It’s an emotional board for me. Thanks Bill.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Bill Holden Board #2
After going to Bill Holden’s 75-birthday bash, I thought a (morbid) thought – maybe I should get more boards made. I really liked the 9’ he made so I asked Bill to cut another. We bantered back and forth on colors and settled on this.
It’s an emotional board for me. Thanks Bill.
It’s an emotional board for me. Thanks Bill.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Breckenridge & Bay Area Visit
Writeup by Bill Whalen
Randy Schader, Howie Finch, Dick Deacy (neighbor of Howie) and Bill Whalen. 4 days of skiing (Breckenridge, Vail, Keystone, Copper) and then 2 days in the Bay Area staying at Leah’s house
Our Breckenridge hotel was the Taunhauser 2 on Main Street in the historic district. ($1400 for 4 days). We booked the 3rd floor because a write up said the street is noisy. And it was. Even on the third floor, every night we could hear partiers, plows, etc late into the night. Great location for walking about, but bad for sleeping. Randy had his private room with a king-size bed. Dick and I shared a room while Howie was on the couch. The hot tub was lukewarm and usually empty. There was a motor home parked out front illegally overnight and collecting daily tickets. They were staying at our hotel but our parking lot was too small for such a big vehicle.
Sat: usual airline snafus. Up at 4:45am. I was on the 2nd Chicago flight that morning. The first ended up being canceled. Overheard that there was no pilot. Those passengers were getting cranky. There were only 2 ladies working and they both disappeared with no explanation. My Syracuse flight was originally moved up 45 minutes earlier and then I had a one hour delay. Before leaving, the pilot informed us of an alternative landing (Dallas) if he is unable to land in Chicago. Comforting. No problem to Chicago. I was on-time in Denver (11:30am). Randy’s flight was bumped up an hour earlier so he arrived at 10:30am and had to wait for me. Howie, who was also supposed to land at 11:30 am, got delayed in Syracuse because of no pilot. He arrived late. Since he arrived at the last minute at his Syracuse gate, his luggage got placed on a different later flight. Now we had to wait for his luggage. By then (3:00pm) Dick had arrived. Since we were late to pick up our Liberty Jeep rental, they gave it away and upgraded us to a Dodge Durango. This was good because we totally filled this huge SUV. We stopped at King Scoop supermarket for lift tickets and food. Arrived in Breckenridge at 8pm.
That night the temperature was minus 1. After a small walk-about and watching the 10 best spring break locations on TV, we crashed early.
Mon: Up at 6am again. Skied Vail. Skied one run on Sun-up Bowl, China Bowl, and Outer Mongolia Bowl and then crossed over the creek to Blue Sky. The back bowls were OK. The Blue Sky region was the best. Soft, easy turning, blue-black and double black diamond tree skiing. Only made 2 runs on the entire front face of Vail – one to get to the Buffalo Lodge for lunch and the other to get down to the car.. Met up with an obnoxious guy, Dr Mark. He made it a point to tell us he was a doctor and he was always busy telling us which trails to take down. Happy hour at The Tap Room in Vail Village. Howie saved me from getting drenched by a huge water runoff when I was standing under a roof overhang. $4 snicker bars. For dinner, we signed in at Giampietro and then walked over for a beer at Jake’s Dive Bar. Had to have a “Man Beer”. Back to Giampietro for a great pizza. Home by 9pm and in bed at 9:40pm.
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| Like we need more sun. |
Wed: Goodbye to Dick. He only could stay for 3 days. Off to Copper Mt. Weather again was 100% sun, 50 degrees and the back bowls were perfect spring conditions of soft mushy steep moguls. So much fun we skied thru lunch. There was a cat to take you to another non-accessible bowl. No time for us to check it out. Took us 2 bus rides to get back to our car in the parking lot. Dinner again at Kenosha – soup, Thai coconut wings, and chili fries washed down with a bottle of merlot. Went home, changed into sweats, and then rallied to go out for a nightcap. Back to the Irish Pub where Howie treated us to a Middleton Irish whiskey. Watched a woman collapse to the floor. Thought she was drunk at first, and then decided she probably fainted due to over-exertion from climbing up the many steps to get in the pub.
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| Bill & Howie @ Copper |
Thur: fly day. Leisurely breakfast. Mountain peaks in clouds. Time to leave. Left at 9am. Arrive airport 11am. Randy pre-paid for gas on the rental car and wanted to return it on fumes. We were low on gas so he bought one gallon at Breckenridge. The gas light was on for most of the trip back to the airport. We were watching the “miles to empty” gauge very closely. It was at 33 miles to go when we returned it. Too close for my comfort. Next time we’ll buy two gallons. Checked in our luggage and then found Howie at Concourse A at noon for a beer, burger, and watch the 1st half of the SU basketball second-round NIT playoff game against Notre Dame. Arrived in Oakland and rented an Avis car. Had to stop and ask an employee how to release the foot brake. A quick tour of Leah’s house and she was off to teach dance. We followed her and toured the building. 40 years of antiwar posters. Cool place. Then we went to Berkley for dinner. Bird House noodles at Saigon Express. Walkabout followed by a sambuca night cap at Becket’s Pub.
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| Bill @ Golden Gate Bridge |
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| My two best friends |
Sun: Fly day. Spring forward time change. Lost one hour of beauty sleep. Leah had to be up at 2 am for some business work. Unfortunately, she set her watch to the new time zone prior to going to bed, so when she woke up at 1:45am it was one hour too early. Time didn’t change until 2am. A leisurely drive to the airport. Goodbyes and see you until we meet again in 10 weeks for the Half Dome climb.
Quotes: at Keystone after I skied partway down a narrow black diamond mogul field “this got ugly quick.” They must have heard me because they didn’t follow.
Breckenridge & Bay Area - March 2007
Costs: Airfare $585
Room 350
Ski pass (4 days) 309
Food/drink 304
Airport parking 60
Oakland misc 63
Misc cash 120
TOTAL $1800
Saturday, December 2, 2006
Witch’s Rock Surf Camp
Tamarindo, Costa Rica
Writeup by Bill Whalen
Participants: Randy Schader and Bill Whalen
Air travel: Delta was a hassle. They altered all our flights. First, they canceled Bill’s 6am SYR departure flight and then re-scheduled him on a later 8am flight which would not get him into Atlanta in time to meet Randy and catch the 2nd 10am leg to Liberia). Therefore, Bill had to change to a 6am departure out of Rochester. After driving up to Massena for Thursday’s Thanksgiving, I had to drive back to Syracuse, grab a quick nap, and then get up at 2:30am to head to Rochester for that early flight. As I drove past the Fingerlake Outlet Mall at 4am, the lot was already full of cars waiting for the stores to open for Black Friday’s sales. Parking at Rochester airport was interesting because there were different priced parking lots depending on how close to the front door you want to park. I got the last spot on the last row in the cheap lot. The shuttle van followed me to the last parking spot and zoomed me to the terminal. So easy. My distant $4.50/day lot had a free shuttle to the front door or for $12/ day you could park closer but then had to walk to the terminal. There was an FAA rule that passengers were only allowed to carry-on liquids/gels if smaller than 4 oz. However, at the security checkpoint, many smaller 1 oz bottles were also denied. Arguing was useless. My yogurt didn’t make it thru. Randy had an 11pm Thursday flight out of LAX. On the 2nd leg, the pilot and co-pilot were named Bill and Randy respectively. Weird. At 11:50 am the pilot Bill came on the PA and said “we’ll being landing in 12 minutes”. We thought we were making a great time until after a long pause he added “after the following hour” i.e. 1:12pm. So much for our great time savings. On the return trip, the Liberia flight to Atlanta landed 30 minutes early (good), but then had to wait on the tarmac for 30 minutes for a gate to become available (boo). Then it took 1-¼ hours to pick up luggage, clear customs, recheck luggage, go thru security again and get to my gate. My plane was already boarding when I got to the gate. Bill barely made his connection. Randy missed his connecting flight by 30 minutes and had to overnight in Atlanta. The airline put him up since they were the ones that changed his schedule to allow insufficient time between flights. Then he left Atlanta on a direct 7am flight.
At checking at LAX, a couple was having difficulty checking in. “Delta said a passport isn’t needed to get to the Cayman Islands”.
Note on future travels – don’t let luggage helpers’ help. In Liberia, a person transported our luggage 50 feet from the airport door to our shuttle van. I thought he was our driver from WRSC but he wasn’t, so we had to tip him for that useless 50 feet
Shuttle ride: The driver was Leo. Rode in with Bert and Carla from Oregon. He is a cold-water surfer. She doesn’t surf. Stopped for beers ($1) each.
Rooms: we originally booked our room at El Mirago across the street from WRSC. It was only a short walk and we thought it would be quieter. It also had a cool hammock on the front patio. Loved that hammock. Safes were an extra $3 per day rental. We were in room #1, which Roberto said is the 2nd door on the left. (The first room on the left was #31.) Go figure. It was embarrassing but had to ask the front desk, Roberto, how to open the room’s door to get out. Turns out you have to work your finger behind a notch in the door frame and manually push a metal lever. Friday night is the wild night at the neighboring Monkey Bar. Bill could hear the music all night. After 2 nights, Marcela @ WRSC asked if we wanted to move into the newly built rooms at WRSC. Literally just finished. The numbers weren’t even on the door yet. We said yes. Randy moved into #13 (balcony) and Bill into #17 (no balcony). A couple of days later, Randy got moved again into #12. #12 was the best. It had 2 double beds, a wall-mounted surfboard holder, a safe, and a small balcony with a killer ocean view. #13 & #14 had a single queen bed, a balcony large enough for chairs and surfboards, great ocean view, but no safe. #14-17 was one queen bed, ocean view, no balcony, and no safe. #18 was a double room with an ocean view, no safe nor balcony.
