Out of the house at 7:45 this morning (damn this trip is getting a lot of these early mornings) heading to Wolf Creek, Utah (north of Provo). Think 13 hours behind the wheel – didn’t get in until 8pm, but it was a beautiful fall drive with the aspens turning yellow and the oaks turning red.
Some random cell-phone shots as there was no stopping except for food and gas. Speaking of food – my lunch stop in Durango at :
That would be the ribs (and beer) from Serious Texas BBQ, but I’m not sure a Mango Chilpolte Sauce is really Texan. It was good though. And look at the BBQ on the hoof that I got stuck in!
Should have taken a movie since they were on both sides of the car.
I’d forgotten how much I love the scenery of Utah (though not the politics)…
With NJ (my father’s sister, a.k.a. my aunt) playing food cop for my father, hopefully she can get more food into him so he can get some of his strength back. With the removal of the last hormone therapy because of bad side effects, it’s the end of the medical end of his treatment. Now he moves onto hospice care (but at the apartment) and it’s about quality of life, which hasn’t been good for the last couple of weeks because of the nausea which means he doesn’t eat and loses strength.
In a quiet moment with just the two of us, his comment was “I been having lots of bad days and I don’t know if it’s just the nausea and not eating or whether it’s the cancer spreading through my body”. I’m thinking 3-6 months tops. I’ll be going back down in December for a couple of more days to use the return leg of my frequent flyer mileage round-trip ticket. Which reminds me, I need to book the flight to LA and the train to SAF.
When it came time to sign over the title it was painful to watch him struggle with the pen – maybe I should have had my mom sign it over since either of them could do it – the title shows that they licensed it with 23 miles on the odometer – definitely a one-owner little-old-lady (well, she ain’t that little), garaged all its life sports car – remember, it could be yours for $5600.
After lunch in the dining room (I had the petite sirloin and a salad) with NJ and mom (dad too weak to come down), NJ and I went running errands: Walgreens, CVS for Ensure (and Evan Williams for me), and a couple of more stops to find a flower basket for the table outside their unit to bring a little color to the deck. That and a car wash which it really needed.
My mother’s situation is a little better. One the way to the dining room she used to have to stop and rest by the elevator – but on our trip today she did it in one stretch so she is getting a little stronger because of the walking (which means she should do more!) Unfortunately with dad’s weakness she has been having plates sent up rather than going down to the dining room since everybody is always coming up and asking how my dad is doing.
I left about 5 to head to the sis-in-law’s place (that would be Jen) to do some prep work on the car. First order of business was to try and fix the electric antenna which got bent with mom backed into something. I didn’t get it completely fixed, but it looks and works much better than it used to… only 4 or 5 inches of the mast remains sticking out when the radio is off – was twice that. Also did a little detailing since this will be my home for the next couple of days.
Here are some shots (sorry for the quality – cellphone shots):
If I had a job, I’d probably just keep it for myself.
A lovely steak salad for dinner. This will be my last night in Santa Fe for tomorrow it’s time to hit the road.
Many thanks to Swanda for picking me up at 5:15am and taking me to the airport – only he would I ask for that early a ride as I know he is already awake. In fact, he had another errand after me and before he headed to work.
Today’s journey is SEA-LAX-SAF (Seattle to Los Angeles to Santa Fe) and all the flights were thankfully on time – which is good because there is only ONE LAX-SAF flight a day.
At the LAX Board Room…. Bloody Mary and Bloody News. And my plane:
And the view:
Arriving in Santa Fe a little early – more time to kill. Jen will be picking me up at the same time that she picks up NJ who is flying in from the other direction: DFW (Dallas-Ft. Worth). Luckily there is a restaurant with comfy seating for most of my wait (they close at 4pm).
After NJ arrived and we collected her luggage it was off to El Castillo to see the parents, drop off NJ, and pick up the car for me. It was a nice visit, and luckily I’d had a snack at the airport since we didn’t get to Jen’splace until after 7 – me a little later as I stopped at Trader Joe’s to stock up of liquor since it’s cheaper than in Seattle.
