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Uncle Markie out and about.

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Fri
7
Feb '14

Trip Report: Forks, Washington

Setting For The Twilight Series

Off to visit friends and work on making some zebra-skin lederhosen. I got the idea from a Wall Street Journal article about Oktoberfest in Namibia (a former German colony). Here is the drive plan since the Seahawks Victory Parade will turn downtown Seattle into a mess/zoo/clusterfuck:

Yep, taking the long route… through Tacoma.

The lovely Tacoma Narrows Bridge – in the non-tolled direction. Made fairly good time – even with the stops. Got to the Quillayute River Resort right in time for cocktails!

Pulled over by Lake Crescent for a “selfie”:

My unit (#4) and the view from my window:

It’s wonderfully peaceful out here but the main reason for the visit it a little sewing project with Linda, who with Chip runs the resort. The plan is to make a pair of zebra hide lederhosen like the ones I saw in the Wall Street Journal last fall.

Well – it isn’t as easy as it sounds….especially after we finished off a bottle of scotch on my first night there…

By the end of the day we had only gotten as far as getting all the pieces cut out – well, that and making a mock-up out of a white sheet to make sure we were getting the measurements correct. Luckily there are no pictures of me in what looks like an adult diaper since the mock-up was made out of a used sheet from the resort. Linda will finish it next week while Chip is away (so she can spread out all over their small caretaker’s apartment.

Within the next year or two it won’t be an issue once the Lodge House is completed. Living area upstairs and downstairs is a commercial kitchen and reception hall, along with the reception desk for guests. Their current unit will be turned into a 2-bedroom suite and Chip will keep his office in the current reception desk room.

Lots of the resorts guests are fisherman – like this one who was out in the bitter cold practicing his art:

The river is a little low because of the lack of rain – meaning a couple of cancellations for the weekend. As for me, I come to sew and admire the sunsets:

Got on the road the final morning a little after 11am after a Denver-style scrambled egg breakfast. Stops in Port Angeles at Goodwill for a breadmaker ($5.99 for a 2# size rectangular loaf machine), and at Swains for black flannel-lined jeans – yes, I’m finally breaking down and spending over $50 for some new jeans. I have blue flannel-lined ones but I just don’t think the color works on me.

It was a beautiful day for a drive (both days were sunny, clean and wickedly cold) as evidenced by this shot from my ferry ride back to Seattle:

Home in time for cocktails and dinner.

Not a bad way to spend a couple of days.

[209.0]

Thu
27
Aug '15

Trip Report: Breitenbush & Bend

I haven’t been to the Radical Faerie Gathering at Brietenbush Hot Springs in a couple of years, but since it was being put on by Lightning and DancingBear, thought I should give it a whirl. It’s a lovely spot up in the mountains an hour east of Salem, Oregon. These shots should give you an idea:

Above is the Main Lodge, belowis my cabin:

This summer I’m sharing the cabin with Mags and H.O. Though it’s totally against the rules, and probably because of that, there is a tradition of the afternoon cocktail party hosted by Punch, who, like his name, makes Punch every afternoon from a whole lot of fresh squeezed fruit and handles of booze. The turn “handle” is one I’d never heard before to descript ½ gallon (1.75liter) bottles of spirits — because they generally have handles.

In addition, Punch also put out things like hot sweet and sour meatballs and pulled pork sliders as an appetizer to our wholly vegetarian meal in the lodge. Thank you Punch! And for the curious, the buffet line in the lodge:

Gathering started on Wednesday and wrapped up Sunday – I was less participatory than usual, making it down to the lodge for lunch and dinner, doing part of the talent show and all of the auction/fashion show that I was in wearing my zebra lederhosen. I do have a people of my buddy Sierra wearing them before the gathering:

(See other posts for pictures of my in the zebra lederhosen.)

There is another tradition that I follow at “The Bush” – the ritual breakfast in town, this time with H2OBlanco, at the Cedars. I went for the biscuits and gravy, H2OBlanco, the steak and eggs:

Did I mention the Peach Bellini as well?

Sunday, prying H.O. from the gathering was a chore as he’d fallen ass over teacup for this guy from Portland – me, I just had a little fooling around on the couch in the lodge. It also meant that I had the double bed to myself for all but the first night.

But off we went to Bend on what turned into a fool’s errand. The original plan was to hook up with my buddies Stan and Denise, and then look at some old cars on the way out of town but H.O. started having serious stomach issues after our dinner down the road from the WorldMark Eagle Crest where we were staying. The place was Niblick & Greene’s. The meal was good, but it was just too much food for his skinny little system to handle.

