UMTravels

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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For me, today was about being lazy around the resort — I didn’t even get out into the sun much because of yesterday’s “pinkness”. Breakfast was a pork, potato (bothfrom last night’s dinner) and egg scramble with a croissant for Gnarlene. Mind you, breakfast was at about 11am after much scotch and tequila last night — I’d say there is 1/4 of a bottle left on the tequila, and I wasn’t drinking it. It’s harder to tell with the scotch since it’s in such a big bottle.

Got caught up on work before the mid-afternoon food break — pork sandwiches from last nights leftovers.

Didn’t even get a nap in while Gnarlene was off exploring Cabo San Lucas proper — I might have to actually go down there Thursday when Gnarl’s is planning on kayaking the bay. After so many visits I guess I should see what Cabo proper is like, though it being spring break that might not hold true (though Gnarl’s did see two cruise ships in port today).

So, today’s topic, cooking in condos has the following photo:

How to steam vegetables with limited equipment — take their biggest pan, drop the colander on the top, put the lid back on. Steamed rather than boiled vegetables. The mini squashes were steamed and then tossed with butter, onion flakes and a little black pepper and smoked sea salt. Yum.

To this add a baked chicken lemon, some salad nicoise, the last croissant for Gnarlene, flour tortillas for me, and you have a damn fine meal while listening to the “Mexican Fiesta” going on below us — $35US seemed a bit steep for an all-you-can-eat buffet. Seems there was also a two hour floor show and fireworks (yes, plural, not like that other time where there was “firework”, precisely one).

The leftovers? Chicken was deboned, meat in a container in the fridge and bones instantly starting on stock with the leftover squash — the eventual dish… a tortilla soup once I skim the fat off and blend it all together before frying some of the tortillas and adding them as one might add noodles. Who knows what nights meal that will be.

Tomorrow night (speaking of nights) we are in the two-bedroom penthouse. Met a woman on the elevator staying in one and she was gushing about the roof-top deck. Maybe I can get Gnarlene to pick up the extra $70 for that night and the overlapping night at the end when we have to change rooms. Either way, not a big deal. Need to check it out for Rich’s 60th next year.

Other amusing thing tonight was a call from Monica who I visit when I’m in Juneau — they (husband, and I assume the kids) are in Seattle and wanted to have dinner with me tomorrow. I offered them a room in Cabo, but they declined. Guess I’ll be going back to Juneau.

Time to check how the stock is coming.

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A very busy day for me today. There is work to do in the garage now that I have the drill (stereo equipment turntable and drop-it shelf), cooking for Randy-In-All-Worlds who is coming to look at DJ equipment, have dinner and take me to the airport so I can jet off to Tampa/St. Pete late tonight.

But first, we need to test our new version of WordPress with the plug-ins that I usually use. We had a little emergency last night — I got a message saying that the SOB Blog had been hacked and re-direct code inserted. At first I thought the email was a scam, but there was enough stuff into it for me to forward to Dan, whose comment was, “Shit, it has been hacked.” He upgraded the version of WordPress, and I cleaned up the entries that were altered. Not what I was expecting to do with the evening. What appears below SHOULD be the scrolling picture bar like lots of other posts I have.

But does it work? Sue from Blue Toad Design say it does.

Today’s mission includes a wine tasting at two at EVS on Capital Hill of the Super Tuscan’s from Itlay, then it’s back home to work on dinner for Randy-In-All-Worlds who is hopefully going to buy all my audio equipment. Now THAT would be a nice send off to Tampa/St. Pete at eight.

And speaking of flying? My yesterday post about the state of many airlines? Another one JUST bit the dust — it was on my list as “Bleeding and grabbing for bandages” — SkyBus just bit the dust this morning. Here is a link to the news release: http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/excite-com/news-story.asp?guid={A7CFE32B-59FC-40FC-B58E-54EE5979365F}

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The list…

• Kmart for Hawaiian Shirts
• Maybe Costco, too (all my Hawaiian shirts were tattered and I’ve left them behind over the years)
• Discount Fabric Warehouse (multiple coupons)
• Haleakala National Park ($10 entrance, but I have “the card”… with Yellowstone at $25 and Craters of the Moon at $8, so far, recovered $43 out of the $80 fee). Oddly enough with my many trips to Maui, haven’t done this park yet. So much for laying out in the sun on this trip.
• Surfing Goat Dairy
• Home (well, to the condo).

This is not the day for someone who easily gets car sick – hair-pin after hair-pin turn.

This wasn’t taken at the top (click on the scroller bar at the end of the post for other pictures (like my improvised cooler – water frozen into the bottom of a sealable Pyrex bowl). Height at the top: 10,023 feet. It reminded me of Craters of the Moon which I visited on the Yellowstone trip, just add another 6,000 feet in altitude. One interesting fact I learned from the ranger manning the gift shop cash register… 80% of the entrance fee from my “park pass” stays in the park ($8 of the $10 entrance fee) – the other 20% goes to parks that don’t have entrance fees.

Once I was off the mountain, it was time for a little road-side lunch of shrimp stuffed avocados and onion tako poke. All kept on ice in the truck.