And the final shot of the day – driving away in Mom’s Miata to sell in Seattle to get that off my father’s plate:
So, if you know anyone in need (well, does one REALLY need a sports car – yes) a 1999 Mazda Miata MX-5 with 83,000 miles (after the trip home) – British Racing Green with tan top and tan leather interior, Bose stereo, electric everything, cruise control, aerodynamic package, Nardi leather-wrapped steering wheel – all for the unbeatable price of $5600.
Hopefully my friend Glenn will buy it to upgrade from his current high-mileage Miata, but who knows.
It must be fall – wine tastings every Monday, usually more than one.
Today’s two – Bianco Rosso (Italian and French) and VI (down in Tukwila).
I only made it to the Bianco Rosso tasting on Capital Hill – and even that one not for long. I got about half way through before I bailed to go home and pack. Jim was there probably for about three hours since he wasn’t going to the Tukwila one either – which I can understand since he doesn’t drive and it would be a hellish bus commute (if even possible).
Packing, packing, packing.
5 bottles of wine, and one of Pear Brandy for Jen and Kennan as a thank you for dealing with my parents. I’ll be staying out there and commute to the parents in my mother’s car. The plan is to drive the car back to Seattle on Thursday so I’ve got to pack clothes for the road, an inverter so I can use the laptop as a giant GPS unit, and try not to have too much checked luggage since I’m flying down and driving back.
Let the adventure begin.
Opps – forgot to show off my first cask – a gift from Jim for my birthday!
Managed to get Rich fed and both of us out the door by 10:15 this morning. Off to work I go.
A very slow day until the end when one customer picked up $250 in wine and another $500 – now THAT made the day, along with $150 or so in other sales. It was seriously dead from opening to 4pm – I’ll blame the nice weather for that one.
The upside is that it gave me time to deal with the shit storm happening in Santa Fe with my parents. Trouble with meds, eating, drinking and a comment from my father to my sis-in-law saying I wish Mark would just come and pick up the car and get it out of my hair.
Well, that’s what’s going to happen. Leaving Tuesday for Santa Fe, spending two nights and then the next two days will be driving home. It sort of looks like this:
Managed to actually get a “saver” mileage award ticket two days before a flight for 25,000 miles and $35. I will use the return leg in December by flying to LAX, then taking the shuttle bus to the train station and boarding the overnight train to Santa Fe. Guess I’d better start working on that as well since the roomettes only go up in price the closer you get to travel dates.
Got a late afternoon call from Jim for a dinner invitation which is good since there aren’t any groceries in my fridge. The Dindons (their winemaking club) crushed 500 pounds of cabernet sauvignon grapes today and needless to say, the wine was flowing at dinner.
A stop for eggs and slaw at Grocery Outlet, a swing by the bank to deposit four checks, and it was home for the evening.
[211.9] Considering before the cruise I was 206.9, after the cruise 209.3 – 5 pounds between two weeks on holiday, not bad.
Damn, my Birthday Ramble is coming to an end. This is our last full day in Cabo as tomorrow will mostly be involved in checking out, getting back to the airport, flying to San Diego, going through immigration, then flying to Seattle and taking a cab home.
But, a final picture for everyone – we were having dinner at the roof top Baja Brewing (beef skewers over garlic mashed potatoes for CaddyDaddy, beef skewer salad for me) listening to a nice salsa band (much better than the cover bands from other nights) when this started to happen:
Unlike Swanda’s Mexican adventure of years ago when the program description said, “Dinner, followed by firework”, which Swanda thought was a typo, but no, it was one firework, this one had at least 30 seconds of fireworks.
Here is a digitally enhanced version of the cell phone camera shot of the salsa band:
Dinner with a Manhattan, then a couple of 1800 Tequila sippers and we were in for the evening after asking in the kitchen for a plastic bag so we could raid the ice machine as all three of the ones in our building are DOA (Dead On Arrival), including the commercial one on the loading dock which we got the last of the ice out of – funny that when I mentioned the ice machines to one of the Time Share Sharks, his comment was “in this environment, keeping ice machines working is a huge headache”.
