Rocky Mountain Adventure

By Robert | Published July 16, 2012

Introduction
Let me start out by saying, that I am way behind on things, especially when it comes to finally putting together my write up of a little weekend trip out to Colorado to do some hiking.  Not sure why it is taking this long, but what can I say; it’s been a busy month between this trip and today.  As a result, this one is going to be one very long post.

If you remember, last August I had decided to take a weekend trip to Colorado because I really wanted to do some hiking in the Rocky Mountains.  This lead me to Denver and Rocky Mountain National Park where I attempted and succeeded (against my expectations) a 4.4 mile (8.8 mile round-trip) hike up Flattop Mountain.  I found the area extremely beautiful and afterwards found myself wanting more.  So on Memorial Day weekend 2012 I decided to fly out to Denver and try for a repeat, although this time nothing as crazy as attempting Flattop Mountain again.

Saturday, May 26, 2012
I wasn’t home for very long before starting out on this trip; the night before I had arrived back home on a Delta 737 from a work trip that had me bouncing all over the eastern US.  This same plane (and the same SFO-based crew) was waiting for me this morning to take me back to Atlanta and then on towards Denver.  The flight back to ATL wasn’t anything special, and my Atlanta layover wasn’t of any particular excitement other than talking to Verizon on the phone trying to figure out why data (3G or 4G) wasn’t working at all (hint: I wound up having to reset my phone to factory defaults when I got to Denver).  Onward the flight to Denver was about as good as the last time I flew the route; I had received an upgrade in advance, so I at least was going to be in relative comfort for the short 3 hour flight.  The flight duration also meant that a meal was served, and today’s option was a chicken-salad sandwich (I think) with chips, fruit, and a desert.  I remember thinking “not bad” and “I wouldn’t mind getting this again” as well as “Ooh a Dancing Deer desert – I haven’t seen those in a while.”  Only downside was that on the flight I had to abstain from beer or other alcohol due to not wanting it to affect my rather short time frame of acclimatization to the altitude.

Delta Air Lines 737 – Panama City (ECP)

Delta First Class Lunch – ATL-DEN

Upon arriving into Denver I was glad that this time it was daylight compared to my last trip that got me to the area late at night.  With no data on my phone, I was not able to rely on Google Maps or anything to lead me in the right direction; and had to figure it out with the paper map from Hertz.  I must have learned a few things in the scouts because I made it without too much of a problem.  After parking my Subaru Forrester (not a bad small SUV in my book), I made my way to the lobby of the Westin Downtown Denver.  I’ve stayed at the Sheraton on the other end of the 16th Street Mall and wanted to try this hotel out this time.  They were accommodating and got me a room with a view of the mountains which was fairly large and pretty nice overall.

Westin Denver Downtown – King Room

Westin Downtown Denver – Sunset View

After getting settled I headed downstairs to wander the 16th Street Mall for a bit, to which I discovered that there was an even going on called Denver Day of Rock, which featured a number of stages with music.  Eventually I headed out to the REI store near downtown to stock up on supplies for the next day.  And like a usual visit for me to an REI, I came out of there with more than I had intended in the first place!

I can’t say that I did anything too exciting that night other than get dinner.  In fact I even abstained from drinking any beer as well; it doesn’t help with the acclimatization process and I really did not want to be miserable the next day.  On top of all of this it also means I had to go to bed very early as it is about a 2 hour drive to the park and I wanted to get a very early start at the trail head.

Sunday, May 27, 2012
I surprised myself and got up as early as I wanted to around 3:30am; so early that I shared the elevator ride down to the lobby with a group who was just getting turning in for the night after a night of drinking.  The streets of Denver were empty and quiet and soon enough I was passing through Boulder and then into the wilderness.  This time driving the roads in the dark didn’t seem as nerve racking as last time and I think that had something to do with the fact that this time I got a Subaru Forrester from Hertz.  Just as before with my last trip, I got to Estes Park as the sun was starting to rise and was still early enough to avoid crowds and having to pay an entrance fee to the park.  I made my way down Bear Lake Road to the same trail head I started from last time, but this time the road was under heavy construction and had been turned into a temporary dirt road.  Again I was glad to have the Subaru.

I reached the trail head and noted how cold it was up here at 9,475 ft above sea level – a brisk 36F according to the thermometer in the dash of my car.  That morning while I was heading out I had only grabbed my jacket “just in case”, because I guess I would have thought it would have been slightly warmer.  But that was probably just my Florida brain thinking since we start seeing hot days in March or earlier.

36F And Early….One Way To Beat The Crowds!

My plan for the day was to make a loop out of several trails, starting and ending back at the Bear Lake Trail head.  I was going to head out towards Emerald Lake where I would rest for a moment before heading back to Dream Lake to hit the Lake Haiyaha Trail (with a diversion to the lake) continuing south to a point where several trails meet up and then heading up pass Alberta Falls and back to Bear Lake.  It seemed like such a great idea, but there was one thing I just didn’t take into account: snow and ice.  I had read the reports before heading up here and most trails indicated that they were mostly good, so I went forth.  The only problem that I would eventually find out once I reached Dream Lake was that the trail heading south to Lake Haiyaha looked a bit unsafe for me with just my hiking boots…it was covered in ice and snow and with the sun rising, it would soon get slippery.  Not exactly ideal conditions.

The Area In Rocky Mountain National Park That I Hiked

Anyways, the first leg of my hike wasn’t that bad.  Almost everyone I encountered had been heading back towards the trail head, so I take it that most had gone to watch the sunrise at Emerald Lake.  It really didn’t take very long as I passed Nymph Lake, Dream Lake before reaching the end of the trail, roughly 1.5miles in.  The isolation was fantastic; I sat there at the end of the trail on a rock alone in the mountains just taking it in – very beautiful and calming if you were to ask me.  Once I headed back I started to encounter others heading in that direction, so I definitely made the right call in terms of starting time.

Nymph Lake

On The Trail Between Nymph Lake and Dream Lake – The Lighting Just Makes This Photo (In My Book)

Snow and Ice – The Trail To Lake Haiyaha Was Worse Than This (On The Way To Emerald Lake)

Dream Lake

Emerald Lake – Beautiful, But Not Very Emerald In Color

End Of The Trail – Or Perhaps The Beginning Of It!

Since my plan had been foiled due to snow and ice on the ground, I retreated to the trail head.  From there I started working around my loop in a clockwise fashion (that’s largely the red part in the map above).  When I started I wasn’t sure what my end destination was going to be.  Initially I thought of heading to the Loch, but as I chatted with some fellow hikers on the trail I discovered that the elevation gain while not super-significant, was several hundred feet.  By the time I reached the four-way intersection of trails (lower portion of the map above), I decided that I head head south to Mills Lake via Glacier Falls as it had slightly less elevation gain or at least more spread out.  Plus I had heard that it was a very picturesque spot, so why not?  I was rewarded with a great spot to kick back and attempt to enjoy my backpacker cold black bean and corn lunch.  Several others had brought small stoves with them in order to cook a lunch and in the future I may just have to try that.

Alberta Falls

Flattop Mountain – Where I Hiked Last Year

Getting Closer To Mills Lake

Mills Lake

Other Hikers Enjoying Mills Lake

“Delicious” No-Cook Trail Food

I rested here for what seemed like an hour before heading back.  I had roughly 3 miles to go to get back to the trail head and I could already feel the altitude from the first 7 miles or so of the day taking effect.  Luckily there wouldn’t be a lot of uphill segments, but it still gets to you a bit.  I was sucking down water pretty heavily too and even found myself opening up my “reserve” 1L bottle with a mile left to go.  The downside with this hike was that the home stretch was uphill, and which took me way too long to get through.  I almost went to a closer trail head and thought about using the shuttle system to get back to Bear Lake and my car, but I convinced myself that would be cheating or something like that.  Eventually, I did make it back to the trail head and to the car.

Just like my previous trip out there, the drive back was perfect.  The sun was out, the temperature was good and really no bad reason to open up the sun roof as I coasted down the mountains towards Denver.  Getting back to Westin in Denver I hoped that I wouldn’t feel beat down or 100% exhausted like last time when I hiked Flattop Mountain, because I sure did want to get out that evening.  With my luck a shower and some ibuprofen was all that I needed.  After a little bit of rest it was downstairs to the 16th Street Mall for dinner where I settled on the Paramount Cafe.  It wasn’t terribly busy and I was able to get a table outside on the mall which is perfect for people watching.  I went through many local beers there that night, some of them I wish I remember what they were, but well that’s become forgotten knowledge.  I will say that the first sip I took though went all fizzy in my mouth.  I don’t know if it was the altitude or the medicine I took to keep altitude sickness away on my hike or what, but it took me by surprise.  Maybe it was just from going two days with any! Ha!

Sidewalk Seating At The Paramount Cafe On The 16th Street Mall

Sunday, May 27, 2012
Memorial Day – For me it would be spent on planes.  With MEM-ECP service discontinued at the start of the 2012, I couldn’t take the same late afternoon option out of Denver to get back home.  That meant having to take an early afternoon flight which would cut into my time in Denver.  There really wasn’t a whole lot of time once I got up and got moving, but I did manage to find some breakfast and then wonder the streets as the city woke up.  Eventually I found myself in front of Union Station which the last time I was here had large banners announcing that Amtrak had moved.  Later I would find out that they are completing a massive upgrade and renovation of the area and there were more signs of this today; as you could see construction equipment and barriers setup.  Once the modifications are complete it should be a nice blend of old and new; similar to the style of some of the train stations I’ve encountered in Europe in the past.   It’s good to see some states investing in public transportation infrastructure…

Anyways, there was no time for lunch so off to the airport it was.  My only complaint with the Denver International Airport is that the car rental locations seem so far away from the terminal.  Luckily I wasn’t cutting it super close, but I didn’t exactly leave myself with a lot of time either.  Once inside and with my bag dropped at the Delta counter I was through security pretty quickly thanks to the premium lane; although it did mean just getting to the gate sooner to wait.

