UMTravels

Another week another trip – this one to check something off SalamanderHellBender’s Bucket List – Hawaii.

The initial spreadsheet shows about $425 per person for 4 days, 3 nights with guaranteed First Class on the way there and most likely an upgrade on the way back. That doesn’t include food and other stuff while we are in Waikiki, but it’s still cheap in my mind.

The downside/upside is that we travel out of Bellingham, but they do have a great restaurant in the terminal:

Crap – is that a Manhattan in my hand and some fish and chips on my plate – bad UncleMarkie! We got there in plenty of time – time enough for three Manhattans — $8.00 each, which for an airport isn’t bad – and I saw them pouring Maker’s Mark to make them.

Onto the plane we go into seats 1A and 1C:

Too much fun. I’m really glad my friends have “bucket lists” and this one is in honor of Salamander’s 51^st birthday which was last week.

Nothing like starting the flight with a POG Mimosa (Pineapple, Orange Guava) followed by our meal:

Appetizer:

• Green Papaya Salad
• Haricot Vert and Roma Tomatoes
• Sweet Thai Chili Lime Dressing
• Warm Hawaiian Sweet Roll

Choice of Entrees:

• Mango BBQ Beef Short Ribs
• Coconut Milk Mashed Potatoes
• Buttered Green Beans

Or

• Red Curry Shrimp and Pineapple
• Cucina Fesca Rigatoni

With a dessert of Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and all the booze we could choke down.

We got in around 7pm and made our way to the bus to Waikiki – if you just have carryon luggage for $2.50 a person you can just catch the bus to Waikiki, which beats the $15.00 a person slower than the bus (which takes at least 45 minutes).

We missed check-in times so we grabbed the keys from security for our one-bedroom condo at the Royal Kuhio:

And the view…

Nope, no ocean view, but we can see the canal.

First stop of the night is to Foodland for a Rotisserie Chicken, bourbon, mixer, salad, eggs, and breakfast meats – basically condo supplies. We pulled some pieces off the poor dead bird but were ni bed before any thought of salad happened.

In the morning we are off to Hilo Hatties – not so much for the overpriced Hawaiian shirts but for the shuttle that takes us a couple of blocks from the K-Mart and the Salvation Army where I convinced Salamander to get a couple of Hawaiian shirts – the one I wanted (A Tommy Bahama) didn’t have a price tag so they wouldn’t sell it to me – damn.

Salamander and I are on different agendas – his more gogo boys, mine more laying in the sun. Luckily we don’t need to run together.

Dinner tonight is trip-tip steaks, salad, Hawaiian sweet rolls (yes, I know they are bad for me, but then in Rome…)

The next day my goal is laying in the sun and Salamander is out and about…in the on again off again rain – which cut short my suntan time. Don’t trust Salamander with a map in the rain:

And I have to say that the next day – another ruined map:

A little better, but still a mess – good thing it’s out last day in town.

But let’s not forget interesting things we ate when we were in the islands….

Salamander needed Spam since he was in Hawaii – it was a side dish with the Filet Mignon and the salad for dinner.

Our final day was a tour of the island after we checked out and picked up a rental car from the airport – here are some random pictures:

The above were the result of an around the island car tour… a great way to see the island and really make sure that Salamander has ticked off Hawaii on his Bucket List.

At the end of the day we returned the car and checked into the Delta Sky Room before our 11:55pm red-eye (yes, upgraded) back to Bellingham:

What can I say, Salamander needed a Burger King snack and I was stressed from trying to find a gas station near the airport returning the car – FOUR that were in GPS were no longer there (smells like a conspiracy to me). They did say “welcome your majesty at the front desk”…. Even got Salamander to try on the crown…

I got a little sleep on the return flight (just a small snack so no reason to stay awake)… but not enough. Still had to take a nap or two driving back south for a full day of errands – AND – cooking dinner for a sweet man who I have a crush on (no, not Salamander).

All together a VERY long Friday, the final day of holiday. Wish that sweet man that I was necking with had spent the night, but alas, he has a job interview in the morning and needs to be fresh.

[210.6 or 208.8 yesterday]

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.

After last week’s quiet trip to Long Beach (Washington), this week is a little more hectic, since it’s VEGAS, BABY!

Salamander stayed the night at my place since it’s an early flight (because we are all cheap, and this was the cheap flight) with DancingBear showing up at 6am for our Uber to the airport.

Bit of a clusterfuck boarding the plane – that or most of the plane was MVPGold and higher – might be since I saw one of the wine shop customers in line (and on the plane in my favorite seat).

DancingBear and I were across the aisle in the Exit Row (nope, not even an upgrade to Premium for me), which Salamander in the back. We were on three different reservation numbers, and the three of us in one row would just be a bad idea.

Picked up the rental car with me as a second driver, and since we were too early to check in, it was off to lunch at the Black Bear Diner (even though they don’t have a bar) for lunch. And not a small lunch. I got the Rueben (very good):

Salamander, the Hot Turkey Mess (I mean Sandwich):

DancingBear got the Turkey Sandwich with avocado and cranberry:

Stocked up at the liquor store for the week and beyond, then headed to the WorldMark Las Vegas Boulevard to see if our room was ready – it only being 1pm, I was pleasantly surprised when it was available.

Here are lots of pool shots which is where we headed after stocking the fridge:

Salamander didn’t spend much time poolside as he prefers to go to the strip to watch people. Fortunately, he tends to make it back home in time for food, which tonight, DancingBear is making Chicken Marsala from scratch:

We eat well while we are on the road – this is breakfast the next morning:

Sadly, I’d eaten half before I got the camera out. Even our lunch outs are fun…

Tuesday was errand day. DancingBear needed sandals, but ended up with sandals, tennis shoes, and a new jumper. I was shopping for cheap cloth napkins since the unit didn’t come with an, and I forgot to pack mine. Almost bought this:

Tonight, we are having guests for dinner. The Colonels are in town from Kentucky, which is why we are here this particular week – got the table set up for the five of us:

Tonight’s dinner:

Our final day in Vegas, Salamander went back to the strip and DancingBear and I headed to Red Rock Canyon National Conversation Area, not far from Vegas. He even had his National Parks pass with him!

I didn’t get the picture stitched together very well, but you get the point:

This park is just a beautiful drive….

Yes, that’s a Bentley ragtop.

A four-wheel-drive Mercedes Sprinter:

And a Polaris Slingshot:

And you can even get a Nevada plate featuring Red Rock Canyon…

After all the activity, it was lunch time.

Not the best lunch food or service wise, so I’d avoid John Cutter. ONE waitress for the entire inside and outside.

Both DancingBear’s wrap and my ½ Philly Cheese Steak came with a side salad – which we boxed and took home for dinner.

And our sunset from the walkway to our unit:

And said dinner:

Not bad for leftovers!

Another early morning finds us back at the airport – at the lounge partner I didn’t know about before this trip, and what a lounge it is!

Yep, it’s morning, no one is quite awake.

At least I got into Premium for the ride home, DancingBear missed it by one row, and Salamander was almost back by the bathrooms. Maybe I should link are reservations next time to see if I can get up all better seats.

Home to work a five-day shift – a rarity.

