.

The aisle is only 12″ wide, and seats more like 16″, and if you are over 6 feet tall you didn’t want a window seat since you’d have to bend your head for the entire flight. Here is photo from Pigletté Takes The Concorde for pictures from that trip:

That would be with the appetizer of caviar, smoked salmon and a lovely 1986 Pol Roger Cuvée Churchill Champagne.

Or doing Mach 2 (which is 1380 miles per hour) at 51,000 feet….while feasting on lobster rings with cucumbers accompanied by a 1994 Château Petit Village Pomerol. Damn tasty – don’t remember what the main course of wine was:

But enough of my old travels, let’s move back to the present – a final shot of The Senior Colonel in the grand hall of The Museum of Flight:

All tuckered out we headed back to my house to hang out in the semi-air conditioning (the bedroom, with a fan to push it into the living room). We chatted while I worked on dinner, figuring that a 6PM start would be better for The Colonels. The menu was:

• Fresh home-made bread
• Salad
• Rib-eye steaks off the grill

The plan for The Colonels the next day was to visit The Living Computer Museum, partly funded and supplied by Paul Allen of Microsoft fame. But alas, trying to track down medical information kept them in their room until it was time for dinner with Swanda – and quite a spread it was:

And the group shot with The Colonels camera, somehow minus The Caveman:

It was a fun dinner with The Lady Colonel bonding with The Caveman, Swanda’s partner. I left before The Colonels did which might be a record.

The following morning The Colonels were on the road to Kamloops, British Columbia. Guess it’s time for me to plan another trip to Kentucky, but not until they get back home.

For The Colonels blog of this trip, you can visit: http://froghollowfollies.blogspot.com/ once they are back from their trip (it’s private for the moment).

[223.2]

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

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

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

This trip I’m staying all over the place:

• First night = sis/bro –in-law
• Second night = WorldMark Santa Fe in a studio unit
• Third night = WorldMark Santa Fe in a one-bedroom unit
• Forth night = WorldMark Taos in a studio unit
• Fifth night = back to the sis/bro-in-law

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

The summer sunsets in Santa Fe are truly amazing…

And breakfast at the house isn’t bad either!

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

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

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

The final product will have more bling around the top.

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

Including a 3-liter bottle of rosé…

And those would be The Colonels…

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile, Kate had the Heavos Rancheros

None of us left hungry.

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

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

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

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

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

[218.8]

One of my traditions on the first night arriving in New Orleans is to wander down the street and go to Houstons. Yes, it’s a chain, albeit a small one, but I know there will be live jazz and that I can grab a spot in the bar and just eat good food and listen to good jazz. Isn’t that what New Orleans is about? Even better when you don’t have to fight the crowds in the French Quarter. Oddly enough, I pulled the dinner menu for the Kansas City branch (since I’ll be there in November) and I wasn’t as impressed – the New Orleans menu is much better.

This visit I took Dan along on my tradition. No Colonels as they were a bit under the weather.

That would be the band over our shoulders and Manhattans in front of our shoulders. And the food!

    

    

Clockwise from upper-left-hand: Hand-cut Fries, Oysters St. Charles, Skillet Cornbread, Gulf Coast Style Fish Sandwich. Not a dog in the lot. Yep, wees in nawlins.

If this blog post doesn’t make you hungry I pray for your soul.

Sightseeing for the first full day both The Colonels and I have the same idea, The Southern Food & Beverage Museum which was closed for relocation the last time I was in NOLA. But first, a visit to their on-site restaurant, Purloo (which is a traditional dish made with whatever meat happened to be leftover). The food did not disappoint (nor the atmosphere):

The bar (and the cute hipster bar tender) above, and The Colonels below:

And even though it’s only noon, I had to try their Old Fashioned which warrants a full-size photo AND the recipe: Bourbon or Rye with Demerara Syrup, El Guapo Chicory Pecan Bitters and Citrus Peel. I went for the Rye (and I remember a little mint in there as well).

And the food – not sure where the last photo is! Pretty sure Mr. Colonel had with Fried Chicken with Tasso Mac & Cheese and pickled Okra. Mrs. Colonel had the marinated flank steak over Thai noodles:

Dan had the fried catfish with stone ground grits and collard greens with a smoked tomato gravy…

And I went for a fairly light dish, the Crab Beignets:

Starting to worry about getting on the scales when I return home!

Well nourished, it was time for the Southern Food and Beverage Museum ($10 regular, $8 if you ate at Purloo, $5 Military) which also includes the The Museum of the American Cocktail and the La Galerie d’Absinthe. What’s NOT to love about this place!

And the cocktail section:

With the world’s largest cocktail shaker – 4 at a time!

And for my friend Joe (of Lisa), a collection of Tiki items (he has a Tiki bar in the basement in Indianapolis):

And we close with the pig:

As The Colonels age they are less and less up for going out to dinner, preferring some light appetizers inside, which is what we had before Dan and I headed out to dinner. The thought was The Blind Pelican half a dozen blocks away – but as it turns out it was “Friday Night Fight Night” (Military with ID get in free).

