Alaska Trip : Day 1 (50 Days of 50)

 The family is starting a week long trip to Alaska.  The first time an of us have been to Alaska, adding another state to the list of Great America that has been seen. This trip is also a graduation present for Noah, who always wanted to see Alaska and visit some friends he has made here.

The morning was mostly a chaotic whirlwind of getting ready for the trip. Packing and bags and goodies for the trip, and taking care of last minute items needing attention around the house.  This tends to be or normal couple of hours before leaving for a trip

We will be traveling most of the day today, starting with the PDX airport.  Now that Oregon has lifted its COVID mask rules, it was interesting to be back in a place that required mask, and pretty much the entire trip would need to be done with a mask on: all the airports, all the air planes.  Generally don’t mind wearing a mask, but my ears certainly hurt after a while, as I usually do not need to wear one for so long.

It was a bit surreal being back at an airport after 1.5 years of not traveling.  There were definitely some changes to how things were being done, but, in general things flowed quite smoothly. After some initial period of getting reacquainted with the idea of traveling and flying, and remembering what all I needed to do to get through security, it began to feel a bit more normal, which was nice.

The last time I was in PDX was on my return from Beijing in late November, 2019.  A few short weeks before COVID starting spreading through China and the beginning of this great plague of my generation.

The quick hop up to to Seattle was uneventful.  A 3 hour layover was a bit long but go to enjoy some comfort on a lounge.  Getting into the lounge was a bit tricky, both because of the demand, and the new reservation process. 

Soon we were on the last flight into Anchorage, which went quickly and comfortably, arriving near 11pm Alaska time (midnight PDX).

The troops are all pretty tired that that point, and after navigating the rental car process, got to our hotel near the airport and crash for the evening. 

EuroTrip19 - Day 3 - Nines and Travel to Bordeaux

Another night of recovery sleep as we are all starting to acclimate to the Europe time zone.  We enjoyed another hearty breakfast at XO.couture before packing our bags and leaving the hotel.

Our first mission of the day was to travel to the train station, Amsterdam Centraal and store our luggage for a couple of hours and buy ourselves a bit more Amsterdam touring time.  While finding the luggage area wasn't hard, figuring out how to get into it was a bit challenging, as it was located behind turnstiles opened by a train ticket.  After some experimentation, we figure out that you could use a 1-way train to the airport ticket to go in and out of the train area, and get to the luggage storage area.  With tickets purchased, we made it to the luggage lockers and shoehorned out bags into the lockers and were off. 

Travel note - our large bags barely fit into the large lockers at the train station.  When traveling, it is probably a good rule of thumb to not take bags bigger than this.  A carry-on sized bag fit well in the smaller locker with room to spare.

Back on the streets of Amsterdam, we made our way to the Nine Streets, a shopping area in Amsterdam. We enjoyed walking around the narrow streets and along canals, diving in and out of shops and pastry shops.

Finally, it was time to go to the airport and say goodbye to Amsterdam.  However, to give us one final adventure, Amsterdam had one fine trick in store for us.  After some debate about the correct train to take to the airport, the crew made its way to the platform to catch the train.  The train was already there and leaving in only a few minutes, so we dashed to the train.  As we approached, the first conductor whistle blew, letting us know time was short.  We started stuffing Sara and the kids on the train.  After the third person was loaded the 3 conductor whistle blew and the doors began to close, 3 people on (Sara, Ally, Jeanne) and 3 on the platform (Chris, Katy, Noah).  Chris tried, in vain, to stop the doors from closing.  A station person watching the calamity called over to let it go, there is another train in 10 minutes.  Unfortunately, however, Sara was standing at the window of the train, as it pulled away, with all of the train tickets in her hand.

Travel note - Always have folks carry their tickets when boarding and unboarding transit.  This was our mistake.  Other good advice that we did follow, have an adult get on train/subways first and last, with kids in the middle.  That allows an adult to always be available in case things like this happen and you get separated.

