UPDATE -

I had been meaning to check out northern California for some time, Cassie went to school there and enough friends had migrated out that way. I had hoped to catch up with my friend from HS, Rosanna, but some muddled communications got in the way as I was long past Oakland and off the BART by the time we got in touch.

GAH, stupid iPhone WordPress app lost the rest of this post, fail… Will update it more later

I will update this more after my morning’s travels are done, stay tuned!

Instead of coming back to ROC after visiting Sasha and doing the RIT Big Shot in Washington, DC I am flying IAD-OAK, meeting up with an old friend from high schoool and then taking a combination of BART and CalTrain to Sunnyvale. I’m meeting Ben (who is coming in from who knows where) near SFO and spending two nights there.  We then fly SJC-LGB-PDX, spend the afternoon and 1 night in Portland and then take the first AMTRAK train of the morning (Cascades 400) from PDX-SEA.  After an afternoon / evening of more great seafood and beer in Seattle, Ben flies back east and I’m staying there for the night before flying SEA-LGB.  My father happens to be flying into LAX for business that afternoon too, so we’re meeting up (along with a friend who moved out there after RIT) for a late lunch.  I’m spending 3 nights in LA and then either heading back to ROC for a day and a half and then to Vegas, or going directly LGB to LAS (that bit is still up in the air, hooray for 3-day-cancelation-and-change policy haha).  Ben and I are keeping out LAS-JFK-ROC leg, at least, at this point!

We landed at Louis Armstrong International and I was immediately overwhelmed by how hot and humid it was. Granted, I spent years living in the Washington, DC area so I’m pretty familiar with how it can be in the south but compared to the almost-over-air-conditioned airplane it was like opening the door to the oven!  After a really frustrating wait for a bus that never materialized, Ben and I grabbed a cab to the French Quarter.  We had the driver let us off at Jackson Square and immediately proceeded to the “Moonwalk” – a river walk / boardwalk with a great view of the Mississippi River.

From there we pretty much just criss-crossed the French Quarter taking in the sights / atmosphere. What a fascinating place to people watch, and what interesting architecture / construction style. Ben and I both remarked about all of the wrought iron railings and porch screens, and how much more european it felt with the narrow streets and two and three story townhouses.  We stopped for a snack of beignets and a cafe au lait at Cafe Du Monde – what a strange version of the doughnut, it was more like a funnel cake made into a square and bombarded with powdered sugar.  From there we wandered around Jackson Square, listened to a guy playing a sousaphone out in front of the St. Louis Cathedral and then figured it was about time for a late lunch.

Ben had talked to Chris Horn and it was suggested we check out the Gumbo Shop.  I think I owe Chris a few ciders when I see him next, what a fantastic place!  I was torn between what to get and was glad when Ben chose the Jambalaya – I wanted to try it too but had my heart set on the Crawfish Etouffee.  Both were stellar and I really liked that they served them with a fresh loaf of french bread.  Our stomachs happier we set off to put a bit of a smackdown on our livers

Chris had also remarked that we should check out the Old Absinthe Bar for a “hurricane” – we’d walked by it first thing upon reaching the Quarter and had wanted to check it out anyway.  Let me just say, those things are DECEPTIVE. They bury a shot of light rum, another of dark and a third of 151 proof in there!  The bartender gave us a free large salty soft pretzel which was quite welcome as a contrast to the almost-syrupy sweetness of that evil, evil drink.

After punishing our livers a little more we walked back to the taxi stand outside a hotel on Bourbon Street.  Thankfully we looked at the traffic report on Google Maps on the iPhone, there was a huge backup on I-10 between the city and the airport. The cab driver knew a good detour when we mentioned it and we got there with time to spare (even after the annoyingly long line at TSA – two agents working an entire terminal, dumb).

The flight actually wasn’t as long or tedious as I was afraid it might be – I caught up on some work and even had time to watch a bit of Dirty Jobs, what with not having cable at home, it’s actually a bit of novelty for me to be able to watch TV on the plane. We landed about 30 minutes early – again – props to Jet Blue and TJ got there right when we did. Ben and I both sent a few emails we’d been drafting offline on the plane and then we met TJ to take the bus to downtown.

Our gracious host had a growler of Stone Brewing’s “Ruination” IPA waiting – a wonderfully refreshing way to spend an hour relaxing in his gorgeous loft listening to music, sipping good beer and enjoying the warm breeze. Ben and I were both starving thanks to the time difference so TJ walked with us down to Neighborhood – a true craft beer bar. It was such a great place with a stellar selection of beers and some really unique and satisfying food, I had a steak sandwich that was out of this world while sipping my first taste of Stone’s 09.09.09 Vertical Epic Ale.

