Musings

The joy that I felt last year is returning. I am trying to analyze it a bit. One thing I realized is that the flavor of this area is different---maybe it's related to the climate, maybe because it's a big city, but there is so much going on! And people get out and do things, not just young people, not just couples, not just "hip' people. I was experiencing this the day we played golf, the movie and then went to the book talk later. There were many people at all these activities, and all kinds of people. I realized when I was out here alone last year, that that is not an anomaly, there are many people doing things alone, and people of all ages. It's like people embrace activity, are curious about life, and used to going out and doing things. I think the climate has something to do with this, but there is a similar flavor up north in Michigan, though not the same degree. Individualism is the norm, and there is acceptance of it. There seems to be less emphasis on appearance, in all it's aspects, and more acceptance of being different, or being your own person. I feel so comfortable with that, as one who has never quite felt that I fit into any group. I don't know if I can word that right, but I think that is part of my feeling of comfort here.
Pat

We waited 4 years to return to Elko and then our only calamity

Oh dear, this will be out of order from our trip, but as I (Pat) am food obsessed, I have to add this.

On the trip from Salt Lake City to Reno we stopped at Elko, Nevada for breakfast.   This has a history for us.  When we drove this journey 4 years ago, we ended up by chance at this restaurant that was the best omelet and breakfast I have ever eaten.  And I am not a breakfast person, so this really was good!  I have thought about this place for years, and was looking forward to returning there on this trip.  Dan of course kept preparing me for the possibility of it not working out, and I of course was determined for it to work out!  (typical of us!)   Of course, we couldn't remember the name of it, only some of the details of where it was and what it looked like inside.    Well, Dan thought he spotted it,  I was very skeptical and unsure that he was right, until I saw the menu, and then Yes! it was the same place!

The omelet was as good as I remembered:  fresh delicate eggs, fresh slices of avocado, crisp bacon, good white cheddar cheese, and slices of hot pepper.   And the biscuits--ummm, homemade, flaky, warm.   

We didn't take any pictures, we were too hungry to think about it since we'd not eaten since we'd left Salt Lake City.  But we did buy a coffee mug!  The name of the place is "The Coffee Mug."     A treasure!

But here's the calamity, the only calamity on the trip out here----the mug broke, as you can see as we completed our travels.     Oh, woe is me!  (but valentine's day is coming, hint, hint, hint to Dan)

Pat

It sometimes rains in Northern California or the new restaurant new chef new food critics.

Well we have had some rain, and it looks like we'll be getting some more. The locals are happy as the area is in a drought and the last time it rained was last February, but it creates a challenge for us. Nevertheless it is not zero, or below zero (that's farenheit) and we are in California. Yesterday we went up to Napa, and had a late lunch at the Napa Grill. It was very nice, though not on the scale of Bouchon's or the French Laundry. We played with the camera a little and shot this short video. Maybe we'll do that a little more. The restaurant had been closed for a month so they could replace the roof, so everything was a little new and disorganized, but very high quality.   They also had a new chef, who delivered our food.   You can see the starter course in the above video.   Pat also had the mini kobe burger, a spring salad, and celery root soup.   Dan had the harvest platter (above) which was quite interesting.  It had coppa ham, salmon tartare, creme fraiche, raisons-on-the-vine, whole grain mustard, marinated olives, fresh honey comb, air cured beef, petit basque, cypress grove's "humboldt fog" and "la caseria" blue cheeses.   The cheeses were excellent, and I record their names so I can remember, and suggest you all try them.

In the morning we searched for the local YMCA to see if there were possibilities there for working out, and found that it was located at Hamilton Field, the former Hamilton Air Force Base. They let us take out a two month membership, so that should be good. They have developed the base very nicely, turning the hangers into businesses and offices. They have also built some new subdivisions and converted some of the old military buildings to housing. Disney has a production location and there are other businesses there. It is pretty cool.

