Oklahoma City

Sorry for the lack of updates, Colorado Springs was a blast.. wasn't sure what to write if anything so I decided I'd share whatever I can in person. Oklahoma on the other hand.. not so great.. the hotel itself is fine but the food is gross.. their prized home cut fries were greasy both times and today they were cold. I had the club sandwich twice and it wasn't made the same way.. today's was on bread (not toasted.. or stall I couldn't tell really and there were chunks of ham, not sliced like the last time)  The burger yesterday was burnt and the bun was soggy and the ice cream they "treated" me with melted by the time I got to it... Anyways I'm leaving Oklahoma tomorrow for Florida .. I get to Panama City tomorrow afternoon via Atlanta.. I hope my flight isn't delayed.. getting here took a while. I was delayed 2 hrs leaving Denver.. my suitcase got here before I did. I got to the airport 4hrs early because I didn't backtrack the time properly.. oh well. Today I stayed in and read.. since the weather was not pleasant.. loudest thunder shower i've ever heard in my life. They were calling for hail but I didn't see any. Only a few days left till I arrive in Atlanta.. can't wait.

Colorado Springs

Sorry for missing a post yesterday, it was really an uneventful day. I drove the car to the rental place, and maybe my way to LAX. It was recommended that I be there 3hrs early because of the lineups at security.. well it took me 7mins, and that includes 5mins of me searching for my passport. The flight was nice, not much turbulence. As we flew across California, Arizona, Utah and Colorado I was able to catch a glimpse of the Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams. Quite the sight even at 13000 feet. The only excitement was when we landed and emergency crews needed to board to plane to care for a passenger. The wheeled her our in a wheelchair, hope she's ok. Colorado Springs is 1.6Kms above sea level and you can get winded pretty fast.

Today it was Columbus day and from what I can tell around here no one celebrates it. I was lucky enough to go golfing, it was a very nice course and even though I didn't have my clubs or shoes I did ok. Was nice to golf in October and not have to be bundled up. The few days will be the most intense just because of where I am. Don't expect too many photos, I will send you Wikipedia links afterwards so you get an idea of what I'm talking about.

Long Weekend

When I setup the dates for this trip I didn't even realize until two days before leaving that I would be missing thanksgiving. I also didn't realize that our Canadian day off also happens to be Columbus day. So I'm off till Tuesday.  Yesterday was a long day, we woke up early and  had to drive a little over an hr to get to our location.
Interesting fact: this commercial was filmed on the floor above us:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYNizPDyrPs

Also interesting aside from the terms they use and the Ironman type hologram used, its almost spot on. Lastly these are real airmen who work in that location not actors.

After we completed our job we drove an hour south and had lunch at a little place that was suggested to us called the boathouse, surrounded by cliffs and well the Pacific ocean.

We then drove another 2hrs back to LA where my coworker that's a flight back home (Colorado Springs) and I join him there on Sunday. Apparently it snowed yesterday in CS, should be fun landing.

Last night we took it easy, we went to in and out burger because he had never tried it. I think today we will swing by the Venice Beach and after dropping him off at the airport I might go by the Observatory (depends how far it is traffic is beyond belief)

Thursday

Yesterday we went to the Pike Market Place, it was nice but something about it was a let down. They had some arts and crafty stuff and lots of fresh fish. There was even a comic bookstore with cardboard cut outs of Star Wars and Avenger characters, and also some kids in a band called One Direction. We got to see the first ever Starbucks and it was the mecca.. loads of people buying coffee and souvenirs and taking pictures. We then went to a neat pub in the middle of nowhere for a few beers and then off to a Japanese village for sushi. I picked spicy tuna and albacore. I wasn't able to finish the rolls they were enormous, and I wasn't a huge fan of the tuna but the other one was pretty tasty. We then took the light rail back to make it to our hotel for an early night. 

We had a very early flight out of Seattle 7am. The flight itself was painless, I'm starting to think I'm over my fear of flying. I wanted to take a few photos from the plane again but the camera kept focusing on the scratches on the window. Sorry.

We were in and out of the terminal and off to get our car for our drive to Santa Barbara. We reserved a mid size for the an extra $7 / day we upped it to a black convertible mustang. woot woot.We drove up and stopped for lunch in Oxnard, only time I've ever heard of the place was in the big bang theory.