Waiting To Board This MD-90 For My Flight To Atlanta

Once on board I settled into seat 1B in First Class for the ride back to Atlanta.  I cringed a bit when I found out I was sitting next to a kid no older than eight, but he was very polite which was the opposite of what I expected.  Once in the air, meals were served and I went with the Roast Beef sandwich.  While it’s not exactly my favorite First Class meal on Delta (and meals generally have gotten much better lately it seems), it sounded better than whatever the other option was.  As usual my complaint about the bread on this sandwich being rather dry still stands.  Maybe someday they will figure it out.  Other than that the flight was very remarkable.  The same goes for my Atlanta layover and the flight back to Panama City.

Delta First Class Lunch DEN-ATL

Favorite Way To Kill Time In An Airport – Watching Planes Take Off (Atlanta)

Once back home I realized how worn out I was.  With being on work travel the Monday-Friday portion of the week before bouncing across the east coast and then flying to Denver on the weekend to go hiking I pretty much had zero energy left.  Once I got laundry started, I just passed out on my bed.

I’m glad I made the call to go out there to Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park again.  It’s really been cemented in my head just how beautiful it is out there and why I need to keep going back.  Sure maybe next time it won’t be Rocky Mountain National Park (or at the very least a different trail head!), but I definitely need to make this a yearly thing.  Or who know maybe I will head back out there again later this year….you just never know!

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Spring Time In The Big Apple (Part 2)

By Robert | Published June 10, 2012

Index:

Sunday, May 6, 2012
Despite having been out pretty late the night before I surprised myself when I woke up only 6 hours later and not really feeling like I had as much to drink as I had the night before, meaning my biggest two fears didn’t happen.  Now I could still go find a good breakfast and a few other things before heading to the airport that afternoon.

Once out of my hotel I had decided to go in search of a place that I had read about called the Clinton St. Baking Company & Restaurant.  Located in the lower east side, their menu online looked very promising.  In fact by the time I made it down there, it looked like many others in NYC had the same idea and the place was packed.  They don’t have very many tables and told me that it would be over an hour wait for me to enjoy breakfast.  No matter how good something might be, an hour is just too long of a wait.  With my plan now in complete disarray, I started to wander around and a few blocks over I found the Cornerstone Cafe.  From the outside it looked like a nice sidewalk cafe, although most of the patrons were inside.  I found myself a table and found myself ordering for the second day in a row, Pancakes.  Now they had all sorts of good looking options on the menu, don’t get me wrong, but for whatever reason I just found myself craving them again.  And they were pretty good too; the only downside being that they soaked up syrup like a sponge!

After breakfast I wasn’t sure what I would really have time to do for the rest of the day and I thought about a few different options including going to Empire State Building, but found myself heading to Washington Square Park instead.  I think I have mentioned plenty of times before that I really like just hanging out in this small park.  Whether I’m kicking back with a book next to the fountain or just watching the people in the park it’s almost always a good decision.  And with with weather that day, it was an excellent decision.  I didn’t have a book with me this time, so I sat and watched the people.  The fountain wasn’t running so there were little kids running around and playing, while some guy was playing the piano and others were just relaxing like me.  I lost track of how long I was here for, but eventually I decided to seek out lunch nearby.

Washington Square Park - Arch

The Piano Man

After some wandering around the adjacent streets, I decided to poke my head into ‘wichcraft.  I had seen this place before in the past and I wondered what it was all about…and it turned out to be all about sandwiches.  They had all sorts of good looking ones, but the one that caught my eye was the meatloaf sandwich.  It’s been forever since I last had one of those and I just knew that I had to go for it…and it was pretty darn good.  Plus the people working there were pretty friendly and it wasn’t super busy.  Nice spot for a quick lunch.

Once I was done here, I figured that maybe I should try to go for the Empire State Building again.  Looking at the time however, I noticed that it was almost 1pm and with my flight leaving in just over three hours I decided to start making my way back to my hotel.  However I did take a slightly leisurely path, walking down a few side streets, up through Union Square Park and finally to Madison Square Park.  I had this bright idea to grab a drink at the Shake Shack there, but the line was beyond long!  From there I jumped on a Local 6 train and was back at the W to claim my gear.

Shaded Side Street

One World Trade Center Off In The Distance

Empire State Building (From Madison Square Park)

After checking out I jumped into the first taxi that I saw outside.  First of all, the driver didn’t even jump out to help with luggage (not that I needed help) or open the trunk, so I wound up throwing my bags in the back seat with me.  I also did not notice that the driver wasn’t using his meter and was going a route that I was not familiar with.  He avoided the tunnels and took surface streets through Long Island City.  Before he even arrived at the airport, he had input his flat fee ($35) and had me pay in advance of arriving.  Since a cab usually costs around $25 without tip to/from LGA I had been taken for an extra $10.  I’m guessing he was ripping off his employer too or something as well going about this method.  It’s actually the first time that this has happened to me in NYC and I think in the future I am just going to have to keep an eye on the meter as I get in.  Luckily it wasn’t any worse than it was.

Anyways, once at LaGuardia, I made my way for the Sky Priority security line right away since I had a mobile boarding pass and had practically no wait.  Once I got to the TSA ID Checker, I was informed that I had been selected under the TSA PreCheck program and that I could use a special screening lane off to the side – actually since opting in months ago this was the first time I had been selected.  Most airports I fly from do not have this deployed yet.  For those not familiar with the PreCheck program, as a frequent flyer, I have opted in to having some sort of background check ran by the TSA that allows for low-risk fliers to be given less invasive security screenings.  Currently only frequent fliers from certain airlines and those with trusted traveler memberships like CBP’s Global Entry program are currently being accepted.  As a result I only had to pass through a metal detector (no backscatter or mmW scanners), my belt and shoes could stay on, liquids/gels could stay in my bag and I didn’t have to unzip my TSA-compliant laptop compartment in my messenger bag for screening.  As a result, I cleared security incredibly quick.

As I made my way to the gate I noticed how crowded it was.  It looks like some school had taken a trip to NYC and were all on my flight.  All I know was that I was glad my upgrade had cleared and I wouldn’t be surrounded by 30 middle school kids that were clearly excited.  On another note as I watched the plane being towed into the gate I noticed that I would finally get to fly on one of Delta’s SkyTeam Alliance livery planes.  Nothing special aside from the paint job, but interesting that I had not been on one yet.

Delta SkyTeam 757

With an on time departure and take off, the aircraft rocketed up into the skies above NYC and we were already past 10,000 feet as we passed over midtown Manhattan and the Hudson river, giving great views of the city and of EWR as we headed south.  Actually looking at one of my photos I took with my phone I think the large ship sailing down the river was the NCL cruise ship I saw the other day at the pier next to the USS Intrepid.

Above Manhattan

Since it was a little bumpy, they waited a bit before starting to serve dinner.  Tonight there was an option of a salad or a Chicken Caprese sandwich.  I went with the sandwich and it came with the usual side dish of fruit, and a slice of chocolate cake.  Not a bad meal – Delta has seemed to increase both the variety and quality of on-board food offerings lately.  The arrival into Atlanta was on time and I didn’t have much to do during my layover, so I just found myself killing time surfing the web from the free wifi in the Concourse E food court.  My flight was departing from Concourse E as well (for whatever reason the evening mainline flight seems to more often than not, depart from here these days), so I didn’t have far to wander.  Again my upgrade had cleared, and 40 minutes after take off I was walking out of the terminal in Panama City heading to my car.

Delta First Class Meal - Chicken Caprese Sandwich LGA-ATL

Overall, it was another successful trip to New York.  As always, I seem to find enough to do and have a good time.  I’ll have to plan another trip there for later this year, maybe in the fall when it starts to cool down a bit again and the leaves start to change colors.

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Suitcase Time Capsule

By Robert | Published June 3, 2012

If you remember, recently the carry on suitcase that I had used for a number of years finally met its end thanks to a Delta baggage handler in Nashville.  Well today, as part of doing some cleaning around the house, I started to go through my suitcase and found a time capsule of sorts.  Included were brochures and maps, boarding passes, and luggage tags, admission tickets, and handwritten notes to myself.  All from various different trips and often were things just tucked into a pocket.  I found it all very interesting and brought back some memories from various trips such as:

  • Trying orient myself outside of Paddington Station in London, so I could find my hotel using a Google Maps printout and having been awake for the better part of the previous 48 hours.
  • Being scheduled to fly out of Japan from Tokyo just two days after the 2011 Earthquake, and not being sure if there would be train service to Narita Airport (or if something else would happen and flights get cancelled).
  • Visiting the ever-amazing Porsche Museum in Stuttgart just a few months after it had openened.
  • Spending a week in Sydney and seeing many of the landmarks covered in projections as part of the Vivid Sydney festival.
  • Taking a tour of the largest building in the world and getting to see production lines of the Boeing 747-8, 787, and 777 up close.
  • And so very much more!

I’ve gone through the pile and tagged many of the things I found in this “time capsule” on flickr.  Click the image below and you can see some of the things that I found hiding in my suitcase:

Suitcase Time Capsule

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Spring Time In The Big Apple (Part 1)

By Robert | Published June 3, 2012

Index:

Introduction
Spring Time…for those of us who live in Florida, it always seems to end as all the college students pack up their cars and head back to their campuses and the temperatures seem to soar higher and higher.  For the rest of the country, spring always seems to last a little bit longer with relatively cool temperatures and lush landscapes.  Although, I’ve already escaped the heat a month prior to Alaska, it seemed like to time to head off to somewhere for the weekend.  The fact that a major motorcycle rally that occurs during early May (Thunder Beach) always gives me the reasoning to head out of town.  While I like the fact that they come here and spend all sorts of money supporting the local economy, I just can’t stand being around when they are here.  Traffic gets bad, bars get packed, and since I live near a major road, I constantly hear the roar of the bikes going by.  On top of all this, it also happened to be birthday that weekend, and quite frankly I didn’t want to be around not being able to go anywhere because of the crowds.

