Market Street Musings

Greetings all,

It has been far too long since the last blog, so I have a made a commitment to myself that I will be jotting down my thoughts on a more regular basis.  I have material for about 15 blogs at the moment, but I thought that I would go with something timely… two crappy stories that fall under the general category of a complete lack of customer service.

The title for the blog was stolen from a pizza place here in LoDo.  They have it hanging on a sign at the cash register and it gave us a good laugh because, ironically, they actually have great service at this pizza place.   They are a bit unconventional and walk to the beat of their own drum in there (I believe that there is both a music trivia test and a minimum number of piercings requirement for employment, but man can they make a good pie.)  Little did I know when we got a chuckle about this sign that it would come into play a couple of times in the week that followed.

First instance is about a business owner that is either completely lacking in customer service skills, has no desire for repeat business, doesn’t care about his clients or some lethal combination of the three.   So, here’s the situation – We purchased online from a store called Art Supplies Wholesale in Mass.  Our purchase, not a big one, was for 14 canvases 12″x12″ that we were to use, in conjuction with art created by Ashley, to decorate our front hall.  We ordered the items online, received shipping confirmations and arrived home from Mexico (more on that trip another time) to find a big sealed box from them in our loft.  Knowing that we weren’t doing the project until Ashley arrived last weekend, the box sat unopened until the night before her arrival.  

When we opened it, there were only 12 canvases.  The packing slip shows that there were 14, but after counting and recounting them numerous times, there were only 12.     Not to worry, De Ann busted out the computer and sent an email to them, alerting them to the situation.   A couple of days later, she received a call from someone following up, but she didn’t have any of the information with her when they called, so they said they would look into it and call back.    No call for a couple more days, so De Ann placed a call to the company.  She was immediately transferred to Bill.  

Now, I don’t know whether Bill was off his meds that day, whether his dog had just been run over, but Bill was instantly hostile.   He was clearly aware of the situation and the details and jumped all over De Ann saying that he had already spoken to her, so why was she calling back.  He made claims that we stole the pieces and were just trying them for free.  More claims that there has NEVER been an issue like this at this company, so it must be a theft on our side.  Belligerent, insulting, condescending and completely unwilling to let De Ann speak.  After several cool-headed attempts to get him to let her speak and to propose some solutions, Bill said that he wouldn’t be doing anything about it.  Period.  De Ann asked for his name and what his role is with the company.   I’m Bill and I own this company.

I’m not sure how Bill stays in business…maybe its solely because of the Internet and that he doesn’t have to see or be around people.  That is probably it.   So, De Ann indicated that her only recourse would be to talk to her credit card company, to which he responded that she would have to because he wont do anything, and promptly hung up. 

Big props to the good folks at American Express.  They listened and based on the dollar amount said “no problem, we’ll credit you and remove this from his account.  Will there be anything else.”    We thought of many devious things we could do to hurt his business, but in the end, we figured that he would likely put himself out of business without anyone’s assistance, so we’ll move on with our day.   (Epilogue – so apparently Bill decided to actually resolve the issue of our $9.92 and credited it back to De Ann.   We’ll let Amex and Bill work out the double-credit situation, we are done.)

Issue number two.  Our apartment/loft complex in LoDo.   So apparently, no one in the front office can count, specifically they cant count the number of parking places they have and this has led to the over-sale of “reserved” spaces.    So, for the 3rd time since we moved in back in April, they are “redoing the parking”.   We received one spot with our unit and then pay monthly for a second spot, all part of our lease agreement.   So, they are moving to a system where only the “paid for” second spots are reserved, and the rest of the spaces are “open parking”.   So, the question that no one can seem to answer is:   If the spaces are oversold, simply making them unassigned does not actually create more parking, does it?  How does this alleviate the problem?  Very specifically, it just means that the people getting home the latest will most likely be S.O.L for a parking space in a lot that they were promised parking in as part of their lease.   When asked about “what do I do if I come home and there are no spaces available?”, the clueless young lady at the front said “that shouldn’t happen.”  “Okay, work with me here – you’ve oversold spaces, people will want to park their car, there will be someone that gets left out in the cold.  So what happens.”   “Don’t worry, that should never happen.”