After the mountain it was off to the Goat Dairy. I arrived right at the moment a tour was about to become ready. $7.00, plus more if you wanted a bag of hay to feed the young kids (the goats, not the children on the tour. I’m not sure how much the hay cost – I’d rather BBQ the goat than feed it.

And the cheeses aren’t cheap…. $12-16 for an 8 ounce jar in oil. Ouch. Of course they do have one with 23K gold flakes in it for a 2 ounce jar… at least that one comes with a basket and a shark’s tooth necklace.

Tasty – but not as tasty (or as cheap) and our cheese man from Eastern Washington (http://quillisascut.com/) who occasionally comes to town with extra cheese that doesn’t get sold to Rover’s and that class of restaurant.

After a fruitless trip to WalMart (desperation)for aloha shirts, it was back to the fabric store… they have some really GREAT patterns and some good deals. Check out this one:

My thought was just make Hawaiian shirts to replace my dead ones since I couldn’t find any decent (and cheap) ones on my visit here. I even found a Aloha Shirt pattern – for a 2XL that would mean 3 yards of fabric ($5-7 a yard on sale, so that would be $15-21 a shirt – and I’d have to deal with the buttons). The flip side of that is that I haven’t sewn a shirt since I was a teenager, and the pain is still fresh. Maybe I’ll get to Costco on the way to the airport.

Got back to the condo a little after 3pm to do a little clean up, a little email, and a little mindless web-surfing.

Leg of lamb was the dinner tonight, along with a salad with some more of the bay shrimp, and the other half of the bottle of 2009 Budini Malbec (Mendoza region of Argentina).

Tomorrow’s flight is a reasonable 12:35 so that’s out of the condo 10ish after a breakfast very much like this mornings… 3 eggs sunny side up, bacon, toast, coffee. I guess that would 9:30ish if I want to stop by Costco so see if I can get some shirts. I did pick up Man Calendars at the ABC store across the street from the condo when I went for butter (and on-sale bacon) last night.

Wish I’d booked another day (or two) and skipped the Washington Coast on Saturday – but I did promise to go.

Oh, and here is the promised scroller bar:

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Months ago, Rache was visiting, and NCIS: New Orleans came on, and by the end of the show we’d booked a room and flights. Same thing happens occasionally when I watch Hawaii 5 0. The shows remind me of how much I like a particular city. At the time I even had enough Alaska Gold MVP Guest Upgrades that we travelled in style both ways after a stop for a Caesar (Bloody Mary made with Clamato) in the Alaska Lounge:

They do make a good one! Almost like breakfast in a glass. Got to the airport ridiculously early so we could get a free ride from Jonathan before he went to work. It also allowed me a have a nice little nap in the room, which was good because I didn’t get very much sleep the night before.

Settled in, and lunch is on the way!

During the trip, I noticed this sign in the bathroom.

So – how I read this is: Return To Your Seat, or Ring For A Cocktail. I’ll take option B.

For some reason, the nuts come near the end of the flight…

And once again, heavy on the almonds, which aren’t my favorites. I passed the pecans to Rache, who isn’t an almond fan either.

The original plan was that “The Colonels” would pick us up and we’d go out to dinner and then they’d drop us off. Plans changed last week as the weather changed – so Uber us into the city!

Got settled into our one-bedroom condo, with Rache graciously taking the fold out couch, leaving the bedroom for me. We did get a great view of the city from our rooms:

Basically, we dumped our bags and headed down the street to Houston’s, which is my standard first night dinner and music to get me into the New Orleans mood:

This might very well be the best French Dip that I’ve ever had in my life!

And the fried oysters looked pretty good, too!

And then there is the sign on the way to the bathroom that I loved:

Per the way we usually travel together, Rache is up and out and exploring during the morning hours while I lollygag in bed – getting together late morning for our lunch stop of the day. A place that neither of us has been before – Central City BBQ:

Got some cocktails ordered…

And some BBQ! I went with the pulled pork sandwich, potato salad, which came with these house-pickled pickles and onions — yum

Rache went for a single rib, sweet corn spoon bread, and roast Brussel sprouts.

We were debating a second round of cocktails when the skies opened up and started dumping rain. Decision made.

After the rain cleared, we headed back in the direction of the condo, but stopped by Dryade’s Market to check out what had changed. When I was there earlier this year, the bar was closed – but today, were fortunate to find it open, and my favorite bartender Kevin, manning the bar.

Found this display at the end of the bar – guessing this can’t be very good wine, though it does come in its own glass:

Headed to our next stop, I spotted some lovely graffiti:

How sweet is, “Tell My Mother I Love Her”.

Before long we were off to celebrate Happy Hour (like we haven’t all day) at Samuel’s Blind Pelican – home of the 25-cent oyster.

A dozen charbroiled oysters ($10).

A dozen raw ($3)

Fried Green Tomatoes.

And dessert – another two dozen on the half shell!

In our quest to try new places – the next lunch was at Bacchanal:

It’s deceiving because from the fence to the right, all the way behind the trees on the left is the wine shop/restaurant.

There is an outside eating/drinking/entertainment area:

We opted for inside, upstairs in the bar as it was over 90 degrees outside:

Where they were also having a wine tasting! Coals to New Castle.

