UMTravels

Time to take another “cruise virgin” for a trip. I keep helping Salamander tick things off his bucket list. Not sure how I’m going to pull off Greenland – at least not this trip. This trip is a simple Vancouver to Los Angeles 3-night “cruise to nowhere”.

But first, we have to get to Vancouver – that means the early train – Business Class so we are the first to get off and grab a cab. At King Street Station in Seattle:

The hell that awaited us trying to check in and board the boat. Vancouver has consistently sucky boarding procedures. At least there is now an Elite line for us to use. It’s an improvement, but there are no Elite lines for the next long line, Immigration (which is handled by US Border Patrol in Canada):

Almost made me wish for a wheelchair since they go to the head of the line. But eventually we make it on board – but past the 1:30 cut-off for sit down dining.

This would be the “Mini-Suite”. In the “Balcony” cabins you don’t get the separate seating area.

After a quick bite, it’s time to settle into the real reason I cruise. To hang out on the deck with a cocktail and catch up on my reading:

Salamander on the other hand prefers the bed (and couch)…

After the life boat drill, which I wish they would do what Holland America does which is if you’ve cruised before, you can leave your life jacket in the room it was time to depart from Vancouver:

No LGBT Get Together on the schedule tonight – posted a note on the FaceBook Princess Sea Men private group about the absence – turns out there wasn’t one on the overnight from Seattle to Vancouver on Saturday. Guess I’ll be filling out the survey at the end of the cruise with a complaint or two.

Before long it was time for dinner – just some random food pictures…

Yep, that was a lot of food for dinner – add a bottle of wine and a double espresso and Cointreau to complete.

Got back to the room and Mary Gay (our room attendant) had thoughtfully arranged our booze selection and filled the ice bucket. All the minis are from the mini-bar that they fill free the first time for Elites:

When to one of the shows…the intro to the cruise show:

Tomorrow – a weather change…

And no LGBT gathering, AGAIN….but dinner is served!

Another show tonight, this one magic – and he was pretty good (and cute to boot).

And when we get back to the room – my laundry is back! Another Elite benefit is free laundry and dry cleaning, so I save mine up.

And another day – and it’s a sunny day!

 

And it being the final day – its DUTY FREE time. Here is what I scored for $84:

Here is how Salamander spent his afternoons:

And me:

Last night onboard there is finally an LGBT gathering – well attended! 38 people with a half dozen swinging through to say hello. It was almost like a gay bar.

And a zoo for the last night dinner. Lots of people waiting to get in for dinner – luckily we were number one in line with a request for a two-top (which we got).

No food shots – guessing you are tired of see them. But we did go see the comedian who used to be part of the Beach Boys:

Off the boat early and through customs (which was basically collecting the forms) and off to the airport we went – arriving 6 hours early which meant some wrangling to get our bags checked that early, but got it done, and off to the Board Room to hang out, eat, drink, check mail, watch TV:

And forgot to mention, Salamander and I got upgraded to First Class for the way home, which meant dinner on board:

Cab to the house, then Uber’d Salamander home. Time to head work for the weekend before heading out on the annual Birthday Ramble.

The travel season is here for Uncle Markie – this week it’s a quick trip to Berkeley to see Lunetta and Onyx. I realized when I got down there it had been a year since I’d been to see they. Didn’t seem like that long since they visited me in Victoria last January.

Three selfies to start the post. Lounge, plane, and BART:

     

It’s wonderful flying into the Bay Area now that both SFO and OAK are connected via BART. No trips to the airport during rush hour – I just get off the plane and BART to Ashby Station – though I might start having them pick me up there as my knee and foot weren’t really happy. Still beat the 30 minutes each way to OAK and 45 to SFO (depending on traffic).

Got there to find them working on their front steps – a project that has stretched for years and should be able to withstand a magnitude 9 earth quake.

Tonight we are holding dinner until 9pm so that Alicia and Devon can come after work – they are stunned to find dinner waiting for them after their group sessions let out (they are both counselors so no pictures). Yum, grilled scallops and a citrus salad – and wine provided by Uncle Markie.

Lots of reorganizing downstairs – one of the reasons I hadn’t visited in a year is they had a roommate who stayed longer than they were expecting – so now my office/bedroom downstairs looks like this:

Which sits atop this wonderful old rail freight cart.

Following day did my booze shopping at BevMo, cashing in a 5% coupon I’d just scored. Made California booze even cheaper!

Tonight’s dinner was equally wonderful grilled chicken breast with a salad with lots of roasted pine nuts in it. I brought a magnum on Scarello with me (a light Italian Red).

Before I knew it – time to go back to Seattle. Two nights passes quickly – but at least I didn’t hit the dreaded three night when fish and houseguests start to turn:

“Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.”
Benjamin Franklin

And besides that, the stuffed animals were starting to attack me:

Learning my lesson, Lunetta gave me a ride back to the BART station for my trip to SFO. I went HOURS early because Alaska Airlines in temporarily in the International Terminal and with no lounge they are contracting with Cathay Pacific for lounge services – and Cathay Pacific’s lounge is only for Business and First Class passengers on when flying with them. They really knock it out of the park starting with the cardboard cutout that greets you down a long hallway:

I got there just as they opened up their made-to-order noodle bar featuring Dan Dan Noodles, Won Ton Noodles and one other selection – could have sworn I took a picture of the menu!

And here is the buffet bar…

Pretty comfortable – and my “office” in the lounge:

Did I mention free mix your own drinks and wine. Feeling no pain on the flight home even though I was in 6D.

[217.4]

Some of you have been following my obsession with Amtrak Guest Rewards and gaming the system. Well, the game is changing as of January 24^th. Here is the current zone system:

Under the new system it will be an almost complete rip-off of the Delta SkyPesos program. It’s all about the dollars you spend and how you spend them, including no points earning for slightly discounted tickets:

Q: What fares do not qualify for point earning and redeeming?

A: As is the case today, members may not earn or redeem points for Amtrak 7000-series Thruway services or the Canadian portion of joint Amtrak/VIA Rail Canada services. Additionally, discounted Amtrak fares (including Saver Fares, AAA discount, Senior Fares etc.) will not be redeemable.