Another lazy day around the resort – with breakfast at the pool bar since we are out of eggs – maybe it’s just an excuse to drink mimosas.
As for going for the gold – that would be Alaska MVP Gold. I made MVP on the trip down here, and with the travel booked for the rest of the year I was half way to making Gold, but it was the dilemma of whether to do a couple of mileage runs to get all the way to 40,000 flight miles by December 31st.
This afternoon I booked BLI-HNL-BLI for 5428 miles and a couple of hours in the Honolulu Crown Rom having drinks before getting back on the plane. That leaves me 1,711 miles short of Gold if my calculations are right – Denver, LA, San Diego, Palm Springs all fall into that mileage range. Maybe I’ll do a quick visit to the parents and pay for the LA leg.
For dinner tonight we decided to try the beach front restaurant Mango Plaza – unfortunately I forgot the good camera (with its great low light lens) so these are the crappy camera phone pictures:
Just think “Spring Break” bar and you have an idea of what we had dinner through – but the ceviche platter was really good – CaddyDaddy had the enchiladas with red sauce.
Only a couple of more days and its back to reality.
Looking to sell off some equipment-HP500PS 42″ if the price is right. Shrink Wrapper, Really good Wire Binder, a tape to disc transfer machine and a lot of other goodies.
I don’t have room in my house (or garage for that matter!) for the 42″, I’ve been mildly looking for a 24″, and a laminator — but will pass on information to anyone I can think of.
Eggs, tortillas, salsa for breakfast…. Well, with bloody marys.
Then we move onto the afternoon snack – look, more tortilla based snacks thanks to the two burner cooker in our suite. Cheese, sour cream, etc. in a nice fried flour tortilla:
But the refrigerator is starting to look low, so after my afternoon snack I’m down the hill for more supplies when I come across the Cabo San Lucas Fire Department Gift Shop where I found this lovely pin:
And here is the fridge after the run:
Eggs, sour cream, beans on the top, then bourbon, vodka, bloody mary mix, rum on the next shelf, then Diet Coke, chicken breasts and a blender full of ice… in the door, cheese, salami, salad dressing, tonic, water, half and half – a well-stocked fridge.
And our lovely dinner that night – pork chops and salad augmented by ice cream sandwiches from the store downstairs after dinner:
Nice to be able to cook in the room, even if the run to the grocery store in the heat almost killed me in the Cabo heat.
The big item on today’s schedule is the Owner Education (translate that to Owner Upsell) at 12:30 – and if that’s the big event, you must be on vacation. There are other things going on as well but none with a specific time involved.
90 minutes of my life. Wish I’d known that it included lunch—I steered away from the carbs (though I did see a t-shirt emblazoned “Carboholic”) and when for the beef fajitas, no tortillas, and a huge helping of salad, which I’m missing. So, 90 minutes of no sell/soft sell/hard sell, two margaritas (they don’t do THAT at U.S. presentations), all for $40 (U.S.) food credit – which I learned is actually good at the two restaurants that aren’t part of the $100 voucher program, which is handy because I was wondering how we were going to spend $140 at the bar – wait, what was I thinking.
So, they started out with the number (rounded) of $35,000, then took off the value of my current equity ($10,000 – thank you again, Colonels) for this new program that is 14 more flexible days. They are moving in the direction of the rest of the industry that can’t sell a Saturday-Saturday plan – people want to travel on days when they can get the best airfare, and don’t want to stay all seven days, or want ten days, etc. By the time I’d seen them all, the buy-in was down to $6000 (the original down payment was more than that) with the promise to buy the first year back for $1000 to put into the rental pool – still didn’t go for it. At the moment my maintenance fees are $450 a year, and if you pay a month early, you get a $100 credit towards drinks. New program – no maintenance fees, just fees on the size unit you use for that year and if you don’t use it you can put it back in the rental pool with a 60/40 split – ASSUMING they can actually rent the thing. Sounds more like an adjustable rate mortgage to me. I love how they were making the big deal of you have 24 more years of maintenance fees which would be $15,000 and you could SAVE money…. Forgetting to mention that you still have to pay for the weeks you use under the new plan – though you do get a choice of better units (for more money, of course).Needless to say, there wasn’t the popping of a sparkling wine bottle for me (what they do in the sales room with all the prospects there – for a festive flair).
