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).

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First errand of the day is in search of a live Christmas Tree – first stop is the nursery where I found this lovely pre-decorated tree:

Yes, it is now snowing in Santa Fe.

Today’s lunch date is with the Colonels – no Mom though, she’s still not ready for friends, just family.

The Colonels are on their cross-country jaunt and are in Santa Fe for a week which is why I stayed an extra day rather than working tomorrow. Off to Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen for lunch:

Kate had the Taco Plate, Eric the Adovado, me the Green Chilli Phillie. It was all pretty good, and reasonable, hence why the colonels were there.

While I was out at lunch more changes came to the Christmas table:

Presents and wise men appeared, as did presents, some of which are labeled to my father (from his sister) which is sort of weird for me, but guess it’s better than hiding them.

Spent a lot of the afternoon and evening talking this and that with mom, some serious, some, light. And a bunch of time digging stuff out of the storage locker – seems that I’m taking home a stand mixer and Cuisinart that my mother has no intention of ever using again. Looks like I’m back to two checked bags, again. Also got out the answering machine for the phone and installed that so mom can screen her calls. More leftovers for my dinner – that takes care of them all but the home fries for which there are a couple of eggs to go with.

In a strange twist of fate, mom got an email from these folks with an interesting train/boat 16-day Hawaii adventure this spring:

http://uncommonjourneys.com/destination/usa-hawaii/hawaii-calls/

She emailed my Aunt to see if she might like to go along. Sounds fun, not that I have 16 days (plus the train travel days).

Signing out for the night.

Be well all, and hug your loved ones.

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Bluegrass country, but it’s dark when I arrive…

And the reason for my visit.

And the second reason for the trip…a new Buc-ee’s!

Really, just hanging out with the Colonels.

Lovely to see them, for more blog posts click here.

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Oh, the joys of sleeping in. And sleep in, I did. Made it to 10am. Rache had advised The Colonels to not worry about me, that I’d gladly eat leftover biscuits and gravy. Luckily, the gravy was simmering when I padded downstairs in my bathrobe for coffee.

No picture, sadly – but MY they were tasty!

What I did get were some exterior shots of The Colonels Southern Hospitality base they call, Frog Hallow:

After I’d showered and shaved, we were off to today’s distillery, about 45 minutes from The Colonels in the town of Danville. Wilderness Trail Distillery is the name, and once again, showed up at 15 after for an “on the hour” tour. We went off and explored the countryside a bit before returning. Even found a little tobacco growing (sadly, not “wacky tobaccy”:

Back at the distillery:

Loved their sink stand in the bathroom – of course, I would have had it open up, in the form of a cabinet. No room in my current house for it.

Here are some shots from out tour – starting with the lab, which is unusual in that it was the original beginning of the distillery – they made under contract lots of yeast for various distilleries, troubleshot other people’s yeast problems – and now offer master distilling courses. Cart before the horse, as it was. For Wilderness Trail, they use a “sweet mash” process where is where all new yeast is used in the batch, as opposed to a “sour mash” process that holds back a portion of the previous run.

It all starts with the grain:

And then the cooking in the mash and still room:

That’s a lot of creamed corn!

All of the corn in their product (minimum 51%) comes from fields less than 30 miles away.

This is their centrical force proof safe where I had a sample of the 132-proof white dog:

And here is their bottle line – defiantly low-tech.

They are due to release their first bourbon this December – having aged it four years – that’s how young this distillery is. Th current releases are a dark rum (local sorghum) aged in old Four Roses barrels. They will switch to their own used barrels starting in December when they bottle their first Bourbon.

The tour and tasting was $7 (free for active/retired military/police/fire) and included a free shot glass.

One the way back to The Colonels, we stopped for an afternoon snack – and something else Rache had heard of, but never tried:

Yep, a rolling White Castle food truck. Makes me wonder if the pad they are working on is going to be the new home of a White Castle Burger stand.

Or other stop was a return to a Liquor Barn because I’d seen an Old-Fashioned glass with a retro Indiana postcard image on it at the store in Lexington.

I didn’t see any on the shelf in glassware, but I must have had a puzzled look as staff came up to help. She found a pair in a gift basket, which she gladly cut open to sell us just the glasses. GREAT customer service! And yes, they did have 32 Craft Beers on tap – I barely got Rache out of there since you could buy and try.