Currently Saver Fares aren’t eligible for the AAA discount, but at least you still get the dollar spend – pity my rail buddies like Solus+ who gets the senior discount (which is the same as the AAA discount). So, if we look at some older posts you can see lots of examples, but I’ll use my favorite trip as an example:

Currently this is considered at Two Zone Award Ticket costing 20,000 miles in a Roomette and 30,000 in a bedroom. These tickets are for two passengers including all your meals and access to the Metropolitan Lounges in (on this itinerary), New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland.

Under the new scheme this routing would be…

Some notes on the chart above. Three months out from today is mid-December (mid-season, pre-Christmas), 6-months out is mid-March (low-season), 9-months out is mid-June (high-season).

As you can see, under the new “scheme” points have been devalued by 2-3 times.

What to do about it?

• If you haven’t bought your maximum number of points this year (15,000), top up that account and book your trip before January 24^th, 2016. Current costs are .04 each, but sometimes they have bonus points sales (up to 30% extra points), though I doubt that is likely to happen again before they change the system.
• Get the new Amtrak Chase MasterCard and pray that your 20,000 points bonus (after spending $1000 in the first three months) hit your account before January 24^th, 2016 and book that trip (and don’t change it) under the old rules. They say 8-12 weeks posting time so spend that thousand dollars quick.
• Take the train this fall between 9/21/2015 and 11/21/2015 and register for the Double Points Promotion.

Looks like I’m going to bank as many miles as I can over the next couple of months, and book as many trips as I can before the middle of January since once the new program is in place, that will be the end of my freewheeling days on Amtrak.

And in other news, Amtrak has just released a bunch of new ads to get people to take the long distance trains – the first in 15 years. Maybe there is hope for the system after all. It’s a lifestyle choice, not a dollar choice.

Well, it’s September! Time to travel now that there are DEALS again.

First up on the block is Walla Wall Wine Country, home to two friends of mine from Seattle (one all the back to college) who moved there six months ago.

For some reasons, I have NO pictures of the new house, complete with a detached bungalow for rent on AirBnB. I do have a couple of the view from the front stone porch…

First Gin & Tonic of the evening whilst checking email and watching the birds peck away at the lawn.

First night was a dinner party with new friends and old friends – including Jean who I used to work with in 1989 and 1990 who now lives in Wall Walla:

Fun time was had by all. After the girls went to bed, I watched a little TV and headed to the bedroom myself:

Nice to have my choice of the cabana or the guest bedroom. Since it had been awhile since I’d seen them I opted for the house. That and I didn’t have to go outside from the cabana to the main house to get my morning coffee.

Before heading out on our errand run, it was a meal at Andre’s Kitchen which I kid you not is in the Co-Op Gas Station Convenience Store.

But damn good! I went for the Chicago Dog as I wanted something on the lighter side:

The afternoon was filled with a run to Milton Freewater for Oregon priced booze (about 30% cheaper than Washington State) and some wineries on the way back to Walla Walla. There is a reason that they call it Walla Walla Wine Country.

First stop was Balboa. They aren’t in commercial distribution, but I still got our tasting fees waved by giving them my business card (plus 20% off on purchases). A definite perk of being in the trade. My favorite on the tasting was their 2013 Sangiovese ($30)

There were a couple of wineries out in the sticks (like Balboa) that we carry – Sleight of Hand, Gifford Hirlinger, that weren’t open on a Wednesday. Had I actually planned this trip better I could have probably gotten them to open up for us.

Next up was Kontos Cellars in downtown Walla Walla. Please note the incredibly cute server. Also please note the prices in the upper left hand corner – these are VERY TYPICAL for Walla Walla wines. I think its cartel pricing at work. Again, free tasting and 20% off. And they are in distribution with one of our distributors, but the price point is a hard sell in our neighborhood. Favorite at this stop was their 2012 Malbec ($44).

The final winery was El Corazon – which Darcie had called a week earlier to set up a private tasting. Not in distribution, and the same pricing structure as Balboa and Kontos, but definitely a different attitude. Hey, they even put out snacks for us! Toss up on my favorite between the2012 Pistelero, their Bordeaux Blend ($40) or the 2013 Swordfight, a Syrah/Mourvèdre Blend ($50)

And the décor of the place is a hoot!

And they do have an amusing policy of throwing out people who are assholes:

No cheap wines in Walla Walla.

A late breakfast was at Bacon and Eggs in downtown Walla Walla. The girls split an order of Grits and Shrimp and a couple of Virgin Marys:

I went with the Rueben, and my Mary was no Virgin, which was WAY too much food, but damn tasty.

Time to head back to the big city – and no airport lounge in the Walla Walla airport which is 10 minutes from the girls place. And no TSA key for my bag, so once again I had to give them the combination to the lock. That’s now TWO airports (other is ABQ) that don’t have complete sets of TSA keys.

No first class because these are Q-400 Turbo Props – but free wine, and it’s a 45 minute flight in the exit row.

Home again, home again.

[215.0]

 

I’ve gotten the question a couple of times – why not just do AirBnB and make some money off the place. I never really knew the answer to that (other than I’d have to move the printers into the garage and give up my closet) until I was chatting with a surfer who stayed with me who as a former AFS (American Field Service) exchange student in Buffalo during his school years. That is when it hit me – I have “hosting” in my blood. Growing up my parents took in strays over the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays – African students studying English in this small college that basically shut down the dorms assuming everyone had a place to go. A little hard for African students on scholarships to fly home for the holiday, hence my parents taking them in. We also hosted four school-year long AFS students:

• Hans from Denmark
• Reha from Turkey
• Obrad from Yugoslavia
• Isa from Germany

Still in contact with everyone except Isa. But I digress. Conti (short for Constantine) was the CouchSurfer I hosted from Germany. I finally remembered to get more pictures!

I prefer CouchSurfers that hang out for dinner.

I could only host him for one night as I was headed to Walla Walla Wine Country the next morning. Here is a great shot of how much shit we got in the Miata besides ourselves:

It was simpler to take him with me to the off-airport parking lot since Light Rail is right across the street. Quicker to get into town that way – he was planning on spending his next two nights in one of the hostels downtown before hitting Portland, then onto California.

