UMTravels

Trying to keep on top of this trip – and slipping further behind. Cause: too much fun. Damn fun!

5am wake-up call…I don’t really like those, but I don’t set the schedule, I just pick the cheapest redemption values.

It’s a little hard to get pictures of Dubai when you arrive after dark and you leave before it’s light, but here’s a bizarre shot from the cab in the morning…

And of the departure lanes at DBX:

Luckily, the upside of getting to the airport early is time in the Emirates Business Class Lounge. And it’s a lovely facility (though not as nice at the C-terminal one, but B-terminal has a post-security hotel as well. Maybe I should have stayed there. Here is a sampling of shots, starting with the route to customs…it’s a long walk (and from there it breaks off into three different terminals, luckily I’m at B, which is just beyond security):

A little duty-free shopping (Tullamore Dew with a free flask) and then it was off to the lounge, which stretches the entire length of the terminal (but doesn’t have elevators like Terminal C):

It’s one level above departure level and is quite nice:

This would be the buffet from the front:

Which for lunch included a specialty oven just for baked potatoes:

And the back:

Cooked up by this kitchen:

Here is what we started with….

Moet Champagne this time, with chicken sausage (it is a Muslin country after all), scrambled eggs, hash browns, lox, cream cheese, capers. Tried to be moderate after filling up yesterday in the lounge and then not being able to eat all the food on the plane.

Unlike the lounge I was in last year (post here) on the way to Japan, no elevators directly to the gates in this lounge…and not only that – I have first-world problems…no jet-way – but really nice leather seated busses to the tarmac. No wonder they need to build a new airport in Dubai:

Nicest transfer bus I’ve ever been on…and then there were the stairs….

Business Class did have its own dedicated stairs… but still – stairs, with luggage. My first-world arms and legs were complaining…until the champagne came (again Moet), though it hadn’t arrived by the time of this photo:

The 777-300 series Business Class seats aren’t nearly as nice as the A380 seats…10-year-older technology, but the business class section isn’t bad. I know, more first-world bitching:

And this is what the entry way looks like – and honest – the rest of the flight she was smiling:

And we had just two of us for 6 seats in the mini-section at the back of business…

Off we go after settling in…

Today’s flight is only clocking in at about 7 hours – so not the level of service as the overnight runs. But first, some shots of the Dubai skyline for Mr. Whippet (who requested Dubai shots, and with late in, early out, this was the best I could do – and that would be the single Mr. Whippet, not the married Mr. and Mrs. Whippet):

That would be Dubai in the background, and below, an example of pollution problems in Dubai – notice the spire from the tallest building poking through the smog:

But we are settled in, watching movies….

And eating food – this would be the appetizer:

And then the main (Chicken Biryani):

And snacks if we get hungry:

And a light meal before we landed – chicken meat wrapped around lemongrass root – I might have to try that at home:

And then it was all over – the fun that is. Time to fix the visa problem. Line, get form, fill out form, cut in line to turn in form, wait 30 minutes, pay $25 USD (really felt like a government foreign currency making scam since EVERYONE paid in dollars, including the French). Bottom line it was an hour from getting off the plane to meeting up with Sean who was picking me up and giving me a place to sleep. Go Sean!

A cab ride home, crack the duty-free, have a snack, and a reasonable to-bed time.

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Well, with all the other travel, and the Coho Ferry (Port Angeles – Victoria) being dry-docked longer, only one trip planned to Victoria this winter.

The trip didn’t start well – my Uber driver was stuck on 1 minute away for 15 minutes, killing any spare time I had to get to the boat – I ended up driving after finding out he a flat (which I didn’t find out for 20 minutes because he wouldn’t answer phone or text) – it, worrying that the car wouldn’t start when I returned from Victoria since the battery is weak and I’d had it on the charger all the previous night. Not the way I like to start a trip – stressed. You all know how I am about getting to airports/ship terminals/etc. in plenty of time.

This helped the stress:

This is Maia’s second trip with the boys to Victoria. Maia belongs to Seth. Maia likes my roller board and wants to help even though she has two bags of her own. Good Maia:

That would be Daddy Seth‘s foot to the right.

Miracle of miracles, our condo is ready – before noon! Usually, check-in time isn’t until 4pm. We have a 2-bedroom Penthouse unit on the second floor (yes, Penthouse doesn’t mean the top floor in this case, just the level of creature comforts – like our own personal hot tub):

And the view is good, even if it is the second (out of eight) floor:

You can sort of see our “pet”, Jonathan, in this shot – here is a better one:

And no – we don’t feed him – that’s against the rules.

Lunch out is at the Blue Heron Bistro, in the same complex as the grocery store. I start with a Caesar – which is a Bloody Mary made with Clamato. The Canadians are crazy about Clamato:

Lots of fun stuff on the specials menu –

I went with the Rabbit & Chorizo Poutine – that is French Fries, then a layer of cheese curds, then a Chorizo Rabbit Gravy over the top – others went for the duck curry:

Nap time for DancingBear and me – while Seth, MoSis (his BF), and Maia went out to explore the city.

But soon, it was time for dinner….and the couple of racks of ribs I brought up from the states.

