So how gay are we?

Our friend Jeff stayed at our house and took care of our dogs while we were away. After our return, last night, he stayed and will enjoy our hospitality until this weekend.

So how gay are we? Well, we didn't see anything of particular interest on TV tonight, so we tuned to Dish Network's "SIRIUS Broadway's Best" channel and have been singing along for, oh, about two hours now to a variety of Broadway tunes. I feel like I'm having a gay pride event right here in my living room! :)

One of our first stops in Glacier National Park, Montana, was at a roadside overlook. It gave us a lovely view of this river. Needless to say, it's impressive (particularly for someone like me who once almost got killed in a rafting accident). Anyhow, it's pretty to look at! For a couple more, go here. Just click on the pictures--you don't have to sign in or anything.

Things get better

Well, the office had me on the phone again today, even though this was supposed to be my last day of vacation.

I don't do well sitting and waiting for things to happen when I know there are problems, so I went in to the office for a little while. I think things are calmed down a bit now. While that's good, the flip side is that I don't want to be "indispensable". That's just not a good role, no matter how it sounds. I need to beef up the skilled staff working for me, but the place is having such tight times financially that they don't want to spend on new people.

I should have at least 10 (better yet, more like 15) fully trained, skilled HR people working for me, based on the total number of employees at the hospital. Instead, I have three clerical employees and a temp. It's not a good thing. I told the top folks that I'd keep things together on the cheap for as long as I could, but it's really reaching the breaking point (a concern I expressed to my boss in no uncertain terms today).

On the bright side, I'm still enjoying memories of the vacation and enjoyed telling some folks at work about the fun we had. Later, I'll try to find time to sort through more of the pictures from the trip. Of course, I'll happily share some of them!

I haven't even landed in NY yet, but...

I turned on my cell phone once I got to DFW, only to find a voicemail message from work. Apparently, my cracked staff (no, not "crack staff"--I did mean cracked) was entirely incapable of keeping things together in my absence. While it's nice to be needed, this bunch makes me feel way too needed.

A contractual increase was scheduled to take effect this week. So, before I left, I checked with them, repeatedly, to make sure they'd done everything necessary to get it entered. So what happened? Well, either they're even more incompetent than I realized or they know what they're doing but blew it off.

So, gentle reader, why don't I fire them all? Believe me, the thought has occurred. Thing is, I tend to give people as many chances to succeed as I can. I don't like firing anyone.

On the other hand, I have trained them, I have helped them, I have gotten them outside help. It's to the point that my boss, who helped place some of these people in HR before I ever started there, is seeing my point that there is a time to cut one's losses.

See? I told you my blog would be more fun while I was on vacation! sigh Anyhow, I'm already doing damage control, and I'm not even within a thousand miles of New York yet. It's not that I can't fix this mess. It's just infuriating that I have to, after having hand-held these people for so long.

Okay, time to go for more airborne torture now.

Dragging our asses home

Air travel has become savage. This is nothing new. The glory days of air travel were over decades ago.

No longer is it a big deal. The classiness is gone. Instead, passengers are cattle to be herded into and out of semi-clean planes.

Marc and I used miles for this trip and were able to fly first class. One would think that would be very nice. Think again! It's nothing special. I do remember when first class used to be something special--and I longed for when I had the frequent flyer miles to make it to the front of the cabin. Nowadays, there's hardly a point.

So here we sit in Dallas-Fort Worth airport, the airport so big that taxiing to the terminal takes longer than most flights. I'm enjoying the respite from the airplane, but a direct flight would have been nicer. Alas, since I was using miles, I had fewer flight choices than normal. Among those flights, none were non-stop.

Okay, I've had enough of this! "Scotty! Is that damned transporter fixed yet?!"

So we made it through our last day in Seattle. We went to Pioneer Square, the one tourist attraction we hadn't visited. Yawn

This evening, we dragged the camera out to the Space Needle. I didn't get any pictures the other night, when we went for dinner. So I felt compelled to go try to get some good night shots. (Anyone can do this in the day--the night shots are the fun ones.)

After an enjoyable photographic outing (as in trip, not, "Hey world, I'm a gay photographer!"), we came back to the Sorrento and headed to their lovely fireside lounge for cocktails. While there, Marc got what may be his best Bloody Mary ever. They spiced it with a local mix called Demitris Bloody Mary Seasoning. To this, they added a stalk of pickled asparagus from Hogue Farms. Yes, it was quite the drink.