After lunch we wandered down to the waterfront via the gaslamp district. It was neat seeing the USS Midway docked there with tons of planes on deck. We kept walking, ending up at the boundary fence of the airport to watch some planes land overhead (and a few took off from that same runway right in front of us while we were there). As if we aren’t spending enough time in and around airports

From there we walked back toward TJ’s via little Italy and I got my first taste of a west coast grocery store via Ralphs (namely for a much-needed can of Res Bull). We met up with TJ’s friend Steve back at Neighborhood (there were a couple more beers we wanted to try from lunch, plus Ben and I needed some food before our flight). I had (try not to laugh too hard) a fantastic peanut butter and jelly sandwich – I figured if a place of that caliber was going to put it on the menu it was likely going to be pretty good, and thankfully I was right.

After a few more minutes of listening to music at TJ’s place we went downstairs and caught a cab back to the airport (the bus schedule didn’t line up well with our flight out). Got to the airport just in time for them to start boarding and I don’t think we had even finished climbing out before I was out like a rock.

I can’t say I slept all that well but we’re at Boston Logan waiting for our connection to New Orleans right now, I’ll probably catch a nap on that flight too so it’s all good.

I am looking forward to San Diego, to seeing an old friend, and of course to exploring a new city.

UPDATE -

So I had promised myself that I wouldn’t leave Whitefish without first stopping at on of my favorite breweries, Great Northern Brewing Company – used to be Black Star beer when my family and I would come out for ski vacations at Big Mountain. I was afraid I’d have to break that promise to myself as it had been such a busy week, but after making dinner for my Mom and going over some odds and ends while packing there was stil an hour and a half before my train was scheduled to arrive. Plenty of time for a couple of beers in the tasting room, which also happens to be a block away from the Whitefish AMTRAK station.

Mom tried the Huckleberry Wheat while I had one of their new Highland Scotch Ales – which I believe won a best-of-show in a 2009 festival in Missoula, MT. I then had their new Pack Strap Porter, wow! Nice and toasty, hint of espresso and impressively smooth and drinkable.

I asked the bartender if I could take a few pictures and she showed me a balcony overlooking brewing operations. I always love how spotless and shiny stuff is in breweries!

After getting on the train, I settled in with a half-bottle of a decent Central Coast 2006 Cabernet and caught up on Formula 1 Monza Free Practices and Qualifying.

Got up this morning at 6 in order to have time for a shower and breakfast before getting into Seattle – the scenery from the dining car was amazing! As I write thus update I am an hour and 15 minutes from downtown / King Street station – very much looking forward to a day of exploring / wandering in the city.

UPDATE 2 -

After a relaxing night of catching up on F1 we got in on time to Seattle’s King St AMTRAK station.  I had left my clothing and extra computer/work related stuff in Montana to have it all shipped back to Rochester NY so I was just carrying my backpack when I got off the train.  I immediately headed up the hill toward Kobe Park in the International / Chinatown District, having seen it on some touristy map the day before.  At the base of the park, there was this really fascinating iron gate, it looked (to my uneducated eye) like something out of 500+ years-ago Japan.  Going through the gate there were a series of paths leading up the hill – half way up I was surprised to see that most of the park is actually a community garden!  People were tending to plants, weeding, watering, it was really refreshing to see. At the top of the hill was a sculpture / shrine among the pine (fir?) trees.

After spending a bit of time looking out over the city from this gorgeous vantage point I decided I’d like to see the Public Library. A few blocks down hill and to the north I got there, unfortunately, seeing as it was Sunday, it was closed until noon.  I figured I’d find a Starbucks and relax for a little while and get some work done while waiting for it to open…   except that the three Starbucks that I came across were ALSO closed.  Didn’t they INVENT it here??  Having abandoned that plan I saw some ferries and piers and figured I’d head down that way.  My parents had recommended the seafood at Ivar’s on the waterfront, it turns out that was right next to the ferry terminal.  I decided to take a trip over to Bainbridge Island and walk around for an hour or two, plus I wanted to see the skyline from the waterfront.  After buying my ticket I walked over to Ivar’s for a small platter of fried clams, yum!  Much more meaty and tender than the little-crips-of-mostly-dough you tend to get when ordering clams where I live.

Upon arriving to Bainbridge I walked toward the “town” of Eagledale.  I’d read about Cafe Nola and figured I’d relax, have some lunch and then continue to explore the island. I had a mimosa and what was quite possibly the best club sandwich I’ve ever encountered – an entire breast of chicken butterflied and grilled with a perfect mix of herbs, fresh local cheese, thick sliced bacon and wonderfully crisp, fresh lettuce, all served on a local artisan bread.  I actually asked them to pack half of it to-go for me and enjoyed the second half on my way back to Seattle on the ferry.

After the return ferry trip from Bainbridge, I wandered over to the Pikes Place Market.  WOW!  Several stories of indoor shops (not really my type of thing, most of it seemed a bit kitschy, honestly) but then I made it to the outdoor stalls.  What a fantastic place!  I ran across the original Starbucks (I guess it had been moved there from it’s first location) and quite a number of other places to eat, shop, buy fish, produce, cheese, you name it. I was still pretty full from my sandwich so I didn’t get to try Mee Sum as recommended by Rufo and Nathan but that looked quite promising!

