The Long Way Back From PEI.

[drron]

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[drron]

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A lot more damage from Dorian closer to Saint John than there was near Dartmouth.
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[drron]

So our office tonight is the Hampton Inn Saint John.Not the best Hampton Inn.Room OK,no water,not even a note pad and pen.As well Hilton always seem to put a herd of elephants in the room above us.
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And the view.
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[drron]

We decided to have something different to eat tonight so looked at Trip Advisor.The number 1 pick was Vegetarian so we went with Number 2-Splash Thai.Not really Thai but a Thai cook.
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We shared a Pad Thai,beef in ginger and mushrooms with scallops.
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Ok but not really Thai.A lot of pepper used.

 

[drron]

We awoke to a fine day.Not a cloud in the sky.No wind but a temperature of 7C with a real feel 4C.
Set out ~ 9am with a drive on NB Highway 1 to St.Stephen.about 120Km of a new 4 lane highway with little traffic.Instead of going through US Immigration on this road and straight on to I95 we decided to do the formalities at Calais, Maine and travel down US Coastal 1 to Bath our stop for the night.We had to wait a while in St.Stephen for road works.You could look across the river to Maine.
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The Immigration here was a breeze.A friendly officer and took little time.
US 1 is not of the same standard as NB 1.Needs a bit of work in places but the scenery is often spectacular.Made a stop to stretch the legs at Sullivan's Bay where there is a small rest area.Beautiful.
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And some nice houses.
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There was information about the history and features of the area.Had a giggle at one board.A woman was incensed that a hotel blocked her view of the Bay so she bought the Hotel and demolished it.
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[drron]

Coming in to Wicasset, Maine.
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A little further on we spot the reason we are staying in Bath tonight.
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More of that later.Just around the corner is this.
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[drron]

Our office tonight-Residence Inn,Bath,Maine.
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And the view.
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[drron]

So for dinner it was back to a restaurant we first went to in 1984.Still remember that first meal.We both had 3 1.25 lb lobsters.The cost was $US12.Made a comment that I was surprised by the cost.The waitress apologised that they were so expensive but it was out of season.No I thought it was incredibly cheap.This is our 8th visit.
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It looks out over an inlet.nearly low tide when we arrived.
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But coming in fast by the time we left.
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[drron]

The meal.A NZ SB.
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We shared a plate of fried oysters.Absolutely wonderful.Probably the best fried oysters we have had.
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Then we both had the Lazy Lobster.Comes with a Caesar salad and a side.We had sweet potato fries.
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The meat of 2 1.25 lb lobsters.Good value at $US44.95.
But there was something else to do whilst at the table.Womdered why the table had a pair of binoculars.Well for this.
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Yes an Osprey.
Then time to leave.Look at the sign and hope we will get to eat here again.
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[drron]

When we got back to the Residence Inn,Bath the view had become much more pleasant.
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[drron]

Tuesday and hopefully a bit of retail therapy for mrsdrron.Started out at Nordstrom Rack just south of Portland then the Kittery outlets.Sadly no purchases.
Some of the Maine drivers were obviously on the legal cannabis but not for medicinal reasons.Slow and all over the place.
Then an easy run down to the Hilton Logan,checked in and then dropped off the rental car.
Now being an Amex silver this time we got to the 6th floor but still the Parking Garage view.
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Now from the lift lobby you get the view from the otherside of the hallway-airport,harbour and CBD.
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When I went to drop the car back I noticed something across from the Hilton.
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Now tomorrow is 9/11 and for the ninth time since 2002 we have flown on 9/11.Just a statement.
We had dinner at the Hilton.Not wonderful and fairly expensive.Mrsdrron had the mac and cheese with lobster and I had the burger.
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So now to bed early for the 0415 wake up call.

 

[drron]

Tuesday night and BA were obviously back in the air with this view from the Hilton.
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Si up at 0415 and got the 0445 hilton shuttle to the terminal.It was full.4 AC FAs on it-can't they afford a crew bus?
No problems I thought at checkin.TSA Pre check given.Only an Xray at premium line so I as usual set it off.Had to wait outside of the secure area and eventually a fellow comes and takes me to the roped off body scanner in the non premium lanes,turns it on and through I go.No problems.But if I had been a single traveller my stuff would have been out of sight for a considerable period.
Straight to the AC-quite pleasant and seemed to be newly renovated.But then I noticed that with the change of flights my BAEC number had dropped out and my AA number was on the BP.No agent said they could change it saying once you have checked in no changes can be made.Unfortunately I couldn't HUACA.