Three UNIQUE wines open – my kinda place!

1. 2016 Envinate Taganan Vinos Atlanticos Tino
2. 2015 Bodegas Ordonez Tineta DO Ribera del Duero Tinto
3. 2009 Forster Jesuitengarten Riesling Spatlese

Plus, we’d ordered a glass of rosé to go with our lunch:

And then topped it off with cocktails!

Great staff! Including the bartender who isn’t present in the photo:

And they had one of the more amusing restroom signs that I’ve seen:

More running (well, streetcarring) around the city until the heat got to us – headed back to the condo for naps, and eventually some take out dinner – Rache went for the Brother’s Fried Chicken on the corner, I went for the Thai-ish food next door to the chicken convenience store:

It was an early night for both of us.

Our last full day in town is devoted to one of Rache’s favorites, The Dry Dock over in Algiers – which requires a couple of street cars and a ferry:

And, The Dry Dock and their wonderful food. Gator sausage and shrimp bisque for me:

Garlic shrimp for Rache:

Home for a little nap, then it’s off to The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, where we are members – for a concert in the atrium, with the galleries open (though our cocktails were banned). OK music, great, thought provoking art:

And decent views of the National WWII Museum from the rooftop deck:

And even of the formerly known as “Lee Circle“:

Took the St. Charles streetcar line towards the condo and hopped off at the St. Charles Tavern, recommended by one of my wine shop customers. Seems we were there on cheap 14oz. ribeye night!

We took the leftovers home with us – and promptly dropped into a food coma.

For our final lunch, we went to Toups South, which is in the Southern Food and Beverage Museum (and it has a GREAT used book section). Rache had the cracklings, followed by the buttermilk fried chicken sandwich (which is a TON of food – I helped with the fries)

I opted for something lighter – the Fried Green Tomato Salad, I think, or something delicious.

Bought a couple of books before we headed back to the condo to hang out in the owners lounge since we’d checked out before lunch. We hung out for a couple of hours, both of us napping at points on the comfy leather couches before Ubering to the airport…we were early, but still had to battle Friday “get out of town” traffic.

Back in our First Class seats, too tired to even take pictures of the evening meal.

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Up surprisingly early for a holiday — 7am+. It’s time to move condos on the Hawaii Condo Hop. Two nights at Valley Isle in a 2-bedroom, one night in a 2-bedroom (less desirable location) in Kihei, one night in a one-bedroom (limited view), followed by Monday night at the Castle Honolulu Airport Hotel.

This is my third or fourth visit to Kihei — large complex which means lots of eye candy (and I’m not talking PPP — Pasty Plump Plainspeople, which there are many more of). I’ve done most of the tourist stuff on the island — still trying to figure out who I went on the Sugar Cane Train with… maybe I should look at some Twango photos from previous trips — or my own archives.

Scrambled eggs for breakfast, an hour in the sun reading, then packing to be out of the room by noon. Headed down the coast, found the WorldMark Kihei, pulled over, had lunch of all the leftover Ahi and Tako Poke while reading, then swung around an hit Safeway for the remaining food for this trip. More salad — more steaks — seems beef is the only decent deal in the protein department. Poor Me!

Tried to check in at 2pm — two hours early — no luck. Did get a key to the pool and hung out drinking pop, looking at boys, and catching up on reading. Probably the plan for tomorrow as well.

Tonight’s T-Bone will be done on the grill downstairs. Red wine to go with it. Still need to see if they will hold supplies for my trip here next week, that would be handy.

Here are the shots of this 2-bedroom WorldMark Kihei Condo….

The difference between the condo of the last two nights and this one is that I have privacy — I can run around naked (but not down to the BBQ). The condo at Valley Isle had direct site lines from an exterior walkway. I like this MUCH better.

All the pictures at: http://www.twango.com/channel/markso.HawaiiFall2007

Morning —- drop off car at Havlick’s to get it pretty again, and MoonSong running me to Home Depot for concrete and boards on the way home.

Must clean the office — company tonight with Jameson coming back from Costa Rica.

Unexpected visit by Mr. Weber of Sugar Run Clayworks to chat and ask my computer schedule — suddenly I have more of a schedule. This on top of a run to Wonderfuls (mail drop off and unexpected check), Graf (Popular Mechanics drop off), Swanda (dropping off food for tomorrows dinner), liquor store (12-year old Jameson for Jameson), and home.

Dinner date before the airport run — chicken breasts in Mole Verde, fresh baked bread (basic challah with garlic, fresh rosemary, and some graham flour), salad with arugula from Johnny’s garden, and strawberries marinated in balsamic and dusted with black pepper.

And then the call from Jameson — pulled off the plane at SFO — and not because he looked like a terrorist — because Natalie’s father (girlfriend’s father) was murdered coming out of a casino and she is in the Bay Area to deal with stuff. WOW. Sounds (at the moment) like he’s coming back Wednesday afternoon.

Guess my Wednesday is now changed. Good thing I’m not pouring concrete at the church.

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Meeting in the morning — running around before trying to get Cathy’s wedding invitations in the mail to her.