Yep, the blocked off the street and put up a covered fence. Second choice was VooDoo BBQ, which wasn’t as good as I remembered it, and with no bartender (on a Friday night no less), no Manhattan – I had to settle for an alcoholic slushy of some sort (which at least they refilled on the way out). We spilt one of the larger dinners:

And the funky interior hallway…

Saturday we made our way to La Place, Louisiana, home to some of the finest andouille sausage makers in the world, but first, lunch at The Cajun Invasion, this odd mix of Cajun and Vietnamese (which considering the number of Vietnamese shrimpers in Louisiana isn’t all that surprising):

Clockwise from upper left: Mrs. Colonel’s crawfish fried rice, Dan’s fried oyster po’boy, and my jambalaya and meat pie (was supposed to be crawfish, oh well). All surprisingly good for a strip mall restaurant in the middle of nowhere.

But the main reason for the trip was andouille sausage – The Colonels favor Jacobs (and they have it shipped), but reviews differ between first and second place for Baileys – and they are almost on top of each other. For me it was a contest of who had the surliest counter people.

Dan ended up with 1 pound of chicken, 1 pound of pork andouille from Baileys, and the same from Jacobs who smokes theirs for 20 minutes longer (according to local lore). Mrs. Colonel just got stuff from Jacobs.

Tonight we finally got to try the Blind Pelican, and boy did we try it!

Got a table outside with a view of the shrimp boiler:

But we weren’t here for the shrimp, we were her for the oysters! 5 dozen to be exact – three dozen raw, and two dozen charbroiled and topped off with a rack of ribs and coleslaw. During happy hour (4-8pm) oysters on the half shell are $3 a dozen (I kid you not) and $7.50 a dozen for the charbroiled – but you have to buy an “adult” beverage for every dozen you order. With Dan and I this wasn’t a problem.

It takes 4 line guys to shuck that many oysters for a full house:

And my aren’t they pretty:

They are VERY strict in their rules around happy hour oysters:

Sunday was a rainy inside day so we stuck close to home – we’d been making breakfast in the room with eggs, bacon, leftovers, and for lunch we went next door to Igor’s Bar, Grill, Laundromat, Library & Pool Hall. It was so weird to be in there with no one smoking, though 50 years of nicotine was still on the walls. Dan got the burger, I got the sausage sandwich:

Dinner tonight was at Basin on Magazine – a little too far to walk, so it was Uber time again! More oysters on the half shell:

Followed by the corn and crab bisque and seafood gumbo:

And the crispy pulled pork creation (half way through) that wasn’t that crispy:

Birthday breakfast at The Trolley Stop Café – a whopping $3.50!

Packed up the bags, stored them at the desk, and hung around the hotel reading and sitting in the sun – killing time until lunch, and then killing time until the airport.

Lunch was at Pho Orchid, also on the same block as the WorldMark New Orleans. Bun (meat over noodles with broth) for Dan, Korean Beef “tacos” for me.

And then it was time to Uber off to the airport – makes like our 5^th
Uber trip in NOLA. Alas, we are in different terminals (Dan going out Southwest, me going out Alaska), and even the airport lounge I have access i to is in yet a third terminal. We say goodbye at the curb.

[? ? ?]

Plane landed early, so The Colonels were still in route by the time I’d gotten my two checked bags. Suitcase and box of wine/cinnamon brandy.

Our plan for the afternoon is to hit the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History which used to be on the Air Force base, but after 911 and heightened security was moved to much larger facilities, eventually landing where they have space for extensive outdoor exhibits.

By the time we left we were starving – and a quick internet search turned up one of The Colonels favorite quick bit places.

fr

We all ordered the same Green Chile Cheeseburger with 100% Hatch Green Chilis. The Colonels opting for Chocolate Shakes, myself a Diet Dr. Pepper.

Stopped by their timeshare in downtown Santa Fe to have cocktails (me), wine (Madam Colonel), and nothing (Mister Colonel, who is the driver tonight).

Off to dinner at my sister and brother-in-law—a fabulous meal of pulled beef that we devoured (so much for leftovers for lunches)! Oddly, no group photo. Apparently, we were having too much fun.

No true for the dinner the next night – though it was only my sis (technically, my dead brother’s widow) and I – Kennan was off at some training where they were feeding him. Too bad, since he missed this:

Yep, those would be Gruet Rose bubbles – perfect with a three-pound bone-in pork loin.

I had them find a smaller one – should have bought the 4.5 pounder and just cooked it all up to have lots of leftovers…we put a serious dent in it. Now I know!

After dinner it was time to get out the atlas and talk about whether the Cape Verde Islands are African. I claim that they are African (definitely politically), The Colonels don’t, meaning we can’t claim that we’ve all been to all the continents together – I met them on a cruise to Antarctica, which started in Lisbon.

Tomorrow its off to Lamy to pick up the train to Los Angeles, and then onto Seattle.

