October became Oct-Sober for Erin and I. This past summer was packed with good times and empty calories. I recall feeling particularly horrible one mid-September Saturday morning and thinking October could not come fast enough. The first couple of weeks of October included clean eating, working out and, feeling great.
I was able to take a trip down the Pacific Northwest coast with my father in search of things that excited me as a child. Growing up I was intrigued by air planes and in particular, World War II aircraft. I was fascinated by them. The P-38 lightning was my favorite and at the age of 13 I was able to see one of only 9 or so still flying at the Reno Air Races. That trip with my father was very memorable as we flew down in a Cessna with a family friend. Shortly after moving to Vancouver I found out that one of the still flying lightnings was housed in an air museum 6-7 hours south on the Oregon coast. I have been eagerly wanting to head down and check it out ever since. My father was an easy sell. Being Jammy McJamerson I packed a ton into our short trip.
We headed out early one morning and headed south to our first stop, the Boeing factory in Everet Washington. We toured the worlds largest building where the 747, 767, 777, and 787 jumbo jets are born. The building itself is worth the visit alone. It is so large that clouds used to form inside prior to an air circulation system being installed. Of course the factory floor was neat to see. It was amazing to watch these giant planes being assembled in various stages down the lines.
We then headed south and had lunch at Pike Place market in Seattle. Full up on clam chowder we made our way out of town. Pulling out of the parking lot I was kindly let into traffic only to be almost side swiped by speeding car. The old fellow driving the car was quick to flip us the bird which I did not see. At the next stop light we were joking about the guy giving us the finger and my father, while explaining the sittuation, inadvertanlty gave the finger to the large black fellow in the car next to us. Luckily he just nodded and turned his head forward. We had a good laugh as the situation was something out of a National Lampoons movie. Who knew I was related to Clark Griswald.
Next up was the Museum of Flight in South Seattle. This museum is located around the original Boeing factory building and next to the plant that builds the best selling airliner in the world, the 737. This museum had many interesting aircraft including a P-38. The real highlights here were the collection of aircraft outisde that you can enter including a Concord and JFK's Air Force One, which included a doggie door to his office.
This stop was also an eye opener as I learned two things about my father. 1) He likes to fly straight and 2) he carries a purse. The museum had a crude flight simulator game that we thought we would give a go. The very unenthusiastic teen working there ran us through "training" which was the actual game outside of the physical simulator. I grew up on flight simulator games and played them with my father so didn't think much of it. We were instructed to empty or pockets before entering the simulator which I also didn't think much of as I thought the simulator could only turn so far. I was wrong. Strapped in and canopy closed the game started and put us in the middle of a dogfight over the south pacific. Instincts must have kicked in because I banked hard and pulled back on the stick. In my mind I kept thinking that it could only bank so far so I kept turning harder to get better position. When it didn't seem to stop turning I thought "I should probably level out a bit" but just couldn't. That is until I heard a soft plea of "Can you fly straight please?" With that I came to, leveled out the almost inverted plane, and gave over the controls to slow and steady in the left seat. We then flew straight and level towards the coast all while Japanese Zero's bullets whizzed past us from our 6 o'clock. The game came to a disappointing end and we disembarking laughing about "flying straight" and how we would not survive long in war. Then I noticed the giant pink lined "wallet" my father recovered from the tray. "It has a place for me store coins!" was the strongest argument he could muster. Replacing this became a priority on the trip.
Satisfied with aviation history for one day we made our way west towards the coast. I warned my father that the accommodation I booked was through a Groupon type site and all I could tell was that it was a very minimalistic place. We prepared ourselves for the worst but turned out to be an amazing place. It had + sides of a great hostel with great rooms and great restaurant. Free coffee, movies, bikes and included diner? We cheered our good fortunes over beer and free oysters. What a country.
The good luck spilled over to the next day as the weather cleared to an unseasonably dry and sunny day. We enjoyed a stroll along the Long Beach boardwalk and then took a drive on the beach itself. Nature.
While taking pictures on the beach we were alarmed by a loud speaker that, at first, I thought was directed at us. I couldn't quite make out what it was saying until the sirens started going off. Time to go. In between the sirens I did catch that it was a Tsunami evacuation test. Test or no test we suddenly had enough of driving on the beach and made our way for higher ground.
We headed south across the Columbia River and into Astoria, Oregon. Home of the Goonies. Since moving to the west coast I had been looking for an excuse to visit this town and see where Chunk, Data, and Mickey hung out. My father was more interested in lunch as we hadn't eaten yet. Fried Oysters and a bottle of wine at 11:00 am is a pretty sweet way to start the day. Retirement here I come.
We toured the suprsingly busy little town for a bit before making our way to the Goonies house. You could see why it was chosen as it is pearched high above the town with panoramic views of teh Columbia and the giant bridge that crosses it.
Nestagia filled we continued south through the tourist town of Seaside and on to Cannon Beach. We stopped here to streach our legs and take a look at Haystack Rock, a famous rock formation and also seen in the Goonies. The rocks are very impressive an MUCH larger than I had expected.
We could have stayed at the beach for a couple hours as it was gorgeous out. It felt like we were in Mexico or somewhere tropical and not the wet and cold pacific northwest. Alas we had to keep moving south as the real prize of the trip was still to come for me. We made it to our accommodations in the logging/fishing town of Garibaldi just in time to catch the last of the crab fishermen pulling up traps off the pier. No fancy resturaunt with craft beer and Oysters in this town. I had $1 tacos and $2.00 Coors at the local pub and watched football. America.
The next day the rain returned just in time for us to try some fly fishing. I had a hard time getting any info out of the local bait stores as fly fishing wasn't very popular in the area. The teenager with missing front teeth at the store was little help. We managed to find an accessible river and did see a few salmon including a beautifully colored Sockeye but they had little interest in we had to offer.