Before long we were back in our temporary home, each of us taking quick naps since The Colonels had invited neighbors over for dinner. At this point, I let Rache take over since neither of us have pictures, and he is more eloquent than I, and I’ve included his observations of yesterday’s visit to Barb as well:

Besides bird-dogging booze, Markie also included some visits of people he has known through his extensive travels. Barbara recently moved to a new (to her) home in Lexington. Even tho’ she was in the middle of a kitchen remodel, Barbara took time to greet Markie and me. Those two had a chance to catch up while I slowly made friends with Barbara’s dog Petey. It took a while form to feel comfortable with us, but he finally did. That pooch is full of personality.

And we ended up spending two nights with Eric and Kate. They are retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonels and are just full of Southern hospitality. The first night, Kate made a southern dinner of fried pork chops, green beans, fresh black-eyed peas, summer squash, and some stuff I’m forgetting. It was all delicious. We finished the night sitting outside and observing the fireflies. 

The next night, after Markie’s and my visit to Wilderness Trail, our hosts invited some neighbors to a lovely dinner party. I gotta tell you, this evening was like a festive scene out of Steel Magnolias. Kate outdid herself with putting together a lovely spread for nine of us that culminated with a stunning key lime cheese cake that she made. It was all just over the top amazing. 

Kate and Eric were incredibly gracious hosts and comfortable to be with. Friday morning felt like saying adieu to longtime friends. And I’m now Facebook friends with the neighbors.

I had worried that Rache wouldn’t have a good time – but I think I can put that to rest!

Eventually we headed to bed, as an early alarm was going off for me (another reason to sleep in yesterday!).

Tomorrow we are headed home, many things unseen, a reason for another visit.

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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.

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So, last week I was in the low 80’s, this week I’m lucky if it gets UP to 20. One morning it was 14 below! Fortunately, I don’t live here, but have to fly in.

That’s a lot of stuff for three nights – but it includes New Year’s presents.

Might as well start off the day with a Caesar – that’s a Bloody Mary made with Clamato, a Canadian Favourite.

It’s a Q-400 from Seattle to Bozeman where Steve will be picking me up. He will be my chauffeur for the next four days. We’ll be staying at the WorldMark West Yellowstone, right next to The Colonels!

Yep, that’s a whole lot of snow – which they don’t completely scrap off so that the snow machines rubber tracks don’t get ground off – the whole town of West Yellowstone has groomed snow on the streets.

Nice little unit (2-bedroom). I was seeing if the fisheye lens I brought would work on the new phone…

And the view from the deck:

We did a grocery and liquor run, where the liquor store (turns out to not be the cheap one) is part of a casino…

Spent the evening with The Colonels killing off the Bourbon I brought…good thing Tuesday is a planned “relax from the journey” day with an UncleMarkie Sunday Roast over a bed of potatoes and onions.

Wednesday is the BIG day of the trip – when The Colonels and I do a snow coach tour of the Yellowstone Valley.

The snow coaches come in many varieties…

Lots of winter visitors to Yellowstone, even with it closed down – the concessioners are splitting the cost of grooming the roads. Ours was a bit of a tight fit.

Lots of photo ops:

Yes, that is a coyote in the upper picture. Seen today: Bison, Coyote, Swans, Ducks, and Wolves feasting on a Bison carcass that was too far off to get a phone camera picture.

Left at a little after 8am, got back to the condo about 4:30pm – a LONG DAY in an airport shuttle (which our snow coach was the size of).

Headed home Thursday (after a pizza dinner hosted by The Colonels) – and the snow was coming down:

Left the condo right at the noon checkout, but my flight wasn’t until 7pm so I went to the airport really early. This was at the check-in counter:

Since I was there hours early, I set up my office to do some work on the wine shop taxes…

Not a bad view – there are mountains out there when there aren’t clouds.

Got home around 11PM.

Guess I’d better start repacking for the next trip!

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For more blog posts, CLICK HERE.

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.

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All packed and ready to go:

More presents buried under the shirts… and here is the whole stack of what is going with me:

Can you say “Christmas Presents”? Good thing I get two free checked bags on Alaska.

Uber (click on link to get free $20 ride for you and me when you sign up) to the airport, man is that convenient! And somehow I got the last first class seat 2F a day and a half before the flight – which is odd because it should have loaded me at 72 hours. Not complaining and I made the woman next to me VERY happy when I lent her my tablet stand.