[225.0]

Stayed up late, took a pill, slept late… it always messed with the day.

The day is all about packing and kvetching about the trip. Do you ever have that “black cloud” feeling about an upcoming trip… I’d like to blame it on not getting an upgrade to 1^st Class, but I think it’s more than that. I could cancel and get the money back no questions asked… but $221.40 to Boston (and back)… the miles, the friends, the hell of coach class on a six hour flight.

Maybe this “mileage whore” thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Picked up Salamander at his office – left Casa de Rose South Park at 4:30pm and was to the UDistrict and back in the hood a little before 5:30pm. Oh, the joys of a return trip in the carpool lane (espress lanes on the way out)… I think I need a blow up Salamander doll to keep in the car for commute time.

I grilled tonight… the first time in at least 3-4 months…. I opened the grill (luckily before I left to pick him up) and found it… well, less than ready to go. Moldy would more be the answer – guess I’d better leave the door and flu open for the rest of the winter. A couple of hours worth of hot coals, heat, and scraping, and it was fit to cook on…

Country style pork ribs marinated in a nice hot/vinegar sauce, a big salad, and fresh Bermuda pearl onion bread done up as pull apart rolls. YUM.

Salamander stayed an hour later than planned (the 10:19 bus rather than the 9:19 bus) so we could watch a few compressed videos from my 8mm to DVD collection… I really need to organize that collection better!

The leftover rolls have been stuffed with the leftover port and cream cheese from the appetizer and are now freezing to tomorrow’s flight. I figure they will be thawed about the time I’m hungry after the breakfast at the Board Room.

Is it too late to cancel?

[230.4]

The annual tradition continues – the multiple week Birthday Ramble. This year week one is in Cabo San Lucas. Total of three of us.

Salamander and I are travelling together with Roxy taking an earlier flight, but arriving in Cabo at the same time. Roxy misses out on The Board Room with his earlier flight, but with the size of Salamander’s machine-made pancake, maybe he isn’t missing anything:

That’s a lot of butter for that mini-pancake.

UncleMarkie’s breakfast on the other hand…(with Salamander’s in the background):

I got us upgrades on the way down, so we are comfortably in 1A (Salamander) and 1C (UncleMarkie):

And it doesn’t take Salamander long to look like this:

Maybe it was the cocktail – but he did wake up for breakfast number two:

A little too much starch and sugar in the encrusted waffle (maybe I shouldn’t have applied the corn syrup packet), but tasty.

Turns out we have a stop in San Diego, where there is no duty free shopping – good thing I put a “handle” of Evan Williams in my checked bag!

Back on the plane after the security pass – I had to snap this pic just before the door closed. Had we been in the back we would have had a TON of seats to ourselves:

And soon it was time for lunch…

Ah, the joys of travelling up front!

Roxy met us after immigration (quick) at baggage claim – he’s flying with just carry on, and we are out the front to find our driver – and before you know it, on the road with a pretty full van of other people headed to Coral Baja:

After a hellishly long check in process (made better my free watered down margaritas) we are off to the 3-bedroom penthouse, our home for the next two nights:

And then, there is the view… this doesn’t suck!

Dinner night one was room service from the on-site restaurant – we were all beat up from the early morning.

Did I mention that we had our own private hot tub…

And that you can order a full moon from room service?

The night hot tub view!

Terrible admission – there were no groceries in the unit so we headed out to the former MegaMart, now a LaComer after the hurricane a couple of years ago – but I was hungry – hungry for hot red head!

But shop we did…

Mixers, booze, refrigerator (we passed on that), eggs, fresh tortillas…. And next to the sex shop next to the market, a wine shop!

I did stop in, but I’m running with a cocktail crowd this week.

Hopefully we won’t end up like El Gordo (the fat one), who died between the store and the condo:

To be honest, it was 90+ degrees out and we had the A/C cranked, and were mostly running around in robes. Me, I have my Bernie doo on.

I’d been hoping to find the TackyT-ShirtPrincess a shirt from the market on the highway outside the condo:

This place used to have a ton of stuff – a deli, fresh pico de gaia, the works, since the hurricane, it’s now lame, though I did buy some Mexican Brandy the last night of the trip as we’d exhausted all booze in the condo. I was hoping to find a t-shirt in a women’s medium for her to match the one I bought years ago and had to dig up and take a photo of:

Alas – nothing close to it, and the shirts they had were $20USD. Sigh.

After two nights, we “downgraded” to the 2-bedroom penthouse, which I found larger and I loved the rooftop hot tub and tanning deck area – see what you think.

And then the spiral stairs to our private roof top deck:

If you want the walking tour of the place, here it is:

Did I mention the brand new looks like never used BBQ?

And we used it!

Rib eyes and onions on the grill!

And now just some random photos of how we spent our week doing nothing, I say NOTHING:

OK – we did a little more than lay around! There is drinking and tanning to do.

Why leave to penthouse when you can watch them releasing baby sea turtles into the high surf:

And eavesdropping on a wedding!

And there was eating as well….pupu platter…

Scratch-made chicken tortilla soup:

And because you need things you didn’t bring, you improvise. Hot chili sauce made from four packets of ketchup from the first nights room service, combined with the red chili flakes and some garlic powder in the spice rack:

Need breading for fried fish? Crunch up the crackers that came with my octopus ceviché afternoon snack (yes, we did eat out twice in the week):

Crumble those crackers! And no, we aren’t talking about the upcoming election.

Whip an egg, batter the fish, and fry!

I could blame it on the heat, but we didn’t do ANYTHING tourist related. No walk into San José del Cabo, no bus ride to check out Cabo San Lucas, we only did grocery store runs for more supplies – and in the end we were taking the cab (100 pesos, basically $5 USD each way) to the store.

I barely finished a book, Roxy only got one more chapter done in the book he started when we were at Whistler two summers ago. Yep, slugs.

Sunday we headed home on different shuttles – Salamander and I early, Roxy later.

Did spot the cool American Airlines Piedmont Airlines livery at the Cabo San Lucas airport – sorry the shot isn’t better:

Salamander and I managed (after a Wi-Fi call to the US – got to LOVE T-Mobile!) to get upgraded to First on the Cabo to Los Angeles leg, which included a chicken (never found it) and rice lunch:

No upgrade on the LAX-SEA leg, but we had lounge access for more free food and drink:

And before we knew it, Salamander had his bag and headed for Light Rail, I was waiting to see if my hard-side came out on the regular belt or the “oversize” (because it looks like an OtterCase filled with expensive equipment).

Stay tuned for Part Two of the Birthday Ramble, but first I have to work a couple of days.

[213.4]

The plan: two nights at the WorldMark Victoria in the handicap access Penthouse with its own hot tub and BBQ with DancingBear.

Revised plan: add a date for myself since its two bedrooms with queen-sized beds in both.

Outcome: FAIL.

I think that I set a new record in travelling with a “high-maintenance” guest. It is surprising that there wasn’t a death on this trip. Oh, let me recount the “I need it this way” ways:

• No meat other than chicken (which has the highest rate of E.coli of any processed meats)
• No seafood other than Salmon (and he’d probably be happy with Farmed Salmon filled with food coloring)
• Two pairs of underwear PER DAY, the morning set and the evening set
• Which requires AT LEAST showering twice a day
• And when people pack THREE different things to wipe their bum with in between all those showers….

