Figured I'd write up a lil journal on my weekend trip up to washington to visit  Donryu

I don't travel too much, mostly 1-2 cons a year. Part of that is I don't have a local airport and the closest ones that are worth a darn are 2ish hours away. Makes travel a bit annoying. But it happened Southwest had a really nice deal going on for tickets and I was able to use points so I was able to get around trip ticket up to Washington for my birthday weekend.

So the trip started Friday the 10th at 2 am. As I said, I'm not close to any decent airports and i had a 6 am flight, so I drove down to Ontario (California) airport in the dead of night. Traffic luckily wasn't too bad and I had napped a bit and got some food and caffeine in me before hitting the road. The worst part was the freeway but it's luckily only about 10 minutes of the whole trip. I got to the airport without any major trouble (just a bit of stress) and got through security pretty quick. I didn't need to check luggage since I just brought a backpack with a few odds and ends I needed (I usually have a suitcase, but with no need to lug stuff like sketchbooks around, I could travel much lighter). The wait wasn't too bad and I got on my first flight no trouble.

I don't even remember the flight as I managed a cat nap through most of it, though I did miss the drink service which was a lil annoying. I had a few hours of layover in Oakland which.. the airport is very reminiscent of LAX, just big long hallways without much around, though I will say it had more seating than LAX does (or did, I haven't gone through LAX in an age) The late hours finally caught up to me though so I started dragging tail pretty badly. I wandered around a bit scoping out food places with some interesting options, settled on a breakfast sandwich. I won't say how much it was just that it was kinda overboard expensive even for airport food, and worst of all it wasn't even that good. Blandest sausage I've ever had. Eggs, bun, and the aioli were okay, though the tater tots were actually quite good. Fueled up I was able to power along the rest of the layover and the flight was pretty easy, I ended up snoozing through half of it and then just read my book the rest.

Washington was very beautiful. Just trees and greenery and lots of snowy mountains with a lot of really pretty seaside views, lot of little islands and boats. Extremely scenic. The bellingham airport is pretty small, was off the plane and out to the curb within just a few minutes (again it helped I had no checked luggage). After a few minutes wait  Donryu and  Zexyz picked me up ^^ We talked a bit and grabbed a late lunch, since all I'd eaten was that overpriced airport food and a couple fiber & protein bars. We went to the local mall, which had a really nice foodcourt with a lot of great smelling options. I settled on Two Guys and got a buffalo chicken cheese steak with some very decent bacon cheese fries, while Donryu got some chipotle and Zex got some tacos. We were very tempted by some cinnabon but decided to forego, besides an interesting cookie that had a mini cinnabon inside. Also had our pictures taken by some high schoolers that said we had her 'cousin's vibes', so we're probably on some deep fake scam as we speak now!

We stopped by their very nice apartment to drop things off, then went to the beach and a very nice little coffee shop to kill a little time. It was lovely, though the coast is fairly rocky so not quite your usual sun and sand, it was a nice view and lots of folks were out enjoying the very sunny weather. We went back to the apartment and met their roommate  Alsong who was very pleasant. We chatted a lil while. We considered getting some pizza for dinner but a lot of the places they recommended were nearly closed and we were all still a bit full from lunch. Instead we opted for indian at Alex's suggestion and piled into the car and hit up a place they knew. It was really fantastic! I got a very wonderful chicken tikka masala (a favorite) with some okay garlic naan (they used cilantro in theirs and it kind of overpowered the garlic, but still tasty enough and an excellent compliment to the chicken) We all had a very satisfying meal and decided against dessert. Then went just a couple shops down to check out a trading card/game shop that carried all sorts of trading card stuff and old games, including systems! Was pretty neat.

We came back to the apartment and settled in and watched The Menu, a favorite of Donovan's and a movie I hadn't seen yet. Loved it! Dark, biting, disturbing, and funny in a lot of places. I recommend it! It's demented fun and is very (darkly) entertaining. It was a great watch and a lot of memorable moments and lines.
After the movie I forget who but someone mentioned that the northern lights were visible so we all piled out of the apartment. There was a fair bit of light pollution unfortunately so to the naked eye it looked mostly like overcast at night, just kind of hazy with a bit of color. But using our phones we could see with the night vision and I got a few neat shots!
By then it was fairly late so I showered and we wrapped up, was pretty tired and worn out (since at best I hadn't slept more than 2 hours in the past 24) crashed out on their very comfortable couch.