Subscribing to the axiom of never having a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent, I left the office shaking my head.   Good news for me, I’m working from home most days, so I’m putting 20 miles on my car a week and it rarely leaves the garage.  Too bad for the other suckers though…

So, those are just the recent stories…. anyone out there have a service nightmare that they would like to share.  I’d love some company!

Have a great day people.  I’ll be back with something more upbeat in a few days!

-Ron

Last night, we headed to Sushi Han for, obviously, sushi and had a great meal. Still too early for us to head home, even on a school night, we decided to head to one our all-time faves, Rioja, for a nightcap. We were absolutely stuffed from dinner, so we were not-so-pleasantly surprised when our friendly waiter, Nate, delivered a complimentary appetizer. Now, this is no ordinary flatbread appetizer. This gourmet flatbread boasts Bilbao chorizo, caramelized onions, Manchego cheese and pickled melon. It’s flatbread heaven. So, despite being stuffed, it’s rude to turn down a slice or two of the best flatbread ever. So we eat it, love it and become even more stuffed with culinary delight.

On to the food-induced psychotic episode. I’m pretty sure the Bilbao chorizo-Manchego cheese combination produced psychedelic dreams worthy of Bennidito’s Beer Buddies. Although I’ve been treated to a fine meal at Benniditos, I did not have the fortune of experiencing the psychotic effects of “the crack cocaine of pizza.” This was mildly disappointing, but the Beer Buddies were even better than described. Anyway, my new theory is that specific, delicious meat-and-cheese or meat-and-sauce combos produce crack-like dreams. How do I know? Because just hours after ingesting the magical flatbread, I had the following dream.

My friend Jenny is not an alligator. I’ve seen her in several settings, at all different times of the day and night, and there is nothing alligator-like about her. Nada. BUT, during my nocturnal psychotic break, Jenny has the ability to turn into an alligator at will! And, not just your run-of-the mill alligator, but a tiny – maybe 14″ long – alligator. Did I mention she can do this at will? Also present is my former boss, who, just like in real life, I can never understand what she’s blabbing about. So, here we are, Boss Lady and me, on a sandy beach near a boat ramp when I spot a full-size alligator slowly ascending the boat ramp! I call to Human Jenny, who is standing much closer to said ramp, and warn her of the potential full-size alligator danger. Full-size Alligator picks up speed, and Jenny has no choice except to morph into Tiny Alligator Jenny! Tiny Alligator Jenny is lightning fast in water and on sand, and within seconds she’s near me & Boss Lady (who is still blabbing on and on and on) and quickly burrowing deep into the sand so that Full-size Alligator cannot find her. @#$%?

I should also mention that although I know about Jenny’s Super Tiny Alligator Powers, it’s not something she shares or talks about much. See, Jenny knows that people won’t understand, and might possibly become jealous of, her Tiny Alligator Powers. The end.

We’ve all heard people ramble on about some stupid dream they had, but surely we can all agree that the only explanation for Tiny Alligator Jenny is a food-induced psychotic episode. Who’s with me?

