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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Oh, the joys of more relaxed travelling…Indianapolis here I come!

I seem to have lost some of my packing skills:

I have not lost my vacation day-drinking skills:

Notice there is also some protein to soak up the alcohol.

Sadly, the days of really cheap First-Class seats are coming to an end (probably why I have over 100,000 Elite Qualifying Miles this year), and Indy is never a cheap flight (captive market). But I’m in my usual seat, and my usual travel aloha shirt:

And the flight includes lunch:

Joe and Lisa were at the airport to meet me and whisk me off to my hotel. We are all vaccinated, but they have three (Joe corrected me — it’ two, just feels like twelve) cats, which I’m not vaccinated against. I’m staying at the Crown Plaza Downtown at the Old Train Station. Yes, this is not usually my budget, but I have a train car suite – which I was expecting to be in the basement, but it was on the second floor. The have 13 converted cars that stand on their original tracks.

More photos later since we are off to dinner at La Margarita, which turns out to be their first night of indoor seating:

Barbacoa tacos with dipping broth, think Mexican French Dip.

On our way to our next stop, we passed the World Headquarters of White Castle – the burger place:

Next up was a Tiki Bar that is a favorite of Joe’s – who has a Tiki Bar in his basement. The Inferno Room:

The next found Joe and I at Shapiros – the famous Indianapolis Jewish Delicatessen.

I had a Rueben; Joe had a bunch of stuff so he could take lunch home to Lisa.

Home for Joe and Lisa includes a Tiki Bar in the basement:

The next day, Joe and I explored the old train station, now an event center attached to the hotel:

Here are some shots of the hotel, which is built in the old train shed – hence, train cars on the second floor:

They were setting up a wedding for 300 socially distanced people the next day.

Which begged the question, where is the current Amtrak station. Close by, on two remaining tracks through the train shed…and a seriously depressing place above a combined with a sketchy Greyhound/Bolt terminal.

On a whim, we decided to drive over to Beech Grove, a major Amtrak refurbishment center for their rolling stock:

And some of the new Midwest higher speed cars:

Off to pick up Lisa for a tour of New Fields, formerly known as the Indianapolis Art Museum.

Dinner was at the Root and Bone:

Apparently, I don’t pack any better on the way home:

My final morning/afternoon, since I had a late afternoon flight, a stop at an Antique Mall (Midland Arts and Antiques) on the way to the airport.

I actually got out without buying anything! Just as well since there was no room in the luggage.

Off to the airport, where there are cars on display, and a branch of Shapiros:

Other random thoughts: it was Indy 500 season, so there were white Corvette Pace Cars all over town, and my hotel was filled with early 20-something seriously fit young men – all staying at the hotel. Turns out it was Spring League held at Lucas Field, which is also connected to the hotel via skywalks. It’s like the Elite Pro D Football Camp. There are 8 teams, times 50 players – even doubled up, that is A LOT of rooms. Guessing they didn’t pay what I paid for my suite, which was cheaper since we are still in a pandemic. Godsend for the hotel with no conventions happening.

Well, that’s the trip. Indy was FUN!

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Four people spent the night in the condo… Joe, CaddyDaddy, SurfBetty, and, of course, me.

SurfBetty was up and out early, and the three of us packed up all the remaining food and booze and were out the door at 11:30. With no cooktop, that meant breakfast as back at the house rather than in the penthouse. You’d think they could have made the penthouses with a full kitchen. I can understand the rest of the rooms at the Camlin, but I guess they think that since you are in the big city that you won’t be cooking your meals.

The afternoon was spent unpacking, repacking, and generally cleaning up the place a bit. Nothing like multiple trips to leave you with stuff lying around everywhere.

Dinner tonight is via a Groupon Coupon for Shilla, a Japanese/Korean restaurant that I have long loved.

Sadly, the bloom is off the rose and all we are left with is thorns. It wasn’t that bad, but it’s under new ownership and management and things have gone downhill. The best example is our in-table grill wasn’t working and we were given a portable one which hogged most of the table. In the end it seemed like a lot of money for the quantity and quality of the experience.

And now we know why they have been offering Goupons.

This is Joe’s last night in town, back to work he goes.

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Well, I must be on holiday as I had a HulaDog for breakfast this morning, granted it was a late breakfast.

I had the polish in a bacon taro roll with the mild sauce with Star Fruit Relish & Lilikoi Mustard – truly Hawaiian.

After breakfast/lunch (it was almost 11) it was off to the FoodPantry for supplies for the condo.

