Feels like the first time for me as well, although I did spend some time there is a child. I was probably, I dunno, 9 or 10. I remember very little about it.
Anyway, this one is going to be epic, so let's get right to it.
Thursday, November 15th
Noon: I leave work and meet Tracey at our friends' place, they are going to look after our dog while we are away. They are wonderful people and we know they will take great care of her, but they also have a dog and our dog, Zoey, has not been very good with other dogs. Loves people....dogs, notsomuch. We are hoping she behaves herself!
Not to mention we hope that Zoey doesn't feel abandoned. It has only been about 3 months since she came to live with us when we realized that my Mom's Alzheimers made it impossible for her to properly take care of Zoey. Spoiler alert: we are cat people. Not that we don't love dogs - we do, very much - but cats fit our lifestyle better. Having a dog to take care of is a game changer. She had adapted to her new home brilliantly, with one small caveat: she isn't very nice to the cats. Hopefully that changes. Thankfully, Zoey's tiny little legs work in our favor, because she can't jump up on even the lowest furniture, so the cats have no trouble getting away from her when she is being mean to them.
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| Zoey, our newest fur baby. Chihuahua/Pomeranian cross |
After a nice lunch at Olive Garden, we arrive right on time at Cedarbrook Lodge, where we are staying for the evening before tomorrow's flight. It is well named...this is not a Motel, not a Hotel, it's a lodge. Huge and gorgeous and rustic. This is the kind of place we should bring the dog and stay for a few nights.
Our room is right next to the "living room", a common area that people can come to sit and relax on huge sofas and mingle if they like. There is also a common fridge for guests to use, which comes equipped with snacks like Haagan-Dazs ice cream. They also have an assortment of other snacks like candy and chips that you can enjoy in the living room or take to your room. All complimentary.
Although you wouldn't know it from the condition of the room, or the buildings, it needs a slight upgrade. Time to replace the built-in data cable ports with USB ports and that sort of thing....but that's a minor quibble. We love this place and will be back. We have a beautiful view of marshlands and a meandering trail that goes alongside it. The dog would love it here, and it is only an extra $50 per stay, not per night, to bring the dog.
The drive down was pretty standard, with a little extra traffic as we got close to Seattle. A lot of football fans on their way to the Thursday night game against Green Bay. Fucking Seahawks won, too.
After a big lunch we aren't that hungry so we have a couple of Caesar salads brought up to the room, and they are terrific. We also open up a couple bottles of wine we brought with us, but we didn't need to bring any as they have a FANTASTIC wine list here. Pages and pages of reasonably priced wines, mostly from Washington and Oregon but some Old World stuff too. Very impressive. Looking forward to sampling from that list when we come back in January before we go to Vegas for Tracey's birthday.
Tracey enjoys the huge soaker tub while I watch the end of the damn football game, and then it's time for sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day!
Friday, November 16th
2:30 AM - Hmm, this seems a bit early to be awake. And I am wide awake. Let's see if I can convince my body not to get up at 2FUCKINGTHIRTY.
6:30 AM - That's better. Took me a half hour or so to get back to sleep but I made it, and slept well. The wife is up as well and also had a very good sleep. The beds are so comfortable.
7:00 AM - The Process, Airport Edition (TM) is well underway while I start packing up what we brought to the room last night, including our skookum new "Fly With Wine" suitcase. I actually bought this for Tracey as a Xmas gift but had her open it early as we needed it for this trip. It holds up to 12 bottles of wine securely enough to survive air travel. At least, that's what it claims. We will see!
We have only 6 bottles in there, along with cold packs to keep the wine cool and I also threw a couple bubble-wrapped glasses in there. I have confidence that the wine will make it intact. The glasses? Not so sure, but there is only one way to find out.
8:30 AM - Downstairs to the atrium where they serve breakfast, and it's a very nice complimentary breakfast. All the stuff you'd expect to see at your average hotel breakfast, with some other nice touches as well. There is a real sense of community here in this lodge; from the 'living room' common areas to the breakfast room that only has huge round tables to encourage sitting with strangers. Every table seats 6.
You all know how I love new people.
Anyhoo, after breakfast we head back to the room to grab our stuff and head to the airport. I won't bore you with too many airport details......luggage check went fine, security screening went fine, an hour or so in one of Alaska Airlines' lounges, and then to the gate to board. The plane was a bit late arriving, so we were a bit late in boarding, but no big whoop.
11:56 AM - We are ready to go at our scheduled time, the only problem is there are approximately 87 planes in front of us for takeoff, so we have to wait quite a while. Eventually, after at least a half hour, or more, we hit the skies.
Shortly after takeoff we get our first 'course' of our lunch, a bowl of fragrant, salty nuts. No truth to the rumour that they were accompanies by Schwede Balls.
Oh, and Alaska recently introduced a new feature where you can book your meal in advance. I opted for a salmon dish and Tracey got Butternut Squash risotto cakes. But it wasn't time for those yet, we still had the appetizer to go......soup and salad and a warm bun. Seriously, by the time I was done with that (everything was FANTASTIC) I was barely hungry, but I managed to power through when the main course arrived slightly later.
Not your average plane food. My salmon was delicious, but Tracey's risotto cakes were even better. She declared it the "best meal I've ever had on a plane". I can't disagree.
The flight attendants on the flight, particularly a delightful, funny gentleman named Orly, made those 5.5 hours go by so quickly, it felt like only 5.25 hours. No, seriously, it was as good a flight as we've ever had. First Class is worth every fucking penny, no question.
I asked Tracey if I should go back to Coach and ask them how they were enjoying their cold chicken sandwich (assuming they paid for it). She didn't think that would ingratiate me to the rest of the travelers.
Despite leaving close to an hour late, we managed to land just about exactly when we were originally scheduled to. That must have been some tailwind; either that or we were unwittingly transported through time and space like that new TV show, The Manifest. Not that I've watched it.
6:00 PM - We hop in a cab and go to our hotel for the night, Airport Honolulu Hotel. I picked this place because it got decent-enough reviews and was close to the Airport and the docks for tomorrow's cruise. It is quite a step down from the place we stayed in last night, let me tell you. It's not awful, it will be fine for the night. Seems comfortable and clean, if you don't count the (what seems like) drops of blood on the comforter.
The hotel restaurant is closed tonight for a private event, so they offer us a shuttle to their sister hotel, a Best Western, just a couple of blocks away, where we can have dinner. Sadly, we take them up on that, as we have a meal that could only generously be called "average". The food will be much better starting tomorrow.
10:00 PM - Just about to post the blog and hit the sack......but one more thing I forgot to mention: The wine, and the wine glasses, arrived perfectly intact (and cool, thanks to the ice packs included with the suitcase). If any of you like to fly with wine, this is where I got it from:
https://www.flywithwine.com/
So far, so good!!
Until tomorrow............
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