Dogmania!

No, we didn't get a dog... But we did this 1,000 piece 'DOGMANIA' puzzle, courtesy of Ravensberger!

Whistler (and Squamish) Vibrations

Went to Whistler on Saturday and stayed the night with Andy and Nikki in Squamish that night. Any day of snowboarding at Whistler is amazing, but this day pretty much took the cake. Loads of snow the previous week, sunshine, good company, and cold temperatures made for a perfect day. The only imperfect thing was the fact it was so crowded...didn't matter, we had a blast anyway. Thanks to Andy and Nikki for the wonderful hospitality and for taking us to the Grizzly!!! We owe you one!


The crew...Mark, Meghan, Nikki, and Andy.

The line! Didn't matter though...look at all that lovely snow in the background!

So they have this gondola at Whistler now, that connects the Whistler Peak with the Blackcomb Peak...pretty freaky stuff. We had to ride it. This thing stretches for an eternity, and is supported by only four towers. The valley between the towers is massive...and the drop is ridiculous. Photos, obviously, cannot do it justice. Ride it when you get the chance.

The drop. Each gondola holds 20 people, and some of them have glass bottoms; ours didn't unfortunately. Check out how small the gondola looks in the upper left hand corner of this photo.

This ones for you Dean & Melissa...ahhh, such good memories!

The Grizzly Bar & Grrrill Pub, Squamish, BC. As your attorney I advise you to have some drinks at this place as soon as humanly possible. You must experience it for yourself.

Video of the Peak 2 Peak Gondola in Whistler.

Portland is a fun place.

We went to Portland a couple weeks back, to visit Stevie & Monica. Jeff & Natalie live there as well, and Travis, Jim, and Dean & Melissa all came to enjoy good company in a nice setting. Portland really is a nice setting for a reunion of sorts. Some of these photos are Stevie's, and can be found on his blog, and probably on Facebook as well. But figured might as well post them to one more place on the World Wide Web.


The most yummiest cupcakes we've ever had.

Here is your ultimate tourist shot, out front of Voodoo Doughnuts. The maple bar with bacon on top is fun to eat.

Posse up!

Meghan and Mark down by the schoolyard. Forgot the name of this place, so schoolyard will have to suffice.

It snowed in Portland. Been a very snowy winter.

Meghan Poppins!

The Blazers blew the Lakers out on this night. That's okay though, they just better hope they don't play the Lakers in the playoffs.

Crappy photo (thanks Stevie) of Mark in Laker gear in front of the Rose Garden. Yeah, there was some heckling...

Day Nine

Our ninth day in Argentina, and our second day in Mendoza, was all about the vino. Actually, most days were about the vino as we sipped some pretty much everyday, but this day was completely dedicated to the vino. The greater Mendoza region has three or four main areas where grapes are grown; the most popular (Valle de Uco) was too far for a day trip, but two regions, Maipu and Lujan de Cuyo, were nearby. The Mendoza wine country is amazing...tiny tree-lined roads (some of which were dirt) characterize most of the region, and amazing stories and wine at each of them. We hit five wineries/vineyards, or maybe it was four...who knows? Either way, this was definitely a highlight of the trip. Who doesn't like tasting wine???


This is right out front of our B&B...most of the streets in Mendoza are this beautiful.

Yep, it is everywhere.

You must look very closely to see the sign in the middle. It says 3,287 (or 3,289 - can't look that close). Anyway, this is the kilometer number...this highway is very large. It goes from tip to tip.

En route to our first winery in Maipu. Vineyards on the left and right...you don't need to look closely.

Yep, another self-portrait; this is our first wine experience in Mendoza, Argentina, South America. This winery said they were the oldest in the region, dating back to the 1800's (can't remember what year, precisely).

Mark and sign de Familia Cecchin.

A beautiful tree-lined street in Maipu. This was the most lovely and serene drive. A lovely and serene moment tambien. We miss it very much.

Another self-portrait, which includes some grapes.

