Vacation pics, late as usual

So without much comment here are pics from my trip to Colorado in August. I had an amazing time; it was great seeing both my mother and aunt, and I had fun in everything we did. We hiked, ate, shopped, ate, wandered around, ate, and just relaxed (and ate). I've been going to my aunt's place in Vail since I was about 10, but hadn't been there in about 15 years. It was nice to go back and see the place again. It has changed in a lot of ways, but hasn't changed in a lot of other ways. The only thing that didn't work out like we had hoped was the hike up the mountain my mother and I attempted. It was 4.5 miles with a 2500 foot climb in elevation. Seeing as we were starting at 8300 feet, it was a little too ambitious. We made it a little ways up and decided it would take us all day to make it to the top, if we did make it to the top. Beyond that it was a great trip and I'm very glad I decided to go. It made a nice birthday gift to myself.

United Breaks Guitars

Like most people who fly coach, I've not enjoyed the whole flying experience for a long time. I avoid flying and see it only as a necessary evil. I've had some OK flights and encountered some employees who tried to make the experience very nice, but anymore most airlines are just airborne buses. Flying used to be a lot more enjoyable, but it's just not a pleasant experience. The lines for "security" are often ridiculously long, the flights are crowded, and then the airlines leave no leg room between the seats. Beyond that most of the employees are less than customer-service focused. They act as if the passengers are an inconvenience as opposed to the reason their jobs exist. One thing that baffles me is why the employees of the airlines don't at least try to make the experience better for their customers. I understand that the airlines are screwing them over in many ways, but I would think that the employees still need their jobs; if they didn't they wouldn't be there. But, it seems to me that if they piss off enough customers and drive their employer into bankruptcy, or out of business, that they'll lose their jobs. It seems that it's in their best interest to treat the customers better. Yet, somehow they don't.

Anyone who has traveled by air much has his/her horror story, but rarely can we do much about it. The band who made this video, Sons Of Maxwell, is an exception. They weren't happy that the United ground crew was throwing their guitars on the tarmac, or that when they complained they were basically ignored. After getting no resolve from United the lead singer, Dave Carrol, decided to write three songs about his experience and United, this being the first of them, and so he did. You can read the full story behind the song here.



Beyond the lack of customer service that companies like United display, I don't understand why these companies still don't seem to realize that their bad reputation can be very quickly spread on the internets. One disgruntled person can spread his story to thousands of people overnight, and that does have a direct affect on who does and doesn't frequent a business. That direct affect on the business can eventually affect the jobs of the people who are pissing off the customers in the first place. But then again, how could I expect a group of people like airline employees who treat customers like crap to comprehend higher-level thinking such as that?

Only a week late: pics of Portland

I was behind with everything last week, including posting pics of our day trip last weekend. So, here they are:



By the time we futzed around and stopped for breakfast and then for coffee and then for gas and then for coffee again and then for every rest stop and then again for coffee, it was almost 3:00 when we got to Portland. Anthony had wanted to see the Pittock Mansion, but the inside closed at 4:00. We found the Portland Chinese Garden which turned out to be a great place. It was a little busy, but it was a really nice spot. After that I suggested that we go up to the Pittock Mansion anyway since the grounds are open until dark. It turned out to be a good choice. We got to wander around the outside of the house and still enjoy the view and the park.

After such a strenuous day we found one of the McMenamins pubs in the city and had some beers and dinner. Anthony and I played a round of pool, which only served to reinforce how bad we each are at it. We didn't care since we were having a good time.

That was our entire day in Portland. We didn't leave ourselves much time to do much, but the day trip was a good one and it was enjoyable to be out of the house.

Weekend in San Diego

Last weekend we were in San Diego. It was Anthony's first trip there and for Jayson and me it was our first visit in 10 years. The impetus for the trip was to visit Anthony's brother and family, but we also added visits to my friend Rick and Jayson's friends Jim and Khristie.

It was kind of weird being in San Diego again. It brought up lots of memories for me, some good some bad. I was surprised how much I remembered about the place and was able to direct Rick through areas he wasn't familiar with. Seeing the place again reminded me of the things I didn't like about it when I lived there. It's just not the place for me.