So, I started to look.  I was checking out hotels in New York City and other places such as San Francisco and Washington, DC.  I actually found what looked like some pretty good deals and for certain was going to book something.  I then for whatever reason decided to check my email after spending about 45 minutes of clicking around on the SPG website.  Without realizing it, I noticed that timestamped 15 minutes prior was a reservation confirmation for a hotel.  And not just some cheap hotel, but the W New York.  Oh, and it was non-refundable.  I was not sure how I booked the room; of course I was signed into my Starwood account, which had payment information saved into, but I could have sworn that I never clicked “reserve” and certainly never proceeded past the summary page before you click confirm.

I was scared – the rate was a bit higher than what I am usually comfortable paying for a hotel room.  As I went into panic mode I first tried calling the SPG Gold line and they could do nothing.  Secondly, I then called the hotel (mind you this was at like 11pm), who took note of my details, but no one could help me tonight.  While on the phone talking to the person taking my details, I figured that I would at least sleep on it and who knows maybe actually not fight this.  When I woke up the next morning, I knew what I had to do: go to New York City.  Shortly there after I secured an award ticket on Delta for the following weekend and I was all set to go.

Friday, May 4, 2012
Since I was booked on a late afternoon flight out of Panama City, I knew I would have to leave work a little early.  I unfortunately had a ton of work to get done before leaving and on top of that several coworkers wanted to go out for lunch in celebration of my Birthday, which was the next day.  As things tends to go, everything was running late and I didn’t leave from my lunch until about 2:30 and my departure was at 3:59.  I wasn’t super worried, but if traffic was heavy from the bikers, then the 30 minute+ drive to the airport could take even longer.  Luckily I had no checked bags, security was quick, and I was at the gate just a few minutes before boarding began.  One of the many reasons I like the airport here!

The flight up to Atlanta was pretty standard with my upgrade clearing in advance.  That meant I got to kick off my birthday weekend with a quick drink before landing.  Everything was on time, layover was very standard and I pretty much just wandered around a bit before settling in at the gate.  Luckily on my ATL-LGA leg I had been upgraded as well.  Once we hit cruising altitude, the flight attendants came through the cabin to take meal orders, and the options seemed to fit the ATL-LGA route quite perfectly: Option #1 was a pastrami sandwich while Option #2 was fried chicken.  I mean there is nothing more that says Delta is an Atlanta-based airline, than having a First Class meal option of fried chicken.  I felt obliged to go with that, mostly just out of curiosity.  Well it turned out really to be two massive chicken tenders served with honey mustard, a very small amount of potato salad, fruit, “bread sticks” and a slice of key lime pie.  It was served cold, but for whatever reason, fried chicken is one of those foods that translates decently enough as a cold dish.  Otherwise, the remainder of the flight was pretty standard and I arrived on time.

Delta First Class Meal - Fried Chicken

As I usually do, I hailed a cab outside the terminal and headed into midtown Manhattan.  About 20 minutes later, I arrived at my hotel for the weekend the W New York.  Since it was already a bit on the late side, as I entered the lobby, loud music was raging from the lobby bar.  Part of the W Hotels experience I guess, but it can make it difficult to interact with the front desk staff.  I found out that I was given a room on the 9th floor and asked what I wanted for my SPG Gold check-in amenity (free internet, of course).  I was hoping that between my room rate and SPG status that I would be upgraded from the Wonderful Room that I booked, or at least one with a decent view.  Once I got to my room and opened the door I found I got exactly what I booked…and it was small; no upgrade or anything.  Now I’m used to some small hotel rooms in NYC and even smaller overseas, but I still expected a slightly larger room than what I got.  Oh, and then there was the view out my window – the hallway on the other side of the hotel – fantastic.  Essentially, these first few impressions just made me feel that for what I paid, this hotel just isn’t that great of a value.

W New York - Wonderful Room

W New York - Bathroom

W New York - #1 View In New York City

After settling in to my room, I headed out on foot.  I didn’t have anywhere particular in mind, but I did eventually find myself near the Halal food cart at 53rd and 6th.  Even though I did have dinner, I couldn’t resist it, especially with the line not too terribly long.  After chowing down I wandered for a little while longer before getting back to my hotel around midnight or so.

Saturday, May 5, 2012
Cinco de Mayo – My birthday, and half of the reason I was in NYC in the first place.  I didn’t have much of a plan so I slept in a bit and found myself craving pancakes, so I walked to a place called Madison Restaurant, a diner that I had seen on a few places online.  It wasn’t that busy and the breakfast I ordered was massive and very good – and I got my fill of pancakes.  The only thing I could have dealt without was the table next to me talking loudly about a movie I wanted to see.  Thanks for ruining it.

Madison Restaurant - Pancakes, Egges, Sausage

With breakfast out of my way, I had to figure out what to do next.  I jumped on a subway towards Penn Station with the intent of stopping by B&H Photo to do some browsing and shopping.  There was just one problem with that plan: they aren’t open on Saturdays!  With that Idea firmly squashed, I passed through the belly of the beast (Times Square) before heading to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.  Despite having been to NYC several times, I’ve never found myself here.  I opted to go for the guided tour option which nearly doubled my ticket because for whatever reason, I assumed that this meant you got to go into various areas of the ship.  Really what it meant was that we had a tour guide explain some of the exhibits in the hanger bay as well as getting closer to some of the display aircraft.  I guess under that aspect that made it interesting, since we got to go behind the rope and stand underneath a Lockheed A-12 (predecessor of the SR-71 Blackbird) as well as other aircraft such as an F-14 Tomcat of HH-52 Seaguard Helicopter.  Although one of the cooler moments was riding on one of the aircraft elevators from the hanger deck to the flight deck – never thought I would get to do that!

USS Intrepid - Hangar Bay

USS Intrepid - Aircraft Elevator

USS Intrepid - Flight Deck Island

USS Intrepid - MiG-17 "Fresco"

USS Intrepid - Helicopters (UH-1 Huey, AH-1J Sea Cobra, AH-1 Cobra, H-19 Chickasaw, HH-52A Seaguard)

USS Intrepid - Lockheed A-12

And of course, since the Intrepid is a ship, there are plenty of spaces that have been preserved on-board the ship for viewing.  I toured through the bridge and the Combat Information Center, noting the severely old technology that at one time was state of the art.  There were also the pilot ready rooms, but unfortunately you could only look at these spaces through glass – no getting up close and personal.  Eventually, I found myself to be done and figured that it was time to find lunch.  Nothing in the Times Square seemed interesting, so I jumped back on the subway and headed to the Greenwich Village area.  After wandering around for a bit, being the indecisive person that I am, I settled on a place called BareBurger.

USS Intrepid - Pilot Ready Room

I’m always game for finding great burgers while traveling and this place definitely gets a spot on my burger list.  For starters, its located slightly south of Washington Square Park on Laguardia Place and they place an emphasis on organic selections ranging from meats to vegetables.  The location is fantastic, as Laguardia Place is tree lined and they have an outdoor patio out front – a perfect place to sit in the afternoon with a pint of beer and a burger.  For the burgers, they had multiple different options for meat including beef, chicken, bison and even ostrich!  Not being sure how much the ostrich cost (listed as market rate), I went with the Maple Bacon Cheeseburger with bison….and it was excellent!  It was damn near perfect and I know that on future trips if I’m finding myself getting hungry while hanging out in Washington Square Park, well then I know where to go.

BareBurger Patio (Laguardia Place)

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the city, popping in and out of a few stores before heading back to the hotel to get cleaned up for the night.  I made a stop in the hotel bar first, before heading a good bit north on the island…to where streets have three digits.  I wound up at the Harlem Tavern, a place that I had been to before last October and found it to be decent.  I remember that they had a decent beer selection, but this time the rotation wasn’t as inspiring.  I did have several good pints of beer along with my dinner, but I made one mistake in selection towards the end, getting one particular beer (Abita Jockamo) that I just am not very fond of, despite the fact that I pretty much enjoy 99% of all IPAs.

I was here for a while before I eventually stumbled out and back to the subway station to head back down into midtown.  I wandered some, including as far down as the Empire State Building (had thought about going to the top, but there was low cloud cover) and a few other stops before finally winding up at McGees Pub on 55th.  Known as the ‘How I Met Your Mother’ bar (supposedly the bar on that show is modeled after this place, and not for other reasons), I devoured some late night cheese sticks while working on a few pints of Sam Adams before hailing a cab back to the hotel.

Empire State Building At Night

By the time I got back to my room, I’m pretty sure it was at least 2AM, which always means that getting up the next morning could be difficult.  Seeing as how I just don’t make it a regular habit to stay out until past 2AM, I knew there was a risk that I would sleep in really late tomorrow and eat into more of my time in the city.  All I could do was drink some water (hydrate!), set multiple alarms, and hope for the best.

Posted in Delta, NYC, Travel, Trip Report | 1 Comment

The Last Frontier: Alaska – Exploring Kenai (Part 3)

By Robert | Published May 13, 2012

Index:

Sunday, April 8, 2012
With my venture to the extreme North of Alaska and the United States, I figured that on this day I would drive the Seward Highway from Anchorage to the terminus in Seward.  According to Google Maps it would take me roughly around 2.5 hours to get there, which isn’t really isnt that far.  I figured that I would want to avoid as much tourist traffic on the way down (not that I was figuring that there would be much), so I resolved to get up early to hit the road.  Again, thanks to the time difference that wasn’t going to be much of a problem despite going to bed fairly late.  I was on the road shortly after 7AM and ready to start adventure #2 for the trip.

