UMTravels

Another week, another trip, or so it seems. This week it’s the red-eye after closing the shop after a special Château Nuef du Pape Tasting. Getting home at 8 left just enough time to put together a chef salad and grab an Uber (click on Uber for your first $15 ride free) to the airport. Luckily, the Alaska Upgrade Gods smiled on both Rach and myself – seats 1D and 1F (after a little switching around)

He looks comfortable – as for me, I’m just crazy:

It’s a red-eye that leaves at 12:50am, so you don’t get much in the way of food:

Rach slept after food, I, foolishly watched all sorts of movies, drank all sorts of drinks, and generally DIDN’T look this good at our 5am arrival in Chicago, the three-hour layover (which I did sleep), and our eventual arrival in El Paso:

I actually know a couple of people in the El Paso area, and one of them (Aaron – a former couchsurfing guest of mine) met us at the airport for the ride to our hotel – The El Camino Real.

Got checked in on the second try and the room was adequate. I was hoping for nicer considering how cool the lobby is, but more on that later. First up it was lunch at Anson 11 Bistro. I had the pork belly tacos, as did Aaron:

Rach had the Tomato Mozzarella Sandwich with Prosciutto after his Asparagus Soup – and the fries on the right are Truffle-Parmesan Fries (YUM):

And, of course, there were cocktails!

After that meal, both Rach and I needed a nap since we (Uncle Markie, Aaron, Aaron’s Ex, Johnny [who also surfed my house], and Aaron’s 22-year-old US Army husband) are headed out for a Mexican food dinner tonight – actually Brandon (the husband) is just joining us for cocktails in the lovely lobby bar with stained glass Tiffany Dome:

And the rest of the lobby rocks as well – love the stairwells:

Actually, downtown El Paso has a lot of nice old Art Deco era buildings that have survived:

Later I’ll show you the train station, but that’s tomorrow! First we have to get through dinner at Kiki’s Mexican Restaurant:

I had the Chicken Molé which was tasty and I could only finish half it – in the background you see a glass of sangria that wasn’t overly sweet – went well with the spice:

After dinner it was off to the scenic overlook where you can see all of El Paso, and Juarez on the Mexican side of the border:

Beautiful sight – but CROWDED with people. Lots of couples.

I headed back to the room, Rach and Aaron headed to a brew pub to wait for Brandon to get off work – then we all reconvened in the room for cocktails – it was a great evening of catching up and getting to know Brandon.

Morning brought me sleeping in late (as usual) with Rach up early to journal (usual) – and a late (just prior to the lunch menu) breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel – La Huerta Café:

We both had the “Divorced Eggs” [$8.00), mine with Green Chile, Rach’s with Christmas Chile [half red, half green] – funny that it’s served with a small quesadilla, but it was all tasty. I almost had to go back to bed after this breakfast – but at noon we were off to the railroad station – which was a TAD further than I expected. Probably should have had the hotel shuttle take us with all the bags we had. We went shopping in El Paso yesterday after lunch to pick up Bourbon and Ginger for the trip.

Found on the trek to the train station – it was a great day for a walk:

And the train station itself – now if the train weren’t running late, though after the late heavy breakfast, not sure if I’d be ready for lunch at 1:30:

And a gorgeous interior – I love how Amtrak and the cities they serve have been resurrecting and renovating their old stations:

THE TRAIN BOSS! THE TRAIN!

Settled in for lunch, at almost 3PM, well past the usual time they serve, but they extended it for the El Paso folks. Burgers for both of us:

I like that shot! And the lunch view – yes, that would be Mexico on the other side of that fence:

Steaks for dinner (see other Amtrak posts for pictures) – but I had to rush through dinner so I could get a “platform hug” from my buddy Joe:

He didn’t have long, but enough time to see our Bedroom unit on the train. This is my compartment selfie with him:

This is his compartment selfie with me:

I think I like he surreal one better.

From past experience – time to take a shower because we arrive in Los Angeles VERY early in the morning, and I’ve found I’m cranky if I’m not clean while waiting for the next train:

And then bed:

Alas, you can no longer leave your shoes for the car attendant to shine while you sleep – the door, long since removed on the outside, just the frame left on the inside of the closet:

We arrived in Los Angeles early – which I didn’t really want to happen, since the arrival time was already early: 5:35am. At least we have the Metropolitan Lounge to hang out in until our 9:30am boarding:

Even the non-First Class passengers have a nice space to hang out in:

There is even a piano for people to play!

Lots of Amtrak trains coming and going from Union Station in Los Angeles:

We get boarded – and get comfortable – making early morning Bloody Marys as we roll out of the station:

Between the two of us we have great connectivity – Rach has an ATT HotSpot that I’ve been using since ATT coverage in the Southwest is better than my T-Mobile coverage which we switched to after our Eugene, Oregon stop. You can see his HotSpot attached to a mount on the table mount. But Eugene is a long way from where we are at the moment – one of the most beautiful chunks of this trip, the stretch between Los Angeles and Santa Barbra:

And here is a little video clip from that section of track:

Salads for lunch after our big breakfast in the morning (and my return to bed):

More good weather as we head north – here was are at a “smoke break” in San Luis Obispo – also a crew change stop for the train engineers:

Please note the fetching Hello Kitty cap from my trip to Maui.

And talk about a little snack before dinner (since we have a late reservation), how about chopping up the remainder bagel dog from breakfast (they were $5 each, or two for $8) – with a little dark mustard. I had one for breakfast while Rach had a ham and cheese croissant – decent food (and a small grocery store) in Union Station in LA:

The sundown waiting for dinner:

Dinner – the braised lamb shanks in the Parlour Car. This is one of their most popular recipes!

Sorry for the blurry photo, but it was as good as always – click here for the recipe.

After dinner, it was another “platform hugs” moment – once again with Onyx and Lunetta in Emeryville – this time no delivery of mixers needed!

Breakfast at 8, lunch at noon, an early dinner at 5:30 – means that it’s our last day on The Coast Starlight.

And now for a station break, starting with Eugene:

And Portland:

And a shot of our lovely Parlour Car exterior. For those that don’t know, the Parlour Car is reserved for use by Sleeping Car passengers on The Coast Starlight, the only train that has Parlour Cars.

To close this post – Mount Rainier in the background, passing over the Columbia River headed into Vancouver, USA.

Such a lovely journey.

[217.8]

This week’s trip is mostly a mileage run from Bellingham to Maui because I got it for $300 round-trip. And it’s like 5,500 flight miles (11,000 including bonus miles for being MVP Gold). Plus, I got upgraded to First Class in both directions!

Bellingham is about two hours north of Seattle – and morning traffic wasn’t particularly good, so add at least another 30 minutes. Parking right in front of the terminal is $12 a day, $4 a day if you want to do off-airport parking and shuttle it.

This is what I look like at the end of the drive:

Catnapping on the furniture.

And the flight is going to be longer than normal – they are reporting 125mph headwinds. So long that we have to stop in San Jose for more gas. Since I’m in First I don’t care about the delay, especially since Alaska has offered everyone on the plane an eVoucher for $100 off their next flight.

Just the pretzel pack and drinks BLI-SJC, lunch on the SJC-OGG (Maui) leg. And it wasn’t the new “small plates” menu. That might be a stretch for Bellingham catering to pull off:

Today’s menu – being in 4D I had to wrestle to get the last piece of fish:

The salad:

The entrée:

And the dessert:

It was a fun ride getting into the airport at Maui – the pilot pulled up at the last minute and came around for a second try. Once I got outside I understood why – 20mph winds with 70 degree rain. It was so fun inspecting a rental car for prior damage while getting soaked. It was just nice to get checked into my room – though I wasn’t terribly impressed with it. Far corner of the property away from the beach, view of the parking lot.

For dinner I tried out the restaurant attached to the hotel – hoping it would be acceptable because I didn’t want to go back out in the storm…turns out it reviews fairly well on Trip Advisor, and confirmed when I saw the people dining there – TONS of locals with a few hotel residents mixed in:

I order from the Filipino section of the menu:

I went with the combination Adobo chicken and the Pork with Peas & Pimientos:

With a scoop of rice and the overly-mayonnaised macaroni salad. Back to the room after dinner to work on the Evan Williams and Diet that I picked up at the Walgreens on the way to the hotel.

Turns out I got the worst room in the place from the parking lot conversations outside my window and the handicap entrance door banging all night. Stopped by the office late morning so see if I could switch rooms – nothing with a king-size bed ready to move into – I told her that the chances of me getting “lucky” on this trip were slim, so I happily accepted a slightly smaller room with two queens (bed, not boys).

And the view is much better than the parking lot!

I’m liking the digs much better, but I’ve got errands to run – time to hit the thrift shops for bargain Hawaiian shirts! And did I score!

I especially love the Hello Kitty baseball cap which I needed because I forgot a hat on this trip – a no-no for a bald dude. And I picked up a little poke at Whole Foods for an afternoon snack!