We made it back to Denver and have survived the first week in civilization.  The trip was a glorious one and we are both feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to take this extend time to travel the west coast.  But I’m sure that you are all anxious to hear about the rest of the trip.  It was all a bit of a blur, but this is how it went down…

Day 19 Continued

As you might remember, we spent the morning tooling around Seattle, taking in some of the sights.   Then it was back in the car for the drive to Ash & Bridget’s in Spokane.  A short 4 hour trip and we were done driving for the day (a pleasant break!)   Ash and the Visla with boundless energy Hogan, greeted us at the driveway.  (you really should read about their adventures at www.homesweethomme.com )  We enjoyed some wine on the patio catching up a bit.  When Bridget got home, we all headed off to dinner at Bennidito’s Pizza.  The food was great and the beers were good.   The girls made friends with the drunk frat boy who was there “representing” some beer company and holding a raffle for Tshirts and pint glasses.  We tried to sneak out while he was “busy”, but he chased the girls down and made sure that they received a “special” gift of pint glasses, just from him.   With that drunk boy in the rear view, we headed to Bridget’s office downtown to check out the new space, and then over to The Elk Public House for some Red Stripes, before heading back.    Now, De Ann and I were excited for sleep, as the Bennidito’s Pizza is rumored to give some crazy, hallucinogenic dreams…. But alas, we slept soundly and without craziness…

Day 20

A quick breakfast at Frank’s Diner with Ash (great homemade gravy and salsa were both awesome additions to our traditional breakfast of eggs and bacon! J), and we were on our way to Yellowstone National Park.   To get there, we leave Washington, drive through Idaho and into Montana.  I should mention that we’ve been geeks about crossing the state lines.  We’ve been taking a picture of each one of the “Welcome to…” signs.   So, we are driving out of Washington, I’m on the phone and driving and all of a sudden, the Now Entering Idaho sign shows up.  We have no camera ready, we weren’t really paying attention until it was too late.  So, we did what anyone would do with 8 hours of driving ahead of them… we got off at the next exit, drove back into Washington, turned around and headed back to Idaho!   With the picture taken and our collection intact, we headed off into the hills of Idaho.

About an hour outside of Yellowstone, where we have reserved a campsite, it starts to rain… a lot.  The closer we got to the Park, the more it rained.   Being our last stop and being exhausted from this journey, the last thing that we wanted to do was set up a tent, in the rain, and deal with all of the associated headaches.  So, we found a nice lodge with rooms available, changed our clothes and decided to see what West Yellowstone, MT has to offer the world.    For the record, we found out that the answer is…. Nothing.   Small town, lots of flea bag motels and quite the interesting collection of locals at the bar at the hotel.   We grabbed a beer, watched a little basketball, got a bite to eat and crashed early.

Day 21

With the anticipation of being home and the prospects for rain for the next 48 hours, we made the decision to see a little bit of the Park this trip, but to high-tail it out of there and do the marathon 9 hour drive home today.    We joked about “poor Yellowstone”, the unfortunate last stop on this trip, equating it to the 5^th day, 23^rd church that you see in Europe and say “this is nice… let’s go.  And if I have to look at one more beautiful church, I think I’m going to hurl.”    So, we drove through Yellowstone, stopped at Old Faithful and took some pictures.  Did a lap around the parking lot to see if we could add to our state license plate collection (coming along nicely, thank you!) and then took off for Denver.  9 short hours later, at 8:30p on Friday, June 5^th, 21 days and 5372 miles after we started, we pulled into our parking garage and let out a big sigh of relief.

It was an awesome trip!   We got to see a ton of friends, family and colleagues.   We had a ton of new experiences and a great blend of travel and enjoyment of a great number of cities in the West.  Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Victoria, BC, Washington, Idaho, (Washington, Idaho again), Montana, Wyoming and back to Colorado.  Whew!   I know that De Ann has another post on the rest of “her” experiences, but I hope that you have enjoyed the journey with us! J    We will be continuing our posts on the adventures in Denver in the coming weeks and months, so make sure that you stop on by when you can!

Until then…

We had many good meals on our road trip. But we enjoyed a very special treat in Seattle, thanks to the power of Facebook. My Facebook friend, Larry Monaco, is the Executive Chef at Queen City Grill in Belltown. Since we would only be in Seattle one night, and I knew nothing about Seattle eateries, I contacted him and told him we were coming to town and wanted to dine at his restaurant. Turned out to be an exceptional idea, and as we decided earlier that day to start a food blog we’re starting with Queen City Grill.

