Category: Travel

The 2013 Seattle And Bumbershoot Trip

September 29, 2013
ArtBumbershootComedyFriendsMoviesMusicMy LifeSeattleTravel

seattle_skylineFor the thirteenth year in a row, we traveled up north to Seattle for the annual Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. I’ll get some pictures on here soon. We had a few extra days too, to see the city, but of course the festival is the big draw. As in most years, some friends travel along, this time it was Cal and Laura, along with Sam and Mama O. What did we do? Well….

Wednesday August 28

All six of us had the same Southwest flight in the morning. Once in Seattle, we separated at various points. Petra and I took the light rail to our hotel, The Camlin. The room wasn’t quite ready so we had them hold our luggage while we went to lunch at one of our favorites, Cyber-Dogs, a wonderful vegetarian hot dog place. These dogs are more like meals and really delicious. After that we walked over to Whole Foods and got some supplies for the week. Then it was back to the hotel. Now the room was ready and we went up and unpacked. In a bit, we took the monorail over to the Seattle Center and met up with the rest of the party for a while. Then Petra and I had a nice vegan chinese food meal at Bamboo Garden, where everything is animal-free! And then the monorail back to the hotel. It was a good start for the trip.

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Pictures From The 2013 Las Vegas Mini-Trip

July 14, 2013
FoodMy LifeTravelVegetarian

las_vegas_2013_collage

Hello once again, family, friends, and everyone else. The pictures from our 2013 Las Vegas mini-trip to Las Vegas are now online! We had a great time even though the trip was short. Take a look at the pictures!

If you have any questions, just ask. Now take a look! And leave a comment if you want….

2013 Las Vegas mini-trip photos

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The 2013 Las Vegas Mini-Trip

July 8, 2013
FoodMy LifeTravelVegetarian

las_vegas_2013_collage

We needed a break from kid-watching and we had a credit with Southwest Airlines that was set to expire. So, one and one makes two as they say, and we booked a flight and found a good deal on a hotel. Vegas, baby!

So here’s what we did. Most of it anyway. Some of it stayed in Vegas.

Tuesday May 28th

We rode the blue van to the airport in the late afternoon. I made the mistake of trying to make conversation with the driver, asking if he ever had problem riders. So he talked all the way non-stop to the airport about those people, in detail, and he was absolutely NOT happy about them. My bad, I was just trying to be friendly. But in no time we were on the plane to Las Vegas. It was a quick flight and we caught a van to our hotel, The Signature at the MGM Grand. The Signature is one of the few non-smoking hotels around The Strip. It was late evening when we checked in but we were hungry so we took the monorail a few miles to the other end of the strip. Why? Well…

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2013 Southern California Trip Photos Are Online

June 8, 2013
My LifeTravel

Palm treesHello again, family, friends, and everyone else too. The pictures from our 2013 Southern California trip to Indio, Palm Springs, and Hollywood are now online! We had a great time as usual. Check out the pix!

Any questions, just ask me. Take a look! And leave a comment if you want, I’d like that….

2013 Indio, Palm Springs, and Hollywood photos

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The 2013 Indio, Palm Springs, And Hollywood Trip

May 1, 2013
FoodMusicMy LifeTravel

worldmark_indioWe just returned from a week’s vacation in sunny Southern California. We timed it for spring break week, not so we could “party like it’s 1999” but because we had no kids to watch that week! Yow! We wanted some warm weather and we got it in Indio, with temps in the mid -80s. So nice.

We went from Friday to Friday and our first destination was Indio, in the desert but nestled like an oasis with Palm Springs, Palm Desert, La Quinta and other cities. We spent five nights there and then two in Hollywood. Here’s what we did, mostly…

Friday March 22nd

We hit the road early, since it’s quite a ways to drive. Road trips are fun though, so no worries. About halfway there, we stopped briefly in Bakersfield for gas and also for lunch. Lassen’s Natural Foods there has a deli inside that serves a variety of options, many of them vegetarian and/or vegan. Sufficiently stuffed after that, we traveled the rest of the way, through desert, hills, forest, and more desert, until we got to our first destination, the Worldmark Indio. We checked in to our very nice room (actually living room with large kitchen area, bedroom, and bathroom). We took a pleasant walk around the resort, since the weather was beautiful and warm. So nice and warm, in fact that we went to the pool (one of them) and swam for a while, even though it lasted until after 9pm. Then of course we needed a snack back in the room and some rest.