Did I mention we bought a little duty-free booze? And here is the dinner, ribs on the upper right:

We do eat well on holidays. And we do relax well on holidays as well…

This is how DancingBear and I spent our time in Victoria, in bathrobes, cycling in/out of the hot tub, reading, playing Word With Friends, staring out at the planes landing on the Inner Harbour.

That and cooking:

Yes, Seth is having greens and sauerkraut with his eggs, babel and cream cheese (where is the salmon I brought?)

More relaxing for DB and I on Wednesday, with the rest of the kids out exploring (aka trying to run Maia out of energy) while we worked on dinner which included a vegan (it was supposed to include TWO vegans). Apparently we were having too much fun to get any pictures of the second night’s dinner which was olive tapenade stuffed portabellas for the vegan(s) and chicken cordon blu for the rest of us.

We were a little short on guest this visit at our favorites RobinHood and CrowDog are on the Sunshine Coast mourning the loss of a close friend – guess I should plan for next year in Victoria!

Before you know it the last afternoon is upon us – and a BIG shout out to DancingBear for renting a full-size car to get us around town and occupy us on the last day when checkout is at noon, and the boat is at five.

Final lunch was at Nautical Nellies – Seth’s suggestion and it was a good one.

I wanted light, so I went for the tempura green beans…

Fish Tacos for MoSis:

DancingBear went for the Cheddar and Crab sandwich – which I really should have taken some of:

And before you know it, we are back on the boat headed out of Victoria –

And eating again….

Cheese, crackers, Chicken Caesar wrap, leftover cranberry juice and vodka we packed for the trip…

The car started when I got back to the garage. Because of the discount from The Clipper, parking was $30 for the three days rather than the $61 that was on the ticket. In the end the price was probably cheaper than Uber to/from.

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Friends of mine (Hummingbird & BamBam) bought a Greek Orthodox Church & Hermitage on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia.

But first I have to get there – and with the ferry on the tail end, decided to stop at the WorldMark Blaine. After dinner I have a Friend from Bellingham stopping by for a bit – student, so it’s a quick visit. Hopefully he’ll like the place:

The view – earlier and later.

And the interior:

Not bad for $56 for the night – 2-bedroom condo with a fireplace and a view – made myself a nice steak dinner, and breakfast for the boy since he was famished from studying all day.

Had the offer to do “The Owner Re-education” for breakfast and some money – passed – made breakfast for myself and headed north.

Stopped at duty-free and got a really good deal – my punch card from Pac-Can Duty Free was full – meaning $10 off on my $22 Jack Daniels 1.14 liter bottle. No THAT’S a deal. And even better – NO ONE in line, either NEXUS or regular – it was like the zombie apocalypse had passed through.

Another hour and I was in line at the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale – and the boys.

And the Indian Vegetarian Snack Stand in the parking lot.

Welcome to the jumping off point to hippy land. And the view is nice….

And a little snack that is NOT on the diet plan – wanted the soft drink, came with fries:

The approach to the island….

The boys are pretty close to the harbour (since I’m now in CanadaLand, I’ll use the Canadian spelling)…this is the Hermitage where I’m staying (4-bedrooms, full kitchen):

The church is down the hill, which, oddly, I didn’t get any pictures – complete with chapel and monastic “cells”, though the boys sleep in a more standard size bedroom. Here is the view from my deck:

This is why they call it the Sunshine Coast:

I had the Hermitage to myself except during the days for meals – which we ate together in the cat-free Hermitage. There was Tobias (Toby) that followed the boys everywhere:

Yep, that’s a whippet – strangely a whippet that has never raced which is a rarity – most are rescue dogs, a lot from Spain.

Good meals, good times:

 

In the morning (late) it was off to town on an errand run… and lunch! Off to Gibbons we go through the fog:

Lunch is in the old part of Gibsons….

Cute little town, complete with a sushi restaurant (our choice after checking out the menus of the places that were open). That would be Sushi Bar Nagomi.

We both got the “box set lunch special” for $10 CAD – with BamBam getting the noodle salad option, and me getting the gyoza option – both came with Miso Soup and a California Roll. $9 for the large Saké. I love their FaceBook review sign in the window: “No Tempura, No [Something Else], Just Fresh Seafood.” True it was.

Back to the house for dinner – just staying the two nights. But not before a little Jinga:

Yep – open floor plan!

Lamb Roast on a bed of potatoes, salad, blood of Christ.

And before you knew it, I was on the road back to Seattle, straight through so I can get ready for dinner with friends on Friday.

[219.8]

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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There has to be a dirty limerick in their someplace – I’m taking suggestions!

Ryan actually booked early November THREE MONTHS AGO and it’s a good thing he did – every other week or so I’d email him, “still coming?” since there was always some good travel deal for that week.

He’s doing a leisurely not anything really scheduled West Coast ramble with an initial stop in Colorado before he headed to Seattle. I made an exception and I’m hosting him for more that my normal three day max – in the end it turned out to be five days (maybe a record).

First night he arrived – sent him this picture so he would know what house he was looking for:

Yep – my house, my car, my untrimmed front yard.

Nice guy – lives on Nantucket, works in his families wine/liquor store – hence the reason for the exception to stay limits. I think this was dinner the first night with my buddy Whippet:

Surf and turf with King Crab Legs – I wanted to show him how we grow crabs on the west coast.