Other than that we have been getting ourselves organized, walking in the neighborhood, and exploring the area. Last night we went to an authors thing at Book Passage in Corte Madera. It was an event Marin read, where everyone in Marin is supposed to read the same book. The event was crowded, so we watched the author on a TV in the coffee shop, It wasn't a good set up so we left. The place was filled with librarians (not that there is anything wrong with librarians, some of my best friends are librarians). The book they are reading is "What is the What" by Dave Eggers. It is about the lost boys of the Sudan. Might be interesting to read.

Dan

giggles, great soup, Salt Flats, Casinos, and our Destination!

Since we are here for a long time, we won't be blogging everyday, but will consolidate this on-line diary.

How many of you guessed why the eggs weren't hard boiled? You have to guess, I won't answer it yet!

Anyway, we had a great last night in Salt Lake City, on Saturday night. We babysat for Isaac while Matt and Rachel worked, and had so much fun with him! The picture is of Rachel coloring with Isaac He is sitting on a Pampers Box, since he doesn't have a chair yet, and was having so much fun with his mommy.

We then let her get some work done. We got him giggling, which made us giggle and love him so much. He came over to both of us for special attention, but he has his own subtle way of doing it, just sort of positions himself in front of us to be tickled or picked up, and smiles happily.

Matt made us dinner later on, a really great squash soup with cheese croutons. It was truly excellent. We bought the wine and the dessert.

We left very early sunday, and made sure we had gas in our car for the drive across the dreaded "Bonneville Salt Flats." The last time we drove this 77 miles of nothingness, we were practically on empty, as the last gas station beforehand was out of power. I included a picture of this land, as it is unique. Although there are foothills in the distance, it is just flat, flat land. This time of year we noticed it was sort of brownish, with some flat lake beds along the way, but other times, it's been miles of white nothingness. yes, it IS salt, and there are salt processing plants, I guess you'd call them, along the way.

We then got into Reno, made great time. We stayed at The Grand Sierra Casino. It's a new place, and really, really beautiful. The room rate was $49! (plus $20 for the dog, but they take dogs, which is great). It was really fun, as we watched the Super Bowl down in the sports bar room with many others, who were quite loud in their cheering. A fun place to watch it!

The next day, we drove into Ca., and to our condo in Novato. We spent the day unpacking and organizing, and shopping for food, etc. Today is Tuesday, Feb. 3rd, and we are still getting settled. We had to wait for our golf clubs most of the day, but we continued to organize. I went to Jazzerize tonight, which felt good and familiar, seeing some of the gals I remembered.

I walked Gus to get the paper this morning, and again, it was good and familiar. It feels oddly familiar and homelike. Dan is settling in, I will let him talk for himself. He really likes the condo, as this is up on a hill with the Pacheco Open Space Preserve out the back. We saw deer today, in our yard. No turkeys yet, though, I miss them! Pat.

Last night I woke up at my regular time 3 am, to go to the bath room and noticed the outside lights go on (motion detector), and there was a large buck deer in the back of the condo. It was eerie but very cool. They are mule deer, and their racks are different than white tails, but he was at least a six pointer. Tbe good part about this location, is the location. We are close to San Francisco, Napa and Sonoma. The condo is bordered by open space. I sat on the deck and smoked a cigar tonight and did enjoy the setting. There is sprawl around here, and some of it is pretty bad sprawl, but there are also some good things. We found a very good Chinese restaurant and we are near all the things that seem necessary these days such as Costco, Petco, Bevmo, and other stores that end in O. No mo for tonight.

Dan

we are back on, but it's time for quiz

O.k., we are finally in Novato! We will catch up with the rest of the journey shortly, but we just got internet access, so we have to download pictures and catch our breath. Plus, we've been waiting all day for our golf clubs to arrive from Fed Ex, and as I began to write this, they came. Now, we wanna get outta here and explore the area, and do errands.

So, just to keep you interested, if you aren't already bored, here's a quiz!

I had forgotten to mention this earlier, the day we ate lunch near Park City: part of our lunch were some hard boiled eggs we had made when we were in Estes Park. Dan made them, made them the "Martha Stewart method" of boiling the water first, then putting in the eggs, and letting them sit 10 minutes after they return to the boil. he is quite proud that he has always used this method, and was quite diligent about the timing. Anyway, as we peeled the eggs, we quickly saw they were NOT HARD BOILED, but were instead, soft as could be. Dan realized why later that day. Do any of you know? Please let us know your guesses!

