Woke up at the usual time of 4am, even though it was a Saturday. I had my air-fare covered by Jarvae's frequent-flyer miles. And you know how easy those are to use... Since all of the standard seats were taken, I had to be put up in business class. What a trip that was. I can't remember the last time I had a hot meal on a flight. I didn't think they existed any more. Yet there I sat, hot eggs with ham, English muffin and fruit staring me in the face for breakfast on the flight to Seattle (is that Smuckers jam too?). I'm glad I didn't stop for a McBreakfast now.
I could get used to this 'flying business class' stuff... Except for one minor detail: I was irritated at the toddler behind me. It amazed me; we were in business class with all this leg room, and the little bastard STILL had the reach to kick the back of my seat. He better get Gold in olympic running with a stride that far-reaching! Even with that minor annoyance, I couldn't help thinking that this was to be a really good weekend.
I sat next to a guy headed to Alaska for the rest of the month. Talking to this guy made me miss Montana some. He mentioned fishing up at Fire Hole, around the corner from Jackson Hole which is just down the road from where I was raised.* In a flash, I remembered trips to Canyon Ferry Dam to fish with my grandparents that would come up from Campbell, CA for a month or two in the fall on their way to Branson, Missouri for the season. Grandpa would mention how well he did this trip, only spending about $100/day to operate the motor home (with gas prices just over a dollar a gallon!). Catching the carp seemed to be my specialty, while he would catch and clean rainbow trout nearly as fast as he could cast the line in. I think I remember his method for cleaning 'em, too, in a way that negated needing to scale them. He ended up with a trout fillet that was ready for the grill only thirty seconds after biting the hook that caught it. Now THAT'S a fresh dinner.
So, landing a short time later, I met Jarvae at her gate and we went on to get the car. She insisted we keep thoughts of a red Impala in mind because she didn't want yet another rental car that was white. So, due entirely to all that mental chanting (and only perhaps because I put a word in with the rental car guy Brad) we left in a black Charger. When Brad told us this, I was thinking, "Fuckin-a, dude!" Let me just say now though, after several hours and 300+ miles driving it, that the driver seat ergonomics and rear visibility suck every ass out there, all with donkey dicks pounded in 'em. The head rest needs to be a rest people, NOT something that pushed my head forward as a six-foot tall line-backer's head would be pushed down in a five-foot tall phone booth. Even IF it "had a Hemi" in it, I would still have been well short of satisfied with that car.
As to the visit itself... Some mentioned possible "ulterior motives" (wink-nudge) for Jarvae so generously flying me over to see her for the weekend. At the hotel, the concierge checking us in says, "Well I see one person on the reservation, but two people here... Should I assume you don't need the twin double beds?" She says no. I think to myself, "Damn."
After checking in, it was a quick trip back down to Seattle for some wandering around. By then, it was maybe 7pm and much time was spent driving in circles in an unfamiliar city. It was almost a scouting trip to learn what we wanted to hit Monday morning: Space Needle of course, the music experience project / sci-fi museum that closed just as we stopped by there. That one souvenier shop just down from the Needle. Under NO circumstance were we going to stop at that McDonalds that we had passed some seven times! Many photos were taken. There was also the "is that a hard right, or a soft right I need to make?" question I had after being told to make the next left turn at the light as we headed back to the hotel. . . We stopped to have pizza (eh, good but not great), and called it a night around 10-ish.
The Embassy Suites kick serious ass. One thing we had mentioned as we checked in was our intent to head up to Canadia the next morning. Our helpful counter-dude (do they have an actual title?) tells us something ominous. Something called a Hands Across the Border Celebration was to shut down the border for five hours or so on Sunday, 11a-5p. Better be one helluva block party. I didn't even know what their "purpose" was, but with that heads-up we found an alternate route to cross.
Something I hear far too seldom: "Larry, you were right, I was wrong." Thank you dear. Doesn't matter what it was referring to. I'm recording it for posterity.
Sunday morning (after Jarvae had pulled an all-nighter on Friday) came maybe a little too soon. We both got a really good night sleep, I'm sorry to say, and were finished with breakfast & out the door somewhere around 10am.