He was excited that I had a pass to the Museum of Flight – trying to get the MOST use out of that pass before it expires at the end of the year – took him over there and checked us both in and gave him my tour of the Concorde that they have open to the public, plus they’ve added some new plane in anticipation of opening their new airplane display space that’s completely under a roof:

You can see it in the background even though it’s actually on the other side of East Marginal Way.

I left him to explore and on my way back to car, caught this great shot of 737 fuselages headed from Wichita, Kansas to Everett for final assembly:

Just add some wing and a few other parts…

He also made use of my “North American Reciprocal” pass (came with the Tacoma Art Museum membership I bought to support the AidsArtAmerica exhibition) to go back to the Experience Music Project ($22 the first time he visited) to go play the old video games – not worth $22, but totally worth it if it’s free. Most of his days were spent exploring the city and trying to decide whether he was headed north or south after my place.

I convinced him that since he was so close to Canada AND he had his passport that he should head north – dropped him off at the BoltBus on my way to work.

Thanks for the great visit Ryan, come back anytime.

Safe travels.

[216.4]

Falling in the category of “no justice in this world” would be a recent fortune cookie fortune:

Guess it’s time to go to Kansas City to pick up some BBQ for the store, hang with some friends, listen to jazz.

With me running late (for me) and my flight leaving from the North Satellite at Sea-Tac, I got to check out the new Alaska Airlines Board Room location:

Small – but it will do until 2017 when the whole terminal is renovated and they add gates and move the club to the roof.

It was great to be leaving this:

But it’s pretty above the clouds:

And in seat 1A, free entertainment:

No photo of lunch, but it was the turkey ensalade capresse warm sandwich of other trips. And more funny bits of reading material:

Lots of that arranged for Kansas City!

Dinner with Paul and Gail the first night around the part of town the old Subs Pub was located at Café Trio. Interesting drink menu:

I started with the Fig Manhattan before moving onto the Rosemary and Maple Whiskey Sour – Gail went with the White Icicle:

And for my dessert, something with a little Foie Gras:

It was pretty, but the little roll things needed to be room temperature, not chilled.

Gail headed back to Greenwood (their “summer residence”) where they have taken the cat to make my visit easier and Paul and I headed to The Green Lady, a 7-day-a-week jazz bar – and it was amazing. Not often to you see a trio composed of vibes, Hammond B-3, drums:

And here is a little of the music:

And, of course, a couple of more Manhattans:

The nice thing about staying with Paul is that we BOTH sleep in super late – so that breakfast was actually LUNCH at Arthur Bryant’s. Paul had the pulled pork/beef combo sandwich:

I went for the “Pig On A Bun”:

After lunch, bought two cases of Arthur Bryant’s Original BBQ Sauce for the shop, then we swung by Gates to pick up a case of their original sauce – and the trunk shows it:

Tonight’s gathering is at Harry’s Country Club where the gang plans to meet.

Oddly enough I didn’t get ANY pictures of all eight of us gathered in a little mini-reunion. Paul and Gail from Kansas City, Phil, Diane, Byron, Vicki, and Retta from Lawrence – I was amazed that the Lawrence folks would drive over for a mid-week dinner.

I DID get pictures of my lunch the next day back at Harrys – the pastrami sandwich lunch special with potato salad:

No cocktails for me at lunch, just iced tea – but if I wanted whiskey – man do they have a selection!

Before you know it, it’s time to load up for the airport, and my return trip – just A LITTLE luggage:

Yep – it was easier to use a cart to get it all down stairs.

No upgrade for the way home – I was number 11 on a list of 27 – on a THURSDAY! At least I got one of the 4 empty seats between me and a MVP Gold 75K flier in the window:

And with the complimentary cocktail when I don’t get upgraded:

Whippet picked me up at the airport (handy with all that luggage!) so I took him to an old-school Seattle institution, The Thirteen Coins. Must be a theme…. Pastrami for lunch, Ruben for dinner. Actually, we both had the Rueben, mine with a Manhattan side:

A quick,but fun, trip back home.

[215.4]

Tis the season for cruising apparently – with Princess offering $179 per person (plus $45 port fees) for a mini-suite on the three-day cruise from Los Angeles to Vancouver.

But first I have to get to LA, which was being a little problematic. Made it to the Board Room on my usual schedule, even to my favorite seat on the plane (1C):

I’m still in my jacket because they had just pulled the plane from the hanger. Maybe they should have left it there. We were headed down the runway when the captain came on to say we were going back to the gate because of a mechanical issue…never a good sign. After 30 minutes they let us off – this is the dead plane:

Yes, I was in First Class, but the plane wasn’t going anywhere. This is me in my office of two hours – since they kept changing boarding plans, no time for a quick cocktail and snack in the board room:

A call to Princess was next (to tell them of the flight delay since we’d contracted for the Princess Transfer Package), an energy bar after that. Two hours later we finally loaded – my plane that was supposed to land at 10:20 was now landing at 12:33 – the guy in seat 1D on his way to Santiago, Chile (and several other 1^st class passengers) abandoned the trip. I was seriously hungry (that energy bar didn’t last that long) and we were at least 45 minutes in when food showed up – at least it was good food:

Landed, found Craig, found luggage, and then…another hour wait – this time for other passengers on delay flights. I should have used the transfer ticket Alaska gave me for the inconvenience of almost missing my Princess Transfer, it was a shared van rather than a shared bus:

In fairness to Alaska – even while I was seated waiting to take off I got both a text and an email apologizing for my delay, and telling me that there would be a $125 eVoucher within the next 24-48 hours for a future flight. As it turned out, the voucher was in my inbox when I finally landed. I may have been frustrated at missing lunch on the Ruby Princess, but at least Alaska came through with compensation without asking (which I would have).