Really nice lunch on board – Green Chile Chicken (how New Mexican!). Wish they had put another tortilla on the plate.

And a nice view from the window seat, which I don’t usually get:

Got into Albuquerque early, got the luggage, got the car, and crammed everything in…good thing it’s just me in this tiny car:

No snow, good weather, all is good and before you know it (well, an hour plus later), I’m in Santa Fe at El Castillo with Mom waiting.

Tonight’s dinner was from 5-Star Burgers which I picked up after hitting Albertsons for booze to pack home. I wasn’t impressed with 5-Star Burgers. The burger looked OK, but even though I had a take-out menu with crab cakes on the menu – they weren’t available. And the Caesar I chose instead did not have the “shaved” parmesan, but as the beertender (where you order to-go) said was absent because “there was lots of parmesan in the dressing”. So – basically some chopped up Romaine with a container of dressing.

No sleeping in the following morning as The Colonels are picking me up at 10am for a run to Taos to see the Millicent Rogers Museum to see the exhibition “Fred Harvey and the Making of the American West“.

No pictures allowed inside, but here is the outside with The Colonels:

A late lunch afterwards at Michael’s Kitchen Café in downtown Taos, just across the street from the WorldMark Taos where I have booked The Colonels into next July in exchange for some of their Wyndham Points they used to book me into the Royal Gardens in Waikiki in March with my buddy Bliss.

At Michael’s there is this FUNNY sign posted by the two handicapped parking spaces (The Colonels have handicap plates):

We probably shouldn’t have had that big a late lunch as we are due at El Castillo’s private dining room at 6 (with cocktails at the apartment starting at 5). With seven you get eggrolls – just kidding. Seven is the magic number for reserving the private dining room.

It was a good meal even with the rather unexciting buffet choices of the evening – but they did have liver and onions which made at least three people in the crowd very happy and they even did up a fresh batch for us!

A dusting of snow greeted me in the morning:

Not enough to muck up my drive back to Albuquerque where I pick up Dwight for the remaining chunk of this trip – and a separate blog post.

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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.

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A whirl wind day…

Breakfast at Tia Sofias with the Colonels, then back to the condo for a bit before deciding to go to Trader Joes and restock the liquor cabinet at home since the Colonels gave me a liquid Christmas gift, so checking a bag is now mandatory.

Next up was an abbreviated catch-up session with my high school friend Robbie. Sort of hard to catch up on 35 years in 35 minutes.

Then off the parents house in Eldorado for a little computer work. Finished getting the files on her system, installed a wi-fi stick (though there isn’t a signal, I just happened to have a spare) and got her system security updated. Oi.

Then back to the city with the parents following shortly behind — time to check them into their condo (at the other end of the complex).

The Colonels joined us about 5 for a quick cocktail before heading to Café Pasqual. Makes me wish that my friend Lynn from Lopez was here as she loves the place.

I was hoping for a little more time with Robbie, but alas, he had duties with his wife and child.

Crazy day. Just nice at the end of it to sit quietly with a cocktail.

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Wake-up call for 8am. That means I got 7 hours sleep. Crawled back into yesterday’s clothes and it shows. Went downstairs for the complimentary “hot breakfast” and was amazed to find that it really was a hot breakfast. Waffles if you wanted to make them, eggs that were oddly bland even with obvious burnt marked on the bottom portions, very good biscuits and gravy and all the usual cold stuff. Back to the room for reading, resting, and waiting for the Colonels.

The Colonels arrived a little after 11am and off to Charleston proper we went. First stop was lunch at Hyman’s Seafood (since 1890).

Massive menu, but we all ended up with various PoBoys after the fritters and calamari appetizers. I had the Charleston Lumb Crab Cake PoBoy, Kate had the broiled scallop PoBoy (about 12 big scallops on that thing) and Eric had the shrimp PoBoy (with about an ocean of shrimp on it — see below).

And a group shot of all of us courtesy of Ashley (oddly enough, a male, though most likely a gay male).

After lunch, a little walk about. We definitely needed it after the quantity of food they serve.

By mid-afternoon we were on Edisto Island on the South Carolina coast with stops at the vegetable stand for some outstanding farm tomatoes, and the Piggly Wiggly for last minute supplies of coffee, Diet Coke, postcards, and a stunning pink “I’m Big On The Pig” Piggly Wiggly t-shirt.