Day 1 (fri): walked the town looking for changes. New Pizza Hut, Subway sub shop, TCBY yogurt, and a new modern strip plaza. Becoming too Americanized. Bummer. Bought large 6L water bottles. Randy rented his Robert August What I Ride 9’ surfboard. Bed at 8:15 very noisy at night due to the neighboring Monkey Bar.
Day 2 (sat): Randy’s surf trip at 6 am, my lesson at 7am. High tide at 5:20 am. I went to the surf lesson at 7am to discover it was moved to 6am. Oops. Had ½ of the huge egg burrito, ran the length of the beach, and back again in the surf in 35 minutes. Checked out a 9’4” soft top board and surfed for 1 ¼ hour. The surf break was only waist deep and getting shallower and shallower. Then a nap in the hammock. They rescheduled my lesson to a private lesson with Eduardo at 4pm, then changed it to a group lesson with Bert and then changed it again to a private lesson with Andres. The lesson went until 5:20 sunset. Had a couple of imperials while waiting for Randy to return from his trip. Randy had a boat trip to Avellanes. Avellanes was closing out quickly. Dinner at our club. Milko had 12- $5 vouchers to use up (Vouchers were compliments of WRSC because of all the complaints from the excessive construction noise). The $60 covered dinner for 4 and 3 pitchers of imperial. We went for a walk to check out the nightlife. Tonight’s party was at Babylon. Stopped for a drink at a beach that had an outdoor patio surrounded by tall palm trees. The party at Babylon didn’t get hopping until much later, so we went home. Bed at 11pm
Day 3 (sun): high tide at 6am. Randy had a 6am trip to Playa Grande. Bill had a 4:30pm lesson. By the time I got to the club and had breakfast (the Betty), it was 8am and the waves were already dying. The best surf was 6-7am. It was not worth staying up late to do nothing and then losing out on the good early waves. I switched to a shorter 9’2” board. Rob stated something about his earlier van trip to Playa Grande was a “porno star smoking pot”. Lunch at the same lunch counter. Good view of the ocean. The counter guy, Michael, gave Randy a girl’s phone number. A sure thing. He said she cheated on her boyfriend last night and wanted Randy to call her. Last time we ate there. Moved to new rooms at WRSC. Randy’s #13 had a balcony, no safe. I was in room #17 with an ocean view but no balcony. Again I couldn’t open the door (a recurring problem). Turns out it wasn’t the imperials, but Marcela gave me the key to number 18, not 17. Oops. We were the first to use the new rooms. 2pm – 4pm: time to get out of the sun and read. 4:30 lesson with Autumn and Carlos (instructor). Surfed until sunset and then caught 2 more waves. Carlos was giving us hints on when to start paddling and when to pop up. Dinner of seafood soup at Pedro’s. 3000 colones. The clams, muscles, and crabmeat were still in the shells. Fun, tasty, and different. 8:30 pm Cuba Libras. (Rum, coke, and lime). Very good. 9pm-10pm read time. 10pm lights out. Noisy being above the bar, but not too bad. I was wired on the caffeine from the Cuba Libra. No more of those late at night.
Randy traded the 9’ for a 9’6” board.
Day 4 (mon): woke up at 5:30am for my 6am lesson with Autumn and Andres (teacher). The first part of the lesson was on the beach while we waited for the sun to rise above the WRSC building. It was wonderful watching the sunrise. The ocean was empty except for WRSC classes. Switched to an 8’6” board. Once you get up and out there, it felt great. Survived surfing, then threw out my back picking up a bottle of shampoo in the shower. Go figure. Possibly from overarching my back when lying down on the board and paddling (“boobs off the board”). Bothered me for the rest of the week and really hampered my surfing enjoyment. Ended up taking Excedrin, Motrin’s, and muscle relaxants to get me thru the lessons. Even after 3 imperials with Bridget and Chris, my back was still too sore for an afternoon surf. Did not do any extra post-lesson surfing for the rest of the week because of it. Sunset walk in the ocean. Then it got very dark, I got nervous being alone on a dark deserted beach so I switched to taking the road home (barefoot). We were without power for most of the morning and early afternoon throughout the entire town. They said it was a planned outage.
Randy was supposed to surf at Nosara but did not due to the 3-hour (one way) travel. Surfed at Playa Grande instead with the Three Amigos (Randy, Rob, and Bert). Best surf of the trip at Playa Grande. Chest high waves with lefts and rights.
5-7pm WRSC had a party to celebrate our club’s competitors who just competed and did very well in a surf competition. 9-11pm dinner at Etceteras. Rob, Randy, Arlene and I. Tuna and grouper specials/wine bottle. $20/ person. Excellent food and company. Her last night. Arlene’s sister couldn’t make it because she had a date with a surf instructor.
Day 5 (tues): 7am lesson with Johan. Worked on the timing of waves and body position. Limited breakfast choices at our club because the power is out again. They say 8am -2pm. Went next door to the Paris Bakery for a croissant. No pm surf because of a sore back. Dinner at Stella’s. Randy and I split an order of Thai curry coconut chicken and a vegetarian pizza. Awesome Thai, but blah pizza. Most of the pizza went uneaten. Need to order less food. Ordered a bottle of water. It was presented and poured like it was a fine bottle of wine. The waiter presented it, poured both glasses, and stored it in an iced bucket. $20 a head. 9pm read and bedtime.
Day 6 (wed): Awake at 6am. Back really stiff and sore. 8am breakfast of “The Betty” and read until lesson time. 9am lesson with Erika and Eduardo (instructor who is dating Erika). Noon happy hour of imperials followed by 2 hours of reading and napping. Another imperial and walked to the beach and town. No strenuous walking or running in the surf. 5pm more happy hour. Rob’s last day. He also had several noise vouchers to use up so the 3 of us (Rob, Randy, and I) split 3 pitchers. 7pm dinner at Stella’s again. This time Rob joined us. More of the curry Thai chicken. Also the same presentation of the water bottle. So funny. 9pm read. 10pm sleep.
Randy traded the 9’6” for the 9’. Bad move.
Day 7 (thur): Rob left for the airport at 5:15am. Goodbye to one of the three amigos. I got to sleep in. High tide was getting later each day. My lesson was at 8am. Bigger waves. Caught a couple of killer rides, practiced some turns in the white water, couldn’t get the turn in the green waves. Ricardo was my instructor. No Autumn today due to late-night – party girl. Johan kept calling me “Papa”, so I called him “Hijo (pronounced E Ho)” for the son. Then it evolved into “Hijo Tarzan” for Johan and “Hijo Muglee” (name of Tarzan’s chimp) for Ricardo. I also found out I had a previous nickname of “hat boy”. Randy got moved from room #13 to #12. Much nicer room with 2 double beds, a wall-mounted surfboard holder, safe, balcony and an ocean view. Definitely the room to request in future years
Randy did not like the RA WIR 9’ board. Traded back to the 9’6”. Good move.
Day 8 (fri): Bill’s group trip to Avellanes. Took the club’s school bus. What a ride experience. The roads are full of potholes, washed out in many places, very narrow 1-lane bridges. Barely wide enough for our bus to drive over it. He had to cross them at a snail’s pace all the while using his mirrors to keep his tires on the road. Bigger waves. Only caught a couple of them. My back was hurting so I quit early. Lunch and imperials at this middle of nowhere bar. $10. Ricardo was standing on the front bumper while the bus was in motion. Once he had to run ahead to shoo the cattle out of the road. Dinner at Portofino on the Beach. Red snapper with the head and tail still attached. Blah. $15.
Randy took an hour van ride to Playa De Coco. Fellow travelers were Keith (WRSC Photographer) and Sterling Morris (from Corpus Christi). Grabbed a pastry at the bakery there, talked with other surfers going to the same destination, and then boarded a shuttle boat 50 yards away at the beach. An hour boat ride thru islands. Could see the 4 seasons hotel w/ golf course on the cliff bluffs. Has to be very pricey. Went to Ollie’s Point and never got out of the boat. OP has a right-only, with a launch point about 10 yards wide next to rocks. 9 people in the water. Decided to travel 20 minutes to Witch’s Rock. Wow. A half mile of beach breaks (head high) with rights and lefts. Some closeouts, but managed to find a few good runs. Again, 9 people in the water. Stunning view of the rock. Had some great rides. Keith got some photos. I bought all photos for $65.
Graduation party at WRSC. 9pm reading and bed.
Day 9 (sat): Up at usual 6am. No lessons today. Our van leaves at 11am to get us to the airport for our 2:30pm departure. Waves too small to surf, so we walked the beach and town to say our goodbyes. Next time book the earlier flight because if the waves aren’t good, we just waste the day until it is time to go. No beer sold on this election day. I also heard that is the rule applies for an additional 2-4 more days. Van left punctually at 11am. One hour drive to the airport. Short airport lines. It took 45 minutes to clear all exit procedures. $26 exit fee. 1 last imperial at the airport (after passing thru immigration). There is some food after immigrations. The plane left on time. After takeoff, Bill asked if I could see Witch’s Rock (aisle seat). I looked out the window, and dooh!, there was Playa De Coco, the islands, Ollie’s point, and Witch’s Rock. What a view.