And then there is the constant “chatter”. God forbid there should be a moment of silence. My nickname for him is “SeaPrincess”, while DancingBear prefers “Magpie”, so he will be Christened Magpie SeaPrincess throughout the land.

Dear Load, the boy is HIGH-maintenance. My evidence:

That would be MY toiletry bag, next so some of his “wipes”.

That would be Magpie SeaPrincess’ toiletry bag, NOT including any of the wipes. And let’s not talk about all the towel exchanges through a two-night stay.

Before the trip when I inquired about luggage (I drive a Miata and so there is only so much space for luggage) his response was 14x18x22 which is carryon size…that was NOT what showed up at the dock.

Lemonade out of lemons? You do what you can do. I felt particularly bad for DancingBear who signed on for a relaxing holiday, and got less than that. He was amazingly helpful at offering tips to get the poor (and unemployed) boy’s life back on track. Way more patience than me, but luckily all the knives in the unit were dull as dirt.

But I digress, the trip:

Arrived in Victoria and got the shuttle to the rental car place, where Magpie when into overdrive flirting with everyone trying to get an upgrade. There was a possible plan for going to the West Coast of Vancouver Island on a day trip so a bigger car would have been nice.

I’m No, No, No, and the agent is coming Down, Down, Down in the price of an upgrade, whispering so the other clerk doesn’t hear (actually guessing that they didn’t have our car class), and when it was $10 CAD ($7.50USD) per day for twice the size I finally bit.

With the ferry arriving at 11:30, and a hold-up in immigration because DancingBear and some other Canadian fugitive have the same name, it’s noon-thirty when we get to the WorldMark Victoria. Not surprising that the room isn’t ready (though it was on the January trip which was a total shock). Off to Santiago’s we go for, as DancingBear would call it, an expensive lunch, even if the drinks were cheap by Canadian standards.

As we are putzing around afterward I check email – apparently calls weren’t coming through but email was – unit is ready!

Check in, get everybody keys, send the boy out to explore, DancingBear hanging in the apartment, me chopping for groceries….

Did I mention the muffins – poppy seed, like the ones from Costco. 15 freaking minutes in the store looking for Poppy Seed muffins (had to settle for Cranberry Orange, which, of course he didn’t eat – though I did and they were damn tasty).

The meal plan, grilled salmon the first night (wild caught, none of that farmed crap) and a roasted chicken the next night.

But, again, I digress from the good parts of the trip. Maybe some photos will help. The waterfront at sunrise:

I hate getting up this early, but it is a really nice view of Mount Rainier (Tahoma) with the Edgewater Hotel to the left.

This would be DancingBear and myself on the boat:

Red Baron anyone…

And where was MagpieSeaPrincess?

Blessedly at the back of the boat taking pictures. An hour in and we were already trying to ditch him.

Welcome to the Inner Harbour of Victoria.

Lunch at Santiago’s….our entrees. DancingBear’s burger:

My ceviche…

MagPieSeaPrincess’ quesadilla:

Company for dinner tonight… though not Royce (who came to dinner my last visit), who I found at the grocery store working his shift:

It was just DancingBear, UncleMarkie, MagpieSeaPrincess and Elliott “The On-line Psychic”.

A good time was had by all, but I have no photographic evidence. Pupu Platter, slab of salmon on the grill, big salad, bread (except for Elliott who has issues with gluten). No pictures of the hot tub party (just as well). Elliott brought the wine, we supplied the hard liquor. It was a fun evening.

There was a concept of taking a drive up the West Coast of Vancouver Island. It soon became clear that DancingBear wasn’t going along on a 4+ hour “journey from hell” (his words), and I wasn’t up much for it as well, so we cast off the boy to make his own adventure, and DancingBear and I went out for lunch and shopping. I needed lunch, DancingBear needed shoes (and lunch).

This is the Finest At Sea food trailer in their parking lot – much easier than putting in a full kitchen, and if it doesn’t work out, you sell the rig. We both had the Halibut and Chips (one-piece for me, two-piece for DancingBear) which was stunningly good. I’d had their rockfish cakes in January and was impressed. Guess it’s time to dust off my TripAdvisor account.

Next stop, shoe shopping (for DB, not me). But before we found a cheap shoe store we found a Target that was going out of business. All the Target Stores in Canada basically filed for bankruptcy. They were even selling off the store fixtures:

DancingBear ended up buying an iPad for his husband at 10% off (when do you ever see Apple Products discounted!) before we found him some shoes at the other end of the mall at 50% off, plus the 20% off discount because the Canadian Dollar is in the toilet compared to the US Dollar.

UncleMarkie with shoe (and cocktail):

Another evening, another meal where I forgot to take pictures. Lemon stuffed roasted chicken, salad, bread… but it seems someone forgot that there was going to be dinner and gorged on Chicken McNuggets. Clueless youth. Home cooked food vs. industrial food.

In my defense, I offer the following photo:

Ah, youth. When your beauty fades, may you have an interesting life, as the fortune cookies says.

The boy was off in the morning – at least he’d learned that until I’ve had my coffee, best to not try and engage me in conversation. Having decided to turn in the rental car at exactly 48 hours rather than 53, we were in a rush to get out of the condo…but someone decided to do a load of laundry with everything he had to wear, because “those clothes are dirty, I can’t be seen in public in “dirty” clothes”. He’d already called the front desk and brow-beat them into a late checkout (for him), DancingBear and I were out at 11:30. God know when he actually got out of the condo, and I’m hoping my stellar reputation with the WorldMark Victoria hasn’t been damaged.

For our part, we loaded the car, I dropped DB at the ferry terminal to check out bags, I gassed up, dropped off the car (and saved $50 CAN by not needing the extra three hours) and had a lovely QUIET walk back to the ferry terminal. I could have had the shuttle drop me, but a quiet walk with no one yammering…was delightful – and it let me pick up the schedule for the IMAX at the Royal Museum since we don’t sail until 4.

The film was something about the Grand Canyon – which I spent 3-weeks rafting through many years ago. My assignment was to show up with 115 liters of wine – and it wasn’t enough. My blog posts HERE, but I’m guessing the picture links are dead.

On my Victoria post for January I have a picture of Seth and this bear (which is in the gift shop of the IMAX theatre):

That killed an hour and then I found a great way to kill more time – DRINK! Did I mention we had lunch and drinks before the movie?

Inside the Empress, there is a lovely lounge (and restaurant) called the Bengal Lounge – VERY East Indian in theme:

Complete with Curry Buffet (lunch and evening $30).

And my drink, a LOVELY Manhattan, complete with Luxardo cherry:

And my new favorite bartender, Len:

From the Empress we decamped to the ferry terminal – we had boarding number in the 100-150 range, so with luggage already checked, it was fine to be at the end of the line. I was shocked we got a table upstairs on the way home (a first for me).

In the end, MagpieSeaPrincess didn’t show up for the boat home, he’d “fallen in LOVE”. Instead we got 50-75 Junior High School Band Camp students, who strangely were quieter than the Magpie.