*note on country nomenclature / distance estimation: "Arond the corner" usually involves going around a mountain between here and there, being careful for moose, bears or fallen trees as you go. "Down the road" is a minimum twenty miles along a road that is generally visible for the entire distance (i.e. Straight as an arrow and maybe even paved), if it's not snowing.
Part II and photos tomorrow
Drowning Pool, Nothingness
Showing posts with label Vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vacation. Show all posts
13 June 2007
29 December 2006
Nebraska
Heads-up. This is more political than vacation, just so you know...
Roughly 450 miles out there, and very uneventful. No bad experiences with snow or state troopers. No mechanical breakdowns or hiccups. Blissful uninterrupted music from the satellite radio. All in all a good seven and a half hours.
I saw three rigs jack-knifed (one of 'em a FedEx trailer... sorry for the late arrival of Li'l Johnny's gift, eh?), a couple cars buried up to their windows in plowed snow, and an impressive positioning of a Ford Explorer in the median, on its side and facing North on this east/west highway. Alas, the camera was in the trunk and anyway I didn't care to waste digital space with those things (yet here it is in stated form anyway).
The kids were... themselves, I guess. One of 'em decided to dig around in my wallet. Another was a temper looking for a tantrum, and found it repeatedly. ... I really love these kids, but damned if I witnessed more than maybe two instances when they were polite, or remotely resembled kids with any idea what the word "behaved" meant. Both of those moments were during church services (I was impressed, really). Even the few photos I took of them belie their incessant harassment of eachother. :sigh: I just don't get it. Or maybe it's because I was an only child that I don't understand it (they're children of a step-sister that I was seldom around). Gawd, I hope that's not it.
As to church; I'm agnostic, but to be part of the family I have no problem joining them to show respect. It's nice to meet some of their neighbors, too. I squirm every time I go though. The reason varies, but is almost always one of three primary reasons.
1) The charlatan. This creature hides in the rank and file of the followers of the faith. All smiles and courtesy, most devout in appearance. Then when you see them at the mall, they're the ones shoving through everyone else like someone entitled, dripping with arrogance and likely parked in the handicapped parking. Sadly, I've witnessed this to be the person in the pulpit as well.
2) The politics. Become a member and soon see factions in the aisles sizing you up as "with us or again' us" in true Good Ol' Boy fashion. Be a part of one, and you'll find that the mechanic in the other faction "forgetting" to tighten the oil drain plug on your car next month. Stupid in the extreme, but present nonetheless.
3) The Message. Maybe I'm just an idealist, but I've always taken the sermon as being education on the Bible, not a thinly veiled soap-box on who to vote for in November. Yet the latter is what I usually see happen.
Joked the pastor during evening mass as he tried putting down more than his pedistal could hold, "I need two pulpits." Gaining a couple chuckles from folks, he continued on. The squirming feeling came when he made an allegory comparing Jesus' decision to spread God's word to man with President Bush's decision to "spread democracy to the middle east". The jist of it was that just as the US is trying to bring democracy to a land that's not too inclined to accept this Western idea of freedom, so too did Jesus experience resistance in his works. The thing is, I have a hard time reconciling that:
a) Jesus was really given a decision to make regarding his task on Earth, and
b) putting him in the company of an idiot like Bush. (yes, I'm a registered elephant and I still believe the guy has naught but the intelligence of sauerkraut).
I'm of the opinion that separation of Church and State (or the illusion thereof) needs to be expanded to separation of clergy and politics.
Okay, so I am a cynical bastard. I'm sure that's the third door on the left in Hell that I'll be taking up residence in when I'm finally done with this coil of mortality & all. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm wrong, though.
Have a great & safe New Year's Eve, everyone.
The Who, Squeeze Box (Live)
Roughly 450 miles out there, and very uneventful. No bad experiences with snow or state troopers. No mechanical breakdowns or hiccups. Blissful uninterrupted music from the satellite radio. All in all a good seven and a half hours.
I saw three rigs jack-knifed (one of 'em a FedEx trailer... sorry for the late arrival of Li'l Johnny's gift, eh?), a couple cars buried up to their windows in plowed snow, and an impressive positioning of a Ford Explorer in the median, on its side and facing North on this east/west highway. Alas, the camera was in the trunk and anyway I didn't care to waste digital space with those things (yet here it is in stated form anyway).