Fortunately, the nice station attendant sais she would accompany the 3 left-behinds and talk to the next train's conductor to allow them passage without buying additional tickets.  The station attendant was successful, and we boarded the next train to the airport. Whew!

Getting checked in and through security was a bit of an adventure, as we had limited experience with local European flights.  Check-in went smooth enough, but the baggage drop was a bit interesting.  It was automated, where you put your bag a locker area, and go through a kiosk to check your bag and get your bag tag.  After a few failed attempts, we learned that you have to put your bag in with a certain orientation, and the bag tag has to be at the top of your bag in that orientation. The locker sucks your bag in from the back and sends it on the way.

Getting through security was pretty straight-forward, but they seemed a bit more particular about the number of cables in my bag, requiring them to pull the bag aside and unpack several things to scan again.

The KLM flight to Bordeaux was quick and uneventful.  A nice little Embraer 4 seat wide regional jet.  And it was quite easy to make our way through the nice little Bordeaux airport.

Welcome to France and Bordeaux! Country 2 on the trip. And hello to 100 degree weather.  Quite a change from the 70's in Amsterdam

To get to our hotel from the airport, we decided to take an Uber.  Was fairly straight forward to use the app to hail a ride.  However, finding where to meet your ride can be a bit more challenging, particularly when you are not familiar with the airport.  Calling the first driver to clarify reminded us that we don't speak French, and it isn't guaranteed that your Uber driver will speak English :).  Apparently meeting at the "wine bottle" is the common pick-up spot.  After some consultation with a passing airport worker, we found out that the "wine bottle" was next to a pedestrian crosswalk, about 2 feet tall on top of a culvert.  It was the right spot, as the uber drivers showed up a few minutes later and we were off to Bordeaux. 

It seems that my car had the cranky French Uber driver who was a bit particular about his car.  Was concerned about my bag rubbing against his dash.  Ah, I guess that is why there is a star rating system in Uber, and I'm guessing French Uber drivers have lower average star rating than US :).

Sausage shark

Adventures in luguage storage

Walking tour of the nine streets

Separated by train

Airport baggage eater

Flight to Bordeaux

First Europe Uber experience

EuroTrip19 - Day 2 - Dutch Masters and Canals

Rijksmuseum

Van Goh

Dancing cats

Rijksmuseum gardens

Lunch at Arns Irish Pub

Could it be sepsis?

Canal Tour

Vondel Park

Moco museum

Drinks at Het

Dinner at Wurst and Schnitzel

EuroTrip19 - Day 1 - Travel day and Amsterdam

It was an early start to the day, getting the traveling crew up at 4:30AM to catch our flight at 7AM to start our journey.  None of us got a good sleep that night, as we all had various last minute things to pack and take care of before we could turn in for the evening. We were all quite tired when the alarm went off, but the excitement of Europe and the pressure of getting to the airport on time got us moving.  So the five of us departed: Sara, Noah, Katy, Ally (niece) and myself.

PDX was the same comfortable friend as always, the launching point of so many of our adventures.  It really is a nice airport, just the size to get in and around quickly without too many headaches.   We stopped by Capers for some much-needed breakfast and then to our flights.  Traveling American, hopefully, the will treat me better than my last trip.

The first leg of the flight was from Portland to Dallas.  The flight was quick and uneventful. After making our way through the Dallas airport (Skylink works pretty well), we chill at the Centurion lounge for some lunch and relaxation.

777-200

Hotel


Lunch at Dover's Dog

Flower Market

Dinner at the Happy Bull.

20 years of Portland and Intel

So Oct 2015 is a month of celebration for me.  No, not because we are going to see Marty McFly appear later this month from the past.  20 years ago this month this Georgia boy packed up all his possession, bought a 1 way ticket to Portland Oregon, and set out to make his mark on the world of computing and technology by joining Intel Corporation.  20 years later and I'm still at Intel and have probably made at least a few marks on the technology world, both good and bad :).  I will be dropping some fun post from 20 years ago on FB (and elsewhere) to celebrate this occasion.  Feel free to comment, add post or ridicule as desired ;).