And one of my favorite shots from the trip:

Cocktail. Shorts. Barefoot. Poke. View. Life is good. Speaking of views – beautiful sunset on from my little porch:

After checking out Trip Advisor reviews, without driving for a bit, I was best off back at Tante’s Island Cuisine. Last night I started the meal with a “martini up” and got this (after several back-and-forthes with the waitress who definitely wasn’t skilled in any cocktail knowledge – and I was amazed it was on the menu since I didn’t see what looked like a bar to me.

Old-school two parts gin, one part dry vermouth. Tonight’s “dry martini-up” came a little closer, but still a little heavy on the vermouth. I’m thinking this is more of a beer place:

On tonight’s menu was the mixed platter with the teriyaki beef, kalua pork, purple potato salad, panko crusted fish, pasta alfredo – a cornucopia of food regions!

Just FYI – these two meals have also served as my brunch as well – two for the price of one!

Those who follow my posts know that I find a certain fascination with what various hotels call “ice buckets” – today’s example is your 32oz Styrofoam cup that these folks use in place of ice buckets:

At least you can assume nobody has thrown up in a disposal oversize cup (well, maybe).

Morning comes and its time for the final selfie from the hotel:

Maybe I should have booked another night, but alas, I have to work my Friday shift for the month. Time to head to the airport, gassing up the car along the way – nice 1951 F100 (last year before they went to the F150):

Got the car returned (once I found the rental return place, which isn’t that close to the airport), and found this amazing hot dog stand in the airport – two bad I was full from the leftover Kalua Pork and Teriyaki Beef!

Had a couple of drinks at a Sammy Hagar bar in the airport before boarding the direct (this direction) flight back to Maui.

Think I was working on a blog post, or maybe I was just killing internet zeros and ones.

Different menu for the return flight:

Should have gone for the Bulgogi – the Mahi Mahi was a little on the dry side – live and learn. I cared more about getting the potatoes rather than the rice, but the salad was excellent!

Fight was running late so I didn’t get to Bellingham until almost 11pm – good thing I’d arranged with SurfBetty to crash at his place – not good to drive two hours after drinking for five. And it was really good to catch up with him – don’t get to spend enough time hanging out with him. And drink into the night we did for in the morning I need to be up at 8am so I can open the shop at noon.

He was kind enough to send me off with home homemade bacon/eggs/cheese sandwiches.

Thanks SurfBetty!

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Filed from the Sunset Limited in the middle of Arizona

Nothing will get me out of town quicker than a $137 each way trip across the country – and a $125 off coupon code.

Didn’t get upgraded to First on the way out, but confirmed for the way back – more of that delicious new First Class food!

Funny thing about this trip is that it started out to just be a simple overnight stay in DC. I’d have just turned around and come back, but:

1. That’s exhausting even for me
2. I’d never seen the Air and Space Museum, and it’s a stop on the hotel shuttle

But, a couple of days before I’d emailed my buddy Sean who I stayed with in Vietnam to inquire when he was returning stateside. Turns out he arrives in DC the same evening as I do – AND has a layover and no hotel. SCORE! When I check in I change the room from one bed to two.

His flight is delayed so I’m off to the Longhorn Steakhouse for, wait for it, steak!

And yes, that is the first of three Manhattans. I’m not driving and that will leave some of the room booze for Sean. Speaking of rooms – here’s ours:

OK – that is really a “morning after” shot, but you get the idea.

Now just add Sean – confession: this is actually a picture of him from my Vietnam trip – I was so happy to see him I forgot to snap a pic of him relaxing while scratching his Malaysian Holiday sunburn.

I was great to catch up, have a couple of in-room cocktails, and crash hard – we’d both had long flight days, his, about times mine.

I’ve got to say, breakfast in the Wingate Suites Dulles isn’t bad – it’s a real buffet line with lots of hot items. I went for the “gut-buster” biscuits and gravy:

I’d scheduled the 11am shuttle to the museum, but because there was a load of flight crew on the shuttle, I was the second stop rather the usual first – not complaining, just sayin’.

The cool thing about the Air and Space Museum is that they are totally prepped for visitors with luggage – even though security has to poke around in it first. They have two different sized lockers that you deposit a quarter in (which they will loan you!) – and if it’s larger than a standard carryon, you are welcome to drag it around with you (as I saw some Japanese tourists doing).

But onto the pictures:

Lots of planes in this place!

The NASA quarantine module for astronauts coming back from the moon:

And some odd things… an R2D2 mailbox and space capsule phone booth:

Science satellites:

Many historical aircraft, from the Enola Gay (remember Hiroshima)?

To the first Fed Ex plane:

They also have their own “control tower” viewing platform:

Sadly, the restaurant in the museum was a McCafe from McDonalds.

Called the hotel shuttle and was to the airport in decent time. I didn’t think the Quarter Pounder would hold me all the way until dinner on the plane so nothing like a cocktail, some work, some corn chicken chowder:

What is on the screen is the post on First Class food from last week. Working on one post while living another. All in a day’s work.

Comfortable flight home – and you’ve already seen the food!

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When I booked my New Orleans trip last October/November I paid a little more for the ticket so that I could use my Gold Guest Upgrades at time of purchase. I figured, what the hell, might as well start drinking before I get to New Orleans.

What I didn’t realize is that the time of my trip last week would be the same time as Alaska completely changed how it handles First Class meals on flights more than three hours.

The concept is small plates. Everyone gets the tiny appetizer (after the warm nut starter), and the two different mini-cheesecakes for dessert, then you chose up to three of the five small plates.

Here is the menu for the mid-day trip from Seattle to New Orleans:

And here are the food shots! First, the hot nuts (and complimentary entertainment tablet:

Next, the Caprese Skewer:

Then the small plates. I had the salad, chicken, and cod:

And the finale – dessert!

It does add a bit of work for the First Class cabin attendant!

On the way back, the dinner menu was different – this would be it:

The plating out of New Orleans wasn’t nearly as good – trying to find the feta that goes with my watermelon…

And I had to arrange my small plates for the photo – they were all askew. Went for the salad, the chicken, and the beef filet:

And the beef filet was PERFECTLY done – an amazing feat for airline beef:

Same dessert, and for some reason, the nuts came after dessert – but before the snack basket was passed around.

The chicken on the way down was a little dry, but it had the Marsala Mushroom sauce to help moisten it – the spätzle and the way home was a little dried out as well, but again, having mushroom cream sauce helped.

I had the chance to have a repeat of the first lunch, but served as dinner on the way back from DC. They still have to work out a few bugs with presentation, but overall, the meals are comparable to international business class flight meals and definitely better than anything I’ve had on a domestic flight in YEARS.

[216.8]

Off to the Big Easy just after Mardi Gras.

No photos of the flight because that is going to be a separate post after this one (or maybe the one after) because Alaska Airlines has changed its First Class service (for the good). When I booked this trip I paid a little more and got guaranteed upgrade seats coming and going to NOLA.

Should you travel to New Orleans, DO NOT take the Go Airport Shuttle (the “official” airport shuttle) to your hotel. They wait until EVERY 25 seats are filled before they leave. They are as bad as the attitude of cab drivers in NOLA. I heard other travelers who take a hotel shuttle and then grab an Uber into town. Cab is about $50. Uber $35. Shuttle $25 and well over an hour. Even though it was raining I should have just caught the county bus for $2 which ends close to the train station where I could have Ubered to the condo.

Staying at my usual crib on St. Charles. Love the convenience of the place, and the digs:

And the insides aren’t too bad either…

The first night’s dinner was take-out from Igor’s – one of my standard dive bar burger stops:

Not on my diet – but it’s New Orleans. I can be good tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, first up is a revisit to Purloo – which is turning into my favorite upscale restaurant in New Orleans.

That would be Ryan (sexy bartender) in the background with a Sazerac (rye whiskey, Peychauds, sugar, Herbsaint) in the foreground.

And the Harissa Buttermilk Fried Chicken Wings, Purloo Dirty Rice (above), followed by dessert (below) which was their version of an Old-Fashioned (bourbon or rye, demerara sugar, pecan bitters):

Interesting to note that their bar bourdon is Evan Williams Black – which is my standard go-to bourbon.

It is connected to the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (see link here for notes from my last trip here):

Second up was the reason for my trip back to New Orleans for the second time in six months – the Ogden Museum Southern Art and an exhibition by the artist Michael Meads.

No photography was allowed in the exhibit (which I found out after I was told to stop), so I’ll link to an article about the show that has lots of images (that I assume were used with the permission of the artist).

http://hyperallergic.com/250636/an-artists-sprawling-universe-of-sex-and-death-with-new-orleans-at-its-center/

VERY moving – and ironic that I used the TAM (Tacoma Art Museum) Reciprocal Pass that I got joining during their ArtAIDSamerica show last year. Many of the same reactions to both shows.