Never enough of Isaac!

Friday, Jan. 30th.

We went off on our own, which we are fine with us, as we're adventuresome. We drove to Park City. We had called Meghan to try to see her, which isn't going to work out, but we said hello and she gave us some good suggestions for hikes. We got off at Jeremy Pass, which is right outside of Park City. There were some trails up in the hills, which were beautiful. We put on our snowshoes and took off. Gus was very happy! We took a short hike, as the altitude is affecting us some, and it was what we wanted to do. On the hike, Dan's bindings broke, and my snowshoe fell off. We then just carried them and walked in our boots. This really wasn't a problem, as there was a path.

We went to the Olympic Training Center village, and ate lunch from our cooler bag in the car. No training was going on, though they were readying some of the ski jumps. It's still a really cool place though.

We then went into Park City, and walked around this charming, but very yuppy, town. Went into a few of the shops, and hoped to see some celebrities who might still be around from the Sundance Film Festival that just ended. (we didn't)

Drove back to SLC, then Rachel called, wanting us to come over to babysit, which we happily did. I had brought him a book called "Mommy", which is a pop up book by Maurice Sendak. He LOVED it, gently touching the pages as the images popped up. He looked at it over and over with me and when Daddy Matt walked in the house, he had to show it to him and insist that HE read it to him.

We decided just to have pizza for dinner, so we went to get it. The pizza place was frenetic with all these kids parties, so we decided to do it as take out. It took a long time, and Isaac did very well, but was getting impatient. We finally got it, brought it home, and enjoyed it there. After Matt put Isaac to bed, we headed back too, as we were tired and Matt was going to try to get some more work done.

Beautiful Utah

Thursday, Jan. 29th. Happy Birthday, Melisa!

We drove into Salt Lake City from Rock Springs. We were going to take a side trip down to Flaming Gorge, but after being on the side road to it for about 5 minutes, and again, experiencing wind and blowing snow, AND a very icy road, we changed our minds. I was driving, determined to conquer the winds.  I realized the trick in passing tractor trailer trucks, so became confident. (the trick is to speed up as you pass them so you don't get caught in their draft.)

As we got into Utah, we were amazed at the beauty of it. The sky was bright blue, the mountains majestic and inviting. We've seen this before, but it's breathtaking.

We got in the afternoon, and when Matt was out of school, he stopped by with Isaac after getting him from daycare so that Isaac could meet Gus. Well, Gus was a bit hyper, eager to slurp poor Isaac's face, and Isaac was a bit wary of this big creature. He was interested, but standoffish, which is understandable.

We then followed Matt to their house, leaving Gus in the room. We played with Isaac while waiting for Rachel to come home. They have a babysitter every Thursday evening for their night out---it's Ashley, who was their nanny and whom Isaac loves. Isaac was a bit shy with us, but Matt sat him down in a nearby chair, and we slowly played a game of putting things into a box and taking them out. Then we played footsies. He smiled and laughed, still playing in his intense way with figuring things out, like how to close the box and put things in it, and handing items back and forth.

We went out to dinner with Matt and Rachel, had a really good relaxing time with them.

Wild , Weird and Windy in Wyoming

Wed. jan 28th. On the road.

We drove on a side road from Estes Park back up to Laramie, Wyoming to catch back up with I-80, to continue our way to Salt Lake City. I think it was 287, and was a short cut. Good grief, this was the drive from Hell! It was so windy that Dan had to drive it, I could not handle the van. We were in the middle of high desert and prairie (what is the difference anyway between them?) Wind and snow were gusting across the road, which was fairly deserted except for trucks. We saw one trailer truck overturned on the side of the road, and expected to see more. It was desolate on top of windy. I had to use the bathroom, of course, and Dan had missed one town along the way, expecting to see others. Well, there weren't any others! There were "locations", I guess you could say, but they consisted of the name of the ranch that populated the area, or there was an abandoned post office.