The other Surfer (actually before Conti, but Conti was relevant to the Couchsurfing/AirBnB discussion) was an English lad named Jon (from Newcastle):

He too was headed to Portland on the Blot Bus…

I’ve been keeping myself amused with travelers while I haven’t been travelling. That is coming to an end as I’ve got every week booked in September half of them in October, and am working on an international trip for January. Here is what is coming up that you’ll see reports on…

September

• Walla Walla Wine Country, WA
• Berkeley, CA
• Train to Vancouver, BC to catch the Ruby Princess to Los Angeles, CA, then flying home
• Fly to Denver, hang with Dan and Lisa for two nights, then get on a train (roomette) with Dan for Chicago and continuing to New Orleans for four days, flying home

October

• Berkeley, CA
• Boston, MA

January

• Vietnam hopefully with a couple of night cruise on the Mekong River

That’s it for today, folks. Check back early and often.

[213.4]

So, this summer has been hard on my ice machines. Kitchen on died so I pulled the old one out of the garage – the one that is duct taped and held together with wood skewers and safety pins. Add that the one at the shop has been running show as well – time to step up from tabletop to something a little larger, but still not commercial.

Got the icemaker off Amazon ($250 with free shipping with a capacity to make 30 pounds of ice a day) and delivered to the shop where I unboxed it to get it to fit into the Miata (sorry, no picture). Since it’s going on the back porch, though I should find a cabinet for it – tried on salvage place, then went to Habitat For Hunanity’s ReStore – and scored big. They are moving south and everything was 75% off. Ended up with not only a cabinet for the icemaker, but a beautiful (with a couple of chips) glass sink.

1^st instance of project creep – adding a sink to the cabinet. Here is a shot of the cabinet ($12.50) with holes drilled for the sink ($17.50) and faucet (U/W Surplus, $10) to see how it will work:

And then more project creep…”Wouldn’t it be handy to have in on casters ($32, Home Depot) in case I rearrange the outdoor kitchen.”

And while we are on the topic of project creep…let’s add an inside and outside outlet with GFI protection ($50 because of the GFI and the outside outlet also has two 110v outlets and two USB outlets):

And of course when I was working on the plumbing, I found a whole-house water filter in the plumbing junk drawere, comblete with extra cartridge….yes, currently it is hooked up to the garden hose. Probably $25 in miscellaneous plumbing parts all told:

But it sure does look pretty now that it’s done.

To the right of the ice maker/sink combo is a two drawer warming oven (great for proofing bread, $50 UW Surplus) and a Hobart half-sheet convection oven ($500, MicroNews classifieds)

Total guess – not counting the hours put in, somewhere around $400.

Makes me want to make a cocktail!

[213.8]

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

Above is the Main Lodge, belowis my cabin:

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

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

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

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

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

Did I mention the Peach Bellini as well?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[213.6]

What’s a boy to do when there are no travel deals to exotic (or not) places…bring them to you – in the form of Couch Surfers.

Here is the lineup of my summer guests so far:

Roly from Nottingham, England. I was his last stay in the US as his three-month tourist visa was about to expire so off he went to CanadaLand. Doesn’t look 20, does he. Old soul in a young body. And thanks to Roly I finally have the cables run for my VOIP Analog monster phone system.

Dave, who just finished up his Master’s Degree in Florida and leaves for the Peach Corps in a couple of months. He was doing a huge road trip from Florida, across Canada, then down the west coast.

Brooks stayed for a couple of nights on his adventure coming back from Hawaii where he got massage licensed, travelling via Canada and headed down the coast from here.

Khoa just finished an internship in California and was in town for this massive gamer contest at Key Area. Very odd to chat with, just because you look at him and say Vietnamese (correct), but when he starts talking you realize he’s spent his entire life in Germany so his English has a German accent.

Josiah was just a quick overnight. He took the BoltBus up from Portland and continued onto Bellingham on another BoltBus. He’s headed to a wedding that his girlfriend is part of the bridal party –too bad her parents don’t like him as he’s a sweet lad.

So, that was how I spent my summer vacation – cooking for transients and enjoying many a glass of wine while good conversation flowed.

The week of the gamer event I was getting 3-5 requests A DAY since every hostel bed and cheap hotel room was totally booked in the city. It’s calmed down a bit to about one a day. Wish people would read my entire profile that mentions I don’t host on weekends (usually) since after working all day I’m done with people – that and how my preference is for only one surfer since my tiny house only has one bathroom.

In all my years of hosting I’ve never had a bad experience – but then again I also initially limit folks to 3 nights. What was it Mark Twain said about guest and fish – they both start to smell after three days, which actually turns out not to be true. The quote “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.” originates with Benjamin Franklin. It just sounds like it should have come from Mark Twain.

[213.4]

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

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

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

This trip I’m staying all over the place:

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

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

The summer sunsets in Santa Fe are truly amazing…

And breakfast at the house isn’t bad either!

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

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

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

The final product will have more bling around the top.

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

Including a 3-liter bottle of rosé…

And those would be The Colonels…

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile, Kate had the Heavos Rancheros

None of us left hungry.

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

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

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

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

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

[218.8]

I probably spent more on this round-trip ticket to San Francisco than I ever have. Though with all the $98 round-trip tickets I’ve gotten, dollar cost averaging makes it look much better. But what can I say, you fly someplace on two weeks’ notice in the middle of summer, you pay through the nose. And it was MUCH CHEAPER than flying to Cairo (Egypt, not Indiana) to visit Moody. He’s in the stats for a 10-week iOS bootcamp.

Flight was on time – but no aisle seat in first on the way down, but nice views from the window. Like the one that explains why I haven’t seen flight landing on runway 2 from my deck…they are rebuilding it.

And landing in San Francisco a foggy shot of the Golden Gate Bridge:

Moody doesn’t get out of class until sixish, so off to dinner we go after we worked up a hunger:

I had the lamb shanks, Moody had the beef stew – and the Manhattan is mine as Moody doesn’t drink (being Muslim and all).

Café Press (French) was the restaurant. A little pricey, but hell, its San Francisco so nothing is cheap.

After dinner we watched The Maltese Falcon – mostly because it was set at Stockton and Bush which is where the condo is, though the exterior shots led me to believe that is was the building across the street that is now a parking garage.

