slidergirl

I'm the one who got the $2. I've also received (along with my co-workers) refrigerator magnets from one guy who thought they were an appropriate tip to remind us that he came from Annapolis, MD. Of course, in front of a guest, we smile and gush our appreciation for such a unique tip. In the back office, we say what a cheap twit he is and toss the magnets in the trash can. Chocolate - at one time I was actually allergic to it. As a personal tip, it sucked. Giving a box to the staff NOT ATTACHED TO A TIP was nice. We had a few of those (Georgia pecans, a box of Chobani yogurt from a Chobani exec, cookies from Levain in NYC, etc. But, they were never delivered as part of a tip. take the money you paid for that Hershey bar and give it to the staff as part of an extra tip!! They won't have to fake the appreciation and will be able to send it to their kids for college 😉

I received a couple of $2 this winter at my Lodge from some yahoo. $2 won't even buy me a cup of coffee up here - chocolate sure won't do it, either.

I like that one, too. But I prefer The Uprising and the plain Red Blend. can't beat the prices.

Only 1 night in Seattle unfortunately. And, for some reason, sushi got to the top of my list this time. Usually, it's oysters.

No ripped jeans here. Never understood wearing ripped jeans in the Winter 😉 I thought of bringing my jean jacket because, well, I didn't think my red Patagonia jacket would work well at night with a dress 😉 It packs down to nothing so I'll just put in my bag and wear the jean jacket. Those of you who liked my River & Sky dip dye dress that I bought last year and used for my grand niece's wedding - they have a new version of it in a knee-length. Just in case anyone is in the market for a nice summery dress. If it's that unformal on dressy night on your cruise, it's going to be probably not even Country Club casual on dressy night on my cruise!! Bright, sunny, and 54 degrees right now. But, the temp is going back down the 30s by the end of the week, with maybe some snow on Thursday. It's the "multiple personalities" time of year up here. OOTD: black jeans, my olive tie dye hoodie shirt, pink high tops.

Well, they are sushi places and they get crowded so I don't want to mention... 😉 Elliott's Oyster House and Ivar's Salmon House are very close by.

Now I'm sorry I even brought up wine! I am doing HAL in a couple of days so I had looked up their wine policy and found that every bottle you bring on is subject to that $20 fee. I hadn't brought wine onboard before but had heard about rules. I had looked at the HAL wine list and saw nothing I wanted to buy from them and take to my balcony. Sorry I didn't mention HAL. Right now, I'm enjoying 19 Crimes "The Uprising" - red aged in rum barrels. Not outstanding, but a nice, smooth red to drink after work. And, it's around $13. My favorite Rose, la Spinetta Casanova, is a little more at $21. But, my favorite summer white is the old standby, Hogue Reisling, at $10. Even the bartender at my old country club stocked it just for me. But, you won't see me hogging any pool loungers nor whining about them...

What "mess" are you talking about for Trenitalia? On on the website, click the "Eng" button at the top to get English. Then on the home page under "Main Solutions", put in "Venezia (tutte le staziones) (means all Venice stations), and your to as "La Spezia Centrale", then dates and the earliest time you'd want to leave. A bunch of options will pop up. I picked the first one, which has one change of train, in Florence. It the Frecce "fast" train to Florence then a change to a regional to La Spezia. Click on the price at the right and you'll find all the options for class of seats and pricing. If you use something other than Trenitalia's site, you'll encounter a fee for having them book for you.

I'm staying there on 28th this month. Using points. And, it's along the water to walk the Elliott Bay Trail. And, it's near 2 places I want for dinner. I'll try to remember to write about it.

sounds yummy. Do you know anything good/bad about Wasabi Sushi & Izakaya? It is in the vicinity. At least I have 2 I can choose from. Thx.

As long as the Eurodam makes it to Seattle on 4/28, it could play whatever it wants how many times it wants going out!!!

Well, I can bring my own wine if I wanted to pay $20 "corkage" for a $20 bottle...

Happy Easter to those who celebrate. And, for all of us, today is also National Mature Woman Day. I chuckled at my black dress thing. It's the same one I wore to Teatro di Silenzio to see Andrea Bocelli last July. One thing I always travel with is a LBTD - Little Black Tshirt Dress. It's by Woolx and it was so very comfy in that 95+ degree weather at the concert. Sunny and WARM today up here!! Supposed to get up into the upper 40s and possibly to 50!!! Now, we're all thinking about the flooding that may come. The condos are at the bottom of a run, so it's going to get runoff of the run snow and any melting from condos uphill. Sandbags have been ordered so we can try to channel water away from the building. OOTD: black jeans, tan henley Tshirt, pink high tops.

I think the lumberjack show would be pretty cheesy for teenage boys (too cheesy for me and I'm an old lady). did you show your boys some ideas and see what they think yet?

I think I'm going to be a little early for the salmon on the ladder. Bummer. I've seen salmon ladders full of salmon on the Columbia River before. It's a cool site. I might wander by anyway, just in case. I'm there early May. I've got nothing else planned but walking around.

The one thing about MdR is that the traffic on PCH (aka Lincoln) is atrocious!!! I don't know if the old way down Pacific from Santa Monica to Washington and then in to Admiralty Way to the end of MdR to get back on Lincoln. I used to live on Pacific & 28th Ave and Venice & Canal St back in the day. I'd stay in Santa Monica now.