[? ? ?]

Luckily my ferry back to Piraeus isn’t until almost noon, and I’d booked the cab yesterday so it’s a gentle morning travel day.

After another lovely breakfast buffet, it was pack and get out the door – in the company of two of the other guests who are sharing the cab. Actually, they picked up the cost of the cab so I bought them a coffee at the port:

Pretty much another scrum (though smaller) to get onto and settled on the ferry:

Those would be my cab-mates standing.

Uneventful journey, but massive rains in Piraeus….

And wet kids (and me!):

We waited it out…and by the time we arrived at the airport on the train we were pretty much dry. Said goodbye to Reuben and Jasmine who had a 9PM flight – mine is at 6:30AM, hence, the night in the Sofitel Athens Airport – which besides being more than I want to send ($200+, but it’s right across the street from the airport), at least it was a really nice room:

And the full-service 24-hour restaurant in the lobby serves REALLY TASTY food (and a good Manhattan as well):

Tempura cod sticks, aioli (the yellow sauce), steamed greens, potato balls, really good bread (which I actually had on since it was an olive bun).

I must have been exhausted from the trip since my last cocktail was at 6PM, water until bedtime at 9PM, as I’m up at 3:45am for my 6:30am flight to CDG (Paris). This is what 4AM looks like:

I was able to check-in on-line at the hotel AND get a printed boarding pass, so I actually had about an hour in the lounge:

And there was ICE at the open bar (I’m so easily amused):

It wasn’t until I was through final security that I realized there was no shopping! Shit – I still have two (well, I only had two) presents to try and buy:

• Clay figurine (for The Lady Colonel)
• Tacky T-Shirt (for Kathy)

Well, I thought there was no shopping until I saw someone with coffee – it was just a bit of a walk, and NOT MUCH selection. Imagine my surprise when I found both, though I had to take my second choice of t-shirts (in hind-sight I think I like it better anyway) – and the clay (more likely plastic or plaster) figurine came attached to a bag with a bar of olive oil soap – which The Lady Colonel requested from my upcoming fall trip to Paris/Epernay. Score! And JUST UNDER the deadline of boarding (15 minutes later).

Off to Paris – if only for a moment. This “business class” flight is a “little” better – the armrest, while not able to be put up, did move to the right an inch or two. And unlike on my previous flight, this one had the seatback that folds down for an extra tray table space:

Unlike on the “Main Line” flights – the attendants don’t seem to think aesthetics are important and leave the steamer covers on. Tacky if you ask me – even if there are only FOUR people (out of 20 seats).

And now Champagne, sigh. She even had to track down some Coke Zero – which at least came with caramels and chocolates….

Flight landed on time, BUT I have one hour forty-five minutes to change terminals AND go through border control (at least not baggage scan again). Even the Priority Line was sluggish – can’t imagine being able to do this without the Priority Line. I did get a moment in the Lounge (after a ten-minute wait to get in), with just enough time to look for a printer for my Alaska Boarding Pass (nope) and grab a drink and a bag of crisps (that would be potato chips to the non-British).

Finally, on the plane – this was my mood….

Luckily pre-flight Champagne helped, as did the after-takeoff Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve Scotch with a chaser of Coke Zero:

That would be an empty Mise en Bouche (bend spoon, a.k.a. “An Amusement”) of Scallop and Crispy Vegetables. Dinner itself (even though it was 11:30am and they called it “Lunch”) was smoked duck foie gras terrine, mango chutney with lime and ginger, mozzarella cheese timbale with pesto sauce, lime radish escabéche.

With a lovely glass of Côtes de Provence Château d’Olliéres Classic 2015 Rosè. The main (my choice of three) was the baked filet of beef with Banyuls wine, vegetable pearls and chestnuts with orange zest.

Did I remember to take a picture – no. But I had the 2011 St. Émillion Grand Cru Château Jean Faure. I didn’t even get a photo of dessert! I did get a photo of the forward lavatory – which, while not as nice as the SAS old Seattle-Copenhagen route, which was a “double-wide” with blinds and full-length mirror, this one was better than most, though I should have picked up the towellette before photo’ing.

At least you can “spread your legs” as the disgraced Idaho congressman introduced into our lexicon.

Watched a movie, took a nap, watched another movie and it was time for “breakfast”. This would be thyme potato crisp, sautéed asparagus, cèpe mushrooms with smoke-flavored cream, hazelnut cake, custard sauce, chocolate puff, and berry panna cotta. And look – more champagne!

Luckily I don’t eat like this every day!

The final picture, but not comment, is that these Air France 777-200’s are tired old beasts – I had a pop up screen (that you could angle for a better view), the seats behind me had small embedded screens:

The resolution is SOOOOO bad on these screens that any subtitles are virtually unreadable. Apparently, this fall, they will be all updated (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France). It can’t come soon enough. And hopefully they will move to lie-flat beds as part of the move.

