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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Crowdog is up at 5.

RobinHood is up at 6.

UncleMarkie is looking for coffee around 9, and waiting for the second breakfast of the household day, we will call that “brunch”. Thank goodness I have tolerant hosts – it also allows them to the garden watering out of the way early.

My lovely hosts, who don’t really know that I’d just be happy parking myself on the lawn or in the garden with a book and an umbrella listening to the chickens and the blueberries ripening… suggest a hike (queue “roll of eyes”) and then settle into another plan.

• Shopping for groceries and booze after a stop a Valhalla Cabins to visit some of the other faeries on the island (not home, but groceries and Plymouth Gin)
• Internet (Wi-Fi, both RobinHood and I had our laptops) and sandwiches at TJ Beans
• Thrift store shopping (me, while they were still logged on)
• Pretty hippy boy watching (think the San Juan’s in Washington State)
• Winery number 1: Mistaken Identity. Got a recipe for a non-tomato-based pizza (and the recipe for the dough) that is roasted fennel root, Italian sausage and smoke Gouda cheese. I’ll try it an pass it on if it’s good.
• Skinny dipping at one of the lakes – too bad the cute 20 something’s looking for free camping (but swum in their underwear) were leaving as we got there
• Winery number 2: Salt Spring Vineyards
• Winery number 3: Gerry Oaks Winery (for sale, owner consultation for 2-3 years included)
• Cheesery: Salt Spring Cheese – apparently they know everyone on the island.
• Bakery (Salt Spring Baking Company) with a 270 degree view (CrowDog works there for extra change)

Home for dinner with a couple of boys I last met in Yelapa which is on accessible by a boat (theme?) south of Puerto Vallarta (who run the Valhalla Sleeping Units). Wings, lamb, fresh salad and vegetables from the garden, chatting into the night, many spilled drinks….and many references to Bacchus.

Once again, to bed late. But oh, what a comfortable bed it is – I feel like I have landed in the lap of luxury rather and a rural farm.

No wonder I sleep late.

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It seems everyone was a little tired from yesterday. Nobody rolled out of bed until 10:30am. Personally, I needed that extra rest (and still had an afternoon nap as well).

“Breakfast” was at 12:30 after the boys returned from the coffee shop (no Half and Half or Splenda for Onyx’s coffee) and featured “European style breakfast sausages” which are basically small links of weisswurst and a cheesy egg scramble.

Lunetta and I headed out mid-afternoon to the “real” grocery store for ingredients for tonight’s dinner with CrowDog and RobinHood. On the menu:

• Poo poo platter
• Salad with yellow and orange tomatoes
• Sautèed scallops in a lemon Beurre Blanc
• Grilled pork chops
• Steamed broccoli
• Rolls from Heron Rock Bistro (that we got at Finest At Sea yesterday)

When we got to the check-out like at the Thrifty Food Mart we realized that all our groceries would be in handle-less paper bags. Yikes. It seems Thrifty has endorsed the voluntary ban on plastic shopping bags. Must be recent as the check-out clerk was pretty clueless when it came to double bagging (with paper you insert bag A into bag B BEFORE putting any groceries in, the opposite of plastic). It was a fun walk back on a sunny fall day.

The Salt Spring Island boys (CrowDog and RobinHood) arrived around six for a parade of hats. Lunetta bought three this afternoon and the Salt Springs Boys brought me one as a present:

What a fine meal and a fine evening.

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Oh the hell of an early morning travel schedule but totally worth it since Swanda and I are headed to Victoria this morning.

Here is the breakfast I made the night before for a quick heat-up in the morning:

That would be the microwave omelet maker from the trip to Hawaii with SurfBetty.

We got to Port Angeles with about two hours to spare – time for an early lunch, but first a round of…

They make a really good Bloody Mary, but the service at Smuggler’s Landing. Needless to say, the review I posted on Trip Advisor wasn’t complimentary.

The ferry ride was relaxing and the duty free cheap. $14.30 for 40 ounces of cheap whiskey, suitable for mixing. I’m not sure what it is about most Canadian Whiskey, but it just isn’t sipping quality.

By 3 we were checked in and relaxing:

Nice view from the deck.

A little before 6 the boys (RobynHood, Royce, CrowDog, Tyson) showed up for dinner which was:

• Pupu platter of pate, cheese, crackers
• Appetizer of shrimp cocktail
• Salad of mixed greens (thanks boys for bringing)
• Seared ahi tuna
• Grilled salmon
• Blueberries and clotted cream for dessert

Add a bottle of white and two of red and you have a party. And here is the aftermath of the party (CrowDog):

Well, after the hot tub.