Great views of the WWII Museum from their rooftop sculpture garden:

Having walked from The Avenue Plaza to Purloo, and then to The Ogden – bought the $3 24-hour streetcar/bus pass. It used to be a day pass but they upgraded the system so now it’s a 24-hour pass, which is MUCH more useful to late-risers like myself. The St. Charles Street Car Line runs right in front of The Avenue Plaza.

Dumped my bag and took off for The Blind Pelican for oysters. They have happy hour from 4-8 where the oysters on the half shell are $3 A DOZEN with the purchase of an adult beverage. No problem for me:

Then it was time for a nap and the news before my real dinner of the night – at Houston’s (almost across the street from The Blind Pelican). As I wrote in a review in 2013 – Good Food, Good Jazz.

A full day of food and culture.

And tomorrow is another day – and I have to get my full use out of that $3 24-hour Pass. Off to the New Orleans Museum of Art for a little lunch and art.

The trolley to the Museum on Canal Street.

The Museum itself is a rather impressive building. It reminds me of the Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City:

And my grilled brisket sandwich for lunch, with a glass of South African Cabernet Sauvignon.

And since photography was OK, one of my favorite pieces (Pick A Ninny – Robert Colescott):

Very much in the theme of yesterday’s show. NOMA is also on the reciprocal museum list so I’m well on my way to getting back my $125 annual membership fee.

There were also the “old standards” which at times I find comforting:

Next up of the Old Mint Museum – which was mostly interesting for the mint display on the ground floor and the architecture itself.

And guess what – it’s 4PM – that means it’s OYSTER TIME! This time it’s the Charbroiled Oysters for $8.95 (with purchase of an adult beverage):

Too lazy to stay (or come back in an hour and a half) for the 2lb. crawfish boil for $15:

I guess I really should show you what the place looks like! It was a little breezy this trip to be hanging out of the patio, porch was better, but not by much:

After a long day of walking – I thought take-out from Pho Orchid (next door to Igor’s) would be a good plan (Bulgogi with rice) – and why not have them make me a Manhattan while I wait!

As a side note – arriving just after Mardi Gras means you can find all sorts of beads on low hanging branches (and in the dirt):

I decided to wash and hang them to dry before packing them:

Lots of beads!

My final day – it’s out of the unit by noon (Wyndham owners have to be out at 10am) it’s almost a repeat of my first full day. Lunch at Purloo – this time the Low Country She-Crab Bisque…

And lots more walking – want some street BBQ?

Or maybe a nice old car?

Maybe a church?

Or many just some pretty old buildings:

Or maybe a statue of Robert E. Lee that they are talking about moving because of the whole Confederate Flag controversy:

Pretty amazing weather considering we flew into a tornado on our way in.

Swung by the Ogden for a final look at the exhibit, grabbed the bag from the bell captain, grabbed a trolley to the bus stop – paid my $2 for a ride to the airport for my final NOLA meal. A Cajun Dog from Lucky Dogs in the airport which I then took to the bar had had with Sazerac Rye on the rocks – diet coke back:

Another trip to NOLA under my belt.

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After a lovely couple of days in Santa Fe, it’s time for the relaxing train ride home – and our train is on time:

And before long, Bliss and I are settled into our compartment which is called “The Family Bedroom“, meaning no toilet/shower en-suite.

Here is the diagram from the Amtrak sight so you get a feel for the room configuration:

The Family Bedrooms are on the lower level and stretch side-to-side so you get lots of pretty picture taking opportunities:

Here is a short (one-minute) clip of the above…

As the sun goes down, we head into the dining car for dinner:

We both had the steak dinner and got our desserts “to-go” after dinner. Meals are included when you book a sleeping car. And it is nice to be able to stretch out – AND have a place to put your luggage since se don’t have any children with us.

Slumber time followed by a 5am breakfast call – because of the schedule it’s a short (1-hour) breakfast – and I noticed MANY of the Sleeping Car passengers just skipping it. As for me? I just went back to bed after.

Train was early into Los Angeles’ Union Station so we hung out in the Metropolitan Lounge in the station – it’s for the use of Sleeping Car passengers and Business Class passengers on the Surfliner.

9:30 they rousted us to the platform. It’s a bit of a hike, but walking was quicker than waiting for Red Cap service – and since we’ll be sitting for the next two days, best to walk.

Our train (The Coast Starlight) backing into Union Station:

After getting settled I took a shower (down the hall) which I probably should have down after breakfast on the Southwest Chief. I might have been less cranky. Or maybe just a Screwdriver with a splash of Pomegranate Grenadine:

Orange Juice (and coffee) courtesy of Amtrak. Each Sleeper Car has a coffee pot and juice station. These days it’s only orange juice, in the past it was orange, apple, and cranberry AND actual oranges and bananas and the complementary mini-bottle of sparkling wine when you boarded. Yes, the quality has gone down on Amtrak trains in the last couple of years – no amenity kits any longer as well.

But where did we get the Pomegranate Grenadine? Well, in addition to the 6 bottles of hard liquor I bought in Santa Fe, and the 6 bottles that Bliss bought – my sis-in-law also gave me the remnants of my late mother’s liquor cabinet. If you are keeping score, four people have given me their liquor dregs (one in recover, one dead, two people moved). No bourbon left, but things like the Grenadine, Blood Mary mix, Crème de Menthe, odd mixers…

Next up, a Bloody Mary with cracked pepper on the top (courtesy of Alaska Airlines – for the pepper) complete with swizzle sticks (courtesy of Cathy Pacific and oddly in my laptop bag):

Beautiful views as we sit down to lunch. The section between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara is really stunning:

And lunch isn’t bad (these would be the bar-b-qued lamb shanks with garlic mashed potatoes and a side salad, plus iced-tea…

More scenery shots from our room after lunch:

Tanks of Fire Water – like moonshine? And the rolling hills outside of San Luis Obispo:

San Luis Obispo is also a smoke stop (or in our case, a stretch your legs get some fresh air stop):

Random tourist, the guy in the engineer’s hat is a regular at the station – not an employee, but “challenged” guy with a love for trains (notice train band radio attached on his back pocket), and our conductor Joy – who I’ve had before so he knows the drill (with the help of a $20) about keeping us stocked with ice – LOTS of ice:

While we are stocked on booze and ice, after several days on the train we are running low on Ginger Ale – luckily, after dinner we are passing through Emeryville and a couple of texts to Lunetta & Onyx, we have more mixers, and a wine shipper (much better than the WalMart cheap duffle I bought in Santa Fe) and a bonus of a bottle of their Honey Mead – and a platform visit!

And said box of supplies:

Time for bed as the Emeryville stop is at 10pm.

Breakfast at a more reasonable hour (7am) but I still went back to bed after:

Because outside it looked like this.

By lunch, the weather has improved:

But we are an hour behind schedule because of signal problems in the mountains (most likely from the now). Every Amtrak trip I have to have the Angus burger at least once:

It’s a mouthful but I cut them in half.

I’d planned on getting out for a stretch in Eugene, but when I got to the door – it was dumping rain. Back to the couch for me.

Almost an hour late getting into Portland – and rain – a parked a long way from the terminal, no Metropolitan Lounge in Portland stop for me this trip – and they cut the time of the stop in half to make up ground.

The downside of the current Coast Starlight schedule is with an 8pm arrival time in Seattle you have dinner service starting at 5pm – and we had lunch at 12:30. For dinner I opted for the crab/shrimp cakes like the previous night’s meal (more shrimp than crab), but without the side salad – and I still only made it through one of the two cakes – still full from lunch!

In the end we were only ten minutes late into Seattle where we split up and ordered up Ubers home. (Click on the word Uber to sign up and get a free $15 ride).

08:32pm 269-299 S King St, Seattle, WA 08:47pm 1029-1045 S Rose St, Seattle, WA

CAR uberX miles 6.41 TRIP TIME 00:15:01

$15.00 from the Amtrak station to my house – not bad. I’m sure Bliss’ was less than $8.00.

[215.0]

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

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

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

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

Followed by one of their world-famous Bloody Marys:

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

Nor was lunch:

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

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

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

Tonight’s dinner is:

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

Beautiful sunset before dinner:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I guess we know where my priorities lay…

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

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

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

The Folio itself was not terribly inspiring…

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

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

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

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

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

They even have a little museum of old champagne equipment:

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

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

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

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When I booked this bargain ticket I didn’t know whether Lunetta would be in town so I also booked the WorldMark San Francisco, which is between Union Square and Nob Hill/Chinatown.

But first I have to get there – doesn’t this look like a good day to fly?