Got to the boat at 2:30pm, the upside is that there is NOBOBY in line, no booze check, no mandatory embarkation photo portrait – just through all the hoops and onto the boat. The downside is that we had 15 minutes to slam down our mini-suite welcome champagne and grab our life vests for the mandatory lifeboat drill. What we both wanted was food – which after the drill the only thing open was the burger/dog stand. But we are on the boat at last. At the drill, champagne in hand:

And this, taken after the drill – don’t I look much calmer?

And yes, that would be LA Tap Water in my water bottle – actually, its swag courtesy of Craig from Los Angeles Water & Power emblazoned with “Pure, Clean, Refreshing TAP”. In through that would be bourbon and ginger. Notice the Pilot Boat in the background. And a beautiful sunset:

Complete with black hawk helicopter following us (sorry for the crappy shot, didn’t have the real camera on the trip):

The schedule had the LGBT gathering is at the Wheelhouse Bar at 5:30….Craig and I get there 5 minutes late to find 20+ people already there and by the time I did a count it was closer to 45 people. WOW.! No picture – privacy issues.

But there are plenty of other random photos to show…The Atrium (and then the deck):

The food (first is the fettuccini alfredo in the parmesan basket):

And not one meal at the “famed” buffet. I’d rather be served than serve.

Let’s not forget our lovely mini-suite:

We didn’t get our room steward trained to bring us ice, so we had to order from room service which brought us the “gigantico” size – this is the one that they serve half a dozen mini-Dos Equis in at 8am:

And the bars – this one set up for the Elite nightly cocktail party (tonight = salmon on toast points):

Or the shows after dinner (or before, depending on your schedule):

But really, most of the reason that I cruse is to do nothing at all other than look at the sea, day or night:

And to occasionally see old friends (several of which I’ll see on the Ruby December 15^th as well):

On the second day of our cruise – just after I’ve finished watching an episode of The Love Boat (they have a separate channel on the TV for Love Boat reruns) – Craig decides to get some news. I’m a news hound so this isn’t a problem with me, well, until this was the news:

After three nights we disembark in Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaLand.

We are spending the night at the WorldMark at The Canadian – so off by cab we go. And no, at 10am our room isn’t ready. My response is to go to the Recreation Room and curl up on the couch for a nap – Craig went our exploring.

After nap, it’s shopping for lunch, then praying that the room will be ready before 4pm (which is the official check-in time) – they got us in by 2:30 so I’m not complaining. It’s only a one-in-ten chance (or less) that the room would be ready in the morning.

And the room, it’s a two-bedroom, two-bath compact, no dining room (I hate that part, but it was what they had in a 2-bedroom):

The view isn’t too bad either:

One of Craig’s main reasons for signing onto this trip was the chance to visit our mutual friends Raspberry and Rosario who got married the week before our visit – I made them a post-wedding feast of chicken thighs poached in Salsa Verde (and I found the salsa in CanadaLand!), salad, bread, broccoli…

They brought wine – I brought whiskey – Craig just looked pretty. No pics of the wedding party or us – guess we were just having too much fun for tomorrow I head back to Seattle, while Craig stays on for a couple of days.

In the early afternoon the next day – Craig is off to the boys and I’m off for the train station for my trip back to Seattle. For a couple of hours, this was my office:

It was grey and drippy outside, figured it was time to catch up on some reading.

But if I’d wanted to buy some BitCoin in Pacific Central Station, it was available at the convenience store:

Before long I was at the American Border – handing over my customs form and drinking leftover wine that I’d put in those refillable shampoo bottles.

And a final shoutout to Whippet, who picked me up from the train station. I must keep inviting him to dinner to pay back these favors.

[215.8]

It seems over the last couple of years that I’ve always ended up in Santa Fe early to mid-December. It’s the combination of cheaper tween holiday’s airfare and my work schedule on said holidays. This year was no different, except that I’m down to two people to visit in Santa Fe – my sis and bro-in-law. Mom died last July, and the last niece is out of the house – back east for her first year of college.

Had a good meal the night before with friends, including Roxy who has gone from vegan before I knew him, to vegetarian, to pescatarian, and now to “freegan” which means he’s feeling a money pinch and will eat whatever (including pork ribs) is put in front of him.

And they were good considering it was the convection oven, not the smoker that produced these.

It being the holidays (anytime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’ve broken out the pussprint Santa hat for my travels. It’s hard for fellow travelers to be grumpy with a dumpy Santa in pussprint (and a Red Baron in the Board Room).

And you get better service onboard as well:

That would be a Cobb Salad with blue cheese, a cookie, and a cocktail. And while I prefer the aisle, a freebie upgrade a First Class bulkhead window is fine considering the view:

The original plan was to take the Rail Runner north, but the lateness of my flight meant getting a rental car was easier, and it allowed me to do some shopping on the way north.