As promised, here are some shots of the condo. Yes, it’s the handicapped unit:

And a lovely shot of me by the pool:

Joe and Lisa showed up around five and I had a pupu platter laid out and ready for them. Lots of various poke (marinated raw fish) and a selection of drinks.

For dinner we decided on The Village Noodle House in Chinatown. I’ve passed through Chinatown many times, but somehow never managed to stop and eat. Lisa had the beef, broccoli, thin noodles; Joe the shrimp with vegetables, and I opted for the roast half duck. We shared appetizers of Moshu Pork and Green Onion Pancakes. All good, not spectacular, but I’d go back. Hell, they even have free parking, a rarity in Chinatown.

Had a little walk after dinner with sort of freaked Lisa out a bit… certainly wouldn’t as a woman (or maybe even a guy) walk around the neighborhood without being very alert.

Back at the condo, Lisa headed to bed (I had an overlap of a day on my reservations) and Joe came down to my room (luckily on the same floor) to chat and have a few more drinks.

Well, that’s the news for today.

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When I checked in I actually managed to get my favorite bulkhead aisle seat: 1C. And the sun is out. Looks to be a nice day for flying.

Update #1: So, TSA asked me today for another form of ID when I tried to use my Nexus card. It seems that soon they are going to start scanning IDs and they haven’t figured out how to get Nexus integrated into their system which also goes for Sentry, the US-Mexico speed lane card. He also didn’t have an answer for why their need to be different systems for US-Canada and US-Mexico border.

More later from Tucson.

From Joe’s cellphone, entitled “relaxing before the party”.

Gotta say, I crapped out about 11pm and when I got up to pee at 3:30, the party was still going.

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It’s always fun to wake up with a straight man in your bed. Whenever we visit each other we always sleep in the same bed which the last time I was in Tucson, led to three of us in bed: girlfriend, Joe, then me. There is no sex, just some cuddling before falling to sleep.

First up on the agenda for the two of us to go to a Champagne and new Italian wines at C&G – Joe will go as Madrona Wine Merchants new intern. Apparently he didn’t make the cut as by the end of the day, he was no longer our intern.

Next up was packages at the apartment, then to pick up wine at the shop for dinner, back to the hood for a carwash (very dusty from the woods) and a grocery run before heading (after dropping off the wine and groceries) to Dragonfish Asian Café so Joe could hook up with a couple of gay guys from his college day (honest, Joe is straight – trust me, I’ve tried [repeatedly] and failed).

Nice appetizers – I had the tempura peppered bacon and some chicken pot stickers – Joe started with an avocado roll and then to the tempura peppered bacon. It being happy hour those small plates were like $2.95 and $3.95 – and for $2.95 you could get four of their normally $7 cold sakés that counted towards their Saké Club – drink the first 9 (over the course of a year), get a cedar sake box and a 5 appetizer card – finish the next 8 and get a t-shirt and a chance at dinner for two. Go on a Sunday night and all sakés are 50% off. So far I have five punches (four in the first section, one in the second).

A couple of hours later we were home and working to diagnosing the problems with the dining platform. At least I’m getting closer to getting it running again. Still more to do, but at least I can get to the batteries without having to move the entire lift.

Another late dinner, supplemented by Joe making blackberry martinis (macerated blackberries with a little sugar and either vodka or light rum). And we were so full from the appetizers that we just used the leftover steak over a bed of greens. And a nice rosé.

Of course Swanda learned of the blackberries and now wants some to make his own martinis.

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I got Joe up, showered and out of the house by 5am to get his car back and get to his flight.

Guess who went back to bed?

After I returned to the land of the living, it was time to clean up all the items that were pending – getting transportation to/from the airport, reading the long emails I just scanned over, oh, and all those credit cards bills and the new lower mortgage payment.

Dinner by myself, the boys were taking the scenic drive through Mount Saint Helens and didn’t arrive until 9ish. So, the steak that I’d neglected to freeze, leaving the pork chops for tomorrow when we go to dinner at Swanda’s place.

Short post today.

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An early morning – that means an alarm clock.

9:45am train to Portland for a couple of hours of shopping at Powells and hanging with Joe’s friends, one of which I know.

Nothing like travelling in a sleeper car – with the attendant bringing us split after split of champagne.

And the famous Portland Chinatown restaurant… Hung Far Low – though I tend to remember the sign hanging mid-block, not on the corner.