A lovely late meal of steak and baked potatoes. Good to see the Colonels after too long an absence.

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I found out that there is a difference between the WorldMark units and the Wyndham units at the Avenue Plaza beside the resort guide they put in the room. The Wyndham units you have to check out by 10am, and the WorldMark units by noon – not that it makes much difference since the Colonels have to check out at 10am and are heading over to pick me up.

But first another run to Igors for t-shirts. Kate wants another one in Large for the other daughter… and what the hell, I picked up one for myself as well. Sorry for the fuzzy shot.

To kill the time before my flight, and the Colonels need to get to Pensacola we are headed to the National World War Two Museum. Man that thing is big.

This is just ONE of the four buildings. Talk about an endowment.

Learned lots of new and interesting stuff – watched all of the 5-10 minute video reels mostly because it was a chance to get off me feet for a bit.

Several hours later we were all tired and hungry and headed to the snack bar for hot dogs – not going to be a low-carb day for me I can see. Then it was off to another of the buildings, this one sponsored by Boeing which looks like an overgrown boy’s bedroom with full-scale airplanes hanging from the ceiling:

I like the fact that you had several catwalks to get a view from – and a warning that if you have vertigo or are afraid of heights – DO NOT go to the 3^rd and 4^th floors where the catwalks are. I don’t, but it was still a little disconcerting.

Then it was time to run me to the airport (thanks, Colonels) and for them to head to Pensacola. Got to the Louis B. Armstrong International Airport 3 hours ahead of my flight… which is just fine. Time for another hot dog to tide me over until my dinner flight to San Francisco at 6:50pm

I can already say that I LOVE the new airline rules of allowing your small electronic devices to remain on gate-to-gate that just went into effect on United (and Alaska as well). It’s really nice to be able to have your noise-cancelling headphones powered up for the noisiest part of the flight. Can’t wait until my tablet comes back from the shop (should have been delivered today to the shop.)

Another couple of hours at SFO – meaning another snack – this time Mongolian beef from the Chinese place. No rice. Back to the diet – I can only imagine what tomorrow’s weigh-in will be like after five days in NOLA.

The SFO-SEA plane was one of United’s new “Sky Interior” 737s – slick. Love the lighting. Makes me wonder if they will retrofit their older 737s.

Didn’t get home until two in the morning. Didn’t get to bed until 3 winding down from all the travel excitement.

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Well — after much back and forth between the Colonels (thinking about it) and Babs The Travel Agent Queen, I’ve booked the April 5th Caravan Panama Tour. I fly out on the 4th (unfortunately that means a red-eye flight) and arrive early afternoon on the 5th. Coming home on the 13th.

Here is the itinerary:

One of the things I like about this is that you have fours sets of two-night stays. The other thing I like is that the single supplement is $300, which is worth it to have a room to myself. Used 60,000 Alaska frequent flier miles (plus $92.50 in taxes and fees) to get a Business/First Class ticket — SEA-DFW-MIA-PNY-MIA-ORD-SEA, so it’s a bunch of hours. The ground portion of the tour is basically $1500, which includes airport transfers if you fly in/out the days of the tour, and all meals.

Here is a link to what the tour itinerary is: http://www.caravan.com/tour/panama

These are the same folks that Swanda, The Colonels, and The Judge took to Mexico’s Copper Canyon a couple of years ago — a tour that they still do, but no longer in/out of El Paso with a stop in Chihuahua (and transiting the border at Juarez)… seems a few too many killing in that chunk of the country, they now go in/out of Tucson.

Anyone want to join me, and maybe the Colonels on the trip? If so, please use another one of my travel partners, Barbara Greenlee (barbara.pegasus@vacation.com).

So work today, some play today, some dinner today… leftovers.

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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.

When I got the diagnosis of colon cancer that had spread to the liver on April 22. 2022 it was a shock, but it had taken weeks to get to that point, and I got to this Zen place. I’ve lived an amazing life. I haven’t worked a desk job since I was 43. I’ve traveled the world. My heart goes out to those people who put that off until they are 65, and then they get my diagnosis. Also, VERY glad I took social security at 62!

Handed a statement to my doctor to that effect and his response was, “fine, you are at peace, let’s talk treatment”. I love you, Doctor Gold. I couldn’t have wished for a better oncologist, and after a year and a half I feel that we have become friends and I see your pain in my decline. You used every tool in your belt, but my disease was a willy one, changing courses, blowing out colon, ballooning my liver tumor.