Chef Larry greeted us and asked if we had any dietary restrictions (we do not) and if rare or medium rare beef is okay (it is). Satisfied with our answers he whisked away our menus and announced that he would make us a little of everything. And he did not disappoint! What followed were eight courses of culinary delight.

Wine: 2006, Molly Dooker, Blue Eyed Boy (Shiraz)

First Course: Kushi oysters
These small, locally caught oysters were quite tasty on their own and the bit of horseradish gave them a lovely zing.

Second Course: Salad of yellow watermelon, locally grown Miners’ greens, pancetta and Humboldt Fog
This refreshing salad provided a great mix of flavors and textures. Chef Larry regaled us with a humorous story about his friends who pick the greens for him, and the trouble he goes to is well worth it – they’re lovely.

Third Course: Grilled shrimp with sea salt, coarse pepper and baby corn, with shallots and leeks
Put shallots or leeks on just about anything and I’ll eat it. Paired with perfectly grilled shrimp and baby corn, it’s a masterpiece!

Fourth Course: Seared ahi with Spanish chorizo, peppers and baby bok choy with soy vinaigrette
Oh my! Delicious ahi and excellent chorizo created a unique – and wonderful – combination. The soy drizzle was excellent on both and the bok choy was dee-lish!

Fifth Course: Lemon sorbet
Nice, refreshing palate cleanser!

Sixth Course: Oregon prime beef with sea salt, mashed potato, asparagus and 50-year aged balsamic vinegar
Wow! Just when I thought the ahi was the best dish, Chef Larry delivered this simply seasoned dish. Although a classic dish, there was nothing ordinary about it. The potatoes were the creamiest I’ve ever had, and the aged balsamic was pure heaven! Special thanks to Chef Larry for treating us to a taste of this $150-per-bottle elixir!

Seventh Course: Key Lime Pie and Chocolate Nemesis with Raspberry Glaze and Lemon Whipped Cream
Easily the best Key Lime pie I’ve ever had – super smooth and creamy with a perfect, thick graham cracker crust. Heavenly! The Chocolate Nemesis was amazing – perfect texture that wasn’t too mousse like or too thick. The raspberry glaze and lemon whipped cream put this chocolate pie over the top.

Eighth Course: Cheese platter with St. Agur Triple Cream Blue, Bethmale, Camembert and San Joaquin Gold
Served with blue cheese stuffed raspberries (yum!), honey comb and other accoutrements. A wonderful end to a fabulous dinner!

We’ve become foodies. We love dining and analyzing the subtle flavors & textures of our meals. In January 2009, one of our favorite restaurants in Denver, Rioja, began offering a weekly sampling of food & wine pairings called Sips & Snacks. We instantly became fans and attended nearly every week until it ended in April (rumored to be coming back in the fall!). For the first three weeks I mistakenly called it Tastes & Toasts, so we decided to name our new food section in honor of our friends at Rioja. Cheers!

With such a short time in Seattle scheduled, we decided to stick to the classic touristy stuff. Walked through the Public Market, which was amazing. I’ve never seen such beautiful and exotic flower arrangements – and they were so cheap! Like, $5 cheap for a nice bouquet with no carnations in sight. Also saw a bouquet of sweet peas, my favorite, which you never see at a florist’s. Fresh fruits & veggies that were the brightest and most attractive I’ve ever seen, and also for cheap! We continued along the Puget Sound waterfront admiring the shops & boutiques before heading back to the room to get ready for dinner at Queen City Grill (read about that on our new Tastes & Toasts section).

The next morning, we made the obligatory trip to Starbucks for breakfast then headed to Seattle Center for a stroll among the museums. We rode the bullet-speed elevator to the Space Needle’s observation deck and took something like 360 pictures. It was another gorgeous, cloudless day (yes, we were still in Seattle!) so the views were amazing. Although it was a very quick first visit (for me) to Seattle, it was a great introduction to the Emerald City (formerly nicknamed the Queen City, hence the grill).