Thursday after we arrived we spent the evening with Jim and Khristie. Actually, we spent some time wandering around Old Town before meeting them for dinner. Old Town is kind of interesting, although it's really nothing more than a lot of shops and restaurants in old buildings. It still has a nice feel. I used to joke that when visitors would be in town and wanted to go to Mexico I would drive them around up and down the freeway and then end up in Old Town. It's really what people think Mexico will look like, although Old Town is much much nicer than Tijuana. Dinner with Jim and Khristie was great. It was as if we'd seen them just last week and we were picking up right where we'd left off. Anthony and Jayson had fish bowl-sized margaritas, and of course finished them. It's funny to see Anthony, who says he doesn't drink, down 64 ounces of margarita.

The next day we spent tooling around town with Rick doing some sight-seeing. We made a trip to to Balboa Park, which is still one of my favorite places in San Diego. Anthony, Jayson, and I spent some time wandering around the main prado area but had to keep the visit short. We spent the evening with Anthony's brother and sister-in-law, John and Amber, and their two daughters, Olivia and Elizabeth. It was the first time Jayson and I had met any of the family but it was nice. They made us feel very welcome and comfortable. We had dinner at their house and then "hung out" just chatting and getting caught up.

I should insert here that our "rental" car for the weekend was Rick's Mercedes E55 AMG. It's his weekend car and was very generous in letting us use it. I had a great time driving it, sometimes too great. I definitely tried to drive the car as it was meant to be driven, namely fast. It was a real treat to drive it, and the fact that John and Amber lived 50 miles north of Rick meant that I got to really enjoy the drive.

Anyway, spent Saturday with John and Amber again and this time John drove us around Camp Pendleton. We actually didn't get to see much of Amber as she was running errands a lot of the day. Camp Pendleton is huge and it took a couple of hours to just touch on some of the highlights of the place. Still, it was interesting to see the place, and to spend time with Anthony's brother. John and Amber had plans for Saturday night so it was back to San Diego for the evening.

We had made reservations to go to one of my favorite restaurants, Cafe Eleven. It's been there for, as we found out, 24 years and I've been frequenting it for about 18 of those. The food was just as good as I remembered, and some of the same people were still working there, and remembered us. It was a nice dinner and evening, other than the fact that somehow I left significantly less for the bill than I should have, but I got it straightened out.

Sunday Jayson was leaving around noon so we had breakfast at DZ Akins, a Jewish deli that's always good, and then dropped him at the airport. Anthony, Rick, and I played tourists the rest of the day going to Point Loma and Sunset Cliffs, and seeing a little of downtown. The highlight for Anthony seemed to be getting to drive the Mercedes from Sunset Cliffs to where we had dinner in Point Loma. I'm glad he got to experience it at least. After dinner we were all tired so we watched a movie at home and called it a night. Monday meant that Anthony and I had to leave so we had a big breakfast out and then killed some time driving around Mission Hills, just so Anthony could more of San Diego. Rick dropped us at the airport and we had an uneventful flight home.

It was a good trip, and made for a nice weekend. It was great seeing Rick, along with everyone else. Rick was very generous in hosting us and providing us not only his car to use but also a very nice and comfortable place to stay. It's like visiting family whenever he and I are together. I just wish he and I lived closer to each other.

As is usual, here are some pics from the trip:

Really overdue post-Houston post

In typical fashion for me, it's been almost two weeks since I posted anything. I felt kind of busy after getting home from Texas so haven't written anything since then. The trip was, in a word, great. It had been a long time since I had spent any real time with my father and step-mother and it was nice to do. We spent a lot of time just chatting and catching up on life. My father and I would run some errands in the day, usually have a lunch out, and maybe just drive through some of the local areas. On the weekend we did a lot of sight-seeing and that was also lots of fun. Saturday we drove south to the USS Texas and the San Jacinto battlefield monument. Both were interesting but the Texas, a US battleship built in 1914, was really interesting. I love boats of any kind and it was great getting to crawl all over this huge ship that was chock full of history. The lower-deck areas were open and it was fascinating to see just how the crew lived on the ship. The accommodations were very "rustic" to say the least. We thought we'd spend about 30 minutes on the ship but I convinced my step-mother Sharon that it wasn't difficult to negotiate the ladders below decks and we ended up spending about two hours on board. I took lots of pictures, but sadly lots of them look alike.