We packed up and continued south to Tillamook to see the P-38 that caused this trip. The musuem is in a massive WWII blimp hanger which is a site itself. You can see the building for miles due to its size.
We walked in and there it was, front and center.
There were other aircraft in the museum. The collection was very
impressive and well maintained and kept. I did however keep
returning to the Lighting. As we were leaving we found out that for $25
you could get into an aircraft for pictures. Sold. I was giddy as I
climbed up and into the famous bird. This was amazing for me and I was
elated. Sitting in the cockpit and gripping the wheel felt oddly right.
It felt like home.
Giddy like a school girl we left satisfied. Worth the drive even if you are not oddly obsessed with old aircraft. With the grey wet weather we opted to head inland to Portland for a night of microbrew and good food. I made my father walk in the rain to Rouge brewery and found out it was the first time in his 66 years using an umbrella. Wha?? A drunken tour through Whole Foods blew his mind. I guess when you live in a place that may or may not have milk that week a place like Whole Foods would be a shock to the senses.
Great trip and great way to be a kid again which I rarely get to do...now back to Xbox.
We arrived at or Priceline booked W hotel in Hollywood not knowing what to expect. Priceline fine print guarantees accommodations for 2 people which in most hotels means two queen beds. In some hotels, like the W in Hollywood, the cheapest room is a single queen with no room for a roll away bed. This has burned me before. Being that there was three of us I called ahead to try and sweet talk a room with at least two beds...no go, sold out. Not wanting to spend two nights sandwiched between two kiwis I somehow managed to get us upgraded into a suite. The girl on the phone however didn't indicate if this was complementary or not. "You are aware of the $100/night upgrade fee right?" cautioned the check in host. I was not. I explained the situation, minus the fact that there was three of us as to avoid any additional charges. "We can get you into a room with 2 queen beds for no charge. Is that alright?" Absolutely "I just don't want to spend two nights spooning with this guy" I replied pointing to Glen while Travis hid in the bar. With that we were off to our swanky room in one of the coolest hotels I have ever stayed in. The place was more like a dance club with bed rooms. We would later come back to the hotel and find a bouncer and huge lineup to get into the lobby. Apart from the peek-a-boo window from the bedroom through the shower to the crapper, the place was great.
We cleaned up and headed out for a Friday night in Hollywood. After walking Hollywood blvd for a few blocks we ended up at a college bar for ridiculously cheap drinks and surprisingly great pub food. Our waitress/actress was a fellow Canuck and filled us in on the places to go in the area. Awesome. After bar hopping for a bit we ended up at this cool little dive spot called The Piano Bar which was just that, a small bar with a tiny stage and an old piano. No cover or line and the band was amazing. Full up on cheap booze and great music we headed for a late night snack before getting a few hours of sleep before the real activities began.
Many lost balls later we were back on the highway heading back to town for our night at the Staples Center. To prep for this we stopped at a Hawaiian BBQ place where we all had free $20 groupon vouchers for. $20 gets you an alarming number of teriyaki pork ribs in the land of the free. Painfully full we ventured to Staples Center for our VIP (meaning we had a server at our seats...meaning it was dangerously expensive) The arena is very impressive however the game was not. Being a Celtics fan it felt sacrilegious being there. The off season addition of fellow Canadian Steve Nash and then acquiring Dwight Howard made the idea tolerable. Fast forward to Steve Nash getting injured 1.5 games into the season and Dwight Howard being a shadow of his old self and we had a boring and terrible team to watch. So bad so that their coach was fired a few hours before the game we watched. None the less the beer flowed and the experience was good.
Sunday AM we found ourselves having Bloody Mary's for breakfast at a pub where people from all walks of life united for a higher power, football. It truly is a religion for most and not without its rituals. The tailgaters outside of candlestick park were fine examples of this. 
The only trip that took a flight to get to was for my close friend (and 2006 travel partner) Jon's wedding at their family cabin on Shaw's point, Slave Lake, Alberta. It is a beautiful spot that I was able to enjoy growing up with him and his family and made a great place for a wedding.
Summer 2012 wasn't all fun as it was almost my last summer. Slight exaggeration perhaps but on a weekend kayak trip up the Seachelt inlet it sure felt that way. Following a super fun day of fun and sanity that included golfing, a Vancouver Canadian's game, pitch and putt, and a Metallica concert, Erin and I thought it would be good to shake off our hangover by doing an overnight kayak trip. Forecast was favorable so we headed out and paddled our way up the inlet. Hangover aside, every other person in the world thought this weekend was a good idea as well. Not wanting to spend the night on a beach with 50 girl guides we made the call to cross the then calm waters of the inlet to the more secluded side. We had an amazing night on a beach with a view of the ocean and mountains right from our tent window. In the AM after a breakfast of spam and eggs and Vietnamese coffee we packed up and started heading back. By then the wind had picked up and replaced the calm waters with white caps. We only made it a half hour down the coast until we had to pull into a small beach where we waited and waited for the wind to settle. And waited. Finally we made the decision and took the diagonal trip across the inlet. It was brutal. The wind picked up again and made the 1 hour trip 2.5 hours. We paddled in place for the most part and struggled to stay heading into the waves. Let me tell you if you ever want to test your relationship get into a double kayak with your significant other. I am proud to say we made it out alive and relationship in tact.
Summer 2012 also wasn't just about testing relationships. While Erin was doing "Vegas only knows what" I was having a man weekend. Travel companion and overall "Chad" Justin flew out for some fun. Golf in Osoyoos then racing back to Vancouver to catch Jerry Seinfeld (who was surprisingly hilarious live) was a great time. More golf, booze and poker followed.