Luckily all of Alaska’s planes are equipped with RNP (Required Navigation Performance) which is great for inclement weather, though by takeoff time it looked more like this:

Didn’t snag an upgrade, which you all know how I feel about that…

That would be seat 6C – which is a bulkhead seat – But 6A was open over I moved (and the lady next to me moved to the aisle) Now I have a view (but more of a pain to use the lavatory):

Maybe I should get window seats for often! That was the view coming into San Francisco…

And the perks of MVP Gold extend to the back of the plane (barely), so I get a free cocktail with my bag of kibble:

Since I was bringing a case of wine with me, Saint Onyx picked me up at the airport (yes, I do deliver wine to customers of Madrona Wine Merchants) – and off to a wonderful lunch at Maru Sushi as a thank you:

That would be the Sushi/Sashimi Combination Platter ($25) plus a Nigori Sake ($16) to share.

I’d hoped to meet up with Mud, my Egyptian fling from the summer – but alas, he has disappeared into the wind so it’s dinner by myself tonight – THE WORST Rueben in almost 60-years of the Perfect Ruben Hunt. The honor goes to the Sutter Pub. You can read the review here:

I had planned on eating out, but when I discovered the “Pub” only served beer and wine, I opted for takeout since it was just a block from the condo – and I forgot to show pictures of the 1-bedroom condo:

Staying in the city is a nice chance from the East Bay – so I explore parts of the city that I’d never wandered through, like Chinatown:

And Ash Wednesday to boot – so EVERY church is packed, and ash-laden people are wondering the streets:

Gorgeous day in the city…swung back to the condo for a take-out wrap from the little grocery store (Food Fair Market) that was a spicy chicken curry thing that was wonderful – it set a nice base for me to handle the next stop of my city exploration…the world-famous Tonga Room at the San Francisco Fairmount Hotel:

And the crazy-ass Tiki interior:

I just stayed for one drink – the Lychee Martini featured above.

And what San Francisco posting is complete without a cable car shot – this line is two blocks from the condo…

One day I’ll get an all-day pass and just ride them around, but not this trip.

The next morning it was off to Café del La Presse (a block away) for the BEST Eggs Benedict I have ever had in my life:

The next day I did an owner re-education dealy for $125 and lunch…

Who can’t resist a neighborhood that offers this, and who knew Thursday night was “Circle Jerk With A Porn Star” night:

Late afternoon finds me making my way to the East Bay for an overnight with Lunetta & Onyx – giving up my last night in the condo for a home-cooked meal.

Nothing like a “small” ham…

And the company of my niece and her boyfriend…

Nice to be able to just hang around the house, not having an early flight – and hang out in the sunshine:

Headed home Friday afternoon – got to spend a little time in the Cathy Pacific Business Class Lounge, alas, not while they were doing their buffet set-up, but at least there were chips, drinks, and newspapers….

And a pretty sunset:

Before you know it, I’m back in coach winging my way home with my one free cocktail and my 3-ounce carryon.

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Well, with all the other travel, and the Coho Ferry (Port Angeles – Victoria) being dry-docked longer, only one trip planned to Victoria this winter.

The trip didn’t start well – my Uber driver was stuck on 1 minute away for 15 minutes, killing any spare time I had to get to the boat – I ended up driving after finding out he a flat (which I didn’t find out for 20 minutes because he wouldn’t answer phone or text) – it, worrying that the car wouldn’t start when I returned from Victoria since the battery is weak and I’d had it on the charger all the previous night. Not the way I like to start a trip – stressed. You all know how I am about getting to airports/ship terminals/etc. in plenty of time.

This helped the stress:

This is Maia’s second trip with the boys to Victoria. Maia belongs to Seth. Maia likes my roller board and wants to help even though she has two bags of her own. Good Maia:

That would be Daddy Seth‘s foot to the right.

Miracle of miracles, our condo is ready – before noon! Usually, check-in time isn’t until 4pm. We have a 2-bedroom Penthouse unit on the second floor (yes, Penthouse doesn’t mean the top floor in this case, just the level of creature comforts – like our own personal hot tub):

And the view is good, even if it is the second (out of eight) floor:

You can sort of see our “pet”, Jonathan, in this shot – here is a better one:

And no – we don’t feed him – that’s against the rules.

Lunch out is at the Blue Heron Bistro, in the same complex as the grocery store. I start with a Caesar – which is a Bloody Mary made with Clamato. The Canadians are crazy about Clamato:

Lots of fun stuff on the specials menu –

I went with the Rabbit & Chorizo Poutine – that is French Fries, then a layer of cheese curds, then a Chorizo Rabbit Gravy over the top – others went for the duck curry:

Nap time for DancingBear and me – while Seth, MoSis (his BF), and Maia went out to explore the city.

But soon, it was time for dinner….and the couple of racks of ribs I brought up from the states.

Did I mention we bought a little duty-free booze? And here is the dinner, ribs on the upper right:

We do eat well on holidays. And we do relax well on holidays as well…

This is how DancingBear and I spent our time in Victoria, in bathrobes, cycling in/out of the hot tub, reading, playing Word With Friends, staring out at the planes landing on the Inner Harbour.

That and cooking:

Yes, Seth is having greens and sauerkraut with his eggs, babel and cream cheese (where is the salmon I brought?)

More relaxing for DB and I on Wednesday, with the rest of the kids out exploring (aka trying to run Maia out of energy) while we worked on dinner which included a vegan (it was supposed to include TWO vegans). Apparently we were having too much fun to get any pictures of the second night’s dinner which was olive tapenade stuffed portabellas for the vegan(s) and chicken cordon blu for the rest of us.

We were a little short on guest this visit at our favorites RobinHood and CrowDog are on the Sunshine Coast mourning the loss of a close friend – guess I should plan for next year in Victoria!

Before you know it the last afternoon is upon us – and a BIG shout out to DancingBear for renting a full-size car to get us around town and occupy us on the last day when checkout is at noon, and the boat is at five.

Final lunch was at Nautical Nellies – Seth’s suggestion and it was a good one.

I wanted light, so I went for the tempura green beans…

Fish Tacos for MoSis:

DancingBear went for the Cheddar and Crab sandwich – which I really should have taken some of:

And before you know it, we are back on the boat headed out of Victoria –

And eating again….

Cheese, crackers, Chicken Caesar wrap, leftover cranberry juice and vodka we packed for the trip…

The car started when I got back to the garage. Because of the discount from The Clipper, parking was $30 for the three days rather than the $61 that was on the ticket. In the end the price was probably cheaper than Uber to/from.

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The trip is winding down – time for Pigletté and Uncle Markie to head back to Seattle. The flight to Dubai is scheduled for a little before midnight – and when the check-in counter opened, I was the third person in the business line…this is what the economy line looked like:

And there is a shared lounge for Emirates business class passengers…not bad, but no open bar, just unlimited wine. Sigh. But there is a big open buffet:

My office for a couple of hours:

Wine, seltzer, beef noodle soup…a little post dinner, pre-flight food.

Another 777-300ER on the Saigon to Dubai flight. Pigletté gets settled in:

But he has to share his seat with Uncle Markie. Thanks to the lady in the window seat for this shot:

Soon it was movie time (Specter – a 007 movie):

We watched the movie while the flight attendant worked on my Manhattan:

Which came with some hot nuts – Uncle Markie LOVES hot nuts:

Even Bond, James Bond, enjoys a drink with us:

Before long, it was dinner time – and NO, that is NOT a potato, that’s a dinner roll. The starters:

The main:

Time for some more movies:

And the controller that also runs the system (in addition to buttons on the phone) – WAY too many options:

Here is a partial list of the movies I watched on the return flight:

• Spectre (007)
• Martians

And then there was a little sleep before arriving in Dubai at 4am in the morning – 4-hour layover, but the lounge is comfy and has “quiet areas”:

Don’t I look comfortable?

After a nap it’s time for a little breakfast before the breakfast on the Dubai to Houston flight:

Got to love Emirates Business Class Lounges in Dubai (they have three, each of which are the length of the terminal) – and how is this for boarding. The Business Class lounge is on 5 (in this terminal), First Class on 4, 3 is god-knows-what:

I love the “Upper Deck Boarding”, “Lower Deck Boarding” buttons, which correspond this this:

Yes, that is THREE jet skyways to the jet…Emirates A380-800 from Dubai to Houston is configured with

• 14 First Class closed suites
• 76 Business Class lay-flat seats
• 399 Economy seats

With almost 500 seats you got to board these things from every orifice.

Wonder what economy looks like?

That would be a wild-body seating configuration of 3-4-3 (10-across). Upstairs, well, these are the back stairs – the front stairs go to First Class:

And the Business Class section which is a 1-2-1 configuration:

And my pod…

This was before I moved across the aisle so that I didn’t have to squeeze past the end table (which the feet of the person behind me slides into. Fresh flowers even:

Which was right above my 22″ tough-screen display…more reasons for changing seats.

Lots of charging opportunities…(and noise-cancelling headphone jack):

Add reading material (and Champagne) ….

And leg room …

And seat controls ….

Bye-bye Dubai …

A shot from above …

Time to settle in:

And then the food begins….

And yummy it is… another breakfast!