The kids were... themselves, I guess. One of 'em decided to dig around in my wallet. Another was a temper looking for a tantrum, and found it repeatedly. ... I really love these kids, but damned if I witnessed more than maybe two instances when they were polite, or remotely resembled kids with any idea what the word "behaved" meant. Both of those moments were during church services (I was impressed, really). Even the few photos I took of them belie their incessant harassment of eachother. :sigh: I just don't get it. Or maybe it's because I was an only child that I don't understand it (they're children of a step-sister that I was seldom around). Gawd, I hope that's not it.
As to church; I'm agnostic, but to be part of the family I have no problem joining them to show respect. It's nice to meet some of their neighbors, too. I squirm every time I go though. The reason varies, but is almost always one of three primary reasons.
1) The charlatan. This creature hides in the rank and file of the followers of the faith. All smiles and courtesy, most devout in appearance. Then when you see them at the mall, they're the ones shoving through everyone else like someone entitled, dripping with arrogance and likely parked in the handicapped parking. Sadly, I've witnessed this to be the person in the pulpit as well.
2) The politics. Become a member and soon see factions in the aisles sizing you up as "with us or again' us" in true Good Ol' Boy fashion. Be a part of one, and you'll find that the mechanic in the other faction "forgetting" to tighten the oil drain plug on your car next month. Stupid in the extreme, but present nonetheless.
3) The Message. Maybe I'm just an idealist, but I've always taken the sermon as being education on the Bible, not a thinly veiled soap-box on who to vote for in November. Yet the latter is what I usually see happen.
Joked the pastor during evening mass as he tried putting down more than his pedistal could hold, "I need two pulpits." Gaining a couple chuckles from folks, he continued on. The squirming feeling came when he made an allegory comparing Jesus' decision to spread God's word to man with President Bush's decision to "spread democracy to the middle east". The jist of it was that just as the US is trying to bring democracy to a land that's not too inclined to accept this Western idea of freedom, so too did Jesus experience resistance in his works. The thing is, I have a hard time reconciling that:
a) Jesus was really given a decision to make regarding his task on Earth, and
b) putting him in the company of an idiot like Bush. (yes, I'm a registered elephant and I still believe the guy has naught but the intelligence of sauerkraut).
I'm of the opinion that separation of Church and State (or the illusion thereof) needs to be expanded to separation of clergy and politics.
Okay, so I am a cynical bastard. I'm sure that's the third door on the left in Hell that I'll be taking up residence in when I'm finally done with this coil of mortality & all. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm wrong, though.
Have a great & safe New Year's Eve, everyone.
The Who, Squeeze Box (Live)
27 November 2006
Counting can be fun
A Thanksgiving weekend in review
For each direction, there were 750 miles driven (eleven hours) and about 31 gallons of gas consumed, which equates to a mediocre at best mid-20's mileage. Let's also not forget that speeding ticket I got ON Thanksgiving by Officer Sphincter (85 in a 75 zone on I-90... gee, I wonder why the mileage wasn't that great?).
Oh, and to Wyoming's Fish and Game Department: It's time to send out the memo again telling the cute brown bunny rabbits to stay OFF the damn asphalt at 2am when I'm driving along. I turned one of them into a roadkill appetizer for an aquila chrysaetos to feast on later in the day. I did indeed see one of these grand scavengers on the highway enjoying breakfast a few hours later. That was one BIG bird. Had to have been a six foot wing-span as he lifted off to get out of the semi's way. Damn that I didn't bring the camera this trip.
And pass that memo on to the deer too, huh? I won't tell you what I saw spread here and there at about the mid-point between Casper & Cheyenne.
Over the weekend there was also:
One turkey carved and devoured.
One ham, dressed with pineapples & cherries.
Many helpings of REAL cranberry sauce. The kind that requires a stove top & pan, and no can opener.
Mashed potatoes & gravy.
Fruit salad, peas, warm bread & butter, not-from-a-box stuffing... The table was buckling under all the goodness.
But after that...