And in the end, we returned to this:

Customs was a breeze – they held off the (two) band camps until the rest of us had disembarked which is good because that many kids, passports, birth certificates, oy.

In all of this I realize that I haven’t given you any pictures of the view from our condo, which is one of the major reasons I go to Victoria, so I’ll close with these:

[224.6]

Such a deal! $423.77 round-trip for BOTH of us Bellingham to Honolulu. And parking in front of the airport is just $12 a day, a mere 100 feet from car to counter.

A beautiful day to fly, especially when you get upgraded to First as a freebie:

And the meal that comes with that seat:

Alas – because of a last minute airplane swap, no DigiPlayer Tablets, just our own laptops which take up a TAD more room – almost pushing out the black cod with bok choy.

The first two nights we are staying at the Royal Kuhio, in a one-bedroom:

Our room is on the third floor over the garage in, oddly enough, room 911. Hard to forget what room you are in with that number.

The view by day:

The view by night:

The room:

And a really cool alarm/clock/outlet/USB port device on the nightstand:

Our first full day (we got in at 9:45pm on flight day), first stop is the Honolulu Salvation Army Thrift Store to hit the rack of Aloha Shirts. Tuesday is Senior Discount Day (25%), though half of what we found was 50% off since it had been on the racks for over a month. $55 for 6 shirts and a sweater – DancingBear made out better with 4 compared to my 3:

Several of those are Tommy Bahama shirts that usually run $70 and up. Here is DancingBear in one of his finds:

Next up is a walk to the Aloha Tower:

While waiting for the Waikiki Trolley (tip – buy your tickets online and save 25% during certain sales) we did a little fish watching:

Luckily the Trolley shows up fairly quickly considering that the Purple Line only runs every 50 minutes:

That’s the last shot you’ll see of me in my Mount Gay Rum Yacht Race hat – it blew off on the Trolley – made more ironic because I bought the hat at the Salvation Army on a previous trip to Honolulu.

And some scenery shots:

We swung back by the condo (very close to the Trolley Terminus) for a quick nap for DancingBear and a quick snack for me – can you say poke?

Clockwise from upper left, edamame, ahi, shrimp, octopus. Yum.

Speaking of food – my dinner:

I got the Polish, mild sauce, star fruit relish, and Hawaiian Guava Mustard on a purple bacon taro sweet bun.

Those metal spikes next to the dog roller are to toast the bun from the inside out.

Our final day in Waikiki we took Uber to the Dollar Rent-A-Car and picked up wheels for our island tour over the next two days – and it turns out we have a mutual friend in Honolulu – Rick – and he works in the governor’s office so we are off for lunch and a tour!

Burger and fries for Rick.

Lobster roll for me.

Chicken Cobb for DancingBear.

It was a great lunch at Café Julia, nestled inside a 1920’s YMCA building. And soon it was off for a personal tour of the Hawaii State Capital.

The Senate Chamber:

The Governor’s Formal Office (for bill signing, ceremonies, etc.):

And a great shot of us all, with a giant mangrove in the background (and me in one of my Sally Ann
Tommy Bahama finds):

After our tour, off we went on a circle tour of the island, starting headed south:

Thanks to Hawaii Activities for the image – and I’ve toured with them on previous trips. Since we were in a car, no commentator other than me! Please notice my back-up hat – my Hello Kitty hat that I bought a couple of months ago in a Maui thrift store.

We are staying at the Marriott Courtyard (founded by the Mormons) right next to the Polynesian Cultural Center (founded and run by the Mormons):

The place is only nine months old, and has some very good design elements like a huge lobby for hanging out with some workstations:

And a dedicated stand up “business center” for printing boarding passes:

But in the end, it’s really only about the room comfort:

I grimaced at the $200+ a night price (and that they charge for parking), but it really was a nice place to stay, and almost one only hotel on the North Shore.

Dinner tonight is takeout from these folks across the street – Kauula Korean BBQ:

Thursday brings more of the driving tour around Oahu:

That would be Sunset Beach – famous for surf contests.

Lunch down the road at The Beach House restaurant at Haleiwa:

DancingBear went for the Black Bean soup and he talked me into the Lobster Cobb Salad.

Seriously good food for a restaurant that’s only been open three weeks!

Stopped at an old sugar mill turned coffee roaster/souvenir place…

…on our way to the Dole Plantation for a Dole Whip and a train ride:

Time to return the car and return to Bellingham – but, I have lounge access in the American Airlines Admiral’s Club at Honolulu which they share with Japan Air Lines (soon to be a codeshare partner with Alaska Airlines):

Big, and they are expanding it. Spam Musubi anyone?

A great view from our workstations…

And because it’s shared with Japan Airlines, fancy bidet toilet seats in the bathrooms:

The Honolulu Airport was originally built in 1962 and still has some remnants:

Yes, that is a non-working mechanical flip-number clock – and some working (though I didn’t check) payphones – another dinosaur technology.

Time to board and take our favorite seats – though on both legs we’ve had to swap seats with other people in row 1 to sit together (note DancingBear’s
Sally Ann find):

Not much in the way of food on the return flight – I guess they expect you to sleep since it’s a red-eye! At least the DigiPlayer Tablets are on board this leg.

Thanks to DancingBear for this flight takeoff photo (and a couple of other photos in this post):

And my arrival photo…

Got to Bellingham around 7:30am, and I’ve decided (after sleeping the entire drive home) that I’m done with red-eye flights. Luckily, June 4^th is the last of the BLI-HNL flight.

And a final thanks for DancingBear for driving home while a snored (and driving there as well).

[214.0]

Got a text from DancingBear a couple of weeks ago… “What are you doing the Wednesday the 30^th? Want to do some day drinking?

Turns out he needed one more trip on Alaska to hit MVP status for 2017. Sure! He owned me about the same amount of money for our upcoming trip to Victoria, so I booked us seats using his credit card since at MVP Gold, I get access to better seats.

Off we go! Just me and the backpack…

Breakfast in the Alaska Lounge between C and D concourse:

Even managed to squeeze in a cocktail in the N concourse lounge – they start serving at 6am, and our flight left at 6:40 – barely enough time!

Before the free drink on the plane (once of the perks about being GOLD – drinks and chocolates)…

The seat next to me was ODDLY open – good thing since I’m number 32 on the upgrade list! And got a bit of a view shot, even being in the aisle seat:

It’s just a two-hour flight to Denver, and soon, we are on the train from the airport to Union Station on the new light rail service.

It’s less than 45 minutes from the airport to the city – which is amazing since the airport is in the middle of wheat fields east of the city. But we are there – with Dan and Lisa there to meet us.

Off to lunch at Next Door…

Featuring my first Manhattan of the day, complete with a Luxardo Cherry ($18 a jar at Madrona Wine Merchants). And Dan, his burger, magnetized silverware, and another shot of my Manhattan.

I had the burger as well, nice that it some standard with an arugula salad.

DancingBear had the meatballs over a bed of Polenta.