Next up was the UW Surplus Auction Store… only one item was tempting… a 2x2x6 bread cart… I resisted the temptation. Found cartridge for Wonderful, and sports uniforms for Fluffernutter — don’t know if either of them made it to the store before it closed at 6.

Just enough time before Rich arrives to sneek in a half hour nap — needed it.

Rich and more work in the afternoon. Did some more research on the Olympics trip to Whistler — things like medal ceremonies, public transit from Creekside to Whistler proper — looks like we’ll need a roll of Twonies (the Canadian 2 dollar coin)!

An early dinner at 6 so Rich can make it back to Olympia tonight for his early workday tomorrow… he was up for the interview to get his Nexus card — and he ran into one of his customers who is border patrol but lives in Olympia.

Steaks off the grill, baked potatoes out of the convection oven, and salad out of a bag.

After dinner it was time to finish packing for Boston. Flying to Portland on Thursday at 6am (ick) so I can catch the Portland-Boston flight. Why not fly direct? Guaranteed First Class seat at time of booking. Looks like I’ll be able to catch up on my recent movies with the Digi-Player. I’ve packed some goodies for Pucci – can’t show up empty handed!

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Up and out of the house early – off to the BMW dealer to see what the hell is up with the “Check Engine” light on the new toy. Decided to just drop in and see how quickly they could make me a satisfied customer. The answer is an hour and a half. For dropping in unannounced – stunning. And I got the car washed out of the deal as well! I spent the time having brunch and reading the paper at the apartment, which is a couple of blocks away.

Next up was Office Max for black toner for the color laser printer, and then to Dick’s Restaurant Supply for no particular reason other than to see what’s in their used section.

I’m going to try a run of challah as tiny little buns. The metal things are dangerous looking skewers for the grill, and the creamer go with a tea-pot that I got from the UW last year:

Moving onto dinner, I just heard this phrase, Tropical Depression – what, they ran out of coconut flavored rum?

But speaking of coconut, that was the theme for tonight’s dinner with Bliss. Pina Colada’s as cocktails, Coconut encrusted shrimps as an appetizer, and a Thai coconut chicken and vegetable stir-fry over a rice/grain medley, with some spicy green beans on the side.

It was good to see him again – with his teaching schedule during the year I don’t get to see too much of him. The after dinner conversation centered on a quickie road trip the second week of August, which is the only time we both have available.

Time will tell.

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Well, that’s my day in brief.

Bye.

Kidding. I’ve got a couple of pictures for today’s post:

Cleaning out the fridge and making breakfast. Looks better than Ronny Macs.

And look – the outfit matches the shoes!

Dinner tonight with Fluffernutter – stir-fry beef, onions, tomaltios, over a bed a rice with a side salad.

Off to the airport tomorrow.

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Another day of conference calls and me sitting outside in the sun working on this lovely book:

The book is Chasing The White Dog by Max Watman. It’s an interesting mix of history, folklore, prosecution – and most interesting to me, how the quality of moonshine plummeted when prohibition kicked in – suddenly is was all about the money to be made. Click on the book and you will to taken to Amazon where you can buy new, used, or Kindle® editions.

Onyx was in charge of tonight’s dinner – chicken Cordon-Blu from scratch with a side of steamed broccoli – here’s do you George W. Bush – French food AND broccoli!

Just the three of us tonight. Too bad I forgot to take a picture of the sculptures that Onyx is working on… maybe tomorrow.

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I post all the pretty dinner pics on Facebook – but rarely the disasters.

My first attempt at making zucchini fries crusted with parmesan. Definitely, a fail. Maybe if I had cooked smaller batches with them spread out. Oh well.

Plus, I accidentally put in too much salt – and with the parmesan, definitely noticeable.

In an attempt to salvage something out of the recipe, diced up the rest of the zucchini, and three grilling onions…

Sautéed them up with some bacon…

And crumbled up the parmesan fries to use on top of the sautéed veg and bacon… to create a “hot dish” as they say in the Midwest, for reheating later.

In the end, just cooked up the rest of the bacon in the oven (I made a rack for my 8×8 Pyrex baking dish to keep the bacon out of most of the fat)…

Made some fries and called it a night.

Probably should have made a salad as well. Maybe tomorrow will be salad night.

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Well, the travel season has begun again – starting off with a road trip with my old college roommate, MB.

Left my place at noon headed for CanadaLand…with a couple of stops on the way:

Since we were going into a “crown county”, we thought we’d gets our crowns on early.

First stop is a WorldMark that I hadn’t tried yet – actually a trade with Vacation Internationale or something like that – Rosedale on Robson – warning, I didn’t take this picture:

But it gives you an idea. We were in a one-bedroom unit with a sofa bed in the living room…

Good day and night views…

Not as nice as the WorldMark at the Canadian in the heart of downtown – especially considering valet parking is $30 a night at the Robson on Rosedale. However, it does have a decent restaurant ion the ground floor – Original Joes – were we had cocktails and dinner:

MaryBeth had the Brambleberry, I went for the Royal Buffalo (Buffalo Trace Bourbon and Chambord Liqueur)

My haddock and mixed chips – biggest piece of fish and chips fish I’ve ever seen:

MaryBeth went for the noddle/broth dish – both excellent:

Out at eleven to catch our ferry to Vancouver Island, but first breakfast/brunch at the ferry terminal which has a HUGE food/shopping court. No, I did not have the sugarized apples:

And it was a GORGEOUS day for a ferry ride – and we had a front row seat!