10 doses of Tylenol Cold non-drowsy (no, not all at once), totalling
- 6.5 g acetaminophen
- 200 mg dextro... hell, call it cough suppressant
- 4 g expectorant
- 100 mg decongestant
6 doses Robitussin cough syrup
- another 600 mg expectorant
and for night-time, 3 doses of Sudafed something-or-other that knocked my ass out.
So after that, there was time for some more counting for the drive home when 5am Sunday rolled around...
Inches of snow: 3
Degrees above zero: 4 F
Attempts needed to start the Nissan: ONE, which makes me all kinds of happy.
Not that I would have been totally crushed to have had to take a day off work due to being out of state and visiting my mom, but if the Nissan can handle Montana's version of an "it's getting a tad chilly" morning, I have no doubt that it'll handle Denver's worst "it's damn cold out there" morning.
187,000-ish scored on one play of Super Mario 3 on the original NES that my mom has had stashed away as her secret addiction (it's only a personal best, and in world 2 at that).
In other news, it turns out that my mom is an old-school gamer. How fucking cool is that? She tells me that some nights she'll stay up until 3am or so playing it. I had a talk with her, gently reminding her about those nights that she would chastize me about the Commodore 64 sessions I had until all hours. The irony was not lost on her, and I mourn the lost opportunity she had to contribute to my delinquency back in the early 80's. Ah well. Oh look! Three more star cards collected. 5-UP baby!
Micronaut, Gravitation Redux
For each direction, there were 750 miles driven (eleven hours) and about 31 gallons of gas consumed, which equates to a mediocre at best mid-20's mileage. Let's also not forget that speeding ticket I got ON Thanksgiving by Officer Sphincter (85 in a 75 zone on I-90... gee, I wonder why the mileage wasn't that great?).
Oh, and to Wyoming's Fish and Game Department: It's time to send out the memo again telling the cute brown bunny rabbits to stay OFF the damn asphalt at 2am when I'm driving along. I turned one of them into a roadkill appetizer for an aquila chrysaetos to feast on later in the day. I did indeed see one of these grand scavengers on the highway enjoying breakfast a few hours later. That was one BIG bird. Had to have been a six foot wing-span as he lifted off to get out of the semi's way. Damn that I didn't bring the camera this trip.
And pass that memo on to the deer too, huh? I won't tell you what I saw spread here and there at about the mid-point between Casper & Cheyenne.
Over the weekend there was also:
One turkey carved and devoured.
One ham, dressed with pineapples & cherries.
Many helpings of REAL cranberry sauce. The kind that requires a stove top & pan, and no can opener.
Mashed potatoes & gravy.
Fruit salad, peas, warm bread & butter, not-from-a-box stuffing... The table was buckling under all the goodness.
But after that...
10 doses of Tylenol Cold non-drowsy (no, not all at once), totalling
- 6.5 g acetaminophen
- 200 mg dextro... hell, call it cough suppressant
- 4 g expectorant
- 100 mg decongestant
6 doses Robitussin cough syrup
- another 600 mg expectorant
and for night-time, 3 doses of Sudafed something-or-other that knocked my ass out.
So after that, there was time for some more counting for the drive home when 5am Sunday rolled around...
Inches of snow: 3
Degrees above zero: 4 F
Attempts needed to start the Nissan: ONE, which makes me all kinds of happy.
Not that I would have been totally crushed to have had to take a day off work due to being out of state and visiting my mom, but if the Nissan can handle Montana's version of an "it's getting a tad chilly" morning, I have no doubt that it'll handle Denver's worst "it's damn cold out there" morning.
187,000-ish scored on one play of Super Mario 3 on the original NES that my mom has had stashed away as her secret addiction (it's only a personal best, and in world 2 at that).
In other news, it turns out that my mom is an old-school gamer. How fucking cool is that? She tells me that some nights she'll stay up until 3am or so playing it. I had a talk with her, gently reminding her about those nights that she would chastize me about the Commodore 64 sessions I had until all hours. The irony was not lost on her, and I mourn the lost opportunity she had to contribute to my delinquency back in the early 80's. Ah well. Oh look! Three more star cards collected. 5-UP baby!
Micronaut, Gravitation Redux
29 September 2006
Leaving ... on a jet plane
Oh how I'd love to not come back, though I wouldn't want to stay permanently at this weekend's destination. I suppose I like Houston as much as the next guy, but if my friends moved to someplace a little less humid, I don't know that I'd ever go back there.