Much fun, delayed trains, complaint letter coming (no wi-fi in either direction, bad parlour car service both ways, etc)… and now I’m exhausted.

And fat.

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Talk about a quick trip…just an overnight outside Denver with my ex and his wife. I would have stayed longer but the cheap flights were only on Tuesday and Wednesday.

And when I say cheap — $118 round-trip. Add $23 for the rental car, $10 for gas, and $35 for airport parking in Seattle and you have my expenses other than breakfast in Denver on the way to the airport (under $5).

Did I mention that I was upgraded in both directions? Knew about the return upgrade, but the “at the gate” upgrade when I was sixth on the list when I checked was a bit of a shock as there are only 12 seats up front.

In honor of my quick trip – a bunch of “selfies”:

In the Alaska Board Room.

From my going list of Airline Club Lounge photos.

The view on the tarmac featuring a salmon-thirty-salmon.

Shocked at my gate upgrade to first.

Relaxing at Dan and Lisa’s place.

Even Winston has started to like me.

In the Admirals Club at the Denver Airport…I can’t believe I forgot to get a shot of the room.

Next time. And we know there will a next time.

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Ah, the tropical heat of Miami – didn’t miss it, still don’t. Plane landed on time – and by 8am I’d had a quick breakfast and was looking for someplace quiet to hang for a couple of hours until Dan and Lisa arrive from Tampa (driving). The answer – across from the post office (I also needed postcard stamps) was the chapel – not in my terminal, but pre-security. Nothing like spending your first three hours in Miami in church.

Actually, it worked out really will. I hung out in the back of the chapel with my luggage, in a dark corner – only two people popped in. I tried to look awake for them.

They made good time so we were out of the airport a few minutes after 11… much better than the noon I’d been expecting.

Next stop – some place that served healthy organic food between Miami International Airport and Boca Raton where Dan’s grandparents live. The answer was Metro. Dan and I opted for the cheeseburger with Fontana cheese, Lisa went for the seared Ahi – which is what I should have gone for because the burger was huge. Oh well.

Grocery store, then off to the Grandparents – me happily sleeping in the back of the Element. I really dislike red-eye flights, even up front.

Introductions, then naps for all of us – Dan and Lisa were up early as well as having a concert the night before.

Dinner of a veal pot roast, big salads (needed that) and a nice bottle of wine.

Canasta after the dinner dishes were cleared and cleaned. I watched and tried to get a feel for the game after a thirty year absence in playing. It may take me another round of watching as the game ended prematurely with Lisa scoring a “junk hand” on her first draw – for 5000 points, and the next round Grandmother Slyvia (Lisa’s partner) scored a win on pairs closeout after a couple of rounds – the odds of getting either of those hands is astronomical, and the odds of getting one after the other… well, I can’t calculate them.

Glad I wasn’t playing that hand.

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When you have friends that live in Indianapolis, you don’t get to see them often, so when you get a chance to holiday in the same city, you take it, even if it is six hours in the opposite direction.

The gods must have been smiling on me since I got an upgrade at the last minute – at boarding they scanned my boarding pass and rejected it. They replaced it with a boarding pass for 4D. The downside is no choice of meal, sigh.

Would have preferred the omelet and sausage. Oh well.

Arrived at HNL and grabbed the city bus into town – stopped at Giovani’s for a quick lunch…

Got settled into the condo early, not a bad view!

Mick and Ric arrived around 6 and we had some nibbles and eventually got lazy and called next door to PFChangs for takeout.

The next day (Tuesday) was a busy one. After rising late (me), off to lunch at the Liliha Bakery for a little Fried Chicken – really good Fried Chicken:

We chose this restaurant because it is close to the Salvation Army Thrift store…

Where I found some goodies…

A couple of them are for me, a couple for other people, including Joe, whose 50^th Birthday Celebration is part of this adventure.

Speaking of Joe (and Lisa, and Lisa’s Niece Emily), they are all coming to dinner, so we are off to the Food Pantry for supplies – but find this closed bar for a quick picture:

We did manage to swing by (before the meal prep) to the restaurant on top of Tommy Bahama for their 3-5PM Happy Hour, which has really good food options, like the Poki and the Fish Tacos:

The meal restrictions were, not spicy, no pork. We were having so much fun that evening that we didn’t even take picture of the lovely meal Mick made (while I’m a good cook, Mick is an excellent cook!)

