VFW National Convention - Orlando

Lately, as Post Quartermaster, I have been attending Veterans of Foreign Wars National Conventions more regularly, but attended my first in 1986, when I was post commander, and over the years since I've attended intermittently.

The conventions are held in cities across the country although, to save money for the organization and those attending, they tend to be held in cities where the cost of living is not too high. We've met in places from Reno out west to New Orleans, St Louis, San Antonio, Charlotte, Kansas City, Baltimore, Louisville and, again this year, in Orlando.

This year I booked an Alaska Air nonstop flight from Seatac to Orlando scheduled for departure at 0745 so had to leave home at four-thirty. Picked up Joe, another member of our post, and headed on down to Seatac. Parked in an off-site lot and rode to the terminal. Earlier on line, I had checked in and printed boarding pass and luggage tag so dropped off my bag, breezed through TSA and rode the subway to North Satellite.

Alaska Airlines just opened their new lounge in the North Satellite so stopped in to check it out. It really is a nice lounge and fits their description of "Flagship Lounge." It is located on the third floor, has lots of room to relax and has a large bank of windows facing the runways so there is a great view of  the field with the Olympic Mountains beyond.

We had a good flight to Florida but descending into Orlando we had to roll left and right to avoid thunderheads with their bumps. We landed smoothly thirty minutes ahead of schedule but then had to wait on the tarmac for thirty minutes until another plane finished loading and pushed back freeing up a gate for us.

Caught a Lyft to the hotel, checked in and found that I had been given a courtesy upgrade to a suite with dining area, bar and TV lounge. It was nice but I wasn't entertaining so it was wasted on my single occupancy.

The hotel was about three miles from the convention center. Too far to walk so we were bused back and forth. While riding the bus, I noticed some colorful gardens along the way. When I had a chance I slipped out of the convention center to admire some tropical flowers that were a change from the Seattle flora.

Had business at the convention so couldn't stop too long to smell the flowers but it was a good breath of fresh warm air after the cold convention center. Speaking of, why do building managers think they need to turn their air conditioners down to 65 degrees when it's 90 plus degrees outside? I dress for the warm outside temps then shiver when sitting through the meetings. I've learned to carry my lightweight feather vest so I can fight those icy blasts.

We've had some good speakers. I'll bring you up to date in a post tomorrow after the convention closes.

Palm Springs in July

My two brothers and I have been talking about getting together for awhile. We finally decided to meet at middle brother, Harry's, place in Indio for a chinwag and maybe a round of golf. 

Harry claims the dry heat of the desert makes his bones feel good so he likes to spend as much time as possible away from the cool, humid Pacific NW. So we decided our little brother, Keith, and I would fly down for a few days to see if our bones benefited. 

Left my house in Edmonds early this morning to catch the 0616 bus to downtown Seattle. This is a shot of the bus stop for the #416 bus.  It's a couple blocks away from my place, not far from the Edmonds ferry terminal. 

On the way to the bus, I passed this rock picture a block down the street. The woman artist has been spray painting rocks for the past few weeks. This is her final creation. 

From the downtown Seattle bus stop I walked a couple blocks to the Link light rail station for a smooth ride to SEATAC. From the station it was a six or seven minute walk to the terminal. 

My Alaska flight was at the north terminal so got to ride another train. This time the driverless subway that checked the north end of the terminal area. 

Up the long escalator, I checked into the lounge at 0758. From my house it had taken about two hours to get to the airport, thru security and into an easy chair to await boarding. 

I'm always a little leery to trust it when I have a critical time deadline, but in this case our mass transit system worked just fine. 

As we waited in line to take off I caught three Alaska flights out my porthole, our wing, a flight just starting takeoff roll and one more landing on the distant runway. 

We had a good enough flight although a little lumpy coming over the desert into the Palm Springs airport. 

This is the breezeway between the building containing the gates and the main terminal. 

It was a breath of fresh air after after the recirculated air on board the plane. In addition to being fresh it was also hot. Before I left home I took a shot of our weather station. 

The 58° temperature there was forty degrees cooler than what we found in Palm Springs. Later in the day that 98 degrees worked its way up to 107. The locals say even that's not bad compared to the high teens and even low one hundred twenties that occur later in the summer. But as long as the humidity is low it's not that uncomfortable. 

We sat around reminiscing and sharing some fraternal conversation until the thought of our early tee time on the morrow sent us to bed. 

Saturday morning we set off for the golf course in 90° heat. Again, even though warm, it wasn't uncomfortable due to the low humidity. 

Here are the three brothers. Little brother Keith on the left, middle brother Harry, in the middle of course, and your blogger on the right. 

Despite popular belief, July in Palm Springs is not that bad. High heat is offset by low humidity. We had calm winds during most of our round but when the winds blow strongly, that can be be uncomfortable. It also makes for difficult golf. 

But overall the beneficial effect on these old bones more than offsets the heat and wind. 

I think I'll come back again.