Oregon pinots before France

March 7, 2017March 7, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

I made a very difficult decision while visiting Portland in February. On a rainy afternoon, I gave up a precious afternoon beer tasting opportunity to visit Oregon Wines on Broadway to sample three higher end pinot noirs. Rough life eh?

If I could only drink one red wine the rest of my life, it would be pinot noir. At its best, its delicacy, earthiness and balance appeals to my senses. I’ve always thought of pinot noir as one of the truest expressions of wine and the expert craftsmanship that goes into it. Settling into an empty wine bar on a weekday around lunch, I was ready to sample the best of Oregon with a tasting consisting of three outstanding examples of the state’s signature grape.

I started with the J. Christopher Dundee Hills (2013). It was very cherry forward and I immediately noticed a bit of bottle age on this one and a touch more heat from the alcohol than a prototypical pinot. It may have been due to the rain pelting the window as I sampled it, but I quite enjoyed the extra bit of burn of this one going down. It was very pleasant and an easy sipper. My unrefined palate would say this is a great pinot for a fall day.

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Resort living for a week

February 28, 2017February 28, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

In a single word, perfect.

That’s how I would describe the Xmas holiday week my wife and I spent in Mexico at the lovely Excellence Riviera Cancun resort about twenty minutes away from the Cancun airport. We’re not all-inclusive resort travellers by any stretch of the imagination, but on a few occassions, that’s exactly the kind of vacation we crave. We had a particularly hectic 2016 so the idea of laying around in a warm climate, reading some books, taking long afternoon naps and generally shutting off our minds was very appealing. With that in mind, we picked the resort and sprung for a room with direct access to a lazy river and its own dedicated sun bed. Ours is the one with the two blue pool floaties in front of the bed. We spent a lot of our vacation either lounging in the river or on that bed.

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A true vacation

February 22, 2017February 22, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

December 30, 2016 – Puerto Morelos, Mexico

Maybe this trip has reminded me of the definition of “vacation”. For all the good in 2016, this past year hasn’t been a year of relaxation and this escape to Mexico came at the right, if a bit overdue, time. My feet are dangling in a pool, there is an ice cold Sol beer beside me and my wife is half dozing, half watching a movie on her phone on a sun bed behind me. This is a true vacation.

I guess I am a bit of a travel snob to have felt at least a little bit guilty in even calling this a trip. I know this isn’t authentic Mexico, but the moment I walked into the resort and someone handed me a glass of sparkling wine, I was immediately relaxed. With what has been on my shoulders this year – leaving a job, moving, starting a bigger job with more pressures, living without my wife and dog for nearly two months, Chewy’s death, making new friends in Saskatoon, selling our Halifax condo – this vacation is exactly what I needed.

Simple, uncomplicated down time. It has felt great to just shut off my mind and simply be for a week. Yes, there’s winter and work ahead back in Saskatoon, but after this vacation, I’ll be ready for whatever 2017 throws at me.

My kind of town

February 17, 2017February 17, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

I just got back from Portland last night. Wanting to break up my first winter living in Saskatoon, I booked this trip a few months back deciding on a interesting city I’ve always wanted to visit over a warmer climate trip. I’ve seen a lot of American cities, and Portland is now easily way up near the top of my list of favourites with San Francisco, Philadelphia and Austin.

I packed a lot into four days – a healthy dose of simply wandering around to soak up the vibe, a basketball game, incredible street food, ample beer tastings, public art exploring, and so, so, so much coffee. I even got two days of spectacular blue skies and double digit temperatues that allowed me to see the often hidden Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens. Even when the rain came, it couldn’t dampen my enthusiasm for the city, as all it did was push me toward an indoor respite in a nearby coffee shop, bookstore or craft beer bar.

Portland had me at hello and I’m already looking forward to getting back some day. Definitely my kind of town.