Europe14: Day 3 - Exploring Lerici

The morning started with a 7am CET wake up and a cool, solo walk along the boardwalk to get back to the car parking lot (about half a mile walk).  It was a beautiful walk in the peaceful morning.  There was no wind, so the gulf was crystal blue-green and the air was crisp and clear allowing me to see the barrier island clearly.  The rising sun over the hillside and, further back, Alpi Apuane, left a golden sparkle on everything around the waterfront.  At that moment, I can see why the poets, Percy Shelley and Lord Byron, stayed here for extended periods to draw inspiration.

The morning walk wasn't just for the ascetic value.  The night before when we arrive, the parking lot attendant had already left for the day and we could only buy short-term tickets to cover us until 8am today.  The first mission of the morning was to find where to buy the week-long parking passes.

I arrived back at my car a little before 8am, after the inspirational walk along the gulf.  Car was safe and had no tickets.  However, finding where to buy the weekly parking pass was the next adventure.  The signs around the automated teller were not all that helpful (even after translating them).  I did remember seeing a little info hut at the entrance to the parking lot at the lot entrance.  A short walk up a steep hill and I found the info booth, but the attended doesn't arrive until 8:30.  Being the impatient American, I decided to walk down to the other information booth at the bottom of the lot to see if they had passes.  So, I trucked it back down the hill. Alas, they were closed.

What to do now?  Well, there was a hotel nearby, the Hotel Florida.  "Great!" I think, English speaking reception can probably tell me how to get a parking pass.  Well friends, the reception at Hotel Florida doesn't speak very good English.  About all I got out of them is they couldn't give me a pass unless I was staying there.  So it is about 8:30 by this point, so I head back to the car and decide to drive back to the top of the parking lot hill and waited on the attendant to arrive. A short while later, the attendant arrive and I was the proud owner of a two week (they were out of 1 week) parking passes for Lerici.   Mission accomplished.

On my scenic stroll back to little house (Il Fondetto),I got a text from Sara requesting that I bring back coffee and some pastries for the kids (who were still asleep).  Scratching my head a little, I thought, "to go coffee in Italy?"  So I stopped in a little coffee shop by day, bar by night at the boardwalk to find the requested coffee to-go.

After waiting for a few locals to complete their orders (loving the lack of tourist), I made my request for lattes to go to the 30-something barista.  He thought for a minute, then told me to wait and disappeared around the corner.  A few minutes later, he returned with a plastic Solo-like cup and said, "this ok?"  Snickering a little, I said, "sure" and he made up the lattes.  A few minutes later, with two very hot coffees in plastic cups and with two donuts under each arm, I made my way up the hill to the house.  Coffees to go: mission complete.

The kids were up once I made it to the house, a little sleepy, but getting their morning started.  Donuts were a welcome sight and perked them up.  We quickly finished up the coffees and made our way down the hill. 

To get our blood moving for the days activities, we started out exploring the center of Lerici and Garibaldi square. Most of the shops were along a few narrow streets right off the boardwalk by the Gulf.  Like many small Italian towns, it is good that they don't allow cars down the narrow streets.  Beach paraphernalia, small local clothing stores, toy stores and restaurants were the typical things you would see down each street we traveled.

Next stop was the Castello di Lerici (Castle Lerici), the prominent castle overlooking the gulf area, and Lerici's most iconic feature.  The start o the walk was though a tunnel under the castle to which lead to the other side of the sea cliff the castle is perched on.  The tunnel was lined with art attached to the walls which were from a local art project here the artist painted adaptations of famous paintings, but set in the local area.  For example, there was and adaptation of Van Gogh's "Stary Night", but with Lerici hillside and barrier islands in the scene.  Most of them were quite well done, preserving the style of the original work.

The path up to the castle somewhat like a goat trail up the side of a hill, but with some paved in some parts.  It started out by going behind a cliff-side restaurant at the end of the tunnel.  After about 200 ft of elevation gain through switchbacks and stairs, we arrived at the castle. 