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This week’s midweek trip is to lovely Victoria BC with Roxy who spent the night so that there was one less stop to make in the morning.

Up at 5:30am, out of the house at 6:30am, checked into the ferry at 7:00am – only to find the waiting room packed with Canuck hung-over Seahawks fans in blazing Seahawks gear – boy was in a quite ride to BC.

Mimosas at 8am while still at the dock in Seattle.

Nap at 9am on the boat. Photo courtesy of Roxy:

Taken, he says in response to the picture I took of him last night crashed on the chez lounge.

As expected our rooms weren’t ready – it was 11am after all and check-in is at 4pm. So off to the Blue Crab located at the Coast Hotel next door, armed with a 15% off coupon… which I forgot to use. Damn. C couple of good pictures from lunch…

Roxy reading (GREAT picture of him)….

It seems the Monday drink special with $3.99 CAN for a highball… which is VERY CHEAP for Canadaland – bring them on.

And our lovely lunch…

Roxy had the seafood sandwich – lox, shrimp, avocado, tomato, greens, I went for the diet busting fish and chips – the single piece version… but it was one big piece of fish – and I was patient enough to wait to eat the fish until it cooled down. It’s as bad as pizza just out of the oven.

For our amusement there was a team of police scuba guys going through trailing – complete with a really wet RusaAnnie….

After lunch it was off shopping as I’m cooking for seven tonight:

• CrowDog
• RobinHood
• Roxy
• Me
• Royce
• Kyle
• Elliot

On the menu is a surf and turf – turns out Tyler is a vegetarian, luckily there are lots of non-surf and turf items for him:

• Pupu platter of cheese, crackers, smoked oysters, hummus
• Mixed greens with baby carrots and mushrooms with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing
• Maui style marinated boneless ribs
• A kilo of salmon
• Dessert courtesy of CrowDog and RobinHood (who also brought me 222’s, a Canadian aspirin, caffeine, codeine mix)

A wild meal with some of us hottubbing after dinner.

Final damage in the booze department:

• 40 oz. of Bacardi Rum
• 13 cans of Diet Ginger Ale as mixer
• ½ a liter of Maker’s Mark
• Almost 2 bottles of wine

For seven people – boy those Canucks can suck down the duty-free booze.

All and all, a wonderful evening with old friends and new friends. Was having too much fun to actually get any pictures. Sorry all.

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This week’s adventure involves LOTS of people (well, for me). First through the door are Seth (31) and Maia (the little girl – 5½ years old). They drove up from Corvallis for our little adventure. Before long they set off for the airport to pick up Lunetta and Onyx who flew in from San Francisco.

Dinner for five – rib-eye steaks, saffron rice, salad, couple of bottles of Bonny Doon wine…rice instead of bread as I broke yet another bread machine a couple of weeks ago – probably should say “wore out” rather than “broke”.

And a good dinner it was…finding places for people to sleep was a little more problematic.

• Maia in the single bed in the office so we could chat into the evening
• Lunetta and Onyx in my bed
• Seth and in in a double sleeping bag on the living room floor (until he couldn’t take it anymore and crawled in with the boys)

Up at 5am so we could get out of the house by six to catch our 8AM Victoria Clipper to Victoria, British Columbia.

At least it was a “pretty” early morning:

A pleasant trip north after a take-out breakfast at the Clipper Café (who also does the catering for the boat as well), though I’ll admit to sleeping through most of it – even forgoing my usual mimosa.

Wrangling a child means you are the last people off the boat and near the end of customs/immigration – which went smoothly as I’d warned Seth that he needed at a minimum a letter from Maia’s birth mother authorizing taking her out of the country. Seth made EXTRA sure and brought the custody agreement with him. Good boy.

Walked to the WorldMark Victoria, expecting to stash are luggage because it was noon, and check in is 4PM. To our surprise, our unit was ready – which rarely happens that early, but often does more in the winter than summer. Dumped everything in the room and headed out to Moka for Grilled Ham and Cheese with Potato Soup – seriously, we all got the same thing (limited menu). Thanks Lunetta for treating!

After the early morning, it was nap time for Maia, Onyx and myself – we send the engineers to the store for supplies that we didn’t bring. I’d packed:

• 4 racks of lamb
• 2 packages of shrimp (meant to bring the white fish to be breaded with the Panko, except for Maia who would get corn meal)
• 2 cubes of butter
• 1 pound of bacon
• Artichoke Bruschetta
• Cornichons
• Corn and Bean Salsa
• Panko Breading
• The WorldMark Bag (pre-packed olive oil/balsamic, curry, brown sugar, flour, skewers, birthday candles, McCormicks Steak Seasoning, coffee meat rub, Korean hot sauce, etc.)

