My Travels

With all the snow this season, I wanted to go out to Mammoth Mountain Resort . With such a long drought, it has been awhile since I've last been to this mountain. A one day turnaround trip started out at 9 pm and I ended up stopping in Bishop for an early morning quick sleep at Motel 6 Bishop . I've stayed at a number of hotels at Bishop but never the Motel 6. The hotel underwent renovations four years ago and the decor was simple but nice. The rooms are very large here. Motel 6 Bishop King Room The hotel also offers discounts at the Denny's across the street and Upper Crust down the street. Had I known, I would have stayed at Motel 6 more often! Ordered a quick breakfast from Denny's before heading to Eagle Lodge. Luckily, I bumped into a group looking to sell their extra ticket from Costco. I hadn't realized how much Mammoth had increased their lift ticket prices and the $95 I spent was well worth the savings. After trying to break in my new snowboard boo...

Not too often you can say that New Jersey is a vacation destination. For this trip, I was celebrating a friend's birthday. A transplant from Brooklyn, my friend's family lives near Clifton. Remarkably inexpensive, I did not realize it could exist within the tristate area. I headed out on United to Newark Liberty International Airport . Since it was a quick weekend trip, I opted to stay at the Hampton Inn Newark Airport . I've stayed at the Hilton next door and didn't think it was worth the extra money. The Hampton has a recent renovation feel and I thought the facilities was fine. Hampton Inn Newark King Room I also rented a car from Thrifty . It was snowing the weekend I was in town and the rental attendant wanted to make sure I was ok to drive. Luckily, there wasn't much snow on the ground and I was able to navigate the streets of New Jersey and New York. Since I wasn't going into Manhattan, I did decide to go into the city to grab some pastries from ...

Volunteering for a professional organization and was flown on United to San Francisco and visited University of San Francisco. Since this was a professional trip, my time in SF was limited to seeing USF and its downtown campus. The weather was also intrepid with a fair amount of rain for a day. I stayed at the Metro Hotel and was the first of my group to arrive. As such, the owner was nice enough to let me choose the room out of the room block. I opted for a nicely decorated (but rather dark) room that had some nooks for working on a computer. The room given was not very big, it was super cosy especially when sharing the room. My spouse came up for a night and it was a little touch and go. It was also interesting that the sink was outside in the sleeping area. I've never brushed my teeth and sit on a bed at the same time. The location is great if you wanted to stay in the Pacific Heights area and the hotel rates are super cheap. Metro Hotel Queen Room The hotel is conven...

I haven't been to Mexico for almost 20 years and I've never visited Baja California. Knocked off this bucket list destination and flew on Southwest Airlines . The routing United would take me was not practical and I forwent my PQM needs for this weekend trip. Landed at Los Cabos International Airport and was surprised to see how many bars are on the outside of the airport for all the folks waiting for their shuttles/vans/taxis. Definitely a spring break kind of feel. You do have to go through the gauntlet of sellers of timeshares, transportation, etc. before getting outside. I made reservations with Gray Line Bus . They had called a number of times before my arrival but I was never able to connect with anyone when I called their number so I didn't know why they were calling. Luckily, I did find the representative in the transportation area and waited for the shuttle. I originally thought it was going to be a private car but we ended up having to wait for another coupl...