Arrived YVR (Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaLand) and got through Border Control with just my on-line Alaska Boarding Pass (whew!) and rolled my case to the next available Alaska flight back to Seattle. I arrive around noon – and my official flight isn’t until 9:30pm – luckily the flight gods were with me again, scored a window exit seat on an almost completely full flight and I was home and in bed by 2:30pm – almost 8 hours early.

Slept for four hours, was up for four hours, took a sleeping pill and woke up at my normal time.

Yahoo! Home and rested.

[217.2]

Dear United Airlines…

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

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

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

Mark Stephen Souder

AND NOW BACK TO OUR REGULAR SCHEDULED PROGRAM….

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[? ? ?]

Yet again it’s another three day work week – and I can tell you are all crying tears. Colonel Eric who would say… “Working sucks, it’s better to be retired on a pension.” Others saying… “Please, take my five-day-a-week 9-5 job that is sucking the life out of me and not paying me a living wage.” Wouldn’t be so bad if I could kick this sinus/head/cold/infection, whatever it is.

Stopped by Safeway on the way home to pillage the 30%off racks and ended up with a few things like boneless pork loin chops, one of which I sliced up and coating in Emeril’s Essence which I’ve seen to lost the recipe for. Roll the chicken in the Essence, stir fry it up and at the last minute add some hot chili garlic sauce, put on a bed of tossed greens and open the wine.

The directory is finally printed, now I just need to muster the troops and get it folded and stapled tomorrow.

[208.6]

UPDATE: Found the spice recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/emerils-essence-recipe/index.html

Well – slow Sunday. Barely pulled it out except for the customer who showed up at 4:30, inquired about tracking down four different wines, and then went on to buy a mixed case that came to $284 something after the 10% discount and tax. Whew! Made it an OK Sunday.

With all that time, I started thinking about Pucci’s wedding this coming summer (assuming they can find a place in Ireland to hold it). After a Points Guy article on oneworld’s World Explorer fare I crafted this itinerary:

15 segments in 10 days, the only time stopping is for 3-4 days in Ireland for the wedding. Imagine this flight pattern:

Cost per mile for this $8522.15 turns out to be .19 which isn’t good, but if I kept them all on American, a couple of more trips on Alaska or American I’d have Gold on American, which doesn’t really do me good. If I put them on Alaska, only half the flights it would get me Alaska MVP status for next year with the 27,568 EQM Qualified Miles, almost enough for a Business Class ticket to Iceland (75,000 or onward to Europe 80,000), drop the cost per mile to .12 – but push up my qualification numbers for MVP Gold to 50,000 from 40,000.

Makes me dizzy just thinking about how many hours that is my butt in a seat in Economy and I’m sure Colonel Eric thinks I’ve lost my mind to even consider it.

Dinner at Swanda’s tonight – lovely broiled salmon, high heat roasted brussel sprouts, and a big salad. And he opened a bottle of white wine from his last month’s shipment. Score another one!

[215.0] OK, no more carbs.

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My last two days in Vietnam I’m on my own to explore the neighborhood (5^th Ward or whatever it is). Sean is at work, I sleep in.

Welcome to sights and scenes from Saïgon. Let’s start with traffic – on the back of a scooter:

There are other clips on YouTube at the same location of other experimental traffic shots. Breath deep, assume it will all come out right.

When I’m staying with folks in a different city, I just tend to pick a street and walk 5 or 10 blocks in each direction to see what I find…and with the maze of Saigon streets running at angles, I’m going for straight lines.

Hello Kitty! I found this store on the first walk:

They were having a 50% off sale and MAN was I out of place. Lots of pretty pink dresses, nothing in the laptop sleeve that I was looking for – luggage – they had that.

I should have spent more time looking for bargains – but I got the feeling they were a little freaked out by a 50+ year old white guy in their store.

You can get everything on the streets – plane tickets:

CDs/DVDs from guys that have their own battery mounted sound system:

Random food:

Then there are the random cathedrals:

Mixed in with upscale buildings wedged between crumbling ones…

And forget walking on the sidewalk, it is filled with scooters:

Walk, and you are in the street. Speaking of the street – I have a collection of “party” billboards – Vietnam still is a nominally communist country:

I’m sorry, but in the one below, Ho Chi Min is looking a little too much like Colonel Sanders, which is in Vietnam at this point.

To me this reminds me of the YMCA song so popular at weddings in the US:

And then there is TinTin – apparently he crosses all borders:

Other amusing street scenes include auto dealerships where there is a 200% import tax on cars that are not manufactured in Vietnam – FYI – Vietnam doesn’t manufacture any cars:

Public parks have exercise equipment for everyone to use. Hello USA!:

Random shot of a street restaurant:

It is the year of the monkey after all. Apparently I’m a FIRE MONKEY:

And the “party” is still alive – this Jeep waiting to go on Communist Patrol:

As my last night in town, Ming shows up for dinner, and to pick up a painting he is taking to his father as a house-warming gift – this isn’t the painting (which I should have taken a picture of), but a large 3-6 foot mural in the showroom – which happens to be on the corner of where I’m staying. “Painting” is a bit of a stretch – unless you call painting with ground up gem stones painting.