Eighteen months later I still have that Zen feeling, albeit they are more intense on hospice meds. Today we received that last piece we need for me to get the prescription from Death With Dignity. Those who need to know the date will know. Not making it public incase that nutcase from Topeka wants to turn up and protest.

This is the last formal photo from the boat — getting dressed up and ready cost me that day’s energy, sending me to my stateroom for the remainder of the trip, but it is a great one to remember me by.

This is what I was able to complete in the 18 months of cancer and chemo:

18-Months Chemo Travel
146,253 Total Travel Miles

Air: 124,834          Drive: 3,289          Boat: 12,645         Train: 5,485

I started this blog in August 10^th, 2008 after a trip to China with The Colonels – our first trip together since the 5-week Lisbon to Antarctica trip in 2004-05.

Saturday, my priest/friend/Solus flew down from Vancouver to perform last rites. While I’m not overly religious, it is an important part of Solus’ life and by extension, of his 40+ year friend. We both needed closure. He started the service with this piece, Kontakion, by Rupert Lang, composed in Vancouver, and this staging was at the main Cathedral where I was last year for The Eucharist with MaryBeth after a train ride across Canada.

Going Forward

Please feel free to comment on this page, which I will monitor while I’m still here, though likely won’t reply due to energy levels. After I’m gone comments will be moderated by someone else to keep out the haters.

Peace

Out

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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On the road again, and who is surprised.

Well, actually I was a little surprised today after boarding the one-stop (SFO) flight to PSP (Palm Springs) when my friend SpaceOtter and his boyfriend also boarded to plane. I hadn’t seen them in the waiting area and had no idea they were even travelling today.

But I have to back up a minute and show today’s travel commentary photo:

If you look beyond the Alaska planes you will see three United jets parked on the tarmac (not at gates) – grounded due to Hurricane Sandy.

And since it’s almost Halloween, how about a picture from the board room… spider with planes:

A spider building its web on the window of the Board Room.

So, while I was on the road this came in from my friend, one of the Colonels who I travel with occasionally (they are both retired Air Force) ex-Lt. Colonels who are in the middle of a 42 day cruise

As I mentioned earlier, we’re out in the middle of the ocean………or maybe three-quarters of the way across the Atlantic as I write this, and we’ve lost all of the satellite TV transmissions, except for Fox News. That’s been the case for several days now, and because I’m a news junkie, I’ve watched a lot of the Fox brand of news. I must say it has been a revelation to me in several areas, the first of which is the degree to which the material on the channel is not news, but rather, propaganda. There is a constant drumbeat of outrage against all things either Democrat or Obama; the degree of vitriol has really been a shock to me. They’ve accused Obama of everything other than being the Antichrist. I knew that Fox sees itself as a bastion of conservatism, but what I’ve seen over the past several days goes far beyond that: It is the political voice of an extreme right wing cult, and insists on quick and easy answers to very complex questions.  Every fact, or more often, alleged fact, is presented with a twist to make it as negative as possible toward anything that’s not extreme right wing…..”Third quarter growth is only 2%.”, “Unemployment is just barely under 8%, despite Obama’s promises.”  “Benghazi cover-up continues.”  The distortion and half-truth and innuendo just don’t let up, talking head after talking head after party hack after party hack. It seems to be unending.

I’ve noticed several other things about Fox News that strike me as odd: For example, it refers to other news,  ALL other news,  media as “main stream”, setting itself apart from NBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, and other responsible news providers. Also, the people who host the shows with the talking heads ask leading questions: “How terrible was growth in the last quarter?”, and then argue with the folks they’re interviewing if they don’t get the answers they want, not to mention putting words in the mouths of people they interview. Finally, and I’ll shut up after this, Fox News seems to want the attack on the embassy at Benghazi to be as serious as the 9/11 attacks of 10 years ago. While I agree that Benghazi was a bad thing, and the deaths of the Americans there is a tragedy, I don’t see equivalence between the two events, and it’s clear Fox News doesn’t comprehend what has been referred to, correctly in my opinion, as “the fog of war”. I don’t think the President should be criticized for taking  time to figure out what happened, and I do not think that we should have called in close-air support against the attackers and the crowd of on-lookers……….that’s what I think.

Needless to say, THAT got posted to FaceBook.