I opted for the Middle Eastern version of the main breakfast course… when in Rome (or Dubai) ….and more drinks:

Rob Roys with 18-year-old Chivas:

And since it’s a 15-hour flight, mid-flight mini-sandwiches:

And mid-flight work….

The flights movie list:

• Life with father – William Powell

5 hours of sleep (Ambien washed down with Rob Roys)

• The Man Who Knew Too Much – Kimmy Stewart, Doris Day
• Philadelphia Story – jimmy steward, Cary grant, Hepburn
• Desk Set – Hepburn/Tracy

Along with some hot appetizers:

At the back bar:

I think there was lunch in there someplace —

And the cheese course with a 2000 Warre’s Tawny Port:

I love some of the FaceBook comments on the cheese course photo:

Catherine: A GLASS glass?! METAL silverware!? An actual ceramic PLATE?!

Alexis: it looks to me like you are having too much carbs, only one cracker please ! x

Carlotta: Your cheese COURSE? There’ a vegetable, meat and dessert course? Soup too?

Retta: I could live off that.

Mark: I opted for the cheese and port over the chocolate lava cake, espresso and Cointreau. And yes, three courses before that. Redeeming 75000 miles gets you good airline food.

Kathy: I need to charge more on our mileage credit card, clearly!!

Mark: Happy to be anyone’s mileage consultant!

Carlotta: Well dear, you Are The Expert!

Mark: Catherine, that was a real piece of wood under that cheese.

Sean: It is so painful to see a man suffer

Jonathan: Not used to seeing you consuming grapes that haven’t been squashed and left to ferment for several years…

David: I approve!

Mikal: Pigletté loves cheese …

And then the party ended. Arrived in Houston with a two-hour layover which included customs/immigration, a terminal change, another round of security. Thank you Alaska for digital boarding passes that kept me from having to produce TWO quart bags since I’d collected all these toiletries from Janet to put in her church’s homeless packets. The downside of the Alaska gate in Houston is that there is no lounge access. Luckily I was exhausted because this was my seat for the four-hour Houston to Seattle run, in coach. At least it was bulkhead aisle:

One free drink, one bought drink, 3 hours of sleep which I dearly needed.

Cab home from the airport (about $30) about 9 in the evening – and here what was in the mailbox:

And what remained when I pitched all the junk:

International trip number one of four planned this year (next is Greece [June], then Mexico [September], then France [November]).

Next up is Victoria, British Columbia (which because it’s so close I don’t consider to be international).

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Just a reminder to those readers arriving here from FaceBook. Links from FaceBook
are a direct link to this post, so you miss the previous posts. You can see all the posts by either clicking on the UMTravels banner, or HERE.

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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Just a reminder to those readers arriving here from FaceBook. Links from FaceBook
are a direct link to this post, so you miss the previous posts. You can see all the posts by either clicking on the UMTravels banner, or HERE.

When I travel – I’m not one of those people who does stuff in the morning, then has lunch at some Michelin-rated restaurant, afternoons seeing some other museum before dinner at another Michelin-rated restaurant prior to the opera – that kind of pace exhausts me just thinking about it. I’m more the one museum/one temple-church-graveyard a day kinda a guy.

A little dim sum for brunch….

And we start today with a Buddhist temple:

Temple. Check.

Next up, our museum for the day. This one will be the opposite of yesterday’s time capsule – The War Remnants Museum (formerly the Exhibition House for Crimes of War and Aggression)

The grounds are littered with old military equipment…and Sean got this picture of me with my Hello Kitty motorcycle helmet still on my head…

And more equipment…

These two shots should give you an idea about the “theme” of the exhibits:

And my favorite – the listing of “puppet” a.k.a. South Vietnamese forces:

Not just the US that is represented – there is an entire exhibit devoted to the French occupation and their Prisoner of War camps. Hence, the guillotine:

The rest of the exhibit was quite graphic including cells with posed emaciated dummies, so no pictures of those. Also – no pictures from the room detailing the atrocities from the use of Agent Orange. To be honest, I grazed over the exhibits rather than wading through the propaganda – I did find the section of War Photographers most interesting.

There was a little more military equipment inside:

Three floors and outside exhibits – a bit on the depressing side, but defiantly on everyone’s agenda. I heard, French, Russian, Spanish, and of-course, English and Vietnamese.

Museum. Check.

Must be time for our coffee shop stop – back to yesterday’s chain since Sean’s favorite shop seems to have closed (turns out it just moved). And Pigletté gets to try on some traditional hats be bought at the museum:

That would be hats for Pigletté, BóBó, and Mr. Lobster. Today’s Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf branch is a two-story affair, so we get a bit of a city view:

Home for a nap and cocktails – the former didn’t happen, the latter did.

Tonight – Indian Food delivered to the door – these days of sightseeing are leaving us exhausted and unwilling to leave the comfort of the apartment:

Damn tasty.

Tomorrow Sean returns to work, and I’ll explore the city on my own.

[219.8]

Just a reminder to those readers arriving here from FaceBook. Links from FaceBook
are a direct link to this post, so you miss the previous posts. You can see all the posts by either clicking on the UMTravels banner, or HERE.

Sean took Monday and Tuesday off so those are out museum days…and with him working Wednesday and Thursday, I’ll be making my wondering tours of his neighborhood. Who know where food will end of in this.

First up Is a little breakfast – turns about its cracked rice and chicken – should be a nice base for a day of sightseeing.

Maybe I should have had something other than tea — morning cocktails were $1.50 – were is Magnatroia when you need him!

Next up is a little shopping at one of the oldest Colonial-style
markets left in Saïgon. That would be Bến Thành Market

Getting there through Saïgon traffic is what we need to do first. More on that in the next post, but here is a preview (next post will have scary traffic videos). I’m in the bitch seat on Sean’s scooter wearing a Hello Kitty helmet. It goes with my Hello Kitty watch.

I’ve been to markets like this around the world – lots of touts hawking their wears – I did see an interesting domino set for Salamander – but no real time to look/bargain/haggle – just not into the markets as I once was. Just show me a price, that’s all I want.

I did see some humorous shirts I’ve have gotten if I didn’t know that they would last one washing.

Next up was to swing by the post office – Sean
had wanted stamps, but the lines made it hard – no stamps, but another cool old colonial-style
building.

Across the street is one of the Cathedrals in town:

Alas it being noon, the church wasn’t open to the public, so we settled on one of the oldest Indian-based Hindu Shrine around the corner. Apparently the original member-base were all Indian bank workers.

As mot much is open for lunch, so off to a coffee shop for tea, blood orange bubbly, free Wi-Fi, and clean bathrooms.

Rested, cooled off, relieved we next check into the Reunification Palace, also known as the Independence Palace.
It was a time building that my friend Russ really needs to see – I’m surprised the North didn’t just level it after the war, instead, they turned it into a time-capsule.

It feels like a monument to late 60’s design – love some of the rooms:

And my favorite – the game room with bar…

I think Jill would like this room as well…or maybe the theatre with its chairs:

They even preserved the projection booth:

And if you needed to get out in a hurry, grab a Huey from the roof:

Under fire and can’t get out on the chopper – head to the bunker:

And when the attack is over, have company over and have the catering kitchen whip up a meal – yes, I had kitchen envy:

On the grounds there are examples of the rogue South Vietnam plane that bombed the Independence Palace (a pilot switched sides), that has a black “X” over the country logo:

And one of the tanks that stormed the palace:

Totally museum’d out for day, it’s off for a city tour…Graham Greene wrote “The Quiet American” in this bar of the Hotel Continental, across from the Opera House:

Said Opera House:

Last tourist stop of the day is the top of the tallest building in Vietnam to have a drink. They devote the lowest floor of parking just to scooters!

It was a little convoluted to get to the bar – query the front counter (it’s a mall and food court for the first couple of floors), take an escalator to the reservations desk, be escorted to the elevator to the reception desk on 50, put on another elevator to the 51^st) – all to get to a fairly tacky bar with a killer view:

With expensive drinks – by Vietnam standards:

I had a Manhattan – decent ingredient selection, but 220,000 Dong –$9.89 USD, and it was Bulleit Bourbon (I’d have preferred their rye). Plus, add 5% service charge and 10% VAT and you are really at $10.04 a drink. Much more than the $1.50 per cocktail advertised at the restaurant we had breakfast in.

Sean had a beer – also overpriced:

But there is the view:

And the Heliport…

Done with cocktails it’s time to head back to the apartment – I’m meeting up with Ming who I met online. The plan is drinks and appetizers at the apartment which means a run to the “supermarket” around the corner for supplies. Meet Ming – medical equipment salesman:

Never did get a proper meal, but I did check out the Yacht Club Scotch!

It’s “old”, though I doubt as “olde” as me.

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Who would have thought I’d be up at 6am…guessing that it has to do with “early to bed”. Or maybe it was the fact we pulled anchor and are under way again.