Got back from the “presentation” to find this scene in the bay outside our room:
The boat we rode from Vancouver to San Francisco a couple of days ago, moored off-shore with the boat that CaddyDaddy and MANY other friends are taking next spring. We found these ridiculous $48-68 dollar inside single cabin fares – I know couples who booked two rooms since it was cheaper that getting the same room as a couple. Click on the photo for the link to the cruise itinerary. Too funny that both these boats are in the harbor while we are here.
Only other work during the day was working up a new on-line logo for the wine shop – I had two of my graphics friends complain about our logo and how it looked on-line. The problem with social media logos is that they are forced into a square box, and ours is much more of a rectangle (well, really, it’s an oval). So here is the end result. Does it work?
On FaceBook it will havea thin white border around it – much easier to read that the old logo one with extraneous type in it to fill space.
Used the $40 (U.S.) credit upstairs tonight for dinner at Baja Brewing – and no, it didn’t cover the bill – and yes, it seems that their system for charging the balance to the room was down (as was last night’s restaurant with the rude staff).
So, from yesterday’s post, the announced good, bad, ugly of the resort at Cabo Villas.
Pluses:
Only swimmable beach on the coast
Walkable to downtown (expect to be sweaty)
Multiple restaurants on site if you don’t want to cook
Three different pools and one hot-tub
The nicest, most comfortable sleeper couch I (or CaddyDaddy) have ever seen
GREAT water pressure in the shower (not so much in the toilet, but who cares)
King size bed in the bedroom with enough pillows to kill a small child
Upscale room (at least ours)
Minuses:
Not enough kitchen equipment to easily cook
No spices, starter coffee, filters, sugar, etc.
Minimal convenience store on property
Long walk to grocery store (take $6 cab back)
Gauntlet of “time-share” avoidance checking in
If you’ve got bad knees, this place is all stairs to get to the elevators
Serious problems with the ice machines (I now go to the garage where the industrial one is kept under lock and key)
No end tables (inside or out) to put drinks on while hanging out
But I’ll let you make the choice, here are some pictures…
From the patio door down the entry hallway – the bedroom is past the chairs, not sure why you’d want a bar opening into your bedroom. The minimal kitchen is on the island.
Here is the view from the resort, some from our balcony, some from the rooftop restaurant…
CaddyDaddy and I walked down the hill, around the Luxury Mall and parking garage, and into town to find the grocery store for essentials. 800 pesos plus a $6 US car ride back, we has breakfast fixings and some pupu platter stuff, though I must say, the “market” was lame compared to the Mega Mart up the road from the WorldMark Coral Baja.
Tomorrow, the report from the “owner’s update”that is only yielding $40 US in restaurant credits – but at least I get to know how this timeshare works. Again, a GREAT THANKS to the Colonels for this timeshare.
[? ? ?] I can only imagine, luckily I’m walking and sweating.
Before I start on about our butt-early departure from Seattle and a little miscommunication on my part between Swanda and I, I found this great picture from the cruise that didn’t make it into any of the cruise posts, foolish me:
This is a shot with our complimentary send-off champagne – I’m assuming this is only for the people in suites, or at least balcony units. Alvin (as in the Chipmunks), our steward, happily brings us a second round after the lifeboat drill.
But back to today…
Up at 5, ready to go at 5:45, panic at 5:50 when I call Swanda and he says “where are you” and I go, “where are you” – apparently he thought the ride to the airport was from his place, I from my place. Luckily he is a maniac on the road so we are at the airport at 6:15 for our 7:40 flight, which barely leaves time for a quick “eye-opener” and a couple of English muffins (yes, carbs) at the Board Room before emplaning to our exit row just across the aisle from each other seats. Coach is full, full, full, except for the middle seats in both exit rows, and CaddyDaddy and I are in the row that reclines.