Off to Spokane for a visit with Ash, Bridget & Hogan! Happy belated birthday, Hogan!

Victoria is a beautiful, relaxing city. Getting there this time, however, was anything but pretty. Lots of cursing, sweating, yelling, cursing and fist waving. There are tons of quaint little towns along the alternate route (US 101 around the Hood Canal to Port Angeles), none of which I enjoyed because the speed limit would drop to 30 or 35, and we had a $#@% ferry to catch! More cursing, fist waving and shouting at leisurely drivers who let cars pile up behind them. In three weeks of travel, the ferry is absolutely the only time-sensitive reservation we had and I was not going to miss it because the state of Washington thought it a great idea to renovate a major bridge in late spring. Can’t they do that stuff in January when no one is traveling? Anyway…

…WE MADE IT!! With upwards of moments to spare! I nearly wept and hugged the ferry booth attendant when I heard the glorious words, “Pull through to lane 7.” Crisis averted. Heart rate immediately restored to normal level. Okay, still sweaty and a touch jittery, but still.

Safely arriving to our hotel-slash-brew pub, we immediately dumped our luggage and headed to the brew pub section for a pint of nectar. About three minutes later we were off to dinner at a great tapas place, cleverly named “The Tapa Bar.”Great food, but I think someone forgot to tell them the part about small plates, as the portions were much, much bigger than expected. But, we had the best olives ever, very tender and tasty, and hands down the best garlic shrimp. We started looking around the table for things to drag through the garlic sauce. Then back to the brew pub section of our hotel for a nightcap before returning to the hotel section.

Our full day in Victoria was the best vacation day in recorded history. I’m serious, look it up. Great breakfast in the pub section followed by a walk along Victoria’s inner harbor. This is the really peaceful and beautiful part, not a shred of the previous day’s anxiety in sight. We rented bicycles and toured the residential section of the coastline. The nice rental guy overestimated my athleticism judging by some of the hills on his suggested route, but we powered over them. (Eventually, in 2 cases.) It was a gorgeous & exhilarating ride. The seaside homes could have been in any American beach city. After the bike tour, we headed back to the harbor for a light lunch & a refreshing pint of ale at the outdoor Milestones café.

That afternoon, we boarded a tiny float plane for a stunning aerial tour of Victoria. The pilot was about 15 and had moved back to Victoria just 3 weeks earlier (probably from boarding school). Normally I would have questioned such a thing – a pilot/tour guide who had been in the city literally days longer than I – but I was so excited about getting into the co-pilot seat of a sea plane I forgot to prod. On a previous visit I saw Butchart Gardens (stunningly beautiful), which looked absolutely dinky from the air. How in the world did it take me four hours to get through some rich lady’s garden? Anyway, the float plane tour was just amazing, worth every penny and I would do it again in a second. Maybe with an adult pilot next time.

We skipped (really, we were pretty giddy) back to the hotel section for a quick rest before dinner, which was a horrible meal with service to match. We’ll let part of The Best Day Ever slide. We promised that on our next visit to BC we’re splurging for the whale watching, too. Up early the next morning for a quick breakfast before heading back to the ferry terminal for interrogation by customs agents (so distrusful!) and some sniffing by a customs dog. Returned to the US without incident, and off to Seattle. Right back through those quaint little canal side towns, which I still had a hard time enjoying.

Oh Hi!  There you guys are.  I’ve  been looking everywhere for you!   Okay, truth be told,  we were having WAY too much fun  (I’ve really embraced this vaction thing) to be blogging.   I know, it’s hard to believe, but it is true, I tell you.   But I’ve been thinking about you guys, I really have.  So, what have we been up to, you ask.   Let me see if I can get you caught up!