Our room was ready when we got there!

MaryBeth ignored the howling breeze and hopped into the tub. Me, I stayed inside and enjoyed the view:

Before it was cocktail time:

Sort of a “faux” Lemon Drop – Citron Vodka with fresh squeezed “orange lime” juice – we found them at the local Thrifty Grocery. These are organic (hence the code starting with “9” – regular limes are 4306):

Looks like a small orange, but has the juice more like a lemon. And we liked them so we made two more runs to the store over the stay to get more.

As is my usual Victoria journeys, people are invited to dinner – including one of the checkers from the Thrifty:

Our first set of guests managed to drain the bar – resulting in this:

This was AFTER the hot tub, which with a 30mph breeze, was more like a lukewarm tub – with heads bobbing barely above the water line to keep from ice forming.

Wednesday is all about PIG – the restaurant called PIG, and one of the cooks at PIG.

Totally forgot to take pictures of our lunch – I went for the pulled pork sandwich, MaryBeth went for the pulled port poutine (fries, cheese curds, gravy, pulled pork) small portion, which was the size of a small child’s head.

Next up was to stock up on provisions….

Great guy working there who I assume was one of the owners – GREAT customer service.

Two bottles of wine, replacement vodka, replacement whiskey, and we are on our way to the fish market for dinner protein:

Love the fact they tell you what boat and where – this is why I shop with these folks (Finest At Sea) – they are a wholesaler who has a tiny retail store a couple of blocks from the condo on a side street behind their offices, and now, a food trailer out front.

So, they translation to US measures/prices – a pound and a third of troll caught salmon for $22USD which works out to $16.36 a pound (thanks to a 30% difference between the $USD and $CAN).

The dinner company is MaryBeth’s daughter’s boyfriend (who is a cook at PIG) and his mother – how’s THAT for an interesting dinner! And I’m making him cook after I do all the prep work – doesn’t it look GREAT?

And he taught me a tip – give it grill marks on the flesh side, then finish cooking on the skin side – I’d change this to a 45-degree angle – or a 45, and then a 90 for cross hatch.

No hot tub action tonight!

When I hang with friends at WorldMark places – even breakfast is “ensuite”:

That is a coil of sausage done on the grill, Caesars (that would be a Bloody Mary made with Clamato), scrambled eggs.

Today we are off to a CASTLE – and not the one that most tourist go to in Victoria – we are driving to Hatley Castle, not his father’s castle Craigdarroch Castle (FYI, his father died before the Castle was complete). Hatley was Royal Road Military College after the family finished the cycle from rags to riches to rags and lost the place, now it the Royal Road University, mostly on-line but offering career transitions. Thank you, MaryBeth, for stopping a person on campus who must have been in the administration for the great boiled-down mission statement.

It’s “shoulder season” so no tours of the Castle since it is a “living building”, i.e. and Administration Building – but still pretty:

 

And the lobby…

And my favorite lobby sign from its former life:

Even though there wasn’t a tour – there is a small museum in the basement (along with gift shop, and oddly school supply stop):

Back in town, it was time for an afternoon snack – I’d taken the chicken from the first night, turned it into stock, skimmed the fat after an evening in the fridge, add noodles and frozen veg…and a lovely soup!

Got a lot of use out of that chicken! After we’d had our fill, I packed up four small containers (left over from appetizer plates) for the staff – nothing like a little homemade chicken noodle soup. They are VERY understanding of my life – they even got me chocolates for my birthday in September.

Dinner tonight was a friend of mine who connected over social media and his husband – one of those, “stop by for a cocktail” that turns into dinner. Take the two marinated steaks, cube, skewer, grill, add a couple of salads, and we have dinner!

Another day…another castle! This time it’s dad’s castle — Craigdarroch Castle!

Search on Craigdarroch on my blog to see more pictures of the interior – this time I was specifically looking for this one plaque:

Specifically, for this portion of the plaque:

My “faux” nephews Julian and Jameson, apparently names after Julian Jameson (there is a mention HERE).

Love this radiator in the library….

It was a great tour before getting in line for the Coho Ferry to Port Angeles. But first, LUNCH:

And we did have calamari with those drinks. Honest.

In the line:

On the ferry:

Made the last ferry (Bainbridge) with just enough time to line up and be the last car off the ferry.

Home, MaryBeth headed home, I headed to bed after opening one of the bottles of Duty Free and making a cocktail.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speaking of condo cooking…. Our dinner:

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

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

Here are some photos of our adventure:

And lunch at a fabulous outdoor café on the beach:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And some silly selfies….

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

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

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

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

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

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

And a decent snack:

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

And my office in the lounge:

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

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

Bathroom mirror shot.

Home before midnight….barely.

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So, last week I was in the low 80’s, this week I’m lucky if it gets UP to 20. One morning it was 14 below! Fortunately, I don’t live here, but have to fly in.

That’s a lot of stuff for three nights – but it includes New Year’s presents.

