The Captain Is Back

Captain’s Blog:  Sixteen August, Year of Our Lord 2015.  Have finally returned to home port after several voyages over the last few months; visiting exciting ports of call like San Francisco, Seattle, Palm Beach, Anaheim, and Dallas.  I will be sailing away again shortly for a three week stint of two business trips bookending a much needed vacation.  The chronicling bug never left me, but I was befallen by tragedy when my collection of scrimshaw (memory card) fell overboard (dropped from my pocket) and was lost, along with my inspiration.  I kept with my routine, staying the course, until I could find familiar waters to begin anew.

I really was disconsolate when I had lost the memory card.  I was lucky enough to keep some pictures of a couple visits, but not all visits and not prime pictures.  I had taken several to fill my 365 Pictures in 365 Days project and had visited family, generating all sorts of material for blog posts.  For example, did you know polo matches are broken down into chukkers?  And that calling the final one the “mother chukker” will get you kicked off the grounds?  I learned this when visiting my Aunt Becky and Uncle Vern in Palm Beach with my wife.  In professional polo, during what I could only understand as “halftime,” spectators are allowed onto the field for ice cream and Champaign while stamping down the divots made by the horses’ hooves.  My uncle advised “if its round and steaming, don’t step on it!”  Good advice for polo and life, Vern!

This is an amateur polo match.  Lost pictures of the pros.

Beach near Lake Worth Pier

More beach

And still more

No matter where you go, there's someone looking for a handout!

We visited my aunt and uncle in late February to celebrate my wife’s birthday.  We took a long weekend and most days were overcast and rainy.  We did have one bright day, which we used to go to the beach.  While there, we visited with a great-aunt who I believe did some modeling in her youth and now lives in a house that could function as a museum due to its size and use of marble.  At the club, we played tennis, both regular and table; swam in the pool; and attended a party that served oysters on the half shell and lobster tails either baked or grilled.  Back at the house, we swam and hot-tubbed almost every night.  Also gave my First Mate a jolly rogering.  Twice!  And people call us an old married couple.  Well, we do.  We call ourselves an old married couple.  So, yeah, our trip rocked!  Except the end, when we were delayed at La Guardia for about seven hours because of ice and snow.

I traveled to San Francisco in early February for business.  My GM and I arrived Wednesday night for a meeting that would run the next day and a half.  My father-in-law and his wife, Cathy, live there, so I extended my trip into the weekend to hang out with them.  Unfortunately, Randy was stricken with the flu on Friday, so we had a low key evening of watching movies over pizza and beer.  To his credit, he really sac'ed up the next day and joined Cathy and me in some sight-seeing.  Sunday was a relaxing morning before my flight home in the afternoon.  I had another eventful flight, as the plane did not leave with enough fuel to make it all the way to Minnesota, so had to stop in Salt Lake City to refuel.  Rather than be home by 11p, I rolled in about 1a.

Made my first trip to Seattle, again for business.  The city is very similar to San Francisco with its steep streets and tightly packed neighborhoods.  A lot of west coast cities seem to be that way.  I really notice the openness of the Twin Cities when I return from these trips.  In Seattle, even the way the highways are built leaves the impression the mountains are pushing the city into Puget Sound, like a massive snowplow in winter.  Saw most of the sites, like Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field and Pike Place Market.  Took pictures, too, but you know what happened.  Here’s a picture of Mount Rainier I took on my cell phone from the plane.

Visited Anaheim a couple times.  I added an extra hour of travel time from the business meeting to get to the airport so I could stop at Manhattan Beach for lunch on the pier and site seeing.  Even for a weekday, the beach seemed sparsely populated and all those volleyball courts looked desolate.  I’m sure the beach must be packed come summer.

At any rate, that’s a little about what I’ve been doing between blog posts.  I wish I could expound a little more on the things I’ve seen, but without pictures, my memory gets a little foggy.  I hope to have more tales to tell in the near future.  Until then, fare thee well!