AA 211. BOS-LAX. ETD 0650. Push back-0644. Take off 0700. A321. Seats 2A,C.
ETA-1016. Landed-0944. At gate-1000.
A breakfast flight.Mrsdrron had the fresh fruit option and I had the cheese Quesadilla.
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Not great quesadilla and the sausage was as tough as old boot leather.

Interesting on this flight was the fellow in 1A had an ESA-a huskie.Fairly large and got in the way of the fellow in 1C on occasions.He at times went up the back to an empty seat-he was working on his computer.
The dog was remarkably well behaved and only once yawned just after we landed.Had a nappy on.

The problem was everyone thought the dog was cute and would pat him.Included the FA whilst serving brekkie-and she did not wash her hands afterwards.Despite that incident the service was good.The seat belt sign was off from just after take off until descending into LAX.No problems having window shade up.Just that on boarding they were all down-definitely not to keep the cabin warm as outside temp only 10C.

 

[drron]

We flew just south of the Grand Canyon.That meant it was visible from the other side of the cabin.But still some striking views from our side at that point in the journey.
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[drron]

Now over California.Said we were passing the Joshua tree NP.Didn't see any trees.
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Now approaching Palm Springs.
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Two other points about the flight.First with boarding.Just when does a child stop making the parents eligible for pre boarding.The 2 children were at least 10.and when boarding started it was with Concierge Key members-there were 4.Then came Group 1.
Next the woman in 3C couldn't keep still and was often up and walking around.She had had a couple of items from the snack tray but in the last hour was continually going back to the snacks.We estimated she went through 8 packets of nuts-obviously makes you nutty.

 

[drron]

LAX is a bit of a shambles at the moment with a lot of redevelopement going on.We came into Terminal 5.From our gate it was down to a passage to Terminal 4 to get to the baggage claim area which was for Terminal 4.You had to exit the building and go a little further down the road to go into the Terminal 5 baggage claim.very secure I don't think.
But priority baggage worked and on our way to get to the Avis shuttle.Just missed one but 2 minutes later another arrived and we caught up to the first shuttle.Even Avis has moved to a temporary area.Again the Preferred system worked and soon in our Jeep to head off for some shopping.The plan was to head to Ontario Mills-basically a hybrid outlet and normal retail mall.Then head to the Anaheim outlets before heading to the Westin South Coast Plaza.-next to a large shopping mall.

Day just didn't go as planned.Started off well with the I 10 upgrades basically finished and a fast trip out to Ontario Mills.Had to laugh a little west of the Forest Lawn cemetery where I 10 is a 10 lane highway with both sides moving at 60-70 Mph and a big sign saying "Always look out for Pedestrians."None would make it to the other side alive.

Nothing caught mrsdrron's eye at Ontario Mills and we just had a Frapuccino and a couple of Cinnabon minibons each.Then headed off to Anaheim.But mrsdrron started to cough.It just got worse so she asked to go straight to the hotel.Arrived at 1430 and given the choice of a room next to the lifts now or wait for a better room.I took the immediate option.By now mrsdrron had a very sore throat,hoarse voice and aching all over.Didn't respond to an antihistamine-she does get urticaria and it might have been an allergic reaction.She became febrile and looked awful.Persuaded her to start antibiotics.

But I'll go to the room.Only a shower-not good with the way mrsdrron was feeling.
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The view.
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No shots of the bedroom-she was already in bed by the time I got back from parking the car.She didn't feel up to going out so we had room service for dinner.neither of us felt hungry so mrsdrron had a half serving of a Cobb salad with chicken and I pork belly tacos with a side of sweet potato fries.Actually all was quite good.
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The good news is she is feeling a lot better this morning with the cough much reduced,able to talk and no high temperature.So either a virus or the antibiotics are working-she did have pneumonia at the end of our last tripn so not taking any chances.She will have the full course of antibiotics.

So today she is well enough to go shopping.

 

[drron]

Well Wednesday is a totally different day.Mrsdrron is not 100% but good enough to do a full day's shopping.Not only that found things to buy though not at the South Coast Mall.Walked all around it and had our midday frappucino.Got back to the hotel and a party going on with Bonvoy signs up everywhere.Pity this LTP didn't get an invitation.
A little rest then drove to another nearby mall with a Nordstrom rack and an Off %th outlet.Mrsdrron got herself 2 pairs of shoes and a bag beginning with V.At Off 5th I got a pair of shoes and a shirt.
We then drove to the Fashion Island mall to have dinner at PF Changs.Got there at 1630 so Happy hour.2 plates of their Northern Style ribs at $3,chicken lettuce wraps at $6 and Kung Po broccoli for me at $5.Mrsdrron's pinot Grigio was $6 and my Blue Moon beer was $4.Also had their Asian version of surf and turf and edamame.
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Alkl really nice.We do like P F.Changs.
At the mall mrsdrron saw a car she liked because of it's colour.
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A Revero Karma.It's a high tech hybrid with solar power as well.Only problem on battery only the range is 50 miles.