The San Jacinto battlefield monument wasn't as interesting, but still was enjoyable. It's a big tower built in the 1930's to commemorate the battle between Texas rebels and Mexico. It was the battle that led to Texas becoming a US territory, so it was a fairly important battle. There was a small museum with some interesting pieces and then the tower itself. Sadly, being approximately 60 stories up in southeastern Texas still doesn't give much of a view. It's from the ground, it's flat from above.

Sunday we decided to drive down to Galveston since we all like the area, and we wanted to see the damage from Hurricane Ike. There was clearly visible damage starting in the Clear Lake area and it got worse and worse as we got closer. Galveston seemed to be rebuilding well, and that was good to see. We decided to catch the ferry over the Bolivar since Sharon had heard the damage was really bad there. The eye had passed right over the eastern end of Galveston Island so Bolivar was in the very dangerous northeastern quadrant of the hurricane. On top of that, the storm surge was much higher than anticipated, about 20 feet at Bolivar. Making things worse, most of Bolivar is no more than 4 or 5 feet above sea level. One can do the math and figure out how much water was covering the area, and add breaking waves from the winds and it was pretty ugly. We expected a lot of damage, but weren't prepared for how bad it really was. We first stopped in a residential beach neighborhood and it had been mostly wiped off the map. The houses before the hurricane had been built on stilts to protect them from storm surge. Sadly, it didn't make any difference for most of the houses. Where there were rows of houses before, there was just a collection of sticks poking out of the sand. We found sinks, light fixtures, ceiling fans, floor tiles, and all kinds of other evidence of the houses sticking out of the sand. Everything metal was turning to piles of rust after being inundated with sea water. Sharon and I commented on how quiet it was and I realized that there was just no life anywhere. On the beach in Galveston there were manyh seagulls and other types of birds, and as we drove out of town we continued to see lots of birds in the trees. In Bolivar, there was nothing. No birds had returned to the area and it was completely quiet. It was eery not having any sounds of nature.

We drove further east towards the town and the devestation just went on for miles and miles. When we reached the town, or what was left of it, it looked like a bomb had gone off. Many of the buildings were destroyed, and those that were left were uninhabitable. It was amazing that it had been 5 months since the storm and what we were seeing was after considerable cleanup had been done. After a while it became overwhelming and we decided to head out. Unfortunately the devestation continue for miles and miles as we drove out of the area. It was interesting to see the power of nature, but also very sad to see how the lives of so many people had been disrupted. Not to mention the couple or more dozen people who were killed in Bolivar when the storm went through.

So, I thoroughly enjoyed the visit with my father and Sharon. It was a real treat for me, even more so because they not only paid to get me there, but insisted on paying for everything while I was there. It was a very nice gift for them to give me since I do enjoy spending time with them. And of course, here are a few pics.

Update: This post was long enough (OK, more than long enough) but I meant to add a link to some before and after pics on the USGS site posted here.

Hillbilly gift baskets, and other Texas fun

The last couple of weeks were busy with me getting ready for a trip to Houston to visit my father and step-mother. I got here on Tuesday afternoon, after getting up at 3:00 in the morning for a 6:00 flight. I’m here until next Tuesday evening. We have nothing planned other than a little sightseeing, lots of talking and catching up, and lots of eating. We’ve had two big lunches in two days, looked at new pickups, looked at new Harley Davisdons (with no intention of buying either), and spent lots of time playing with the dog. We’re going to be out and about tomorrow and this weekend visiting some small towns in the area.