The plan was for my buddy Craig to pick me up at the airport at 4:30 when my flight got in… the reality was that he had an on-camera interview representing (he’s the President) the Silver Lake Reservoirs Conservancy which he knew was going to make him a little late, what he didn’t expect was to be rear ended on the way and have to deal with the highway patrol. Think three hours late – gave me time to finish the New Yorker and have a bite to eat. By the time we went shopping, got checked in, dinner was at nine thirty on the deck – one of two comprising about 1000 square feet. The condo itself is about 3600 square feet. Pictures tomorrow.

This was the very full trolley coming up to the room – and what you don’t see are all the grocery and laptop bags hanging off the top.

Off to bed now.

[211.1]

Well, the birthday cruise came up and is settled. CaddyDaddy and I from Vancouver to San Francisco that ends on my birthday in September.

That cruise ends on my birthday in SF, but alas, I have to work the next day so probably will just head back. Hoping to put in an extra day or two in Vancouver before the cruise though.

And speaking of cruises, much as I’d love to go on this cruise that the Colonels invited me on, I’m afraid it’s a little out of my league length and cost wise:

40 days and $13,000 solo or $9,000 each if I found a partner. A whole lot of unknown rich relatives are going to have to die quickly for that to happen, and who would take my shifts at the shop?

And that is only HALF of the cruise the Colonels are going on… they continue on from Venice, back to Ft. Lauderdale for a total of 64 days (but no flights necessary, a big point with them these days):

Talk about the cruise of a lifetime. But I’ve already had one of those back in 2004-2005, the 6-week cruise from Lisbon to Antarctica. I might join up with them in Morocco for a couple of days (well, a day for them, several for me) just so we can bag our seventh continent together, though my position is that we’ve already done all seven since the Cape Verde islands are politically African.

Got a last minute invitation for Chicken Cordon Blu with DancingBear and Possum, with these cute little bruschetta appetizers:

Yes, that would be me in the back in the darkish section of the picture.

And while I had a little of the bruschetta, I passed on the wild rice mix to avoid at least a few carbs.

Still more packing to do.

[208.0]

Slept well (and long). Made it to breakfast at about 7:30 with the wait staff looking very harried — apparently we are arriving into Vancouver almost an hour early which means they have to move a lot of people in and out of the dining car quickly.

Time to say goodbye to my home for the last 26 hours:

Click on the photo to go to the ViaRail website with a description and specifications for the Manor cars. And time to say adieu to odd ViaRail signage:

The Colonels and I grabbed a cab to their hotel where the chances of their room being ready was much better than mine. When I called The Canadian to inquire, I was informed that nobody had even checked out yet this morning. At least I had a place to campout, check email, and update the blog.

Noon found us in search of food at the White Spot around the corner from their hotel. Oddly enough we all ordered salads. Maybe it’s all the good, but fat-laden train food we’d been having.

After lunch I headed over to The Canadian to hang out in their rec room where I knew there were nice comfortable couches to read and nap while awaiting my room that was finally ready at 3:45pm, just after I’d gotten back from doing the grocery shopping for dinner. Now THAT’S a run-on sentence.

The Colonels showed up a little after five for cocktails and then dinner. Tonight’s meal was broiled salmon (yes, I set off the smoke alarm) with a nice salad and a baguette. We whiled away the time chatting, drinking and doing their laundry (and some of mine).

I’m afraid I’m going to have to restock the wine and whiskey again for tomorrow night.

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Apparently, this trip is all about the entertaining.

Morning shopping for lunch ingredients.

Lunch today sautéed chicken breasts over a bed a greens, dinner rolls, and a nice bottle of cold white wine. Guests are Helene, The Colonels, and myself.

Nap.

Afternoon shopping for dinner materials.

With six for dinner, it’s more like a spread of heavy appetizers. Several kinds of hard sausage, some liver sausage, a pork loin, smoked salmon, lox, brie, white cheddar, a baguette, crackers, olives and mixed pickled vegetables and I’m sure I’ve forgotten something. Add a bottle of whiskey, three bottles of wine and a little chocolate and a lively evening of “Question The Homosexuals” ensued. I love the fact that The Colonels feel comfortable enough with my friends to ask all those questions that they’ve wondered about, but were afraid or more likely, no one to ask.

Only one picture today, of the beautiful sunny day in Vancouver.

OK, two. An evening shot.

My final act of the evening was to request at 5:30 wake-up call. Yet another early day coming.

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