They asked Dan how he wanted his burger cooked, he said medium, they didn’t ask me, so I got it medium, found it a little dry with WAY TOO MUCH salt and pepper. Lisa’s Caesar also came pre-peppered, with too much, and DB’s meatballs I found bland. Too bad – the last time I ate here is was good. Maybe it was just the fried pickles we had the last time.

After lunch DancingBear and I are off on a random trip to check out the US Mint since there was a Car2Go across the street from the station:

…sad thing is that we actually couldn’t take the tour since I had a backpack and DB a briefcase, and they didn’t have any lockers which seemed odd, but I guess I can see it from a security standpoint – but for the tour you’d have to go through a metal detector, why couldn’t you put lockers beyond the metal detector and just hand-search all left bags. We did get to the gift shop – DB bought a hat (which he’d forgotten, and I found one on the 50% off rack) and some coinage as xmess presents.

Car back to the station, our asses back in seats (FYI, it’s $9 for a day pass – don’t know if that would include busses as well), and off to the Admirals Club Lounge we go – as an Alaska Lounge member (formerly known as The Board Room before the rebranding this fall), I get into all the Admirals Club locations that aren’t the Arrivals Lounges – if I’m on an Alaska or American ticket.

We were in the “quiet room” with cell phones prohibited – we only had THREE people who thought that didn’t apply to them. They really need to make the signage more prominent.

Managed to AGAIN get the seat open next to me on the way home as I was number 22 on the upgrade list. But in the end, DancingBear gets MVP, I get a few more miles, all is good.

[217.4]

Salamander and I actually made it out of the hotel a little after 9 for our drive to Hoover Dam. I’d done the tunnel tour a couple of times – and LONG ago (pre-9/11) did the Hard Hat Tour (think I still have the hardhat).

Here are some of the shots from the dam tour. Salamander Blair and I atop the visitor center:

The power house on the Nevada side – the Arizona side has a mirrored set.

A set of aluminum doors in a serious deco style to go with the miles of terrazzo floors, some of which are inlaid with patterns:

More examples of the Itailian craftsmanship that was part of the WPA depression-era worker’s relief program.

Sorry about the people shadows on the terrazzo electrical outlet above. Cool work though.

Here is a final shot of the damn from the road that is now closed to through traffic:

We swung through Boulder City to do a little antiquing (I got a couple of license plates) and then through the closed Railroad Museum (only open weekends):

Then it was back to the city to try and track down gay bars for Salamander – we found them, but only by getting ourselves tied up in traffic. Maybe next trip as it’s a bit of a walk (about a mile) from the hotel.

After a couple of drinks in the room (MUCH CHEAPER than drinking out), we are off to the Eiffel Tower attraction here a Paris Las Vegas – it’s dark by the time we get up there to use our free ($8.00 value each) tickets that were part of the package – and the views are stunning:

My final comments about Vegas is the size of the “to-go” cups – and trust me, this is a SMALL one.

We wondered the strip in search of dinner and stumbled across LobsterME where Salamander had the Lobster and Waffles, and for me, the clam chowder (they were out of the Lobster Bisque and the Lobster/Bay Shrimp Ceviché) and the Lobster Mac and Cheese. Too many carbs, but that mac and cheese was damn fine.

Of course we had to get the giant lobster filled with Long Island Ice Tea which was really too sweet – until we got back to the room and cut it with vodka and ice.

Me, I’m in for the night – sensory overload from Vegas.

And we are up early to fly home.

[? ? ?]

It wasn’t really on my “bucket list” to revisit St. Louis, but when presented with a free shared hotel room and free evening activities all for the price of an airline ticket…got to do it. Thanks DancingBear for making me your “plus 1” at your conference.

Used a MVP Gold Guest Upgrade coupon to get a seat next to DancingBear in First Class on the way out – and a good thing I did it in advance as there were 40 people on the upgrade list when I checked in. Was in couch (albeit 6C) on the way home – being number 18 on an upgrade list of 33.

Free Digi-Player (and lunch) up front. Too bad I’ve already seen all the content I like. Maybe I’ll have to start watching the movies I don’t care about. Damn “First World” problems.

Caught Light Rail to the hotel – the Sheraton Clayton.

Honestly, the rooms could use a bit of a refresh.

I did love the shower!

But this is what I returned to AFTER the maid had done her service call:

Coffee pot to cleaned and returned to its proper place, coffee, cups, and bottled water not replaced. Ice bucket not emptied and returned to its nook. Basically the trash was emptied and the beds made – not even vacuumed. I thought it might be a fluke, but when it happened the second day I went down to the front desk as ask for the day manager. Brought Jeremy back to the room to show him the situation, and mentioned that this was the second day of lackluster maid service. He promised a fix and an hour and a half later I got a call that the room was ready – even saw what I assumed was the housekeeping manager (clipboard gave it away) checking on the room. And though I didn’t ask for it, Jeremy comped one of our nights. Thanks Jeremy – but you also might want to retrain some of your staff.

So the Sheraton Clayton is, you guessed it, in Clayton, which is the county seat for St. Louis County which, oddly, doesn’t contain the city of St. Louis which is an independent city. Being the county set, the hotel was surrounded by courthouses, legal offices, and more shoe repair, jewelry, tailors than you might expect from a small downtown. Also, plenty of good food:

Shrimp Tempura Bento Box at Wasabi (Japanese).

Beef Salad at the Blue Elephant (Thai).

Sliders and a cup of the White Bean Chili at John P. Fields (American).

And let’s not forget this cool wine shop called The Wine Merchant:

A ton of space (including upstairs offices and tasting room), and a wonderful friendly knowledgeable staff. I felt bad for just picking up a bottle of the regular Four Roses – we only seem to get the “small batch” on the west coast.

Met up with DancingBear back at the hotel for the first shared evening event – BASEBALL! But first we have to all meet up at Knight Hall, part of the Olin Business School at Washington University.

The atrium area of Knight Hall is stunning – I love the amphitheater/stairs combination:

We all piled into two motor coaches for the ride to Cardinal Stadium (technically Busch Stadium). Our driver took on the scenic route (passed signs that said no tour busses) which included Millionaire’s Row. Lots of nice brick/stone work left in the city:

This is the Magic Chef Mansion that we will be visiting tomorrow night:

And views of The Arch! DancingBear went up in The Arch the day I arrived in the late afternoon. I never made it, but I was up in it when I was a teenager, low those MANY years ago.

Just before we got to the stadium…

Of course I WOULD have to put DancingBear in front of a shop called The Fudgery.

Technically we weren’t IN the stadium, but across a small street in the ATT Roof Top Deck. We had wrist bands to get us into the park if we wanted – I didn’t, didn’t notice anyone else go either. Why go when there is a free (and GOOD) buffet with four lanes and a dessert lane with a chafing dish full of bread pudding. Since it was also an open bar, for dessert I had them put a splash of Evan Williams on mine. Yes, that would be one of the MANY free Evan Williams and Diet Coke – can’t believe my favorite everyday Bourbon is their Bourbon pour:

But there was lots of cook food, and some questionable Midwestern food:

And the aforementioned “questionable Midwestern food”:

Yes, that would be a Rice Krispies ball mounts on a chocolate-dipped waffle cone.