And then we were off to dinner – s hot pot place:

A nice final meal for Vietnam for late tonight I’m at the airport headed home.

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After dinner with Dan’s work buddy, back to the Metropolitan Lounge we go – to pillage some of their snacks to bring along on the train – like we aren’t getting enough food. They have us show up for boarding at 7:10, and we do, in fact, board shortly after. Seems they board sleeping car passengers before the 8pm dinner cut-off so we can all have a real dinner.

Dinner on the train – steak. Not worth the $22 that it is on the menu, but since it was included – damn fine. At least for breakfast they had all the options, though Dan compared the “Railroad French Toast” to Denny’s right down to the Maple Flavored Syrup.

Lunch I went healthy – after yesterday’s no greens – NEEDED GREENS – and not the kind cooked in ham hocks, although those are mighty fine as well:

Dan went for the Turkey Meatballs with pasta – the meatballs were good (he let me have half a one) but it’s in a tomato sauce that would give me heartburn.

We get out at Jackson, Mississippi where a buddy of mine lives – but they don’t let non-ticketed folks onto the platform like many other cites – so I have yet to meet Ed in person. Ed is an old LRYer that grew up with many of the same people I did – and we share some interests – letterpress for one. He has a working linotype that he uses set the smaller lead type that my eyes are too old for. He also has a dozen jukeboxes that he services with vintage and new 45’s. Did I mention that he also has a (well, several) 35mm projector that he hauls out in the summer for movie nights to show his collection of “B” movies in their original format. Someday I’ll have to book a ticket where I can stop and sit a spell (as they say in the south).

As we leave Jackson, Mississippi, I shot this odd little scene from the front sleeper car hooked up in its normal configuration – closest to the engine after the baggage car (and transition sleeper for those two-night trains).

Not sure why I took this shot – other than it shows the beautiful clouds and trees of the south:

We while away the hours (the train, is, of course, running late) hanging out in the cabin making cocktails….

And eating jerky since my salad has long passed through my system:

And just watching the scenery roll by:

Before you know it, New Orleans is upon us – the view from the lot of the Amtrak station:

Not a bad view from our one-bedroom unit at the WorldMark Avenue Plaza…

Had a brief visit with The Colonels – they had to cancel picking us up at the train station due to some digestive problems on the part of Mrs. Colonel. They are staying at the Avenue Plaza but in one of the Wyndham units. Luckily Uber started up in New Orleans four months ago. Click on the Uber link and get a free ride (up to $20) and I get one too!

New Orleans here we are!

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With my not packing much yesterday I was figuring that my planned noon departure for Portland would be much later than that. Now THAT’S a stuffed car:

The load coming back will be much lighter since the case and a half of wine and all the directories and printed good won’t be there.

Actually I made it out of the house by 12:30 and headed north (yes, I know Portland is south) to mail a bunch of articles I’d clipped on the SF trip last week and a book on the history of Whiskey called Chasing The White Dog to the Colonel. For more on the book click here: https://blog.unclemarkie.com/2013/02/01/just-dinner-with-the-boysand-im-not-cooking/.

Then it was off to Kinko’s (oops, that would be FedEx Office) to get the sign-up sheets cut in half – they didn’t even charge me saying they felt bad having made me wait five minutes to get service. That and it would have taken them more than five minutes to actually ring up the sale. But thanks Kinkos!

Then it was onto the freeway headed south.

Stopped for aspirin, gas and a burger in North Vancouver (USA, not BC) and was amused to see this sign on the counter at Burgerville (my weakness – at least I don’t get the fries):

Apparently they think white wine goes with burgers since the only red (which I had) was the Merlot.

Did some power discount shopping at Freddies (Fred Meyer) – seems they are having a 60% off already marked down prices. Picked up:

• Black Dockers Cords ($15)for me
• Women’s Playboy Underwear ($6) for a gift
• Homer Simpson Boxers ($4) for the Seaside boy
• Matching Elf underwear and hat ($3) for me
• Flannel PJ Bottoms, Flame Pattern ($8) for me

Total was $36.78 for a bag of clothes – cheaper than the original price on the pants.

Dinner tonight (since the nephew is in class until 9:30) was at the Fish Wife on Lombard:

A couple of appetizers, a Bloody Mary that came with an oyster shooter, and a bottle of wine since it was half-off Tuesday on full bottles. Took the rest on for Julian (the nephew) to have with his late night dinner.

I was actually in bed at a decent hour, which is good since I’m still fighting this head cold.

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We planned this trip months ago. The plan was fly to Chicago, spend the night, get on a train, spend the night in Cincinnati, get picked up in Kentucky by The Colonels for a couple of days in Kentucky.

Got to Chicago, oddly, we both had Chicago Transit Authority cards with money on them. Don’t we look great on the train?