Of course, Moody totally fell asleep, but I watched it to the end. Forgot how much I liked the film.

The WorldMark San Francisco is close to Chinatown and the Powell Streetcar Line.

And right next to the street car line is where I had my sushi fix…well, sushi and oysters on the half shell:

Maru Sushi is the name. Damn tasty! It was a late lunch as I did an “owner education” at 10:30 (was supposed to be noon but they called and moved me up) – one of the most grueling sessions to get the $125 AMEX Gift Card. At least it pays for the two nights lodging even though I’m only using the second unit until 9PM when I need to leave for the airport for my flight home. The one-bedroom unit is nice (had a Studio the first night).

The trip was over way too soon for both of us. Maybe we’ll get to spend some more time together once he is done with school mid-August.

I close with this shot of Dashiell Hammett Lane…

[218.6]

This trip to Whistler was the one originally planned, not the one to just get more use out of my Season Peak-2-Peak 360 Pass. It shares a theme of students/teachers just out of school – this one would be the teacher – International Baccalaureate High School English – and boy does he need a break.

Bonus points for me not having to drive.

More bonus points for a ragtop with more room than mine.

First stop was Heritage Railway Museum in Squamish, British Columbia:

On the last trip I saw the sign and looked it up. Worth the $15 entrance fee for the number of cars you can actually go through:

 

But soon, it was time to hit the condo….and a little time in the hot tub…

Tuesday breakfast starts with a travel tradition, the Bloody Mary! Though, as its Gin based, that would make it a Snapper…but because it uses Clamato (which would be a Caesar – VERY popular in Canada for some reason) who knows what it really should be called other than tasty. Glad I packed the olives:

And the breakfast wasn’t bad either…

Off to the mountains we go – actually made it onto the lifts by noon:

Destination: 7^th Heaven Express. But first the two-stage lift to the top of Whistler, then the Peak-2-Peak, then the 7^th Heaven Express, which is an open lift rather than gondolas:

I have a little ritual at the top of the 7^th Heaven Express (which is about 7,000 feet above sea level) – a shot of cognac!

Of course, it being Whistler there are all sorts of signs about drinking…

And since in Canada they only pour strict 1 ounce shots – at least at that altitude it feels like more. The other reason for going to 7^th Heaven is to look at all the cute snowboard and ski boys:

And, of course, the views…

After our little libations it was back down the lift…for a little hike (about a mile).

Yes, I was hiking in my Santa hat – the staff loved it.

Couldn’t stay in that spot too long for fear of getting hit…

With all the warm weather the flowers were starting to come out…

Time for lunch so down the Blackcomb side since Christines, my favorite mountain top restaurant is closed for renovations until November…

Had a lovely lunch at Milestone’s – meatloaf sliders with Kobe mustard for me, curried shrimp for Bliss; Raspberry mimosa for me, Mango Bellini for Bliss:

And then back up the hill for more hiking….

Still know on parts of the trail.

At least we were eating well on this trip. One night we roasted a chicken and served it with some of the leftover stuffing from the pork roast the first night:

And on the mountain top, Kevin went for the pulled pork poutine. For those of you not familiar with poutine, its French fries covered with cheese curds, then drowned in brown gravy, this one topped with pulled pork.

Needless to say he went on a long hike afterwards without me to burn off the carbs. I, on the other hand, opted for fish and chips and a tiny bottle of Merlot.

Nice views from the Roundhouse Lodge Cafeteria.

Before we knew it, our time at Whistler was over. We left early enough to stop by the BC Mining Museum, which isn’t really worth the $27 entrance fee, even if it is 20% off with the exchange rate, and even with the rail ride into the mine which doesn’t really go far enough. But it makes for a fun picture:

You can’t tell from this angle, but I only come about halfway up one of those tires!

Alas, the border crossing awaits us. 45 minutes for everyone else, maybe 10 minutes for us since we both have Nexus cards:

Home again, home again, only to travel again.

[201.8]

This spring seems to be the spring of repeated trips…three trips to Hawaii, and now two trips to Whistler. That’s what happens when you buy a season Peak-2-Peak pass early because it comes with a $10 Gift Card for food/stuff on the mountain.

Yes, Mark Stephen Souder bought a summer long pass to go “hiking” in a resort 5 hours from Seattle. Well, it was cheaper than two single day passes. And with all the trips that Roxy an I took on this trip we got it down to less than $5 per Gondola ride – and with the summer pass I can come down to the village for a decent cocktail for a late lunch since Christine’s on Blackcomb is closed for renovation this summer.

Bur first, Roxy and I have to get there….

I sort of like this “road shot”. Cheap (far right), medium cheap (me, in the center), and really expensive (left). That would be the Audi R8, $120,000 MRSP.

It’s basically 5+ hours from Seattle to Whistler with small stops – found a new thing I want to check out a new place I saw a sign for…Railway Heritage Park in Squamish. Up the road from the Britannia Mine Museum – which I’ve done and would do again.

But no stops for us other than gas (south of the border), duty free, the border itself, and then into the condo.

This is what it looks like after we are settled into the condo – granted, this was the morning after a lovely fish dinner (fried breaded sole) after we arrived:

.

And here is a sketch that Roxy did of me that morning….

We have three nights here, and full day one (Tuesday) is spent just exploring the Village and hanging out. Like picking up our left ticket (Roxy) and my season pass (Me) for tomorrow. Want to rent a car:

$500 a day. We decide lunch in the village was a better choice, and cheaper, though not by much:

Tonight’s dinner was broiled Halibut and salad – we are both watching our weight. Not sure WHY I have no pictures of any of the food on this trip.

In the morning we are up in the air on the Gondolas, one three running at the moment – Fitzsimmons for the Mountain Bikers (cute), and the Whistler Gondola – and, of course, the Peak-2-Peak.

That is actually a winter map…the summer trail map is here – the former, better at giving you topology, the later, more realistic for our summer hiking…

Except that ALL the hiking trail are closed for snow, and there is no skiing even on the 7^th Heaven Run, which was running until mid-July last year, so Roxy and I just go back and forth on the Peak-2-Peak (5 round trips).

The Peak-2-Peak is really pretty amazing…..

