Alaska 1236

 

Just another May morning in Seattle. So far, it's been a year without spring. The weather maps look more like March.

Alaska Airlines Flight 1236 leaves Seattle at 8 am, makes a quick turn around in Las Vegas and returns to Seattle at noon. I've taken this flight so many times I know some of the pilot names, like good Captain Jennifer, flying yesterday, also memorable for her smooth landings in windy Las Vegas.

Lucky me, because Flight 1236 was cancelled (both legs) today. Tough luck for people looking forward to a weekend in Las Vegas.

The airline is trying to put on a good face, but things are noticeably off with our once stellar Alaska. We were delayed at gate yesterday because they didn't start loading baggage until everyone was already on the plane. Little things added to the bigger things, like cancelled flights.

We were delayed again when the wind suddenly shifted and everyone had to taxi to the other end of the runway. Of course, no one's fault there. 

So I was glad to get home only a half hour late and elbow my way through a packed concourse of unmasked travelers. Maybe 1 in 100 masked and I was one of them. Pretty unnerving, since Covid rates are skyrocketing now in Washington state. No one seems to care if they get it, much less give it to someone else. The world has gone nuts. Time to distract myself with some old-fashioned laundry and grocery shopping.

Desert View Overlook

 

About 9,000 feet up this morning on the north side of Mt. Charleston. Yes, we felt the altitude on the little stroll to the viewpoint. The Desert View Overlook has incredible peaceful views of the Mojave Desert and the valley below. During the atomic era, this was apparently a popular spot for watching bomb detonation.

It was a beautiful easy drive, and as you gain elevation the desert floor turns to foothills dotted with Joshua trees, which transition to pine and aspen forests and huge rock formations. The air was brisk and chilly. It boggles the mind considering The Strip is less than an hour away from this wilderness wonderland.

None of the scenery rang a bell in my memory. Is it possible that after dozens of trips to Las Vegas, this was the first time up Mt. Charleston? It's a huge recreation area, with camping, miles of trails, cabins and resorts. The biggest attraction of all is winter snowfall, which brings the valley residents up the mountain in droves to ski and play.

On the way home we had a nice brunch at the EggWorks. Thank you, Dad- I'm getting spoiled with all this restaurant food. 

Back to Seattle tomorrow morning.  

Oh yum

 Baked potato soup...

Grilled shrimp salad for Marji...

French dip sandwich for Dad. And I had a roasted beet salad with goat cheese. And that decadent soup. 

Really they are lucky, having so many good restaurants and fast food choices within a few miles of the house. This is the FireRock Steakhouse, one of many quality chains in Las Vegas. Dad treated us to lunch today, in honor of Dave's birthday. Sorry you missed it, brother.

We don't have any big chain restaurants in West Seattle I can think of, unless you count McDonald's. Our choices are mostly small, locally owned, often grubby. We have many ethic restaurants and cafes which sounds interesting and diverse. So it is. But it's a treat going out to a big, clean, new restaurant with good service and quality food. And wow, parking at the front door.

The desert wind is up today and it's about 75, which is jacket weather for Marji and Dad. Tomorrow looks better, and we plan to drive up to Mt. Charleston, which is pretty much on the outskirts of the city now. Las Vegas continues to gobble up the desert. I remember the 1970's, when the mountain range was still wilderness and a long trek through empty desert to get there.

As we know from the movies, many bad things go down in the desert surrounding Las Vegas. And more are coming to light. Did you hear about the skeleton in the barrel beached on the shrinking shoreline of Lake Mead? Cement overshoes and all that. Could the Jimmy Hoffa mystery finally be solved?

Nice tan

 

Dad has a healthy desert glow. Doesn't he look great?

Well, compared to these pasty white Washington legs. I look a bit dazed but happy to relax on the warm patio with my buddy Doodles. Flying sure takes it out of a person. And now I know exactly what "unexpected turbulence" feels like. Yes, keep those seat belts loosely fastened at all times. Poor flight attendants. 

We're looking forward to a nice visit. Weather is just about perfect. More pictures later.

Arbor Day

 

What a sweet-looking couple. Arbor Day was founded in 1872 by Julius Sterling Morton. In 1854, Morton and his wife Carrie settled on 160 acres of open prairie in Nebraska. They planted thousands of trees, including rare varieties and many different orchards.

Julias Morton went on to become a politician and advocate for modern forestry and ecology. A man ahead of his time, as Secretary of Agriculture he supported setting up forest preserves, the start of our national forest system established in 1891.

 

 

Arbor Day is one of the oldest national holidays. 

Friday rolls around again. After being cancelled two years in a row, the big West Seattle Community Yard Sale is back tomorrow. I always enjoyed driving around and stopping at whim, not that I needed anything who does? but it was fun seeing neighbors who are almost always tucked away inside. And yes, paw through their junk.

Seattle always comes up on those lists of unfriendly cities. It's called the "Seattle Freeze." Over half the residents say they avoid casual conversation with strangers. Maybe the weather has something to do with it. Saturday looks like a day of steady cold rain, which makes outdoor chit-chat even less appealing.

Have a good weekend. I'm off to Las Vegas on Monday morning, looking forward to spending a few days in the warm friendly desert. 

Wingding

 

Hopefully you had a healthier dinner than we did last night. I cooked the last of that gigantic bag of frozen wings from Costco. An embarrassing 20 pounds of wings did give me a chance to experiment on different Buffalo sauces.

And the winner is Franks, even better than the more expensive Stonewall brand. It's got the right blend of heat and vinegar. 

There's no recipe on the bottle; you have to go to the Internet. The classic method is to bake the wings plain, then dip them in the sauce right when they come out of the oven. It's the same method for Nashville hot chicken, except that dip is a mixture of melted lard and hot pepper sauce. And of course the chicken is fried in a heavy batter.

 

Most recipes say to bake the wings about 30 minutes, but they need twice that to become fall-off-the-bone tender. The final result is messy and delicious. We skip the celery and blue cheese thing. I made some crinkle cut oven fries with red potatoes.

Reading this blog anyone would think, oh yea, here's a gal who never gets tired of cooking. Wrong. I run out of inspiration like everyone else and seldom make complicated recipes anymore. Been there, done that. The thing that keeps me cooking is how depressing life can be without good plain homemade food, especially when you're stuck at home. 

I always look forward to grilling to break up the monotony, but it's been so frigging cold. In fact, this April was one of the coldest on record in Seattle. Maybe May will finally brings us some warmth.