Arriving at the castle courtyard, we were greeted with  an amazing view of the gulf and the seaside on the other side of the castle. Of course, I completely bored the family taking pictures of the view.  The castle itself is pretty neat, having several different architectural styles as you go up the walls, as different periods added there part to the construction.   We walked along the edge of the castle courtyard, checking it out, but did not go into the castle itself, as it is a Dinosaur museum now.

Full of castle views  and beautiful scenes, it was time to go for a late lunch.  We strolled down the narrow winding streets from the castle to the Garibaldi Square, the main square in Lerici at the terminus of the boardwalk.    We settled on the La Mano di Fatima restaurant for lunch for some nice Italian food (ie: pizzas for the kids).  After lunch the kids played in the square chasing pigeons as Sara and I finished up our lunch.  It was a very nice, relaxing feeling.

Now stuffed, we all headed back to the little house for some down time.  Some napped, some played games on their phones, some tried to get the WiFi working.  A lazy afternoon at the beautiful little house was just what we needed.

The day ended with another stroll into town to find our favorite Italian food: Gelato.  Back down to Garibaldi plaza to the best gelato shop in town, Gelateria Acrobaleno.  The owner of the shop was serving us and noticed my Portland Timbers shirt.  That started a conversation where we learned that he was a international sales rep for Nike in the 80's, and got to come to Portland during that time for a big international sales conference.   Really nice guy, who we affectionately call "tall guy" as he is probably 6'5" or taller. The gelato was also quite awesome, which included his own local favor called "Lerici", which has pine nuts and other things from the area in it. This became our go-to gelato stop for the rest of our town in Lerici.

And thus, the 3rd day came to a close.

Europe14: Day 2 - The road to Lerici

So the exhausted crew of Day 1.5 slept pretty well our first night in Europe.  Once could say that staying up for most of 36 hours is a way to force yourself to get used to the time change :).  The kids slept through the night without issue. Sara and I both woke up about 4am and had some trouble getting back to sleep.  It must have worked at some point, however, as we were greeted by our alarm clock around 8am CET.

The first order of business was to get some breakfast.  A wonderful continental breakfast was included with the cost of the Meierhof Hotel room.  It was a tradition breakfast for the region, having various sliced meats, cheeses, yogurt and granola, breads and jams, all served in cute dinning room with an amazing view of the Alps as a backdrop.

After filling our bellies, we backed up our gear was bid farewell to the Meierhof.  Before hitting the road again, we took an hour to drive up the hill to see the Vaduz castle.  After finding a parking spot a quarter of a mile away, we made our way down to the castle and enjoyed to amazing view of the Rhine valley from vantage point.   Unfortunately, you can't go in the castle, as the prince is living there this time of year, unless you happen to know him :).  After enough picture to get the traditional family eye-roll, it was off on the road again!

Today was another travel day, making our way down from Liechtenstein to Lerici in the Italian Rivera. Time to put the little Hyundai to the test with some mountain driving and Italian interstate.

The first leg of the drive takes us through the Alps of Switzerland and into northern Italy.  This section of the drive has got to be one of the most beautiful I have ever taking.  The sheer size and contrast of the tall Alps to the valleys we were winding though were a sight to behold.  Glaciers clinging to the mountainsides with streams and plunging waterfalls around every corner.  And of course, the exhilarating feeling of driving on mountain roads with switchbacks, occasional traffic and 4 mile long tunnels through the heart of the Alps keeps the driver on his toes :).  And the little Hyundai did just fine.

As we were reaching the Italian border, we decided to stop for lunch in Lugano, Switzerland, and the suggestion of our Hotel Meierhof receptionist suggestion.  So off the interstate we go to find the town.  After a few navigation challenges through the industrial part of the city, we manage to find out way to the center part of town and grab a parking spot.

One word to describe Lugano.  Wow.  Simply Wow.  A cute Italian-style town nestled between the end of the Alps mountains with the center of town bordering a fabulous mountain lake.  Quite a sight to behold.  We took a stroll along the lakeside park to make our way down to the center area of town and find some lunch.