But it’s really about the view – I mean the ball game. Let’s start with the entrance – a huge mural made up from broken apart Rubik’s Cubes:

And the view from our two-level venue:

What a fun evening! What a fun game. I had be root for the Cubs because of Barb (my cruise travel agent) – and they whipped the Cardinals. 6 runs in the First Inning, Cardinals finally scored 2 in the Ninth Inning, final score 9-2.

The next evening’s adventure was at the Magic Chef Mansion (picture up several screens). But here are some interior and group shots. Headed towards the main house.

I mostly hung out at the bar since it was an “awards ceremony” that was much less interesting than an open bar and a chatty bartendress. Note the black table near the back door of the main house.

Said bartendress:

Speaking of the main house, a shot from the library:

And talk about “man cave”, complete with bowling alley:

Belt-driven machine shop:

Pinball machines:

And, of course, a full bar…

But my favorite shot is from the bathroom that was originally part of the maid’s quarters…talk about uni-sex bathroom:

The owner bought the place in the mid-90s for $450,000, but just putting a slate roof on the stables (the event space) cost her $150,000 – lord knows what the rest of the renovations cost – I’m guessing well north of what she paid for the house.

Our return ride was in a stripper limo – only thing missing was the stripper pole!

Our final afternoon in St. Louis it was time to take the Anheuser-Busch Brewery Tour!

But not before a quick U-Turn when DancingBear spotted a Tasty Cake Outlet Store – not for him, but a work buddy.

When we finally made it to the brewery, there was plenty to do and see:

First stop is the stables – dating from the early 1900s – and home to the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales.

Nice digs for those ponies (they get several hours of grooming daily) – and now for the brewery tour:

And that phrase, “Beechwood Aging” turns out to be true!

Even the brewery has classy fixtures:

A free mini-beer – choice of Bud or Bud Light (though they’d just blown the Bud keg when it was our turn), and then a full-size beer at the end of the tour – with a wide selection from the InBev catalog (they own Anheuser-Busch these days. I went for the Stella Artois Cidré.

After our tour, and a little lunch for DancingBear, it was off to the airport and more specifically, the Admirals Club Lounge for drinks, soup, snacks – not the level of the Alaska Board Room, but free with my reciprocal membership.

For the return flight – DancingBear was up front in Seat 1F…

And me just behind the curtain in Seat 6C…

Another trip down after a shared Uber from the airport, dropping me off in South Park.

[214.4]

After several weeks at home, it was time to hit the road again.

But first, it’s an 8am doctor’s appointment followed by waiting to new pills. The joys of being in a clinical study (no, I’m not dying, just trying to keep others from).

Pills in hand, headed north to hook up with DancingBear, and onto the road. Whistler here we come!

And into the condo I booked almost a year ago…

Threw the bags down and headed to Guest Services in the Village to pick up our season passes for the Peak-2-Peak Gondola. At the end of the day, no line at the counter – woohoo!

Grabbed some fill-in groceries to go with the quantities of food from Costco so we can make Costco roasted chicken pulled off the bone for a chicken Caesar salad – the Caesar also coming as a platter from Costco.

We actually made it to the mountain by noon after a nice “Mother and Child” scramble…

Lots of snow and eye candy on the mountain:

Up the mountain on the Whistler side – across the canyon on the Peak-2-Peak (above), and then down the Blackcomb side on the Solar Coaster, and open lift:

One of the reasons I opted for this first day is that if you are going to see Black Bears, you will most likely see them on the Blackcomb side – and we were lucky to spot one on our first day!

Apparently, “Hey Bear, Hey Bear” doesn’t get them to look up.

Back up the mountain we go!

For a lunch on the Blackcomb side – sadly, Christine’s, my favorite restaurant isn’t open yet for the season, so we are in the burger side of the place – at least they have wine.

Actually got done with lunch in time to grab one of the last busses to the 7^th Heaven run… another open chair lift:

Passing over a summer downhill ski run that ends up at the Peak-2-Peak terminus on Blackcomb:

Even snowboarders are using the run:

And they have cocktails at 7,500 feet!

And VIEWS!

Pardon my hand in this photo….

Soon enough we are headed back down…

Apparently, that is my post-cocktail look. STUNNING views – a reason I keep coming back year-after-year.

Back at the Blackcomb main lift area we ran into this really cute Whistling Marmot….

Sadly for us this trip, no Alpine hiking due to the amount of snow still on the trails – maybe next time.

Popped back on the Peak-2-Peak and back to the condo.

Sadly, there are no grills at The WorldMark Cascade Lodge. That said, DancingBear brought his Sous Vide unit to get the steaks to exactly 129 degree (F)….

And then finished in a grill pan (which he also brought), along with sautéed mushrooms, broccoli, and the “forbidden” backed potatoes (at least we split just one of them):

After dinner, we retired to the hot tub before turning in for the evening.

In the morning, another scramble, another ride up the hill and across the top.

Today, we take the Peak-2-Peak BACK across to visit the viewing platform to see how the gondola works:

And back to Blackcomb we go to hit the Upper Village at the base of Blackcomb for lunch. I’d picked up a 15% off coupon (in addition to the fact that everything in Canada is 25% off because of the exchange rate) for Merlins, but it is back down on the open lift, and another encounter with a Black Bear (sorry, no photo).

And lunch came with Old Fashioneds!

And WAY too much food for one sitting – we should really just decide on one entrée and split it:

And I had to have a Manhattan after the Old Fashion…

We decided to call it a day and walked back the condo, stopping at a lovely little park along the way:

Tonight’s dinner was the Chicken Alfredo from Costco, with a lovely dip in the hot tub after…

After an eggs scramble, back to the mountain we go – with a BIG surprise animal spotting in a place I’ve never seen one before; actually, NEVER seem a Brown Grizzly up here:

Pretty close to the lodge and headed to the kid’s inner-tubing area – like Kiddie McNuggets. Easy to spot one a big white snow field on the Whistler side.

Saw that bear on the Peak-2-Peak, and at the other end – a selfie.

We actually got a shot at the end of the Sun Coaster (on the Blackcomb side) of the crew adding a chair to the chairlift.

Next up is the Wizard down to Blackcomb’s Upper Village – where we saw a Black Bear:

Back up the hill for lunch – I got the Kiddie Hot Dog Meal with a little bottle of wine:

Before long, it was time to go down the mountain – with a little stop along the way for some reason, but great for taking a couple of pics….

Once back in the condo – we are in leftover mode for our last night at Whistler. Leftover rib eye, warmed by the Sous Vide, a little potato salad, some Caesar…

Like the white wine chiller – the top of blender…

Our Last Supper at Whistler – bought way too much food, so hopefully the staff will that it home because I’m not throwing it out.

We even ate leftovers our final morning….so we left four eggs as well.

Soon, we were on our way home…one of my favorite bridges even though it’s a toll bridge.

Traffic wasn’t that bad getting back to DancingBear’s place, it was me getting home from his house that took twice as long as usual…

Another week, another journey.

[? ? ?]

A quick post before I go off to work for the weekend. This week was another “mileage-run week”, which started off with a bit of a hiccup…

The plane was there…and we were all boarded…and then we were unloaded due to a mechanical problem with the bathroom. So, there was a delay…

And sent to another gate at the end of C Concourse, and then BACK to our original Gate (N1) – to get back on the same plane we got off of, however, with a new lavatory. Yes, they did a toilet swap.