But you also need:

• Salad (and dressing)
• Bread
• Eggs
• Mixers
• Cheese
• Gluten Free Crackers (Maia goes bi-polar when she has gluten)
• Corn Chips
• Portabellas (to stuff with the Artichoke Bruschetta and top with the Panko Breading)
• Etc.

Of course when you sent two engineers to the store, you get MANY more things in addition to those on the list. Take the generic category “Mixers”. They came back with:

• 12-pack of Tonic
• 12-pack of Diet Ginger Ale (mostly for me)
• 6 pack of tiny Cokes
• 100% Cranberry Juice
• Handful of limes

Why so much? Did I mention what we picked up at Duty Free on the boat?

That would be 4 liters of hard liquor for a party of 9 adults tonight and 4 adults for the second night – and those Canadians like to drink hard at Duty Free prices ($85 for all four). And the guests are showing up with wine to go with dinner. And what a dinner it was:

In the foreground, the racks of lamb, Then the Stuffed Portabellas – which were a HUGE HIT, not just with the Vegetarian and Vegan guests (one each). For Maia it was an “adult night” when she was allowed to stay up until she collapsed.

Good food, good conversation (though not around the dining tables since it seats 6, not 10), good hot tubbing after dessert (thanks RobinHood and CrowDog!)

A late night, but luckily not an early morning – Seth was reading the schedule I sent out a laughed when he got to the first morning there, where it said brunch at noon:

 

Yep, guess that makes me anal retentive in my planning – but that’s how it worked out.

The boys and Maia set out to explore the city while I stayed home for some quiet time (much needed after all the excitement). My job was to fill in the gaps in the night’s meal (smoked fish, more cheese, and chocolate) and to grab a little lunch snack for me at the food truck in front of “Finest At Sea” a local fish wholesaler that has a small retail shop in the back:

I got the special – three rockfish cakes with hot dipping sauce. I had one, saved the other two to share with tonight’s pupu platter. After the shopping, NAP TIME!

Tonight’s menu (after the pupu platter):

• Curried Shrimp Skewers
• Salad
• Bread (not for Maia!)
• 3 bottles of various BC Red Wine

Life is HARD on the road.

And before you knew it, it was time to check out – this is what we put in storage since the boat doesn’t leave until 5PM:

Not like we pack light. The plan for today:

• Store luggage
• Head to the Royal BC History Museum and watch an IMAX film (mostly to entertain Maia)
• Have lunch
• Go to the boat

Here is a great picture of Seth after the movie (in the gift shop):

Lunch was at Santiagos, which is close to the ferry terminal (though we had to backtrack to grab out luggage). I’ve eaten here often because they always have muscles on the menu, AND they have HUGE drinks by Canadian standards, and cheap ($11) – again, but Canadian standards.

I had the Thai Mussels, Seth and Maia the HUGE nachos, Lunetta and Onyx the Ceviche and the quesadilla. We ended up taking a bunch of the nachos for the boat trip home.

Did I mention the pitcher of Sangria? And my favorite shot of the lunch:

Yes, they supply crayons, which was great for entertaining Maia.

Got to the terminal later than I wanted, but we were already checked in and had our boarding numbers, it was just the line to check in luggage that was a pain. And luggage we had – four checked bags.

But we did get a table for all of us. Here is Seth sating his Solitaire addiction:

Technically that’s 8 seats, but on the inner section so less coveted.

Three hours later and the last people through customs and this is the scene:

Four and a half people and their crap in a Saab. Tight quarters, luckily for only 20 minutes.

Once back to the house, an exhausted Seth and Onyx claim the big bed, Maia in the small one, and the Marks (Lunetta and UncleM) on the floor after staying up for hours beyond the others.

Seth /Maia/Lunetta/Onyx were out of the house before I was up – Seth /Maia headed home and dropping Lunetta/Onyx at the Rental Car Center at Sea-Tac to pick up a car for the overnight.

Work until 4:30 for me, then back to the house to prepare dinner for the boys, Bliss and myself for the final night of the CanadaLand holiday. Tonight’s menu:

• Little lamb chops (LOTS of them)
• Salad
• A Spanish Red
• MANY COCKTAILS

After another late evening – it was time for me to head to a real bed, albeit a tiny one in the office.

I was out of the house for work before the boys were out of bed, feeling a little spent. While fun, it wasn’t one of the more “relaxing” holidays I’ve had recently.

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A lazy morning of eating, working, doing a shopping run.

Today’s video will probably only be of interest to me… some early inside shots of the Boeing 787 including the crew rest area (which you never get to see).