Traffic out of Anchorage was not bad at all, nor was it on the Seward Highway.  Everything was still rather quiet as I started the venture south.  As I made it to the coastal stretch along Turnagain Arm (a branch of Cook Inlet) the Sun was starting to peek out from behind the clouds and mountains, illuminating everything with a perfect morning light.  There was a layer of snow still everywhere and the ice chunks floating out on the water and of course very little traffic.  With no rush to get anywhere or from anyone I took my time driving and I stopped at many pull offs just to look and/or take pictures…It was just beautiful and a great way to start a road trip.

Mountains Across Turnagain Arm

The Sun Is Hiding...

..But I Found It Shortly After.

As I made it towards the end of Turnagain Arm I passed through the small town of Girdwood where I managed to hit a bit of fog. With no one else on the road it felt like I was transplanted into some sort of horror film! It was like I was half expecting something to jump out of the fog at my car, although in this part of the world odds are wit would be a Moose. Luckily, I didn’t encounter one here – that would have been very bad for my rental Camry! I passed the road for Portage Glacier and it was starting to clear up as I made my way across a river plain. Once to the other side I was welcomed with a sign indicating that I was now on the Kenai Peninsula.

Lonesome Road

Venturing Into The Unknown

"Welcome to Alaska's Kenai Peninsula"

As you enter the Kenai Peninsula, it feels like you are driving up into the mountains, although in reality from the sign above to the highest point in Turnagain Pass, there is roughly only about a 1000 foot elevation change.  I think it has that effect due to the road being in a pass/valley between two mountain ranges.  I did stop at the pull off at the top of the pass where I got out of the car for a bit to take a few more pictures and again just sit.  There was no one else out here so I ventured out on the snow a bit from the car.  In retrospect, that snow was probably pretty deep, so it’s a good thing it was still pretty solid from overnight and easy to walk on.

There's Something About Snow Covered Pine Trees...

Turnagain Pass

Mountains Blanketed In Snow

Exiting Turnagain Pass - Can't See The Mountains Ahead!

As I exited the pass on the Seward Highway and the road dropped back down to a lower elevation the clouds cleared up again and I made my way past several small lakes.  Eventually you reach the point where the highway forks and you decide if you continue to Seward or head west towards Kenai.  I obvviously picked to keep on going to Seward.  It feels like that after this point I would see signs of civilization more often with a few small towns spread across the highway here and there.  Still not much in the way of signs of wildlife though…

I did make it to Seward and found myself in a very quiet downtown.  There didn’t really look like much was going on or really open aside from a few restaurants.  Since I didn’t really plan this out I just headed down to end of the road to the shore on Resurrection Bay.  I sat down here for a bit looking out across the water hoping to catch a glimpse of maybe a whale or something else, but didn’t luck out.  Even looking way out there through my telephoto lens gained me nothing.  Oh well.  It was just a good place to sit anyways.  I finished up my time in downtown by walking around a bit before getting back into my car.

Downtown Seward

Resurrection Bay

Only 1910 Miles To Nome...That Seems Like An Easy Hike

I had read about a few places to eat breakfast at the Seward Harbor, so I figured I would see what was open.  Sadly, the first few places I would try were all closed.  I guess it being Easter Sunday kinda screwed with my plans there.  Well that and the fact that it’s definitly not the tourist season at that time of the year…and that is something I unfortunately understand being from a Florida tourist-town.  Since all the places in walking distance of my car were closed I figured I would just walk around the harbor area for a bit before trying a few other options.

Seward Harbor

Eventually, though I did luck out with one fo the places that I had read about – the Smoke Shack.  It’s located on the North side of Seward Harbor and suppossedly has really good biscuits and gravy.  But that’s not even the beginning.  The place is in a retired passenger railway car and doesn’t have much in the way of seating inside, perhaps only 6 or so tables.  It’s actually part of a “complex” of sorts of four railway cars, I think the other three were rented out as hotel rooms.  Not really sure on that, however.

Anyways, to the food…I did wind up ordering the biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs, potatos and coffee.  I will say that the biscuits and gravy were pretty good and filling too.  A highlight that I wasn’t expecting however, was the jalapeno ketchup.  Man was that awesome with the potatos…and I decided that at somepoint I’m going to see if I cant recreated that at home.  It just works awesomely.

Breakfast At The Smoke Shack

Once done with my “Easter Brunch” it was time to head back in the direction of Anchorage.  I had planned to drive to Exit Glacier, which is suppossedly the most accessible glacier in Alaska.  I turned off the highway and started to drive off into the woods, only to get about a mile or so in before I was greeted with a ‘Road Closed’ sign and what looked like an impassable road.  Obviously, my plans to make it to the glacier were not going to happen and only later did I find out that the road is regularly closed during the winter.  Of course in my Florida mind where April is already almost Summer, it just didn’t quite register that it was still Winter in Alaska!

Road to Exit Glacier

As I headed back north it was the exact same route so for the most part, it was the same stuff that I had seen only a few hours earlier.  Not really anything to comment on, but I did see a Moose though.  First and last encounter of wildlife that I would see during my entire trip!  As I exited the Kenai Peninsula I did pull off the highway and took a side route to at least view the Portage Glacier.  I skipped the visitor’s center that the Chugach National Forest runs (It was built to view the glacier, but since then the glacier has retreated behind a mountain), since you can’t see the glacier from it and continued through a tunnel to an observation point on the other side.  From here you could get a good look across Portage Lake to Portage Glacier.  I climbed up on a snow bank to get a better picture and to get slightly away from some of the tourists only to find myself sinking down into snow that was pretty deep!  I think it was up to some point on my thighs.  It was a bit interesting trying to climb out with my camera in hand.  After that I decided to just give up more or less and go back to the car and continue back towards Anchorage.

Portage Glacier

I think a lot of tourists to Anchorage just bother to drive the Seward Highway to this area.  From Portage Glacier all the way back traffic was noticibly heavier and every turn off along Turnagain Arm was filled with cars parked and people taking pictures.  It made me glad that I choose to head out early in the day and keep the experience from being ruined by crowds.

I got back to the hotel a little earlier than I had anticipated, which meant I had a about an hour or two extra to kill before my scheduled appointment on the 16th floor.  Since this long weekend was the first time off from work that I had taken since my New Year’s trip to Montreal, and work had been rather intense in the weeks leading up, I figured I would treat myself to a massage at the Sheraton Ice Spa.  My seat mate on the MSP-ANC flight a few days prior had talked it up and with a $25 SPG Award Certificate in my pocket it seemed like the perfect idea.  The massage which was scheduled to be 50 minutes, I’m pretty sure lasted longer.  The spa closes at 6PM and I wasn’t out of there until almost 630PM.  Now I know my post-massage shower didn’t take that long, so I’m thinking that massage therapist went a bit long.  Which, is perfectly fine in my book, because it was damn near perfect.

After I wrapped up and made my way back down to my room I got ready to head out for dinner.  I was going to go to Humpy’s Great Alaskan Alehouse, but like many things in Seward, It was closed for the holiday.  I eventually settled on The Glacier Brewhouse around the corner.  The place was pretty busy and the food was pretty good.  I went the halibut and was slightly disapointed when I saw what looked like s small salad as one of the sides on my plate since I ordered a salad before my main arrived.  Oh well.

Halibut - Glacier Brewhouse

Once back at the hotel it was already 830-9PM and I had to get packed.  I contemplated going out in search of a drink, but with a 6AM flight the next morning I just stopped at the hotel bar for an Alaskan Amber before heading to bed rather early (for me).

Alaskan Sunset

Monday, April 9, 2012
A 6AM flight means getting up all way too early.  I think I got up around 3AM and proceeded to make my way to the airport.  Hertz wasn’t even open yet, so I dropped my keys in the box and made my way to the Delta ticket counter.  Checking in was no hassle in the Sky Priority line and the agent thanked me for flying with Delta as much as I do.  Security even was pretty painless too, I didn’t even bother going through the elite line since there wasn’t any reason to really.  It was just notch up from ghost town it felt.  Which is probably odd because I would have thought there would have been a good deal of flights from Anchorage to the lower 48 around that time.

My upgrade had been confirmed in advance and after wandering around a little bit, I made my way to the gate where we eventually started boarding.  Today’s flight must have had an equipment swap as we lucked out by getting a 757 with personal screens at every seat.  Much better than the overhead version that the flight up used.  Once in the air breakfast was served, which consisted of a Gouda and Tomato Omelette, Potatoes, Sausage, Fruit, and Croisssant while I watched a variety of movies.  The nearly 6 hour flight to Minneapolis passed by pretty quickly.

Delta First Class Breakfast ANC-MSP

I had a short layover in MSP about 45 minutes, so I didn’t have any time really to stop at either of the Sky Clubs or meander any.  After picking up a sub from Quiznos I made my way to Concourse B, which I had never been to before.  Since it seems to be only regional jets out here that doesn’t really surprise me – If I’m passing through MSP it’s almost always on mainline aircraft.  The flight attendant on the way down to Nashville welcomed us onboard “United Express Operated by Sky West” before correcting herself.  It got only a few laughs and it turns out they were a Houston-based crew (Houston being one of United’s hubs).   Then as we were heading towards the runway I noticed that the flight attendant had recieved a call from the cockpit, which is usually nothing.  Turns out when we got up to altitude and they started the beverage service she mentioned that the pilots wanted to know who had the Quiznos because the smell of my sub had made it all the way up to them. Haha…

Back in Nashville I noticed a flight for Atlanta boarding and attempted to get on it.  Unfortunately, the agent couldn’t confirm the upgrade so I decided to stick with my original flight an hour and a half later and opted to roam the airport a bit.  Found where all of Southwest’s and American’s gates are and I have to say American seems to control quite a few.  I guess thats the remnants of the hub they used to operate here in the 90s.