Slept in a bit ^^; Zex and Alex went off for the day so Donryu and I had the day to ourselves. We started with a very wonderful breakfast at a cafe called Skylark's he's very fond of. We shared a artichoke dip served on crustinis that was stellar (and a lil molten! ooey gooey goodness) then I had a lemon poppy seed pancake with blueberry compote (and butter and syrup) and a white wine sangria (they were doing a mother's day special and I've never had sangria. It was good! Sweet and fruity) Donovan had a french dip that looked quite tasty. With breakfast done we went just up the street to a really large bookstore, it took up a couple floors and even had a nice little cafe/coffeeshop on the 2nd floor. I always like seeing movies in theaters with friends so we decided on Kung Fu panda 4 since it was still playing (and nothing else really jumped out at us). There was still time before the movie so we went to a nearby coffee shop he uses to do commission work. I got a very tasty lemon iced tea and we chatted while he worked til it was time for the movie.

The movie itself was okay. Just okay. The visuals are excellent, the music is fine, the character designs are the series' usual (furry and fine). The story and characters kind of fall flat. The furious five aren't in the movie at all. The story skips by very rapidly and does the 'story by bullet points' thing where they just knock out plot points rapid fire to get the check list done, nothing really has any time to breathe, and the villain is very underbaked. overall like a C+? it wasn't the worst way to kill an afternoon but the series definitely peaked with 2. I still loved getting to watch a movie with my friend ^^ And we had fun razzing it and talking about it afterward.

It was still a bit early for dinner so we went back to the apartment and watched some stuff, I hadn't seen Record of the Lodoss War in ages so we watched a couple episodes of that and he played a bit of Hollow knight, then we walked back over to the theater and the conveyor belt sushi place that was next to it for dinner. I've always wanted to try one of these places and it was great. For those that haven't seen one basically the chefs prep a bunch of different dishes, sushi, chicken, some desserts, place them on colored plates (each color corresponds to a different value, so like yellow plates are 2.95) and then stick it on a conveyor belt that runs around the whole restaurant. If you see something that looks good, you take it. And when you're done eating they just tally up the plates for your bill. We got to try a whole bunch of stuff. I had a couple plates of ebi (shrimp) sushi, my favorite, some tamago (egg), crab, squid (which I find I don't like! Thing learned) a few rolls we couldn't identify though they were good, including one with a smoked salmon on top that had a nice spiciness to it. One of the best things about the place is every plate has 2-4 pieces so we shared quite a few of what we grabbed. Also tried some macaroons and red bean balls. And I tried a lychee martini. I'm not a big vodka person but it was my first time trying lychee. They look like skinned eyeballs (from the photo i sent my sister she assumed they were scallops) and the texture is about the same but the taste is quite good! very floral and sweet. Overall it was a really good meal. We both came away extremely satisfied and content.

That didn't stop us, once we walked back to the apartment, from going to a cookie shop though. A short drive and we picked up 2 a piece, but they threw in a 3rd for me for free since it was my birthday ^^ I had an oatmeal raisin and a peanut butter cup cookie, with the extra a normal peanut butter. All really stellar.

Then we went into his studio so he could work and watched Murder on the Orient Express, which is an absolutely fabulous movie. Loved everyone in it, lot of top notch performances, the visuals are lovely, the characters are sharp and stand out, the dialogue is witty, funny, and heartbreaking. Really wish I'd seen it in theaters, I probably would've cried (even more than I did!) Then Donovan showed me the original version of Vampire Hunter D (the first 10 minutes or so) so I could compare it with the Blue Ray Re-master which is night and day different, not just clearer and crisper but like, lot of stuff simply -isn't visible- in the original because of the quality. It's one of my favorite old anime so it was a treat seeing it in such great condition ^^ After that we were kind of tired so put on some Lupin and I got tired enough so we turned in.

