Travel Diary

Monday morning, I joined my friend on a dog walk around the city blocks for about an hour. The weather was once again wonderful. We then traveled over to a burger place called Fred's Burgers, where they were supposed to have some wonderful fries. I actually got a burger too since I was quite hungry. The burger price wasn’t too bad: around nine dollars which I guess is pretty good these days. We then went back to the house. I decided to eat outside since I rarely get to be in nice sunny weather in April The burger and fries were fairly good, though nothing exceptional, but still tasty. And I ate most of it!

We then started driving north. I was hoping to get over to the Baylands Trail again, but it was actually the wrong direction for where my friend was driving since she was going up 680 and that was 101. So I suddenly decided to simply go on a different hike…which turned out to be a Mission Peak.

Mission Peak I’d never hiked before. Many years prior I had started the hike with a girlfriend of mine, but she tired out too quickly and we had to turn back, and so I never made it to the top. And I guess I just never got out there to try it again, which is too bad. But now I was remedying that mistake.

The only major challenge was that I was carrying my luggage (a filled backpack) on my back and since it had everything in there, it weighed about 25 pounds. This was fine for level planes, but the hike had a considerable grade to it, so I was getting worn out even during the first quarter mile. And there was a long way to go. Plus, I hadn't bought along any water because I didn't think I would need to, and there was no water along the trail. Yeah, challenges! But I kept climbing and then stopping for photos and appreciating the weather and the views—and the nice green grass that a California spring has to offer.

A few hours later, I'd finally made it to the peak, where I made some videos and captured some photos, and just took it all in. It was quite spectacular. There was almost nobody else up there at that time. I guess the morning or early afternoon hikers were done and the late afternoon hikers haven't come in yet, so it was very big light crowd level. After getting all the shots I wanted, I started back down again. My phone was now down to about 20% so I had to dim the brightness and put it on low power mode. I didn't want it dying before I could call my Uber to get to the airport.

At some point along the way down, I realize that my laptop could supply power to my phone, so I took a few breaks to charge my phone again and it worked perfectly. I guess I just forgot to consider that for the longest time. At the bottom, I rested a while on a picnic table, and then started walking towards the airport. I knew I wouldn't be able to make it to the airport in time. At some point I would have to call Uber. I reached a shopping center and as I was hungry, I wanted to get a small burger or snack from Jack-in-the-Box, but I got in there and nobody seemed welcoming or wanting to take my order. It was like I was an unwelcome guest in their place. I left. What's funny is the same exact thing happened at Taco Bell. They just weren't trained to take people’s orders or even greet customers. So again I left. At Burger King, they finally wanted to take my order. I think it was even the manager working the floor so that made sense. I just ordered a small chicken sandwich. It took some time for it to come, but at least it was fresh.

I then walked along Warm Springs Boulevard where I passed a business called he.net which was funny because it was the company that first provided Internet access to me and my friend Corey many many years ago when the Internet was really coming to life. I didn't even know that the company was still around. I then summoned Uber and it was a bit of a weird situation with the driver not being at the right pickup point. I had to call him to get him to the pick up point and he even dropped me off at the wrong side of the airport departures, but no big deal.

However, since Uber decided to charge me two dollars for the extra time, I felt that that was not my fault and I passed on any tip, and I left a low rating (2 stars) because it was the driver that really caused the problem. Once again, the airport had zero security wait. I do love those smaller airports. My Gate was number 18, which I never had before as it was the opposite direction at SJC where I usually go. We boarded on time and I was in another first class seat. I had gotten lucky and received upgrades for all my flights for the trip. This flight did have a meal, but I had only ordered the fruit and cheese plate, which I actually ate almost all of this time as I was ravished from all the hiking and walking. I also got another Diet Coke. Yeah no booze for five weeks now.

The flight went by pretty fast and I was soon landing in Seattle. It was N-Gate, of course (it’s always N-Gate with Alaska!) I took the transfer train and headed to the parking lot. I didn't even bother checking the Uber prices this time, but made my way over to Link where I got on the train after a 10-minute wait. The train would only take me as far as Stadium Station as they was construction going on. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have paid for the ticket, since they weren't able to do the entire job, but well maybe next time. I got off at SODO Station and took Uber the rest of the way home.

My vacation and business trip were over. Sleep came easy that night. I don’t think I’d slept so soundly in years.

Last Entry