Tiny, but it worked. Here is the stuff I’m planning on taking back with me:

That would be Mom in the middle, well, the ashes of Mom – she’ll be joining Dad in the Rattan Elephant they bought in India in 1976,

Good to see sis and bro-in-law, though the house is so oddly quiet without any teenagers around! We ate in the first night, but the second night we went to Harry’s Roadhouse and had a meal that started with an appetizer of Latkes – which in the Seattle tradition should always be accompanied by tequila because of a tradition dating back to the Great Snowstorm of 1999 in Seattle. At 3pm, everyone in the Seattle Metro Area looked out the window and said, “Oh, shit!”, and all got into their cars to head home at exactly the same time. Result? Instant snowy gridlock. It took me an hour to get around the block and back into the parking lot at Microsoft where I promptly requisitioned a magnum of bubbles from the storeroom and popped the cork. A concerned co-worked expressed worry that I was going to drink all that and then drive. My answer, “I’m planning on sharing this with everyone else who is going to be stuck here sleeping under their desks for the night.” In the end, one of the woman in our department who lived snowshoeing distance took in a dozen of us for the evening. It being the last night of Chanukah, what she had in the house was a bag of potatoes, Costco-sized apple sauce and sour cream and a ½ gallon of Tequila. Hence, a tradition was born, but I’ve forgotten the lyrics to the Chanukah songs she taught us in Hebrew. Here is this year’s celebration:

No Commenortivo Tequila, think it was Hornitos.

It was a quick visit – Thursday morning I got an email from the tasting room at the Gruet Winery in Albuquerque responding to my late Sunday request for a behind-the-scenes tour of their winery since we had just featured their Blanc de Blanc Method Champenoise the previous Saturday. Since I hadn’t heard back I was still in my robe! Up and out the door to the winery I go.

Since the bottling line was running and the Production Manager busy, they started be having me taste ALL their wines, both still and sparkling:

And that only HALF of them – the full list (with my notes) below:

There is a much more in-depth report on my trip to Gruet on the Madrona Wine Merchants site.

Time to return the rental car and get the hell out of Dodge (I mean Albuquerque)., but I have to share this sculpture that is outside the fire department the exit before the airport – it’s too damn cute:

Got through security and up to the observation lounge to do the blog for the shop, post some entries on other sites, catch up with mail. The nice thing about the Albuquerque Sun Port (the name of their international airport) is that it’s also a working military base, so you get to see lots of interesting planes and helicopters:

Sorry the contrast is so bad – nothing like shooting into the sun. Four-prop bulbous nose military plane of some sort.

Got the last night upgrade to first on the way back – even a last minute bulkhead aisle – and some of the flight crew even remembered my Santa Hat! And even better than that, Mr.Whippet gave me a ride home from the airport, and in exchange I took him out for dessert (dinner for me):

At the end of the day, my parents were reunited in the rattan elephant in my living room…

Dad’s is the dark set of ashes, Mom the lighter set.

Guess I need to build a pedestal for them now.

[216.4]

You never know when you book several weeks out what the weather is going to be like. This time I lucked out.

This trip started because of KPop – Korean Pop music which I know nothing about, but the 13-year-old daughter of a friend is nuts about it. During a random conversation at the shop, it was mentioned that the 19^th was said daughter’s birthday, and that she’d already gotten her birthday present in advance (a different KPop concert), but her actual birthday her favorite band was playing in Vancouver. As a surprise in case the parents relented, I booked a two-bedroom at the WorldMark Vancouver that just happened to be available.

In the end, they couldn’t make the date work, and rather than cancel the room, I decided to keep it for myself and string it along with a couple of other nights – and this was the result:

Day One – WorldMark Seattle – The Camlin

I already had the Camlin booked for this year’s scholarship reading party (part two), so after work it was setting up the nibbles for the readers (Salamander, Roxy, Courtney, Mr. Whippet, Jonathan and Rodney). Here is what the results were:

And all of us hard at work!

It wouldn’t be a post of mine without a couple of shots of the rest of the two-bedroom unit…

Day Two – WorldMark Victoria

The morning found me up early – off to an 8:30am “Owner ReEducation” presentation that “promised” to me an “information” session rather than a “don’t you want to get to the next level” hard sell. I agreed to an hour (for a $100 AMEX card), which was taken up with the information part, leaving no time for the hard sell since I had a ferry to catch to get to the next WorldMark…

Yes, that would be my ferry – and below, arriving at Bainbridge Island – I love the Olympics in the background of both these photos:

It was a good thing that I made a reservation on the Coho Ferry – I didn’t get to the terminal until a little after 1pm for a 2pm sailing because the rarely opened Hood Canal Bridge was OPEN, delaying my about half an hour. As you can see, I’m at the end of the line:

They even managed to get all the standby cars on!

And me looking grim with the mountains in the background…

Goodbye United States…

Hello Canada! Victoria, British Columbia to be precise.

