13 July 2014
Minnesota Trip
13/07/14 05:41
My apologies for not writing last week. You see we were visiting family in Minnesota. I couldn't say anything before because as we all know it's a bad idea to advertise on the internet that your house will be unoccupied. I'm continually amazed how many people post "We will be away from home from June 3 through July 9. Nobody will be around to check on the jewel and gold collection I keep in the front closet." and then are amazed when they get burglarized. We arranged for Mike and Barbara to watch the cats, put the remodelling project on hold, and took off.
Actually, our vacation started even earlier. My brother Ed and his wife Pat dropped in on Thursday the 26th. They relaxed, Marsha and I had to work on Friday, and then over the weekend we did all the touristy things, Cathedral Grove, Goats on the Roof, wandered on the beach. In addition we all went to a party that a friend of mine from work was throwing on Saturday. It was to commemorate their tenth anniversary of their own arrival in Canada. They made some wonderful Mexican food. Their family goes back to the Spanish colonization of the state so they know how to do Mexican food properly. We all had a great time.
Then on the 2nd the four of us, Ed, Pat, Marsha, and myself, loaded up the car to start the trip. The plan was to catch the first ferry. We were up at 3:30 and on the road by 4:00. Yes, this was a bit much but we had good reason. With the big Canada Day / Fourth of July week the borders would be packed. We wanted to arrive about an hour early for the ferry to make sure we'd get a place in line. This would get us to the border by 8:00 where we expected to be in at least a two hour lineup to cross. Even with all that and if we got bumped to the second ferry, we'd still make it to Seattle in time to check in and spend the night so we could make our flight early on the morning of the 3rd.
Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans. We did make the first ferry at 5:15 in the morning, it ended up being only about 60% full so we really could have taken our time. Then when we got to the border there was no line. I mean at all. We sailed right through with just about a five minute pause. Then the highways were surprisingly traffic free so we made exceptional time getting to Seattle. It finally dawned on us that, if anything, we were in danger of getting to the hotel too early to check in. We decided to stop for gas and spend some time at the Tulalip Casino. Now Marsha and I aren't really familiar with casinos and gambling and such, but we managed to drop a few bucks into various slot machines. After an hour of walking about and listening to the flashing lights and noises we hit the road again.
We got to the hotel near SEA/TAC airport and checked in. Lunch was at Dave's Diner, and then after a nap (we DID get up at 3:30 after all) we went out to dinner at a great place near the water. I don't remember the name of the place, nor the address, nor to be honest the town it was located in, it wasn't in Seattle proper, but it was wonderful and I highly recommend it.
The next morning we took the shuttle to the airport. It turned out the driver was originally from Minnesota. His dad was from Embarrass and mom from Fairboult. They moved to Seattle when he was one. He said that when he got out on his own, he decided to move back to Minnesota, to get to know the family and connect with his roots. He moved to Embarrass in the spring, and it was beautiful. The summer came and it was a bit humid but very nice. The fall was crisp and magical with all the colour they didn't get in the trees around Seattle. Then winter came, and "What the @&$)(;¥%# is THIS", and they moved back to Seattle.
Minnesota winters are not for the faint hearted.
At the airport Marsha had a surprise for me. She had booked us in First Class. In fact we were in seats 1A and 1B. We were the first on the plane, "first" that is after veterans, the handicapped, people that needed extra time boarding, families with small children, anyone that agreed to check their carryon luggage, and anyone else they could think of. We felt very special as we boarded ahead of the other remaining passenger. The flight though was smooth and it was nice to not travel with your knees tucked up under your chin.
The week was spent visiting family and friends. It had been three years since I'd been back so a lot of people wanted to see how I was doing. My apologies to all of those I was not able to connect with. We tried to see as many people as possible but I was only on the ground for a few days and as they say: time and traffic wait for no man.
Ok I don't know who says that other than me but it still stands.
My last night in Minnesota we went out to dinner at Olive Garden with my nephew Chris, his wife Liza, and their daughter Cora. We wanted to thank them for letting us stay at their place and loaning us a car. To digress a bit, the car was a Cadillac CTS that he got at a great price. His grandma Rose would have been proud. Let me just add here that we were amazed. This isn't one of those bouncy vague BarcaLounger Cadillacs that I remember from the '70s. The suspension was tight, the handling was quick, and acceleration was, dare I say it, sporty. It's a great car. Not that we're going to be trading the Prius for one.