Ric left in the morning before I got up – he needed to be back at work in Phoenix, so Mick and I went to the World War Two Museum at Fort Derussey which is a couple of blocks from the condo, and free:

That building in the center background is the Trump Tower (hisssssss).

Wednesday was actually Joe’s birthday, so the Tiki Bar Crawl started at Tommy Bahama’s around 3:30…

And then to Arnolds, which is a dive bar for restaurant workers in the alley behind Tommy Bahama…

This would be Emily…the niece:

Beyond that, we hit three more Tiki Bars… starting with Rumfire, at the Sheraton Waikiki…

And then over to The Mai Tai Bar at the Royal Hawaiian (aka The Pink Palace):

And onto the final stop which was Tiki’s Bar and Grill, but with a stop at the Duke statue on the beach…

Lots of Tiki glasses at the Tiki’s Bar and Grill!

It was a fun evening…and since we started early, we were home by 10!

The following morning we had to be out of the condo at 10am (which I’m used to WorldMark’s noon checkout), and off to the airport we went. Mick had a later flight, but needed to do a conference call so we hit the lounge – we are on different flights (I’m stopping in Portland).

Got upgraded to First on the HNL-PDX flight (even before I actually flew TO HNL) so I had food on the return as well….

Not sure why there isn’t a picture of the main course…aparently having too much fun (again).

Well, that’s it for this installment.

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When you have to be at the airport at 3:30am, of course you should throw a dinner party the night before:

Don’t we look awake in the Uber the next morning – which for some reason was also carrying a large load of flowers:

The Alaska Lounge doesn’t open until 5am, which is when our flight departs, so nothing to do but hang out in the terminal until we can settle in our lovely first class seats. I used a handful (assuming one was missing a finger) of Guest Upgrades.

And before long it was time for breakfast:

And now I’ll turn it over to Rache for this tag team post:

Markie’s and my flight to LA took off right on time. It was a full flight and all went smoothly. Even tho’ the same jet was used from the LAX to Havana, we all left the plane and took all our belongings as it was cleaned. You can tell that there are a few kinks to work out as there was one stamp that was left off our boarding passes. That stamp is verification that Alaska Airlines took in our money that is part of the proof that we paid health insurance for the time we are in Cuba. I now have a better understanding what it’s like to get a stamp on one’s paper and I wish to apologize to all my kids for failing miserably in consistently getting stamps on their papers. 

This would be the stamp:

For some reason, we were served a second (and slightly larger) breakfast on the Los Angeles to Havana portion:

And back to Rache:

After the clog and only slight delay, we were off and actually made up time in the sky so that we landed at José Marti International a bit early. One must remember that the second you land in Cuba, there is a time transformation. It’s not like time stands still, but almost. Island Time.

Our bags took almost forever in getting to the terminal. Mercy. Markie’s bag was taken off the conveyor and mine ended up on a conveyor with another flight. Terminal 2 is small enough that it doesn’t make a difference. However, content in the luggage does make a difference. As always, I packed a whole lot of school supplies. This time, I also packed herbs, spices, flavorings, tons of chocolate, toys, etc. I inspired Markie in this endeavor and he brought six old cell phones. Mistake. We were separated, bags gone through, and we were somewhat interrogated. Markie was being asked why he was bringing in so many phones and I was being asked why I had a power converter (220v to 110v) that included several USB jacks. And I was also being asked why Markie was binging in so many phones. I am not sure if he was asked why I had the power converter [UM: they did not].

Regardless, we were almost the last ones out of the terminal. That stressed us because Alain (our host), the interpreter (his goddaughter), and the driver were supposed to meet us. And here is where “Island Time” needs to be remembered. They had called for a ride. The driver of the ’55 Chevy arrived at Alain’s home at the time they were supposed to meet us at the airport, so they were stressing as much as Markie and I were. They were sure we had left without them. As luck would have it, Alain had a photo of me on his phone so he asked security to check to see if I was in the terminal. I was – having the content of my luggage examined and being questioned. This is done unlike Peru, which takes us to a back room. This questioning is done out in the open in Terminal 2. Alain and Gema’s stress, was lessened once they knew we were in the terminal, but Markie and I didn’t’ know that so we were still stressing.

Long story longer, Markie and I were reunited, we each had to pay a $14.00 fine, and we escaped the clutches of Cuban security and greeted warmly with hugs and kisses from Alain and his goddaughter/translator. The driver loaded our bags and we were on our way.

Alain lives on the east side of Havana, in a former Soviet area called a Alamar. It seems like a lovely area but it was getting dark as we arrived. 

