Saturday, June 25, 2022

Mr. In-between (the Burl Ives version)

In between seasons 5 and 6 of the Good Doctor, how to fill the time? Well, I would recommend Hamilton if you get a chance to see it. (We thoroughly enjoyed our evening at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver.)
 

.... or maybe hangin' with the Great Root Bear...........
....at a Vancouver Canadians baseball game.
...and a great Sunday afternoon it was.
Checking up on the poppies along our walk route......
....the random, let's get a closer look, pic.
Sipping sake that Ritsue brought back from Hiroshima is also a great pastime.
I was surprised to see how cloudy, yet delicious, it was.
The random, out walking in Central Park, Burnaby style, pic.
Had a small window to go out to the airport and meet up with my sister-in-law Wendy, who was up from Del Rio, Tennessee visiting her sister in Prince George.
Spent one in-between day at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. The exhibit of Indigenous artifacts was impressive.
....reminds me of the good ole days when me and my buddies were out girl watching, lol....
There was an exhibit of Mexican artisans. Two takes on the Last Supper.....
.......the second is surely open to interpretation........
....another exhibit was on ceramics, mostly from Europe. The condition of some of the pieces was amazing. This bowl was one example........
.....extraordinary. (Not dishwasher safe)
When we went to the airport to see my sister-in-law she surprised me with this gemstone gift. Apparently it was one my brother Rick had found in his travels, and she wanted me to have it.
In-between's new meaning. Do not plan on much vehicular travel on your time off. One fill up of my cast ride was $200.00. (That's about $6.92 U.S. dollars per gallon.)
.....one could spend an evening out on the balcony looking at the clouds.....
......or two evenings, lol. 
An encore pic of Wendy and I.
Why not spend one of those in-between evenings at the VIP cinema in Coquitlam. Grab a bottle of wine and watch a little Top Gun: Maverick action.
.......or go back out on the balcony for a little sunset action.
....this blog has come full circle. This night started with hoppin' on the sky-train and heading downtown.....
....(I do recommend the brisket sandwich at the Devil's Elbow on Beatty, but maybe not before you are about to attend a Broadway production.
....and the beer and the 2 shots my daughter bought for us???.....
....well that's enough in-betweening at home, time to head out.......

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Montsue hat-trick

Well, seems like an eternity ago (early May) that we went to Centennial beach in Tsawwassen.
 

Poser......
She said she saw a dragon in there somewhere.........
A toast to fellow Teamster peep Bob, who lives in Tsawwassen but was unable to join us on this day.
......the on this day, this is how Mt. Baker was viewed from our place, pic.
A star is born! Yes, that's Ritsue! (....you know, she's sitting down in the other room, a window away from Dr. Lim.) She got to be a background performer on two different episodes of the Good Doctor.
......and then, after a what seemed like a long wait it was time to get back up.......
......in the air. Good-bye Vancouver, for a few days, anyways.
First class on WestJet was, uh, ok......
......rise above, that's my, well, everyone on the plane's motto, lol......
.... hey! I recognize that!
.....touchdown in San Francisco.
Well how about that, I think I like the Penticton sign better.
We stayed one night in the Union Square district of San Fran. First pose was under the Dewey Monument.
Wasn't our original plan, but really loved walking around and experiencing the architecture.
I heartily recommend the rueben sandwich at Bartlett Hall on O'Farrell Street.
We weren't there for the hotel view, hyuk.
The next morning, a little more exploring.....
The streetcar goes down this hill??
Views in every direction.
Saint Paul's catholic church......
....we were defineatly at the top of the hill......
.... and that meant going down.......
...lovin' it....
Ha, we drove down Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world.
.....more posing, Lombard Street style......
I spy Alcatraz in the distance........
.....and the Golden Gate.......
.....next stop, Japantown and the Peace Pagoda.....