This was the second or third winery we visited. It is called Familia Di Tommaso, and dates to 1869. They also said they were the oldest winery in the region; guess they all say that. Anyhow, these brick VATs (that line the room) are original (from 1869 or so), and they still age wine in them. After they spend some quality time in these brick VATs, its off to oak barrels to finish the aging process.

This is a room that is used for nothing more than a stop along the winery tour. They used to age wine in here and you could see the crystals, etc. on the walls from the tannins [sic]...or something like that. Either way, its a real nice room.

We should have purchased one of these bottles as they were going for about 90 pesos or something, which is only like $25 or $30. We wouldn't have brought it back, instead we'd have drank it at a special dinner, but oh well. Anyway, this particular Malbec (Don Angelo) is quite rare...they only produced 4,000 bottles or so. If you purchase one, the winemaker writes all the details of the wine and signs the bottle with a wax marker or whatever. Quite neat...too bad the picture is a bit out of focus.

More wine, more self-portraiture!

This was our final stop, and boy was it a doosey [sic]. So we park and this dude comes out to greet us, stating "I am Christiano, welcome to my house". He was wearing a white cloth sort of robe, along with some greasy hair and some sandals. He instructed us to go on HIS wine tour and to meet him on the patio to try some wine. Real weird situation. The place was gorgeous, and I'm sure it was handed down to him at some point by his father or grand-father or something. Whoever founded it is probably rolling over in his/her grave.

This is the patio at Christiano's house/winery. It was a real nice setup, but a bit too modern, especially considering there were some serious Euro beats going on, real loud. It actually wasn't so much the music, but the volume level of the music that was too much. There were a number of other groups on the patio (prior to this picture being taken), and Christiano would come up to them and put his hand on their shoulders and make sure they were comfortable; at one point we noticed him stumble as if one had had a little too much of the vino. Anyhow, upon our departure, Christiano invited us to come back when his house/winery closed, at 19:30, for dinner. We did not go back. As for Christiano, a nice guy, but lots of cocaine is suspected.

We wondered around the city and had dinner at some point. This extravagant light situation is at the main plaza in el Ciudad de Mendoza.

We had lunch at the Familia Di Tommaso winery. A lovely location for a lunch, with a babbling brook running beside us...it provided very pleasant sounds.

Siete y Ocho

Days seven and eight are combined because they were basically like one long day...the night between the two days would be our first extended, overnight bus ride...you guessed it, Super Cama!!! Super Cama basically means Super Bed. These buses are absolutely amazing; think Business Class on an aeroplane, but somewhere near sea level, not 40,000 feet. In other words, you don't get all swollen... Anyhow, the shitty (bad words are allowed in this post...you'll see why later) thing about day seven was that it was our last day in Buenos Aires, for the time being. However, many exciting times lay ahead. Next destination = Mendoza, wine country! And lord knows we like the wine... For Meghan, this last day in BA was amazing...shopping! Palermo Viejo is known for its shopping. Meghan bought some beautiful handmade shoes for $90 - likely would cost upwards of four hundred bucks here. Ask her for more shopping details, if you wish.

Day eight...ah yes, first day in Mendoza. We were basically jetlagged, even though we hadn't been on a jet. When we got to Mendoza, it was nap time, aka siesta. After a short nap, it was off to the city to take care of some chores: rental car reservation, next Super Cama ride reservation, and laundry. So enough of this attempt at explaining days seven and eight in paragraph form...let's look at some photos.


Palermo Viejo - shopping day - melted booze bottles hanging on a brick wall. We acquired a Quilmes bottle to hang on a wall in our home. It wasn't acquired at this location and it won't be hanging on a brick wall. Nonetheless, these things are pretty cool...make a good souvenir.

Random street with neat building coloration. This was also in Palermo Viejo...as a matter of fact, it was right across the street from the melted bottle tienda.

Couldn't help but put this photo in...that explains the foul language approval in this post. Place wasn't open, and the shutters were down on the windows, so don't know what was going on inside. Use your imagination...

A nice plaza in Palermo Viejo that we frequented...on this day we had Quilmes. It was muy hot.