We finally stopped at one place that had a post office-general store-antique store combined. As we walked up the creaky stairs to the rundown place, we saw a sign that said the use of the bathroom was 75 cents. Well, I didn't care, I would pay. However, the bathroom was nothing but a porta-potty about 70 ft. away, and it was too snow covered to get in. (I wondered what the shop owner woman uses, but I didn't as as she wasn't very friendly)

So we did manage to get to Laramie and stop at the first gas station we saw. Relief was nice, but it was short lived, as we quickly found out that I-80 was closed going west to Salt Lake City. We tried an alternative road, to bypass the section that was thought was closed, but that road was closed too. We found out that the roads in Colorado were open, but would have had to go down to Denver and cross mountains that way. We deliberated and deliberated. We weren't in a rush, that's what's nice about being retired. Matt and Rachel are both busy with their careers. We had no assurance when the road would open. They had been closed for long periods of time over the last three days. Truckers wandering around, rumors were floating all over the place. . Getting stuck in Laramie was not a dream place, but driving down to Denver meant going over windy roads again. It would have been a 300 mile detour, and heavy snow was forecast for Colorado. We finally decided we would have to just hole up, and we managed to find a brand new Fairfield Inn that would take the dog. It was actually beautiful. As Dan went to move the car and bring our stuff in, he came running into the lobby, where I was on the internet looking at weather reports, and shouted, "it's moving, cancel the reservation!"

After one more trip to the bathroom we hopped in the car, followed ALL the trucks on I-80, and drove and drove, to Rock Springs, Wy, on the western side of the state. Again, Dan had to do the driving because of the wind, and the drifting snow. It was a tense ride, but he did really well. We are listening to a great CD, by the way. It's "A Traitor to Memory" by Elizabeth George. So that has been great to listen to, and calmed our nerves. The sky was very weird as there is such a large expanse that you can see for miles. You could see where the snow was bad, and where it was clear. But you could see it for very long distances. Wyoming is so expansive, I can't describe it any better than that. Wide open, with brush, and some foothills. But the sky! It seems so big and open.

We finally got to Rock Springs, and stayed in another new hotel, The Homewood Suites. It was really nice, and we were really happy to have a nice place to stay and relax. Dan got takeout from a nearby Village Inn, so we chilled in our nice room. We realized it's cheaper and nicer to get take out rather than deal with restaurants all the time.
Pat

Cozy and Cold in Charming Estes Park

Tuesday, jan. 27th.

We drove into Estes Park today, as we wanted to take a side trip.

I went to camp here oh so many years ago, and have loved it. I have been here with

Jason a few years ago to revisit it, but was so happy to return with Dan.

We found a really cute little cabin in the woods to stay in, pictured above.

We then drove into Rocky Mountain National Park. It was absolutely gorgeous! Part of it was closed in the winter, but we did see a lot. It is so interesting to see a National Park in the winter, with all the snow and wind. We didn't see a lot of wildlife, though we saw a herd of elk in the park and then later. The weather, however, was incredibly cold! It was so cold there was no way we wanted to take a hike, plus the paths were totally snow covered. I got windburn just taking some pictures. Magnificent, but freezing.

Later, we drove around Estes Park, went to the Stanley Hotel which advertised itself as being the inspiration for the hotel in The Shining. Stephen King stayed there and credited it in the movie. We saw a herd of wild elk on the grounds of the hotel. Gus was growling, but fairly well behaved. We had been told at our cabin that he had to be on a leash, and if there were Elk around, he couldn't be outside. The cabins we stayed in also had wild turkey trotting around, and it reminded me of the ones I saw last year in Novato.

We had a really cozy night in Estes Park. There was a hot tub in the cabin, and it was wonderful. We had take-out food from the Safeway, and some wine from home.