About as boring as it could get at work today. So, I started on a new, dreaded chore: going through the rental condos and count silverware, dishes, mugs, glasses, utensils, pots & pans, sofas, beds & bedding, etc. also take pics of the stuff so we know what brand/looks like if we have to replace. I spent 2.5 hours on the first one and only got 2/3 of the way through the kitchen stuff!! These people have overstaffed their kitchen!! I mean, the minimum is stuff for 4 and they have things for 16, 20, 4 different sets of 8 different "small plates". and stuff like that. Even I don't have 4 different sets of tongs!!! I finish this one tomorrow and start on another one. Lord help me!!! Changed my mind on my OOTD - changed the shirt to my pink & white short sleeve T to match my pink high tops. And added in my denim jacket. And, I just put a headband to my hair as I didn't feel much like doing anything with it and didn't want a ponytail again. I realized I don't have a sweater that I could take on the cruise for if I got chilled in a restaurant, so I may take the denim jacket as it goes with everything. I can add one of my pins to it spiff it up at dinner time. I forgot about "dress up night" - people will just have to look at me in horror in my black knit dress (OK, it's a wool Tshirt dress), my black boots and my denim jacket. Maybe I'll take my Italian crystal necklace and earrings to spruce it up. I won't be going in the MDR anyway.

I love the Sky Lounge!! They have upped their game in the food offerings. I always arrive way early for my flights so I can go eat and relax in there. My AMEX Plat gets me in when I'm flying "back of the bus", so that's a plus. Have a good, relaxing flight! Let us know what you have to eat/drink on the plane. And thanks for the birthday shoutout.

Hank - I'm enjoying your commentary. I'm also reading Cynthia's accounts, so I feel like I'm along with both of you! The trip sounds like you might need to step up the onshore activity so you don't stay awake long enough to notice there's nothing going on 😉 I do take exception to your comment about people eating dinner in the buffet. I'll be doing that in 22 days on the Eurodam. I like to be able to get a nice entree-size salad for my dinner and I'm not into table chatter. I'm not in and out like a Mickey D's, either. Just sayin'

Nice pics, Cynthia! And, thanks for the food photos - you know I'm a sucker for food porn 😉 I don't do red meat if I can help it, but if someone gave me a stick of wagyu I could manage to eat it. With all that fat in the meat, how does it taste compared to normal cow? I love anything sweet potato - those look like some nice slices. And, nice that some cherry blossoms were still around for you! Got some nice parting gifts from owners yesterday who left today - some nice caviar (we had talked before about how we both like caviar on potato chips!) and a nice selection of balsamic vinegars. I have 1 owner and 1 guest family in-house right now, so it's going to be major quiet. OOTD: black jeans and my black & white striped long sleeve T. Pink high tops will be making an appearance for the first time this season. Just another birthday at work - I don't remember having it off in ages! But, at 69 (yikes!!), not much partying to be done 😹 You know you live in a small town when your pharmacist calls to wish a HB...

Usually, I get an email about a week before departure, telling me what they are offering and what I'd like. Surprised you didn't get one. Delta One food has improved anyway. I had some of the best baked fish on Delta when did SLC-CDG last year.

My little resort town is all paid parking, either in a city lot or with the park & pay machines on the street. Locals have hang tags with timers on them that give us a discounted rate. Unless it's off-season, I park outside of town and take in the bus because it's a PIA to try to find a space because tourists do not know how to parallel park and not take up too much space. 😉 I did witness a knock-down, drag-out fight over chairs at a resort in Puerto Rico. I was in my chair for a good 2 hours (I had an umbrella) and the next 4 chairs had towels & books, but never saw anyone for those 2 hours. Dad and little kid come down and ask - I saw I haven't seen anyone for 2 hours. Dad takes off stuff from 1 and uses it. People come back an hour later and start screaming at Dad, one of the entitled twit girls of about 20-something age starts hitting Dad and telling him to get the &*^$% out of HER chair. I got up, told her they hadn't been there for 3 hours and they weren't supposed to hold chairs for that long. I then told Dad he and the little kid could have my chair. I put my towel down on the sand for a little while longer. A reason I book a balcony for myself is so that I don't have to deal with finding a chair on the deck! And, I can drink my own wine and listen to my own music undisturbed!!!

There is (was?) a robot "butler" at the Aloft Hotel in Cupertino CA, by the Apple Mothership. It would deliver those things you forgot (toothbrush, shower cap, etc) to your room when you called for them. I'd LOVE to have one of those when I was working at the full-service resorts - delivering toiletries was not a fun thing and took me away from the desk at night when HK was gone.

congrats on the new grand-rugrat!! I'm a hat person. If I could, I'd take 3 hats with me, not counting baseball hat and toque. But, alas, my good hats don't scrunch up and I don't have the money to buy a good travel hatbox. On the Brooklyns - the bermudas are on that Athleta sale. I may cruise up to Main St and see if I like them. I just remember I didn't like the fabric & fit of the pants.

Is your flight to ATH? Nice, long time, definitely worth the splurge to Delta One! Did you pre-order your dinner? I loved the extra choices on the pre-order form. Safe flights and safe cruising! I also use that weatherstripping on hats! If I need just a light touch, I'll use the fuzzy side of Velcro - put it in between the hat and the hatband.