Vacation in Seattle and Vancouver, Part I

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

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Drowning Pool, Nothingness

Wino In Training

Whadda great weekend. Jarvae was my guest for the whole of it.

Actually time spent with her started back on Tuesday when she and her coworker went with me to see Spiderman 3. Long movie, but better than I'd anticipated from all the stuff I'd ready about it. Maybe what I had read was penned by the Spiderman Purist society or something. Ah well. I liked it, that's all that matters.

Forward to Friday; I picked her up as she dropped off her rental car, and we went to Chipotle after stopping at a couple places. The Fire Bowl Cafe turned out to be a Chinese food place. I thought it was interesting that the word "wok" isn't to be found anywhere until you're looking closely at the menu. You can find the menu in their web site if you have the patience to look around. It seemed to me that they want to be 'hip' to the point of trying to distance themselves from a "Chinese Restaurant" kind of place that has paper lamps hanging from the ceiling and dragons on every wall. They say: "Vegetarian, low carb, allergy sensitive? Come in and build a bowl to meet your special diet needs. Just ask one of our cashiers if you need help." Are you kidding me?? They expect their cashiers to be dieticians? Good grief. Yuppie-ville has spawned yet closer to my neighborhood.

We agreed that the weekend was going to be one of sleeping in, and to that end we watched part of Dr. Strangelove until she fell asleep. I nudged her enough to get her to go to bed. She woke up the next morning at 7:30. I should probably iterate here that Jarvae is not one you would call a "morning person"; I am usually her main alarm clock when she needs to get somewhere (like work). At least, when she doesn't answer and hang up the phone in her sleep. If she answers in her sleep and starts talking, it's a laugh riot though!

So she wakes at 7:30 completely on her own, though I think me walking out to get the paper might have been the culprit, really. We went to Pearl Street Mall and wandered around for a few hours. We stumbled across a winery and it was, as they say, all over. She likes wine. She likes tasting wine. She likes this to such a degree that she has told me of her intent to have the many bottles of wine that she's accrued taken to an actual Self-Storage Wine Cellar (I can't imagine what this would look like) somewhere for something like $40/month. This makes no sense to me, I think mostly because I'm sane.

She is now bound & determined to convert me to wine as well. After three wineries over two days, it seems I like white wines over red unless there's chocolate within reach to go with the... What are they again? Oh yeah, "tannins". So now I've got four whites in the fridge and a red in a dark dresser drawer, and a lot of reading to do. I know, I know. Just don't even start, okay?

Saturday evening after dinner with the g/f (recently ex... that'll take a post on its own), we try watching Young Frankenstein. I understand why she's not seen this movie. She keeps falling asleep!! It's either that, or she's just been entirely too sheltered in her young life. Anyway, the following morning I come out of my room at 8-ish & see her already awake. Says she was up again at 7:30. I think Mario woke her up this time though. We'll see how she does going forward to see if she's becoming a morning person or not (if you know her at all, I'm sure you can guess the answer to that, right?).

During the driving around over the weekend:

Pouting from Jarvae: "Hey! Why did you lock the windows so I can't roll it down?" --extra pouty, even HURT look--

I checked the window lock & it was not on, then watched as she tried to roll the window down.

I replied, "Darlin', you've gotta push down on the switch instead of up. Works better that way."

Doubting me, she looks at the switch, pushes the other way and looks slightly irritated as the window goes down. "Oh..."

Of course I mention that only as a pre-emptive strike as she'll likely post a photo or two of me in a less-than-composed, goofing-off nature.

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Metallica, One

Oh, look

So there is this street corner I drive by daily, and recently there was a Little Caesers Pizza joint opened up. Initially there was some high-school drop out standing out there daily holding a sign up to get the attention of drivers to let them all know about some deal. I couldn't tell you what it was; Every time I saw it, the sign was being held upside-down... Every. Day. Note to the store owner: You get what you pay for. That's all I'm sayin'.

They apparently got the memo, for what do I see there this week? A Little Caesers characater walking up and down the sidewalk, waving his little stubby arms.

Now, these costumes are made to be a bit larger than life to gain appropriate attention. You've probably seen big ol' subway sandwiches walking around periodically for Subways, or maybe a big sponge with arms (not SpongeBob) walking in front of a car wash... You get the idea. Large. Or at least, Tall. Unfortunately this has the tendancy to distort the character. Even more than usual, I mean.

So here's a Little Caeser character, stretched massively in the vertical:

Is it particularly wrong that this seems to me to be an eight foot tall toga-wearing penis? Standing in front of a big-assed sign saying Hot and Ready for only $5?

I may never eat pizza again...

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Pablo Gargano, Trance in Saigon

Again??

Another blizzard is threatening to blow through tonight and tomorrow ... and possibly Saturday. After getting back from Nebraska (more on that in a later post) I suddenly saw just how much that bit of snow last week impacted us. I'm not talking about the airport, and the reported half million people affected by its closing. I only had to go to the grocery store for some basics, but the produce area was looking like Communist Russia of the mid 80's. There was NOTHING there except brussel sprouts and bagged carrots. Yes, I bought the sprouts. Go gag elsewhere. The dairy section was looking pretty sad, too.

I'm just hoping this blizzard gets outta here soon enough that I can head up the hill for some New Year's Eve fresh powder skiing.

On the up-side, I'm hopeful that there will be no drought this summer. I know there's not much lawn left for me to water or anything (curses to property management), but still...

Uriah Heep, Easy Livin'

sssssssssss

Well, I took the bicycle off the hanger to add a little air to the tires and ride a bit. Once down, I saw a pebble stuck in the tread of the front tire, so naturally I plucked it out. Turns out it was a thorn, not a pebble...
as evidenced by the immediate hiss of escaping air.

SON-OF-A !!!