All of my pics are here -->>> Costa Rica 2006 Pics
Misc thoughts:
· Bring $100 in $1’s and another $100 in $5’s. Nothing larger is needed or wanted. $1 for daily tips and the $5 to cash at the bank and to leave as tips at the end of the week. Consider $1 coins and $2 bills for novelty items. Spent about $200 in cash.
· Colonies smaller than 100 ($0.20) are huge, heavy and worthless to carry
· WRSC has wireless internet. Bring a laptop next time.
· Large .6L water was 1300 colones. Went through 5 of those and several small bottles.
· Exchange rate at their bank was 515 colones to the dollar. Very fair. Same as ATM.
· Randy’s board rental from Court at Robert August Surf Shop was $100/week (cash). Can exchange boards as often as desired.
· Bring thinner paperback. Easier to fit into a fanny pack with sunglasses, etc.
· WRSC: imperial beer is $2.20, but only $1.25 for happy hour, which goes from noon to 9pm. That covers all our drinking hours.
· Wore quick-dry shirts and sunscreen (>SPF 50) during the daytime, white cotton T-shirts and bug spray at night. Needed more than 5 cotton shirts. Needed lighter-colored quick-dry shirts. Brought a long sleeve quick-dry shirt, which I never wore.
· Bring zinc oxide, hydrocortisone, NuSkin, base wax, tunnel tube fin, and Leatherman on next trip.
· Neither Bill nor Randy took any photos.
· Randy considered the surf tour to Marbella (3 hours 1 way) too far.
· Playa Grande was his favorite. Witch’s Rock was great; Ollie’s point was a waste of time.
Fellow surfers:
· Bert and Carla from Oregon. He is used to surfing in cold Oregon waters. One of Randy’s 3 Amigos. She does not surf.
· Bert’s brother- another non-surfer. What do you do in Tamarindo if not a surfer?
· Rob: from Montreal, another of the 3 Amigos
· Henri and Diana: had the penthouse suite
· Milko Todorov: from Bulgaria, now living in NYC
· David: Miami, the whiner, was in San Jose for work and flew Sansa here for the weekend
· Autumn: lifeguard, afraid of the waves and the board hurting her, party girl
· Andrea: a friend of Autumn, another party girl
· Bridget and Chris: from Switzerland, flew into San Jose, going to travel throughout CR seeing the national forests, volcanoes, rainforests for 2 week
· Erika: perfectly formed boobs. Are they real? Ask Eduardo. On the third trip to Tamarindo from Miami. Moving there.
· Arlene: pediatrician, her sister was hitting on a surf instructor.
· Edward. Florida. His son, Bryan, and Bryan’s wife Jill joined later. Edward referred to non-surfing Jill as an accessory”.
· Bill & Emily. Houston. Third trip to Tamarindo. Randy had lessons with Emily last year.
Staff:
· Joe, Holly, and Otis. Owners.
· Suzanne. Holly’s mom, just moved to Costa Rica.
· Carlos: been there 5 years, nicknamed me Papa, I called him”Hijo Tarzan (my son Tarzan)
· Ricardo: also called me papa so I called him Hijo muglee (my son the chimp) (see Tarzan)
· Andre: young kid, wears his ball cap backward, been there 2 months
· Edgar: surf tour person. Dating Marcela.
· Eduardo: dating Erika
· Marcela: front desk
· Erick: food server
· Freedom: Asian food server
· Collin: computer Webmaster with big ideas.
· Keith: WRSC Photographer.
· Leo: driver for most surf trips and to/from the airport. Excellent driver.
Quote of the trip
Ricardo, while walking back to the shuttle after surfing Playa Grande takes a cell phone call. He answers, “Hola, I’m working.”
$$
Flight- delta $25 used frequent flier miles, saved ??
Room $722 each after 10% discount
ROC airport parking $55
Canceled ATL hotel $25 penalty
Misc cash in CR $200 rough guess
Surf photographs $
Friday, May 26, 2006
Visit to Leah’s Memorial Day 2006
Friday, 5/26/06. Parked at the Sheraton San Diego. They asked if I had a reservation (I did) and that I am to go to the Sheraton West entrance for parking. In the ‘A’ group for Southwest. Arrived ½ hour late. Leah picked me up and we had dinner at Bo’s (BBQ). A blues band was playing there. Stopped at Trader Joe’s for a bottle of port. We had the port/chocolate at Leah’s home. Greg and Winston joined us.
5/27. Breakfast at a diner (Name?). Good coffee. Off for a winery tour! Pulled in Healdsburg and walked around, waiting on wineries to open up. Trendy town. Cooler than expected. Several wineries:
Ridge. Beautiful place. Bought a 2003 Zinfandel Buchignani Randy ($24).
Coppola. Another beautiful place. Outstanding balcony. Terrible wine.
Unti. Bare working area. Folding table. Lush wines. Craftsmen. Bought a 2004 Sangiovese ($30?).
Armida. Drank the Posin wine. Great wine by itself. I choked on it. Embarrassing. Good spot for a picnic with a view over the vineyards. The counter guy said it was a light crowd – usually 2-3 deep at the bar. Bought a bottle of Posin ($25).
Roshambo winery. Leah told me they are ‘hip’ and ‘like NY’. She was right. The artwork on the walls, and model wanna-be’s serving wine. The zinfandel is good as a stand-alone. Got a bottle. They also sponsor the Rock/Paper/Scissors championships.
Rocholi. I got someone to take a pic of Leah and me. Leah finally got me to pronounce the name correctly.
Final bottle count. Randy – 4, Leah – 9. Leah enlightened me to buy 3 bottles if I like it instead of the usual 1.
5/28. Toured the Scharffen Berber chocolate factory in Oakland. Good samples. Off to San Francisco. Visited a museum that had 1906 earthquake pics then and now. Awesome view of San Francisco from the parking lot. The most impressive pic was the raging fires at night from above San Francisco.
Drove down to the pacific to a park. It was very windy and cold.
Long ride back to Oakland. Arrived a little late for Leah to usher at church. I wandered around on Telegraph road. Had a cappuccino and croissant and bought an Over The Rhine CD. We thought Thai, then Chinese then settled on Whole Food Market for Take Out back at Leah’s place.
Stopped at Ikea for wine racks. Needed if you buy a lot of wine.
Good dinner conversation, good wine (Rocholi). Talked about relationships. Greg and Winston joined us, and we listened to the Over The Rhine CD. Built the wine racks.
5/29. Hiked a cemetery. Leah put flowers on her grandmother’s condo. Listened to the start of the Memorial Day ceremony. Off to Home Depot to investigate building a Lattice, and a bridge. Leah also picked out a wall color for my place.
5/27. Breakfast at a diner (Name?). Good coffee. Off for a winery tour! Pulled in Healdsburg and walked around, waiting on wineries to open up. Trendy town. Cooler than expected. Several wineries:
Ridge. Beautiful place. Bought a 2003 Zinfandel Buchignani Randy ($24).
Coppola. Another beautiful place. Outstanding balcony. Terrible wine.
Unti. Bare working area. Folding table. Lush wines. Craftsmen. Bought a 2004 Sangiovese ($30?).
Armida. Drank the Posin wine. Great wine by itself. I choked on it. Embarrassing. Good spot for a picnic with a view over the vineyards. The counter guy said it was a light crowd – usually 2-3 deep at the bar. Bought a bottle of Posin ($25).
Roshambo winery. Leah told me they are ‘hip’ and ‘like NY’. She was right. The artwork on the walls, and model wanna-be’s serving wine. The zinfandel is good as a stand-alone. Got a bottle. They also sponsor the Rock/Paper/Scissors championships.
Rocholi. I got someone to take a pic of Leah and me. Leah finally got me to pronounce the name correctly.
Final bottle count. Randy – 4, Leah – 9. Leah enlightened me to buy 3 bottles if I like it instead of the usual 1.
5/28. Toured the Scharffen Berber chocolate factory in Oakland. Good samples. Off to San Francisco. Visited a museum that had 1906 earthquake pics then and now. Awesome view of San Francisco from the parking lot. The most impressive pic was the raging fires at night from above San Francisco.
Leah @ San Francisco Museum
Drove down to the pacific to a park. It was very windy and cold.
Long ride back to Oakland. Arrived a little late for Leah to usher at church. I wandered around on Telegraph road. Had a cappuccino and croissant and bought an Over The Rhine CD. We thought Thai, then Chinese then settled on Whole Food Market for Take Out back at Leah’s place.
Stopped at Ikea for wine racks. Needed if you buy a lot of wine.
Good dinner conversation, good wine (Rocholi). Talked about relationships. Greg and Winston joined us, and we listened to the Over The Rhine CD. Built the wine racks.
5/29. Hiked a cemetery. Leah put flowers on her grandmother’s condo. Listened to the start of the Memorial Day ceremony. Off to Home Depot to investigate building a Lattice, and a bridge. Leah also picked out a wall color for my place.
Leah (my best west coast friend) and me
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Rosarito To Ensenada Bike Race
Lili had booked two side-by-side condos. Most everyone met at my place since I was the most southern participant. Kelly, her brother Mark, Caroline, and I rode in my car. We didn’t want to be dependent on Lili and her driving.