Tekita (cook/maid/house manager) made us a very festive meal with traditional Cuban food. black beans and rice, salad (shredded cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, beets, mild peppers), malanga fries with honey (fritura de malanga con miel). Oh, the main protein was lobster! The huge meal was topped with flan and strawberry ice cream (copa lolita). Stuffed over the top [UM:we both were]. 

And there was even Cuban white wine:

While Cuba DOES have a wine industry, most of their wine is imported from either Spain or South America. If you are interested in the growing wine industry in Cuba, CLICK HERE for and overview of the industry – makes me want to go to the Cuban Wine Show (Festival International del Vino) in October.

And now back to Rache:

We chatted for a bit, Alain and Gema (goddaughter/translator) had a friend who exchanged our money and soon we were off to bed. Markie and I both have our own rooms.

The house is lovely and I’ll describe it more as the week progresses. Besides a parrot (and a lizard), there are two dogs. And that’s important because when I was in Peru, I felt sad that I didn’t have anything to give all the stray dogs in that entire country. so yes, this time, I brought dog treats. I now have two best friends forever in Cachito (dachshund) and Kiara (husky mix).

I did stay up after Michael went to bed, but not for long – I was “running on fumes” as they say.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventure.

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Recounting a long day… up with a wakeup call at 7, rolling over until 7:30, coffee on, eggs reheated, out the door around 9, headed for the North Shore.

We did the slow trip up the east side. Most folks just go straight up the island, we did the circle route.

Apparently they decorate trees on the north end.

Here is a little video tour of our east coast of Oahu run:

And then it is on to Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck – Darcy turned me on to this two years ago on my trip with SurfBetty.

And then off to Bonsai Pipeline and other surf spots – no, we didn’t surf, I used the free chair I found (and fixed) on the beach to watch the surfers.

And then it was off to Honolulu for the Tin Man Mailman, a retro Hawaianna storef (Joe bought a Tiki Mug), then off to one of the oldest Tiki Bars in Honolulu located in the industrial districts – La Mariana Sailing Club )Joe bought a Tiki Mug):

Love the blowfish lanterns over the bar. Then off to a fabric store where Lisa bought fabric to recover Joe’s Tiki Bar chairs, and I bought 100% cotton fabric featuring space shuttles loaded with pineaples – I kid you knot. Sorry, no photo.

We didn’t make it to the Duke’s statue as Friday night traffic was hell getting into Waikiki, so we turned around and headed to the airport to drop me off.

Fun trip – 4 hours in the Delta Sky Club room next to the Japanese Garden behind security at the Honolulu International Airport (reminds me of Seoul, South Korea)… free drinks, free snacks, free wi-fi.

Plane leaves at 11:45pm, arrival 7:55am and I’m to work at 1:30pm for a bubbles tasting.

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Here are some shots of the non-handicap units.

Still no burners – good thing I brought the hot plate!

Didn’t fire up the hot plate this morning – ate leftovers from last night. Think Chinese breakfast.

We were out of the units a little before 10 and headed to the Kanaka Ukulele factory tour. I’d done it before, but thought Joe and Lisa would enjoy it (which they did).

Next up was the Aloha Bowl Flea Market. Not as packed as it usually is according to the vendors. Cause: very muggy weather, but overcast so you don’t have all the heat from open sun.

After a couple of hours and only covering half of the flea market we set out for something air-conditioned: Hilo Hattie. Yes, more shopping – and here it the result from the flea market:

Fabric for something, maybe a shirt? ($10 for three yards)

And who couldn’t resist Christ nailed to a surf board – looks great draped in puca shells. ($15, down from $18)

Three new Hawaii shirts from Hilo Hatties. (1 @ $4.99, 2@ $9.99)

Joe and Lisa headed back to the windward side of the island while I had the remaining leftovers for dinner.

In for the night – my dogs are barking (my feet are killing me).

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I love early afternoon flights. You get up at leisure, you have your coffee, you take your poop, you have a little breakfast, and THEN you head to the airport. Or in my case, to the apartment to leave the car, then take light rail to the airport.

I was all checked in and in the lounge at 11:05 for my 1:05pm flight. Oddly enough, they collected my coupon for the upgrade — last I’d looked there were still seats available. Hopefully I on’t have to use the other one next Saturday. It would be nice to have a round-trip set to save for a long flight — like Cabo San Lucas in November.