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Graham Parker And The Rumour In Santa Cruz 2012

December 17, 2012
MusicMy LifeTravel
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It was December 15th, 2012, and Santa Cruz, California was frigid and rainy. Inside The Catalyst, it was only frigid. Seriously, people wore coats and scarfs through the whole concert. But it was well worth it to see Graham Parker reunited with The Rumour after over thirty years. Their albums from that period are classics, including Squeezing Out Sparks, Howling Wind, and more.

Recently they released an album of new material and the show combined a number of songs from that effort with many of Graham’s best know songs from back in the day. (The full set list follows, plus pictures!).

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Seattle And Bumbershoot 2012 Photos Are Here

September 14, 2012
ArtBumbershootCoffeeComedyFoodFriendsMusicMy LifeSeattleTravelVegetarian

Hello again, family, friends, and everyone else too. The pictures from our Seattle 2012 trip are now online! We had a great time as usual. There are Seattle pix, Bumbershoot Festival pix, and just some other weird pix we took on the trip.

Any questions, just ask. Besides Petra and me, you will see some pictures of our friends Karl, Betty, Mama O (Linda), and Sam. Even Karl’s brother Ron and his son Antonio are in a few. Take a look! Leave a comment if you want, I’ll be waiting….

Seattle/Bumbershoot 2012 photos

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Seattle And Bumbershoot 2012 – Part 3

September 11, 2012
ArtBumbershootCoffeeComedyFoodFriendsMusicMy LifeSeattleTravelVegetarian

Part 1 | Part 2

The third and final installment in our exciting vacation saga. And soon I will post the pictures too! Oh be still my beating heart!

Monday September 3

Of course Happy Birthday to the daughter. Meanwhile , back to our vacation. We headed out to the last day of the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. As per our routine, we first went and got a free Starbucks drink then went straight to the VIP hospitality area for some food and to finish planning the day. Petra’s first destination was a dance-related performance called Maximum Velocity, while I went to watch Seattle-based Seapony. I liked the band, they were pretty young but have potential. Then I watch a stripped-down mini-set (was it four or five songs?) on the Toyota Free Yr Radio Stage by England’s The Wombats. They were really likable and really good, ending with a highly-modified (with banjo) version of their song Let’s Dance To Joy Division. Petra meanwhile caught the end of rocker Reignwolf’s set, and we met up after at the “secret stage” for a performance by Low. They are aptly named, the music was very downbeat and while it was ok it was not really that interesting for either of us. That changed soon, though, since the next show in that stage was Passion Pit. They are getting radio play and a lot of press for their new album Gossamer so we were curious. This show was three of the members in a stripped down session, three keyboards/synths. The main guy opened the set with just an acoustic guitar for one song and the rest were the three of them. This was a great show, with enough electric to be cool but still fairly intimate. We both liked it a lot.

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Seattle And Bumbershoot 2012 – Part 2

September 8, 2012
ArtBumbershootCoffeeComedyFoodFriendsMusicMy LifeSeattleTravelVegetarian

Looking for part 1 – click here

Saturday September 1

Today was the first day of the happiest place on Earth. No, not Disneyland, sheesh! This is way better. Three long days of music, comedy, dance, and most of the other arts. We discovered the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival in 2001 and attended that year and every year since, making this our twelfth year. Some people travel with us, sometimes different people every year and then again some come year after year. We certainly do and hopefully this will continue. Heck, we already have a room reserved for the 2013 Festival and so does our friend Linda!

By the way, best improvement ever, this year: giant video screens at almost all the outdoor venues, so everyone can see!

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Seattle And Bumbershoot 2012 – Part 1

September 7, 2012
ArtBumbershootComedyFriendsMusicMy LifeSeattleTravel

We just got back from our annual trek to Seattle for the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival (and more). I’ll post some pictures soon, but in the meantime here is a short overview of what we did. This year our friends Karl and Betty went too, first time for them. And of course our friend and festival veteran Linda Orozco went again with her friend Sam (first time for Sam too).

Maybe we’ll see you there next year…!!

Wednesday August 29

As usual we arranged for the Blue Van to pick us up. Karl and Betty came to our house to leave with us. We always allow for plenty of time to get to the airport in case something doesn’t go as planned. And this year, sure enough, the van was supposed to arrive between 7:25 and 7:40. Well, finally at about 8:10 the van finally showed up. This still let us catch our flight but it was more rushed than it should have been and pretty stressful. Shame on you Super Shuttle, I will be writing a separate letter to you. But anyway, it worked out and we had a smooth and quick Southwest Airlines flight to the Emerald City of Seattle. Did I mention that I love Seattle?

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