A number of the same people on this trip were on last year’s trip, as well as new faces. Most of us called it an early night on Friday, with an early rise for the Saturday bike race. But some people were skipping the bike race and stayed out most of the evening.
I did my usual breakfast frenzy – no one walks away hungry. At the race start, Caroline and I got separated from the rest of the pack. We also managed to get separated during the race, but managed to meet up at the next pit stop.
The hill, AKA El Tigre, was a brute. But every upside has a downside. Caroline and I peaked at 45 MPH. Crazy.
We hooked up with most of our crew at the finish. Lili did her usual dancing on the stage with the band.
Rosarito To Ensenada Bike Race Pics
A number of the same people on this trip were on last year’s trip, as well as new faces. Most of us called it an early night on Friday, with an early rise for the Saturday bike race. But some people were skipping the bike race and stayed out most of the evening.
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| Whatever you do, you MUST beat the clown. |
Rosarito To Ensenada Bike Race Pics
Monday, March 6, 2006
Lake Tahoe Ski & Surf
Write-up by Bill Whalen
Thursday, March 9th: went to the Great Big Sea concert at Rochester’s Water Street Music Hall with Tracy Dufresne, Mark and Toni Amico. Awesome time. Best concert. Home at 12:30 am and asleep at 1:30am with 4am wake up time. Great way to start a vacation.
Friday: up at 4 am. Yuk. Lordie gave me a lift to the airport. Seat changed to 1C. First-class?? Not. Oh well. Got delayed in Philly and missed my connection in Las Vegas. No more flights to Reno that day. There were no rooms available in Las Vegas, so the airline booked me a flight to and a room in Phoenix. There were 2 flights to Phoenix that night. I opted for the later one so I could hop a taxi into Las Vegas and see the strip. Taxied to MGM ($12), walked over to Excalibur, took the tram to Mandalay Bay, walked to “The Hotel”, Luxor (pyramids), and then over to Paris. Watched SU play Georgetown in the Big East tournament and win. Mailed a postcard to my parents to see if this Paris would confuse them. (They never got it). Walked back to the MGM and grabbed a cheaper shuttle ($5) to the airport. Vegas was cold and windy. Had a short sleeve and a long sleeve shirt on and still needed the ski coat when I was outdoors. Weird for being in a desert. Drank dinner at the airport. Can’t use airline food vouchers at the bar. Good buzz on only 1 beer. First time traveling with my cell phone. Wasn’t sure if it would roam or not. Worked well. Left Randy a detailed message on his cell phone that I wouldn’t be in Reno that night; not to wait for me but to hop the shuttle and I’ll see him the following day. Little did I know that Randy was having cell phone problems and never got my message. Plus, when he tried to call my cell phone he had my old phones number. Comedy of errors. Technology doesn’t always work. Stayed at the AmeriSuites in Phoenix. Awesome room. Left a wake-up call for 6am and reserved a shuttle van ride at 6:20am. Showered and crashed. Exhausted.
Saturday: While Randy was skiing at Heavenly, I didn’t get my 6am wake up call and my alarm watch didn’t ring (watch battery die??). Did get a 6:20am hotel call saying, “Do you still want the 6:20 shuttle van to the airport. YES. Up, dressed and out in 60 seconds. Easy. Just put on last night’s clothes and go. Hate rushing. Turned out Phoenix is in Mountain Time. The airline flew me back one-time zone, so my watch was off by an hour. At least the watch worked properly. Therefore, my flight to Reno wasn’t just 50 minutes, but an hour 50 minutes. Darn. Big plus – got bumped up to first class. No mimosas. They offered a screwdriver instead. Finished my 3rd screwdriver by 9am. Landed on time in Reno. My luggage made it there ahead of me and was waiting for me in the lock-up room. Yah. Went to the counter to get someone to open up the luggage room. She commented that some guy was looking for me yesterday. A tall blond geeky loser with a bad cell phone. The lady at the South Tahoe shuttle desk switched my yesterday’s pass for today’s 10 am shuttle. She had a slight difficulty at first because she pulled up our 2005 schedule that was almost the exact same day. Spent my remaining $15 of the $20 food vouchers at the Reno snack bar. Made it to the hotel for a little downtime until Randy returned from skiing Heavenly. He was pumped up. Great tree skiing. We walked the town. Walked 1 mile to the liquor store “Dart” on the Nevada side. Cheaper. Dinner at Baha Fresh. A roasted veggie taco. Awesome. Crashed at 9:30 pm.
Sunday: Awake before the 6:30 alarm. Up, showered, dressed, and at breakfast before they opened at 7am. Hiked up to Harvey’s Casino for the Kirkwood bus. ($5). Talked to two brit couples – they were hoping to get on the bus also. Cute Asian with a snake hat on our bus. Chains were required to get to Kirkwood. Made us glad we opted not to rent a car. Skiing was powder and awesome (except for the very top of the ridge which was a white-out). We met at the main lodge lunch counter, a lady would call out your order number with her sexiest voice. Wow. Way too crowded so Bill suggested the next lodge (walking distance). Plenty of room, and (bonus) an empty table in the bar. Had a couple of Baileys and a beer at a happy hour prior to the bus ride home. Again glad we had no car. Dinner was ½ a pizza and garlic mash potatoes at Wolfgang Puck. Tired. Home and asleep at 8pm. Pitiful party animals.
Monday: Since we went to sleep so early, of course, we were up long before breakfast again. Maybe we should take a post-ski nap so we can stay up later. Off to Heavenly on the 9:12 bus. ½ hour wait in gondola line. Will be there earlier tomorrow. Fantastic tree skiing. Never skied one groomed run. Every run was in the trees. Last year we only skied groomed runs. Late lunch at 1pm hoping to miss the crowd. No such luck. Still had to wait 30 minutes in the food line and the only available seating was outdoors. Beer and burger $20. Ouch. Saw the two brit couples at lunch. Skied until the legs died and then made 2 more really last runs. Hot tub. Dinner at Fire and Ice. Bed at 9pm. Slightly better hour. Need to get on the earlier shuttle bus to avoid the long line at the gondola. Randy needs to see someone about his offensive in-room farts. Worse than Wendy last year.
Tuesday: Up before breakfast again. Bonnie was dressed in a pumpkin theme. Scary and why? Today is a powder day. Made the 8:12 bus and in line waiting for the gondola to open. Knee deep plus it would pile up to mid-thigh as you skied. It was so deep that too much forward lean and all forward motion would stop. Really tough on everyone and especially on snowboarders if they fell near the bottom of the hill before the long run-out. Randy was having so much fun that he wanted to ski straight thru and skip breaks and lunch. However, legs were good for about 4 runs and then needed a break. Love those walkie talkies. Randy and I would take slightly different runs of different degrees of steepness thru the trees and I could still feel safe skiing “alone”. Exhausted and quit at 2pm. Gondola down, bus home, change, taxied to Harvey’s, and boarded the bus back to the airport. Thought it was our 3:45 bus early, but it was the 2:45 bus that was 40 minutes late. The first bus is always the best bus. Again needed chains to return to the airport. Arrive at Randy’s house about midnight.
Wednesday: up too early at 6am. Breakfast at Pipes Café. Usual meal of splitting a #1. Checked the surf. Walkabout. Went thru Swamis. Went surfing. 57-degree water. Empty ocean. Waves died fast. Fun and exhausting. Worked too hard to be cold. Fish taco at Rosario’s, across from the LaPalma movie house. Home to rinse off body and wet suit.
Thursday: up late at 7:30am. Randy’s funky breakfast of baked Asian pears and soft cheese. Stopped by the library. Hiked up Elfin Mountain. 3-hour hike, no elves. Walked thru Balboa Park. Great coffee house – Clare de Lune. We discussed what life would be like if we both settled in Massena. Called Tracy to share our ideas. Pizza Port for pizza, beer, and SU basketball game. (Lost badly) Mega cute girls next to us drinking Pepsi- too young.
Friday: Too much of ‘the clear’ last night. Strawberry smoothie for breakfast. Drove downtown and parked near the airport. 3-hour parking limit. Biked along the Embarcadero. Took a ferry over to Coronado Island and biked around. On the return trip, the ferry stopped at the naval base to pick up passengers. There was an aircraft carrier docked nearby. High security. They had huge floating barriers around the carrier and the docks. They had to open the barrier up to let us in. All the time we were there, there was an armed patrol boat between the carrier and us. Very cold by the time we returned back to the car. Then it started raining as soon as we got back to the car and rained all night. (In San Diego??) John joined us at Randy’s for a foul weather cookout. Randy moved the grill to the slider door. Grilled Ahi Tuna, tomato salad, and grilled Asian pears with fresh nutmeg for dessert. 10pm bedtime.
Saturday: up at 7am. Great breakfast of bread, cheese, Asian pear, and another strawberry smoothie. Water was no good for surfing because of all the bacteria from the run-off. Forced us to walk the beach and town. More fish tacos for lunch. Home to read and rest (concert tonight). 3pm - hiked Torrey Pines. 6pm – wanted a bar w/ view, but realized that North County has few bars w/ ocean view. Watched sunset at Pipes Break. Clouds – bummer. Waffled on buying beers for the sunset. Home to nap. 9pm - more pizza and beer at Pizza Port. Young Dubliners concert. Met several people there who were also on the Ireland tour. Home at 1 am. Tired.