I will post some photos directly in here but in the meantime these are the best ones I've taken so far, I have not edited them or sorted them .. sorry

Oct 3rd

We're in Seattle now and arrived yesterday around 4pm. We made a quick stop at the hotel and took the light rail into town. I was very excited as we were going to watch the Seattle Mariners play their 2nd last game of the season. I will be adding photos a little later, still sorting out some IPhone issues. This afternoon once we are finished we will head back to downtown Seattle to visit the Pike Marketplace and find a good seafood restaurant. I will take oodles of photos and post them on here so be sure to come  back.

Pleasant surprise

I've been up since 5:30. Guess old habits die hard.  Yesterday went better then expected aside from getting lost on the base for 40 mins everything else went really well. Also learned a lot about Anchorage and the base.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Base_Elmendorf-Richardson

Sadly I had a mishap with my phone (its working now, but I lost about a dozen photos)

Last night we went to a pub with one of the guys posted here. I had reindeer pizza, needless to say donner or blitzen was tasty.

We leave today for Seattle our flight is about four hours. We get in around 4pm, hopefully we'll have a little time to tour around downtown. I will try and catch up on the photo department but understandably I couldn't take too many yesterday.

Well that didn't go as planned

Yesterday, I thought about going to the Anchorage market and on the way there changed my mind and decided to visit Lake Eklutna which was described as a hidden gem in the area. The over one hour drive would be well worth it I though, I'd hike a couple miles and take some breath taking photos. With about 10mins left on my drive I find that the only bridge nearby is closed and I can't make it there. I decided to drive another 10miles and visit Palmer AK. The terrain getting to there was flat and very picturesque, I will post some a little later today. Today should be a busy day, lots to do and I don't know how well we will be received. More to follow

Sunday Sept 30

Its 10am and I just got out of bed. I forgot that I'm three hours behind Ottawa time. That's a new experience for me I've always been ahead. Not quite sure what the plans are for today I will first go get some breakfast then google some touristy stuff around here. I did some shopping yesterday just to kill time while I waited for my room.

Getting here was a lot less painless then I imagined. My two flights were excellent with little to no turbulence. Ottawa airport on a Saturday morning was really a mess. I thought I was going to miss my plane. First I had to check-in, US flights go through a different section of the airport. Then we had to fill out our customs declarations, have our checked bags scanned. Followed by a never ending line to get through the metal detectors. Lastly  we are greeted by the lovely people from DHS (Google that acronym). I made it through all that a little stressed because our plane started boarding at 6:55 and it was not 7:15. As I made it to the gate I asked if I missed my flight and they hadn't even started boarding the plane yet. We took off about 20mins later then scheduled and we have a nice view leaving Ottawa (We flew over Allison & Martin's house). We arrived in Chicago early and I walked around a bit, that is one big a$$ airport. The flight to Anchorage was about 5:30mins which was an hour shorter then I thought it would be. If you ever fly Alaskan Airlines remember they will charge you for everything (Tablet to watch a movie $10, Food $6 for a chicken carbonara and of course my beer wasn't free.We had an excellent view coming into Anchorage, someone let my dad know I was on the wrong side of the plane and still saw a glacier. 

As soon as you get off the plane and you're in the airport terminal huge mountains greet you. It was quite the view. So I got the car drove around and got the the hotel before my room was ready. I made my way to Best Buy and mooched off their WiFi and txted with Anne for a while and posted some photos on Instagram. I did a little shopping and found a liquor store it was an impressive place. I bought a few beers all Alaskan and will sample them over the next few days.

Lastly one thing I've noticed to far, compared to the other States I've driven through I have not seen that much law enforcement.

Have I started to pack?

I've been on course all week and the only thing I can say I've packed to far is all the computer gear I'll be bringing with me. It shouldn't take me long to pack I've done this before, just look at the trip last November... this should be a walk in the park in comparison. The trip is shorter and I'll be in one spot long enough to do laundry a couple times. The only dilemma really is how to you pack for Alaska on Monday and California on Thursday. If my nieces are readying this I know their thinking "oh my #firstworldpains". In less then 24hours I'll be boarding the first of many flights over the next few days. This blog is for myself as much as it is for anyone wanting to read it. I find it helpful, in that it makes the trip go by faster and the people I love and care about can to a certain extent share the experience with me.

T-3 Days

This will probably my last trip for work for a while. Unless something happens I'm not scheduled to go anywhere next year. Like last time I will take lots of photos and try and write everyday.