Day 16 – Epilogue…

We made the ferry.  It was nuts, traffic was ridiculous.  There was screaming, there was more than a little bit of swearing, but in the end, De Ann came through like a champ, balancing the speed with the avoidance of Johnny Law that was crawling all over those god-forsaken little towns…but we made it with a few minutes to spare.  We cleaned our shorts, boarded the ferry and asked “Where’s the bar?”   No bar on the car ferry, though if we wanted to buy some duty free booze, we could do that.   We thought about it, but opted for caffeine until the truck was safely parked at the hotel.    A one hour ferry ride later, we got off of the ferry and got interrogated by the customs agents… do we LOOK threatening?  No, we look thirsty.  Outta my way!

We booked a room at the Swans Hotel.   A great place with a brewpub on the first level that has live music 7 nights a week.  We spent some time in that little brewpub before and after dinner, and again the following night.   I would highly recommend that hotel, as it is in a great location, offers affordable accommodations, full kitchens in every room and the aforementioned brewpub.   We received a great recommendation for a tapas restaurant from our server at the pub, so off we went.    The Tapa Bar lived up to the local’s recommendation.   Small plates were anything but small, but everything was absolutely amazing – I’ll let De Ann tell you about the menu and what we had, she’s got the eye, nose and memory for that kind of thing.   But we left full and very happy.  Before we drifted off to sleep, we mapped out what would prove to be one of the best single days of our journey.

Day 17 – A day of fun and firsts…

Breakfast at the Pub and we were off to the wharf.   We decided that we were going to splurge and take a Sea Plane tour of Victoria.   Though a bit pricey, it was something that we have both wanted to do and never had.   We went to the Hyack Air office and booked ourselves on a 3:15 tour of Victoria.  30 minutes of air time proved to be enough for us to see much of the island and have a blast… but I’m jumping ahead.    With our 3:15 reservation, we had about 3 hours to do some other exploring and wandered over to the bike rental office.   Armed with some new street bikes (yes, bicycles, not scooters, though we thought about it), a map and some suggestions from our rental office chap, we headed south to the coast and took a scenic ride on the southern coast, over to Oak Bay Village and back again.   The ride was challenging, due to the hills, but we survived our 90 minute ordeal and were pleased with our biking proficiency.    I guess those Denver Cruiser rides have really paid off!

With some time and a little hunger, we went to a restaurant right on the water.  Milestones Cafe had patio seating available and the weather was perfect!    We enjoyed some time basking in the sun and having a little lunch, before checking out some of the street vendors on the walk to the plane.   We arrived and were escorted to a 7 seater seaplane, built in 1964 or there abouts.   We were the only passengers on the tour that day.  Our pilot, born approximately 30 years later than the plane was built, assisted us onto the plane.  With De Ann seated in the co-pilot’s seat and Doogie Howser at the stick, we fired up the single prop and drifted into the bay.    My general fear of heights, mixed with my propensity for motion sickness did not bode well as we travel to the edge of the bay for take off.  But, I’m happy to say that all of that fear evaporated and was replaced by sheer exhilaration as the plane picked up speed and lifted out of the water.   I joked with De Ann that I took a picture about every 30 seconds of the trip, but it’s not too far off.  With the camera in one hand and the phone camera in the other, I snapped and snapped… we saw many of the places from the air that we had seen from the ground.  The expansive Butchart Gardens appeared below, looking tiny from above…  and before we knew it, we were heading back to the bay.   The landing was smooth, just as Doogie has practiced so much on his Xbox I’m sure.   Both De Ann and I were smiling from ear to ear, as our day of fun continued.

With a stop back at the hotel for a chance to relax a bit, we headed out again for the last event of the day.  The Ghostly Walking Tour of Victoria took us on a 90 minute tour of most of the major buildings in Victoria, complete with “scary” ghost stories and interesting facts.   Content that we had seen much of what Victoria had to offer, we stopped for a late dinner (crappy restaurant, not worth discussing), before heading to the pub for a nightcap and the end to a magical day in Victoria.

