Vegas road trip

So, as I said yesterday, a company I'm interviewing with asked me to head up to Vegas to meet in person with the hiring manager... and they asked if I'd prefer to drive or fly (they'd cover it either way).

Lesse...

90 minutes to the airport, then 90 minutes IN the airport, then being fondled by the TSA, then a 55 minute flight (it would be shorter, but from PHX you basically climb out, then as soon as you finish climbing, you descend into LAS immediately... and all well under cruising speed... under 250 knots for much of it in fact) then 30 minutes  getting out of the airport, to get a car or a hotel shuttle, then 20 minutes to the hotel... Call it 5 hours...

Or, a 381 mile drive (6-7 hours), hotel and mileage paid for by someone else...

Did I mention that yesterday was our 8th wedding anniversary?

...Hopefully a job offer, and a free anniversary trip to Vegas out of it?

...Yeah, no brainer.

So we packed up the kidlet, loaded up the truck, pointed it northwest, and boogied.

We took the "back way" through the western Arizona mountains (which are absolutely gorgeous by the way) and just relaxed, cruising and enjoying the scenery and the quiet.

... though surprisingly, we had 3g most of the way, even 4g... so no escaping the phone or email completely...

We hit town after almost exactly 7 hours (we made 3 stops, about 90 minutes total, for gas, food, and pictures. Actual drive time about 5.5 hours, net avg 69mph, gross avg 55mph), and watched a beautiful sunset on the way in to the hotel.

As if all that wasn't nice enough, when we were checking in I told the nice young man that we were here for our anniversary, and that it was Mels first trip to Vegas (she's driven through it, never stopped).... and he did something VERY nice...

He upgraded us to a nicer room (hot tub in the room... very nice), with a great view...

...and then he comped us a second night stay.

There are times I really love Vegas.

I meet with the hiring manager in the morning. Mean time, we're relaxing and enjoying ourselves.

The Mirage has a Carnegie deli... Mels never had a REAL New York Deli Sandwich... we're correcting that now:

Update: This is the Las Vegas version of the Carnegie Deli pastrami and swiss on a kaiser. It's pretty damned good... it's not QUITE as large, and not QUITE as good as the real deal in NYC... but it's better than just about anything else (though I actually think pastrami club does better pastrami.. or at least did in the late 90s/early 2000s last time I was there).

Woo hoo... a weeks staycation

Mel and I were going to be going to a family wedding this week, so I took the time off; but then the wedding was moved up a week, and we decided not to go.

As I've mentioned a few times though, I have a hard time using up all my time off every year, so I just kept the week off.

I plan on doing as little as possible, sleeping as much as I can, and reading everything in sight... which is a fair bit (I've got about half my 300+ book "to read" pile on shelves here in the bedroom).

I'm hoping over the course of 10 days including today, to read at least 10 books; and maybe stretching to between 12 and 20 if I can.

FINALLY going to Boomershoot this year

I've been trying to get to boomershoot for like five years now, but life keeps getting in the way.

Last year we were in the middle of moving up here to North Idaho (just two and a half hours from the Boomershoot site by the way) while the shoot was happening, so that killed it for 2010.

From 2006 til 2009 basically, all our money went to lawyers; and we just couldn't afford it.

In 2005, I was in the middle of moving and changing jobs... Obviously again, couldn't do it.

Well, now it's 2011, and we're FINALLY GOING.

I mean, we live 100 miles as the crow flies, and about 160 road miles from the site... it would be nearly criminal of us to miss it again.

We've got position 16 near the left edge of the lowlands area. Seems to be a fair bit of a side slope so when I build my new shooting benches, I better make those legs pretty adjustable.

...Or maybe I'll just build a couple of 4x8 platforms with leveling provision, and set up on those. That'll deal neatly with the soft ground issue, and the frost issue, and won't cost all that much. Two sheets of plywood, a few 2x4s, some blocks and some sandbags and we're in business. Set the 8 foot ez-up shelter on top, bolt the legs down, roll down the side curtains and get the propane heater going, and we can boomershoot in style.

Nice having a bigass truck to haul the stuff to the site eh?

Ok, so now I'm OFFICIALLY off for two weeks

Dont expect much blogging here... not that there's been all that much lately anyway.