Breakfast is at 7, we need to be off the boat at 8 for transfer to smaller boats to explore the Mekong Delta a little more. At least there is coffee ready for us:

And a beautiful sunrise:

Good Morning VIETNAM! R.I.P. Robin Williams. I loved that movie – and Apocalypse Now. Maybe I should re-watch those on my return to the states. We still have more time on the boat – but I’m already thinking I didn’t book enough boat time.

Pigletté is already at breakfast by the time we get there! No coffee for him, just juice.

They advertised a “continental breakfast”. I’m not sure what continent, but the options were English-style (beans, scrambled eggs, broiled tomato), American-style (omelet, bacon), European-style (breads, meats, cheeses), or Vietnamese-style (pho). When in Rome!

Yum!

When it’s time to off-load, it’s funny to watch the French people who each have one HUGE bag, and one roll-aboard – PER PERSON trying to get all that stuff into the boats. Here we are, headed away from our home of the last day…

One headed up one of the many tiny waterways of the Mekong Delta:

A word to the wise – a little mobility is required for this portion of the journey…think narrow ramps.

The poor lady from Singapore (on the English presented tour with us) was having some difficulties on this portion of the tour.

First stop was an open-air barn that they were roasting something…coal fires underneath, and pig pits above that guys with plastic shoveling moving product around – it didn’t look like a fun job:

Even the back channels of the Mekong Delta are crowded with boats as I discover on the way to our next stop:

Next up – Vietnam’s most pampered animals – Fighting Cocks!

They are kept in wire cages to keep them from fighting with each other before there is actually money on the ground.

Here is a chicken getting a bath and a massage…

As in the rest of Vietnam – scooters EVERYWHERE…

Even on the narrow village paths…

It surprised me that this one was concrete – the one yesterday was asphalt – but I guess in a country that has a monsoon season, paved is better than mud. My guess is that this village is doing OK judging by some of the houses:

Next up is a sugar cane processing “plant”:

Remember I mentioned that rice husks are used as fuel? Above, there is a sloping pile of husks that is used to feed the fire below. And the pile outside that feeds it.

Lots of sloshing around…

Before it gets poured in to plastic pots to cool and then be stacked and wrapped for shipment:

Apparently, it’s a family affair judging from the water bottle above, and this scene below:

Before you know it, we are headed to Cái Bè and their floating markets – you can tell what they are selling by what is on a bamboo pole sticking from their boat:

There is a lovely cathedral in Cái Bè – alas, it isn’t on our itinerary.

What is on our itinerary is a one-stop “folkloric” shopping opportunity – MUCH lower key than most. It features snakes soaked in rice liquor (I’m sure customs would LOVE that in Houston), and displays of candy making (using ingredients like we saw earlier), paper making, and rice popping (think rice krispies).

From there, we are off to meet up with our driver for the ride back to Saïgon – and here is a picture of our driver. Not much in the way of English skills, but Sean has some rudimentary Vietnamese.

Confession – the picture was taken in Cần ThÆ¡, but it just didn’t fit the narrative.

Got back to Sean’s apartment a little after noon – dropped bags and off to lunch – with this amusing photo-op on the way.

Everyone is gearing up for Tết (the New Year).

And lunch!

Did you need some hot peppers? Those were sitting on the table next to us.

I just let Sean order – it’s simpler, and I eat most anything. And I get to try all the local favorites.

One of my favorite things about third-world cities is the “amusing” wiring hanging off poles.

I’d hate to trace a wire in that jungle.

After lunch it’s nap time – something about travelling Vietnam highways/streets is exhausting, even if you aren’t the one driving. Then off to the store with a fistful of Dồng!

That 2000 note is worth 9 cents USD. The print bills up to a million Dồng– which is equal to $45 USD. The smallest note is 200 with a value of less than a penny USD. And look – you can buy casks of wine at the grocery store for about $30 USD.

Sean is cooking tonight, which turns out to be a rarity with the inexpensive nature of going out to eat.

And it’s tasty as well!

Time for a little work before bed…

Didn’t last that long before it was “hit the hay” time. Another big day planned for tomorrow.

Slept well last night – those beds are wonderful! But breakfast calls – and it’s a huge buffet (included in the room):

And this isn’t even the bread/juice/cereal/pastry stand – I didn’t get much there, so why bother – well. I did get a slice of paté.

Pigletté had some peach juice (he doesn’t eat much, really)…

And Sean and I filled our plates!

After breakfast we had time to stroll the grounds. They have a nice booklet describing what all is planted where, including their bull named Bronco.

And speaking of Bronco –he gets walked three times a day along with three showers – and I’m guessing he’d still prefer to be rolling around in some mud…

They even have displays of all the rice cultivation tools – above, those would be two small “on hotel grounds” rice paddies.

Our driver is waiting for us as we check out – and this being Vietnam, if we wait for 20 minutes, the credit card machine will be working again. Once again Banker Sean bails us out for our Million Dồng bottle of wine the drinks and snacks we had.

What is kind of funny is that the driver took us back to the exact spot that they launch dropped us off last night! We made a pit stop for more Scotch and Diet Coke – and onto the boat we go! Said boat:

Actually, it’s the outer one, so we have to take a boat to our boat…

Here is a shot of the “sister” ship to ours…

I’ve got to say that so far I’m liking the accommodations…

Bed for us, a bath for Pigletté…

I love these kinds of shots… footies I guess that would be…

And Pigletté enjoys the view…

But it’s time for lunch. We get three meals on our cruise – lunch, dinner, and breakfast tomorrow morning.

And it was all really good!

The rest of the passengers are mostly English speakers, with a handful of French speakers, and a lowly German coupe. That would mean three tour guides on board as well.

It’s a hard life at sea…

Here is a photo of the map our tour guide used to show us our route for the next 24 hours….

I finally unpacked my “real” camera – the one with the 16x zoom so that I could get a bunch of close-ups of life on the river.

We are not the only tourist boat on the river. I’ve seen boats that were loaded with bicycles for multi-day trips that had a cycling component.

Small ferries are located about every mile up and down the river – moving goods and people from side-to-side.

Everything gets transported by river. Here is a load of Pigletté’s cousins…

And a load of coconuts headed to market…

And bridge components headed up river…

I’m thinking that these are bags of rice husks which are then used for fuel.

And wood…FYI, if there are “eyes” on the front of the boat – the boat’s captain is Buddhist.

Anyone need some hay?

Or rice?

And guess where those boats get built? We saw LOTS of boat yards lining the river:

And lots of boat traffic.

Lots of ways to make money off the river – like fishing…

And tending their nets…

For many of the boat captains, their boat is their house as well as their job…

Mom driving the boat while Dad takes a bath…

Or resting out of the afternoon sun…

Random pictures of boat people…

Random pictures of shore life:

And random building shots…

Not as much bird life along the river as I’d expected, but some:

In the late afternoon we had an excursion up one of the many channels and tributaries that feed the Mekong. A was a little surprised that they gave us life-jackets – but a bit relieved as well.

Up river we go:

Really thankful for the lifejackets:

At the start of our “walk-about” our guide gives us our intro to the fruits of Vietnam:

And flowers …

And spices like peppercorn:

As we wandered further inland it turned to protein:

OK – the dog isn’t for eating – it’s to chase off predators. As you can see – they can pretty much grow or harvest most of what they need to live on – save for some cooking oil.

Next up on the agenda was a little snack…of the fruits we saw, and some hot tea:

Followed by a tour of their house…

And on the way back to the boat – rice fields. Please note the burial crypts on the right hand side:

And speaking of burial crypts, here are some more:

Tour over – back to the boat we go, with enough time for a cocktail or two before dinner – good thing we stocked up in town!

Off to dinner we go…

Looks yummy doesn’t it.

And we even sprang for a little white Bordeaux:

Nothing like a full moon to complete the evening:

It was an early to bed night for all three of us after a very long day.

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One of my biggest worries of this trip was that a delay in arriving into Saïgon would screw the trip to Cần Thơ the following morning as there was only twelve hours between landing and getting picked up for the tour. Alas, no worries, even with the delay at the Visa Desk.

In the morning Sean and I head out for an early breakfast – leaving Pigletté at home since it’s Pork and Rice for breakfast (and iced tea):

Here is the guy cooking our pork on the side of the street at 7:30am in the morning…

And the end product. I think I could get used to this. 34,000 Dồng (Vietnamese Monetary Unit) a person ($1.52 USD):

Our driver was right on time at 8am – and even came down the narrow street to pick us up in front of Sean’s apartment:

He had to back down the alley as there was no room to turn around. But off we go for the 4-hour drive to Cần ThÆ¡. After we got out of the city, there was a bit of tollway that quickly turned into two lanes in each direction separated by a “Jersey Barrier“, with scooters/motorcycles going both ways on the shoulder – all accompanied by various small businesses lining the road, with the occasional break for rice paddies, banana farms and other agricultural stuff.