Got all checked in – here is the view:

Since Courtney liked the video in a previous post I put a video here of the inside of the unit:

So far, I’ve had two-bedroom units, and no one to share them with – tonight, none of my Victoria peeps have the time to hang and have dinner. Sigh. I did get to see Royce since he is a checker at the Thrifty grocery store where I shop. Came back with a steak and a salad (and a view):

I do love the WorldMark Victoria – think it is my favorite of all the WorldMark Resorts.

Day Three – WorldMark Vancouver

Another day, another ferry ride. Had a reservation for this one as well, but it was only 25% full (MUCH larger boat). But the reservation did get me onto the boat before those without. A nice perk:

And it was a beautiful day for a ferry ride:

A slight hiccup checking in at the WorldMark Vancouver – I’d forgotten to change the name on the reservation – it was still in Courtney’s name – luckily as the owner, it was OK once they found the correct paperwork.

Here is the WorldMark Vancouver unit:

At least on this stop I have company for dinner:

The 2-bedroom at the WorldMark Vancouver is described as “Compact – No Dining Room” – which means eating on TV tables – but look how we made a table! Whole splayed (flattened) chicken, salad, rosé – though Epick and Tom weren’t drinking – Sebastian and I MORE than made up for them, also killing off a good portion of a bottle of whiskey as well. My kind of boy!

Our rosé…

Not bad – I’d buy it again. And again, nobody to fill the second bedroom on this stop either.

Day Four – WorldMark Birch Bay

Out of the unit at noon – US bound. Stopped at Duty Free – 10% off because of my Nexus Card, plus the 25% off because of the exchange rate – it’s like they like paying me to drink!

Got to the condo around 2pm – room wasn’t ready, but they weren’t full so they moved me to a unit that was clean – which was 308:

Not bad views:

That would be the sun going down over Birch Bay – I was here two weeks ago and we stayed with a MUCH better view (and it was available, but do I REALLY need 3-bedrooms and a hot tub just for me?)

Had a late lunch next door at The Shores – yes, a Rueben. Not the best but pretty good, didn’t realize it came with fries, would have ordered a side salad – because, yes, I ate all the fries:

What I couldn’t believe was a BRAND NEW BBQ on the deck – never used!

No company tonight – though it was on the agenda. Luckily I’m fine with flying solo.

Next time I think I might add the WorldMark Discovery Bay (east of Port Angeles) and one or both of the WorldMark Whistler resorts into the Circle Tour.

[216.2]

I finally found the pictures of the condo unit (2-bedroom, 2-bath):

And here is the place we moved into at Bally’s on The Strip. But did I take any interior shots….no, damn. This was the view though at sunset with the wheel front and center, so who cares what the room looked like, though it was nice, unfortunately $225 nice since it was the first day of the Electric Daisy Carnival, more on that later:

Out of the condo at noon after snagging another $125 AMEX reward card for saying no a dozen (or three dozen) times, and off to Bally’s on The Strip for us – and luckily we were able to check in early! Here is a shot of Rache and I on the casino floor headed to the room:

Since breakfast was a while ago – it was time to find food. And that food would be Truffle Mac and Cheese at Off The Strip (on an “alley” leading to The High Roller).

Though you can barely see it, there is a Manhattan behind it, and Rache’s beer as well – we both had the Truffle Mac and Cheese for lunch – Rache did the smart thing and only ate half of his – I foolish ate the whole thing (which, while good) sat like a lump in my stomach with 100 degree temperatures outside.

Tourist item for today is The High Roller at the Linq Hotel. That is The High Roller in the photo above. The interesting thing about this one is that four of the cars have open bars (a more expensive ticket, but I had a two for one TravelZoo coupon).

And the stunning views:

At a pit stop after the ride – we stumbled across this mural in the bar. Yes, there is a bar at the attraction – in case you wanted a drink for the ride.

What trip would be complete without some random “about town” shots:

For my buddy Mr. Whippet – also known as LastBuffalo – one of the slot machines in Bally’s.

So – more about this Electric Daisy Carnival – one of the local DJ schools for high-school students had their kids set up in booths all over town welcoming folks to the carnival – this one sponsored by Red Bull:

This is a chunk from Rache’s email blast about his trip – he did the research so I don’t have to:

So, Markie and I are really lucky to have a room this evening on The Strip. Because this long weekend is the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), one of the biggest electronic dance music festivals in the world. The flagship is held here in Las Vegas. In 2015, it drew more than 400,000 people over the 3-day event. Helicopter rides from The Strip to the venue and back go for $800. A reporter on a local news/talk show this morning said that he witnessed a party finishing up at 5:00. He inferred that the theme of that party was beach or swimming because of the attire of the folks emerging from the party site. Anyway, Markie and I are going to be on The Strip tonight so we’ll see what comes of that.

As it turns out, my longtime friend OffWhite was in town with his BurningMan posse with their flame throwing octopus:

Thanks Off for letting me use your pictures.

One of the possible plans was to go see Wayne Newton – maybe just to see how tight that facial skin has been stretched over the years. He has a new show, Wayne Newton Up Close and Personal which, of course, he since Danka Shen and the other great hits from his 120-year-long career. Mostly he sits on a couch with his guitar singing and interacting with the audience. I heard a rumor that he lip-syncs some of the songs – who does he think he is, Milli Vanilli?