Flight was good, which means on time. It was the same sandwich for lunch that was on the Cabo return, apparently the menu changes tomorrow. For those who have forgotten, it’s a turkey, provolone, roasted pepper sandwich on a ciabatta rolls served warm, with a cold salad on the side. Next time I think I’ll just stuff the salad in the sandwich.

My bags were on the carousel by the time I made the trek in for the end of the “A” concourse. And Dan and Lisa were waiting curbside at door 411 — talk about easy.

First stop of the night — Tokyo Joe’s, a fast casual Japanese food restaurant whose claim is “No MSG, No Fried Food”. Good, fast cheap — light dinner for three $20. It seems that they have dozens of locations, but only in the metro Denver area. Too bad.

Next stop — First Bank Center to see the Denver Roller Dolls take on the Philly Belles ins a roller derby match. What a pleasantly odd way to spend a Saturday night. Dan, Lisa, Sean, and Sean’s woman friend whose name I forgot, but pleasant none the less.

It took three trips to the bar and three trips to the souvenir stand before I was sated — lots of stickers, one t-shirt, and three doubles. I’d like to go back sometime and get a sky box for the match as the stadium is small enough that you’re still not that far from the action.

Last stop is Dan and Lisa’s new place in the northern suburbs of Denver, and the bed calls.

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The morning started with a huge breakfast at the Mercury Cafe, this organic place that’s been around in one location or another for years. I had the “Free Peyton Manning” breakfast special, whatever that means — apparently it means two medium over eggs and organic German link sausage with horseradish cream gravey, with cheesy home fries. Good, but heavy, even with the addition of a mimosa. We met Dan’s Mom and Step-Dad there who are in town for the birth of Dan’s brother’s twin girls scheduled for later this week.

Needless to say, after that breakfast it was nap time for Lisa and I. Dan isn’t so good with the mid-day snooze thing.

Later, off to the dog park for a short romp, the dogs not me. Me, I sat on a bench and continued on with the reading of Michael Tolliver Lives, by Armistead Maupin. When I’m done Dan (and maybe Lisa want to read it before they return it to Swanda for “the collection”. It’s just something that you can’t do very easily on the Kindle. Lots of open space north of Denver where Dan and Lisa live, apparently it was a requirement for developers to set aside land if they wanted to build.

A little reading break before Dan and I were off to see Dan’s father’s new condo — yes, his place is filled with unpacked boxes and unhung art just like Dan and Lisa’s. After a thermostat repair and a couple of shots of tequila, off to Bono’s Pit Bar-B-Q. A chain, but the meat wasn’t bad, and all the sides looked good. With the breakfast this morning I should have opted for something a little smaller than the 2-meat platter (which was a lot of food for $12.95). Happy hour mean $2 well drinks, $2 tap domestic, or $3 tap domestic premium beers. Dan and Dad had domestic premiums, I had a double on the rocks. It’s sort of an “odd”chain. A dozen branches in/around Jacksonville, Florida, a couple of more along the east coast of Florida, and then two in the Denver Metro area. Odd.

Returned back to the house in the second food coma of the day, but at 8pm it was a little early to go to bed, so we read until both Swanda and FaceBook announced that Osama bin Laden had been executed so we hung artwork while waiting for the President to make the formal announcement.

The kids went to bed before me, but with the reading lamp now hooked up by the couch I read for a bit longer there, then off to bed for more reading.

Not a bad Sunday all around.

[? ? ?]

Off to see my ex and his wife because the fare was so damn cheap… $135 and some change round-trip. No First Class on the way out, and a bad on-line seating chart left me in a middle seat, but at least it was an exit row.

Lisa met me at the airport and we stopped at Total Beverage to stock up the house on Bourbon and Boxed Wine, and to stock my suitcase with 3 bottles of bourbon (to replace the couple of bottles of Captain Rat Cinnamon Brandy that I brought.

And then there was the weather that greeted me:

Poor Winston who had to go out and do his “business”:

Yep, little booties and a sweater as its below freezing.

Dan was off this Wednesday (with Lisa working, so that was a change from the usual) so we ran a couple of more errands and engaged in unhealthy lunching. Yep, that would be Five Guys Burgers:

I do like their product – and even ate the bun.

The afternoon was filled with installing a recirculating pump on the hot water heater so that the hot water is almost instantaneous…got all done but the upstairs bit before we had to leave for BrightHeart’s Buddhist monk ordination. Fairly amazing that I just happened to have booked this trip before I got the invitation. It was a bit like an episode of Portlandia with nothing set-up when we all arrived at the church. We could blame the snow – took me pushing Dan’s Miata up the driveway to get us there. The ceremony was long and drawn out, with lots of audience recitations – clocked in at an hour.