The lunch choice was at cafe named Tango, where we got our first taste of Italian food for the trip.  Lunch was quite good, with a particularly enjoyable cheese and bacon gnocchi.  The kids had their standard fair, pizza for Noah and spaghetti for Katy.

Another stroll through the breathtaking views to reach our car again and we were off down the road, about half way to Lerici (3 hours to go).  Soon we hit this Italian border and the road flatted out and slapped us with the contrast of entering the industrial areas on the north side of Milan.  Not what we would say is the all that exciting to look at.

Fortunately, there was plenty of excitement during this part to keep us entertained as I got to have my first experience driving on Italian interstates and Sara got to navigate us through the outskirts of Milan.  Lets see, rules of the road are approximately to go fast, fill any available space, cut folks off, and only occasionally use your blinker to indicate your plan.   "Active driving required".  Got it.  After a few miles of being in the Milan fray, I was managing pretty well and we left the Milan area to we the roads were less crowded and the picturesque Italian country side took over.

About another hour into the trip we made it past the beautiful Italian coastal mountain range and left the interstate.  Now the driving was on narrow streets winding through small hillside villages.   I managed not to hit any pedestrians or mopeds.  Finally we wheeled into the Lerici area and made our way to the rendezvous point to meet the apartment owner we are renting from.

Well, making it to the rendezvous point turned out to be a little harder than expected :-). We drove along some winding narrow streets, turned a corner, and Jane proudly announced that we should turn around, as we just missed it.  Sara and I both looked at each other, wondering what we had missed. However, being on a one way road mean that we continued to drive, then take a left towards the town at the next round-about, in hopes of finding a road that would return us to the area. Well, the left took us right down into the middle of Lerici, the cutest seaside town you could imagine.  A quick honk a few minutes later reminded met to quit gawking and get back to the business of finding our rendezvous.

The second time around proved more fruitful.  This time passing by the rendezvous point, we realized that instead of a bus station, it is a bus stop we were supposed to meet at.  After a few minutes of searching around, we found Ada, the wonderful person renting her little house to us for the next several days.

Ada is lovely older Italian lady.  She greeted us with a pek on each check and had us pull down a very steep driveway to unload our baggage.  After getting our stuff out of the car, we made our way up a short flight of steps to the house.  As soon as we saw the place we knew that we had made a good choice.  I lovely little outdoor living area greeted us, complete with a hammock (Noah's favorite), outdoor chairs and table, stone BBQ, and lemon and olive trees.  The inside of the house was equally as cute, with two bedrooms and a small dining / kitchen area; similar to what you might find in a typical European studio.

Ada proceed to talk to us constantly for the next 30 minutes, asking us about our trip while at the same time telling us all about the house, and all the things we must do while we are in town.  Heads swimming with information we bid her farewell and set off to go park the car on the edge of town.

See, Lerici does not let you park cars in town unless you live in the town.  So, the only option for visitors is to park you car in a big lot on the edge of town for your stay.  It may sound inconvenient, but it actual is a great idea. It keeps the amount of cars on the road to a minimum and allows pedestrians much easier access to the town.  We found a spot, purchased a parking pass for the night and head out on the walk back to town.

And what a walk it was.  At the end of the parking lot we first met the Gulf of Poets, as this area is named.  In the distance the sun was setting behind the barrier islands of the gulf, creating  spectacular color array and light beams across the sky. We walked along the waters edge on the boardwalk that runs from San Terenza (the next town over) to Lerici, drinking in the beauty with every step.

Tired and hungry, we quickly settled in at the Bar Corona in for a evening meal.  Yeah, it wasn't the most authentic Italian place, but some comfort bar food, including a hot dog for Noah really hit the spot.  So we ate and drank in a merry celebration of making it to Lerici without issue, and enjoyed the last half of the World Cup game on the bar TV (Iran vs Niagara).   Sadly, I was too exhausted to stay up until 2am to watch the US beat Ghana.

We sleepily headed back to our house and crashed.