Instead, earlier in the day I’d gotten a text from NorthShoreJeremy who I met last month on, you guessed it, the North Shore of Hawaii. He came over and hung out and drank with us for a couple of hours. It was nice getting to know him better:

It was an early to bed evening for the both of us – stimulation overload is part of the cause, and early flight in the morning the other cause. I’ll close with the shot of Rache and I’s morning request communications system:

Until my next adventure….

[? ? ?]

In what has become an annual tradition for the last three years, Roxy and I are once again off to Whistler for some “hiking”.

Top down the whole way, with a few sprinkles – overcast mostly.

Condo was ready for us when we arrived a little after 4pm – not a bad place. It’s a one-bedroom so Roxy is on the fold-out couch:

First stop is the IGA for a bird and supplies:

Just like my trip to Puerto Vallarta a couple of weeks ago, it’s going to be a chicken week, made easier by the fact that Roxy is enthusiast about food.

The next morning up and on the road – but with a wake-up selfie for a friend just back from Europe:

A bit out of focus, but that’s Roxy’s fold-out couch/bed.

We were SLOW getting out of the condo, it was after noon when we picked up our Peak2Peak Season passes… what was overcast yesterday was cloudy and drippy on the mountain….this is on the first gondola:

Which turned into this on the Peak2Peak….

For us, having skipped breakfast (for sleeping in until 11am) we headed directly to Christines for lunch – it was closed for renovations last summer, but it was a favorite our first year:

Roxy had the Salmon…

I had the Blackened Ahi…

Sorry that both shots were after we’d “tucked in” as the Brits would say.

This should give you an idea of the weather on our first two days on the mountain:

But there was a “cool” display of a “faux” GMC Denali gondola:

After last night’s dinner, I’d stripped the chicken and Roxy made us Chicken/Ciabatta/SweetOnionDressing sandwiches for our mountain adventure – tasty they were:

I also boiled down the bones and made stock for chicken/vegetable/noodle soup – with is tonight’s meal:

Got to get your money out of that chicken!

Even made it to the hot tub for a soak post dinner after our “grueling” day of “hiking”:

Day Three in Whistler required a room change – down the hall in the Handicapped Unit – couldn’t find four days together in one unit, so that meant packing everything up, leaving it on a trolley, bagging the stuff in the fridge, and having it magically appear in our new unit.

But, again, the mountain was socked in…

This day, we were wise enough to bring books along, spending many revolutions in the Peak2Peak Gondola, not bothering to get off – just introducing ourselves to new riders with each turn.

More chicken noodle soup for dinner – the staff kindly moved it pot and all, replacing the missing pot from our new kitchen.

And oh what a difference a day makes when the sun comes out! Lines everywhere…

No more round-and-around for us. People everywhere because of the break in the weather…

And the first hike we do – it’s a Black Diamond trail to the Peak Express. Remember, I’m the guy that only does the Green Diamond Trails. That would be the lift down in the valley – bad for my knees on the way down, bad for my breathing on the way up:

Said “Black Diamond” trail:

On the walk I saw this gentleman doing a watercolor on the path – reminded me of my brother-in-law on hikes:

That would be a snow making lagoon on the upper right.

As you can see from the video below, there is a reason we didn’t take this lift Tuesday or Wednesday in the bad weather – they are open chairs!

But it sure is pretty at the top!

The way DOWN is actually a little more breathtaking – though I didn’t get the camera turned on in time to see the sudden “over the cliff” launch – but as luck would have it, that’s right where the lift stopped.

I had a hankering for a hot dog – apparently not easy to find when they don’t have their outdoor grill going – unless you are a whole suckling pig!

Guessing that’s for the pulled pork poutine (which I had last year). I had to settle for the Children’s Combo which had a VERY SAD hot dog, fries, and three sides (yoghurt, fruit strips, fruit cups, etc.). That said, it was $10 CAD, minus 10% because we are pass holders, bringing it to $9 CAN, and with the exchange with $1 USD equal to $1.30 CAD, it was a cheap lunch in an expensive place:

Alas – lunch at Christines is a once-a-trip treat (we spent $110 CAD on lunch Tuesday for the two of us).

The trip is coming to the end, so, a little more reading, hanging out on lifts, but no more hiking:

And from our final ride down the mountain:

Before you know it, we are one the road headed home – actually got out of the condo by 9AM! Don’t we look relaxed on the road?

The border was maybe 20 minutes because I spent five minutes buying duty-free rye, cutting off another 10 minutes of traffic – would have been quicker, but Roxy doesn’t have a Nexus card – but not bad. We made it home after getting stuck in Seattle traffic by 3:30 or so… plenty of time to cook dinner for our mutual friend, Mr. Whippet!

Pardon the stacks of wine boxes – got 10 cases of “Buck-A-Bottle” for upcycling.

All-in-all, a fun trip. Going back early September since I have a season-long pass – and there is “room at the inn”.

[214.8]

So, its summer, which for me is no cheap bargain flights anywhere, so it’s time to explore the city. So over the last couple of weeks I’ve been doing tourist things with friends who are also free during the week.

Let’s work from Free to Pricey – though I visited these places in the reverse order.

Filson Factory Tour (FREE):

Filson is what Eddie Bauer used to be – the rugged outdoor ware company, albeit from the West Coast rather than the East Coast. Eddie Bauer has bounced around from corporate overlord to corporate overload, but Filson is still privately owned. But one thing is the same – they stand behind their product, even if your grandfather bought that jacket, they will repair it.