Back to sleep for both of us after the first beverage course – since I’m MVP Gold, the first mini of liquor is on the house (or shall I say, plane). The Jack Daniels remained unopened and was zipped inside my headphone case for another day.
Hour and a half in LA – enough time to snag a cocktail and a couple of newspapers for the next leg, and three bottles from duty-free. The limit going into Mexico is two bottles per person so it was two bottles of whiskey and one of vodka (for bloody marys in the morning – a tradition with CaddyDaddy and I travel together). Rum, Mexican Brandy and some tequilas are cheap in Mexico, bourbon isn’t.
Check-in feels more like a time-share presentation than I’d like, and apparently as an owner (THANKS COLONELS!) I’ve been spared worse, and the free margarita is welcome.
The main plan now is to get settled in, find ice. Machines on 5 and 3 – one labeled professionally, out of service, the one on three not labeled, but out of service – but on the other side of the elevator (next to the door to the desalinization plant (or maybe it’s the generator for when the power goes out) is the underground entrance to the place – with a huge commercial size ice machine under lock and key – opened by someone the guard called over. Whew! Of course, there is no ice bucket in our room, but the blender body makes a fine temporary ice bucket – to supplement the two trays we just filled in the freezer.
After a cocktail in the room, it’s off to explore thinks like the convenience store – very convenient, not much of a store, and then to scout for a place to have dinner that we can put on the room card… the answer is the rooftop restaurant in the complex which is a branch of the Baja Brewing Company, one of their three restaurants, the original being in San Jose del Cabo which is a long walking distance from the WorldMark Cabo San Lucas where we usually stay . They also have one in the Marina as well which looks a little swankier, but doesn’t have nearly the view this one does.
Rich had the Fish and Chips which was good, I had the Basil-Bleu burger (yes, more carbs) which was also good, but a little large. Music started at 8 with typical live cover band doing 60-70-80’s hits. Downside was that the service was stretched thin even through the bar was less than half full – maybe I just haven’t calmed down (I mean, gotten my Mexican legs) yet.
As for the description of our room and the resort (what I haven’t already covered) I’ll spare you until tomorrow when I’m more logical, more rested, and generally more in the Mexico mode.
Technically this picture was taken yesterday afternoon, but since today is the day, here it is:
We had to be packed and out of the cabin at 9am – even though our disembarkation isn’t until noon. So much for lounging around the cabin. Check bags in the Chapel and it’s off to another incredibly crowded meal (like embarkation day when everyone ends up eating at the same time).
As it turns out we were off the boat at 11:30, then it was just a half hour wait for a cab to the Embarcadero BART station for the train to the airport. With a flight that boards at 7:10pm, we have a long wait in the Board Room, which unlike Seattle, Portland and LAX doesn’t have an afternoon salad service so we left to go find concourse food.
We got upgraded to First for the return (and for the second leg of tomorrow’s flight to Cabo, the Lunch one) so we had a little chicken skewer/salad on that leg – the stew warmed up the skewers because she said everyone was complaining about getting them off the sticks when they were cold, and they tasted better warm – she was right. Too bad at the end of the month (in two days) the meals change.
It was after 11 by the time we were back home to pack for tomorrow’s trip. Maybe it would have been easier to just pack 10 days’ worth of clothes and stayed over in San Francisco for the night. It would have alleviated an evening and early morning flight. Maybe next year.
[? ? ?] Avoided most carb on the boat, but who knows.
Out of the condo around noon so we could stand in various lines for an hour and a half to get all our various immigration and customs stuff done, and our travel documents.
So, where are we going?
Two nights at sea from Vancouver to San Francisco – this will be CaddyDaddy’s first cruise – though a year and a half ago he booked one for May 2013 that was really cheap for an inside single cabin – I think there will be a dozen people I know on that cruise – three nights, $48. Had to have been a computer glitch.