We were over two hours late getting out – good tailwind, so we made up an hour, but it turns out our plane wasn’t doing a simple turn at RDU – it was going in for a heavy maintenance check.

Thankfully they held the plane for the EIGHT people, like me, who were doing mileage runs – and FOUR of us took up the entire Row 1 on the return flight. But we had a brand-new interior – look at the carpet!

Yep, got off the plane, walked over to the gate next door, and was onboard in minutes – guessing they held if for us since none of the eight had luggage.

Got home later than I expected – around 10:30 – fixed a drink, watched a little TV, went to bed because I’m up at the crack of dawn (again) to return to RDU.

But this time I had COMPANY. DancingBear did the Wednesday turn with me, and we were both upgraded!

That’s a picture from the Admiral’s Club at RDU – with another tailwind, we had time to walk to the other end of the terminal for a quick drink and a cup or two of soup. Not we hadn’t eaten on the way out.

Turns out, the plane we came in on, was headed elsewhere other than returning to Seattle:

Looks like IT’S going in for a C Check as well in Greensboro (this is a 10-year or so major event). You won’t find THAT flight number in their database.

Seems like they are doing a bunch of overhauls at their maintenance facilities. http://www.mro-network.com/maintenance-repair-overhaul/alaska-airlines-haeco-americas-spend-100-million-facilities

Flight home was on-time so it was quicker than last night since DancingBear just picked me up and we left the car at the airport.

Final mileage run of the week was a surprise for Rache, but not to DancingBear who was also joining us. Surprise for Rache in that he didn’t know where we were going until we got to the boarding gate for our redeye. Gave me time during the day to actually pick up the new washer/dryer combo I’d ordered weeks ago, and just for shits and giggles picked up a 32-bottle wine cooler for the living room:

Man, it’s nice having a car that can haul shit! With Rache’s help, got the boxes wrestled into the house, and even got the washer/dryer installed!

Yes, it’s all-in-one wash, dry, sadly, it doesn’t fold the clothes. Didn’t get as far with the wine cooler installation:

Returned to the airport around 7PM, and DancingBear got us into the Centurion Lounge, which Rache hadn’t been to – and it really does have better food/drink than the Alaska Lounge:

That would be DancingBear’s Old Fashioned, and my Manhattan (with Luxardo Cherries).

We were separated on the plane – originally, we’d all been in row 8 on the way out (DancingBear in 8A, me in 8C, and Rache in 8D), but Rache and I got upgraded, sadly not so for DancingBear, but it’s a red-eye, so mostly sleep.

As both Rache and DancingBear will tell you, I don’t sleep really well on planes, though on the way back I was so exhausted from the redeye that I did manage to get some. And went to bed as soon as we were home.

Sort of odd to have two free afternoons in a week of mileage runs – but it did give me time to start on the MOUNTAIN of laundry that had piled up in the month that my washing machine had been dead:

Loads take in the three-hour range, but since it’s a combo, you don’t have to move them over! I love the various options and the display that tells you the time it will take with your options:

Though you can really tell it – got the shelf done that sits on the washer/dryer – and even got the new wine cooler installed!

It’s probably time to replace the massive amplifier that feeds the ten speakers spread around my tiny 800 square foot house. But that’s a project for another day.

In case you were keeping track, by the time these miles posts, I’ll be at 35,442 flight miles for the years. After next weeks’ vacation (yes, I’m staying someplace for a bit), I’ll be at Alaska MVP Gold through 2019.

[228.0] YIKES!

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SalamanderHellbender wandered the strip while I slept in. It was a little after 10 when I wandered beyond the walls of this particular fantasy land.

And it must be somebodies fantasy land because it’s 10am in the morning and people are wandering around with mini-Coronas in their hand – not to mention the plastic Eiffel towers filled with strawberry daiquiris.

Met up with Salamander in front of Walgreens (checked the Evan Williams index, $24.99, same as Oregon, $6-8 more than California) and we strolled for a bit – he found the location of Krave, a seriously upscale gay-bar that they probably won’t let us in as we aren’t hip enough:

At 11 it was time for a little food for me (Salamander had a light breakfast so he needed food as well). Off to Pinks, the legendary LA-based Hot Dog stand in the Planet Hollywood Complex around the corner. I call all these places “complexes” because casino gambling is such a part of their business.

I had the Ruben Dog (hot dog, grilled pastrami, Swiss, sauerkraut), Salamander had the regular chili dog. Not bad. Wouldn’t mind trying the original one in LA next time I through.

Here are some random shots from the strip starting with the front of our hotel:

Like I said, the paint on the ballon is fading.

And other random shots:

No crossing the street at ground level on the Strip – pedestrian overhead walkways everywhere.

And for that afternoon snack – how to reheat nachos in a hotel room (without using the iron, though I thought about that):

5pm will find us a Mon Ami Gabi for an early dinner courtesy of the Wyndham “Adventure” – you’ll get the report tomorrow.

You will also get the report on how SalamanderHellbender fares tonight getting into Krave – I’ve decided to bag going out for GoGo Boys.

Apparently I’m not Sin City material.

[? ? ?]

Opened the shop this morning. Means I can get home in time to cook dinner for DB.

Good sales day at the shop – big crowds, sold out of a couple of things including this really good olive oil. Might have to by some for myself once it comes back in.

Wonderfully rare sunny day for the commute home with the top down.

That would be me stuck in traffic waiting for the bridge to come back down.

DancingBear showed up at 6pm for a dinner of:

• Salad
• Roasted tri-color potatoes
• Homemade bread (from last night)
• Pound rib eye steaks
• Bonny Doon Syrah

Here is a great shot of DB making a rib eye sandwich:

After DB headed back to his husbear who was doing math homework I stopped by to see how the bridge is coming:

Working through the night it seems.

[208.2]

Just kidding about hell, but it was Vegas in the summer, and no matter how many people say, “But, it’s a dry heat,” it’s still hot as hell in the summer. More on that later.

This trip was really about just going down to hang out with friends and spend a little time by the pool.

DancingBear went down in the morning (I put the condo in his name), picked up Ric at 3PM, and me, well, I worked all day, locked the door at 5PM and headed to airport for some expensive parking for three days. Didn’t want to miss my flight, AND, I wanted to have dinner in the lounge before my flight:

Got upgraded to First Class (actually, five days before the flight).

Which meant another dinner…

Got to Vegas, hooked up with the boys, and off to the condo we go.

Not a bad room location. Middle building overlooking the Lazy River, upper floor for more privacy. Room location is the whims of how long out you made the reservation and for how many days.

And the view out the front door, of acres of manufactured houses sweating in the heat.

DancingBear and Ric had done all shopping, including for the booze and mixers – Yahoo Boys! Coffee and breakfast ready for me when I got up.

They had friend who were staying on the strip at Aria, but I had no desire to do the strip. I just hung out in the AC with thoughts about going to the pool, but this was the high the first full day we were there:

The boys were having another expensive dinner on the strip, so I ran to the store and grabbed a rotisserie chicken sautéed up with the leftover morning potatoes and a little salad.