And here is a quickie video….

Even with the trails not open, it is still a stunning view….

On the Blackcomb side, Woz from New Zealand remarks about how many times he has seen up today…got to get that $50 ticket to under $5 a ride!

There is food on the mountain – even if Christine’s on Blackcomb, home of stunning mussels and amazing Manhattan’s is closed for the season for remodeling – it’s Pulled Pork Poutine and Merlot for me!

Roxy had the Quinoa Vegie Burger (and thankfully shared my fries):

Even without the table service and good cocktails, the view was stunning….

But after a few runs across the mountains you start getting silly…..

Who travels with a Santa Hat – someone who wants a Christmas Card Photo in the snow…

Was horizontal, now vertical, eyes closed, might use the one on the gondola….Roxy, on the other hand decided to do Yoga on the Peak-2-Peak. Just FYI, we usually waited to have a car to ourselves (email me for the OTHER pictures:

Since Roxy is into Environmental and Business stuff at The Evergreen State College, when we saw this right under the Peak-2-Peak Gondola, it required research….

The whole story is here: http://blog.whistlermuseum.org/tag/cheakamus-dam/

And the diagram of how it works is…

Geeks in the woods. Eating fish every night. And not even sitting by the pool.

Left Thursday morning around 10, or was it 11. Swung through Duty Free which probably saved us 15-20 minutes wait since Roxy doesn’t have a Nexus card (gets you through the border in the equivalent of the HOV lane) – and I needed Rye Whiskey ($34 after 10% discount for being a Nexus member, take another 20% off for the exchange rate for two 1.14 liter bottles).

Home late afternoon after getting stuck in an hour delay getting through Seattle. After all the fish for the last three days – it was a steak for dinner:

Now I just need some red wine – Roxy isn’t drinking so no wine with dinner for the last three days. Very uncivilized.

But I’m home and back to the non-wine-cellar…

[222.2]

On the road again, this time to Santa Fe for my niece’s graduation. Just a couple of nights (Wednesday/Thursday) and then back to work.

Booked this at the last moment, so the way down it was $202 one way (was $135 the week before that I cancelled because I couldn’t get back on miles) and 25,000 (+$80) to get back on United in First Class. Probably should have booked in coach and hoped for an upgrade, which I think would have happened after looking at the seats 48 hours out. Live and learn. Especially on later night flights.

Missed getting upgrade on the way down by one seat…

And one of the shortest lists of people waiting for upgrades that I’ve seen in years.

Not a bad seat – had 7C (Aisle) with an open seat next to me, but before the door closed the woman in 6D (also and Aisle) moved to the window seat and I moved into 6D – bulkhead, with more room, making a gentleman further back really happy to have the flight attendant reseat him in my old seat (he was a little on the large size so I’m assuming everybody in his old row was happy).

Even ordered the lunch ($8) which was a hot BBQ Chicken Sandwich with Cole Slaw – damn tasty!

The Cole Slaw came on the side but I added it to the sandwich – damn messy too!

Got my bag, caught the rental car shuttle and signed for my $8.50 a day car with unlimited miles. That was through Advantage. Everyone else was like $30+ a day but when I booked this a week and a half before, the $8.50 (plus all the crap airport fees) was what Expedia showed even though I booked direct. Word to the wise…keep checking your rental car rates (I use Expedia and then book direct because sometimes there is another 10% off) leading up to your trips – you never know when something like this will happen, and it’s free to cancel unless you have pre-paid, which is just a bad idea.

First stop was El Castillo – the retirement community where my mother has just moved from Independent Living to Assisted Living. My first job is to get the rest of the artwork out of the old apartment (and her shower chair) so we can turn it back over to the community.

Thank goodness for the shopping carts that they keep around the place.

Next up was getting all the artwork hung…

I didn’t hang this one, but I love where Mom had it hung – with a clear view from the hallway (and she keeps her door open all day).

That would be my other niece Emily.

Staying with the in-laws out in Eldorado in the guest bedroom so it was out of the “old folk’s home” at 3 to run personal errands and get out to the burbs to carpool back into the city for graduation, reception and party.

Thankfully the ceremony was short – and the program included the most amusing of typos….

And yes Ceryndipity (Ceryn to her friends) is one of my niece’s friends, as is Isaac, aka Kara – with 18students in your graduating class, you tend to know everyone.

Seriously, the ceremony was less than 45 minutes – and some pictures afterwards…

And the little cord thingees are honor society or something.

No pictures of the after party…good food, not enough booze, should have brought a flask since I wasn’t driving…but we were back to the burbs soon enough.

The morning was back a Moms walking her through computer stuff – after years of dial-up (I’m not kidding) she has a wi-fi connection from the nurse’s station – and a new computer, hence the computer stuff. I needed to download the classic Windows 3.1 Solitaire from my table and put it on her desktop, and get the printer working, and show her how to get sub-titles on movies. Think she is set up.

Luckily I’d packed the night before – including my father’s ashes and the rattan elephant that holds them:

Grey bag at the back are the ashes. Had to disassemble the elephant to get it into the box in which I brought wine to Santa Fe:

Left for the airport a little after two, after having lunch with Em and Mom in the main dining room – thought I had a 5:35 flight. Turns out it was 7:35, but the gods smiled on me since my flight was delayed and I was able to stow away in coach (I had first class on my flight – but it is only an hour). When I got the text with the delay I high-tailed it to the gate for the earlier flight – I was the last standby put on (and probably bumped someone as I’m a Gold and go to the top of the list).

Missed First Class, but got a free drink anyway since their POS (Point of Sale) device had a dead battery. Merry Christmas said Jack Daniels!

Instead of an hour layover in Denver, suddenly I had three. And I love Elroys (as in John Elroy, football player).Not cheap, but dear god is the food and drink exceptional.

Their Manhattan ($15):

Bulleit Rye, Carpano Vermouth, Luxardo Cherries. Yum.