We are headed to the world-class Travelodge Chicago in the Loop Neighborhood. TONS of college in the neighborhood, and inexpensive by downtown Chicago standards. They had a room ready for us, which after a long flight.

Not modern, but clean. This is the “deluxe” version of the two-bed. Good view of the city.

We were hungry, so I chose Devil Dawgs, thinking I’d eaten there on a previous trip. I hadn’t.

Chicago dog for Rache, Polish Chicago for me.

It was nap time after!

There was a wonderful feature of the hotel, no longer in use…trash chute. That should tell you the age of the building.

Rache ordered deep dish pizza in from Mainatis, delivery by someone’s grandfather.

WAY too much food for two people! Because of the tomatoes sauce (even with fresh wine-ripened tomatoes, I still had to take three antacids.

Here is where the story diverges from what the “plan” was.

We were planning on travelling this way to Cincinnati – in a private train car in swivel lounge seats:

Our seats were to be the furthest back in this section. I like the intimacy, rather than the seats in the bubble dome which were $120 more each, and you are sitting face-to-face with strangers.

Instead, here were our seats on the way to Cincinnati:

This is why you should always have a stash of miles to use if your travel plans change unexpectedly.

There were some amusing things in the Chicago Airport, like a Cannabis Disposal Bin if you forgot you had pot with you:

And a lounge that we both had access to with our Alaska Lounge membership:

With a VERY nice bathroom!

Hello Cincinnati – and an airport in another state, and now Uber/Lyft drivers – unless you book a Lux and it’s sitting in a lot waiting for you (after finding the lot with seriously BAD signage). I got the feeling that there was a cabal about airport service, but I also didn’t want to rent a car for one day and pay to park it downtown (which turned out to be $39 a night).

We got to our hotel: The 21^st C Museum Hotel Cincinnati, now part of the Accor chain. I’ve stayed at the one in Kansas City as well. Not inexpensive, but worth the money.

I’ll post in the next couple of days a review of the hotel, which was STUNNING, as was the meal. I’ll try and update the link to the hotel post HERE.

The Colonels picked us up the next morning for a couple of days in Kentucky at Frog Hollow Farm, their 5-acre estate outside of Richmond. Food is king here:

First night’s dinner:

And then there was the dinner party the next night for neighbors and Rache and I’s mutual friend Barb from Lexington, just up the road a bit:

And because they have cats – which I am allergic to, a couple of cute cat pictures. Cat in a box, cat standing guard over the stairway:

I brought The Colonels a canvas print – I had frames shipped to them because I couldn’t get them at home.

Didn’t realize the Mr. Colonel was a sci-fi fan – I brought this one because it had a frog in it. I’m leaving the other three frames and I’ll ship him more images for them for his unplanned “sci-fi bathroom”.

Friday, they dropped us back at the Cincinnati Airport where we had both an unforgettable and corporate complaint snack before the plane.

Only when I blew up the photo did I see actual evidence of mask violations by the staff – days after I filed a complaint on the server and the bartender. I was surprised at the quick response to my complaint, so I’ll give them that much. And on the food side, the parmesan tots were overcooked to the point that they were all crunch. Race said the wings were mid-range, but he liked the cornmeal breading. The joys of covid-related limited menus and staff issues.

I’ll post the hotel review in the next couple of days.

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For more blog posts, click here.

First off, let’s get a better picture of Koral, who at the summer camp in Flathead Lake in Montana, the staff referred to him as Charley since Carol is a woman’s name, unless you are a retired ex-Air Force Lt. Colonel who travels with me.

I called him Karol, with a more guttural East German accent.

The pic:

Guess I should have taken a second picture just to be sure. You can’t see the blue eyes.

He was up and out before I was out of bed – off to the EMP (Experience Music Project), Space Needle, Monorail, Pike Place Market…. Got a text at 5 saying he’d be back by dinner time – but he got a little lost and was back at 9 rather than 7, Mags and I saved him leftovers which he snarfed.

Pork loin roast over a bed of roasted root vegetables, a big salad, the left over bread.

A good time. Life is hard.

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I do believe that today is the last sunny day for the storms headed in after dinner with power outages and whatnot further north. Oh well, spring was nice.

The Colonel (one of two) sent me a much better picture of a B-17….

Though the actual one that I had a chance (if I was willing to pay) was this one….

If you want to fork over $430 for a ride, check out their website at: http://www.libertyfoundation.org/index.html. No clue how long the flight is.

For me today, just working, running errands, and starting to pack for the two upcoming back-to-back trips. 4 days on the Washington Coast in Long Beach playing poker with the boys in a 3-bedroom presidential condo on the water, and then back to Seattle to catch my flight to Fairbanks for a 13-day land/cruise package.

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Most of day one was spent in the air getting to Panama. No real problems in the air, but a very short layover in Miami so it was basically go from one gate to the next where they were already boarding. Not the way that I like to do it.

My seat mate for some reason reminded me of Robert Vesco — a well-dressed older Hispanic man who looked like he was on the run with a suitcase full of money. Needless to say, no conversation.