Craziness. Some sort of vehicle with loads of books on it. The people sitting in the middle/front are on a tour of the city. So, this vehicle gives tours of the city.

Holy shit! The Buenos Aires bus station... Can't remember how many platforms there were (maybe 140?), but there were a shitload. It was a very stressful situation. Basically, when your bus turns up, there is a screen that shows what platform it will be at and it is your job to show up there. Problem is, that not all the buses show up on the screen, and you have a short time to show up. You also must watch like 15 platforms as the bus could show up at any of them. To top it off, lots of thieves are at work at the bus station (Omnibus).

More Omnibus. That wasn't the bus we rode, but it was similar. Check out the bus in the background wiht the white wall tires...

After all the madness at the station, we finally managed to get on. We had a nice spot, with a nice window view. We like Super Cama rides, much better than flying.

After we started rolling, this dude came by and gave us a cup of booze...not sure what kind, but it was sweet. A short time later, the same dude came by and poured us some vino tinto. And after dinner we were served a tumbler of whiskey! We also brought our own bottle of wine, so you can imagine it wasn't tough for us to fall asleep...

Dinner on the Super Cama! Pretty shit actually, but this is all you're gonna get. In the morning, the same dude mentioned earlier comes by and gives you treats for breakfast, but this meal was the bulk of the food we ate. All in all the bus ride is great; for about $90 you get a place to sleep, two meals, and a bunch of booze. This is needed in North America.

Mendoza! This is a shitty photo of the main plaza in Mendoza.

This is not a shitty photo of us in the main plaza in Mendoza.

After our siesta, we went to the city to take care of chores. Before work, we needed to feed (and drink). Good pasta on this afternoon, which was much needed after the lack of good eats on the bus.

Quilmes in Mendoza. Mendoza is great...smaller and quieter than BA and not as hot. Very pleasant.

For dinner, we went to arguably our favorite restaurant of the whole trip. The joint was called La Barra, and was owned by this lovely couple. The dude cooked the food (over a proper wood fire), and the dudette [sic] hosted, served, and just hung out. We sat on the patio, which was a quaint little area with 5 or 6 tables, in the back of the restaurant near where the dude cooked up the meats. The patio was covered in real (yes, real) grape vines...you could pick them and eat them if you were so inclined. Lovely, just lovely...

Mark ordered some ribs, cooked "Como le gusta", which means "How he likes it". Ordered 'em how the owner/cook/dude likes 'em as I knew they would be perfect. So this massive rack shows up and just about the time they were devoured, another rack shows up, free of charge! What a nice guy, or he just likes it when people order their meats "Como le gusta". Oh yeah, we are sitting inside because it started raining pretty hard and we would have been quite wet if we'd stayed outside. Rain, thunder, and lightning two of the three nights we were there. Lit the sky quite nicely, awesome.

Short video showing semi sketchy area near the bus station in BA...also shows our view on the Super Cama.

Day Seis

On this day, we ventured to a neighborhood called San Telmo, to check out the San Telmo Sunday market. This public market is huge, to say the least. There are basically a bunch of street vendors/stands all along this street for what seemed like miles...it went on forever. Every so often there would be walkways, or smaller markets, that went off in other directions. It was actually quite overwhelming. Everything was on sale at this market...if you can think of it, it was likely there. We bought a few items, including Quilmes coasters and a photo of a local woman with all kinds of flair (an old dude was selling a bunch of photos for his son).


Subway ride to San Telmo. The passengers looked thrilled to be on the subway.

Mark and Meg on the subway. We looked thrilled to be on the subway as well.

The San Telmo Sunday market. This was the main street, with vendors for days.

More of the market...very crowded.

This booth was selling old phonograph players from a very long time ago. I think he was trying to fetch 600,000 pesos for each of them, which would be around 200,000 dollars. Gimme a break...they're cool, but not that cool.

Yet another photo of the market. We were so busy checking things out at the market that we didn't really take a lot of photos on this day, and we were so beat by the end of our market experience that we just wanted to go back to B&B and have our siesta time.

More posts soon.

Expensive phonograph player in action!