Sunday: last day. Up at usual 7am. Ahead of Randy. Not enough sleep. Maybe grab more sleep on the flight home. Surf poor plus rain again last night. (What is it with this place? Too much like Syracuse). Walked the beach. Lunch at Pipes Café (third time). Yum. Hiked Elfin Mountain again but cut short the hike so that we could enjoy the local talent in Pacific Beach. Home, showered, packed. Dinner at Crab Place in Pacific Beach. 33 shrimp – too much grease. Watched the sunset. Again no spectacular view due to clouds. Walked the beach until airport time. Lots of bars and tattoo parlors.
Monday: arrived home at 11am and Tina picked me up. My boot bag was destroyed on the return trip. Must have been stuck on a conveyor belt. It ground thru my bag, thru my ski bibs, thru some of the hard plastic of my ski boot, thru one of the metal buckles and ground off a small piece of my helmet.
Thursday, March 9th: went to the Great Big Sea concert at Rochester’s Water Street Music Hall with Tracy Dufresne, Mark and Toni Amico. Awesome time. Best concert. Home at 12:30 am and asleep at 1:30am with 4am wake up time. Great way to start a vacation.
Friday: up at 4 am. Yuk. Lordie gave me a lift to the airport. Seat changed to 1C. First-class?? Not. Oh well. Got delayed in Philly and missed my connection in Las Vegas. No more flights to Reno that day. There were no rooms available in Las Vegas, so the airline booked me a flight to and a room in Phoenix. There were 2 flights to Phoenix that night. I opted for the later one so I could hop a taxi into Las Vegas and see the strip. Taxied to MGM ($12), walked over to Excalibur, took the tram to Mandalay Bay, walked to “The Hotel”, Luxor (pyramids), and then over to Paris. Watched SU play Georgetown in the Big East tournament and win. Mailed a postcard to my parents to see if this Paris would confuse them. (They never got it). Walked back to the MGM and grabbed a cheaper shuttle ($5) to the airport. Vegas was cold and windy. Had a short sleeve and a long sleeve shirt on and still needed the ski coat when I was outdoors. Weird for being in a desert. Drank dinner at the airport. Can’t use airline food vouchers at the bar. Good buzz on only 1 beer. First time traveling with my cell phone. Wasn’t sure if it would roam or not. Worked well. Left Randy a detailed message on his cell phone that I wouldn’t be in Reno that night; not to wait for me but to hop the shuttle and I’ll see him the following day. Little did I know that Randy was having cell phone problems and never got my message. Plus, when he tried to call my cell phone he had my old phones number. Comedy of errors. Technology doesn’t always work. Stayed at the AmeriSuites in Phoenix. Awesome room. Left a wake-up call for 6am and reserved a shuttle van ride at 6:20am. Showered and crashed. Exhausted.
Saturday: While Randy was skiing at Heavenly, I didn’t get my 6am wake up call and my alarm watch didn’t ring (watch battery die??). Did get a 6:20am hotel call saying, “Do you still want the 6:20 shuttle van to the airport. YES. Up, dressed and out in 60 seconds. Easy. Just put on last night’s clothes and go. Hate rushing. Turned out Phoenix is in Mountain Time. The airline flew me back one-time zone, so my watch was off by an hour. At least the watch worked properly. Therefore, my flight to Reno wasn’t just 50 minutes, but an hour 50 minutes. Darn. Big plus – got bumped up to first class. No mimosas. They offered a screwdriver instead. Finished my 3rd screwdriver by 9am. Landed on time in Reno. My luggage made it there ahead of me and was waiting for me in the lock-up room. Yah. Went to the counter to get someone to open up the luggage room. She commented that some guy was looking for me yesterday. A tall blond geeky loser with a bad cell phone. The lady at the South Tahoe shuttle desk switched my yesterday’s pass for today’s 10 am shuttle. She had a slight difficulty at first because she pulled up our 2005 schedule that was almost the exact same day. Spent my remaining $15 of the $20 food vouchers at the Reno snack bar. Made it to the hotel for a little downtime until Randy returned from skiing Heavenly. He was pumped up. Great tree skiing. We walked the town. Walked 1 mile to the liquor store “Dart” on the Nevada side. Cheaper. Dinner at Baha Fresh. A roasted veggie taco. Awesome. Crashed at 9:30 pm.
Sunday: Awake before the 6:30 alarm. Up, showered, dressed, and at breakfast before they opened at 7am. Hiked up to Harvey’s Casino for the Kirkwood bus. ($5). Talked to two brit couples – they were hoping to get on the bus also. Cute Asian with a snake hat on our bus. Chains were required to get to Kirkwood. Made us glad we opted not to rent a car. Skiing was powder and awesome (except for the very top of the ridge which was a white-out). We met at the main lodge lunch counter, a lady would call out your order number with her sexiest voice. Wow. Way too crowded so Bill suggested the next lodge (walking distance). Plenty of room, and (bonus) an empty table in the bar. Had a couple of Baileys and a beer at a happy hour prior to the bus ride home. Again glad we had no car. Dinner was ½ a pizza and garlic mash potatoes at Wolfgang Puck. Tired. Home and asleep at 8pm. Pitiful party animals.
Monday: Since we went to sleep so early, of course, we were up long before breakfast again. Maybe we should take a post-ski nap so we can stay up later. Off to Heavenly on the 9:12 bus. ½ hour wait in gondola line. Will be there earlier tomorrow. Fantastic tree skiing. Never skied one groomed run. Every run was in the trees. Last year we only skied groomed runs. Late lunch at 1pm hoping to miss the crowd. No such luck. Still had to wait 30 minutes in the food line and the only available seating was outdoors. Beer and burger $20. Ouch. Saw the two brit couples at lunch. Skied until the legs died and then made 2 more really last runs. Hot tub. Dinner at Fire and Ice. Bed at 9pm. Slightly better hour. Need to get on the earlier shuttle bus to avoid the long line at the gondola. Randy needs to see someone about his offensive in-room farts. Worse than Wendy last year.
Tuesday: Up before breakfast again. Bonnie was dressed in a pumpkin theme. Scary and why? Today is a powder day. Made the 8:12 bus and in line waiting for the gondola to open. Knee deep plus it would pile up to mid-thigh as you skied. It was so deep that too much forward lean and all forward motion would stop. Really tough on everyone and especially on snowboarders if they fell near the bottom of the hill before the long run-out. Randy was having so much fun that he wanted to ski straight thru and skip breaks and lunch. However, legs were good for about 4 runs and then needed a break. Love those walkie talkies. Randy and I would take slightly different runs of different degrees of steepness thru the trees and I could still feel safe skiing “alone”. Exhausted and quit at 2pm. Gondola down, bus home, change, taxied to Harvey’s, and boarded the bus back to the airport. Thought it was our 3:45 bus early, but it was the 2:45 bus that was 40 minutes late. The first bus is always the best bus. Again needed chains to return to the airport. Arrive at Randy’s house about midnight.
Wednesday: up too early at 6am. Breakfast at Pipes Café. Usual meal of splitting a #1. Checked the surf. Walkabout. Went thru Swamis. Went surfing. 57-degree water. Empty ocean. Waves died fast. Fun and exhausting. Worked too hard to be cold. Fish taco at Rosario’s, across from the LaPalma movie house. Home to rinse off body and wet suit.
Thursday: up late at 7:30am. Randy’s funky breakfast of baked Asian pears and soft cheese. Stopped by the library. Hiked up Elfin Mountain. 3-hour hike, no elves. Walked thru Balboa Park. Great coffee house – Clare de Lune. We discussed what life would be like if we both settled in Massena. Called Tracy to share our ideas. Pizza Port for pizza, beer, and SU basketball game. (Lost badly) Mega cute girls next to us drinking Pepsi- too young.
Friday: Too much of ‘the clear’ last night. Strawberry smoothie for breakfast. Drove downtown and parked near the airport. 3-hour parking limit. Biked along the Embarcadero. Took a ferry over to Coronado Island and biked around. On the return trip, the ferry stopped at the naval base to pick up passengers. There was an aircraft carrier docked nearby. High security. They had huge floating barriers around the carrier and the docks. They had to open the barrier up to let us in. All the time we were there, there was an armed patrol boat between the carrier and us. Very cold by the time we returned back to the car. Then it started raining as soon as we got back to the car and rained all night. (In San Diego??) John joined us at Randy’s for a foul weather cookout. Randy moved the grill to the slider door. Grilled Ahi Tuna, tomato salad, and grilled Asian pears with fresh nutmeg for dessert. 10pm bedtime.
Saturday: up at 7am. Great breakfast of bread, cheese, Asian pear, and another strawberry smoothie. Water was no good for surfing because of all the bacteria from the run-off. Forced us to walk the beach and town. More fish tacos for lunch. Home to read and rest (concert tonight). 3pm - hiked Torrey Pines. 6pm – wanted a bar w/ view, but realized that North County has few bars w/ ocean view. Watched sunset at Pipes Break. Clouds – bummer. Waffled on buying beers for the sunset. Home to nap. 9pm - more pizza and beer at Pizza Port. Young Dubliners concert. Met several people there who were also on the Ireland tour. Home at 1 am. Tired.
Sunday: last day. Up at usual 7am. Ahead of Randy. Not enough sleep. Maybe grab more sleep on the flight home. Surf poor plus rain again last night. (What is it with this place? Too much like Syracuse). Walked the beach. Lunch at Pipes Café (third time). Yum. Hiked Elfin Mountain again but cut short the hike so that we could enjoy the local talent in Pacific Beach. Home, showered, packed. Dinner at Crab Place in Pacific Beach. 33 shrimp – too much grease. Watched the sunset. Again no spectacular view due to clouds. Walked the beach until airport time. Lots of bars and tattoo parlors.