And the other news of the afternoon is that I’ve finally found someone to go to Mexico with me — you wouldn’t think that it would be hard with First Class in both directions for 8-nights in a one bedroom deluxe condo for $760 each…. hell, airfare is basically at $500 round-trip because it happens to be spring break when we are going.

Dinner is with CrowDog and RobinHood — who are spending the night so they can hot tub and go out dancing after dinner. Dinner:

• warm bread from the oven (par-baked, not mine)
• green leaf and yellow tomato salad with chunky blue cheese dressing
• grilled asparagus
• three beautiful wild coho salmon steaks with smoked salt glaze
• three little heart shaped chocolates for dessert

Yum. Nice to have the boys over for a pajama party — OK, it’s really a bathrobe party.

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Up at 5 and was at the Victoria Clipper for check-in before they were even open. And the coffee shop that was next door was closed until further notice. Bummer. That means a Clipper breakfast basket. At least that means I don’t pay for the cranberry juice to go with the champagne.

Being one of the first people through customs put me on the 11:05 bus from Government and Superior (3-4 blocks from the Clipper terminal in Victoria) to Swartz Bay. An hour an a quarter later if bought my ticket for the Salt Spring Island Fulford Harbour run — with enough time to get a little lunch from the cafe in the parking lot — good thing as the ferry has no services on it.

By 1:30pm I’m on Salt Spring Island — very much like the terminals on the San Juan Island, especially the Friday Harbor one. One small hitch… nobody to pick me up. Finding one bar of service I call and leave a message. A half hour after the next ferry arrived, call and leave another message. Luckily the eye candy around the ferry is amusing, and I finish reading a book.

After getting a Chai, I go out to hang around and wait for the next ferry to come in, and I wander into the “one-bar” zone — and I get a voicemail ding. The boys were late getting back from the mainland at the northern ferry terminal — call to confirm which terminal you are at. The joys of island life when you depend on ferries on a three day weekend (BC Day is today).

All is good — we are back at their place in time for cocktail hour followed by steaks on the grill and fresh potatoes and snap peas from the garden (and the steaks were from the island).

CrowDog is the early to bed early to rise type, so RobinHood and I spend the night trying to time-date the house. My guess is 40’s because of the lathe and plaster and the inlaid oak floors, but then turned into a mid-century with the swingers fireplace, new flat doors, recessed curtain areas, etc. What initially threw me off was the floors — but in a mid-century those would have been covered with wall-to-wall carpeting.

Pictures when I get back to the land of high-speed zeros and ones — the boys are on dial-up, and not by choice. The joys of island living… and there is only one-bar of service in the valley as well.

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Just one more picture from last night. I packed a leather punch so that a belt that I gave CrowDog would finally fit around his skinny little waste. That is beadwork sewn onto buckskin making a pretty striking rodeo style belt buckle. I picked up several years ago at the Faerie Bazaar from Clyde Hall, a first nation’s person from Idaho, but the piece is from Leanne Chappell, she a member of the Shoshone Bannock Tribes.

The boys and I were out of the condo on the dot of noon, and headed to the coffee shop and the comfy chairs (and the 10% discount because we are staying at the WorldMark). I stashed my luggage back at the WorldMark, and Lunetta and Onyx brought theirs along as they are taking the bus to the airport (about an hour and a half, but only $2.50 each). As for me, I hung at the coffee shop for a couple of hours, then went off to lunch and had a lovely ceviche at Santiago’s Café close to the ferry terminal. The only book I managed to bring was Bourbon, Straight: The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey, which aside from a lack of attention to line breaks in chapter heading, I found to be an informative read. Now I just have to figure out how to circulate it amongst all my bourbon aficionado friends because at $22.95 ($20.66 for the Kindle edition) it’s a bit overpriced.

No trouble with immigration, the boat ride, or customs on the other end. Actually customs conversation was as follows:

Them: How are you doing tonight?

Me: Tired.

Them: Any gifts?

Me: No.

Them: Have a nice evening.

Short and sweet. No asking about what I’m bringing back, nothing. Just jumped in a cab and $32 later I’m home.

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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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For more blog posts, click here.

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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Woke up to Robert banging on the tin can that I slept in (SOB).

Thank goodness Natalie’s parents had coffee going on the picnic table outside the dining room. There are two tents set up in the yard for guests. One for Natalie’s parents, the other for her brother. Grandpa is staying in the guest room. The other heard of relatives is staying in some rented house in Shelton, half an hour down the road.

Graduation is at 1pm — so I’m a little confused why we are leaving at 11am — good thing I had a little chicken friend rice in the fridge of SOB!