Lots Of Delta Activity - Flights to MSP, LGA, DTW, MEM, and ATL Were All Arriving Or Departing

My next flight of the night, BNA-ATL, turned out to be full of errors.  First, since it was a regional jet, I had to gate check my smaller suit case.  Turns out that the handle would get ripped off at this point, which I’ve already documented.  On top of that, after the flight attendant took my order for a drink, she never came back with it.  As I sat there in my First Class seat I thought about whether I should say something or not.  It’s a short flight so it wasn’t like that I needed to have that drink, but I saw it as more or less a test.  A test that the flight attendants failed.  After serving everyone else, they retreated to the galley to talk amongst theirselves and chow down on snacks.  Way to go ExpressJet for making this Platinum feel special.

Broken - It Was Probably Time For A New Suitcase Anyways

In Atlanta I made my way to my final gate with my broken suitcase in tow.  At least now I didn’t have to worry about it being broken for this last leg so there was that.  On top of that, I’m pretty sure I’ve encountered the flight attendant on this last flight before.  Seemed familar for some reason.  Just like the previous flight it was short and before I knew it my journey was over and I was in my own car on the way home.

Alaska was a great place and this trip was fantastic.  I feel like I crammed much more than two days worth of activities into my weekend, but at the same time I know I missed out on so much.  Visiting a place with this short amount of time really doesn’t giving you a true sense of it.  I mean let’s face it I spent not even three hours in Barrow.  I didn’t make it to the actual point.  I wasn’t able to see the Northern Lights or really much of any wildlife.  No hiking or really out in nature activities.  But you know what, it was still incredibly fun and got my mind completely off of work for a few days.  That you can’t argue with.  I know that at somepoint I’ll go back to Alaska and make a “legit” trip out of it.  I would really love to go hiking/camping/backpacking in Denali National Park.

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The Last Frontier: Alaska – Northern Exposure (Part 2)

By Robert | Published May 3, 2012

Index:

Saturday, April 7, 2012
I found myself waking up rather early, around 6AM, without even needing an alarm.  With all the time zone changes my body was still confused I’m sure and as a result thought it was much later.  That though was a good thing for me though – as I mentioned in my last post I had booked a day trip award ticket for later in the day and I wanted to go around Anchorage a bit before I headed to the airport.

Immediately, my first thought was breakfast.  Although I was granted access to the Sheraton Club Lounge which features a free continental breakfast, I wanted something real and something local.  After flipping through the pages of my guidebook, I discovered a place that seemed intriguing: Snow City Cafe.  It sounded good and it was not very far at all.  So downstairs I headed and out to my rental car.  Now I knew it was snowing when I woke up and looked out my window to a very gray and dreary looking landscape, but I did not realize how much had fallen overnight.  By estimating the thickness of the snow on the roof of my car, I estimated it to be 1.5-2.0 inches deep.  Did I also mention that on this day Anchorage broke their record for most snow fall in a winter season?

Saturday Morning Weather

Luckily Hertz included a brush and ice scraper, and off I went across downtown.  After parking and feeling generally ripped off by the rates, I settled down in a corner of Snow City Cafe and started to look over the menu.  There was plenty on there that looked delicious, but ultimately I settled on the Tundra Scramble, which includes Reindeer sausage, green peppers, mushrooms, red onions, and cheddar, as well as a mocha to wash it all down.  It was indeed good, although I’m not sure if I could tell reindeer sausage apart from any other sausage.  I would certainly recommend stopping in and trying any number of the items there.

Snow City Cafe - Tundra Scramble

It seemed that business had picked up by the time I left to run back to the hotel to grab my gear for the day.  My flight however still wouldn’t depart until 2:37pm, so I had a little bit of time to roam around town.  I decided I would see if there was anything of interest downtown, which it turns out there really wasn’t.  I checked out the mall there, but there wasn’t anything that jumped out at me.  I found myself driving around for a little bit, discovered where the University of Alaska-Anchorage is and eventually made my way over to the airport, although not for my flight.

Alaska Railroad Passes A Snow-Covered Elderberry Park

It's a Winter Wonderland...In April

Next to the airport is the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum which focuses on the unique aviation history of the state which focuses around bush aviation, military and the commercial services that bring the heavy lift cargo to the most remote cities and towns.  It also seemed fitting since that afternoon I was making my way to Barrow.  The museum’s exhibits were pretty decent overall; not a ton of aircraft, but it isn’t a very large museum either.  There were a lot of aviation related artifacts however.  Somehow they also managed to get an Alaska Airlines 737-200 a few years back and they keep that parked next to an F-15 Eagle and a Northern Air Cargo DC-6 right outside the museum.  There was also a hanger that had several other aircraft stored – a mixture of ones in great looking condition and ones that looked like piles of scrap.

Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum - Float Plane

Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum - Northern Air Cargo DC-6 and Alaska Airlines 737

Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum - Hanger

After finishing up at the museum, I still had a few hours until departure, so I figured I would go grab lunch before heading to the airport.  I made a short backtrack from the area to a place called Taco King.  From what I can understand, its a local quick-service Mexican chain that is nothing like Taco Bell.  Sure, you order at a counter and it has a drive-thru, but that’s where the similarities end.  The food is more like what you would find at any number of Mexican restaurants across the US and is presented the same.  Only thing, is that you know how they say “Careful the plate is hot” and it usually isn’t that hot.  Yeah, I burnt my finger on my plate of enchiladas.

Once done, it was back over to the airport where I parked the rental car and made my way into the terminal.  After checking in and grabbing my boarding passes from the Alaska Airlines kiosk, I breezed through the Elite security line, and made my way to the observation deck above Concourse C to hang out for a bit.  It turned out to be a good place to watch ground operations and I gives you the overview of all important of a cargo hub Anchorage is.  At one point I counted three Korean Air Cargo 747s while a fourth did a go-around on landing.  A pretty impressive sight I might say, watching such a large aircraft jolt back into the sky at the last minute.  I wandered around the terminal a bit more before making my way down to the gate for Alaska Airlines Flight 50 to Prudhoe Bay with continuing service to Barrow.

Anchorage Air Cargo

Gate C4 - Flight 50 to Prudhoe Bay / Barrow

Boarding of the flight was fairly quick.  There were only a few Alaska Airlines elite members, I was the only partner elite, and the remaining 25 or so people followed after me.  Being as this flight is a lifeline to several North Slope communities, Alaska Airlines using a Boeing 737-400 Combi aircraft.  These aircraft are configured such that the forward half of the cabin is for cargo pallets, while the rear section is configured for 72 passengers – four fewer seats than you would find on a Delta Connection CRJ-900 or E175 (regional jets).  One particularity about these aircraft is that you board from the rear door of the aircraft up stairs, meaning that you have to walk out across the ramp to get to the plane.  Since I took my parka off in the terminal I was walking through the snow/rain mix with just a t-shirt.  Was a bit chilly, but not anywhere near what it was going to be to North.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-400 Combi Interior

Once we had everyone on-board who all appeared to either be oil workers heading to Prudhoe Bay or Native Inupiat Eskimos heading to Barrow.  If I had to guess I was the only “tourist” on the aircraft today.  For this flight I grabbed the window, which is usually pretty rare for me.  I wanted to be able to look down at the frozen landscape below, which you might just think just nothing but barren white mountains.  Turns out I was wrong – the geography is quite varied including one spot where frozen waters formed a crazy spiral pattern in the landscape.  The only problem?  It was all that looking outside that I realized I left my sunglasses in the rental car back in cloudy, rainy Anchorage.  Whoops.

Alaskan Mountains From 35,000 Feet

Spiral Landscape

Almost to Deadhorse...

Soon enough we were on approach into the Deadhorse Airport and could finally see signs of civilization again.  Prudhoe Bay does have a road link to the rest of the state and you could see that and what I assumed was the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.  On final approach right before lining up with the runway, you could see all of the what I guess is the entire town.  Not really much to see it seemed…

Once most of the passengers disembarked from the aircraft I grabbed my camera and made my way to the galley.  I had wanted to step outside the aircraft on to the stairs to take a few pictures, but as I approached the flight attendants stopped me and informed me that if even one of my feet landed outside of the aircraft door I would have to go all the way to the terminal and re-clear back through the TSA.  Two people wanting to have a smoke opted for that, I figured I would just stay put and use the handle they pointed out so I could swing out the door a little bit (with my feet firmly planted inside the aircraft of course!).  I actually spent the entire layover back there up until boarding just talking to the two flight attendants.  As usual when I go on these short/crazy trips, I either get strangest of looks or looks of amazement.  They were the latter, which made for good conversation about traveling and some of the different places they had been and I had been as well as some of the things they’ve encountered as flight attendants.  I wrapped up taking my pictures as the first of the passengers started to make their way across from the terminal and headed back to my seat.

Touchdown - Deadhorse Airport

Alaska Airlines Terminal

Just Inside the Aircraft Door

Looking Forward

The captain of the two legs that would get me to Barrow, had come out into the front of the cabin before each take off to personally introduce himself and the crew as opposed to talking over the PA speaker.  According to the flight attendants, there are only a very small handful number of pilots at Alaska Airlines (2 or 3, I think) that they said did this.  As he made his way to the front of the passenger compartment he stopped by my row and asked me: “Is it true? Are you really flying to Barrow for just a few hours?”  Looks like I got ratted out by the flight attendants!  He chatted for a few minutes and when I said I was from the Florida Panhandle, he asked “Valparaiso?”, so if I had to guess this pilot must have been Air Force and stationed at Eglin…how else would you know Valparaiso existed (to most its just Fort Walton Beach)?