Read, relax, and get medical treatment, that's pretty much the plan.

I'm not TECHNICALLY on vacation for the rest of the year...

... But I might as well be. All my normal meetings for next week are cancelled, and most of the people I work with on both sides of the aisle from me, are on vacation.

Basically not much is going to get done next week. It's more like I'm on call in case something goes wrong.

On the other side of Christmas, I AM officially on vacation from Friday the 23rd, through January 3rd.

I had to take the days, just so I could get down to 5 days carryover for next year (giving me another year with 30 days of PTO that I won't be able to take all of... again).

Two weeks basically off... not bad. Wish I felt better physically and mentally to enjoy it more, but you can't have it all.

Reading, practicing my new bass... trying to relax... sounds like a plan.

A week off, and I've got a damn @#$%@&$%!

Work has been rather stressful and exhausting lately. It's been taking up most of my time and energy, especially most of my "writing" type energy.

Combined with my current health issues, which frankly are dulling my brain more than a little bit (my memory, recall, and my normally highly associative and inductive thought processes are especially suffering... all the stuff that makes my writing work...).

At this point, I counted, I've got over 50,000 words of partially written posts saved as drafts right now, and I've just had no energy or motivation to finish them..

This is the first year ever that I've really taken advantage of my companies PTO allocation (25 base days plus five days carryover from last year, plus 11 paid company holidays and two floaters) and I'm actually taking my second full week off for the year (the first was the week of July 4th).

So I've got actually from this past Friday afternoon 'til next Tuesday; to try and relax and recharge a bit.

The kids start school next Tuesday, so we've got all week to play with them, have fun, enjoy, maybe shoot off some rockets, fly the RC plane, swim...

The only problem is, I've got a sinus and upper respiratory infection...

Screw it, that's what chicken soup, hot chili peppers, and sudafed are for.

This whole relaxing thing...

Kinda workin... Finished two books today... sadly both were crap, but I finished them. Been reading three more (yes I sometimes have two or three books going at once, plus the one were reading together with the kids, plus the audiobook the wife and I listen to together when we don't feel like TV or conversation etc...) finished one two days ago, prolly gonna finish t'other one tonight before I go to sleep.

Not sleeping enough, but really I never do.

The only bad parts about this week, are that I had to take a couple hours out of it for work (once you hit this level, theres no such thing as a week off without interruptions. At least this was only a couple hours), and that it hit 90 today and we don't have AC (though we do have a portable AC unit, it isn't very effective).

So it was a bit hot late afternoon and into the evening, but come 9 oclock it started cooling down nice, and now it's a lovely 63 outside, and 74 inside with fans blowing cool air through the whole house.

I'll take this over central AC in Phoenix any day.

Holy crap I'm on vacation...

Well, as of five minutes ago, I am on vacation for the next 8 days and 15 hours... and I aint gonna do a damn thing  all week long 'cept whatever mood takes me.

Ok... that's not true... I'mna cheat for two hours on Thursday, because somebody scheduled a critical project meeting with top management (CIO level) for one of my projects on Thursday... but that's the ONLY work I'mna do all week.

I like two kinds of vacations. The kind where you do nothing but whatever strikes your fancy for a week; and the ones where you something you've never done before, may never be able to do again, and/or could possibly kill you.

This'll be the first time off I've taken from work this year that WASN'T taken up with the move (I took 5 days for the move, and it was WORK the entire damn time that's for sure) and man I do need it.

I took a couple weeks off at Christmas last year... but that's Christmas, and I took it off because I had to use up my excess vacation time for the year, not so I could enjoy it. Doesn't really count. Plus, living in AZ... Meh. Not the most relaxing, even in winter.... especially since we were already starting to get ready for the move (which was originally going to be in February instead of March).

Now, I've got a lake, and a canoe, and a small boat (that needs a new outboard which I don't have yet unfortunately), and the entirety of north Idaho to have fun in; and nothing particularly hanging over my head to worry about.

I think I'll read a lot, do some writing, finish a bunch of big posts (of course I said I was going to do that over Christmas, and I ended up not... ) watch some movies I've been meaning to watch... and if I don't so what.

That's the joy of the "do nothing" vacation.