Here is great overview of Filson from Wikipedia: LINK HERE. Like most things, you start digging into it and although privately held, it’s held by the same folks who have Fossil and Shinola. On the upside, you should see the Filsons/Shinola bike which I don’t see on their site (or Shinolas) that had nice bamboo accents. There is still one in their showroom in Seattle – last time I asked the price I think it was upwards of a grand.

All of Filson’s production is done domestically for most of its flagship line of bags and heavy-weight jackets with a free small exceptions like dry bags (thick rubber bags for rafting, etc.) – belts, bags, all US production in Seattle, but their new line of more casual shirts I believe are outsourced/partnered to Levis (guess I’ll have to look at the “made in” tags on the next visit) but the one I looked at on the site said “imported”.

All that said, it was great to see high-end work being done in the middle of Seattle. Here are some shots. First the showroom:

And then the factory tour – with the “hottie” tour guide:

TONS of staff (ratio 4 staff to 1 customer) on the floor. Unfortunately the one item I wanted was only part of a package of a watch and books. Sigh. FYI – that “package” with the watch runs $1000. I just wanted the orange bandana! Tours are Tuesdays at 10am, Thursdays at 1:30pm– the meet on the THIRD floor, showroom is on the SECOND floor. It almost made me miss the tour!

Next up (in reverse order) is:

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Visitors Center (FREE)

The Foundation is right across the street from EMP – The Experience Music Project, located at Seattle Center. Why not add it onto a visit to Seattle Center, The ChuckHooy Glass Abuse Garden, the Science Center, etc.

During opening hours it’s a self-guided tour – which is esthetically pleasing, but WORD heavy. Show up at 2pm for the guided one-hour tour. It still give you time to explore areas of interest in-depth, but give you a better overview of Uncle Bill’s work (no, I’m not his nephew, I’m just an ex-Microsoft employee).

Here are a couple of shots from the Visitor’s Center:

Because we need a “selfie” in this post – they had a photo booth:

Would have been nice to have some starving children in the background or something (just kidding).

And the final stop in this Seattle Tour is:

Experience Music Project – EMP ($25 but free for “North American Reciprocal Museum Association” Members)

This might be the hidden benefit for my “Pioneer” Tacoma Art Museum (TAM) membership. Last October I got a TAM membership to support the AIDSartAmerica exhibit which they were lead organizer. With the membership I got reciprocal privileges to The North American Museum Association and Museums West. Very amazing for a smaller regional museum – and that level of membership was $125 for a year, with half a dozen guest passes to the museum.

So far, during this year, I’ve gotten six entrances to EMP ($150), 4 entrances to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans ($54 soon to be 5 at $67.50), 1 entrance ($10.50 soon to be 2 at $21.00) to the New Orleans Museum of Art, 4 entrances into The Tacoma Art Museum ($60), 2 entrances into The Neon Museum in Las Vegas ($36), 2 entrances into the Georgia O’Keefe Museum ($24), Palace of Governors ($24), and New Mexico Museum of Art ($24). Round numbers: I’ve gotten $382.50 value out of my $125 – think about that they next time you are in a museum – check out their partners and get something than the other “basic” membership (caveat – some reciprocal memberships restrict benefits within 60 miles of your “home” museum, and some [like the Neon Museum] require BOTH member cards for two people, most do not). It’s nice to be able to give your “Guest of Mark Souder” pass to visitors in town especially for the EMP. Just like my National Parks Pass, I tend to favor smaller museums because they collect a larger chunk of the money.

But I digress (as usual) – we are talking about the Experience Music Project which started as Paul Allen’s dream to build a Jimi Hendricks Museum. The Hendricks family looked at the co-founder of Microsoft and wanted a whole wad of dough to aloe name to be uses – hence “The Experience Music Project” that holds Paul Allen’s’ collection of Jimi Hendricks memorabilia, his Sci-Fi (Paul’s, not Jimmi’s) collection, and rotating exhibits. It is in a Frank Gehry designed building that has the Seattle Monorail running through (but not stopping in) it. Here is the LINK to the background of the museum.

Let’s get to some pictures of the place!

Mr. Whippet and the EMP.

So, the Museum is split into sections – Guitars, Hendrix Nirvana and various other music-themed exhibits, and then there is the Horror, Fantasy, Infinite Worlds sections, plus a couple of areas for special exhibition – currently one on Star Trek (extra $5 upcharge) and the other “The World of Wearable Art (WOW)”. Here is a sampling of photos starting with Fantasy and a couple of costumes from The Wizard of Oz:

Then Science Fiction:

Then into Guitars:

And finally, wearable art:

By the end of the Museum I was feeling a little peckish – luckily there is a Wolfgang Puck Pop Kitchen & Bar – 50% off on food items for members and reciprocal members. Yahoo!

Time for a Manhattan and some parmesan fries.

Next time I go to the opera I might have to come here for an early dinner!

So there you have some free and not-so-free (unless you want to borrow my pass).

Safe travels everyone.

[215.0]

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.

[? ? ?]

For more blog posts, click here.

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.

[201.8]

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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