Part way in we stopped at what I call a “tourist rest stop” that all the tour buses stop at (though we were in a chaffered car) – a “shopping opportunity” as The Colonels would say – and a chance for a freebie for the driver. Sean mentioned that he prefers to stop in “hammock cafes” where you have your tea (or whatever) while lounging in a hammock in the shade.

All said, Pigletté enjoys his Vietnamese Coffee (Robusta-bean brewed coffee with sweetened condensed milk):

And the surroundings are pretty – but it took us a bit to find our driver again…

Before you knew it – and Sean snoozing after his tea — we are approaching the new (as of 2010) bridge over the Mekong River to get to Cần ThÆ¡. The old method was a ferry that added HOURS to the journey. This and another bridge at the Cambodian border makes it possible to drive from Saigon to Phnom Penh, Cambodia in six hours.

First stop when we arrive in Cần Thơ is our lunch stop of the day with a set Vietnamese lunch:

And it was tasty:

Luckily this was all part of the “package” I got from Luxury Travel Co., Ltd. So far, the tour isn’t disappointing. With the lunch we had some Vietnamese Red Wine (Vang Dalat, served chilled and considering it was 90 degrees outside, a good thing) by the glass (50,000 Dồng each — $4.49 USD for both glasses, NOT included in tour price). There is a review of the Van Dalat STONG wine (16% being fortified with Mulberry Wine here), but I don’t think it’s right to compare a fortified wine to a regular table wine from the same producer, but it is an interesting interview.

After lunch (and an ATM stop for Sean – he’s my “bank” this trip so far, not having changed any money at the airport on the way in), we are off to check into the Victoria Cần ThÆ¡ – a Colonial-era hotel (think French occupation of Vietnam). You have to love a check-in process where they say, “take a seat”, turn over your passports, and while they do all the paperwork, you get a shoulder massage:

Again, part of the “package” apparently – and there is a spa on premises if we want a “couples massage”. We have the afternoon free, so we settle into the room to craft a plan…

Even the bathroom is nice…they even put a condom in a little envelope on the top of the toilet…

They even sent up a fruit basket!

We had to call down for ice for the flash of whiskey I brought (flask was included with the liter of Jameson that I bought at Dubai Duty Free):

Internet and nap time rule for the afternoon – at least until happy hour in the bar downstairs…

And a little reading time (unless you want to play billiards):

We could have played Backgammon as well….

Happy hour wasn’t THAT good a deal – 2-for-1 Gin & Tonics at 4-star hotel prices, but we did need the nuts and a little snack before taking the water taxi to Cần ThÆ¡‘s city center…

Our objective was to find some supplies – whiskey and diet for me at retail rather than hotel prices…and explore some of the city center. The water taxi is run by the hotel and they just need 10-15 minutes’ notice on the hotel end, as the boat is moored in the city. Turns out we stumbled into one of the few shops early in our stroll that sold both – but hoping for a better deal, we explored further. Note the Microsoft Storefront in the background…

And a picture from Sean’s collection. GREAT picture of me.

Fresh shrimp anyone?

Or may some Tết (Vietnamese New Year) stuff – we bought some!

But soon it was time to head back to the hotel with our Scotch (Johnny Walker Red – not my first choice, but the best of the lot) and some Coke Light (Diet Coke for those in the US). We have a 6:30pm dinner reservation (also included in the tour price), so time is of the essence…

I thought I’d show you some shots of where we were staying – stunning grounds and facilities. Headed to the resort from the dock…

The river side of the place…

The view from the lobby to the pool…

The lobby (open-air – rooms have AC).

Time for dinner! Listed in the brochure as “candlelight dinner” it was true to description – complete with a custom printed menu for us:

Guess that makes Sean “and party”… love the attention to detail:

And the food was a stunning as the napkin. The “starter” – Eggplant Tartin with Mozzarella and fresh garden salad (please notice the “balled” butter):

Green pea soup (soup de legumes verts)….

Chicken leg stuffed with mushrooms, and mushroom sauce, Duchess Potatoes, and a faggot (bundle of sticks) of green beans….fagot de haricots verts as they say in France.

And dessert…. chocolate cake served with coconut ice cream…

All washed down with a little rosé from Provence (that’s in France you know – and Vietnam was a French Colony for a couple of year). It’s a Saint Roch Les Vignes which is sustainably-farmed 50% Cinsault, 50% Grenache from 225 acres from select domains in the villages of Cuers, Puget-Ville and Pierrefeu with the average age of vines at about 30-years-old.

Love a good rosé in a hot environment! Even if it did cost almost a million Dồng. Fun fact – the Dồng has the second lowest redemption value right behind the Iranian Dinar.

That said, the USD total was $44.45 – like I said – 4-star resort prices. At least I know what the mark-up at the restaurant is – that bottle would be $15 on the shelf at my shop. Considering how little we have been paying for other things on this trip, it was nice to have a nice rosé in hot weather.

The restaurant also has an enclosed, sit-in wine cellar/bar:

We got back to the room to find more attention to detail – a bedtime story scroll, and a couple of star fruit jelly roll snacks….but no new bucket of ice…that will make the third call today, or is it fourth:

Also, please note that the bottled water has a cloth “cozies” around it. Condoms in the bathroom, cloth sleeves on the water bottles – they are serious about “protection”, or is that “glove before you love”.

Off to bed – driver comes at 11:30am for us, and breakfast is served until 10am.

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Trying to keep on top of this trip – and slipping further behind. Cause: too much fun. Damn fun!

5am wake-up call…I don’t really like those, but I don’t set the schedule, I just pick the cheapest redemption values.

It’s a little hard to get pictures of Dubai when you arrive after dark and you leave before it’s light, but here’s a bizarre shot from the cab in the morning…

And of the departure lanes at DBX:

Luckily, the upside of getting to the airport early is time in the Emirates Business Class Lounge. And it’s a lovely facility (though not as nice at the C-terminal one, but B-terminal has a post-security hotel as well. Maybe I should have stayed there. Here is a sampling of shots, starting with the route to customs…it’s a long walk (and from there it breaks off into three different terminals, luckily I’m at B, which is just beyond security):

A little duty-free shopping (Tullamore Dew with a free flask) and then it was off to the lounge, which stretches the entire length of the terminal (but doesn’t have elevators like Terminal C):

It’s one level above departure level and is quite nice:

This would be the buffet from the front:

Which for lunch included a specialty oven just for baked potatoes:

And the back:

Cooked up by this kitchen:

Here is what we started with….

Moet Champagne this time, with chicken sausage (it is a Muslin country after all), scrambled eggs, hash browns, lox, cream cheese, capers. Tried to be moderate after filling up yesterday in the lounge and then not being able to eat all the food on the plane.

Unlike the lounge I was in last year (post here) on the way to Japan, no elevators directly to the gates in this lounge…and not only that – I have first-world problems…no jet-way – but really nice leather seated busses to the tarmac. No wonder they need to build a new airport in Dubai:

Nicest transfer bus I’ve ever been on…and then there were the stairs….

Business Class did have its own dedicated stairs… but still – stairs, with luggage. My first-world arms and legs were complaining…until the champagne came (again Moet), though it hadn’t arrived by the time of this photo:

The 777-300 series Business Class seats aren’t nearly as nice as the A380 seats…10-year-older technology, but the business class section isn’t bad. I know, more first-world bitching:

And this is what the entry way looks like – and honest – the rest of the flight she was smiling:

And we had just two of us for 6 seats in the mini-section at the back of business…

Off we go after settling in…

Today’s flight is only clocking in at about 7 hours – so not the level of service as the overnight runs. But first, some shots of the Dubai skyline for Mr. Whippet (who requested Dubai shots, and with late in, early out, this was the best I could do – and that would be the single Mr. Whippet, not the married Mr. and Mrs. Whippet):

That would be Dubai in the background, and below, an example of pollution problems in Dubai – notice the spire from the tallest building poking through the smog:

But we are settled in, watching movies….

And eating food – this would be the appetizer:

And then the main (Chicken Biryani):

And snacks if we get hungry:

And a light meal before we landed – chicken meat wrapped around lemongrass root – I might have to try that at home:

And then it was all over – the fun that is. Time to fix the visa problem. Line, get form, fill out form, cut in line to turn in form, wait 30 minutes, pay $25 USD (really felt like a government foreign currency making scam since EVERYONE paid in dollars, including the French). Bottom line it was an hour from getting off the plane to meeting up with Sean who was picking me up and giving me a place to sleep. Go Sean!

A cab ride home, crack the duty-free, have a snack, and a reasonable to-bed time.

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In some ways this section of the trip excites me almost as much as checking off Vietnam from my “bucket list”. It will be my first ride on an Airbus 380-800 – and it’s upstairs (the A380 is a two-level [three with cargo] passenger aircraft).