I'mna swim in the lake every day... or not... but probably yeah, and warm up in the hot tub every night. Play with the kids all week. Maybe get some work done on the little boat, get it ready for an outboard. Maybe build a little patio furniture in the shop. Smoke some meat, grill some steaks and some sausages...

Oh and I got a decent sized box of fireworks for Sunday:

Too bad Idaho only allows class C (15 feet height or less) I could really go for some skyrockets; but I got a couple of what should be pretty spectacular ground bursters and fountains.

It'll be the first time the kids have ever seen fireworks up close; and we're gonna let'em stay up late so we can do them in full dark (which isn't til after 9 around here these days).

Generally I plan to enjoy a summer like I haven't since I was 15 in New Hampshire, on Lake Winnepesaukee.

You know you're relaxing into your vacation...

... When you have to be reminded what day it is.

I'm on that day... I woke up this morning thinking... "What day is it... oh yeah, it's Monday.. and no work for another week".

Then I went back to sleep.

Gotta love that feeling.

I have however been lazy about finishing my long posts. I've got a half dozen queued up, just waiting for me to finish off. I might get one out tonight; if not, it'll be tomorrow morning.

Woo Hoo... 18 days off

So, I'm off work from yesterday afternoon, until January 4th.

That's the longest vacation I've taken since... uh... Not including being unemployed for a couple months five or six years ago... 1996 I think?

Even better, we aren't going anywhere. It'll be just me, Mel, the kids, and whatever friends decide to pop by.

I'm going to read, relax, and finally finish writing a whole bunch of long damn posts.

Speed Run

We left the parking garage at the Silver legacy in Reno at 1:27am this morning. We arrived in or driveway in Scottsdale at 1:47pm.

That's a distance of 800 miles, in 12:20, including 60 minutes of fuel and food stops; for a gross average of 65mph, and a net average of 71mph.

Not bad. Beats our time last year by several hours.

Vacation is over, with another day off for recovery. Time to collapse now.

The best 24 hours I've had in at least 10 years

The past 24 hours have been that is.

They began with my wife and I waking up from a nap; and to be completely blunt, making love; undisturbed by children, dogs, work, or any other distractions of life.

We had a lovely light meal at the cabin, watched a good movie ("Taken", extended cut, on DVD. No TV yet on this vacation), and finished the night listening to our audio books (the S.M. Stirling "change" series at the moment. I've read them, but Mel hasn't).

After a full nights sleep we got an early start on the morning, and went out to the marina for an off season early bird speed boat rental. With discounts, a Sea Ray 22, with a 300hp (6.2mpi dual prop bravo 3) Mercruiser, was only $80 an hour.

Yeah the thought of $80 an hour baing "only" is a bit odd, but it's better than the $120 to $140 that is normally the case these days (or $190 in some of the marinas on the California side... insurance and taxes).

We cruised around the lake at about 3/4 throttle for a while; during which time Mel discovered that she too thinks powerboats are fun for an hour or two, but get boring after a while.

Even WOT in a lightly laden and overpowered boat (300hp is a lot of power for a 22ft boat) wasn't all that interesting to her, and she thought her time at the helm was less interesting than driving fast in a car.

What was nice, was getting out there and shutting down in the middle of the lake, when there was NO-ONE in sight. Three days ago that would have been impossible; but at 10am on the Wednesday after labor day, we were in absolute silence, and complete solitude in the center of the lake.

We just sat there and enjoyed it for about 10 minutes, before moving on.

We were going to do the full circle, but up around Carnelian bay the engine started running a bit rough; so we headed straight back to the marina across the lake.

Honestly, I didn't want a refund or anything. We got a good 90 minutes out of the boat, and we were really ready to come home anyway; but they insisted that we only had to pay for gas.

By the by, good people at the Zephyr Cove Marina.

We had a decent lunch at the marinas out door restaurant... Which makes it sound like more than it really is. I think everyone who has ever spent a summer on a lake knows the kind of place I'm talking about.. two windows where you can order beach and diner style food and soft serve ice cream, and a bunch of benches? That kind of place.

I LOVE that kind of place. That's the kind of place I grew up with.

Even better, we were able to find the repair supplies I needed for the sailboat; so after lunch we went out to the mooring. It was the work of half an hour to re-slug the sail, rebend it on the mast, and tape the torn leech seam; and then we were off sailing again.