The Caravan folks were their to meet me outside departure. I was the first of our group of four people off this plane. One other single (guy) traveller from Key Largo, and a couple that looked close to death. Hopefully this won’t be a sign for what the age of the total group of 44 people is like.

Weather: 95 degrees, 80 percent humidity.

Today (and tomorrow’s) hotel: Courtyard by Marriott. Nicely appointed rooms, free Internet, free bottled water (one a day — though the tap water is safe throughout the country), and buffet style dinner and breakfast.

Checked in by 3:15, and by 4 I was settled, on the internet, and on the way to explore the mall next door hoping for a grocery/liquor store somewhere inside. As it turns out with my limited Spanish — Mercado (market) luckily one of the words I know — found a full-size full-service market on the second floor in the back.

What did I buy to go with my Coca-cola Light?

Now I’m not sure how you can make a whiskey in Panama with a name like Kentucky Cream, but for $5.20 it seemed like something to take a flier on. The Senior Colonel’s (from Kentucky) question in email? How does it taste? The answer is like whiskey tainted rum. Perfectly suitable for mixing.

The “all-hands” meeting as at 6pm in one of the ballrooms (which later had a flamenco contest, though not for us, but I did see some of the costumed dancers in the hallway).  I’m definitely at the younger end of the scale for the 44 people on this tour, but not as bad as I was expecting from the airport this afternoon.

Dinner buffet style was good. Went back for two helpings of the salad — need my greens. I went for the steak (having had fish for the last couple of meals) which was a little tough in places, but I actually got her to cook it medium-rare, and it was almost an inch thick in places — a rarity for steaks in most other countries.

Headed back to the room to finish “Rough Justice” and go to bed early. Tomorrow is in the lobby at 9am (which isn’t bad for a tour).

One little dram of Kentucky Cream before bed.

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Or maybe the title of the post should be “Three Buses and a Black Jesus”.

Total was a whole lot of time on buses, not something that I like in a holiday. Doesn’t help that I have to share unlike the Copper Canyon trip where I had two seats to myself. Oh well.

An early morning of up and out at 8am, which for practical purposes means up at 6, luggage ready at 7, then off to breakfast.

First stop this morning was the sleepy colonial town of Portobelo, an old gold/silver route city defended with forts, sacked by Henry Morgan (hence, Capt. Morgan rum), and originally a stop of Sir Francis Drake himself who is buried off a small island in the harbor in a lead casket.

Portobello has been around since the 1500’s and these days is known for the procession to see the Black Jesus. It seems that the Catholics were doing their conversion thing and sent them a Jesus with more appropriate coloring to the locals.

And then the bus trouble started. A loud bang… dog? Nope, inside rear tire. Slow down, keep going towards Colon where we rendesvous with another bus to take us to lunch at the Radison Colon 2000 (the port).

After another buffet meal we were treated to another, as the Senior Colonel would say, a folkloric show. I was in the restroom while the young men were changing. Talk about dawdling in the loo.

It does seem odd to see all these folkloric shows in hotel conference rooms and lobby bars.

And after a little shopping at the mall next door (did you know you can get rum in a 1 liter juice box — that would have been handy for the Grand Canyon Trip)… wait for it…. another bus. We are now up to three different buses for the day. I will say one thing, even with the problems, we are only running about 1-1.5 hours behind where we should be.

No stops in Colon proper for “safety reasons”. Apparently Colon is the much poorer relative to Panama City, but still has some of that old world (and now fairly tatty) charm.

Next up it the Gatan locks where we don’t disembark, and the drive-by of some of the construction of the new larger canal that is slated to open in 2014, and then onto the Raddison Summit Hotel and Golf Course… in the middle of a rain forest preserve. Not sure how the got to build here — maybe it’s just a Panama thing.

The hotel is brand-spanking new — to the point that not all the landscaping is finished but I only noticed that from my balcony with the view of the top of the towers supporting the Bridge of the Americas (which we see tomorrow and is featured on the license plate I bought as a souvenir). And man, what a shower — it’s small river rocks on the floor, a nice feel to the feet:

Went down to dinner at 7 with my latest book: Esperanza’s Box of Saints and found a quiet table for a bit, until more tour folks can to chat and eat. At least I have them trained to leave me alone in the morning while I read and have breakfast.

Dinner was yet another buffet… with 44 people on the tour, that’s about your only sane option. Ordered a couple of glasses of wine and on the third the waiter asked if I wanted to just buy the bottle, said yes, and because of some accounting thing he brought me a fresh bottle which I thought he’d just start pouring from, but, no, I got it, plus the three glasses for $20. I have enough left over for tomorrow’s dinner wine!

Back to the room to watch CNN on the 37″ LCD TV — you can see the room tour by clicking through on yesterday’s scoller bar.

Out by 9am tomorrow, gee, I get to sleep in to 7am!

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Well, the Señor Colonel took an “administrative day” today – meaning no tourist activities – just hanging out in their timeshare in his jammies.

