catch up

flew to the east coast last saturday (april 16) to see my peeps, attend carrie's wedding reception/party and see my sweet dog, elliot.

he lives with my parent's as he is technically the family dog but i claim him as mine.  more on him later...

cashed in more frequent flier points (haller-loo-yuh) and flew first class.

hot damn.

i think the sky even looks better from first class.

too bad i'm out of points....  back to the cattle car from now on...

hot towels, booze, hot nuts, lunch and warm cookies were served on the first flight.

lunch was a steak quesadilla, rice, salad, pita chips and cheese dip.  and more booze.

arrived in dallas and luckily made my layover.

back on the plane to head to raleigh.

dinner served.

cheese pasta, salad and some cheesecake.  and more booze.  what?!

reunited at last....

landed in a tornado devastated raleigh.  i missed the storm by a few hours...

horribly sad...

trees were down and debris was everywhere.

and this is just what i saw near downtown raleigh.  much worse everywhere else.

back to portland

first blog while back in portland for the new year.

hard to believe it's 2011.

2011.

where did the last decade go?

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it was hard to leave raleigh behind and to say goodbye to my sweet dog.

i hate more than anything leaving him.  somehow i think it gets harder each time.

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flew out on a 6:20am flight.

6:20am!

that means getting up at 3:30am.  a time when i'm usually going to bed.

needless to say it was dark out.

are pilots able to function and operate all of this at that hour?

it was dark for quite a while since we were flying west.

then an amazing sunrise came up on the left side of the plane.

that only semi distracted me from the young mormon guy i sat next to.  he spent a good portion of time preaching the gospel to me.

now listen... i respect anyone's beliefs.  but please do not try to convert me at 5:50am before we've even taken off.

i can barely sit up at that hour, much less think.

the next flight i sat next to a man that picked his nose most of the flight.  and when he wasn't picking he was sleeping with his hat covering his face.  lovely.

here's the view:

made it safely back to portland before noon.

i was delirious from the lack of sleep but glad to be home.

post travel hangover

i landed in raleigh a couple of days ago and i've been in a complete fog.

a post travel hangover.

perhaps i overindulged in the free first class offerings?

whatever it is, it feels just like my dog looks although not as cute.

travel continued

i landed in dallas and immediately started getting texts/emails from people saying that it was snowing like crazy in raleigh.

i slowly headed to the skylink train to get to my next terminal.

it was early in the evening but the airport felt very empty.

and most of the food places were closed.  not that that mattered since i was still full from my first flight.  but in case i got stranded.

this sculpture was right by my gate so i checked it out.

luckily my flight was on time and it was back to first class.

that's right.  more cocktails.  more hot nuts.  and a choice between a southwest chicken salad and a cheeseburger.  and of course, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies to top it all off.

heaven.

luckily we landed early and i was once again reunited with my favorite thing in the whole world.

winding down...

it's hard to believe that 2010 is winding down and a new year is about to begin.

where in the world has the year gone.

better yet, where has this decade gone?

apparently they've gone away with my youth....

but what is it that every older person says about about age?  that with age comes knowledge.

yes.  knowledge.

knowledge is great and all but damn, i'd love to have some of my younger days back.

ah well...we all know that isn't happening so onward through the holidays and 2011!

lee came home the day after thanksgiving so it freed me up from some of the dog duties.

they were a little happy to see her.

and so was i.

it's been BEYOND FREEZING in portland.  and some days, raining and freezing.  and walking 2 big dogs in pouring down freezing rain blows.

we even had snow.

with lee there i decided to head to the east coast early for the holidays.

i flew to raleigh yesterday.

first class.

damn, i love first class.  and for those who know me, know i've developed a real hate of flying.

but this, it makes flying almost tolerable.

well that and xanax.  lots of xanax.

and no i didn't buy a first class ticket.  i used miles to get the ticket.  and let me just say it was worth every mile i used getting the ticket.

first, you board early and do not wait in any line.

second, you get everything for free - unlimited baggage, blankets, food, drinks.  oh the drinks.  we even got cocktails before we took off.

right after takeoff we were served our first bevs with a bowl of hot nuts.

who knew i liked hot nuts?

and before i swallowed the last one, they were already coming around with more bevs and lunch.

lunch consisted of a cheese enchilada with rice and beans, a side salad, pita chips and cheese dip.

what surprised me was how good it was.  it was better than many mexican meals i've had.

oh and more cocktails came around.  actually, they never stopped.

to top it all off, they brought around freshly baked toffee cookies!

i was so full after all of this that i almost fell asleep watching "30 Rock" on my ipod.

the next thing i knew it was time to land and i had to figure out how i was going to stand up and make it to my next flight without appearing to be too intoxicated.

hood river & multnomah falls

we arrived in hood river in time for a late lunch.

hood river is a small town on the river known for wind surfing.  the weather was too bad to see anyone doing it.  cute town though.

we then moved onto multnomah falls.

it was amazing.  there are no other words to describe it.  well, except extremely damp.

the exit sits in the middle of the freeway.

and you cross under the freeway to get to the falls.

too bad pictures can't do the falls justice.

we took the winding wet trail up to the bridge.

then it was back to portland and reality.

all good things must come to an end....