But first I need to get to the airport (thanks BART!), through security and into the lounge. And that’s the first snag of the trip – turns out my Vietnam Visa is for next week, not this week. Luckily I have copies of the “invitations” from the tour company but it’s a 30-minute delay in getting me checked in – at least I have a fair warning that I’ll need to apply at the airport when I finally get to Saigon – and yes, I call it Saigon rather than Ho Chi Min City because the airport code is still SGN.

Though security in the mid-fast lane (Premium Customers – Business/First/Gold) but not TSA-Pre – so it’s shoes off, laptop and liquids out, all the shit out my pocket for the body scanner.

But once past the gauntlet, it’s off to the Emirates Lounge – wish Alaska was using this as their temporary lounge rather than Cathy Pacific’s Lounge in the same terminal – and it’s nothing to sneeze at. Link here to posts about that lounge.

Nice to be able to have a nice buffet lunch on the ground before eating on board:

Pigletté and I started with a little champagne and some nibbles:

Veuve Cliquot for Pigletté, Jack and Diet 7-up for me – we split the Ahi tuna tartare salad and went back for the shrimp and the potato lobster cakes:

Nice facilities here in the lounge:

Like a help yourself bar…

And even a shower room in the bathroom if you are sticky…

Rough life – and about to get rougher since San Francisco to Dubai is a 16-hour flight, but at least the seat is comfortable, and look, more Veuve Cliquot:

Here are what the seats across the aisle (would those be the Republican seats?) look like:

And of the larger section of Business Class…

I’m in seat 23J – though for the flight home I might move to 24K so I don’t have to crawl over the nightstand to get to the aisle. Refer to the seating chart at the beginning of this post for location – I chose the back section of Business because it’s closer to the stand-up bar…

This should give you an idea about the amount of leg room with this seat:

And yes, that’s a 22-inch diagonal touchscreen TV. And then there is the amenities bag filled with nice razors, and Bvlgari products:

Hell, even the toilets on this plane are swanky – I swear it’s heated:

Even the towels are cloth!

But I’m really here for the food…

And the drink…

Espresso and Cointreau (yes, they have an espresso machine built into the galley):

The basically free internet (while watching the Blue Brothers):

Something like 3000 channels of entertainment on their ICE system (this would be the detachable seat side controller for the TV):

And the bed…

Landing in Dubai and getting through customs and immigration (I just had carry-on) was fairly painless other than their “automated” entry system where you scan your passport and stare into the camera once again failed to work, but there was nobody in line in front of me, so no big deal other than the airport itself is HUGE to it was lots of waling to the cab stand.

When I booked my overnight hotel in Dubai I accidently booked the Holiday Inn Express that was further from the airport (hiccup number two in the trip). At least in Dubai the cabs are fairly reasonable – it was about $20 bucks to get into downtown. I would have cancelled and changed to the correct one (I knew about this hiccup before leaving the country) but there was a 3,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards bonus that I would have lost bringing the points total from 4,000 down to 1,000. 4,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points under the new schedule which goes into force on the 24^th means that is worth $120 worth of Amtrak spendable dollars. Well worth the longer cab ride.

And the room isn’t bad. I left Pigletté in the room while I went for dinner – not sure how a pig would be treated in a Muslim country, guessing not well.

Not a bad room for one night.

Odd thing at the hotel, yes, it had a bar, basically unmarked behind the reception counter, and filled with Arab men smoking cigarettes and drinking.

Off to Saigon in the morning.

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

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

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

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

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

And the plane is here…

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

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

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

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

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

GREAT COMPANY!

GREAT FOOD!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Nothing like a $160.10 round-trip flight to get me motivated to travel – add complimentary upgrades to First in both directions and I’m in.

Staying with Jameson (faux-nephew) and his girlfriend Carolynn at their place a couple of blocks from old town Folsom. Got my own cat-free room – yes, the cat is the downside to the trip.

I had planned on hitting some wineries after meeting up with Paul the German CouchSurfer who is attempting to hitchhike from Vancouver, BC to New York City using NO CASH. I hosted him in Seattle last week, and it turned out we were in Sacramento at the same time so hooked up for lunch and dropped him at a freeway entrance as he was headed to Reno. And it turns out all the Placerville Wineries are closed on Tuesdays (some Wednesday to Sunday, most only weekends).

Lunch? Max’s Bar and Grill in Auburn – at the start of the Sierra foothills. For picking it at random (search restaurants, Auburn, CA – look for ones close to the highway) it turned out to be the best Rueben that I’ve had in years. Pair it with a Manhattan, and it was heaven. Paul and the Manhattan:

Said best Rueben in years:

Turns out the freeway entrance I wanted to put Paul on didn’t have any place to pull over so we backtracked an exit to one with a gas station – turns out it was also Downtown Old Auburn with not much traffic. He waited five hours and ended up hitchhiking in the dark. At least he made it to Reno – by 9:30pm.

I got to Jameson’s place before he did – but check out the “economy” rental car from Advantage Rent-A-Car – apparently the economy is very good in California if you get a Kia Sedona LX mommyvan as an economy car:

Cute house. Great food – the first night what started out as a pork loin turned into a Carolina-style pulled pork with a side of creamed yams and a salad – plus a couple of bottles of wine I brought.

Wednesday was the designated “winery” day. Slept in late to make up for the prior days up early, fortified myself with another Rueben at Deb’s Frosty in Diamond Springs, California. Not nearly as good but $7.50 rather than Max’s $15 (plus Manhattan).

And the sign has seen better days. Would be interesting to try other items on the menu, which seems to be half burger stand and half Tex-Mex food.

And now for the winery report:

One of the lesser known, but fascinating California winery regions is Eldorado County, an hour east of Sacramento. Unlike the bustling regions of Napa or Sonoma, these smaller regions offer inexpensive tastings fees (if any at all), and offer up some great wines and stunning scenery.

As you can see from the map, there are no shortage of wineries in Eldorado County, many of which are only open weekends. Most everyplace you stop in will have maps of the area, including special maps for the sub-AVAs of Fairplay and Placerville. It being a Wednesday afternoon, my choices were a little more limited so I hit two that were recommended (and next door to each other) and one (Miraflores) that I just stumbled upon.

While none of the wines from the three wineries I stopped at are available at the shop, this is more informational about off-the-beaten track wine regions.

First up was Windwalker Winery in the Fairplay area of El Dorado County California. They produce 9-10,000 cases of wine a year with 10% being estate fruit. Of that production, 1/3 are white wine varietals, including dry-style Albariño (unusual for California) and a Viognier (both tasty, but I bought the Albariño). If you are a Chardonnay fan, their Chardonnay won the prestigious Golden Bear award at the California State Fair (front and center in front of their other medal placing wines).

As you can see from the chalkboard, they have an extensive and varied production. I even had a chance to chat with Ben, their winemaker:

Some of the more interesting reds they had open were the Alicante Bouschet (another rare California varietal) and their Estate Fruit Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. They also have several desert wines that I passed on. By the end of the tasting I’d had three whites/rosé and nine of the reds – yes, I was swirling, sipping and spitting.

Next up in the day’s adventure was Perry Creek Winery, which is just one long driveway away from Windwalker. Unlike Windwalker, most of their grapes are estate grown.

As with Windwalker, the major portion of their wines are red varietals (Chardonnay and Viognier being the two whites). I worked my way through them, finding the Zinfandels to my favorites – and oddly, the ZinMan Zin (which I bought) tastier than their Reserve Zinfandel. I ended up trying both the whites and half a dozen of the reds.

Last on the list for the day was Miraflores Winery, visually the most stunning of the bunch – no wander they have a full schedule of wine/food pairings, weddings, wine maker dinners.

For tasting they had your choice of six whites or rosé, and fifteen reds of which I sampled. With the exception of their Pinot Grigio and Misíon 1853, all of their wines are estate fruit grown on 50 cultivated acres

I really like their 2014 Barbara Rosé, along with their 2012 Méthode Ancienne – a traditional native yeast, foot-pressed Syrah. They used to invite people in to help with the stomp, but in recent years it’s just handled by the production workers. Other notable on the tasting menu were the 2014 Misíon 1853 – the first varietal planted in California in, you guessed it, 1853. Also deserving mention are their 2011 and 2012 Petit Sirah.

So, when you are travelling around the country, explore the less explored wine regions – when doing the research for this article I found a map for the wineries of Indiana – who knew.

Got back to the house before Jameson and Carolynn – but not enough time for a nap, just enough time to clear up email.

Another damn fine meal, this time with Eldorado County California wines (the Albariño and the ZinMan – taking the Syrah home with me). And while we are talking about the accommodations – said overly-friendly cat:

As usual, Carolynn heads to bed before Jameson and I, and no sleeping in for me in the morning – an 11:30 flight. But again, at least I’m in First.

And the flight comes with lunch – a yellow beat salad with focaccia (and cocktail):

Just another week in the air with Uncle Markie.

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