Tried going to the pool at 9:30pm, didn’t even bring a towel because it was still almost 100 degrees and I know I’d be dry by the time I got back to the room. And there was so much heat coming out of the concrete, it wasn’t pleasant.

Ric left a day before us, so after we dropped him off, we went to one of DancingBear’s regular stops in Vegas – the Ethel M (as in Mars) Chocolate Factory. He’d offered to take me on previous Vegas visits, but he neglected to mention the Factory Tour part…and the cactus garden.

The factory tour is self-guided, and, of course, it ends in the gift shop.

It was WAY TO HOT to explore the cactus garden – and they even put a couple of gel icepacks in the chocolates that DancingBear bought because of the heat. How hot?

When we got back to the condo, it got even hotter! And with the chance of thunderstorms:

Which meant EVERYONE was out of the pool and off the loungers – an odd scene for the middle of the day, poolside. If you look close, you can see them all under the cabana:

We overbought our groceries…

But, it was still cheaper than one of the meals on the strip…

WAIT – that was the receipt for the booze I’m packing home!

So, our final dinner was a big chef salad with eggs hardboiled, the pupu platter salami sliced, the cheese grated, the chicken shredded, the works:

It was an early breakfast on our final morning as it was an 11am flight with the rental car to return, and then, of course, checking out the Centurion Lounge that DancingBear has access to:

Before long, it was off to the terminal and the wait to board:

We are on Virgin metal going home. DancingBear in Premium, I got upgraded to First, but they have a messaging system which, while cute, is a pain in the ass to use since there isn’t an onscreen keyboard.

Plus, it would kick you out of the video section when you were messaging, so it was multiple menus to get the TV going again – there will be no love lost when Alaska kills these with the new cabin retrofits starting this fall.

Lunch on the way back…

We were back early enough that I was able to bake bread for Wednesday dinner at CourneyMatt – and now I just need 13,143 miles to Alaska MVP Gold 75K

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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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I love those calls – what are you doing for dinner? And could you bring my wine club shipment.

Sell wine, get fed, drink the wine you just brought (actually I went for the Maker’s Mark instead).

I’m even stayed while they played most of a game of Catan, which was full of people saying things like “I got wood and I need sheep.”

Came home and waited up for my coming, not coming, coming but now I have to take a cab houseguest… finally got to bed at 3am and work is at 11am tomorrow.

Probably won’t be pretty tomorrow.

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Opened the shop today after a lovely shrimp omelet:

Well, that’s the omelet in process. Wish I’d had some cheese.

Realized have way to the shop that I’d forgotten my opera clothes which means going back home to change before the 5:30pm restaurant reservation at Bhan Thai. Damn.

Tasting was very busy with the bottles barely lasting until 4 – only one quiet 15 minute period during the 2-4 tasting, and another big group showed up at 4:15 and I needed to leave at 4:30 to make this opera clothes change happen.

But then the world changed. Got out the door on time, but even before I got to Martin Luther King at the bottom of the hill Wonderfool was on the phone cancelling. He’s dealing with the sudden death of a friend (and employer if I remember correctly). Great.

Got Salamander on the phone, which he usually turns off over the weekend to see if he could be ready in 10 minutes to go to dinner and the opera… he said yes, didn’t even ask what the opera was (which is Cinderella). Here are a couple of publicity shots:

This would definitely be “opera buffa” which basically means comedic opera: light, fluffy, the opposite of anything Wagner wrote.

Dinner before was good, though they forgot the appetizer and the mains came out ten minutes apart, and they charge separately for rice – guess it’s time for a TripAdvisor review.

Plenty of time to get to the opera, like an hour early, which meant more cocktails.

Only nodded off once. Salamander gently nudged me when I started snoring.

A fun evening.

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Well, what was to be a quiet dinner for two, Salamander and I, turned noisy when Wonderful called up to invite me to dinner, but got himself invited instead.

Dinner was a standing rib roast, boneless, with salad and fresh bread. It being a sunny day/evening, it was dinner al fresco in the breeze…

And then Missy shows up and the party begins… all this from what was going to be a quiet evening for two. Wonderful is disgusted with the booze in my cabinet and goes out and stocks up on:

• Half a Gallon of Vodka
• A Fifth of Tanqueray
• A Fifth of Triple Sec
• A Fifth of Cosmopolitan mix

None of it is left. Just kidding half the vodka, triple sec and cosmo mix, all the lemon juice and most of a Papaya are gone. Oh, and a glass is gone, a victim of knifes falling into the sink.

Oh well, a good time was had by all — and Salamander got a ride home saving him an hour and a half bus ride — the reason he doesn’t come to dinner often.

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Another week, another trip – this one is an overnight that has been made VERY easy thanks to Punch (and Jon) because they rented a one-way SUV from Seattle to the Vancouver Cruise Terminal. And I got to sleep in the far back seat the whole way (other than the border)!

We were in the regular lane because only two of us have the gilded “Nexus” card to speed entry into Canadaland – but it wasn’t too bad.

Compared to the lines to check-in, security screening, passport control. There were three boats at the terminal – maximum capacity, and they FINALLY seem to have figured it out. Not much waiting, and if so, chairs. Of course Punch (who had to return the rental car) actually found the Global Entry line as wasn’t much further behind us.

But before lone (hour start to finish, which with three boats is AMAZING), we are checked in, on board, and still have time for a sit-down lunch rather than dealing with the masses at the buffet:

I did a combination of breakfast (eggs benedict) and lunch (insalada caprese) – and that would be a Manhattan in the background.

We’d dropped bags – between the five of us, we have three rooms. Punch and Jon in one (not sure size), Salamander and I in theory sharing an inside cabin, and DancingBear with a balcony that I’m sharing with him. I should have kept my mini-suite (Barb, my travel agent for cruises, questioned my judgement considering how cheap it was – and she was correct). But the view from the balcony isn’t bad:

Like I said, there were three boats in port, here is the Oceania across the terminal:

And leaving port:

Guess we could have taken the float plane to Seattle!

But this looks more comfortable:

And the surroundings:

That would be the Loin’s Gate Bridge in Vancouver, BC, and me almost under it!

Random scenic shots from the one-night cruise:

No LGBT on the Princess Patter Schedule tonight – DISAPPOINTING since I know there are 30+ aboard. Yep – it went on the Princess Comment Form.

I was full from an afternoon snack, so we skipped dinner and joined up with the gang for the “Magic” show:

No show is complete without cocktails!

Or entertainers!

But hunger caught up with me (and others) later…ROOM SERVICE. Not sure we needed SEVEN entrees at midnight….

But somehow they all went away…

The morning found me in pain – food overdose, too much booze – and a mandatory “breakfast” with the rest of the boys. The concept is that it’s a better dollar/value proposition is you get three sit-down meals rather than two. Luckily, the pain of disembarkation was minimal, the cab ride back to DancingBear’s place fairly painless, the traffic light, and the 2.5 hour nap before work, WONDERFUL.

I might be losing my taste for these overnight cruises – even if they do fill my mini-bar for free and give me $75 in on-board credit (paid for the four bottles of duty-free).

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