This time, Mel spent most of her time at the helm, and I mostly worked the sheets; and she discovered something: She really truly loves sailing, whether she's at the helm, on the lines, or just laying on the deck, she loves it.

She insists that we need a sailboat (and preferably a bigger one than the 30 footer we'd been sailing) as soon as is reasonably possible.

Have I mentioned recently how lucky a man I am?

We had about four hours out on the most gorgeous possible day; 5-7 knot winds letting us make around 3-4 knots, as we chose. Not quite as quiet as earlier in the day, but still on a completely uncrowded lake.

We sailed up to a bit north of cave rock, out over to the state line, then down the line to elk point, and back to the marina.

It was picking up a bit as we were sailing back in, and I was able to make five knots on the final reach up to Zephyr Cove; but we'd already been out for four hours, and there was no need to stretch it out any more.

I was happy to note, though I'm a few years out of practice, I still know how to maneuver a sailboat with an inboard motor (outboards are WAY easier in tight spaces) into a tight, restricted depth dock (6 foot keel, 7 foot depth), and out to a tight mooring thankyouverymuch.

We were pretty well exhausted by then (sailing, even in light weather, is not exactly sedentary), so we went home for another nap, and ...enjoyed each others company undisturbed once again.

Finally, we're about to head out for a nice casual meal at a local microbrewery, that the wife picked out, specifically for the quality of their beer, and the inventiveness they show in using that beer in their food.

Yet again let me say, I'm the luckiest man on earth.

Oh and we figured out what we're going to name our first sailboat together.

Crosstime.

The only luxury that really matters

The most important thing I have ever learned, is that the most valuable commodity in this world or any other, is time.

Time is the one thing you can't make, or buy, or steal more of. You only get so much, and that's it. So, you learn as you go, that anything that saves more time for you to be with your thoughts, or with your loved ones, is worth more than just dollars and cents.

It's the only luxury that really matters.

I've spent the last five whole days with my wife, doing nothing in particular. We drove, at whatever pace we chose, up to Tahoe, stopped overnight in a place that seemed nice (it was), and then relaxed our way across the next three and a half days.

We haven't watched a TV or listened to any radio other than satellite music. No commercials, no news broadcasts, no screaming and shouting dire warnings...

I have found that sitting with my wife on the couch, a cool nights lake breeze blowing through the open windows, listening to an audio book we both enjoy, is possibly the most wonderful experience in the world.

She had lots of plans, reservations, ideas, about what we were going to do when we got up here.

We canceled most of them.

Sunday, we went out on the boat. It was a bit windy, with a bit of a swell. Not the best time to introduce her to sailing; but I wanted to check things out so that we'd be good to go for the next few days.

We motored out at a sedate 4 knots, into the 3 foot swells; and much to my wifes shock and surprise, she actually LIKES a little bit of rough weather boating.

The wind calmed a bit, still in the 10-15 knot range; but it's a solid, deep keeled 30 footer with plenty of ballast, so I decided to run up the rig, just for a test.

She sailed fine, though in the fresh wind and swells, it got a little exciting. The best thing we found out though, is that Mel really likes sailing, and she likes it brisk as much as I do.

...Oh and that Mel wants a sailboat as much as I do, and that a little bit bigger boat than a 30 footer would be nice (more cabin room, more stability, more speed)...

We sailed for about an hour or so, before the breeze started to freshen too much (over 20kts) again; then dropped sail and motored back in to the mooring

We had intended on being out an hour or two, and ended up being out for five hours; most of that time just hanging out on the boat.

Unfortunately, rather than taking the dinghy out to the mooring (about 1/4 mile off and 1/4 mile down shore, and I didn't feel like rowing an 8 foot dinghy 1/2 mile in 3 foot swells) we had taken the marina water taxi. While we were out, things had slowed down so much that the marina decided to send everyone home and close up early.

So there we were, stuck out on the boat... 65 degree water, 65 degree day, and a 15-20 knot wind (a little bit of windchill to a soaked body).

It was stay the night on the boat, or swim for it. Really it was a tossup, because we'd brought enough food, water, supplies etc... (you know me, I believe in being prepared); but what the hell... we swam for it.