......and after transitioning from San Fran to Oakland for our second night, it was time to Uber back to San Francisco to the Chase Center for part one of the Montsue hat-trick.......
Game 6 of the  NBA western conference semi-finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Memphis Grizzlies.
Seats were better than the pic shows, heck and only $300 U.S. (but that was, after all in the Modelo Cantina, which included free Modelo beer and eats.)
I was pretty thirsty, thanks for the warning, lol. (zoom in on the message)
.....the warm-up....
....and the tip-off!
The score was way closer than it should of been.....
Maybe because all the pink dots represent all the shots Golden State missed!
In the end, the Warriors won the series, and we became "gold" blooded....
.....and now they're in the finals against Boston.
...the, yes we are from Canada, let's take a picture under a palm tree, pic.
A lot of people told us to be careful around our hotel, but heck, the bus stop was right outside the gate, a lot cheaper than the Uber gouging we got in San Fran.
.....part 2 of the hat-trick, when in Oakland, you have to go see an A's game at the Coliseum. We lucked out, because they were playing the Los Angeles Angels, who just happen to have the Japanese phenom Shohei Ohtani on their roster.
A lot of history here....
.....oh ya, old school! Line-up, boys, don't be shy!
.......I think Modelo owes Ritsue some endorsement moolah.
....and that was another hit for Shohei...
Ha, the Canadian in me thought it was a little too hot, (about 75 fahrenheit, lol) so we moved up from our awesome seats into a couple offering a bit more shade.
....the crazy thing was, there were more people wearing Angels colors than Oakland. (The Ohtani factor, for sure.)
The obligatory hot dogs!


.....and what an ending!

We found this beach in Alameda when we were out looking for a Safeway. San Francisco was a nice back-drop that evening.
The rental car model pose......
....back on the freeway, this time headed to Santa Clara for nights 4 and 5......
...... of course, the Montague!
We ventured about, I saw blue water on Google maps and we headed for it, but when we got to the Alviso Marina County Park, I saw terrain that reminded me of areas in B.C., like Kamloops and parts of the Okanagan and interior.
Yikes, apparently there were salt ponds here back in the day.....
....salty evidence..... The whole area is a national wildlife refuge, and the reclamation is ongoing.
...back in Alviso, which certainly has seen better days, I found a new project vehicle for Unk!
A quiet Sunday morning, lovely view of the Montague Expressway.
Time to fuel up at the local Red Robin.......




Sayyyyyyy vaaaattttttttt????????


Well, I guess we should go then, after all, when in Rome.......
Located in Santa Clara, Levi stadium is also home to the San Francisco 49'ers football team.
Everyone was given these nifty wrist bands......
It was starting to fill up as the opening acts played....
The power of the wrist bands, what a great concert.
Chris Martin was belting out all the hits.....

Just an intimate evening with Coldplay, us and 60,000 others......
Hat-trick complete.
We had one more day, so we headed to Fisherman's Wharf. Hey, that cruise ship is blocking our view of Alcatraz.
Hmnnn, any room for me??
We took a boat tour out into the harbor.......
.....looking back towards pier 39.......
it was a lot cooler and windier then this pic shows......
.....and that is a close as we got to the Golden Gate Bridge, the drive over just never happened.
....the front or back view of Alcatraz.....
.....uhhhh the front or back view of Alcatraz....
.....back at Fisherman's Wharf.
A person gets awfully thirsty doing all that touristy stuff......
....and awfully hungry, man, what a feast we had at Supreme Crab on Jefferson St.
.....one last look and back to Santa Clara.....
ahhh, love the hotel breakfast....
.....and just like that, it was over, here comes our plane......
.....love the zoom on the camera....
.....we got through the check-in early, so it was time for me to have a teddy beer......
.....back in Vancouver, originally this was a protest pic because it took so long to get our luggage, but it's all water under the bridge now....
.....back home to reality, how the heck does fridge door fall off???
Well, it was 3 hours of my life I'll never get back, lol.
....I forgot this one, you never know what you're going to see at the snack truck.......
hmnnnnnn, what's next?