While not doing a ton of stuff I did check out NOLA’s newest Streetcar line that goes up Canal to Tulane and onto the Amtrak/Greyhound station. Reports from the Colonels were that when they were there years ago it was a bit tatty. Not so today:

Built in 1954, I have no idea when it was remodeled.

Nice murals on the walls. And nice that Greyhound is integrated into the station which also has a bus stop and the streetcar stop. Wish Seattle would to that.

Had lunch at VooDoo BBQ on St. Charles – it wasn’t as good as I remember, but you have to love a place that has $3 Grey Goose Vodka drinks all day at the bar. Yes, I had a Martini (though my mother would say that there is no such thing as a Vodka Martini.

For our final NOLA dinner we are headed to Huck Finns which is on the same block as the Colonels timeshare:

And yes, I did have the Honey Island Gator Platter which in addition to the battered and deep-fried gator bits also had an amazing gator sausage. Yum. As usual, too much food.

And a tattoo on our VERY tattooed waitress:

Apparently lots of her male relatives worked for CocaCola.

Headed back to my timeshare for a quiet evening of TV and packing.

On an early evening flight home tomorrow.

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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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Now that we are on the prairie the train has picked up speed . . . lots of speedy – – 65-70mph according to the GPS unit hooked to the computer which for the evening I had mounted in the rack over the bed:

The down side of all this speed is the train is rocking back and forth so much that it’s impossible to sleep on your side as the train keeps wanting to roll you over. My problem is that I’ve trained myself to sleep on my side to minimize snoring. It’s hard to break that training in one day.

After my Trans-Continental breakfast of two eggs sunny side up, grapefruit juice, coffee, rye toast, ham and hash browns, it was back to bed to get another three hours sleep. Had fresh clothes and fresh teeth for breakfast, but didn’t get to the shower room until before lunch. FYI, nicer shower rooms than on Amtrak, more space in the dressing room area.

A note for the Colonels, maybe you should think about taking “The Canadian” when you come to visit Seattle. Food is equal or better, and they have a curtained at night berths where you could each get lower berths — and the seats look comfortable as they do recline a bit (or a lot, but that makes it a bed).

Much cheaper for a compartment with a door, and there is a couple on board from Michigan/Florida (depending on the time of year) who seem quite comfortable with that set up. The picture is a seat for ONE person. Plenty wide.

And how have I been spending my time on board?

• Looking out the window
• Eating three meals a day with strangers
• Finished Imbibe magazine (needs to be split between Swanda, Pucci, and a Colonel when I get home)
• Finished Popular Mechanics magazine (bits to Cochran, and got a great idea for an adhesive for one of the products I’m working on)
• Finished the last New Yorker from Swanda (passed along to fellow passengers)
• Finished Paul Theroux’s The Old Patagonia Express (goes to Brother Jon, then Jameson)

Funny thing about that book – – I thought it was going to make me more excited about the possibility of using miles to get to either Quito or Lima, and then onto Cusco for the train to both Macchu Pichu and Lake Titicaca . . . it seems to be having the opposite effect, it’s making me want to go back to Argentina and finally explore wine country (even though it’s more Frequent Flier miles).

Today’s video clip:

Dinner was the prime rib of beef that looked so good I ordered the most expensive bottle of red on the menu — a red out of the Okanagan at $49 a bottle. The Caesar salad before was nice an anchovy, but the steamed veg a little soggy. And no rolls, but great company as I got to sit at the kiddy table — two asian lads half my age (Korean and Chinese).

Got to end this post as we arrive in Winnipeg at 8:30pm and need to get it uploaded after I tip the conductor for keeping me supplied with ice for the last couple of days. After having trained him to bring a bucket of ice while I’m at lunch and refill it while I’m at dinner, now I need to train another attendant since he gets off in Winnipeg tonight.

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It being Monday that means a few more hours of work getting ready for the weekly marketing meeting tomorrow. Hard to believe that I’m approaching the two year mark on a 3-month contract. Let’s hope it lasts.

Getting closer to figuring out how to ride in what the Senior Colonel calls “The Gooney Bird”… the DC-3 run by Buffalo Airways out of Hay River, Northwest Territories. Having abandoned my original plan (because it was close to a grand), I had an epiphany. The answer:

• Frequent flier miles to Edmonton ($45 in fees)
• Enterprise rent-a-car, weekend rate ($65, plus gas)
• Drive 12.5 hour north to Hay River
• Grab the Saturday morning flight ($242 round-trip rather than $327 weekday)
• Stay in Yellowknife Saturday night ($80-$150 a night)
• Fly back to Hay River Sunday afternoon
• Drive back to Edmonton, maybe a motel half way down ($ ?)
• Fly out of Edmonton on Monday evening.

That brings it to about $500 which is doable. No frequent flier miles unless I stay in the Coast Tower Yellowknife. Oh, and maybe some for the car as well.

Just a tough Filet Mignon, salad, leftover wine and bread for dinner.

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