After his speech, the cabin was prepped and we made the quick taxi out to the end of the single runway and shot up into the air for the rather short 200 mile flight to Barrow.  The flight pretty much goes along the coast, although this time of the year you really can’t tell where Alaska ends and the Arctic Ocean begins.  I guess, it means that the ice caps haven’t melted quite all the way yet…

Frozen Landscape Looking North

Soon enough we were on approach into Barrow and I pulled my camera back out so I could start capturing as much as I could the minute the wheels touched down.  As with landing in Prudhoe Bay, it didn’t take long to having the aircraft parked and ready to disembark.  I powered up my phone and noticed that cell service was probably going to be rather spotty.  a 1x data connection seemed to come and go and not really ever hold steady.  I did secure a connection just long enough to see that temperature was a “warm” -3F outside.  I wasn’t going to play dumb like I did in Anchorage a few hours ago – I was going to have my parka on before I stepped outside the plane to get me to the short walk inside.

Touchdown - Barrow

Airports on the North Slope Are Busier Than You Would Think...

Cargo Door Opening / Disembarking

Alaska Airlines Terminal - Barrow

The terminal really isn’t much at all, considering that Alaska Airlines is the only airline that uses it.  Once I finished getting everything else on for the arctic environment I made my way outside and walked down the street to the West.  It’s not very far until you reach the Wiley Post/Will Rogers Memorial and a giant directional post with distances to major places all over the globe.  From there it was time to head north.  I opted to walk into “downtown” Barrow which took me through a residential neighborhood and got me to my destination about 15 minutes later.

Everywhere is Pretty Much Far, Far Away

Will Rogers / Wiley Post Memorial

Barrow Houses

Entering Downtown

Church in Downtown Barrow

Honestly, I had no idea what I was going to do or where to go.  I figured I’d find the Arctic Ocean, eat dinner, and just see if I would stumble on anything before my flight departed just about 2 hours later.  I’ll be honest, I didn’t stumble on much.  Finding the Ocean wasn’t hard, but it was completely frozen over.  Off in the distance was an iceberg or something that someone had planted an American flag on and that was about it.  After walking around some more I figured I could use some warmth and headed for Pepe’s North of the Border Mexican Restaurant.

A Very Frozen Arctic Ocean

Pepe's North of the Border Mexican Restaurant

I walked in and it seemed quiet and empty.  It took me a few moments before I realized I had to walk down a hallway into a separate dining room to which I became the second occupied table for my late dinner (although given how bright it was I felt like it was lunch time again).  Not exactly bustling.  The restaurant itself was interesting in that it just didn’t really feel like a Mexican Restaurant inside…the Easter decorations probably didn’t help.  As soon as the waiter came over I ordered a Mountain Dew and he brought out some chips and salsa.  Surprisingly the salsa had a little bit of heat to it and soon enough I decided to settle on the burrito plate.  It didn’t take long for it to be brought out and while it isn’t anything special (pretty much beef + tortilla + cheese) it still sadly was better than one of the places back home.  That just shouldn’t be, since after all I live in Florida.  Even the owner of the place, came out and asked everyone if this was their first time here.  Since I think it was for almost everyone present, as she made her way around everyone got certificates for crossing the arctic circle and to sign the guest book.  I think I’m on their Christmas Card list now…

Burrito Plate - Pepe's North of the Border

Anyways, once I finished up, or well as best as I could – it was a massive amount of food, I finally got to see what my bill came to and did I have sticker shock!  Nearly $30 for my meal!  The Mountain Dew alone cost $5 for a 12 ounce can.  I guess that is what happens when everything has to be airlifted in on one of the several Alaska Airlines flights a day.

After heading back outside I wandered for a few minutes before deciding to hail a taxi to drive me around for a bit before eventually taking me back to the airport.  I thought I had planned it well by flagging the guy who was dropping someone off at the bank, but it turns out this was a round-trip passenger so my journey included more sightseeing of the residential areas.  Not really much to write about.  My driver did eventually take me a spot for a photo op in front of a giant whale bone arch where I even managed to toss my parka to the side and get a picture of me in just my t-shirt in the sub zero temperature.  You know honestly, it didn’t feel that cold…

Proof That I Am Crazy

He attempted to take me by a few other places, but they were all closed, so I had him run me back to the airport so I could reprint my boarding pass and get queued up for security.  I must have timed it just right because right after I got there they started boarding.  Boarding is unique here as there really isn’t a gate.  They make the call for the various groups and you then head to the security checkpoint which is crammed into a corner and within a few steps of exiting the metal detector you hand your boarding pass to the Alaska Airlines gate agent and then head out the door to the aircraft.  Rather efficient.

Time To Leave Barrow

Setting Sun

The load on the flight down to Fairbanks was very light just as it was on the way up.  I even had a whole row to myself to stretch out and relax at 35,000 feet with an Alaskan Amber while watching the sunset.  Not a bad way to end a day in my book at all.  Just as with the layover in Prudhoe Bay on the way up, during the layover in Fairbanks the few of us continuing on to Anchorage, stayed on the aircraft.  The interesting thing I learned during this stop was that the flight attendant stationed at the front of the cabin was only on her second flight into her career.

Not A Bad View At The End Of The Day

The plane was nearly full for the last segment of the day and it didn’t take long to reach Anchorage.  I was pretty tired by this point – it was already past 11pm and I just wanted to get back to the Sheraton and pass out in my bed.  To my surprise the rambunctious kids across the hall were still making noise.  I guess when you are hyper you don’t need sleep?

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The Last Frontier: Alaska – Planes, Planes and More Planes (Part 1)

By Robert | Published April 22, 2012

Index:

Introduction
This year thus far I really had not yet taken much time off from work or gone anywhere for a fun weekend somewhere since I celebrated New Years in Montreal.  I decided that needed to change and so around mid-March I started thinking to myself where is it that I could go?  I was checking literally everywhere, tried and true NYC, Puerto Rico, and the destination I was 99.99% for sure going to go to: San Francisco (wait, didn’t you mean Alaska?).  You read that right, air fare out there wasn’t terribly horrible and I had a $300 voucher from a bump I took on the way back from Bahrain.  Then all of a sudden, I’m playing with Kayak and for whatever reason I decide to throw Anchorage, Alaska into the mix.  Surprisingly, it had priced out only $200 more for the round trip by utilizing a fare break in Nashville (and $200 cheaper than available on Delta.com without a stop in Nashville!).  At only about $440 ($740-$300) I considered this a steal!  Not only would I get to visit somewhere completely new that I’ve always wanted to visit, but I would also rack up almost as many miles towards re-qualifying for my 2013 Delta Platinum Medallion status as I would from a trip to Europe.  Those two considerations pretty much sealed the deal.  Despite the fact that I would only really be there for a weekend, I still figured that like usual, I could have an excellent time exploring as much of the state as possible.  And just a fair warning, this is going to be long-winded, so if you really just want to read about my time in Alaska, feel free to skip to Part 2 (that is if I’ve written that up already).

Friday, April 6 2012
Today and Monday would be dedicated to nothing other than travel.  A grand total of 16 hours on four different aircraft and in five different airports.  As mentioned above I used a trick in order to drive down my fare, and as a result I wound up on a more interesting routing that would take me ECP-ATL-BNA-MSP-ANC.  It also means that I wasn’t able to check in for my flight the night before, since Delta.com doesn’t like more than three segments in one day; you have to see an agent at the airport and at that you typically only get the first three boarding passes at a time.  Since it was a 730a flight and that means me getting up around 530am, it does always make me a little nervous that I will roll out of bed a little too late and thus miss my flight because I will be past the check in cutoff time (just like when I overslept before my flights to Japan last year).

Luckily, just like most of my other early morning flights, I actually did make it to the airport and breezed through the Sky Priority lane at check in to receive my boarding passes.  Unlike when I did my Delta Air Lines Aerial Tour of the Southeast US last fall en-route to visit family in Illinois, the agent did not give me a strange look.  Perhaps they recognize me by now or have seen crazier things these days.  Interesting note in that the new Sky Priority signage that Delta is rolling out now that Sky Priority has gone SkyTeam-wide clearly excludes Silver Medallions and SkyTeam Elite members.  The old signs in small outstations like ECP when Sky Priority was available on Delta only included these members as well.  I wonder if they just got the wrong sign or if Silver Medallions no longer have access to shorter lines.

New Sky Priority Signage at ECP

After clearing TSA with no issues and a stop for a quick breakfast I made my way to the gate and boarded the aircraft to settle into my first class seat.  Luckily for me, on all my eligible segments on this trip my upgrades cleared in advance, but that would still mean a 2 hour ride on a CRJ-200 BNA-MSP.  As usual, there was nothing special about this quick flight: I just tried to down a few cups of coffee and a few packs of Biscoffs before landing in Atlanta.  Atlanta was starting get busy as all the morning flights were unloading into the Concourse and luckily for me I just had to walk down to the other end to catch my ride to Nashville on-board a DC-9-50.  Which despite it’s age (First Flight in 1979 and Delivered to Republic), is really a comfortable ride.  Plus I always like looking into the flight deck and noting how the pilots on these aircraft still have to rely on all sorts of analog gauges as opposed to modern glass cockpits.

Heading to the Gate to Board My Flight to Atlanta

I arrive in Nashville around lunch, which was planned as my “Strategically Scheduled BBQ Layover” given the existence of a BBQ joint right across from the Delta gates.  I didn’t have long, about 45 minutes or so, but that was more than plenty of time to enjoy a pulled pork sandwich before getting on my 2 hour torture-tube flight to Minneapolis.  Unfortunately, the seat next to me was not free, so I was crammed into there pretty good.  On that note nothing else to report about that flight…

Minneapolis is actually one of my favorite airports that I just don’t get to connect through enough.  Although the layout is terrible in terms of being able to sprint from one corner to another, it has more than plenty on the airside to keep one busy; plus if you have a long enough layover (Like I did in 2010 en-route to Australia), you can always jump on the light rail over to the Mall of America for a few hours.  With that said, I actually spent my layover at the F/G Delta Sky Club.  Even though I was taking the day off from work, I had a deadline approaching and thus I needed a few hours of relative quiet (compared to the terminal) to dedicate to some work.  Besides, its always more fun doing Engineering when you can have a glass of beer and some snacks!