Might as well start off the day with a Caesar – that’s a Bloody Mary made with Clamato, a Canadian Favourite.

It’s a Q-400 from Seattle to Bozeman where Steve will be picking me up. He will be my chauffeur for the next four days. We’ll be staying at the WorldMark West Yellowstone, right next to The Colonels!

Yep, that’s a whole lot of snow – which they don’t completely scrap off so that the snow machines rubber tracks don’t get ground off – the whole town of West Yellowstone has groomed snow on the streets.

Nice little unit (2-bedroom). I was seeing if the fisheye lens I brought would work on the new phone…

And the view from the deck:

We did a grocery and liquor run, where the liquor store (turns out to not be the cheap one) is part of a casino…

Spent the evening with The Colonels killing off the Bourbon I brought…good thing Tuesday is a planned “relax from the journey” day with an UncleMarkie Sunday Roast over a bed of potatoes and onions.

Wednesday is the BIG day of the trip – when The Colonels and I do a snow coach tour of the Yellowstone Valley.

The snow coaches come in many varieties…

Lots of winter visitors to Yellowstone, even with it closed down – the concessioners are splitting the cost of grooming the roads. Ours was a bit of a tight fit.

Lots of photo ops:

Yes, that is a coyote in the upper picture. Seen today: Bison, Coyote, Swans, Ducks, and Wolves feasting on a Bison carcass that was too far off to get a phone camera picture.

Left at a little after 8am, got back to the condo about 4:30pm – a LONG DAY in an airport shuttle (which our snow coach was the size of).

Headed home Thursday (after a pizza dinner hosted by The Colonels) – and the snow was coming down:

Left the condo right at the noon checkout, but my flight wasn’t until 7pm so I went to the airport really early. This was at the check-in counter:

Since I was there hours early, I set up my office to do some work on the wine shop taxes…

Not a bad view – there are mountains out there when there aren’t clouds.

Got home around 11PM.

Guess I’d better start repacking for the next trip!

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A quite morning around the condo — a couple of over easy eggs before the one o’clock meet and greet with the Vancouver office.

Well, meet and greet was what I had planned — with no appointments scheduled for the sales staff it turned into more of a “bull-pen” session on how to get more people through the door. Two long trip reports later leaves me with just one more meeting tomorrow on my way out of town.

I was hoping that Hummingbird and BamBam would be coming back for dinner tonight — they were the major reason I came up for a couple of days. Alas, not to be. Hummingbird was in the hospital today to get his kidney stone laser blasted. It’s now smaller, but there are pieces that still need to work there way down Mr. Urethra. Ouch, ouch, ouch.

So, no dinner guests — surgery ran two hours longer than they thought it would. Hummingbird is on painkillers, and BamBam will swing by in the morning for the hoodie he left behind and the gift I forgot to give them last night.

For me, dinner tonight is the rest of the salad fixings from last night, a marinated steak from the IGA, this last bit of wine, the last bit of scotch.

And here is the nighttime view from the condo window. It really is a pretty view — though the video doesn’t show all the trees lit up across the street at the Sheraton Wall Centre.

Since it’s just me — used one of my (many) WorldMark Video Coupons to get unrated version of Role Models. Yes, my guilty pleasure — crappy teen movies and pulp fiction.

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Met up with the kids in the check-in line at the Victoria Clipper – actually not in the line, at the counter…I was running a few minutes late getting there. Turns out we were some of the first people on the boat so we had our choice of tables. I prefer the ones in the back closer to the Duty Free counter.

Joe and Lisa on one side:

Me on the other side of the table with fixin’s for a Red Baron (also known as a Poinsettia):

Three hours later we are queued up for Customs and Immigration in Victoria:

Lisa had signed us up for the City/Butchart Gardens Tour through The Clipper which is basically a driving tour of the city on the way into and out of town on the way to The Gardens. Here is Chinatown:

And then the world-famous Butchart Gardens:

We tried to have our pre-tour lunch in The Dining Room but the soonest they could seat us was 2:30 – it was noon, AND the bus was due to return to the city. The Blue Poppy was where we ended up. Cafeteria line, but sit down, and with wine. I had the pulled pork sandwich and a glass of Cabernet. Lisa and Joe had sandwiches and shared a Salmon/Clam Chowder which looked like it had too many potatoes for my taste.

Back in the city we were the last hotel drop off as we are at the far end of inner bay. We only had to wait a few minutes for our room to be ready:

We were a little far for my tablet to get a good connection in the living room so I set up shop in the guest bathroom:

And even that took some work to get a connection – the redirect on their site after log-in wasn’t working so I had to call technical support and to have the phone close enough to the computer to work through stuff with tech support I had to string both the unit’s telephones together using the data jack on one to feed the other:

The things I do for a computer connection, at least with my status it’s free.

But the view is great – even for being on the first floor:

That would be the Coho Ferry heading back to Port Angeles – it’s the other ferry connection direct to Victoria’s Inner Harbor.

Joe went off to do the grocery store shopping while Lisa and I went around the corner to the mini-mart for the heavy items like Diet Coke, Tonic, Ginger Ale and ice since the clean out the ice bucket between guests which is a pain when you really want a cocktail ASAP.

