Hello again, family, friends, and everyone else. The pictures from our 2015 trip to Seattle for the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival (and much more!) are now online! We had a great time and so did our friends. Take a look at the pictures!
If you are thinking of going in 2016, let me know!
If you have any questions, just ask. And leave a comment if you want….
2015 Seattle and Bumbershoot photos
What we did on the 2015 trip – part 1
Click here to read part one first
I’ll post some pictures soon, but here’s part two of what we did on our trip.
Saturday August 30
This is the day I have been waiting for, the start of the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. We took the monorail to the Seattle Center, the site of the festival, and yes we were early. That’s how I like it. At 11:00 AM, we entered the festival and headed immediately to the Starbucks Gold Lounge, for a free coffee drink. Then we walked over to the VIP Hospitality Lounge and had some snacks there. OK, now time for music. First up was The Lonely Forest in the KEXP lounge (the secret stage). This show and their outdoor show later today were going to be their last shows ever. After some 10 years together they were calling it quits. Too bad, too, because their set was great! Now I discover them!
It was time for our annual trip to Seattle for the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. We go every year, since 2001, making this our 14th year in a row. And we love it more than ever.
I’ll post some pictures soon, but first, here’s what we did on our trip.
Tuesday August 26
We usually fly out on Wednesday but we added an extra day this year so we could get to Seattle on Petra’s birthday. We left in the early morning to give us more time there. We caught the Super Shuttle (Blue Van) to the airport, where Mama O (Linda) and Aunt Sam met us and off we went. It was a quick Southwest flight. In Seattle, we took the convenient light rail and soon arrived at our hotel, The Camlin. It was too early to check in so they held our luggage for us while we went out in search of some fun. First stop was lunch at Cyber-Dogs, an all vegetarian hot dog place, very funky and very cool. After that we caught the monorail over to the Seattle Center. We sat a while at one of Petra’s happy places, the International Fountain.
Hello once again, family, friends, and everyone else. The pictures from our 2013 Las Vegas mini-trip to Las Vegas are now online! We had a great time even though the trip was short. Take a look at the pictures!
If you have any questions, just ask. Now take a look! And leave a comment if you want….
We needed a break from kid-watching and we had a credit with Southwest Airlines that was set to expire. So, one and one makes two as they say, and we booked a flight and found a good deal on a hotel. Vegas, baby!
So here’s what we did. Most of it anyway. Some of it stayed in Vegas.
Tuesday May 28th
We rode the blue van to the airport in the late afternoon. I made the mistake of trying to make conversation with the driver, asking if he ever had problem riders. So he talked all the way non-stop to the airport about those people, in detail, and he was absolutely NOT happy about them. My bad, I was just trying to be friendly. But in no time we were on the plane to Las Vegas. It was a quick flight and we caught a van to our hotel, The Signature at the MGM Grand. The Signature is one of the few non-smoking hotels around The Strip. It was late evening when we checked in but we were hungry so we took the monorail a few miles to the other end of the strip. Why? Well…
Lots of stuff. Seriously.
People ask me that every now and then. I’ve been vegetarian since the mid-90s and in the last year or so have become about 90-95% vegan. I don’t eat animals and they don’t eat me. Seems fair.
But people (read: carnivores) seem to think there’s nothing left to eat if you don’t eat meat, eggs, and dairy. But that’s not the case. Everything in the picture is vegan and it was all good. And that just scratches the surface. Most of that stuff is from area restaurants that are veg-friendly. And of course, if you eat at home anything is possible.
In fact, right now I’m getting really, really hungry! See you later…
Hello again, family, friends, and everyone else too. The pictures from our Seattle 2012 trip are now online! We had a great time as usual. There are Seattle pix, Bumbershoot Festival pix, and just some other weird pix we took on the trip.
Any questions, just ask. Besides Petra and me, you will see some pictures of our friends Karl, Betty, Mama O (Linda), and Sam. Even Karl’s brother Ron and his son Antonio are in a few. Take a look! Leave a comment if you want, I’ll be waiting….
The third and final installment in our exciting vacation saga. And soon I will post the pictures too! Oh be still my beating heart!