Monday: arrived home at 11am and Tina picked me up. My boot bag was destroyed on the return trip. Must have been stuck on a conveyor belt. It ground thru my bag, thru my ski bibs, thru some of the hard plastic of my ski boot, thru one of the metal buckles and ground off a small piece of my helmet.
Sunday, November 6, 2005
Ireland 2005 Young Dubliners tour Oct 29-Nov 6th
Writeup by Bill Whalen.
This trip was put together by:
Hammond Tours
1190 Western Ave, Albany, NY 121203
866.486.8772
mhammond@hammondtours.com
Sun: arrived at Shannon at 6am. The other LA group to arrive at noon. Still dark. Coach driver Joe said since it is soooo early and a Sunday and a holiday weekend, nothing in town is opened yet, so best if we stay at the airport for coffee and breakfast. I, however, went to the bus for a 2-hour downtime/nap. Then while waiting for the LA group to arrive, we went on a bus tour of Limerick. Saw the alley where Frank McCourt grew up (from Angela’s Ashes). Could easily see some of the old stone walls from when Limerick was a walled city. Totally deserted at that hour. Which was good since the roads are narrow and cornering the bus was always a challenge. There was a bridge from 1850 similar to the Pont Neuf of Paris. Water was tidal and moving fast. Went to Bunratty Castle (again later with the 2nd group) and Folk Park. Folk Park was displays of actual and re-created homes and businesses of sailors, poor farmers, rich farmers, and even one house had a section for cows inside. Castle had narrow spiral stairs leading up to various rooms and finally the top. Rooms were cold damp and smaller than expected. Awesome view from the top. Castle protected the Shannon River traffic and surrounding land. Had my first Ireland pint at the Creamery. Seemed weird how kids walk into the bar and feel at home. One hopped onto the barstool next to me. A couple more were at the bar only 2 seats down having their ginger ale and were all dressed up in their Halloween costumes. Waited for the LA half to arrive and then Randy and I had a pint in the Durty Nellies Pub (possibly the oldest pub in Ireland). Slept at the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis (1/2 hour from Limerick. 1st concert that 1St night in Limerick. All venues were small and hot. The cute blond had “just 3 Jamesons” and was funny on the bus ride home. Talkative, giggly. Explained to all how her friends, when they were on a camping trip, climbed into their mummy bags and played “worms”.
Mon: “wormgirl” had a cute “curse of the were-rabbit” shirt on.
Breakfasts were always a full Irish breakfast – egg, bacon, sausage, toast, coffee, tea, juice, yogurt, cereal. Hearty. Luggage out at 9:30. Had a walkabout while waiting for the bus.11am bus. As we drove towards Galway in County Clare, we passed the Whelan’s stone quarry. I didn’t realize until afterward that my father’s ancestors are from County Clare. Weird. We must have a stone quarry in our jeans. Viewed the majestic Cliffs of Moher. 700-foot vertical cliffs stretching for 5 miles along the rugged Atlantic Coastline. Crashing waves, a lot of wind, showers on and off, rainbows, and watchtower at the top.
The cute blond who was late for the morning bus and then reset her watch to 10 minutes fast, was late again. Less cute. The bus was pulling out when they came rushing out of the snack bar. Cruised around Galway Bay. Checked into the Imperial Hotel on Eyre Square in Galway. 2nd band concert that night at Quay (pronounced keys). At happy hour we met the Amsterdam girls - Stephanie, Donna, Tonya (my love), and bar drunk – Pierce. (the Amsterdam girls’ male friends took a side trip to Amsterdam). When we returned to the Quay 6 hours later, after an 8-9:30 nap, Pierce was still there standing/leaning a bit. Dinner at a recommended fish and chips restaurant. Worse meal of the trip. The band started at 12:30am and we danced till 3am. Went home to sleep, but you could have stayed and got locked in the bar until ??.
Tues: up early for an 8:30 am breakfast and a 9:30am bus. No need to pack since we are returning to the same hotel. Small boats called “hookers”. Quiet bus. Everyone needed more sleep. Toured north of Galway towards Connemara. Desolate land. Cold windy, more rain, and rainbows. A piercing cold and damp just as Frank McCourt stated in his book – Angela’s Ashes. Glad my ancestors left that area. Uneven land and full of rocks. Randy commented on how it looked like they were growing rocks. Loads of sheep. Free-range sheep. Colored patches on sheep for ownership. Typical stone fences. Ireland was once 90% covered in trees, then lumbered down to 1% and now they are reforesting. Now up to 10%. Peat dug 2 feet deep. Stockpiled and rotated every couple of days until dry. ½ the energy of coal so you need a lot of it to stay warm. Stopped to shop. Stopped at Kylemore Abbey for lunch. Wish we had time to tour the abbey. Stopped at village Cong where they filmed “A Quiet Man”. John Wayne and ?. Returned to Galway. Wondered thru town looking for a power converter for Randy’s camera. More rain. Dinner at The Quays in Galway. In honor of seeing so many sheep on the bus tour, we had the Traditional Irish lamb stew. Which had potatoes in it plus sides of sliced potatoes, 2 scoops of mashed potatoes, and an egg roll-shaped fried mashed potato. That’s hearty. Both bought a Quay t-shirt. All rivers in Ireland flow fast. Nightcap of Jameson at a cool pub. Returned to our Imperial Hotel to a hotel lobby party with the band members. Another last nightcap. Randy talked to Dave the drummer. Dave said that touring cuts into his seeing other acts. Also said it’s good for fans to see how they live. He could not see himself working in a cubicle. Randy said us cube people are glad to pay to see him and the band while outside our cubicles. Bed at 11:30pm.
Wed: luggage out at 8:30am. Bus at 10am. off to Killarney. 8 hours of sleep, but still tired and moving slow. Off to visit a granite shop. Surprisingly, very impressive granite displays. The vein of local Irish green granite is running out, so it is only used in small jewelry now. Stopped at Bunratty Castle again. Instead of shopping or touring the castle, we went directly to the Durty Nellies Pub for a smoked salmon on brown bread and a ½ pint. Met 2 girls just off the plane from Texas. Silly. Asking what time it was and then was it day or night. In Killarney, at night time we went for a walk-about. ½ pint at Drink___________(not evaluators) next to the youth hostel. Went to The Grand Hotel (tonight’s venue) where there was a 3 piece traditional Irish band playing. Cool. YD started at midnight. The place was packed. Doesn’t anyone work in the morning? The large back room was filled with Irish square dancers. About 80+ of them and they all knew what they were doing. In sync. Again, it’s a work night! Walking home we were slightly unsure if we were on the right road to get us back to the Randles Hotel. Decided it was the wrong road, turned around until I heard the sound of a car hitting a pothole. That pothole and sound I remembered from our walk to town. We were on the right road after all. The hotel had one free available computer so Randy could get his fix. I emailed Dad a happy birthday and also called him. Bed at 12:30am
Thurs: our hotel’s cute red-headed breakfast waitress looked very tired this morning. There were a horse and wagon ride thru the National Forest. Randy and I declined due to cold, damp, and more rain. Bus ride past the Killarney golf and fishing club. Serious water holes. Met the wagon riders at another very tall abbey. Off to the Dingle Peninsula. Stopped at the expensive shop. (Joe said this is where you buy the stuff for yourself. Vs the trinkets for friends) Irish coffee breaks and it’s still morning. What about us tea sippers? Bought my Irish rugby shirt. Toured Dingle bay. Had surfers. Long Beach from the movie” Ryan’s daughter”. Stopped in Dingletown for lunch. Mega wind, rain, and cold. The seafood chowder had immensely large pieces of clams in it and more of the killer brown bread and Irish butter. Hot and Hearty. Colorful buildings. Devil’s elbow – tight turn on a steep cliff with a large stream flowing over the road. Joe’s story stopped for that corner. Stone beehive homes. Looked like stone igloos. Cool crashing surf in the bay and even better on outside Atlantic side. Napped my way home. Another 6pm – 9pm nap. Out to dinner and listened to another great traditional Irish trio performing. A cute freckled face red-head played the accordion. 12:30 am band start.
Fri: 7am wake up call. 8am breakfast. 9am bus. Off to Dublin via Blarney. Stone sculptures along the road. No graffiti. All homes are stone and have concrete berm around them. Limited/no grass. “L” on cars meant learner. Stopped at Blarney Castle to kiss the blarney stone.
Randy tried to buy ice cream at a grocery store, but the lady in front of him was buying a banana and had to go weigh it and then go again to get the code. He gave up waiting. Saw the Rock of Cashel and Cashel Castle. To be king one must rule this castle. Strong fortress atop a stone hill. The bus trip from hell. By 4pm, everyone wanted off the bus but we were still 3 hours away from Dublin. A problem with coach travel. Arrived at 7pm. Brought up our own luggage because we were in a rush. At this city hotel, they had one or 2 porters to bring up all 120 pieces of luggage. Slow. At the other town hotels, we had a swarm of porters running to finish the job quickly. Dinner in temple bar - Gallagher’s. Randy fell in love with our hostess. She had to move us to another table so that a round of drinks were free. 4th and last concert was at the Green Room at the Holiday Inn. Quiet hours for the hotel start at 11pm, so the band had to start early and finish early. Good. The bar turned on lights to get us to leave but never stopped serving drinks so no one left. Short round girl Rose (chef) gave Tonya’s friend a cigarette knowing it is illegal to smoke inside. The bartender ripped it out of his mouth fast and scolded them. A big fine of up to 3000 euros and loss of license. Wired on caffeine and knowing no early morning bus trip, I felt so good.