We didn’t stay for the reception – the fear of more snow. Both starving we stopped at Old Chicago Pizza and split a cup of soup and a couple of crispy chicken salads, with me having a couple of Manhattans to wash it down. Nothing for Dan as he was driving.

Got back to the house and finished the plumbing project while working on some nice rye – and before you knew it, bedtime.

Noon flight back – Lisa was going to drive me since she was off, but Dan woke up sick and called in and ended up driving me because Lisa was apparently in worse shape.

Took a bit of time to check-in, luckily it turned out to be a delay with a good reason – a First Class upgrade to seat 1F. Window, but I’m not complaining. And my plane is here! It’s way at the end.

And it’s still snowy out:

Alaska has an agreement with American to use their Admiral’s Club in Denver. I’ve been there a bunch of time. Nice, airy, free booze and snacks…I ordered a Whiskey and Diet – and this is what I got:

Only one of those and a couple of cookies and it was time to head to the gate.

Now all we need is the flight crew which is stuck behind an accident on the way to the airport – luckily we did get out on time considering the number of folks onboard who had connections heading to Alaska (from cold to colder).

Not a bad lunch in First:

A nice Chicken Caesar.

I was home in plenty of time to make myself a nice quite evening meal and relax away from the cold and snow (well, away from the snow).

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8:30am staff meeting — yes, me, in an early morning staff meeting. Shocking.

This week I’ll be reporting from a work/play trip to Sunny Florida (or at least I’m hoping for sunny) logging some billable hours for Shirts of Bamboo.

After Dan’s doctor’s appointment we are off to Daytona Beach — too bad it isn’t spring break with all the half naked guys running around. Well, not exactly after the doctor — there is picking up the rental car and getting lunch in with Lisa before we hit the road.

Check-in is at 4pm at the lovely (hopefully) WorldMark Ocean Walk. It’s a two-bedroom penthouse — which hopefully means sometime more (like a private hot tub) than waffle weave robes. WorldMark really needs to fix their descriptions if it doesn’t. Example: WorldMark Oceanside (the other ocean — north of San Diego) is an example of a “Penthouse” not including a private hot tub — should be renamed Deluxe instead.

Current plan is to check-in, see what they consider a full kitchen, and then do shopping for two days of dinners and breakfasts. It’s also turned into a business trip since Dan will be meeting with a store owner (seven locations) about carrying some bamboo items from our wholesale line.

Stay tuned for updates, unless I’m having too much fun.

MID-DRIVE UPDATE

Nothing like two geeks on holiday. We are finally making some time after having to repeated stop to get the toys in the rental car working. No Toyota Camry as promised, but instead we have a Ford Fusion with 3800 miles on it — the the Microsoft/Ford Sync system — hence the technology delays.

It was easy enough to get the computer plugged in and hooked up to the system so that we can listen to KPLU (Seattle Jazz Station) and still get directions from Microsoft Streets and Trips via GPS. It was getting the bluetooth on my phone to work — never did, but Dan’s newer bluetooth phone does work, and it downloaded his address book and everything. It’s actually better that his phone work than mine since he gets more calls than I do.

Next stop, Daytona Beach.

******** STOP THE PRESSES ********

Special Update for Helene: Lunch with Dan and Lisa at Pho 97 — a lovely Vietnamese restaurant on 34th in St. Pete. Great fresh rolls which both Lisa and I had — and I had a pork sandwich as well (my portion of the bill…. $5). Nice lunch before being dropped at Hertz.

AND NOW BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM

Off to the market and the liquor store. Publix is a couple of miles north of us. Dinner is both shrimp and lamb with salad, bread, and asparagus…. on the worst collection of cookware that I have ever seen in a WorldMark resort. It’s so bad it is worthy of MORE than the call for a supervisor (still hasn’t shown up), a failing comment card, and many comments on the WorldMark Traveler’s Forum as to “what to expect”.

And here is a shot of Dan and I from last night. I’ll give the link to the rest of the photos when I get them uploaded.

Towncar service came and went. I slept. The SIM card was in the computer, not the phone, hence no phone service. I woke up at 4:45 in a panic. No shower, no shave, no clean teeth. Grab the breifcase, forget the clothes, and drive to the airport and park in the garage. Thank god I printed out my boarding passes last night!