I’d brought up Flank Steak for the first night large enough for leftovers with the eggs in the morning, and T-Bone Steaks for the second night. Protein is about double the price in Canada as in the US so it made more since to clean out some of the 50% off cow I had in my freezer. And dinner was good:

And breakfast was good thanks to Joe’s cooking:

For our full-day in Victoria, Joe and Lisa headed off on the water taxi to check out Chinatown and Antique Row:

It being Thursday I stayed behind to get the wine shop’s website updated. We met up for lunch at Barb’s Fish and Chips at Fisherman’s Terminal – my guilty pleasure when I’m up there. The one-piece for me, the two-piece for Joe, and Lisa had the Salmon and Chips.

Little did we know that Labor Day Weekend was an antique boat gathering called Classic Boat Festival. That might explain us not getting a Penthouse Suite with the hot-tub.

Quite a schedule of events – that we will miss since we have an 11:35 boat back to Seattle. At least we got to see them arriving in the harbor”

The afternoon for the kids was poolside. I joined them for an hour before heading of on the water taxi to the marina downtown to check out all the boats:

The ride into town was amusing with this group of partiers… apparently for $15 you purchase a wrist band from the water taxi folks and it gets you four ferry rides between various waterfront bars, and if you have at least four people in your group you get a free appetizer to share at each bar. Sounds like a smashing deal to me (Pickle Pub Crawl):

And here is a really great selfie on that same trip – so good I used it for my FaceBook profile picture:

Several people have commented that it makes me look like a young Pappa Hemingway. But the point of the trip was to see the stunningly gorgeous wooden sail and power boats:

Even the dinghies are pimped out…

And maybe one of the stunningly gorgeous captains…

And the wicker chairs in his cabin that he hates but can’t get them out of the cabin without cutting them in half…apparently they were loaded in before the roof was put on:

Sorry for the glare…gives it an odd “impressionist” feeling. And speaking of pretty boys, these buskers were also talented:

Time to head back to the condo for drinks and dinner…

Our condo from the water…we are one unit back from the front on the 1^st floor:

And the dinner that I mentioned:

Up earlier on the final day to catch the ferry home…

Very crowded it being the Friday of Labor Day Weekend:

Not a free seat on the entire vessel – and for the final photo of this post, some crisps we shared with our tablemates:

Home a little after three and turned in for a power nap for tomorrow is a work day.

What a fun couple of days.

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It may have been a lay flat bed in Business to get here, but it’s still an overnight flight, and I don’t sleep well on planes without help (Scotch and Ambien).

Chatted with Mindi, had a little toast, kicked off my shoes, threw my feet up onto the couch, and I was out for five hours.

Jeff got home around 2:30 in the afternoon from prison (he was on some group visit) and tried rousting me – it didn’t work. Got up in time for cocktails!

Jeff and I popped out for supplies before they started whipping up dinner (bangers and mash), and we must have been having fun because the food pics I have start in the morning with a scramble made from eggs and leftover bangers, along with potato pancakes from the leftover mash:

In the past, I’ve been the one doing the cooking – but apparently my skills have rubbed off on them.

Dinner was a lovely roast…

A humorous photo of their microwave – which housed the butter, sugar, and other things that their raucous cat Marvin tends to knock to the floor, and or eat.

Had Jeff not suggested a distillery tour on my final day in Dublin, might not have left the neighborhood – the goal being “catching up” rather than “seeing the sites”.

We even had a version of a Caesar (a Bloody Mary made with Clamato), though it was Gin rather than Vodka for our pre-distillery meal.

Off to the distillery we go!

The Teeling Distillery is the first new distillery to be built in Dublin proper in 125 years. AND we have a hipster tour guide (Rory):

Lovely way to spend a bit of the afternoon, especially when it comes with a big tasting at the end:

An odd sign on our route home:

And some interesting products in the grocery:

Had a bit of a nap before dinner, and started clearing out some of Jeff’s whiskies that only had a bit left…one from Ireland:

One from Germany:

And one from India:

The final dinner of my visit was a Chicken Picata made with green olives rather than capers (because that’s what we had) and carrots sautéed in butter and Christmas spices with a little Drambuie:

A wonderful meal to finish a visit.

Tomorrow, off very early for the next leg.

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It feels “odd” to call them “My In-laws”, but there is no blood connection with them, just very strong bonds. Jen is my dead brother Karl’s widow. Kennan is her husband. Jameson and Julian, who you’ve read about in this blog are Kennan’s nephews. In many ways, when they married, we became a three-family unit.

Jen and Kennan got to Hawaii a few days before me to check out the North Shore in a VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner). Sounds like they had a great time, but you’ll have to ask them about that.

Do you think I packed enough for four nights at the beach?