I had the fish tacos, he went with the American Dip – and I SHOULDN’T have helped him finish the fries as that left me feeling bloated for the rest of the evening eating tums. Guess those would have been Freedom Fries to go with the American Dip


In the end, by the time morning rolls around, H.O. had been hurling all night and was travelling with his trusty Ziploc barf bag so I bailed on lunch and even bothering to stop and look at used cars – felt I needed to get the boy home and to his bed.

It was an interesting drive to Portland on Highway 26 – there was a stretch of 30-40 miles that was completely burned except for the houses that they managed to save. There was still smoke in the air from the fire two days ago.

Too funny that my wine shop business partner Jim and his girlfriend Suzanne (who were also visiting Stan and Denise) drove this road two days BEFORE the Warm Springs Fire and H.O. and I drove it two days afterwards.

The final photo of this post is of my other Portland area ritual – a burger and a glass of wine at Burgerville at the 1-5/1-205 interchange in Vancouver, Washington.

I had the Pinot Noir because I hadn’t tried it – other times it’s been the Merlot which I think was a better match. All of their wines are from local Oregon wineries. Classy touch for a burger joint.

Got H.O. delivered to Everett, then headed back to Seattle to unpack and start load after load of laundry.

[213.6]

Sat
9
Nov '13

The Answer Is Five Pounds.

The question is: How much weight did you gain in New Orleans.

Not hard to do when you are on the road and can’t really maintain your low-carb lifestyle. Back to the grind of protein and salads.

Lots of packages waiting for me at the shop:

  • Alli (anti-fat absorption pills)
  • My warranty repaired Lenovo tablet
  • My Pyle Bluetooth speaker
  • The pattern for Lederhosen

Who knew that Lederhosen patterns START at waist size 40!

And who knew you could get long legged lederhosen? It will be a perfect use for that Zebra skin that I have in the garage.

Wild day at the shop – NEVER have we had a tasting sell all but three bottles of the five cases we brought in. Kinda makes up for a crappy Thursday in sales, which might have set a record in the other direction.

Home by 7:30 for a quite steak and salad dinner – yep, back to the routine.

[212.8]

Tue
17
Dec '13

On The Road In The Morning.

I was thinking about my travel plans for tomorrow while I was cleaning/organizing/paying bills/suffering from what I’m now thinking is an ear infection…

If it weren’t the holidays and the DUI patrols I’d drive to the airport in the morning, put the car in MasterPark, take light rail back into the Amtrak station and head south on the Coast Starlight. Since my return flight on Friday gets in after midnight… it would be nice to have the car at the airport. With the stepped up patrols I’d have to not drink on my upgraded flight back from LA after hanging out with Craig all day… doubt that would happen.

Old plan. Park at airport: $55 + $5 for the LightRail

New plan. Cab to the train station: $25. Cab from the airport: $25.

About a wash dollar-wise. And with the possibility of getting nabbed, and the joy of sleeping in for another hour. Looks like cabs both ways. New plan:

  • Train at 9:30
  • Cab at 8
  • Up at 6

At least it’s only 6am.

Today’s victories:

Cleaned all the “clippings” off the couch from the last 3-6 trips – the things I find that I know specific people will like. Anything I can find on-line gets sent as a link, the rest get snail mailed. Only one snail mail today – to Dan with a GREAT direct marketing piece from the Seattle Symphony which included an 8GB chip imbedded in a thick business card.

Rest of the Christmas presents wrapped, bags packed:

Yep – two stacked Porter Cases and a briefcase. And more packages wrapped.

And a couple of things that I haven’t had time to report – End of Year Status on my airlines:

Alaska –

Welcome, Uncle Markie

Member Name: MARK STEPHEN SOUDER MVP Gold
Mileage Plan Number: XXXXXXXX
Available Miles: 165,397

Elite Tier Status Qualification

YTD Alaska Miles

Flown: 25,251

14,749 Miles to Gold

YTD Alaska/Partner* Qualifying Miles

Flown: 25,251

24,749 Miles to Gold

YTD Alaska/Partner* Qualifying Segments

Flown: 18

42 Segments to Gold

Alaska Miles toward Million Mile Flyer  Million Mile Flyer

Flown: 253,788

746,212 Miles to Million Miler

* Flights operated by Aeromexico, Air France, American, Delta, Emirates, KLM, and LAN

All that gibberish means that I’ll be MVP Silver next year. After the first I’ll apply for a status match with Alaska using my United Platinum Status. That should get me at least Gold for 2014 on Alaska.