Sat: last full day. Woke up ahead of the 9am wake-up call. Bill’s dumb idea(?). Decided against the scheduled 2-hour bus ride thru Dublin, and decided against the hop-on/ hop-off bus ride. Needed to walk the town and get some exercise. Used Mapeasy and Bill’s printouts to get around Dublin. A sunny day with rain predicted. Big growth in Dublin. Counted 15 cranes from our hotel window. Randy felt sick and slow. There were 3 frigates tied up on our quay- Sir John Rogerson’s Quay. Lunch was a panini with exactly 3 Pringles chips on every plate. General Post Office’s façade was covered up for renovations, walked the Ha’Penny Bridge (the pedestrian-only bridge across the River Liffey), crossed a cool modern swing bridge, Irish tall ship anchored, Millennium Spike, Molly Malone Statue. Toured Trinity College. Sphere within a sphere. Soccer game going on in quad. Couldn’t get in to see the Books of Kells and the Long Room. Our tour was supposed to have a free visit, but the highly stressed nazi lady with gloves on said no. Bill pointed out that our tour people (Hammond)’s phone number was on a bulletin board note next to the desk. Still no. Very stressed/confused person. Saw various tour people throughout Dublin. Very walkable city. Grafton Street was a pedestrian mall. Packed, fur protestors. Walked thru St.Stevens Green. Started running out of time. Time for Saint Patrick’s Cathedral or Guinness Brewery. Obvious choice. 1 ½ mile walk. Was concerned about distance/safety but happily discovered they were non-concerns. Randy screwed up by not having preordered Guinness factory tour passes on-line so we waited in line for about 30 minutes. Got bored with the self-guided tour, so we bypassed the tour and went directly to the Gravity Bar on the top floor (7th) for a pint. We each had one token for one pint. A 360-degree circular glass-enclosed taproom with a killer view of the city at dusk time. Not a seat in the house but still a great view. Ran into Randy, Lisa, Mike, and Josh at the bar. Josh discovered that the fifth floor would sell more beer. Walked back to the Temple Bar area. Again ran into Randy/Lisa/Mike/Josh and they said they could not get into Randy’s recommendation of Gallagher’s Restaurant with the earliest seating being 10:30pm .too late. Randy said he would speak with them. He walked outside Gallagher’s and the hostess waved. He went inside and introduces himself and Kathleen said if my friends wanted to be seated now if OK. Found R/L/M/J and told them to use Randy’s name. It worked. They got right in. Randy the VIP stud. Randy and I searched the “yellow building” near O’Connell bridge. Found it, but downstairs access (where Irish dancing was) was sold out. Needed reservations. Oops. So we walked back past the Church of Christ to the Temple Bar area to Dublin’s Quay restaurant. We previously ate at Kilarney’s Quay restaurant. Spoke with Katrina (greeter) and didn’t guess she was from Poland. Katrina went to Dublin on holiday 4 months ago and stayed. Good walk along the river back to the hotel. Few people in the bar. That was good since we have a very early departure tomorrow.
Sun: 5:30am wake up call. Even if you tried to cancel it as some tried and get a 6am wake up instead, you still got the earlier call. Ran into Tonya and Donna in the elevator and barely got a hello out of them. Everything on schedule except Blondie (last on the bus again) and then had to go back to the front desk to clear up charges. Now she’s a Pita. Got to JFK no problem. 1 ½ hour to get luggage, clear customs (which we already did in Dublin), shuttle train to another terminal to catch JetBlue. Extreme weather for Syracuse landing. On final approach, could see an angry black sky to the west. (5 lightning bolts in less than 3 seconds). Could see the front of the storm crossing the airport approaching us. It hit when we were about at the end of the runway. Extreme wind (69mph), rain, and hail. Glad we weren’t 10 seconds later. The pilot said we were just going to turn into the wind and wait awhile. (on the runway). About 10minutes later we cruised to our gate.
Ireland 2005 Pics
Misc notes:
This trip was put together by:
Hammond Tours
1190 Western Ave, Albany, NY 121203
866.486.8772
mhammond@hammondtours.com
Sat: up early. Tried to get into Ireland time. Got to the airport 2 hours early. I was the only person in any line at the counter and again at security. Took JetBlue to JFK and then joined the group on Aer Lingus. Finished my first book while drinking a Smithwick at JFK during my 7-hour layover.
Sun: arrived at Shannon at 6am. The other LA group to arrive at noon. Still dark. Coach driver Joe said since it is soooo early and a Sunday and a holiday weekend, nothing in town is opened yet, so best if we stay at the airport for coffee and breakfast. I, however, went to the bus for a 2-hour downtime/nap. Then while waiting for the LA group to arrive, we went on a bus tour of Limerick. Saw the alley where Frank McCourt grew up (from Angela’s Ashes). Could easily see some of the old stone walls from when Limerick was a walled city. Totally deserted at that hour. Which was good since the roads are narrow and cornering the bus was always a challenge. There was a bridge from 1850 similar to the Pont Neuf of Paris. Water was tidal and moving fast. Went to Bunratty Castle (again later with the 2nd group) and Folk Park. Folk Park was displays of actual and re-created homes and businesses of sailors, poor farmers, rich farmers, and even one house had a section for cows inside. Castle had narrow spiral stairs leading up to various rooms and finally the top. Rooms were cold damp and smaller than expected. Awesome view from the top. Castle protected the Shannon River traffic and surrounding land. Had my first Ireland pint at the Creamery. Seemed weird how kids walk into the bar and feel at home. One hopped onto the barstool next to me. A couple more were at the bar only 2 seats down having their ginger ale and were all dressed up in their Halloween costumes. Waited for the LA half to arrive and then Randy and I had a pint in the Durty Nellies Pub (possibly the oldest pub in Ireland). Slept at the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis (1/2 hour from Limerick. 1st concert that 1St night in Limerick. All venues were small and hot. The cute blond had “just 3 Jamesons” and was funny on the bus ride home. Talkative, giggly. Explained to all how her friends, when they were on a camping trip, climbed into their mummy bags and played “worms”.
Mon: “wormgirl” had a cute “curse of the were-rabbit” shirt on.
Breakfasts were always a full Irish breakfast – egg, bacon, sausage, toast, coffee, tea, juice, yogurt, cereal. Hearty. Luggage out at 9:30. Had a walkabout while waiting for the bus.11am bus. As we drove towards Galway in County Clare, we passed the Whelan’s stone quarry. I didn’t realize until afterward that my father’s ancestors are from County Clare. Weird. We must have a stone quarry in our jeans. Viewed the majestic Cliffs of Moher. 700-foot vertical cliffs stretching for 5 miles along the rugged Atlantic Coastline. Crashing waves, a lot of wind, showers on and off, rainbows, and watchtower at the top.
The cute blond who was late for the morning bus and then reset her watch to 10 minutes fast, was late again. Less cute. The bus was pulling out when they came rushing out of the snack bar. Cruised around Galway Bay. Checked into the Imperial Hotel on Eyre Square in Galway. 2nd band concert that night at Quay (pronounced keys). At happy hour we met the Amsterdam girls - Stephanie, Donna, Tonya (my love), and bar drunk – Pierce. (the Amsterdam girls’ male friends took a side trip to Amsterdam). When we returned to the Quay 6 hours later, after an 8-9:30 nap, Pierce was still there standing/leaning a bit. Dinner at a recommended fish and chips restaurant. Worse meal of the trip. The band started at 12:30am and we danced till 3am. Went home to sleep, but you could have stayed and got locked in the bar until ??.
Tues: up early for an 8:30 am breakfast and a 9:30am bus. No need to pack since we are returning to the same hotel. Small boats called “hookers”. Quiet bus. Everyone needed more sleep. Toured north of Galway towards Connemara. Desolate land. Cold windy, more rain, and rainbows. A piercing cold and damp just as Frank McCourt stated in his book – Angela’s Ashes. Glad my ancestors left that area. Uneven land and full of rocks. Randy commented on how it looked like they were growing rocks. Loads of sheep. Free-range sheep. Colored patches on sheep for ownership. Typical stone fences. Ireland was once 90% covered in trees, then lumbered down to 1% and now they are reforesting. Now up to 10%. Peat dug 2 feet deep. Stockpiled and rotated every couple of days until dry. ½ the energy of coal so you need a lot of it to stay warm. Stopped to shop. Stopped at Kylemore Abbey for lunch. Wish we had time to tour the abbey. Stopped at village Cong where they filmed “A Quiet Man”. John Wayne and ?. Returned to Galway. Wondered thru town looking for a power converter for Randy’s camera. More rain. Dinner at The Quays in Galway. In honor of seeing so many sheep on the bus tour, we had the Traditional Irish lamb stew. Which had potatoes in it plus sides of sliced potatoes, 2 scoops of mashed potatoes, and an egg roll-shaped fried mashed potato. That’s hearty. Both bought a Quay t-shirt. All rivers in Ireland flow fast. Nightcap of Jameson at a cool pub. Returned to our Imperial Hotel to a hotel lobby party with the band members. Another last nightcap. Randy talked to Dave the drummer. Dave said that touring cuts into his seeing other acts. Also said it’s good for fans to see how they live. He could not see himself working in a cubicle. Randy said us cube people are glad to pay to see him and the band while outside our cubicles. Bed at 11:30pm.