Day 18

With a quick breakfast and a pack of the truck, we were off to the harbor to catch our ferry back to the USA.  Same interrogations from the customs agents and we were through the process and traveling to Seattle.  Now, remember from Day 16, the “easy” way to Seattle is over the bridge that is currently closed for repairs/expansion.  So, I got the joy of driving the same route that De Ann took us through.  Quaint towns and idiotic drivers seem to be all that you will find on Hwy 101 from Port Angeles to Olympia.    “Hey buddy, nice mini van and I appreciate your desire to be cautious.  However, did you happen to notice the 25 cars stacked up behind you because you won’t pull over??”    We finally made it through the canyons and through Olympia for our 3^rd time in 3 days.  On to Seattle…

We checked into the Fairmont Olympic Hotel (another shout out to the good folks at Travelzoo, a last minute deal resulted in a great room in a gorgeous hotel for next to nothing.)   And kudos to Seattle and the Fairmont, as I was informed that the $36 overnight parking fee was waived because we arrived in a Hybrid.   Their little thanks for keeping the environment a bit cleaner.   Nice work.

With some time to kill before our dinner reservations, we headed on a walking tour of downtown.  We stumbled upon Pike’s Market and were amazed at the fresh fish and produce deals at this farmer’s market.   We walked past the very first Starbucks, and meandered through stores.  Back to the hotel to get spruced up for dinner.   An old friend of De Ann’s, reacquainted through the Boo (Facebook for those not “in the know”), is the executive chef for the Queen City Grill.   Upon hearing that we were coming to town, he extended an invitation to be his guests at the restaurant.   A nice place with good ambiance, the Grill experience was an amazing one.   With a few questions for us, Chef Larry took our menus away and let us know that he would just bring us a great meal.  8 courses in all, which De Ann will go through with you in good detail, I’m sure.   We left there, having had a wonderful meal and great conversation.  As things were a bit quieter on this Tuesday night, we had the pleasure of having the Chef bring us each course, discuss it with us, and visit for awhile… just like we like it!   Thanks for a great time Larry.  Everyone should be so lucky, as we’ll look forward to the release of the cookbook later this summer!

An early night, as we prepared for our departure from Seattle in the morning.

Day 19

It’s Wednesday.  We will be back in Denver in just 3 days from today.  The trip has been amazing and there is still more to look forward to.  The remainder of the trip consists of a visit with Ash and Bridget in Spokane, WA.    (Shout out to Ash and doin’ it “bloggystyle”, our web host and guide to this wonderful world of blogging.   You can check out Ash’s adventures as a work from home husband with no kids at www.homesweethomme.com )   Tomorrow, we head to Yellowstone for some camping fun and checking out the sights and sounds of this historic national park, before doing the marathon drive back to Denver all day Saturday.

But before all of that, we had a couple of hours to spend in Seattle before heading out.   So we got some Starbucks (had to, it IS Seattle, after all) and headed out to the Seattle Space Needle.    The Needle, for those that don’t know, has an observation platform just 520’ above the ground and was built in the 60’s for the World’s Fair.   We took the tour to the top and the views were amazing.   The weather has been great, with temps in Seattle of 86 with not a cloud in the sky.  We have been very fortunate, and today it made for a great viewing of the city.   With the pictures taken and the views taken in, we wandered around the grounds a bit before hopping in the car.   We are about 100 miles outside of Spokane now and looking forward to our time with A&B.   We’ve got some driving to do tomorrow, so De Ann will likely be sharing with you pictures from the last few days, as well as a detailed look at the food we’ve been lavished with.   I hope you all are having a great day, and we’ll check in with you later!

Until then…

To recap:  Day 14:  we drove.  A lot.