And then there were the steak tacos ($14):

And after the second Manhattan…

Maybe next time I’ll have what the waiter recommended after chatting… the Lamb Chop Fondue:

Actually, all the “appetizers” looked good (though not cheap). And yes, you can have an appetizer and a couple of drinks and have a bill like this:

Beats airline food (and drinks). And soon I was on my way:

And my seat in 1D…

Home at midnight, with one casualty… a 1.75 of Evan Williams – and I think I might have caused it showing off the suitcase and slamming it on concrete when I dropped the handle. My bad:

Luckily the keyboard will dry out. As for me, I doubt I dry out.

[222.6]

Let me start by saying – this was a QUICK trip. Just two nights in the Caribbean, plus a day of travel on each end. But it is my friend Anne’s 45th birthday, and I could find some frequent flier mile flights…. Here is the itinerary:

That would be the Sunday night (after work) red-eye Seattle to Miami, then the morning flight to St. Martin – the return flight is an early morning (7:30am) from St. Martin to Miami, Miami to Tampa, Tampa to Dallas, and then Dallas to Seattle. The return routing was to maximize the number of First Class legs (two, rather than one). 47,500 miles and about $80 in fees using my Alaska Airlines miles to book all these American Airlines flights.

Flights down were good – I’d packed “refreshments” and had the middle seat open on both legs (a modern miracle these days!):

Yes, someone finally did show up for the window seat and then bitched about “so many rules” – she needed to put her bags up above since she was in the bulkhead – and she was the last person on the plane. Thank god she slept the entire flight. No food service, and only two drink runs – but I’d bulked up in the Alaska Board Room in Seattle that closed just about the time I needed to head to the gate.

And my three hour flight to St. Martin (French Side, Sint Maarteen – Dutch Side) after a most unsatisfactory quick Nathan’s Hot Dog with sauerkraut for breakfast (bottom of the bun was hard as a rock). Luckily, when I arrived in St. Martin this is what awaited me in the lobby…

Maybe I should have gone for the Subway that was next door…a quick small burger and time to grab a cab to the condo that the girls just checked into. Mindi (who flew in from Dublin, Ireland) doesn’t know I’m coming. Side note – Sint Maarten has that Caribbean/Mexico feel – but being a Dutch protectorate (the side I’m staying on) there is great signage, and even a taxi zone rate chart that the cab drivers association publishes.

Nothing like showing up at the door with a “booze delivery”. Here is the place we are staying:

Although, if you do a 180 degree shot behind you…you see this…

Yes, that would be the jet I arrived on headed back to Miami. The terminal is on the other side of the runway – but the place is really quite, with all the condos blocking the noise on the beach just outside the back door…

And the inside of the place is nice as well – and the couch look comfortable, which is good because that’s where I’m bunking for the next two nights:

Upstairs there are two bedrooms and two baths, with a half bath on the main level – sweet place.

And we have a fabulous deck with a BBQ! Hello cooking in!

But before we can BBQ, we have to hit the road (thanks Anne for renting a car!) to get the girls lunch (weirdly enough, at a different Burger King) and pick up groceries for the condo:

Several hundred dollars later we have food, mixers, rum, coconut syrup – all the things for a perfect vacation….but first, some ocean time – and the girls afterwards….

This is Anne’s 45^th birthday ramble – having just finished 10 years at Amazon she has 2 months off to recharge – she bought my condo in Cabo San Lucas so she will have another week sometime before the end of the year. I like the condo, but it was too far from the grocery stores, and the kitchen too small to cook all the things I like on holiday. And it was a full floating week, Saturday to Saturday, which with my work schedule that would mean taking two weekends off (annoying my business partner).

Speaking of condo cooking…. Our dinner:

That would be a couple of racks of ribs off the grill – a nice salad, some asparagus, and, of course, mas vino tinto. Opps, that was Spanish, not Dutch.

Day Two on the island is a circular road trip of the island to Phillipsburg and around the island through Marigot and back home.

Here are some photos of our adventure:

And lunch at a fabulous outdoor café on the beach:

Guess we can’t do a Naked Lunch…but the lunch we did get was wonderful. Mindi has the goat cheese salad…

I went for the conch stew which came with some fried plantains, a little salad and some dirty rice….

Anne went for the half chicken, which also came with the plantains a little salad and a scalloped potato dish…

No cheap, but yummy. Iguana was on the menu as well – but I couldn’t help thinking about Josh’s Igauna. But they are plentiful on the island….

Marigot is famous for its traffic jams – at all times of the day, but today wasn’t too bad:

And yes, this is the main “highway” through town.

Back to the condo for our late afternoon lounging around in an out of the water. We came to the conclusion that we really needed a house boy to refill our drinks without having to get out of the ocean. Here is the cocktail view:

And some silly selfies….

Our place even comes with Beach Dogs…Dora and Bruno (Dora pictured):

On our circle tour we picked up some steaks for dinner – moved the BBQ around to get better lighting on it – yummy.

Great food, great company, but I have an early flight (7:30am) in the morning for my four leg flight home.

As for my airport breakfast – MUCH better than my Nathan’s Dog in Miami on the way down:

That’s a REAL breakfast, including salad and hot sauce.

Sint Maarteen to Miami on time, Maimi to Tampa on time, both in Coach. Starting with Tampa to Dallas I’m in First for the rest of the way home – as you can tell from this photo….

And a decent snack:

Got to Dallas for my long layover – the other ones were less than an hour and a half – which in Miami included time for me to get through customs. Thank goodness for Global Entry – a machine rather than a line. Easy Peasy. Luckily in Dallas I have access to the Delta Sky Club which is located in the same terminal as Alaska who I’m flying home.

And my office in the lounge:

Two different soups, salads, vegies/dips, free drinks, not bad.

Oddly, no pictures of my seat, the food, the drink on the last leg (Dallas to Seattle) – I think tiredness is catching up with me, but I did find a final silly selfie on my phone, from one of the legs of my trip:

Bathroom mirror shot.

Home before midnight….barely.

[225.0]

Keeping up-to-date in the wine business means constant research, and some of it comes with food as well.

Generally the trade tastings for distributors are on Monday during the day, this one was on a Thursday afternoon, meaning I could actually make it with my recent hectic travel schedule. Glad to have not missed this one – ALL ITALIAN, with lots of Barolos, Nebbiolos, Amarones…. Wines that are “Out Of My Plan” as the advertisers say now, as in too expensive for my everyday drinking.