Wed: luggage out at 8:30am. Bus at 10am. off to Killarney. 8 hours of sleep, but still tired and moving slow. Off to visit a granite shop. Surprisingly, very impressive granite displays. The vein of local Irish green granite is running out, so it is only used in small jewelry now. Stopped at Bunratty Castle again. Instead of shopping or touring the castle, we went directly to the Durty Nellies Pub for a smoked salmon on brown bread and a ½ pint. Met 2 girls just off the plane from Texas. Silly. Asking what time it was and then was it day or night. In Killarney, at night time we went for a walk-about. ½ pint at Drink___________(not evaluators) next to the youth hostel. Went to The Grand Hotel (tonight’s venue) where there was a 3 piece traditional Irish band playing. Cool. YD started at midnight. The place was packed. Doesn’t anyone work in the morning? The large back room was filled with Irish square dancers. About 80+ of them and they all knew what they were doing. In sync. Again, it’s a work night! Walking home we were slightly unsure if we were on the right road to get us back to the Randles Hotel. Decided it was the wrong road, turned around until I heard the sound of a car hitting a pothole. That pothole and sound I remembered from our walk to town. We were on the right road after all. The hotel had one free available computer so Randy could get his fix. I emailed Dad a happy birthday and also called him. Bed at 12:30am
Thurs: our hotel’s cute red-headed breakfast waitress looked very tired this morning. There were a horse and wagon ride thru the National Forest. Randy and I declined due to cold, damp, and more rain. Bus ride past the Killarney golf and fishing club. Serious water holes. Met the wagon riders at another very tall abbey. Off to the Dingle Peninsula. Stopped at the expensive shop. (Joe said this is where you buy the stuff for yourself. Vs the trinkets for friends) Irish coffee breaks and it’s still morning. What about us tea sippers? Bought my Irish rugby shirt. Toured Dingle bay. Had surfers. Long Beach from the movie” Ryan’s daughter”. Stopped in Dingletown for lunch. Mega wind, rain, and cold. The seafood chowder had immensely large pieces of clams in it and more of the killer brown bread and Irish butter. Hot and Hearty. Colorful buildings. Devil’s elbow – tight turn on a steep cliff with a large stream flowing over the road. Joe’s story stopped for that corner. Stone beehive homes. Looked like stone igloos. Cool crashing surf in the bay and even better on outside Atlantic side. Napped my way home. Another 6pm – 9pm nap. Out to dinner and listened to another great traditional Irish trio performing. A cute freckled face red-head played the accordion. 12:30 am band start.
Fri: 7am wake up call. 8am breakfast. 9am bus. Off to Dublin via Blarney. Stone sculptures along the road. No graffiti. All homes are stone and have concrete berm around them. Limited/no grass. “L” on cars meant learner. Stopped at Blarney Castle to kiss the blarney stone.
Randy tried to buy ice cream at a grocery store, but the lady in front of him was buying a banana and had to go weigh it and then go again to get the code. He gave up waiting. Saw the Rock of Cashel and Cashel Castle. To be king one must rule this castle. Strong fortress atop a stone hill. The bus trip from hell. By 4pm, everyone wanted off the bus but we were still 3 hours away from Dublin. A problem with coach travel. Arrived at 7pm. Brought up our own luggage because we were in a rush. At this city hotel, they had one or 2 porters to bring up all 120 pieces of luggage. Slow. At the other town hotels, we had a swarm of porters running to finish the job quickly. Dinner in temple bar - Gallagher’s. Randy fell in love with our hostess. She had to move us to another table so that a round of drinks were free. 4th and last concert was at the Green Room at the Holiday Inn. Quiet hours for the hotel start at 11pm, so the band had to start early and finish early. Good. The bar turned on lights to get us to leave but never stopped serving drinks so no one left. Short round girl Rose (chef) gave Tonya’s friend a cigarette knowing it is illegal to smoke inside. The bartender ripped it out of his mouth fast and scolded them. A big fine of up to 3000 euros and loss of license. Wired on caffeine and knowing no early morning bus trip, I felt so good.
Sat: last full day. Woke up ahead of the 9am wake-up call. Bill’s dumb idea(?). Decided against the scheduled 2-hour bus ride thru Dublin, and decided against the hop-on/ hop-off bus ride. Needed to walk the town and get some exercise. Used Mapeasy and Bill’s printouts to get around Dublin. A sunny day with rain predicted. Big growth in Dublin. Counted 15 cranes from our hotel window. Randy felt sick and slow. There were 3 frigates tied up on our quay- Sir John Rogerson’s Quay. Lunch was a panini with exactly 3 Pringles chips on every plate. General Post Office’s façade was covered up for renovations, walked the Ha’Penny Bridge (the pedestrian-only bridge across the River Liffey), crossed a cool modern swing bridge, Irish tall ship anchored, Millennium Spike, Molly Malone Statue. Toured Trinity College. Sphere within a sphere. Soccer game going on in quad. Couldn’t get in to see the Books of Kells and the Long Room. Our tour was supposed to have a free visit, but the highly stressed nazi lady with gloves on said no. Bill pointed out that our tour people (Hammond)’s phone number was on a bulletin board note next to the desk. Still no. Very stressed/confused person. Saw various tour people throughout Dublin. Very walkable city. Grafton Street was a pedestrian mall. Packed, fur protestors. Walked thru St.Stevens Green. Started running out of time. Time for Saint Patrick’s Cathedral or Guinness Brewery. Obvious choice. 1 ½ mile walk. Was concerned about distance/safety but happily discovered they were non-concerns. Randy screwed up by not having preordered Guinness factory tour passes on-line so we waited in line for about 30 minutes. Got bored with the self-guided tour, so we bypassed the tour and went directly to the Gravity Bar on the top floor (7th) for a pint. We each had one token for one pint. A 360-degree circular glass-enclosed taproom with a killer view of the city at dusk time. Not a seat in the house but still a great view. Ran into Randy, Lisa, Mike, and Josh at the bar. Josh discovered that the fifth floor would sell more beer. Walked back to the Temple Bar area. Again ran into Randy/Lisa/Mike/Josh and they said they could not get into Randy’s recommendation of Gallagher’s Restaurant with the earliest seating being 10:30pm .too late. Randy said he would speak with them. He walked outside Gallagher’s and the hostess waved. He went inside and introduces himself and Kathleen said if my friends wanted to be seated now if OK. Found R/L/M/J and told them to use Randy’s name. It worked. They got right in. Randy the VIP stud. Randy and I searched the “yellow building” near O’Connell bridge. Found it, but downstairs access (where Irish dancing was) was sold out. Needed reservations. Oops. So we walked back past the Church of Christ to the Temple Bar area to Dublin’s Quay restaurant. We previously ate at Kilarney’s Quay restaurant. Spoke with Katrina (greeter) and didn’t guess she was from Poland. Katrina went to Dublin on holiday 4 months ago and stayed. Good walk along the river back to the hotel. Few people in the bar. That was good since we have a very early departure tomorrow.
Sun: 5:30am wake up call. Even if you tried to cancel it as some tried and get a 6am wake up instead, you still got the earlier call. Ran into Tonya and Donna in the elevator and barely got a hello out of them. Everything on schedule except Blondie (last on the bus again) and then had to go back to the front desk to clear up charges. Now she’s a Pita. Got to JFK no problem. 1 ½ hour to get luggage, clear customs (which we already did in Dublin), shuttle train to another terminal to catch JetBlue. Extreme weather for Syracuse landing. On final approach, could see an angry black sky to the west. (5 lightning bolts in less than 3 seconds). Could see the front of the storm crossing the airport approaching us. It hit when we were about at the end of the runway. Extreme wind (69mph), rain, and hail. Glad we weren’t 10 seconds later. The pilot said we were just going to turn into the wind and wait awhile. (on the runway). About 10minutes later we cruised to our gate.
Ireland 2005 Pics
Misc notes:
- 1 Euro = $1.22
- My ATM has a $3 service fee; my credit card has a 3% exchange fee
- Hammond Tour $1700
- JetBlue $150
- Misc $600
- Gifts $150
- Bus – green 1
- Bus driver Joe. Joe gave us a history lesson, poetry, songs, comedian. Reverses right and left when telling us which window to lookout.
- Marvin and his wife ( 60s) are here because their kids bought tickets and then he couldn’t get off work. They missed the first 3 concerts but made the last one.
- Josh at 1st dinner kept complaining about no butter, then no soup. Obnoxious.
- Mark and Michelle from Maine. He is an architect and she is a stain glass artist. She’s a doer. She had a 2 ½ month vacation to the Orient and Tibet. Just moved to Maine. Can’t imagine anyone staying put for over 2 years.
- John (a symphonic musician who looks like a rebel) and sister Natalie
- Mike and Laura are from Austin – we found out that Laura was recently voted “Babe of the Week” at her kid’s high school. Laura claims this is due to her support role, and that she dresses appropriately.
- Scott & JoEllen are from Boise and see YD 3 times a year. They know of Great Big Sea and Carbon Leaf
- Rose (chef) and daughter Lisa
- Irish creamy butter is awesome. Must be heavy in fat. Great on their brown bread.
- Lots of Dunnes store in Galway.
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