Now it's time to pack our bags and prepare for the trip home. Vacation is nice, but I'm ready to be in my home. The stress of work awaits, but that is countered with three loveable piles of fur who will be excited to see us return. All in all, not a bad trade.

Okay, we're done with Seattle

I had no idea how dull this town is. If we had any idea it was like this, we'd have stayed in Portland.

Once you've seen Pike Place Market and the Space Needle, you're pretty well done. Go ahead, ask the concierge at your hotel for suggestions. "Did you go to the Space Needle?" "Oh yeah." "Did you go to the top of it? The view's really spectacular." "Uh huh. Did that. Nice view." 'Cause we don't have tall buildings in New York, so this was a real novelty. "Well, Pike Place Market is terrific." Terrific is definitely a subjective term, but, to be polite... "Yes, we went there yesterday, and now we're looking for something else to do." "Hmmm."

We even took out the guide books to try to find something. No luck.

Well, one possibility. They have an aquarium, and we'll probably run down there. Heaven knows, we've never seen fish before.

Of course, if you ask a local or consult Seattle propaganda on this subject, you'll be told what you're missing. This aquarium features sea life of the Pacific Northwest! Great. This I need to see. I've been eating sea life of the Pacific Northwest all week. I feel very little need to see what it looks like before it's grilled and drizzled in a white wine butter!

A shot from our visit to Seattle's Pike Place Market. For more shots, go here. Click on the "Slideshow" on the right to run through the pictures/descriptions.

Seattle and Pike Place Market

Today, we rode around Seattle a bit by car, and we walked all through the Pike Place Market. One's presence there all but announces, "I'm a tourist," or so it would seem.

It's nice, but it's nothing that hasn't been done elsewhere, in one way or another. Lots of little shops, and lots of street performers--like one might see at this time of year in San Francisco, Baltimore, etc., etc.

Seattle is a lovely city, but I think Portland has it beat, as far as we're concerned. Seattle is arguably more modern and busier, but that may be exactly why we liked Portland more. Portland had lots of trees, tons of parks, and an atmosphere that conveyed a palpable message... "slow down."

So we're enjoying Seattle, but we're already longing to return to Portland... and we shall. The only question is when. Barring a lottery win (as mentioned previously), it will have to wait until we can spare the time and money to come back.

A stop along the way, the Blue Heron Cheese Company. We stopped and sampled cheese, just as a fun thing to do along the way. Neither of us was a big fan of Brie, but the stuff the made there was wonderful. So much so that we placed an order for delivery to us when we get back home. They have smoked brie, plain brie, herb & garlic brie, and pepper brie. My favorite was the smoked brie, but all of it was good!

A shot of the Oregon Coast

Cape Meares Lighthouse on the Oregon Coast

Now why can't I win the lottery?

I don't come from a wealthy family, and neither does Marc. We do okay, but we certainly need to work to keep living a decent life. So reflecting on last night's trip to the Space Needle, I can't help but lament my lack of a personal fortune. :)

When we drove in, having put a full 2,000 miles on our rental car in the past six days, we told the valet to keep it nearby so we could head back out to dinner at the Space Needle. It was nice enough to be using valet parking!

Then I asked the lady at the front desk about parking at the Space Needle, explaining that we had dinner reservations, to which she replied, "Why don't you take the Town Car?" Town Car? Hmmm. This can't be free. "That sounds like a good idea," said I. "How much does it cost?" To which she replied with the lovely phrase, "it's free for our guests." Woo-hoo! "Oh, that's very nice. I think we'll do that," at which point she told me to contact the Concierge to arrange the trip.

I definitely could get used to living like this. The problem is that I'd be bankrupt pretty fast, if I had to spend what we've been spending every day on this trip. So why can't I win the lottery? Is that so much to ask?

Seattle's Space Needle

A trip to the Space Needle was always part of the plan for our Seattle visit, but I must admit that I didn't expect to be impressed. After all, I'm a New Yorker, raised with trips to the Empire State Building and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. So how big a deal is the Space Needle? Yes, it looks neat, a relic of the era when space flight was something new and amazing (okay, it's still pretty amazing), but I didn't expect to be too impressed by it.

Well, I was wrong. It's just neat! Marc and I went there for dinner tonight. We'd read varying reviews of it--some just bad and others good (like AAA's three diamonds). On the way there, the driver (we used the hotel's car service) told us it has gotten much better recently. Of course, we would pay for the view, as it's a revolving restaurant at the top of the needle, but the driver assured us that the food was quite good as well.