I know a lot of people complain about the noise and crowding of the Sky Clubs these days, especially given all the different ways to get in (Membership, International First/Business, Day Passes, American Express Cards, Delta American Express discounted rates, Frequent Flyer status and so on).  But still for $25 as a benefit as part of my Delta Platinum American Express card, you just cannot beat the deal when you have three or more hours to kill on a layover.  Especially given how much it would cost to have a few drinks at a bar in the airport and a few snacks.  Throw in the free wifi and you come out ahead.

Anyways, after working for a few hours I inquired to one of the agents at the counter if they could make a booking for me; you see I had decided to one-up myself for crazy travel ideas on this trip and decided to burn 25,000 SkyMiles on an award ticket on Alaska Airlines to take me to the northernmost community in the United States on Saturday.  Strangely, they told me that they could do no ticketing in the lounge or for a matter of fact anywhere in the airport except for the designated counter outside security.  Surely I would have thought that nearly any Delta agent would be able to make a reservation and it could just be that the agent just really didn’t want to do it.  Who knows.

Since I got shot down by the Sky Club agent and delta.com was having more issues than I cared for I called up the Platinum Medallion line and was instantly connected to an agent at the Chisholm, MN call center that routinely is pretty good at delivering awesome customer service.  Once I told the agent the flights I wanted, he had it ticketed and I was off the phone in under five minutes.  That right there is one of the reasons why it will be hard to ever go back to being a non-frequent flier.

By the time I wrapped up with this I figured I should start heading to my gate at the end of Concourse F.  As previously mentioned, my upgrade to First Class cleared in advance, which I was certainly thankful for given the nearly 6 hour duration of the flight to Anchorage.  Unfortunately I found myself on one of the older 757-200s that only had drop down video screens from the ceiling, but it still beats sitting in coach by any means.  Service on the flight was good and the flight attendants kept passing through the cabin to ensure that everyone had whatever they needed.  When it came time for dinner all I remember is that it was a chicken dish that I had never had before, so I went with that.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t a picture to remind me what exactly it was, but it wasn’t that bad. Once the meal was over, and with over three hours left in-flight, the in-flight movie dropped down from the ceilings and started to play.  It kept me entertained for the non-wifi regions that encountered over middle-of-nowhere Canada.

High Above Canada Enroute to Anchorage - Covered in Snow/Ice

The approach into Anchorage was rather beautiful as the sun was setting – we flew in over the water between some mountains before circling back around to the airport.  As I looked outside I thought to myself that this didn’t look much different than Montreal four months prior – it was still clearly winter here and what was I wearing? Shorts and a T-shirt.  Yep, I’m from Florida and it shows.  Luckily I had a jacket packed in my backpack that I could throw on for the little time that I spend outside.  The one thing that did get my on arrival was just how light out it was at 8PM.  I think the official sunset was like 10PM.

As I was driving away from the airport to my hotel I spotted a restaurant on my route that a someone from work had recommended that I check out.  Pizza Olympia – I was told that the gyros here were fantastic, so in I went.  The service was rather slow and the place pretty empty, but you know it was a pretty good gyro.  A little different from what I’m used to, but still pretty good.  As I left it actually started to get dark and that made things interesting.  For whatever reason the streets of Anchorage just don’t seem to have any lanes painted – that or paint just wears off so quickly.  Driving around unfamiliar streets that are 4-6 lanes wide (at least I think they were) with no markers to give you cues as to where you are supposed to be in relation to the other cars is interesting.  And did I mention that I had never driven in winter conditions before?  Looking back, perhaps I’m lucky to have made it to my final destination of the night, the Sheraton Anchorage Hotel and Spa.

By the time I arrived, I was pretty tired.  To my body it was midnight and I was just ready for sleep.  I got up to my room, which I was able to get for about $90/night with a view of the water and lands north on the 13th floor.  I found a letter from the general manager on my bed along with a few snacks, which actually I think has only ever happened once before at a hotel for me.  The room was pretty standard Sheraton accommodations, comfy bed, a very large TV, but a small bathroom.  Actually, it’s probably the smallest bathroom I’ve seen in a US hotel, although certainly not the smallest that I’ve encountered anywhere (that award goes to the easyHotel London Paddington).  My only complaint, the continually loud children across the hall.  I swear it sounded like there were four or more of them over there and seemed to be up at all hours of the day.  Luckily I didn’t spend much time at the hotel, so I guess it didn’t bother me that much.

Sheraton Anchorage Hotel and Spa - King Room Bed

Sheraton Anchorage Hotel and Spa - King Room TV/Desk

Sheraton Anchorage Hotel and Spa - Water View

Now, If you read through the above, well then you should get some sort of award, because that was a bit long winded for just a write up about airports and airplanes.  The next two installments are going to be about my day in Anchorage/side trip to Barrow and my day trip to Seward and the Kenai Peninsula.  Hopefully I’ll have those up later this week and I promise, for most of you, it’ll be much more interesting.

Posted in Delta, Travel, Trip Report | 2 Comments

Ode to a Suitcase

By Robert | Published April 16, 2012

You would think that a suitcase isn’t much – its really just a reusable box to transport clothes and other items on journeys when it comes down to it.  Recently, while flying home from Alaska I had a layover in Nashville between MSP and ATL that was used to drive down the cost of the ticket by creating a fare break (creating pricing that was ECP-ATL-BNA and BNA-MSP-ANC and vice versa).  Long story short, once I deplaned in ATL and claimed my bag, I discovered that the handle was ripped off.  My suspicion is that it happened at BNA noticing that the ramp agents were moving rather quick (since our flight was delayed) and how I noticed a tag from my bag go flying across the ramp as I looked out the window.

Aftermath of Delta's Baggage Handlers

I got this suitcase back when I was in high school – Christmas 2004 as part of a set.  I had decided a few months prior to join the rest of my friends on a school trip for our Latin class to Italy over the Summer of 2005, and of course I needed my own gear.  Ultimately this bag didn’t go with me to Italy since I just couldn’t fit two weeks work of clothes into, but one of the others in the set did.  Aside from that first overseas trip, this suitcase has been with me to nearly everywhere that I’ve been to: Germany, France, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Australia, countless US cities – pretty much everywhere that I have been to.  It’s racked up approximately 131,387 miles in the air from a quick look at my stats and who knows how many on the ground.  It’s been locked in lockers in train stations in Europe, wandered the streets of Sydney, inspected by Customs Agents, and according to my cat, a nice bed.

Cat Approved

Now it seems it will be relegated to the trash pile.  I filled out a claim with Delta and have a FedEx label to mail it off to their approved vendor for repairs.  Odds are they won’t be able to repair it and I do doubt that Delta will send me any reimbursement for it either.  Actually, I probably just won’t even bother to send it out.  I was already thinking of replacing it, and really with all the other damage it has from the past 7 years of travel just means that my odds are slim of getting anything in return.

Now I have the task of finding another bag that will last me the next 7 years and hopefully another 100,000-200,000 miles.  Luckily, I have at least a few weeks before any upcoming travel, so I have a little bit of time to scope out a good deal.

Posted in Delta, Travel | 3 Comments

Celebrating the New Year in Montreal (Part 4)

By Robert | Published March 19, 2012

Index:

Monday, January 2
With a flight that was departing around 3:30pm, I wasn’t going to have much time to do much else in Montreal before I left.  Especially since I wasn’t familiar with the processes for trans-border flights and the US Customs Preclearance, I figured that I would get to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

I really wanted to try to find a little, good place for breakfast and yet so again I found myself wandering the streets of old Montreal.  Eventually I settled on Marché de la Villette, which is just around the corner from Place d’Youville.  It must have been a slow day, because the entire time I was in there I was the only customer that was in there.  Maybe the citizens on Montreal were still hungover from New Year’s and just not willing to venture out so early for breakfast.  For my meal I ordered a plate that came complete with: Omelette Alsacienne, Bacon, Potatoes, Cretons Maison, Fruit, and Salad.  It was a pretty comprehensive meal all together and wasn’t bad by any means.

Morning at Place Jacques-Cartier

Morning at Place Jacques-Cartier

Back Streets of Old Montreal

Back Streets of Old Montreal

After walking off breakfast I made my way to the one place that I had been trying to visit everyday, but failing to each day: Basilique Notre-Dame.  Now’ I’ve been inside a lot of beautiful places of worship across the world, but I found this one to be one of the best in my book.  I think it had something to do with the how the back of the church behind the altar is lit up and the overall darkness of the church inside.  Unlike some churches that are very airy and open, this one felt more dark, and compact.  It’s a bit difficult for someone like myself to describe (plus I’m trying to recall something from January and its now mid-March), so I’ll let some pictures do the talking:

Basilique Notre-Dame

Basilique Notre-Dame

Basilique Notre-Dame

Basilique Notre-Dame

Basilique Notre-Dame

Basilique Notre-Dame

Stained Glass Window - Basilique Notre-Dame

Organ - Basilique Notre-Dame

Basilique Notre-Dame

Interior - Basilique Notre-Dame

Once done inside, I knew it was that time to head back to the hotel, gather up my bags and head to airport.  I think it took around 30 minutes for the 747 Express bus to get me to the airport and from there I made my way through the very uncrowded terminal to the Delta check-in desk.  As usual, I went through the Sky Priority line where I inquired about my upgrade and had my luggage tagged.  There was no upgrade yet, but I was only #2 on the list, so I was crossing my fingers that it would clear at the gate.