Honestly, the water wasn't so bad once we got used to it. It was only a few hundred yards in till we could touch bottom, and then a quarter mile down the beach to get back to the marina.

It was an adventure; and it never would have happened if we had been paying attention to the time.

We got home and had LOOOOONG hot showers, before heading out for a nice and low key dinner at a french place (Mirabelle, on the 207 just uphill of the 50, in Stateline).

No, that is not an oxymoron. It was quiet, and comfortable, and not in any way pretentious; while at the same time having a wonderful menu and wine list.

We had beautiful sauted crispy sweetbreads, bacon wrapped roast stuffed pheasant, and a wild game mixed grill; all with a nice bottle of Steele Point, and a couple of simple desserts.

Yesterday, we pretty much relaxed the whole day away. We were going to go sailing, but when we hauled down on Sunday, we found that three of the mainsail slides were broken, and there was a torn seam in the mainsail luff. That meant no more sailing until we could find some spare parts.

Unfortunately, none of the local marine supply places were open labor day; but that didn't much bother us. I got up early to call around in the morning, found out no-one was open, and then went back to bed, pulling the covers up over us.

We slept real late, made lunch at home, went to the movies (Inglorious Basterds, which was odd, but good) and drove 3/4 the way around the lake, stopping to get out and admire the view a couple times; before heading back to the cabin to relax for a while.

Finally we went out late to a local bar that everybody told us had great burgers.

If you ever need a place to hang out around the south end of Tahoe, Sams Tavern in Zephyr Cove is a good start. Great people, and good food, cheap.

Todays plan was again to sail; but as it happens nobody within 50 miles of here seems to have the stuff we need in stock.

The irritating bit is, it's jsut a couple of 3/4" sail slides ($0.65 a piece), some 3" Dacron sail tape ($15 a roll), a bit of waxed dacron thread, and a sailmakers palm. You'd think that around the biggest boating lake in the western united states, there would be somebody who had them in stock, but nope.

Actually, there is one place that several people recommended would have them in stock, but they haven't answered their phone in two days, so... The nearest place I can confirm has them is the West Marine up in Reno (a 3 hour round trip).

As much as I want to sail some more this week, I'm not willing to waste that time I could be enjoying with my wife. If the local place answers the phone tomorrow, we'll head down there and get another day of sailing in before we leave. If not, oh well.

Five days down, five more to go; and every one of them enjoyed to the last minute.

The Trip So Far

Well, the ortho trip took a bit longer than we though it would, and we didn't end up leaving 'till 11:30.

However, we managed to make up a hell of a lot of time on the road; and we didn't hit any real traffic 'til Palm Springs, a little more in Redlands, a bunch coming out of Burdoo, and ; and then a bit more on the 395 a couple times between Hesperia and Kramer Junction.

We lost about an hour to lunch at Silly Als pizza in Quartzite; which had surpringly good pizza. Great crust, decent cheese, but it was kinda let down but supersweet canned sauce. Unless you like Bonta Super Dolce, or sweeter (worse than pizza hut sweet, not as bad as papajohns sweet), I'd order it "light on the sauce".

We also grabbed fuel in quartzite, since it was $2.59 for diesel, and stations in CA were up to as high as $3.59 (most were lower, around $3.20).

We lost about another hour and a half to traffic (I was surprised at how little) according to the GPS, and another 20 minutes to a biobreak at a Pilot in Kramer Junction (I recommend avoiding that place in future).

The ride up from Kramer Junction to Bishop was quick and smooth. Unfortunately most of it was too dark to see much once we hit the mountains (great shieldwall formation by the way); but what we could see looked like pretty, old California, and the real rural California that everyone seems to forget about these days... including other Californians.

You know what the difference is between Kern County CA and Gila County Arizona? Kern county has higher taxes, and the idiots in Sacramento pushing them down even further. They're both just as rural west as you can get.


We finally pulled in to Bishop just about 9:30. A logged trip distance of 596 miles, for a total time en route of 10 hours, and a gross average of just under 60 miles per hour. Not bad given traffic and stops. The net total drive time was 7:40 for an average speed of 78mph actual; and a logged fuel economy of 21mpg.

God I love my truck.