This weekend's happiness is to be camping at the Renn Faire near Houston with friends. Since I've not taken any vacation for a whole ... (flipping through the calendar) six weeks, I thought I'd head on down there, hug friends, chew on turkey drumsticks, and participate in the Great American Past-time known as spending cash. Though I guess that's more like the Mediocre American Past-time since I'm not putting anything on credit cards, but I'm okay with that.
Really though, this is the last vacation I have planned for the year. Until I figure out what to do for the holidaze anyway.
The Start, The Underwater Song
This weekend's happiness is to be camping at the Renn Faire near Houston with friends. Since I've not taken any vacation for a whole ... (flipping through the calendar) six weeks, I thought I'd head on down there, hug friends, chew on turkey drumsticks, and participate in the Great American Past-time known as spending cash. Though I guess that's more like the Mediocre American Past-time since I'm not putting anything on credit cards, but I'm okay with that.
Really though, this is the last vacation I have planned for the year. Until I figure out what to do for the holidaze anyway.
The Start, The Underwater Song
21 August 2006
Explicative-free zone, one day only
The weekend... it was a mixed bag. The races were pretty good. Three Ferrari 250's placed one-two-three in Sunday's group 6B. 6A's big iron roared fantastically on Saturday, and there was only one car-damaging wreck & no driver injuries. In that, it was great.
The post-race conversations where politics and other world issues / crises are solved... well, that just fell through. It seems that while I may be my dad's son, I'm still only a child when debates and discussions are brought to the adult's table. Being interrupted, talked over, and generally ignored made me feel like just going with the thirteen year-old son of dad's business partner to ride bicycles. Only as long as we stayed in sight and out of that dangerous traffic (/sarcasm). In truth, I did get up and walk away, completely unnoticed. I suppose I should be glad someone didn't pipe up with, "Say Larry, could you go to the cooler and get me a beer? Be sure to use both hands now." (okay, NOW /sarcasm... really!)
Photos. Half a gig of photos await downloading & distributing, but I feel more like just deleting the lot of 'em.
And in the bad news department (yeah, it got better upon my arrival home), the property managers did the landscaping for more than half the yard here. Looks like absolute ass, and I am just ever so looking forward to the forthcoming bill for it. It's gonna be hell to try raking up Cottonwood droppings, too.
I think I'll go for a swim over there in that pool... the one with the big letters on the side that says (Lord help me) "Coors". This weekend is just so far beyond explicatives and colorful metaphors that I'm not even gonna bother with 'em
Seefeel, Moodswing ... no shit Dick Tracy. (oops, an explicative... so sue me)
The post-race conversations where politics and other world issues / crises are solved... well, that just fell through. It seems that while I may be my dad's son, I'm still only a child when debates and discussions are brought to the adult's table. Being interrupted, talked over, and generally ignored made me feel like just going with the thirteen year-old son of dad's business partner to ride bicycles. Only as long as we stayed in sight and out of that dangerous traffic (/sarcasm). In truth, I did get up and walk away, completely unnoticed. I suppose I should be glad someone didn't pipe up with, "Say Larry, could you go to the cooler and get me a beer? Be sure to use both hands now." (okay, NOW /sarcasm... really!)
Photos. Half a gig of photos await downloading & distributing, but I feel more like just deleting the lot of 'em.
And in the bad news department (yeah, it got better upon my arrival home), the property managers did the landscaping for more than half the yard here. Looks like absolute ass, and I am just ever so looking forward to the forthcoming bill for it. It's gonna be hell to try raking up Cottonwood droppings, too.
I think I'll go for a swim over there in that pool... the one with the big letters on the side that says (Lord help me) "Coors". This weekend is just so far beyond explicatives and colorful metaphors that I'm not even gonna bother with 'em
Seefeel, Moodswing ... no shit Dick Tracy. (oops, an explicative... so sue me)
16 August 2006
VROOOOM
T minus six hours to end of work, and start of security checkpoints as I head west. I'll be back next week. If any one needs me, I'll be roaming the paddocks here, or sitting near turn 5. Or 8A. Or maybe ... hell, I dunno. This general area:
Regenerator, Blink
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