Fortunately, he was right. The food was fine, and the view was exquisite. The final touch was an ice cream sundae we split that they serve "space age" style. It shows up in a sort of double-boiler dish, used so they can put water and dry ice in the bottom. Your sundae is placed on the table, and it quickly covers the table with a dry ice-fueled carbon dioxide fog. It's really a cute trick. The bill was rather high, but I don't regret the visit--it was fun!

More of Mount Hood, Portland, Puna, etc.

So we're back in Seattle. Gotta love the Sorrento Hotel. We've managed to pick really good places this time. We stayed here Sunday night, before heading for Montana, and we came back to staff who said, "welcome back," greeting us like old friends. Added to that was a "welcome back" note from the Managing Director, with his phone number in case we need anything--along with a bottle of wine and some chocolate truffles. So much for the diet today! :)

I told you we went back to Mount Hood and promised to explain why. So, here goes... Before our first visit to Mount Hood, my last pictures had been in somewhat low-light conditions. (The non-photographically inclined are probably dozing off about now, so I'll make this as quick as I can...) I had set the ASA/ISO to 1000 for the prior pictures. When I shot Hood the first time, it was at this setting. The pictures were good, but they'd never stand up to enlargement. So we went back--yes, we're insane.

This time, we actually went up the mountain (not to the summit, of course). We went to Timberline Lodge, at 6,000 feet elevation, and it was a heck of a hike!

Okay, so we drove, but it was still fun. While 6,000 feet may seem high, Mount Hood rises to 11,235 feet, so there's still a lot above you when you get to the lodge. Also, from that elevation, it's clear that this isn't just a mountain. No, it's a volcano. The color of the soil on its slopes look like the remnants of a volcano. Also, for those of us who were earth science geeks, the exposed rock in the area also tells you a volcano was at work. Of course, Hood hasn't erupted for many years, although any of the volcanoes in the Cascades has the potential--remember Mount St. Helens in 1980? Also, I understand that Hood has occasionally rumbled underfoot and vented steam.

After our visit to the lodge, we went back down and then found a lovely vantage point for some photos. Much to Marc's concern, I took our Ford Taurus off road for a bit. It survived the trip intact--if it hadn't, well, I guess the Hertz people would have been mad at me. In any event, our little off-road adventure gave us an even better angle for shots, and I managed to avoid driving into a nearby river of mountain runoff when I turned us around on a tight dirt track to get back out of there.

After this, we headed back to Portland to see Puna, our massage therapist (mentioned below). That, followed by dinner at Jake's (picture below) capped off a busy day.

More to come, but that's enough for now!

We went back to Mount Hood to get more pictures. "Why?" is a slightly longer story I will share shortly (much to the boredom of everyone, I'm sure). In the meantime, here's a shot from our return to the mountain.

Jake's, where we had such a nice seafood dinner

Another lovely day of vacation

It's hard not to enjoy vacation days, but it's possible. So I'm always happy to have had a full, fun day.

Marc and I made our way from Spokane to Portland, stopping on the way to admire Mount Hood. They do make these hills big out here! I'd venture to say they have a few feet on the Catskills! ;)

The bonus was turning around after admiring Mt. Hood, to be confronted with another huge mountain in the distance. After a moment of, "hey, what's that one?," we studied our map and decided it had to be Mount St. Helens. It was the side that didn't get blown out in the eruption, so it didn't look too unusual, but there it was.

After we arrived at the Heathman Hotel, we met our wonderful massage therapist, Puna. He gave us massages the likes of which we've never had before--and we get massage therapy at home. Then this wonderful man gave us dinner advice before going on his way. If you're going to be in Portland and want the massage of a lifetime, send me an e-mail. I'll be happy to provide Puna's contact information.

So we got to enjoy a fine meal at Jake's, a local seafood establishment of long standing. We began our meal by sharing an appetizer of fried calamari with three dipping sauces: cocktail sauce, sherry wine & horseradish orange zest marmalade. As unusual as that last one sounds, I can tell you it was all wonderful.

Then Marc and I each had salmon--he had a grilled Chinook salmon, while I had a stuffed salmon. We followed this by a large step away from our diets, ordering flan and banana cream pie for dessert. We shared each other's dessert, and it was the perfect end to the meal.

As a final treat, I found the neon sign outside of Jake's to be nice enough to warrant a photo, so that will be posted on a moment. :)

Thanks, Matt!

My thanks to Matt for helping me work out some initial problems with inserting links into the blog.

A shot from Glacier National Park in Montana