The wind, however, was howling, especially the next day, and Gus is apparently afraid of wind, so he was quite anxious and ready to leave. So we hit the road back to Wyoming.
Pat

Nebraska sure is big and boring

Monday Jan 26. We drove from Des Moines to Cheyenne Wyoming in weather that ranged from 9 above to -15. We stayed at the Days Inn in Cheyenne, which leaves a lot to be desired but was clean and warm. Dinner was Outback take out chicken breasts. In general the roads were clearexcept for about a half hour of snow, and then the windblown snow of western Nebraska and Wyoming. I took a picture of the sunset on the road in Western Nebraska. It was eerily beautiful, set in cloudy skies amid a flat expanse of land.Tuesday, we are headed to Estes Park after looking around Cheyenne and visiting the world headquarters of Sierra Trading Post. The picture is of a cowboy statue at the State Capital in Cheyenne. Gas is cheap in Wyoming, about $1.45 per gallon. Dick Cheney was good to his home state.

It is so cold, even Gus wanted to come inside. Next stop Estes Park.

Happy Family Time in Des Moines

Jan. 25th.  We left Buffalo Grove after breakfast and drove to Des Moines, for our next stop.  It was a seamless drive.   Got to Des Moines around 3, were so glad to see Melisa.   Her apartment is very nice---it's a new place, very cozy, small but nice sized rooms.    It's very good for her.  We went to dinner at the famous Rube's.   We first discovered this Iowa restaurant when Matt went to Grinnell College 17 years ago!  It's a "down home" place where you pick your own steak, from the cows that they have raised and processed themselves.   The steaks are huge, and the best you have ever eaten, and that is a challenge!  Anyway, Rube's has opened another restaurant near Des Moines so we hungrily went there, and it didn't disappoint.

We slept very well, and have had a really nice day today.  Did some shopping, ate lunch at the great Vietnamese restaurant next door to Melisa's apartment.   This morning, we walked to the neighborhood grocery store.  We love this neighborhood, she can walk to so many places, and the neighborhood is friendly and nice.   Later in the day we went to the art center, which is very nice and just the right size.   Bought some groceries for spaghetti, which Pat made, with Melisa's help.  Melisa made Pat's salad dressing.   We are finally feeling relaxed, very relaxed, and that we are on an adventure.    This has been a good transition.

Laura's Big Breakthrough

We have started our trip. The first leg ended with a stop in Buffalo Grove Illinois, to visit Jim and Laura Bernard (Pat's brother and sister in law). This was a momentous stop, as it is the first time that Laura has allowed a dog in her house. Gus is quite comfortable, and so is Laura.

Leaving the house in Ann Arbor was a bit complicated.  I couldn't find my cell phone and just as Pat was doing one of the final washes, I realized the pants and phone were already in the machine and under water when I realized.  ATT is sending a replacement phone to Salt Lake City, and it will be there when we arrive. I am glad it was covered by the insurance I had purchased.


We are both happy to be done with the clearing of the house phase, and are now on the road. We met Laura's brother and sister in law for dinner at "Mambo Italiano" restaurant and had some good Italian food.

When we arrived in Buffalo Grove found that the key to the Novato condo had arrived at Jim's house. (our landlord had to overnight it to Jim's--we are picking up equipment all along the way).

Most of you probably hadn't heard that Jason and Lindsey are expecting a baby in July. They have known for a while but wished to not share it until after the firs trimester. So last night we found out the great news---Jay and Lindsey are having a son! another boy! boyoboyoboy. Plus, she is 2 weeks further along than we all thought, so her due date is July 15th. Life is good.

Friday was a laid back day, didn't do much but decompress. Laura made duck for dinner, and we just kicked back and watched a movie and went to bed early. We needed a day like this this.

Today we are off to Des Moines to visit with Melisa. Pictures will be added later, when we have access to our computer, so check back in a couple of days.


Dan and Pat

Not quite ready to go

So this is Pat writing. I keep trying to write, but am so exhausted that i don't have the energy!

We are leaving this Thursday for this great adventure, and I am in a state of numbness at present. In the past 12 days, we have cleaned up after a wonderful party for Jay and Lindsey, packed up mostly all of our personal belongings as well as some furniture, rented a UHaul and brought box after box to our upnorth house, and came back home to finish up. "Finishing up" means putting the rest of our stuff in locked storage, and leaving the house in some presentable shape to rent, as well as pack for our 2 1/2 months cross country.

