THE FIRST WEEKEND OF 2023......(Off to San Diego for a meeting while the Cowboys finished up the regular season that day against Washington)
I flew out to San Diego a day before my meeting started to hang out with some friends. A Tesla Model Y picked me up at the airport to take me to the hotel.
The rooms at the Marriott Marquis were pretty nice. I got upgraded to a nice Bay View room due my Gold Status with BonVoy.
I had a great view of the San Diego Bay from my room at the upscale Marriott Marquis.
The Marriott Marquis had a really nice pool area. Roy's Hawaiian Fusion restaurant is on site too by the pool.
Here is a nice picture of downtown San Diego as I was waiting for my friends to come pick me up for dinner.
After having dinner with friends, we went to Sycuan Casino to play some craps. They had a lot of Chinese New Year decorations.
I had a healthy breakfast delivered to my room on Monday. I am enjoying the parfait here in bed.
My meetings did not start until 1:00 so I had time to take a nice walk along the waterfront by the hotel.
That area by the water was called Seaport.
Here is a close up of the air craft carriers and other naval ships at Coronado Island. A friend of mine gave me a tour of the USS Reagan a long time ago when it was in port here.
This is a nice picture of the Marriott Marquis.
This is a picture of the San Diego Convention Center and the Coronado Bridge from the hotel elevator area.
After our meeting was over on Monday, we went to the KC BBQ where they filmed some of the original Top Gun.
I think this is where Goose did his "Great Balls of Fire" scene. We had some drinks here before dinner.
We enjoyed dinner at Roy's that night. I got their four signature fish dishes on one plate! Of course, I had my whiskey too.
It rained the next day, but we wrapped our meetings around 2:00 so we could fly out. Here's my ride to the airport.
The ride to the airport was short, but it was very comfortable as usual in the luxury SUV.
After checking in, I went to the Aspire Lounge at the airport for some snacks and a drink.
I had a pediatric case to follow up so I got some work done in the lounge also.
AND THE FOLLOWING WEEKEND....... (Joy and I headed to Telluride as the Cowboys had a Wild Card game that weekend)
To get to Montrose/Telluride Airport (MTJ), one usually has to connect in Denver. We spotted New Mexico 1 in Denver!
Here is a beautiful shot of the Rockies as we flew from Denver to Montrose.
Montrose is a small airport so we disembarked via stairs. There are no jet bridges. Montrose was not as snowy.
We took the Telluride Express shuttle the next day to Telluride from Montrose. We could see a lot more snow as we made our way south.
There were snow flurries in Telluride as arrived to check into our historic boutique hotel.
We stayed at the New Sheridan Hotel, which was built in 1895!
For lunch, we headed down to the Floradora Saloon, which has been owned by the same person for over fifty years!
This was a cool painting at the Floradora. I think that could be Doc Holliday?
Colorado has great distilleries. This is a bourbon and rye mix from Woody Creek.
My lunch was delicious!
Joy and I are walking to the gondola that connects Telluride and Mountain Village in the snow. The historic courthouse is behind us.
We took the free gondola to Mountain Village which takes about twelve minutes.
We went up to about 10,000 feet before we descended just a little down to Mountain Village.
Joy is taking in the beautiful views on our gondola ride.
We went toTelluride Distilling in Mountain Village so I could try their whiskey.
I watched some of the Bills-Dolphins Wildcard game at the distillery.
I got a latte to stay warm before we boarded the gondola back to Telluride.
Mountain Village looks a lot like the modern ski villages in other Colorado cities.
We had a cozy interior room at the New Sheridan Hotel. I was very impressed with the historic details and luxury linens.
Those switches looked interesting. I loved the radiant heating on the bathroom floor!
The TV was a little small, but we had complimentary Acqua Panna water in the room.
For dinner, Joy and I went back to Mountain Village on the Gondola. This was a cool view after we got off the gondola.
Dinner at Siams at the Inn was great!
We got scallops and a noodle dish with Wagyu beef for our entrees.
I got Strathan's Colorado Whiskey at the historic bar at our hotel when we got back to Telluride.
Telluride is pretty quiet at night, but the bar at our hotel was fairly busy.
The next morning, we walked down to Cocina de Luz for breakfast. We saw the amazing mountain views as we walked there.
Cocina de Luz had amazing chips and home made salsas.
I got the blueberry pancake special with eggs and potatoes along with my usual iced Americano.
The view from our table at Cocina de Luz was amazing!
I am heading out for some cross country skiing on the groomed nordic trails in Telluride here.
I found a cool little water fall and babbling brook when I was cross country skiing.
The Telluride Nordic Association grooms the trails daily. There is no fee to use the trails.
I got some great chili for lunch at the Telluride Baking Company.
I enjoyed my Apres Ski at the Floradora. I got another Woody Creek bourbon.
The owner of the Floradora makes all the desserts herself every day! This was delicious!
Back at the hotel, I was admiring the historic features of this hotel!
For dinner, Joy and I went to the New Sheridan Chop House in our hotel.
We started out with some great cold water oysters! These were kind of pricey, but they were amazing!
I had a filet mignon with chimichurri sauce, mushrooms, and truffle fries for dinner.
My Facebook friends would know that I do not say no to bread pudding. LOL.
The next morning, I saw that a major snow storm was coming into Colorado that day!
The snow was coming down very heavy in Telluride as we left on the shuttle. We were lucky to get out of Denver since many flights were cancelled!
THE FOLLOWING WEEKEND.....We are back in the air to attend a friend's baby's 1st birthday party in Southern California!