Overcast skies when we got there — with time to see the garden than Natalie oversaw the planning, planting, and signage for. It’s located just off the soccer field where magic mushrooms grow in the spring. Natalie’s garden will supplement that diet with all sorts of other fruits, berries, and edible sprouts.

By the time the ceremony starts the sun is out and baking EVERYTHING on Red Square. I opted not to sit with the family and finally wandered into one of the seminar halls that had a live feed, comfortable seating, and air conditioning. And probably the best view in the house.

The speakers were all amazingly good with the exception of the faculty speaker, who frankly, just sucked. Really sucked. My informal poll of the family afterwards yielded the same thought. It meandered and then ended. Basically it could be summed up by — “Well, here is the mess you have inherited”.

With over 1100 graduates it took a while to call the names. When I saw Jameson walk the stage (video feed) I high-tailled it to where the family was sittting. The prearranged plan was to exit immediately — which we did, though I was with Julian who parked off-campus a mile away at Jameson’s silly suggestion.

More bar-b-que back at the house — didn’t realize I’d be supplying all the meat for the two nights, but I had enough (and the freezer still looks stuffed).

Big fun — and a campfire after dinner with some cute guy on guitar.

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But is wasn’t, not even close (to be close you have to be within a half hour drive, not 45 minutes). Got an email from the manager of the Palm Springs WorldMark at 3:43pm the DAY BEFORE we were to check in (we had already checked in for our flights). I spent my ground time in Sonoma trying to find us a room somewhere near Palm Springs – Indio was the only option. And not a good one considering the Downtown location is right on the Gay Pride Route for Sunday. Indio is 45 minutes away by car (which we hadn’t planned on renting so add $500 for the car and $100 for the gas).

So, if I get snarky in the post, you will know why, but here’s what we made of it:

Quick breakfast in the lounge, too early for the bar to be open, sigh.

Bigger protein breakfast on board:

And a layover in San Francisco for a few hours:

Before I was back on board…

Seth and Maia met me at the airport, and we were off to our exile in Indio, wedged between a couple of golf courses and the desert. ABSOLUTLY NOTHING to walk to for miles.

In our two-bedroom, two-bath:

And the view:

Typical breakfast:

Went out for lunch at a local Mexican place – my Chile Relleno:

We visited the Moorten Cactus Garden in Palm Springs:

And then we were off to Inka, a Peruvian restaurant on the strip in Palm Springs:

And an evening view from the balcony…

Next day we are off to the East Entrance to Joshua Tree – not expecting two trip to Joshua Tree in one year, but it was close (35 minutes):

And then off to a cactus walk:

Back at the complex, I checked out the mini-mart/sandwich/coffee place:

A liter of Jack will set you back $50. That is at least DOUBLE what you’d pay in town.

So, Canadians MUST come here because the V8 is small, and the Clamato large.

Shocked they have Vernors, sadly, not diet.

A few more shots of pool time where Seth and Maia spent a lot of time:

Another day we were off to a Date Farm so Seth cold have a Date Shake.

What we didn’t realize is the creepy religious cactus garden walk:

Lunch afterwards at SHERMANS! Love this Jewish deli. Sadly, just got a pic of my leftover half a pastrami:

And a couple of shots of the pastry case:

Before long, I was back on a plane home, at least it was direct this time:

Some good, some bad (like multiple calls to WorldMark to claw back some points because of the clusterfuck). At least Seth and Maia had fun – they even marched in the Gay Pride Parade on Sunday under the Alaska Airlines banner. And I got some swag out of it!

Here is a picture from me and the 2019 Parade:

With that, I sign out.

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

Bonus points for me not having to drive.

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

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

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

 

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

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

And the breakfast wasn’t bad either…

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

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

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

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

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

And, of course, the views…

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

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

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

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

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

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

And then back up the hill for more hiking….

Still know on parts of the trail.

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

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

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

Nice views from the Roundhouse Lodge Cafeteria.

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

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

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

Home again, home again, only to travel again.

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Time to go back to racking up status for 2023 – and off to Juneau on the milk-run go I. This route used to be serviced by a “combi” which had the first 15 rows removed to make room for cargo. Now, it’s just a standard 737, but with 3 stops between Seattle and Juneau. I took it for old-time sake.

I actually found my post from December 2009, it is here. Had to dig up the pictures since they were stored on a server that is no longer active, so I’ll just put the pictures here:

No windows up front, and from the inside, there is a moveable bulkhead at row 15:

And should the pilot or co-pilot need something from the back, the can open a little door and pass it through.

These days the plane looks like this:

Started the day off with the usual in the lounge. Caesar (a Canadian Bloody Mary with Clamato), everything bagel – but now they also have scrambled eggs and sausage. NICE ADDITION.