The fact that it was held in the Georgian Room of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel (who I’m assuming catered all those cured meats and cheeses) was an added bonus.

And packed it was:

With pages of wines:

And the aforementioned food…

After several hours of tasting wines (which Madrona Wine Merchants can sell), my reward was a stop at the bar where they were highlighting Italian liquors (and some tasty Grappas):

That would be Michael (bending over), a 33-year veteran of pouring drinks at the bar in the Olympic – and award winner for some of his recipes. Here is what he made me:

Here is the recipe:

Damn nice way to finish an afternoon – taking the light rail back to where I parked – didn’t want to pay $10 an hour to park – $2.25 each way seemed the better deal. And I get to try a new station!

But by the time I got out of there, rush hour was starting…..

Just a random day in the wine business.

{227.2]

Yes, you read that right – I spent 2.5 hours each way on the train to spend 2.5 hours in Portland.

I was in Olympia for The Evergreen State College Recognition Dinner – a yearly awards ceremony that gets more dull and boring with each year as the keep cutting down on the number of glasses of wine you can have. At this point it is two glasses of wine for 3 hours of appetizers, dinner, and speeches. Seems a tad conservative to me – hence the reason I brought a flask. In the first years there was wine before, and then a bottle of red and white on each table for dinner – much more civilized to my mind.

But we are here to talk about my train trip, not to have me kvetch about awards ceremonies.

Caught the 12:35 train south that was really at 12:50, but we got in fifteen minutes early so no harm, no foul.

You might have thought I’d take a picture of the Olympia Train Station, but alas, I had to grab this one off the web:

Funny that 23 years ago I bought a brick (bottom left of the photo) – that I just saw for the first time on this trip:

Even found a larger stone for Fluffernutter’s brother’s plumbing business:

The whole station (Centennial Station) was built from donations and volunteers – no money from Amtrak. It’s even staffed with volunteers. I snagged business class seats each way for $74.80 – perfect use for a $75 “bitchy letter to Amtrak” Travel Certificate.

Business Class seats are in a 2-1 configuration (Coach is in 2-2 configuration) with and one outlet per row on each side of the car – luckily I brought a splitter.

At least at Portland’s Union Station

Since we are going down memory lane, I swung by the Post Office that is a block from the train station to see my old Post Office Box from my Portland days – looks the same.

A nice walk to my lunch spot… love the sign in the Pearl District (former warehouse district, now yuppyville) – it mimics the sign of the train station: “Go By Train”:

And then there all the Tiki inspired “totem poles” spread over several blocks:

My lunch spot? Jakes Famous Crawfish – one of the first restaurants owned by Bill McCormick (a Portland native) whose McCormicks and McCormick & Schmick restaurants stretch nationwide:

Round One – half a dozen Fanny Bay oysters on the half shell ($18) with a house Manhattan ($9):

Round Two — Steamed Mussels in Garlic Cream off the Happy Hour Menu ($5.95):

Round Three — Fried Pork Dumplings with Dipping Sauce ($3.95)

$52 (with tip) later, I’m out the door to the oddities of the surrounding neighborhood. Leather anyone?

While not an oddity it’s amazing that I walked past Powell’s without going in…

With conveyor sushi, you know the Pearl has been completely gentrified…

On the way down I realized I should pick up some cheaper Oregon booze while I was here…unfortunately I only had my laptop backpack with me so I was limited to one 1.75 bottle of Evan Williams. Should have brought a suitcase, it would have paid for my lunch in savings!

6:50 train back north – not crowded at all so the conductor offered me two seats making for a much nicer office to work on blog posts:

Much better than the office I had to set up outside Roxy’s apartment until he returned home to let me in.

Didn’t get back to Oly until 9PM so it was a pretty short overnight stay with Roxy.

[222.4]

Yes, once again I flew to Hawaii, this time by myself, this time just for the miles.

Miles? Really? Well – its 2715 miles each way for a total of 5430, and as an Alaska Airlines
MVP Gold I get a 1005 bonus, meaning 10,860 miles in my account (sadly the bonus miles do not count toward Elite Qualification for next year, so I’m a little over 10,000 miles shy of MVP Gold for 2016). With the price I paid for the ticket ($282.40), that means a cost per mile of $.026 per mile. Anything under $.05 is considered good since I can usually get about $0.10 worth of value out of miles since I usually use them for international business class tickets.

But don’t you have any pictures? Of course. Here is my “office” at Scotty Browns Social House whose Wi-Fi seemed to be down:

And the funniest sign to see in a secure area of the airport (i.e. past security):

Yep, Firearms Prohibited. It’s Washington State Law that all drinking establishments have that sign.

Got upgraded to First Class on the way to Honolulu…so I was comfortable and fed (though I’m getting a little tired of the same meal for the last three trips):

Since the flight was a little early, I actually got to check out the Delta Sky Club and see their new room and see the hostesses I know so well. Nice digs:

Unfortunately the booze is no longer self-service since the front desk doesn’t have a direct line-of-sight to monitor the bar. Still had time for three cocktails and some snacks.

Two hours later I was back on the same plane, but alas, in 6D, one row behind First Class. They did give me two complimentary drinks rather than the usual one, and it helped me sleep a little bit after I had the remainder of my Cheeseburger from lunch with SurfBetty at the Old Town Café in Bellingham. Of course, now my backpack smells of yummy burger…

Even with the sleep on the plane I was DOA (Dead On Arrival) in Bellingham. Got to the car and took an hour and a half nap before driving home and taking another hour nap before leaving for Olympia and the College Recognition Dinner at The Evergreen State College.

I think that means it was a REALLY LONG day – all in the pursuit of miles and status.

[226.0]

This seems to have been the “trip of tours”, but it’s been fun to show Dwight Oahu. Frankly, we are both “knackered” at this point. Like one of those all-inclusive tours. But I got the last one, the “Grand Circle Tour” at half off rack rate ($39 for us via some random broker which turned out to be legit [Savon], $79 on Roberts). The cheaper tour miss the Temple (and the nice drive through the cemetery), but basically add $20 to the Roberts tour, and another $20 if you want lunch included.

Basically we were out of the house (aka condo) at mid-seven as our bus was to show up at 8am a block away.