I love having A List on Southwest. I am seated in my window seat in the first row here as we fly down to Orange County!
It was colder than I thought in Orange County. Fortunately, we did have heated seats in the rental car.
After landing, we went to Flappy Jacks in Orange to meet some friends for breakfast. I loved the pancakes!
We are enjoying a great breakfast with friends here after another set of friends had to leave.
Our friends rented out a hotel meeting room for their baby's birthday party in Corona, CA. It was really well done!
We went to Yorba Linda after the party to meet some friends for dinner. Joy and I had a drink at the Blind Pig as we waited for them to arrive.
Downtown Yorba Linda was really nice!
We did not check into our hotel until after dinner, but I saw that we were upgraded due to my high status with World of Hyatt.
We met our friends at Terra Wood Fire Kitchen for dinner.
That was the view of one of the three pools at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach from our balcony.
The next morning, I met my college buddies and our ring bearer at the private Palisades Tennis Club next to our hotel.
We had some drinks at my hotel after we played tennis.
I watched some of the Cowboys-49ers Divisional Playoff game in Burbank before we flew home from Burbank. I am wearing my new Jordan Dak shirt!
I had a busy few weeks of air travel as 2023 started. After coming back from Las Vegas, I had to fly down to San Diego the following weekend for a short kick off meeting. I flew in a day early so I could see my friends in San Diego. My company is very generous with letting us fly in early and fly out late if we want to during our meetings. After landing in San Diego, I had a Tesla Y transport me to the beautiful Marriott Marquis Waterfront hotel in San Diego. Since I was a BonVoy Gold member, they upgraded me to a nice high floor with a bay view. After settling in, I watched the final Cowboys game of the regular season in my room as I took in the beautiful view of San Diego Bay. Later that night, I met my friends for dinner before playing craps at the Sycuan Indian Casino.
The next day, we had our meetings start at 1:00 so I had time to get my room service breakfast before I went for a nice walk along the waterfront in San Diego. After our meetings ended, we went to the KC BBQ Bar where they filmed the scene from Top Gun with Goose playing the piano. For dinner, we went to Roy's which was at our hotel. We had a few hours of meetings the next day, and then I was transported back to the airport via a nice luxury Suburban SUV as usual. I had access to the Aspire lounge at the airport so I was able to grab a drink and snacks as I followed up on a new pediatric case I got.
A few days later, Joy and I flew to Montrose via Denver so we could check out Telluride in the Western Slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Southwest operates in and out of the small Montrose airport, and we deplaned via stairs since there was no jet bridge. The first night, we stayed at the Hampton Inn next to the airport. Since I was not sure about the road conditions, I booked the Telluride Express shuttle instead of renting a car. Our ride up to Telluride was about an hour and twenty minutes. As we headed up there, there was more and more snow! Telluride had light flurries too as we arrived at our historic boutique hotel.
I booked the New Sheridan Hotel for us in Telluride which was built in 1895. This historic property was SUPER COOL! Since our room was not ready yet, we went down to the Floradora Saloon for lunch. I tried a Colorado bourbon and rye mix from Woody Creek Distillery with my delicious lunch. After lunch, Joy and I took the free gondola to Mountain Village. This approximately four mile gondola takes about twelve minutes to go between Telluride and Mountain Village. Telluride is the old rustic sleepy town while Mountain Village is a modern ski village similiar to Vail or Breckenridge. We hung out at the Telluride Distiling Company in Mountain Village, and I watched some of the playoff football games as I had their whiskey.
After returning to Telluride on the gondola, we got to check out our cozy room. The rooms had a lot of cool historic touches! I was very impressed with the radiant heating in the bathroom floors. This hotel was not cheap, but it was well worth it! Moreover, they had complimentary Acqua Panna bottles of water available for guests. We went back to Mountain Village on the gondola for dinner. I made reservations at Siam's At The Inn. This gourmet Thai place was amazing! I had a night cap at the historic bar at my hotel that night. One of my favorite local distilleries is Strathan's so I had their whiskey.
The next morning, we found a cool Mexican place to have breakfast at. Afterwards, I went cross country skiing in Telluride. Joy was not feeling well from elevation sickness since Telluride is about 8,000 feet so she just walked around in the snow. We had some time to walk around the small town and check out a cool local bakery for lunch before my apre skie drink at Floradora. That night, we enjoyed dinner at the New Sheridan Chop House at our hotel. The Cowboys had a playoff game against Tampa that night so I started watching it on my iPhone at the restaurant. LOL. We won!
We flew back the next day, but I have to say that Telluride is well worth a visit! There was a terrible snow storm coming into Colorado so we got out just in time!
The next weekend, Joy and I flew down to Southern California to attend a friend's baby's first birthday party at a hotel in Corona. We met some friends for breakfast first at Flappy Jacks in Orange before driving out there. It was nice to see our friends at the party and watch their baby enjoy her cake! Afterwards, we met some friends for dinner in Yorba Linda. I have lots of friends in Southern California so we have a busy social schedule when going down there usually!
For this trip, I booked the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach again since Joy enjoys running around the beach there. The next morning, I met some college buddies for tennis at the exclusive Palisades Tennis Club, which was named after John Wayne when it was opened in the 1970s. Guests of the Hyatt have the right to use their courts. After tennis, the boys had drinks at my hotel while Joy got ready. Then, we had lunch at Pick Up Stix, which is like a Panda Express before heading to Burbank so I could watch some of the Cowboys-49ers Divisional Playoff game before we flew home from Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. We lost that game. Boo!