I always forget how different this part of the country is from Seattle and Cascadia (the Pacific Northwest). It’s flat, it’s bland, it’s full of strip-malls, and the 12-lane interstates (with 6-lane frontage roads) are the largest and most interesting features, man-made or otherwise, in the area. I’m not sure how people complain about the traffic in Seattle compared to places like Houston. While it might take longer to go X number of miles in Seattle, there are flat out lots more miles to cover here with equally terrible traffic, which makes any commute a real undertaking. Tonight we were looking at pictures I’d taken of the Oregon coast, the Washington coast, Seattle, and the Cascades and I was struck by how different, and how much more beautiful, that area is from here. My father and step-mother were also struck by it, and that’s one of the biggest reasons they would like to move up near Seattle.

Pointing out even more differences today was a trip to the grocery store. First inside the store was a rack of books marked “Recommended Reading". Every book had something to do with the christian bible, in some form or another. Next to that was a copy of Ann Coulter’s latest book, along with books by some other unseemly “authors”. I wasn’t sure if we were in a Kroger or a right-wing bookstore. The bakery department was interesting for the total lack of artistic ability displayed on the baked goods. There was obviously some creativity but no ability to carry it off. Sadly, those shopping seemed to think that the baked goods were incredibly artistic. The pile of blue icing masquerading as a flower that completely obscured a cupcake was a good example. I took pictures but they aren’t worth posting. What does a pile of icing look like in pictures? Well, a pile of icing…

The best thing I saw was what I instantly termed the hillbilly gift basket. There was a large display of leftover gift baskets from Valentine’s day, and they were all somewhat “quaint” in design. However, the best one was this:

Yes, it’s a six-pack of diet Dr. Pepper with a can of Pringles on top, with some leftover Halloween Snickers thrown into a cellophane bag with a ribbon on it. And, it’s been marked down to only $9.99 since it didn’t sell. Doing the math, a can of Pringles, some diet Dr. P., and some bite size Snickers don’t add up to $9.99. It’s no wonder the store didn’t dismantle the thing and try to sell each “gift item” separately; they’re still making money on it even at the markdown price. But I can’t help but wonder about both the person who would give this as a Valentine gift and the person who would enjoy receiving it. “Happy Valentine’s Day honey! Here’s some diet soda (oooops, “pop”…we’re in TX), some greasy chips, and some leftover candy!” It practically screams romance.

I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw this "gift basket", but it typifies the whole area. In my father’s and step-mother’s defense, they hate it here too, for all kinds of reasons. I've seen several things I find funny, that to the locals don't seem funny (like the company with a large sign out front with the name "BJ Services"). To counter the effects of the area on me, I’m currently listening to Bill Evans while I type. It’s a nice counter to the lack of culture and anything non-Texan here.

Monday evening mish mash

My day ended up being much busier than I anticipated, but it was good. The day truly flew by. I have a new-old employee at work and that's changed the dynamic, for the better as it turns out. The young woman is someone who worked for me for three years up until last year when her husband took an assignment with his job in Japan. They were there for a year and came back in December. They arrived back in the states a couple of days after we opened up a new position in my department. I had had some issues with her attendance when she was here before but I talked to my boss about it, and then we talked to her and now there are some understandings in place, so I feel better about it. Plus, when she was there she did a great job, and all the users just loved it. It was hard to come up with a reason to not bring her back in after the attendance issue was settled. It's been good to have her there so far. I like her personally, and she does do a really good job. By bringing her in the size of the group I manage grew by 25% so it's changed the way we go about our daily routines. It's amazing how quickly we've already hit a stride and I'm really happy about it.

Saturday I booked tickets to visit my father and step-mother who live just outside Houston. They have been wanting me to visit for a while, and I've been wanting to visit for a while, and I'm finally going down there. They offered to pay my airfare and how could I refuse that? I thought it was really generous and they insisted and I'm very grateful. I was afraid it wasn't going to happen since fares when up by $190 in the last week, but then Saturday when I checked they had dropped $220 so I jumped at it and booked a ticket. I'm not sure what we'll do yet but I know we'll spend some time just hanging out, we'll do some sightseeing, we'll eat (we all love to eat), and who know what what else. I know it'll be fun. It'll be just me going and it will be the first time I've spent time with them alone in, well, decades. It will be nice to work on the connections just between us.