Love the logo on the bus:

Speaking of tour buses…today’s bus:

Yesterday’s bus, which did the first four stops we are doing today:

Our tour today includes:

• Diamond Head Lookout
• Hanauma Bay
• Halona Blowhole
• Sandy Beach
• Makapuu Beach
• Chainman’s Hat
• North Shore Beaches
• Dole Plantation
• Pineapple & Sugarcane Fields
• Pali Lookout

We actually did the tour in a different order, so here are just random pictures of the day. Pali Lookout.

Lunch spot – custom cooked, which is amazing for a tour bus of people:

The North Shore:

With the surfer boys….

Praise LORD the 18x lens for that shot.

And how about just some random beach shots that are damn fine:

For my brother and sis-in-law, some bird pictures:

And then onto the Dole Plantation – think Pineapple Disneyland:

Then at the end of the day, it was Manhattan time – at Vit’s Hawaiian Steakhouse down the street from the condo. Add some Crab Wonton and you have a great way to wait for the shuttle to the airport.

Then we were back to the airport, and used two certificates to get us into the United Club (see previous posts for pictures) for some food and drink.

Luckily I was upgraded again (well, Dwight had to pay $150 for his), and home to lovely Bellingham where I slept all the way home.

But the last picture of the day has to be this great portrait of Dwight and I at one of the sightseeing stops:

And frankly – getting Dwight to smile in a photo – PRICELESS!

Thanks Dwight for driving home.

[224.4]

Day three is upon us, more touring the island. Our first tour is that of a factory type – a tour of the Yamaka Ukulele factory located in downtown Honolulu next to the law courts (though in the next couple of years they are going to have to move as development is coming through – but in the meantime, the old man (son of the founder) is still doing tours Tuesday through Friday at 10:30am. The sign says it will last 30-45 minutes – prepare for an hour and a half non-OSHA approved tour. We caught the local bus (#19 or #20) for $2.50 a person since it was direct – could have walked from the Red Trolley line but that would have been 45 minutes each way.

This time was a little different from the other two or three times I’ve been on the tour…started the same, with the old man going charmingly on about the history of the ukulele in Hawaii and the current state of ukulele sales…

But after the first half-hour, his voice started to fade…he is 80+ after all. Luckily, he son (Sam Jr. who runs the place was on hand to take over and give the rest of the tour – that would be the grandson of the founder. Talk about a family business.

They age all of their Koa wood for over four years – and that stuff is truly expensive and why the most security on the premises is aimed at the wood pile:

In the next bunch of pictures you will see what I mean about “non-OSHA” approved tour – reminds me of the Four Roses Bourbon Distillery tour in Kentucky years ago where we were up and down ladders, on catwalks, the works (https://blog.unclemarkie.com/2008/04/19/another-day-in-bourbon-country/ — if the pictures aren’t there, hopefully they will be in a couple of days. They were stored on a Twango account (one of my marketing clients), who got bought by Nokia and eventually closed down. They are on the server at home.)

And Dwight at the end of the tour…

With an aerial shop of the shop floor….

Luckily even with the tour at an hour and a half, we still had time to catch the blue line tour on the Waikiki Trolley

AND grab a little lunch. I opted for leftovers in the room, and Dwight set out to find something and meet me there (without a map – which caused a little mishap since there are several DFS Duty Free stores).

Lots of scenery on this 2.5 hour tour…starting with Halona Blow Hole:

And then Sandy Beach (sort of sounds like a porn star name):

And then Hawaii Kai Lookout:

The whole stop list looks like this:

Blue Line:

* 5-minute photo stop only; no disembarking.
Hanauma Bay is closed on Tuesdays and is therefore skipped.

**Ilikai Hotel & Suites stop does not have a Waikiki Trolley stop sign. Please wait in front of hotel along Ala Moana Boulevard.

*** DFS Galleria Waikiki pick-up location is along Royal Hawaiian Avenue.

**** Kahala Mall pick-up location is at the Kilauea Avenue bus stop.

We will hit some of the same places tomorrow on the Grand Circle Tour.

I was thinking about trying the Pink Line to maximize our dollar value, but by the end of the day we were both beat and ready to retire to the condo.

Speaking of the condo, I still haven’t posted pictures of the place, which is on the opposite side of the building from my last trip to Waikiki:

Another BBQ meal off the grill by the pool, but apparently I was out of energy to take any pictures. Basically the menu was same – marinated chicken, salad, white wine.

[224.4]

Day two of our (Dwight and I’s) adventure… today’s items to tick off the list:

• Shuttle to Hilo Hattie to check out the clearance rack
• 3 block walk to Salvation Army to check out what is on offer for 25% Seniors Day (Tuesday)
• Pick up our ticket for the Waikiki Trolley and try and get as much use out of them over the next two days

Oh, and cook some chicken on the grill…

The result? No deals at Hilo Hatties, but some serious finds at the Sally Ann — $64, 8 shirts, 4 of them Tommy Bahama’s in good shape. Tommy Bahama shirts start at $80 and go WAY up from there.

Not the best of pictures but you get the idea.

Lunch at the Big Kahuna – which after I got back to Seattle I learned is a Dining for Miles restaurant, and our light lunch of the Pulled Pork Quesadilla – what you see is what we took home. And that was an appetizer, and it was on the Happy Hour menu.

After our snack it was off to pick up the tickets for the trolley tours. I sort of like the illustration for the Waikiki Trolley:

Today we managed to do the Red Line (Downtown/Chinatown/Museum of Art/Etc.) and the Green Line (Diamond Head and other stops).

We did get some good pictures through….

Our trolley, and below, the Japanese tourist whale tail bus…look closely and you can see the tail on the end of it.

Diamond Head in the background…

Roxy says that the drinks at the Elks are cheap and the view is stunning at the Honolulu Elks club – unfortunately, its members only.

And famous Waikiki Beach….

We got both the Red and the Green trolley lines done, with plans tomorrow to do the Blue Line and maybe the Pink Line if we have any energy left.

In the meantime, dinner at the condo tonight is chicken (brought from the states) done on the grill, with a nice salad and a bottle of white wine (also brought from the states).

And it was an early night for both of us…with a big day ahead tomorrow.

[224.4]