No First-Class upgrade, but at least I’m in Premium (extra legroom and free booze):

It’s an hour and a half flight to the first stop, which is Ketchikan.

There is time to get off the plane (and buy a postcard), and see the airport:

Seems to be a thing in Alaska airports.

So, on the first leg there was drink service – nothing more than water and CheeZits at each of the next stops.

Here are the flight times:

• Ketchikan = 1.5 hours
  
• Wrangle = 20 minutes
  
• Petersburg = 10 minutes 
  
• Juneau = 30 minutes 
  

Next stop Wrangell, where my friend Salamander was raised (miserably, apparently):

Then Petersburg where we maybe go to 2,000 feet above land. No getting off as you’d have to go back through security.

And then onto Juneau, with some nice scenery along the way:

More animals in the airport in Juneau…

And then to grab the shuttle to the Travelodge:

Needless to say, stock photo as it was overcast and drizzly.

Fortunately, this was a points stay, because, well, this is what $200 a night gets you in Alaska. And the view – apparently there is a glacier in the distance:

That said, because of the flight schedule into/out of Juneau, it’s a 24-hour hotel shuttle. Other notable features are an on-site Mexican restaurant, and several MASSIVE freezers to store the fish you caught so you can fly it home.

This will give you an idea a where the airport is located – and they do offer a free shuttle to downtown…

When I say 24-hours, here are the flights south to Seattle for a typical day…

• 1:30am
• 5:20am
• 7:10am (1-stop)
• 8:20am
• 10:24am(1-stop)
• 1:06pm (3-stop milk run)
• 1:10pm
• 6:28pm
• 10:24pm

That’s a lot of flights – and it’s a good thing since I decided I didn’t want to take the milk run home. At check-in online, they let me choose a different flight (and still get Premium seating, though a middle seat). It left 5 minutes earlier than my old flight but got in 3 hours earlier.

And the kicker is that a couple of hours before departure, they upgraded me to First-Class! Elite status has its perks.

And it being the window, more scenic shots.

And coming into Seattle….

A fun, odd couple of days in a metal tube.

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Most of you know about my mileage runs (flying someplace just to fly home usually on the same plane), but this week I did a points run for Wyndham Rewards points.

How it works in this case, is booking a Bonus Time stay at one of the WorldMark resorts that also has a sales center in it. Yes, time share presentations, but I’m already an owner, so they are slightly more gentle. I booked one night at The Camlin in downtown Seattle, and then the next night up at Birch Bay. Each was $80 a night, plus tax, plus $20 parking in downtown Seattle. So, all in about $200.

First up, The Camlin. Studio, SMALL. But it’s one night and I’m here for the points!

Love this building, but here is my room:

And the lobby:

So – when I checked in, got my key, they sent me to the concierge desk where they “made the pitch” to attend the “education” update. They started with 2,000 WorldMark bonus points, which is a joke, can’t even get a night for that, and they’d want to charge you housecleaning. I said I wanted Wyndham Rewards points – they offered 15,000. My response was 30,000 or it’s not worth me getting out of bed for. 30,000 it is!

Value of those points? He says they are worth 1.1 cents each, so they value them at $330, Wyndham says they have a “Verifiable Retail Value” of $390. At the end of the post I’ll show you what I used those first points on!

Went to the presentation at 10:30 Tuesday morning, the points arrived in my account before I’d left the presentation, saying no to more points.

Then I took off for Birch Bay!

So, the guy at the concierge desk at Birch Bay was a little green, and said he said he didn’t have the power to offer more than 25,000, and I said, sign me up for a 10:30 slot and call your boss for approval. They time share business works in both directions for the hard sell!

Much larger room (one-bedroom as opposed to studio), so a little more room to spread out, even if just for the night:

I was only in there for a few minutes before I was back on the freeway headed north – to visit Will and Solus for dinner, then come back before dark – don’t think I’ve ever just popped over the border for the day.

At the rest stop:

And along the road:

Lovely dinner up north ONCE I GOT THERE. Stopped for Caesar Mix (Bloody Mary with Clamato that the Canadians are famous for).

But one of the main bridges was closed due to an accident so it doubled my time. Did see this lovely Lambo with an “N” sticker, which means, New Driver:

New Driver with a lot of change rolling around his pants.

Was having such a lovely time at dinner, ginger pork and several side veg, that didn’t even get a shot of dinner.

Was back south by 8:30 (hour door-to-door with no traffic) – watched a little telly before crashing out early. Can’t drive the distances like I used to.

Morning I was at the “Presentation Center” where they eventually brought me my chose of breakfast – I went for the Kolaches:

Could have been a little warmer (I blame WorldMark for being slow in picking them up), and a little more mustard, but tasty! Rooted By The Bay is the coffee shop that has them.