I'm very lucky in that I have a mother who's one of my best friends, and a father who I'm not quite as close with but very close and who's very supportive. I also had a step-father who was a huge positive influence on me who was also very supportive, and have a step-mother who is a wonderful person, a very positive influence, and just an all-around sweet, intelligent, and caring person. I've been very lucky, and blessed, in the parents department! And, I don't take any of it for granted.

A headline on Rex Wockner's blog today: No on 8: 'We messed up'. Really? Ya think...?

This is very cool. Be sure to zoom in, and in and in and in, and then start scrolling. The detail is incredible and it's amazing that the crowd, almost all of it, was captured in a single image. Does anyone even think that we'd have a scene like that were it John McCain being sworn in? I seriously doubt that we would. The picture definitely captures in history as it was happening.

Speaking of Obama, we went from a President for eight years who could barely put together a coherent sentence in English to one who can launch into a foreign language, like Indonesian, at the drop of a hat. What a welcome change.

Ever have days where you feel like this? I do. Most days!

What does that say about me that I feel as if my wheels keep coming off...?

Weekend getaway

Saturday the three of us drove up to Leavenworth for an overnight getaway. For those not familiar with Leavenworth it's a lumber town in the Cascades that's about 100 years old. In the 1960's the town begah dying because the railroad pulled out of town. So, the people in the towny agreed to re-invent the place as a Bavarian mountain village and make their primary industry tourism. It was a pretty successful idea. The town itself is cute and quaint, but in a Disney sort of way. You know it's fake and didn't always look like that, but the setting is nice and it's a fun place to go. In the summer it's swarmed with tourists and gets old really fast. However, in the winter and specifically at christmas-time it's very different. The real charm of the place comes out with the christmas lights, which were everywhere, and all the snow covering the town.

We left Saturday morning and headed across Stevens Pass, which turned out to not be the best idea. The faster route across I-90, Snoqualmie Pass, was closed that morning so we went the only way we thought we could get there. Stevens Pass is notoriously bad since it's almost all 2-lane road. We did fine crossing the pass and the conditions weren't bad at all. It was snowing but the road was mostly clear. However, as soon as we headed down the pass we came to a complete stop, and sat in place for almost 90 minutes. In the end, it took us about 6 hours to make a 3 hour trip. But no matter, it was at least pretty scenery along the way, and when we got there.

We had booked at a small hotel a block from the center of town. It was basic, but comfortable and the location couldn't be beat. We were able to wander into town any time we chose and didn't have to deal with parking. There's not a lot to do in Leavenworth other than eat, shop, and wander around and look at things. We did all of those, except we didn't buy anything in the stores. The town has such a nicer feel this time of year than the rest of the year. It was busy but no one seemed to be in too much of a hurry and it didn't seem overly crowded. Plus, it really is beautiful with the snow and the lights. For the first time after many visits to the place it made sense so to speak.

Saturday night we just wandered around, looked at lights and such, had dinner at Bären Haus, and then went back to the hotel and sat in the outdoor hot tub at the hotel. That night it snowed close to 6" overnight so we woke up to a refreshed winter wonderland. After breakfast in town we spent the rest of the morning wandering around taking pictures. We slid around most of the main street and then wandered some of the trails down by the river in the city park. Every view seemed prettier than the last.

On our way home we stopped in Roslyn, another little old town in the Cascades, this one where the TV show Northern Exposure was filmed. We had lunch at The Brick, which has apparently been there forever. After that we drove through our final snow of the weekend going across the pass. Of course it was snowing as we crossed but the roads were remarkably clear.

As always, here are pictures from the weekend.

Back from the cone of silence

I've been incommunicado by choice lately but decided that my self-imposed silence was due to end. I'll start again by posting pictures of my trip to my mother's at the end of September. Yeah, they're a month overdue, but better late than never!

Sunday morning tea

Time does fly when it comes to blogging and I just realized it's been a while since I dropped any words of wisdom on this page. As usual, there has been a lot and not very much going on here. Work has been enjoyably busy; enough to keep me occupied and interested but not enough to make me run screaming from the building at 4:00 when the whistle blows. There are some big projects coming up and those should be interesting. I'm still trying to hire at least one other person for my group but can't get any candidates. You'd think people would go out of their way to work there since it's a good place.