There, you are all caught up.   Saturday, Day 15, May 30^th.  Portland has been having great weather and we took advantage of it by spending much of the day outside.  As De Ann told you, we went to the Saturday Market and toured around downtown a bit.   I showed De Ann where Ash & Bridget had their reception and a couple of other landmarks from the event.     We headed out to Multnomah Falls, taking the long way up and around the Historic Oregon Trail road (Exit 17 off of Hwy 84, if you want to find it.)  Beautiful drive that takes you all the way up to a place called the VISTA HOUSE, Crown Pointe.    This two story stone bungalow is perfectly situated on a high point far above the Columbia River below.  You could see for miles and miles, a perfect day in Portland!   On to the falls for some hiking, pictures and an ice cream cone.

We headed back to Kathy and Mat’s house for some relaxation time on the patio and then on to dinner.  It was a good visit with Ashley and we enjoyed the time with her and the rest of the Jennings clan.  Can’t wait for Ashley’s next visit to Denver at the end of June!

This morning, after a quick breakfast at Shari’s diner (a chain, much like Coco’s) we headed out for our trek to Port Angeles to catch the ferry to Victoria B.C.   So, as I type this, we are stressing that we will not be making the ferry.  We have a reservation on the 5:15p shuttle and they advise getting there 60 minutes early to claim the reservation.   We followed the GPS up I-5 to WA-16 and then we were to take the WA-104 bridge over to get to Port Angeles.   Well, as we were heading up WA-16, there was a sign indicating that the bridge was closed on WA-104.   So, after doing some quick research of the maps, we figured out that our only choice was to backtrack all the way back to Olympia and take Hwy 101 up to Port Angeles.  Soooo, De Ann is stressing and driving, and we are slowly making our way north, hoping and praying that we make this damn ferry.  There are no other ferries…this is the last one.   So if we don’t make this, we are going to be spending the night in Port Angeles.   De Ann (aka Mario Andretti) is doing her damndest on these mountain roads…speed limits fluctuating between 50 and 35, traffic, quaint towns and slow drivers.  OUT OF OUR WAY, PEOPLE!!   We’ll see what happens!    Wish us luck!  Check in with you guys tomorrow.

Until then…

The 5 hour drive from Monterey to Sacramento seemed long and boring, mostly because of the traffic that started as soon as we hit the greater Bay Area (the traffic for which extends several counties). But, we had an absolutely wonderful time with Joe and Carrie Cooper once we arrived. They are incredibly gracious hosts who took us to a great sushi place. You might be thinking, “Great sushi in Sacramento?” as we were, but since we’re able to get great sushi in landlocked Denver (our friend Chad calls Colorado “America’s Placemat”) we were willing to give it a go. Good thing, too, because dinner was great, although not nearly as good as the company!

After a good night’s rest it was off to Portland. The longest day in the car (11+ hours) with a quick break in Corvallis to see my niece, Danielle, who studies pre-vet at OSU. Probably the shortest visit in history, but worth it to get a quick hug and catch up on her busy college life. Back in car for the short drive to Portland, and getting to see Ashley and the city she calls home was well worth the day’s looong drive. Impromptu dinner & happy hour on the deck followed by some stellar (and not so stellar) Rock Band performances. Crashed early, as having done absolutely nothing all day is exhausting.

Saturday was beautiful and we spent late morning/early afternoon at the famed Saturday Market browsing wares. After a snack we headed to beautiful Multnomah Falls for a quick hike and stunning views of the falls. I love waterfalls (who doesn’t?) and Multnomah did not disappoint. Also saw gorgeous views of Columbia River. Easy to understand how settlers saw this place and stopped!

Another relatively quiet evening with Ashley, Mat, Kathy & Mason, and now en route to beautiful British Columbia. Looking forward to seeing Victoria again and figuring out what we want to do there!

Downtown Portland's Saturday Market

Multnomah Falls, Oregon's highest waterfall