United –

MileagePlus Number: XXXXXXX
Mileage Balance: 59,263
Regional Premier Upgrades:  Expiring 1/31/2015 2
Global Premier Upgrades: 0
MileagePlus Status Level: Premier Platinum
Star Alliance Status: Gold
Year to Date Premier Miles: 77,057
Year to Date Premier Segments: As part of Premier qualifying segment requirements, members must fly at least four paid flights on United or Copa during a calendar year to qualify for Premier status. 28
Lifetime Flight Miles: 964,376

Now I just have to figure out how to use those Regional Premier Upgrades – and hopefully the roll over to next year! Which a handy “roll-over” link says January 31st, 2015 – meaning that I’ll get two next year as well. That would make four! Wonder if I can use them on my cheapie ticket to Turkey next spring. I’ll look into that. But look at that lifetime flight miles — so close to Million Miler Status!

So – things I need to look into:

  • Regional Upgrades for Turkey Trip
  • Boat for Victoria Trip in January
  • Day or Two before BBush Winter which I’m not going to
  • Forks to work on Zebra Lederhosen (hopefully first week of February)
  • People to meet me at train stations for hugs the next two days (Julian has to work all the sudden)
  • Booking a wedding trip (not mine) to Ireland in July

Not sure any of this is going to get done tonight.

Had my little lamb chops with salad dinner, set my alarm for 6am, called Yellow Cab for a “Time Call” at 8am… not the friendly dispatcher that I got the other week. Apparently they all assume that “Time Call”s are all to the airport (rather than the train station).

Time to call it a night.

[205.6]

Fri
10
Jan '14

Change In Plans.

A change in plans for me. The plan was:

  • Next week fly to LA, get on a boat to Ensenada, relax, return on Thursday for an event at the Living Computer Museum
  • Following week, two nights in Victoria with Roxy and all the VictoriaBoys
  • After that it was back to the Bay Area
  • Then Lopez Island to pick up equipment early the week after Victoria and then late in the week Forks to work on some Zebra Lederhosen

Alas – things change.

I’ve been corresponding with a guy from Bozeman and it’s been going on long enough that now it’s time to actually meet face-to-face. Better sooner than later least BozemanBoy changes his mind.

Flying in the 28th – I’ve booked a 1-bedroom at the WorldMark West Yellowstone which is about 90 minutes south of Bozeman.

Snagged an SUV – oddly the lowest price rental they offered – must be a Montana thing.

The advantage is being MVP Gold (again) is that there are no change fees for changing from Oakland to Bozeman – just the difference in fare.

What I really want to do since its winter is to do a SnowCoach tour through Yellowstone since it’s closed to cars for the winter.

$115 for an all-day tour of the canyons, waterfalls, hot pots of Yellowstone in antique Bombadier Snowbuses. Reminds me of Glaciers Red Busses that have been rebuilt by Ford on new chasis.

Details here: http://yellowstoneguides.com/the-canyon-winter-snowcoach-tour/

As it turns out – Lunetta in the Bay Area had a change in plans as well…. He’s headed to San Diego.

[205.8]

Sun
29
Mar '15

Trip Report: Spring Break Number One – Washington Coast

When you have lots of friends who are students or teachers you try (well, I do) to do sometime good for them during their spring break. In my case, I’m going on THREE spring break getaways this spring.

Number One: Two nights in Ocean Park, Washington at the WorldMark Surfside Inn, followed by a night at the Quillayute River Resort (owned by friends of mine).

The “theory” was picking up Roxy at noon on Monday. The reality was more like 1:30. Off a three day work run after a 10-day trip to Asia, sleep was my friend. And late morning packing.

Here is the route:

Just a little driving over the next couple of days! Stop number one, the WorldMark Surfside:


(Photo Courtesy of WorldMark Surfside)

Obviously the photo was taken in the summer, but here is the inside:

A little heavy on the converted motel redone a bit upscale, but it isn’t really about the view from our first floor deck (with BBQ) – even in Spring:

But it’s comfortable…

And we can cook a good meal….

And invite company to dinner, complete with crostini appetizers….

And the inevitable…

Next up, our place in Forks, Washington (of Twilight fame):

And our cabin interior (not my photo):


(Photo Courtesy of Quillayute River Resort)

Full kitchen, but tonight we are being hosted by our hosts, Chip (pictured in front of the new lodge):

And Linda (over appetizers):

Linda was the one that helped me craft my Wolf-Mink Hoodie and my Zebra Lederhosen (see links for pictures). And one of the features of the new lodge is a wood-fired oven. I don’t think I’d ever had fresh pita:

Before you knew it, we were on the road home – 4 hours from Forks to Oly, another hour home. Not helped by having a bit of a head cold, which wasn’t helped by me putting the top down on the last get:

Trip One down, Trip Two next week…God Save This Queen.

[225.6]