After the market I did finally make it back to the library, it’s even more amazing inside. I spent about an hour there catching up on stuff for work, charging my laptop and phone and then made my way to Pike Brewing Company for dinner.  They had a pretty decent sized selection of beers and a great menu, I started by sampling the Double IPA and their Pike IPA, ended up getting the “regular” one, I normally like very high IBU / hoppy beers but the double was a bit too harsh in my opinion. For dinner I had their crab+shrimp cakes (with this fantastic thai-influenced sauce, and served on a nice salad of mixed greens / herbs), and then I tried their local cheese sampler paired with their beer sampler.  Absolutely fantastic stuff!

After dinner I made my way to one of the “transit tunnel” stations – they actually run the buses and light rail under the city, pretty neat. Turns out the light-rail to SeaTac isn’t QUITE finished but they provided a free transfer / shuttle from the station immediately prior.  After clearing security I had another local IPA while waiting for my flight (I’d gotten there a bit TOO early) and that might explain part of why I slept like a baby on the way back to JFK.

I am relaxing onboard AMTRAK’s Empire Builder train in Seattle, shoes off, feet up, doing a bit of people watching as the various sleeper and coach cars fill up. I have my dinner reservations and can’t wait to hear what they’ve cooked for us tonight. Other than being rather tired from what’s been a long day of travel, I couldn’t be happer. In about 15 hours I will be at my parents’ house in Whitefish (assuming the train is on time – which *knock on wood* the Empire Builder seems to be more often than not, especially Eastbound).

I have a busy week of work ahead, running CAT5e and RG6 in my dad’s new office, working on a newspaper ad for a new client, wrapping up a website revamp for another. Maybe if I’m lucky in there, I can find some time to get over to Great Northern Brewing Company!

So far the AYCJ pass travel has been most enjoyable, I’m able to be reasonably productive on the plane (not as much so on the short hop from ROC -> JFK as by the time you haul stuff out you’re landing) and am getting used to the iPhone WordPress app – I am not thrilled with photo workflow from phone to blog (some of that being the phone not having crop / resize for uploads) and have yet to find a good way to deal with videos except for TwitVid or YouTube but I’m sure I can work that out over the next few days.

Oh, and feel like I need a 17″ MBP just for the battery life, although I remember how unwieldy they are on a tray table – as it was I had to be careful if someone in front of me leaned back (and I am just working on a 15″). The real solution would just be power plugs on the planes but I have yet to see a Jet Blue flight with either AC or power-port

The gate agent suggested following signs for the baggage claim and then ground transport (I didn’t check any bags) and I’m glad I did a bit of Googling beforehand as it turns out you have to go to the 3rd floor of the main parking garage to find a taxi… Yeah, uh, because that’s intuitive, right? Anyhow, they have a queue managed by a guy with a Motorola and within 30 seconds a white Prius rolls up. I just about burst out laughing, but hey, a cab is a cab. At least I have something to do to pass the 25-30 minute ride (in moderate to heavy traffic thus far) to the AMTRAK station downtown – I’m watching the LCD “charge-o-meter” (yes, that’s it’s technical name) go between 99.9mpg under regeneative braking down to 17mpg under acceleration at freeway speeds when traffic clears up

UPDATE -

$40 cab fare and about 25 minutes later, I got to the King Street Station with enough time after picking up my sleeper-car tickets to go get a sandwich. Walked around the corner to find the “Kingdome Deli” and snagged a turkey bacon club (and a Red Bull). As tasty as the blue potatoe chips that Jet Blue offers are, they don’t make a meal – and my body thinks it’s 6:30PM Eastern. Very much looking forward to relaxing with a glass of wine on the train in an hour or two.

Needless to say, this was less than desirable.

Well, let’s just say Jet Blue has more than redeemed themselves with the launch of what they call “T5″ here at JFK.

It’s bright. It’s fresh. The layout is logical and there is no shortage of great places to grab a bite of food. And oh, the food! In addition to standard airport-fare, the deli is done by Boars Head, and there is this row of “sit down” bistros with wait staff and decent if not downright GOOD food. Amazingy the prices weren’t sky high either… All told I was very impressed. I ate a bowl of steel-cut oats topped with caramelized bananas and golden raisins – a generous portion of hot, healthy food for $7. Hard to argue with that compared to what I’m used to in airports!

I have about 30 more minutes before boarding for SEA but for once I am wishing I had a longer layover so I coins continue to explore this gem of a terminal (and perhaps have another bellini hehe).

UPDATE -

To top things off, a live jazz/brass group is playing in the junction of where gates 1-7, 8-21 etc meet.