One thing I found interesting about the process of going through bag drop off, security inspection, and US Preclearance is how many times they scan your boarding pass.  I would figure that scanned the first time would be enough to validate the pass and the passenger, but at every step?  Perhaps it helps them ultimately track how the line is moving?  It remains a mystery to me.  Once clearing security, I pulled out my customs declaration form to fill out only to discover that I did not have a pen in my bag.  Luckily someone had borrowed one from a local cop which just kept being passed around right before the line for Customs and Immigration.  As a whole, the process really did not take a lot of time.  I suppose that during busy flight periods, security, immigration, etc could all take a very long time, but it was relatively quick and painless.  I wound up in the airside of the terminal with more than enough time to spare.  Unfortunately, Delta does not have a lounge in Montreal, so I was doomed to roam the concourse with nothing to do.

Yet Another Passport Stamp

I did decide though that I should at least get something for lunch before boarding which I finally settled on a place to grab a quick burger.  I wasn’t sure if I would make the upgrade still and the flight this afternoon was outside of the meal window for sub-1500 mile flights in First Class.  The place, whose name escapes me, was a bit on the pricey side, but at least the burger seemed decent.  Once finishing up I headed to the gate to inquire about my position on the upgrade list now that there was an agent there, and to my delight I had cleared!  The best part: I was given seat 1A, which is perhaps my favorite seat on Delta’s CRJ-900 aircraft.  You can’t beat the legroom and having both an aisle and a window.

Boarding commenced slightly there after and I was settled into my seat enjoy a pre-departure beverage as the rest of the plane filed in.  It never really takes that long to board regional jets and soon enough we were up in the air.  I settled in for the almost 3 hour flight to Atlanta, kicking back and relaxing, and enjoying the fact that this aircraft recently had in-flight wifi installed.  For the most part the flight was uneventful, however upon landing in Atlanta, as we approached our gate, it was announced that it was still occupied.  One never gets excited arriving in Atlanta early, because quite frankly there will never be a gate for you to pull into.  After sitting on the ramp for 10 minutes the Pilot finally announced that we would be using a remote stand and would be bused to Concourse E.  All this meant was less time for me to hop around a few Sky Clubs.

It Was Actually Pretty Cold In Atlanta...

My first stop of the evening was to head over to Concourse D where I wanted to try the newest Sky Club in Atlanta that I had yet to visit.  It’s a relatively small one located on the ground level of the concourse.  I don’t know if many people just dont know about it yet or what, but despite it being a peak travel hour, it was hardly packed.  The snack selection (along with most other Sky Clubs) wasn’t exactly the greatest, so I didn’t stay too long after having a drink.  There was still one other Sky Club in the airport that I have never been to, so I headed over to Concourse T.  Since Concourse T has the fewest Delta gates (and overall for the airport), the lounge over here wasn’t very crowded again.  Very quiet and very spacious, but I again I didn’t stay for long.  I had to head back over to Concourse A to catch my flight back home…a flight that I didn’t get the upgrade on.  I found it rather strange that as a Platinum on an award ticket that there were only two other people out of 8 or so total on the list below me waitlisted according to the screens at the gate.  Even on an award ticket I should be above any Gold or Silver Medallion members and I just don’t believe that there were only two of those on the list.  Not exactly the end of the world, it was a relatively light load in coach and the flight is quite short at 39 minutes (usually).

Concourse D Sky Club

Arriving in Panama City I was greeted with rain.  It wasn’t a light rain either; it was coming down pretty good out there.  I had luggage to wait for so inside I was hoping that there would be a break in the storm once I got my luggage so I could get to my car.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.  What did happen was that my priority-tagged luggage was one of the last bags to come out of the conveyor belt.  Actually many priority-tagged bags were nowhere near the beginning which just is not right.  I shouldn’t see a family of 8 get their 12 or 14 or however many incredibly large non-priority suitcases before my one bag gets off.  There were several Diamond and Platinum Medallions around me feeling the same way.  The ground crew at ECP had gotten pretty good at this for a while, but this was just a complete failure.  Perhaps I just shouldn’t have checked my bag…

Anyways, Montreal was a fantastic city and overall I thoroughly enjoyed myself in the city.  I think it was the history and culture that really grabbed me – in just 2.5 hours from Atlanta I can be in a place where everything is in French and almost feel like being in Europe…almost.  I really would like to visit in the warmer months maybe in the late summer and I know that I would definitely like to visit Quebec City as well.  Sitting in the parks reading a book, sitting outside at a cafe, maybe some hiking up there – the possibilities are endless and I’m for certain that I will be back.

Posted in Delta, Photography, Travel, Trip Report | Leave a comment

Celebrating the New Year in Montreal (Part 3)

By Robert | Published March 7, 2012

Index:

Sunday, January 1
This was my last full day in Montreal and I still had a lot to see and do across the city.  It being New Year’s Day wasn’t going to help me though it seemed.  After getting up and taking advantage of the free breakfast in the lobby I figured my first stop would be the Montreal Biosphere in Parc Jean-Drapu.  The ride on the metro doesn’t take that long and soon enough I was on a quiet island.  Seriously there really was not any one out here and as I approached the Biosphere I found out that it was closed.  With nothing better to do, I walked around for a little bit and played in the snow in order to make a mini-snowman!  I haven’t done that in a number of years, so yeah it took me back a bit.

Montreal Biosphere

Snowman!

With no biosphere to do I figured that I would make my way across town in search of lunch.  I had heard about the various markets across Montreal being good for picking up a bite to eat while perusing the various goods.  As a result I made my way towards Marché Jean-Talon.  Problem was that once I found the place, it was closed until January 3rd.  I didn’t know at the time that they were all closed, so I then headed to Marché Atwater and that as well was closed up for the holiday.  I was starting to feel defeated in my search, so I popped out my Montreal guide and discovered a place called Reuben’s Deli.  It appears that it is a well known place for smoked meat (similar to pastrami) – and it was pretty good.  The sandwich was stacked rather high which caused the top slice of bread to be a bit difficult to balance on the meat, but overall pretty top notch.

Reuben's Deli - Smoked Meat

Since the restaurant also has wifi, I took advantage of that to figure out my next move considering it was already around 1:30pm.  Not knowing what would be open with already experiencing a day of failure, I figured I would try the Montreal Biodome.  Actually, my luck turned for the better and it was actually open!  The various habitat rooms were all very interesting, but the first room which was the tropical room was impossible to use my DSLR in.  The lens just kept fogging up from the humidity.  Even my point and shoot took a while before I could even use it in there.  Also, as a Floridian, I wasn’t impressed by the small gators.  Rooms with some Canadian habitats were more interesting and of course Penguins – how can you not like Penguins.  They’re birds too cool to fly and swim and jump and hop and everything else.  One looked like it had a cast or something on its foot.  It really was starting to get dark outside, so I opted to head next door to the Stade Olympique (Olympic Stadium).

Biodome + Stade Olympique

Flags Outside the Stadium - Interesting In That Several Are of Defunct Countries

Biodome - Birds!

I Think This Penguin Just Discovered That He Can't Fly...

I made one mistake in how I purchased my tickets.  Going into the Biodome I wasn’t fully sure if I would go up to the top of the tower at the Olympic Stadium, so I bought a ticket just for that.  I could have saved a few bucks if I had purchased a combination ticket for the two – a tip for those out there looking to do both.  Anyways, back to the stadium, you ride a funicular that runs along 266 meters of track to the top of the observation tower which on a good day gives you a view of much of Montreal.  Today, however was not a very good day and on top of that it was starting to get dark.  I could make out Mount Royal in the distance and what appeared to be downtown Montreal, but quite honestly I couldn’t make sense of anything.  Not even looking through my telephoto lens helped me make anything out below, but then the weather probably contributed to that as well.

Going Up To The Top

Downtown Montreal - From La Tour de Montréal

By the time I got back down the base it was now dark and time to get back to the hotel.  I had no clue what I wanted for dinner, so after dropping my backpack off and getting cleaned up I wandered around the old city trying to figure it out.  I spent way too long looking and ultimately settled on Les 3 Brasseurs.  The place was packed and the only spot I could get at the bar.  Despite my sitting right in front of a register, it was difficult getting service.  I understand being packed, but pretty much ignoring a customer is certainly not a way to earn a decent tip.  On the plus side, they eventually did get to me and I ordered some sort of beer and a lamb sandwich, which was ok, but nothing overly fantastic either.

The night was still early and I wasn’t anywhere near being done with the night.  I had heard that there were some bars out by Concordia University and since the Montreal app on my phone listed McKibbin’s Irish Pub as a place with beers and the occasional live music, I headed there.  Unfortunately, everyone must have still been recovering from the previous night, because it wasn’t very busy and there was no live music that night.  The beer selection was decent and I snacked on an appetizer as I watched a game on TV.

Still not being satisfied with the night I figured I’d do something I’ve actually never done before: go to a Casino.  Seriously, it was my first time and as a first-timer it was a bit of an overload at the Casino de Montréal.  There truly are slot machines everywhere and other odd machines in what seems like hallway after hallway in a maze that is designed to keep you from escape.  Worst part was that I didn’t pay the best attention to where I entered and since (I believe) that the casino is really three different buildings connected together, its not hard at all to get turned around.  I admit that I stuck mostly to machines during my visit there and that I allowed myself to only what was in my wallet (probably around $30 CAD), but it was fun to say the least, but it was fun.  I was probably feeding off some of the energy of those really into it (especially while roaming the poker floor), but it was rather fascinating.  Never did find that glass floor though…

By the time it hit midnight, I knew I needed to start heading back to the hotel since I was relying on public transit, despite the casino being open 24 hours.  The next day would be my last in Montreal and in reality I still had a few things I wanted to do in the morning before I headed to the airport.  If I had stayed out any later, I would probably have screwed up those plans.

Posted in Travel, Trip Report | 3 Comments
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