Slept in a bit again, had my birthday cookie which I'd saved ^^ Let my phone and stuff charge (while getting a lot of very wonderful birthday wishes, so thank you everyone), then we went back to the bookstore from saturday while he worked on some commissions. Had a very tasty pastry, a 'savory pinwheel' with smoked ham and gruyere. Very tasty. We killed time until it was time to pick up Zexyz from an overnight out of town trip. Picked him up and decided on pizza for lunch (something else I love sharing with friends) Alsong was around as well so he met up with us (and gave me a very nice card for my birthday). We went to a place called Fiamma was really good, I had some garlic knots to share (which were more cheese than garlic or knot, but still super good) and Donovan and I split a shrimp and artichoke pizza with pesto, while alsong had a pineapple pizza and Zex had a pepperoni pizza and a salad. We all came away very satisfied. We took a walk to an ice cream shop they all liked but unfortunately they were closed due to the heat. Not to be discouraged, we decided on gelato, but not before checking out a really nice comic shop that was just wall to wall comics. After some browsing we hiked back and got into our cars for the gelato place, which was actually back near the cafe & bookstore we were at previously. A nice little walk and we all had our gelato. I got a 3 scoop with strawberry lemonade (super tasty) pistachio (so good! tasted very like pistachio) and oreo (my standard favorite). Also tried tastes of rose petal (tastes exactly like a rose smells, which is disorienting to feel in my -mouth- and not my nose. Interesting, though not one I'd order for myself) and double chocolate, which was very dark chocolatey (which I also like).

We returned back to the apartment, talked, hung out a bit. Considered on what to do for dinner, and instead of going out settled on Zex making some tacos. Alsong popped out for a couple things and very kindly got a little cake for me. Donryu needed to get a couple things from the store too so I walked with him. Was very nice, we got what he needed and I got a little cherry clearly canadian, it's a flavored sparkling water brand I used to really like as a kid and they've started bringing it back. My mom used to get them for me all the time as a treat, clearly canadian and a snickers, so made me happy to get one and be reminded of her. On our walk back we took a nature trail which went right up to the back of their apartment and even saw a hummingbird chilling out on a tree along the way, really neat to see!

Then we watched the Barbie movie. I hadn't seen it before so it was a treat. I laughed, I giggled, I cried a bit. it's funny and well written and hits some good issues, has a nice emotional core to it. Which is not something I'd ever thought I'd say about Barbie. It's a treat and I'd recommend it. And the tacos were really good too, with some rice and tater tots on the side. And then they sang me happy birthday while I blew out a candle on the lil oreo cake. Was very sweet.
After that we settled in for the night. Donryu and I stayed up a bit while he played some games and talked some more. Neither of us really wanted to go to bed, so we stayed up a bit. We did finally get some sleep. About 3 hours, since I had to be up at 5 am for my flight. Got dressed quick and Donryu drove me to the airport. The airport barely had anyone there so security was (relatively) quick and my first flight was again quick and easy and I catnapped through it.

My layover was in vegas this time. I was a bit surprised (when I shouldn't have been) that there were slots in the airport. I wandered a bit, found my gate, ate some of my last protein/fiber bars. Had a gate change so found my new gate and then wandered some more. I tried the slots a bit. I'm not much of a gambler and I know it's easy to sink too much money in too fast. I just burned a bit of my leftover trip money. Actually won a bit! I was up to 155 at one point but just kept playing just to see if I could do further (I could not, so that was the end of it, played out my last credit and just stepped away). In retrospect I probably should've just cashed out and had some of my trip covered, but cest la vie.

Second flight was much shorter since it was just an hourish hop to my airport. I finished reading the book I had (A New Doctor Who Adventures novel, the 2nd Timewyrm series. I won an e-bay auction for a lot of 40 of them! So been working on those, they've been fun so far!) and since I didn't have any luggage to check was able to make my way straight to my car and hit the road. The drive was pretty uneventful and when I got home my little dog was extremely excited to see me (my sister had been taking care of her while I was gone).

Overall it was a very fun trip. Watched a lot of fun movies, had some amazing meals, and got to spend time with some wonderful friends. Easily one of the best birthdays I've had in a while and I'm glad I was able to make the trip. Only kind of sad note is that Southwest, the usual carrier I fly with, is discontinuing service to Bellingham in a few months. a shame but I can fly other carriers and work other ways for future trips. We'll see.

But a big thank you to  Donryu,  Zexyz and  Alsong for making it a very memorable weekend, and thank you again to everyone that wished me a happy birthday and especially to those that got me something. I feel very loved and blessed for all the fantastic people in my life and I wouldn't be anywhere without you all. Hope you enjoyed the read, it's been a week so details are a little fuzzy but it was still a really solid time and I have some pics to remember it by. Definitely not one I'll forget any time soon!