We leave with much ambiguity: our boxes are not unpacked upnorth and we have to figure out where and how to put our things there, so it is unfinished; we have no renters as yet for our Ann Arbor house. So far we leave not knowing who may rent it, how long, and if it will even rent. We are not sure where or when we will return in late April, it is really unsettled. It struck me last night that if we don't return to Ann Arbor, we haven't even said good-bye, we;re just sort of leaving town. I do want to do this, I do want this adventure, but I am grieving the transition, the huge change this all entails. I am putting voice and words to these emotions because i think it is so important to acknowledge them.

We are both feeling them, and able to talk about it together, though I tend to just get pretty withdrawn, and Dan gets more talkative. Different styles, but both going through all the feelings of a huge transition---retirement, spending the winter in another location, moving houses, etc. wonderful times ahead, we are sure, but the getting there is filled with many emotions.

So, read on, and stay with us, as we travel the country with our intrepid dog, Gus.

And oh, yeah, p.s., we leave behind ALOT OF SNOW!!!! This, we will not miss!

My goose, which is about 14 inches high, is covered in snow!

We are back in Ann Arbor. In the last week, we have packed up most of our belongings and hauled them up north. What is left in the house is most of our furniture, but almost all of our belongings have been moved up north. So essentially, we are now residing up north. This has been exhausting, as all of you probably know because of your own moves. I am on autopilot, and just moving from one task to another. We emptied the entire 17 ft Uhaul truck up north . We got help with some of the furniture. Wally helped me load in A2 and Don Ranville helped me in Cedar. Without their help I don't know what we would have done. It didn't help that we are in a cold wave, and yesterday it was about 12 degrees in Cedar with six inches of new snow.

Pat has been working relentlessly on packing and on things in each house. We are whipped. Now all we have to do is pack up for California and get the house ready for potential renters. We've both been working non stop and are ready to get this over with and to get on the road for our next adventure.

First delivery trip to Cedar

I just returned from trip number one to drop off our belongings in Cedar. Like our previous blog, we are posting these things for our own log of our adventures, if people want to read and post comments, that is great. But you might find some of the postings boring, such as what we at a particular restaurant, or how bad the roads were on a particular day. I did set it so that anyone can comment.

This was a short trip, I left Tuesday morning and returned Wednesday morning. I brought a whole van load full of stuff, filled to the top. The trip was uneventful, except for the drive home, which was on snow covered roads half of the way. I did stop at the Turtle Creek Casino and won about $90 playing Three Card Poker and Let it Ride.

Sunday we are getting a large UHaul trailer and bringing a large load, including some furniture back up north on Monday. It is exciting that we have started this adventure, but right now, readying the house seems overwhelming. Pat worked very hard while I was gone, but we have a long way to go.

Dan

link to Pat's blog from last year

The beginning of this adventure actually began last year for Pat, who went out to California for 5 weeks, to the same area, Novato. Her blog is http://www.sfstairways.blogspot.com. If you are following this, it would be good to read that. Her focus, along with the many insights she gained, was finding the many stairway walks of San Francisco and the Bay area.

Now she is excited to pursue this even more, with Dan by her side. We are also bringing our dog, Gus, our lovable lab-newfie with us.

Preparing for our trip

Step one in a trip like this is to prepare your current home, or in our case homes, to be left empty. We have been working hard to empty the Ann Arbor house, so that it can be available for rent. Our initial plan was to rent it short term, up to six months. We listed it with a realtor and have since realized there is also a long term rental market for people coming to Ann Arbor for work for 2-3 years. So we are planning with that also as an option. We have spent the last week throwing things out, preparing things for storage, and traveling to the Salvation Army and the Ann Arbor land fill. Dan is going to take a full van of things to Cedar today. Our long term plan is to relocate in Cedar and rent the Ann Arbor house for a while until the economy rejuvenates. We are excited and overwhelmed at the moment.

More postings later

Dan