Monday September 3
Of course Happy Birthday to the daughter. Meanwhile , back to our vacation. We headed out to the last day of the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. As per our routine, we first went and got a free Starbucks drink then went straight to the VIP hospitality area for some food and to finish planning the day. Petra’s first destination was a dance-related performance called Maximum Velocity, while I went to watch Seattle-based Seapony. I liked the band, they were pretty young but have potential. Then I watch a stripped-down mini-set (was it four or five songs?) on the Toyota Free Yr Radio Stage by England’s The Wombats. They were really likable and really good, ending with a highly-modified (with banjo) version of their song Let’s Dance To Joy Division. Petra meanwhile caught the end of rocker Reignwolf’s set, and we met up after at the “secret stage” for a performance by Low. They are aptly named, the music was very downbeat and while it was ok it was not really that interesting for either of us. That changed soon, though, since the next show in that stage was Passion Pit. They are getting radio play and a lot of press for their new album Gossamer so we were curious. This show was three of the members in a stripped down session, three keyboards/synths. The main guy opened the set with just an acoustic guitar for one song and the rest were the three of them. This was a great show, with enough electric to be cool but still fairly intimate. We both liked it a lot.
Looking for part 1 – click here
Saturday September 1
Today was the first day of the happiest place on Earth. No, not Disneyland, sheesh! This is way better. Three long days of music, comedy, dance, and most of the other arts. We discovered the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival in 2001 and attended that year and every year since, making this our twelfth year. Some people travel with us, sometimes different people every year and then again some come year after year. We certainly do and hopefully this will continue. Heck, we already have a room reserved for the 2013 Festival and so does our friend Linda!
By the way, best improvement ever, this year: giant video screens at almost all the outdoor venues, so everyone can see!
As I blogged recently, I took a baseball trip with some friends, Larry, John, and Mike. You can read all about it here. But now it’s time to show and tell, so here are some pictures from the trip. As usual I didn’t take pictures of everything but I think you will get the idea. I’ve included my pictures, and also some taken by my friends Larry and John.
And to see the collage on the right at a bigger size, just click on it.
Click here to see the trip pictures. Take a look and then leave me a comment!
Thanks!
As I blogged recently, we won a free (mostly) trip to the Sonoma wine country. You can read all about it here. But now it’s time to show and tell, so here are some pictures from the trip. As usual we didn’t take pictures of everything but I think you will get the idea…
First, to see the collage on the right at a bigger size, just click on it! I downloaded a free “collage” app for my phone and used it to group a few of the trip pictures that I took with the phone’s camera. Very cool and free too. I love technology (usually).
Second, click here to see the trip pictures. Take a look and then leave me a comment!
Thanks!
Recently, we won a FREE trip to the Sonoma wine country. Yeah, that IS cool! It was a free night at the Vintner’s Inn in Santa Rosa (see picture), along with tasting passes at three nearby wineries, a small bottle of wine in our room, a $100 credit at the high-end restaurant, and a breakfast. We went earlier this month.
The hotel was really nice, including cookies in the room at bedtime, a fireplace in the room, large-screen TV, nice big tub, balcony, cushy bed, and more.But on the way there we stopped in Petaluma for a vegan lunch at The Sunflower Center that was pretty good even though it was in an office building. You never know, do you? Then, after checking in at the hotel, we headed to one of the wineries that we had passes for, Kendall Jackson. The wines were very good and the woman
Hello again, family, friends, and everyone else too. The pictures from our San Francisco 2011 anniversary trip are now online! We had a great time.
Any questions, just ask. Take a look! Leave a comment if you want, I’ll be waiting….
Wow. Our 25th anniversary. Damn, that’s a long time, Petra B! I don’t regret it at all though.
And yes, there will be pictures here soon. But not yet!
We decided to take a short trip to San Francisco for our anniversary. We left Friday early afternoon and arrived a couple hours later at our first destination, a reuse/recycle store called Scrap. We found a few things there but not much, but it was still fun to look. Then we made our way through the traffic and rain to our hotel, the Galleria Park. It’s in a great location and close to a lot of things. We checked in, just in time for the free daily wine reception (translate: free wine). We were getting pretty hungry and luckily we had brought with us