It’s the wine that adds a bit to the packing. Sadly, it being a box and a bag style that usually has tools – it was unloaded with the other boxes. You think I pack a lot? This is just about half of the crates from my flight:

The place wasn’t ready as I arrived at noon for a 4pm check-in –this particular Wyndham has a bad reputation for slow room turnover, even with a mandatory 10am check-out. I headed next door to Giovanni’s with a 10% off coupon from the activities desk:

Nice place, though it feels like it’s the end of its lifespan (as in, it’s ready for a refresh):

Here is a panoramic video from our massive deck:

Tuesday as our big day:

• Kamaka Ukulele Factory Tour
• Liliha Bakery Café
• Salvation Army for Aloha Shirts
• Waikiki Farmers Market
• Dinner at the condo

I’ll save the Kamaka Ukulele Factory Tour since that one will have a lot of photos.

So, that takes us to the Liliha Bakery Café, where I really like the fried chicken, which seems to be battered in a fish and chips-style beer batter. We got there a little before noon, and still had to wait to even get a seat at the counter. I blame the table of 20 elderly islanders, probably on their once-a-month lunch outing.

And, in a shocking twist, they now serve wine and beer – though the staff has no idea what “brand” it is. I took a chance with the “red” – which apparently, they store in the refrigerator. Because of that, it wasn’t bad. I assume it was out of a box. Didn’t ask what beer, that, they might have had a clue about (certainly, not on tap).

My chicken. I paid an extra $1.25 for the fried rice, but it also came with corn and a potato/mac salad:

Jen and Kennan split the grilled Mahi Mahi, also with fried rice and corn, but with a green salad.

Next stop was the Salvation Army on Nimitz, which Tuesday is Senior Discount Day with a 25% discount. Trust me, we are all over 55!

Sadly, their selection of Aloha Shirts was a third of what I’ve seen in the past, but at least Kennan found one.

Uber makes it really easy to get around, but all the places we’ve visited are on bus routes for a $5.50-day pass. With three people, it was Uber.

Next was the Waikiki Farmers Market – we came home with cut fruit, chicken curry, jerky, salad stuff – add some leftover rice and corn.

Wednesday was Pearl Harbor for Jen and Kennan – my chore was to find a real grocery store since the one that I have relied on for a decade of visiting Waikiki has been torn down for a new condo. Contrary to the Front Desk, who said there was no grocery store left in Waikiki – the Food Pantry just moved!

Yep – it’s a decent sized grocery store that is MUCH cheaper than the ABC Store and Deli (LARGE for an ABC Store).

I had a late lunch at Tommy Bahama’s Bar (above their store which is a block from the condo):

Blue cheese stuffed olives for their $10 Grey Goose Happy Hour Martini:

And the $10 2 for $10 Mahi Mahi Tacos…

They even brought a breadbasket with cinnamon butter!

But what caught my eye was this promotion that they were running – add $5 to your tab and get a $20 gift card valid next month (when I happen to be returning). Sign me up! Great cause, feeding hungry kids.

But going back to the in-condo cooking, the Food Pantry has everything from rice (for our rice cooker):

To Spam, panko flakes (for our last night’s dinner), whiskey, wine, you name it.

The one thing Food Pantry doesn’t have is Trump Memorabilia, which the ABC Store has a huge section:

We made some great meals in the condo!

On our last day, I got Kennan and Jen to come back to Tommy Bahama with me for an afternoon Happy Hour dessert….

As you can tell, I drank my dessert, just like my mother!

Friday, and we were all headed home, me a little later, and with time to grab breakfast in the combination AA/JAL lounge:

Yes, ramen and miso soup for breakfast.

I really like the Honolulu Airport because of the outdoor garden in the center of it (outside), but there are also the performances:

And next to the lounge, a public bathroom tucked away with bidet seats!

And a shot of the new ANA A380 that is dedicated to the Tokyo/Honolulu route (it’s a double decker):

Got upgraded to First Class (though via Portland) for the way home which meant a nice dinner on the plane.

It was a great trip with great company.

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Sometimes, it’s easier to just up the hardware and fly to your software/hardware dude. Hence why I’m flying to Denver when the temperatures in Denver are in the single digits.

Let’s start with a really bad lounge full portrait…

But soon enough was up in the clouds (the Caesar helped)…

Got upgrade to First with enough time to order the Pho Plate – which was so good I got on the Alaska Listens app to tell them!

Did I mention it was going to be cold in Denver?

I brought my project to work on with Dan:

Now we just have to get the screen scaled correctly to make my dream World Clock.

Dan had his own project going with his 3D printer:

I’d been considering a 3D printer, but now that I’ve seen the hassle of getting it set up and dialed in, nope – will ask Dan to print anything I need.

With all the geek work and not leaving the apartment since it’s brutally cold, we started eating like dorm room teenagers…

Though, in all fairness, that was homemade Japanese Mile Bread.

When I said we didn’t leave the apartment, I even had booze delivered in to make Empress Gin Martinis!

That would be a little fancy for dorm room teens.

One we did make a bunch of progress on the World Clock…

In the blank space under the times will go a scrolling news feed and a scrolling stock/commodity feed.

But not this week.

It was a quick two nights, and the temperature was 5 degrees when we left for the airport. I do not miss that cold and/or snow, or the lack of humidity that dries out my nostrils. The sun is nice, however.

How nice they sent a gay plane to pick me up!

Return leg home was in mere Premium Class, but as an Alaska MVP Gold 100K, they shower you with “stuff”.

Home at a reasonable time, and I have tomorrow off. Whew.

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