Anthony has been looking for work lately, speaking of which. His contract at his company ended with no notice (that sucked) so he's in the job market again. He's put out a lot of resumes and had some good responses, including at least one job offer so far. So, it seems like he'll be back at work soon.

Jayson's depression has remained part of life as well. After he got back from his sabbatical in Texas he got better, then worse, then better then MUCH worse, then better...well, I think the pattern is clear. It's obvious that the issue is still out there and the illness isn't completely under control. I'm seeing it improve, which is good, but it pops up without a lot of provocation at times, and unexpectedly. I try to do the best I can to help him get better and not add to the problems, but I'm not always successful. At times it feels like my presence adds to the depression, mostly because the ways he and I interact are bad habits from the recent past. We've both been conditioned to respond certain ways - all of it during his depression - and those ways of responding don't work anymore. It can be extremely stressful wondering if what I might say or do next will cause him to go back into a depressed state.

That said, I'm taking my own sabbatical. I'm heading down to my mother's in Grants Pass, OR for about 5 days. Grants Pass is no big deal...driving past on the freeway the only things you can see are the Sprawl-Mart and some grocery stores. But, the downtown section is kinda nice and the setting is pretty. Best of all I'll get to spend some time alone with my mother, something I've not had to opportunity to do at any length in years. We always have a good time together and we never run out of things to talk about. We'll do some stuff outside the house I'm sure, but I'm guessing mostly we will stay at home, drink tea, eat, and chat. Five days should be a decent length for a visit. It should give me some time to unwind and de-stress somewhat and also just have time for me for a change, which is something that's usually sorely lacking.

Well, I think it's time to fix breakfast, or rather go to the market to get food with which to fix breakfast. Happy Sunday y'all.

The Western Star, and other fun

Back from San Francisco, and been at work almost two days now. It was a really good weekend. The first surprise was the hotel. Jayson had booked us at the Mandarin Oriental, one of the 5-star hotels in the city. The hotel is billed as the highest rooms in the city and that's not joke. We were on the 45th floor with only three floors above us. Plus the place was just downright nice. For some reason our room was upgraded two levels from what we booked, so we ended up with a 180 degree view from the Presidio to the Embarcadero, including the Golden Gate, Alcatraz, and the waterfront. Jayson had arranged a nice room service table to be in the room when we arrived so we entered the room to find shrimp cocktail, cheese and fruit, and margaritas. Not a bad way to start a trip.

Saturday morning we were headed off to breakfast and I knew there was something up, but wasn't sure what. Sure enough, when we get to the restaurant there is my wonderful friend Rick from San Diego waiting inside the place, along with my friend Wes who lives in San Francisco. Rick was the rest of the surprise for the birthday and it was really nice to have him there! After breakfast we all (minus Wes) rented a car and drove to San Jose to see the Winchester House. All of us except for Anthony had been there before but it's a fun trip and an interesting thing to do. We had a terrible tour guide who recited some memorized script from rote and had no enthusiasm about his job. The four us just tuned him out and made our own fun, plus the tour guide gave us something to make fun of later on. Back in the city Jayson and Rick decided to rest in the room while Anthony and I wandered around Chinatown. Upon entering the room and seeing the view Rick's first comment was "Oh. My. God." Saturday night consisted of going to dinner in North Beach and then going to see Beach Blanket Babylon. The show was fun as always, even though I've seen it at least 4 times. It changes so regularly that while some of the bones of the show are the same, it's never the same show twice.

Sunday the only thing we had planned was breakfast with Wes in the Castro, which of course went until after noon. Rick was again able to join us and the rest of the day consisted of wandering around the Castro and then spending a little more time in Chinatown before we had to head for the airport. Anthony bought himself a new harness (in the Castro, not Chinatown) so in effect we all have a new toy to play with. In the end we didn't see/do a whole lot in the city, but that's OK. It was more about just being there and spending time with friends, which we definitely did. I had a great time on the trip, and it was even nice having Rick there for the weekend.