Headed home after the exactly an hour presentation (new record for short) with another 30,000 points in my account.

So, let’s do the math:

Out-of-pocket: $200
Points received after two presentations: 60,000
Worth at least $660 (according to the Points Guy)

That alone, not a bad ROI, but I needed a hotel in Waikiki next March for two nights, and usually the Ramada is 15,000 per night or lower $200’s. Wyndham Hotels go for 7,500, 15,000, 30,000 points a night depending on location and quality.

This is what I scored….

Two nights, studio apartment at the marina (the one Gilligan left from on his three-hour cruise), 500 sq.ft., full kitchen, 15,000 points a night. I haven’t seen that property in the system since the pandemic!

Retail on that unit, $348.00 a night, so $696.00 total.

And I still have another 30,000 points to book worth at least another $300. Woohoo!

To be honest, it is rare that I get that good a redemption, but gotta brag when I do.

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Normally I don’t do mileage runs in summer. Too many crazy clueless travelers – and pissed off angry, entitled, travelers this Summer of Revenge Traveler…but here I am.

And here I am a few minutes before opening:

That is my carry-on for the day. Reading material and room for snacks.

That is a Virgin Mary that I’m taking on the plane to add vodka since the bar doesn’t open until 6am, which is when I’m boarding. Sadly, no Clamato.

Leg One:

Sadly, no jet bridge, lots of walking:

But a nice sunrise view from the window/aisle seat:

And inflight service in First:

Welcome to Boise for the first to two turns:

Complete with beer by the can in the gift shop – don’t worry, there was some in the cooler as well:

Overall, a really nice airport, and now an Alaska mini-hub with direct flights to Seattle, Austin, Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco, and others. And add a distillery gastro pub:

On their online menu, they had a Rueben with KimChee that sounded excellent. My back up was the fish tacos, sadly, neither were on the menu – when I learned from the waitress that neither were on the airport menu, just in town.

That said, she said the chef could whip up a version of fish tacos (deep-fried rather than pan fried cod)…she often has chef make it for her employee meal since he makes it for his.

It was STUNNINGLY good, and the right amount of food for flyinig (i.e., no fries)

After a couple of hours, it was time to return to Seattle:

Back in Seattle, and back in the lounge:

And some excellent plane spotting:

Love the “N” Alaska Lounge for its comfortable furniture, excellent cocktails, and the STUNNING views.

And time for round two, and I found some Calmato in that lounge – they wee down to a couple of small cans. Supply chain issues (they should go to Safeway, who has it):

And more views:

And bang, I’m back in Boise, but this time, it’s a straight turn-around, but with a ¼ mile walk to the terminal and back:

Yes, it was Monday’s number.

But there was a problem with our plane. The Accessory Power Unit wasn’t working for air conditioning on the ground, nor could their mobile units in 95+ degree outside temps, which meant the plane for 45 minutes on the ground with everyone in their seats and 90 minutes on the ground also with everyone in their seat. It resulted in me using my less than clean snot rag from my back pocket to keep the heat cramps at bay, barely:

Please notice the expression. Couldn’t even finish this, had to switch to Diet Coke:

But…some views, including both a Boise and Seattle sunset, along with finally being able to get a decent shot of Mount Rainier:

Addendum:

Couple of shots at the chaos that was baggage claim — 16 carousels of hell:

And where I was by 10PM:

End of Addedum.

The things I do to keep status on Alaska (and OneWorld).

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This week it’s relatives in town from Santa Fe.

Three nights close by at the airport, and I’m lending them my Escapé to avoid a $1200 car rental for 10 days. Ouch!

Even picked them up at the airport and fed them dinner.

The next day found us at the Museum of Flight with Jonathan taking a day off:

And there was a HUGE team polishing the airplanes!

What a fun day. I left early, the rest stayed for the new telescope images on the big screen in the auditorium. I had dinner to prep!

Smoked scallops and octopus as an appetizer:

Savory cinnamon rolls for dinner.

To go with the lamb off the grill (plus a salad):

The next night was seafood based:

And trying out the new placemats I laminated today – they were just paper placemats from the Crowne Plaza Madrid Airport from my trip to Spain in March.

Made little nibbles with bay scallops and bacon in pie dough:

Plus a little ceviche with a shot of vodka and Clamato:

And salmon done in my pizza oven:

Of course, there was a salad and wine.

Another fabulous dinner with friends and family.

Family is off to Sequim in the morning.

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Well, after a week of work around the house, it’s time to hit the road!