A few days back home

February 11, 2017February 13, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

It was a long overdue trip back to Halifax. Actually, to Lower Sackville to be exact. I had moved to Saskatoon eight months earlier and was well into making that city my new home. But it was time for a trip “back home” to see my mom and dad. After a bit of an ordeal due to a canceled flight, I made it to Nova Scotia, about 12 hours later than I planned, to my parents waiting for me at the Halifax airport like they have so many times over the years. This arrival was much different and definitely more emotional.

Lots of hugs and a few tears later, we hopped into the car for the half hour drive to my parents’ home, the very house I grew up in. There was one more hello – this one more frantic and crazed – as Tia and I reunited. After she calmed down, she took up residence on my lap, a place she spent most of the next few days.

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Writing his name in the sand

February 7, 2017February 7, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

December 26, 2016 – Puerto Morelos, Mexico

I’m not much of a traditions or habits guy. That’s kind of obvious since I’m in Mexico rather than Nova Scotia over the holidays. This morning, with my wife showing no sign of waking up any time soon, I packed up the camera and headed to the water to catch the sunrise.

One of my very few travel-related traditions was forgone for a newer one this morning. Rather than dipping my right foot into the sea, something I’ve been doing forever when I encounter a body of water away from home, I crouched down and wrote Chewy’s name in the sand. This is my relatively new “Greg meets water on a beach” tradition – to pay tribute to a furry little guy who got into my heart, and won’t leave. In many ways, my 2016 was a year of saying goodbye, and the May 27th goodbye to Chewy was, and continues to be, the most difficult.

Alone on a Mexican beach, remembering my dog. The best dog that ever lived.

Six days of Seattle sampling

February 2, 2017February 2, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

Anytime I got out of Saskatoon in 2016, mission one was partaking in some craft beer sampling. My desire to try a new beer every time I crack one open had run into a small (but thankfully growing and delicious) craft beer scene in Saskatchewan. In Seattle I had the opposite problem – so many beers, and so little time – so I got started right away on my first afternoon. With a reservation just around the corner at a great Mexican restaurant, I stopped in at Optimism Brewing for a quick four sample tasting. Most memorable was the Afraid of the Dark lager, but the prize for best named went to “Don’t Boo, Vote” – particularly sad as I was sipping it just two days after the election.

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Touring Safeco Field

January 28, 2017January 28, 2017 / Greg / Leave a comment

Trips to American cities for me recently have come up roses for getting to see baseball games. Twins games in Minneapolis, an Astros game in Houston, a Cubs game and a White Sox game in Chicago, a long dream fulfilled to see a game at Fenway in Boston… but this trip to Seattle came a couple of weeks after the end of the thrilling 2016 season. Luckily for me, Safeco Field, home of the Mariners, offers year-round tours. It’s not quite the same as getting to spend a few hours with a beer in your hand watching a game, but the tour offered by the Mariners let me see their ballpark in much more depth.

And what a beautiful park it is. Even in late November, our tour was treated to a spectacular day to wander around the stadium. First stop after some introductory history of the team and its old stadium was the upper level seats behind home plate. From here, you get an outstanding overall perspective. It also would be a great place to watch a game if you wanted to save a few bucks on tickets.

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Chance encounters with art

January 23, 2017January 23, 2017 / Greg / 1 Comment

Wandering through the streets of downtown Seattle back in November, I came across a number of interesting pieces of public art. On a previous trip to Seattle, I ventured out to the Olympic Sculpture Park to take in an amazing collection of public art situated right on the water just north of downtown. This trip was much different. My public art exploring ended up being mostly accidental encounters on my way to or from something else. These small, pleasant interruptions on my journeys, added colour and context to this lovely Pacific coast city.

As I was heading to a tour of Safeco Field, the baseball stadium of the Seattle Mariners, and on my way for a coffee in Pioneer Square, I came across the Fallen Firefighters Memorial by Hai Wing Yu which pays tribute to four firefighters who lost their life fighting a blaze in this neighbourhood.