This IS BC and we have an image to maintain.
As we had Cora, 2 years old, with us I was a bit concern:d we'd be one of "those" tables. You know the ones at a nice place with a wriggly squalling kid at the table that disturbs everyone around them? Fortunately it really wasn't too bad. Cora was pretty good and quiet for the most part. She cried twice. Once when she choked on some ice, and once when she went to eat some bread and bit her finger. (How do kids survive to adulthood?) Fortunately traumas at this age seemed to last about 30 seconds and then she would get distracted. It also helped that the staff had seated us in the Small Children and Cell Phone Users Section so we were not nearly the most annoying ones around. I did note with interest the one table in the middle with what appeared to be a teenage couple trying to have a romantic dinner. I can only surmise that surrounding them with harried parents with squirmy children was a clever plan by the Olive Garden staff to prevent any unplanned pregnancies.
The trip back was uneventful. Marsha ran me to the airport so I could make my 8:00 flight. Once again First Class came into its own as I strolled past the hundred or more people waiting in the line for security, presented my boarding pass and ID, and breezed through. Oh yeah, First Class is a good thing. The flight back was easy, They served a decent breakfast and I spent the time writing. In Seattle I took the shuttle back to the hotel where we'd left the car and was on the road by 10:30. Then to the border, with a stop to get Grape Nuts and Tillamook cheese then across the border and to the ferry. The 3:15 ferry put me in Nanaimo about 5:30 and I was home be3fore 6:00.
Though the trip back was fairly quiet I did encounter two amusing things. On the ferry they had to make a general announcement that No, there were no TVs on board that could show the Argentina/Netherlands match. I guess they had a fair number of people asking. Before that however, I encountered a gaggle of sports cars on the Tsawwassen highway. I'm guessing they were a club of some sort. They were seven identical two door sports cars of various lacquer colours; deep metal flake gold, candy apple red, iridescent metallic blue, high gloss black, metallic green, blaze orange, and glacier white. They all had deeply tinted windows and glossy tires and were driving in a pack. They came zinging by and pulled in just in front of me. Once the left lane had cleared a bit they all pulled out in formation and took off, and I went with them. It must have been really wild looking. Seven absolutely gorgeous matched sports cars and one dirty, dusty Prius driven by a bald middle aged guy. There was just enough traffic to keep them from from really taking off and I kept up with them for several miles until they turned off.
I've been laughing about that for the last week.
Actually, our vacation started even earlier. My brother Ed and his wife Pat dropped in on Thursday the 26th. They relaxed, Marsha and I had to work on Friday, and then over the weekend we did all the touristy things, Cathedral Grove, Goats on the Roof, wandered on the beach. In addition we all went to a party that a friend of mine from work was throwing on Saturday. It was to commemorate their tenth anniversary of their own arrival in Canada. They made some wonderful Mexican food. Their family goes back to the Spanish colonization of the state so they know how to do Mexican food properly. We all had a great time.
Then on the 2nd the four of us, Ed, Pat, Marsha, and myself, loaded up the car to start the trip. The plan was to catch the first ferry. We were up at 3:30 and on the road by 4:00. Yes, this was a bit much but we had good reason. With the big Canada Day / Fourth of July week the borders would be packed. We wanted to arrive about an hour early for the ferry to make sure we'd get a place in line. This would get us to the border by 8:00 where we expected to be in at least a two hour lineup to cross. Even with all that and if we got bumped to the second ferry, we'd still make it to Seattle in time to check in and spend the night so we could make our flight early on the morning of the 3rd.
Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans. We did make the first ferry at 5:15 in the morning, it ended up being only about 60% full so we really could have taken our time. Then when we got to the border there was no line. I mean at all. We sailed right through with just about a five minute pause. Then the highways were surprisingly traffic free so we made exceptional time getting to Seattle. It finally dawned on us that, if anything, we were in danger of getting to the hotel too early to check in. We decided to stop for gas and spend some time at the Tulalip Casino. Now Marsha and I aren't really familiar with casinos and gambling and such, but we managed to drop a few bucks into various slot machines. After an hour of walking about and listening to the flashing lights and noises we hit the road again.
We got to the hotel near SEA/TAC airport and checked in. Lunch was at Dave's Diner, and then after a nap (we DID get up at 3:30 after all) we went out to dinner at a great place near the water. I don't remember the name of the place, nor the address, nor to be honest the town it was located in, it wasn't in Seattle proper, but it was wonderful and I highly recommend it.