We have a mini-suite for the trip , not their biggest, which would be the suite, which is twice as wide as our cabin:
Two flat screen TV, deck with reclining chairs, pretty nice.
3:30 and we set sail during the life vest drill – doesn’t CaddyDaddy look good in orange?
7pm finds us a dinner in the Bordeaux Room on Level 5:
No shows for us tonight, just back to the cabin to hang out and drink whiskey.
Up and out of the house one time at 9:15 for a 10:15 BoltBus to Vancouver – the cost for the two of us to get to Vancouver… $13. Not bad.
CaddyDaddy and I on the BoltBus getting ready for the 3 hour trip to Vancouver.
Got to the condo at 1:30 or so, and of course the room wasn’t ready so it was drop the bags and go out to lunch and do the grocery shopping for dinner. Hummingbird met up with us at the restaurant and wentshopping with us. Room still not ready upon our return, and Hummingbird wasn’t feeling the best so he picked up his presents and package in the game room at The Canadian.
At 3:30 the condo was ready and Epick and Aaron were waiting for usat the door when we got to the 22nd floor. Apparently they were right behind me coming into the lobby as I was leaving.
So they showed up early, Helene showed up late, Solus+ showed up late, dinner was ready at 7 which by that time it was just three of us for dinner, Solus+ left, Helene returned and I woke up at 2am on the couch.
Normally it doesn’t take me this long to pack, but I’ve got two trips to pack for:
Vancouver-San Francisco on Island Princess
Cabo San Lucas for a week
With an overnight stop at home to swap bags. Yikes – another trip of packing heavy since I’ve got some things for hummingbird and some things he ordered which means the gusset is unzipped on my bag:
In fairness, some of those bags are CaddyDaddys, but his suit bag isn’t even in the shot.
Swanda came over for a farewell steak dinner. The last time those two had seen each other was just after Christmas when Swanda had just been put on oxygen – and oddly enough CaddyDaddy remembered the meal from back then – leftover prime rib from a Christmas dinner.
Off in the morning – have prepped two omelets for reheating in the morning.
Sunday at the shop wasn’t bad – not spectacular, but OK. Dionysus stopped by to pick up his keys that he left on Friday night – only to discover that one of his roommates is a regular customer – too funny.
Jim stopped by at the end of the day to talk a little business before I leave for almost two weeks. Nothing major.
It was also recycling day at the shop:
After work it was a house warming in the oddest house I’ve seen in years… there was pink ceramic bathroom tile (the 2×4″ size) completely covering the dining room ceiling – and there was a recycled marble floor made from what I’m guessing were panels from a men’s room that got torn out. Odd sub-panels (electrical) everywhere – I was too stunned to even take pictures. Maybe next visit.
And the only other news is of my recent parking pass run. Not perfect but close enough for the parking attendants:
The one in the center is the original.
Now if I could just get packed for the Birthday Ramble.
I opened this morning and it was dull, dull, dull with only $150 in sales by the time Jim came in at 1:30. By the time I left after five we were over the 4 figure mark, most of that in the 4-5 timeframe, hence my late departure from the shop. It will be interesting to see how the final number for the day work out.
Dinner at Swanda’s tonight – though I didn’t know what was on the menu until I went shopping downstairs – which, in some ways, was a bad idea since it was right before the start of a Sounders game which meant all the cashiers had long lines.
Swanda made slaw and I came back with a marinated Mongolian beef from the butcher counter – nice, simple to quickly stir fry, quick – just what we needed.
Now if I can only get him to sign on for Palm Springs Gay Pride in early November with his new boyfriend from Austin.
Another workday tomorrow, but soon it will be time for my birthday ramble.
Looking to sell off some equipment-HP500PS 42″ if the price is right. Shrink Wrapper, Really good Wire Binder, a tape to disc transfer machine and a lot of other goodies.
Know anyone who might be interested?
I don’t have room in my house (or garage for that matter!) for the 42″, I’ve been mildly looking for a 24″, and a laminator — but will pass on information to anyone I can think of.