Bishop is a lovely little town, though like every tourist town on the planet, overbuilt on the main drag.

Let me STRONGLY recommend Whiskey Creek restaurant, and Erik Schats' Bakkery (some of the best baked goods we've ever had in our lives. We stocked up for the week).

Let me strongly discommend the Best Western "Holiday Spa". The people were nice enough, and the room clean; but the showerhead broke off in my hand, and the bed was one of the worst I've ever slept on; and that includes in the Air Force. It was like trying to sleep on a bouncy castle.

Oh and there was one little mishap. Mel wasn't paying attention to her parking, and hit a post, busting in a corner of out rear bumper.

Pics of that later. For now, it's three hours up to Tahoe.

Departure Imminent

Soon we will be heading here:





Which is across the private road from where we'll be sleeping, here:



And we'll be sailing this:

Here:


So, in about 8 hours, we'll be on the road for lovely Zephyr Cove Nevada, on the southeastern shore of lake Tahoe. We managed to get a smokin deal on a cabin and a boat for most of a week, and we're going to take our first real vacation since we've been together... and in fact my fist vacation in a lot longer than that.

We're going to take it easy, stop in the California mountains the first night (Bishop), and then make the short run up to Tahoe on Saturday. From there we've got most of a week, before we head out to Reno on Thursday for the gunblogger rendezvous.

We'll be posting on occasion, but hopefully not much.

Have fun while we're gone, but try not to break anything.

Lots to say, too damn tired to say it

It's been a rough few weeks in particular. The stress of work and life has been a bit much for the past few months. Hell, the last few years or so haven't exactly been a picnic.

I'm starting to get a little snippy with people, and my work efficiency is falling off.

I need a real honest to god vacation so bad, it aint even funny. The last real vacation I had (not a 4 day road trip, or long weekend. An honest to god rest and relaxation vacation) was...

Umm...

Well I had a five day road trip in 2003 with a long weekend in Bryce canyon... But I'm not sure that qualifies...

The last real "more than 5 days not either working, looking for work, moving, driving, or visiting relatives" vacation I took was in 1997.

Yaknow how many days I took off TOTAL last year? Five, of which three were for the Gun Blogger Rendezvous

How about 2007? 2, and those were for the Gun Blogger Rendezvous as well.

2006? 7, but 4 of those were because I was so sick I couldn't stand, and two of them were on a road trip to Dallas.

I have 30 days of paid vacation time this year. It's August in two days. Yaknow how many days off I've taken off so far this year? 3, plus one for Jury Duty.

Yeah, I'm gonna be over my maximum carryover days this year, no doubt. They let me carry over five days, and in order to get down to that I'mna need to take a week at thanksgiving and two weeks at Christmas and New Years.

I'm just not generally a vacation sort of guy. The things I like to do are either competitive activities, things that almost kill you, or "absolutely nothing whatsoever". I haven't had the time or money for much of the first two in quite a while, and the third... Not hapnin so much lately.

So, the wife and I are actually going and taking a whole week plus a bit; and we're taking a real vacation, right around labor day.

We're going to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous IV in Reno from September 10th, through the 13th. Now that's fun, but that's not a vacation. But... We're driving up and back, since we don't want to deal with the hassle and risk of guns and airlines... and Reno is 60 miles from Tahoe....

So we decided to take the whole week before the GBR, and have a real vacation. On a lake. Actual deep water; which I grew up on, and lived on for more than half my life; and have been missing ever since I moved back to Arizona in 2003.

We managed to find a south Tahoe vacation rental cabin, in a small gated vacation community on the Nevada side, for considerably less than the cost of a hotel room (after the ridiculous -18% room tax alone- taxes and fees etc... about half the cost actually). I even managed to get a guy in their private marina rent me his boat for a couple days at WAY below regular rates (as in 80% below).

Can we afford it? Not really, no... but we'll make it work.

All up, we're getting five days of real vacation, with a house and a boat; at the off season rates plus discount (bad economy this year means fewer vacationers, means bigger discounts); for less than the cost of a hotel room in Tahoe alone would have been. Oh and no expensive hotel breakfasts and lunches... and we can eat in or out for dinner as we choose.

Now THAT, is a real vacation. Five weeks... can't wait.