The best I can do at this time, or for the rest of the year, will be to take Labor Day weekend in beautiful (and enlightened) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
I have just made my air and hotel reservations. Air travel will be on Alaska Airlines, notorious for its Grace Cards and homophobia; it was the only choice under $500. Thanks to the declining US dollar - the Canadian dollar is now almost equal to the US dollar! - these elements alone are costing me an arm and a leg. And the worst is, I may still have to cancel at the last minute, if the work circumstances demand it.
At least thanks to Vancouver's excellent mass transit, I don't see a need to rent a car, unless I need to take the ferry to Victoria or a drive to Whistler, neither of which I have time for. At $45/day for a Hyundai Accent, it's too expensive anyway.
I hope this trip will be of similar caliber to my Seattle trip last month, even though I am not expecting to meet anyone in Vancouver.