We then went into Nordstrom who stock mrsdrron's new favourite Ted Baker.Now he does make sizes that fit mrsdrron but in the USA they don't stock larger sizes which is a bit strange considering the average size of Americans.Now here they were about to have a show featuring his designs but also had some in her size.Unfortunately not the styles she was after.

Then back to the Westin as the sun was setting.
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[craven morehead]

Well Wednesday is a totally different day.Mrsdrron is not 100% but good enough to do a full day's shopping.Not only that found things to buy though not at the South Coast Mall.Walked all around it and had our midday frappucino.Got back to the hotel and a party going on with Bonvoy signs up everywhere.Pity this LTP didn't get an invitation.
A little rest then drove to another nearby mall with a Nordstrom rack and an Off %th outlet.Mrsdrron got herself 2 pairs of shoes and a bag beginning with V.At Off 5th I got a pair of shoes and a shirt.
We then drove to the Fashion Island mall to have dinner at PF Changs.Got there at 1630 so Happy hour.2 plates of their Northern Style ribs at $3,chicken lettuce wraps at $6 and Kung Po broccoli for me at $5.Mrsdrron's pinot Grigio was $6 and my Blue Moon beer was $4.Also had their Asian version of surf and turf and edamame.
View attachment 187341.View attachment 187342.

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Alkl really nice.We do like P F.Changs.
At the mall mrsdrron saw a car she liked because of it's colour.
View attachment 187346.
A Revero Karma.It's a high tech hybrid with solar power as well.Only problem on battery only the range is 50 miles.

We then went into Nordstrom who stock mrsdrron's new favourite Ted Baker.Now he does make sizes that fit mrsdrron but in the USA they don't stock larger sizes which is a bit strange considering the average size of Americans.Now here they were about to have a show featuring his designs but also had some in her size.Unfortunately not the styles she was after.

Then back to the Westin as the sun was setting.
View attachment 187347.View attachment 187348.

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Don't mind the Blue Moon beer also a fan of PF Changs.

 

[drron]

Don't mind the Blue Moon beer also a fan of PF Changs.

We were really disappointed yesterday.Spent nearly 3 hours in the QF Flounge at TBIT and the menu didn't excite but they did have Blue Moon.
Then on the way to the gate saw that P F Changs is now there.If we had really wanted to eat we could have gone there.But on a JAL F flight so we knew the food would be good.

 

[drron]

So friday the 13th had arrived.The day when we really began our return home.First breakfast again at the Westin.The platinum breakfast option here is a bowl of granola,yoghurt,small bowl of fruit,a pastry + juice and a tea or coffee-cappucinos were an extra $6.50.Now mrsdrron just doesn't eat granola.You could cash in the coupon and get $12 each against the cost.Items started at $16.50 with extra for yoghurt,pastry,juice and coffee so not great value.
For this reason plus having only a shower in the room plus an obvious trap for the unwary we wouldn't stay here again..With the room service and breakfast coupons an amount of 24% was included to cover a 17.4% tip plus taxes.An extra $3 for room service delivery.The account came on both occasions with an extra line for tips-if you hadn't read the fine print the server was in for a windfall.

Now I had calculated that if we left at 0800 for LAX we should get into the terminal at about the time check in should open.However I travel with a Type A so we left at 0730.It was a reasonable trip up I 405N and we were at the gas station in 1 hour.The main reason though was because there were 2 of us in the car and we could use the HOV lane meaning at times you passed a parking lot.Even so there were times of stop/start driving.

Dropped the car back and a shuttle to TBIT.Checkin was not open when we arrived at 0930 with a time 0f 1010 stated as opening time.Fortunately they opened a little over 20 minutes before that time.TSA pre check which again bypassed quite a few though not too long a line for the general pax.I told the agent before going through the X ray so I was told to wait.A few minutes later a fellow came and took me a distance to a total Body Scanner.I had to put my carry on through before that.Once again my gear would have been left for several minutes unattended if I had been travelling alone.
I did note that random secondary testing was indeed random.The Xray machine would come up with a red light after a variable number of pax had gone through.Would appreciate that feature at Aussie airports.

Then to the QF F lounge.Irritating with a fellow talking to his family back home loudly.
All day dining only starts at 1200.A couple of the favourites but nothing really tempting.Here is the menu.
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We left the lounge a little early so mrsdrron could look at the shops.Quite a lot of Trump items though this being California a lot weren't very complimentary.

 

[Denali]

Glad Mrs Dr Ron is feeling better.