So for the title of this post… On the trip down on Friday night after the sun went down I started telling Anthony (who was sitting in the aisle seat) that you could see this really bright star out the window. Jayson commented that it was the Western Star which is especially bright from the air since there's less pollution and we're above the clouds. The one thing Anthony didn't notice was that even as the plane turned, the star stayed in the exact same position outside the window. He was surprised how bright it was but thought it was pretty cool. It was only after the plane landed and was taxiing to the gate that I pointed out what the Western Star really was. You can see it very clearly in this pic at the immediate tip of the wing by clicking the pic to zoom in.
Yes, he was looking at the light at the tip of the wing. It never occurred to him that the star was still visible when the sky was hidden behind clouds, but we'll just say he was excited about the trip. Anthony was not necessarily pleased at the joke and every time we brought it up over the weekend it was met with a very curt "shut up". I think he really liked the attention though. Gullibility can actually be really cute.

Here's an album with the rest of the pics from the weekend. Enjoy!

SFO, day 2

As requested, here is the view from our room in San Francsico. The view would truly qualify as a million dollar view. The hotel isn't bad either...OK, actually it's spectacular. So far it's been a great trip. More details when we're back home.

SFO bound

In just one short hour we're off for the weekend to San Francisco. It should prove to be a good weekend. We've got a few things scheduled such as driving to San Jose to see the Winchester House, going to see Beach Blanket Babylon on Saturday night, and having brunch with my online friend Wes (link NSFW) on Sunday morning. The rest of the time we're going to play tourists and just relax. Jayson has booked us into a 5-star hotel so that in itself should be really nice. I'm sure I'll have tons of pictures to share once we're back and I'll do my best to upload those as soon as I can.

To recap the birthday on Wednesday, it was a good day. Jayson had indeed arranged a surprise dinner (with help from Anthony) for me with several friends, even though he wasn't good at keeping it a secret! He was determined to give the surprise away, but he kept most of it to himself. I was glad that everyone showed up and it looked like everyone enjoyed themselves. There was a running gag gift theme of the evening that obviously Jayson started. Three different people brought bags of old people gifts (Depends, prune-based Ex Lax, Geritol, etc). Luckily I don't embarrass easily and even less so as I get older. I just liked being the center of attention.

Post-weekend wrap-up

As usual, it was a busy weekend, but it was about fun this time. In honor of Anthony's birthday (he's 37 in case anyone is interested) we took him for a surprise visit to the Olympic Peninsula. Having grown up in western Washington he has seen surprisingly little of the area, but we're changing that. We had told him we were going to go across the Sound for dinner and then come back across on the ferry and spend the night on our boat in Edmonds. It made logical sense as the ferry to Edmonds lands about 1/4 mile from where we keep our boat. Instead we had plans to drive to the north end of the peninsula where we had a waterfront cabin reserved for the weekend. Thanks to darkness and the winding roads leading to the place, he never suspected a thing. When we arrived at the cabin, he still though we were heading to the ferry. How he thought he the ferry would down a small gravel road I don't know, but he was too tired to question it I guess.

The cabin turned out to be even better than we expected. We were truly right at the water's edge and it was nicely secluded. We had a beautiful view out all the windows. Sadly we didn't get to spend much time outside like we had hoped for. It snowed off and on most of the weekend, which is unusual for this part of the state, more unusual at sea level, and even more unusual in late April. I thought the weather was pretty darn cool and loved it. It was a bit of a surprise waking up to 4 inches of snow on Sunday morning but it made for a pretty scene.

To entertain ourselves we ate a lot, did some sightseeing, ate a lot more, and just vegged a good deal of the time. We even had a rousing game of Scrabble on Saturday night. Sunday after we left the cabin we stopped in Port Townsend to play tourists again, then caught the ferry to Whidbey Island. We drove north to Deception Pass and did some light hiking around there before heading down to Clinton to catch the ferry back to the mainland. We covered a lot of ground that day and it sure felt like it. Back in Seattle we ended the weekend with a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant near home.

I was really glad we were able to do something fun and different for Anthony's first birthday with us. He seemed to really enjoy and appreciate it, and that was the most important part. I'll post an album in the next day or two but for now here's a sample pic of where we stayed.