Of course the gate was all the way at the end of A terminal. No time for breakfast — at least there was a snack on the plane to Salt Lake City, and time for sleep.

15 minutes late getting in, so off to the next flight, with no time for food. Came in at the end of C concourse, and, of course, was leaving at the end of D concourse. I wasn’t surprised when I arrived in Tampa — at the far end of the Delta concourse. Does mean that I found the Crown Room for the return trip, but at 6am, probably no drinks. Damn.

Lisa met me at the airport and off to Shirts of Bamboo we go.

Nothing like a little work after travelling, thank god the wine started flowing at five thirty or so cause we didn’t get out of there until seven thirty.

Worth the wait — dinner at the Oyster Bar on Central Ave. A starter of oysters (they only serve bluepointes) baked with blue cheese. I had the crab cakes (after much discussion) with a caesar salad with extra anchovies. Dan had the seabass (get it before it’s extinct) and Lisa an amazing chicken dish. Usually I don’t order chicken because it is dry by the time it hits the table, but the Chicken Rosa was great. No wine, but great Booker’s Manhattans for Dan and I, Lisa had the Abolute Ruby Martini.

Home to check the mail and have a couple of scotchs before bedding down in a totally wonderful cat-free bed.

So — today, in addition to getting some billable hours in, I’ll be visiting the Northwest RV show to see if I can find a dealer to either:

1. take Bob (the Bluebird Wanderlodge) on consignment, or
2. take Bob in as trade on a Class B or maybe C rig.

Wish me luck — so much easier than shuffling up and down the freeway going from dealer to dealer. Worth the $10 since it includes parking.

I’ve also booked some adventures (free) for late September and early October (before and after the birthday cruise):

Port 101

Third Runway 101

• Wednesday, September 10
• Location: Sea-Tac Airport*
• Capacity: 100

Sea-Tac Airport’s third runway will begin operations in November, reducing flight delays and related costs for passengers and airlines. It will make Sea-Tac one of the few airports in the nation that has all runways certified for low-visibility weather conditions. Building the third runway included an elevated embankment, the tallest retaining wall of its type in North America, runway and taxiway construction, FAA facilities and navigational aids and extensive environmental mitigation. Participants will be among the first to visit this 150’ wide, 17” thick, 8,500’ long runway before the first passenger flight lands on it.

—>

Ship Canal 101

• Wednesday, September 17
• Location: Fishermen’s Terminal, 3919 18th Avenue West*
• Partners: Seattle Marine Business Coalition, Ballard Oil, Pacific Fishermen Shipyard, Foss Maritime
• Capacity: 125

Fishermen’s Terminal is the homeport for the North Pacific fishing fleet. It is surrounded by Seattle’s maritime industrial core providing family wage jobs and contributing to our local economy in a big way. Board a “floating classroom” to learn about some of the businesses that have built their livelihoods along the Ship Canal. Guests will board Argosy Cruises’ Champagne Lady for an educational boat tour.

—>

Duwamish River 101

• Wednesday, October 1
• Location: Bell Harbor Marina, Pier 66*
• Partners: Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, Duwamish River Clean Up Coalition, Environmental Coalition of South Seattle
• Capacity: 200

The Duwamish industrial area employs more than 80,000 people with an annual payroll of $2.5 billion invigorating our local economy. Commercial, Tribal and recreational fishing also rely on the waterway as a major source of chinook and coho salmon and the waterway provides estuarine habitat essential to migratory and resident fish and wildlife. Through the combined efforts of government, community groups and businesses, the Duwamish Waterway now flows cleaner through Seattle’s major industrial area to Elliott Bay. Participants will board a floating classroom to learn about the importance of marine industrial commerce, the legacy of past industrial activities, fish and wildlife habitat restoration, and present Superfund clean up plans.

—>

Cargo 101

• Wednesday, October 8
• Location: Terminal 10, Harbor Island*
• Partners: SSA Terminals, BNSF Railway, International Longshore and Warehouse Union
• Capacity: 100

Seattle’s seaport is a major gateway for two-way trade with Asia. See how the operators at Terminal 18, Seattle’s largest container terminal, orchestrate the movement of cargo. Visit BNSF’s rail yard to learn about the transportation connections of ship, truck and rail and see the latest in cargo handling equipment. Longshore workers will talk about their jobs on the docks. Note: Due to security requirements, all attendees will be required to show government-issued photo ID.

All these are FREE and offered on a first come first serve basis, and I’ve signed up for all four.

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