First, we have to get over the border:

Might as well play the license plate game on the way:

With a stop at Burger Master…

Sadly, Dan doesn’t have NEXUS, so, here we are in line…

First stop is the La Quinta in Richmond, near the Vancouver Airport:

With a rooftop deck, sadly, no tables, chairs, umbrellas:

And the tiniest pool/spa I’ve seen in a hotel:

From the roof I spied a good choice for dinner, Mr. Bro – a Korean restaurant. Richmond is FULL of Asian restaurant, you couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting one – but Mr. Bro it is!

When we got there, the place was packed – a good indication with so many restaurants within blocks.

Complete with sushi-like mark it yourself menu:

Food was GREAT!

I got the Bibimbap, Dan got the grilled cod.

An early night because an early morning flight, and needing to move to car to long-term parking:

Conveniently across from a light rail station to the airport – and the train is free.

Before long, I am back home (meaning an airport lounge):

Before our 8:20am flight…I used 77,000 Air Canada miles to get us to Saskatoon in Business Class:

Complete with a second breakfast. I had two servings of the lox and egg on an English muffin in the lounge:

Why yes, that is a Caesar. Air Canada has spicy Clamato on its planes.

Mostly on time into Saskatoon, grab luggage and off to an Uber to the hotel:

We are at the Ramada, and because I’m a Wyndham Diamond member, they upgraded our room if we were willing to take a King over Two Queens (there is a joke in there someplace). Top floor, but the oddest layout I’ve ever seen. Maybe they should add a foosball table like the WorldMark Austin (see post here):

And we are connected to the largest indoor full flight golf driving range in Saskatchewan.

Mid-afternoon found us at the bar downstairs, ordering something called Perogy Nachos:

Needless to say, a nap afterwards was needed.

And dinner was MUCH HEALTHIER:

Off to bed because tomorrow will be an exciting day!

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With my pod fully vaccinated, off to San Diego go I and Jonathan.

Lunch in the Board Room:

Pretty views from the plane (over the lap of the window passenger):

I never grow tired of flying out of Sea-Tac.

And then lunch, part two:

AND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER A YEAR – hard liquor is back in First and Premium on Alaska. I almost cried.

Damn, no Cranberry Juice for those early morning flights (with Vodka). I find Orange Juice too acidic.

On the rental car shuttle (thanks, Jonathan for dealing with this), someone has A TON of checked bags:

And because of the Covid Meltdown of rental car companies, our car is buried somewhere behind another car.

Love the preserved detail at The Inn At The Park in San Diego:

We are in a Two-Bedroom Deluxe which comes with a “balcony” and a picture of the hallway carpet:

And a video walkthrough:

Some shots from the rooftop deck up a couple of floors:

Oh, and a sunset shot:

Dinner the first night was a true FIND – thanks again, Jonathan. La Taverna only opened a couple of months ago, so it’s still hard to find on search engines.

We started with the Grilled Octopus!

And the complimentary calamari (coupon from hotel):

Sadly, only shochu cocktails (oddly common in California to get around expensive liquor licenses).

The wine list was extensive (and expensive).

For the main, I got the short rib Bolognese special:

Jonathan got the shank special – we both got the house made pappardelle under it.

Large portions – we got take home containers!

Awesome food, served by the one of the owners – Jonathan, who is well-versed in Northern Italian raved that it was authentic – see his review here: Jonathan J.’s Reviews | Seattle – Yelp

The next lunch we sent to Hash House A Go Go – one of my favorites from previous visits:

Started with a couple of DRUNK CLAMS — What happens when you mix vodka, Clamato, and clam juice? You get a very Drunk Clam! Made with Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and chili pepper, this is the drink to spice up your meal. Their words, not mine.

Then Jonathan moved onto the Sage Fried Chicken and Waffle Tower, which is two sage friend chicken breasts, bacon waffle, hot maple reduction, and fried leeks.

And I went for the HH Original Benedict, which is smoked bacon, fresh tomato, spinach, roasted red pepper cream topped with two basted eggs served on a fresh split biscuit with griddled mashed potatoes:

Yep – you guessed it, MORE leftovers.

The afternoon was filled with the USS Midway Museum down in the harbor:

A great time on a beautiful day on the bay. And a lovely Fire Station on the way home:

Hello, mid-century modern!

Lots of leftovers to work through….

And I made little snack plates for when a friend from high-school visited – she used to live in San Diego, but now Alabama, but was back to visit daughter/granddaughter/ great granddaughter:

We were gabbing so much neither of us remembered to take a picture!

Before long, it was time to head home after a stop in the lounge, then onto the plane…

Continued the work I started in San Diego reading scholarship applications.

It was a fun trip that almost felt normal.

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