The next morning we took the shuttle to the airport. It turned out the driver was originally from Minnesota. His dad was from Embarrass and mom from Fairboult. They moved to Seattle when he was one. He said that when he got out on his own, he decided to move back to Minnesota, to get to know the family and connect with his roots. He moved to Embarrass in the spring, and it was beautiful. The summer came and it was a bit humid but very nice. The fall was crisp and magical with all the colour they didn't get in the trees around Seattle. Then winter came, and "What the @&$)(;¥%# is THIS", and they moved back to Seattle.
Minnesota winters are not for the faint hearted.
At the airport Marsha had a surprise for me. She had booked us in First Class. In fact we were in seats 1A and 1B. We were the first on the plane, "first" that is after veterans, the handicapped, people that needed extra time boarding, families with small children, anyone that agreed to check their carryon luggage, and anyone else they could think of. We felt very special as we boarded ahead of the other remaining passenger. The flight though was smooth and it was nice to not travel with your knees tucked up under your chin.
The week was spent visiting family and friends. It had been three years since I'd been back so a lot of people wanted to see how I was doing. My apologies to all of those I was not able to connect with. We tried to see as many people as possible but I was only on the ground for a few days and as they say: time and traffic wait for no man.
Ok I don't know who says that other than me but it still stands.
My last night in Minnesota we went out to dinner at Olive Garden with my nephew Chris, his wife Liza, and their daughter Cora. We wanted to thank them for letting us stay at their place and loaning us a car. To digress a bit, the car was a Cadillac CTS that he got at a great price. His grandma Rose would have been proud. Let me just add here that we were amazed. This isn't one of those bouncy vague BarcaLounger Cadillacs that I remember from the '70s. The suspension was tight, the handling was quick, and acceleration was, dare I say it, sporty. It's a great car. Not that we're going to be trading the Prius for one.
This IS BC and we have an image to maintain.
As we had Cora, 2 years old, with us I was a bit concern:d we'd be one of "those" tables. You know the ones at a nice place with a wriggly squalling kid at the table that disturbs everyone around them? Fortunately it really wasn't too bad. Cora was pretty good and quiet for the most part. She cried twice. Once when she choked on some ice, and once when she went to eat some bread and bit her finger. (How do kids survive to adulthood?) Fortunately traumas at this age seemed to last about 30 seconds and then she would get distracted. It also helped that the staff had seated us in the Small Children and Cell Phone Users Section so we were not nearly the most annoying ones around. I did note with interest the one table in the middle with what appeared to be a teenage couple trying to have a romantic dinner. I can only surmise that surrounding them with harried parents with squirmy children was a clever plan by the Olive Garden staff to prevent any unplanned pregnancies.
The trip back was uneventful. Marsha ran me to the airport so I could make my 8:00 flight. Once again First Class came into its own as I strolled past the hundred or more people waiting in the line for security, presented my boarding pass and ID, and breezed through. Oh yeah, First Class is a good thing. The flight back was easy, They served a decent breakfast and I spent the time writing. In Seattle I took the shuttle back to the hotel where we'd left the car and was on the road by 10:30. Then to the border, with a stop to get Grape Nuts and Tillamook cheese then across the border and to the ferry. The 3:15 ferry put me in Nanaimo about 5:30 and I was home be3fore 6:00.
Though the trip back was fairly quiet I did encounter two amusing things. On the ferry they had to make a general announcement that No, there were no TVs on board that could show the Argentina/Netherlands match. I guess they had a fair number of people asking. Before that however, I encountered a gaggle of sports cars on the Tsawwassen highway. I'm guessing they were a club of some sort. They were seven identical two door sports cars of various lacquer colours; deep metal flake gold, candy apple red, iridescent metallic blue, high gloss black, metallic green, blaze orange, and glacier white. They all had deeply tinted windows and glossy tires and were driving in a pack. They came zinging by and pulled in just in front of me. Once the left lane had cleared a bit they all pulled out in formation and took off, and I went with them. It must have been really wild looking. Seven absolutely gorgeous matched sports cars and one dirty, dusty Prius driven by a bald middle aged guy. There was just enough traffic to keep them from from really taking off and I kept up with them for several miles until they turned off.
I've been laughing about that for the last week.