Finally! Biking in Tiburon, New Friends , More Rain, and Another Move

Well, it is warming up and is dry and sunny. We were happy about that. We took a bike ride in the afternoon, in Tiburon. There is a really nice, paved, flat bike ride through the lovely town of Tiburon, right on the water. It goes all the way to Mill Valley; we biked along about 5-6 miles, it was really nice. The view is so beautiful from Tiburon. We had recently read that the ferry ride from Tiburon to Fisherman's Wharf is considered the 2nd most beautiful ferry ride in the world, according to the Travelers Writers Ass'n. (I can't remember what is first, I think it's in Hong Kong or Australia) Great to get outside and bike!

Later, we met another couple for dinner. Marcia is a woman I had met last year at Jazzercize, and had coffee with a few times. When I wrote her that I was returning, she said it would be hard to see me as she had been diagnosed with Lymphoma a few months before, and was undergoing chemotherapy. She emailed me earlier this week that she was in remission, and was therefore able to start her autologous bone marrow transplant soon, and would like to meet for lunch. So we had lunch today, then wanted our husbands to meet, so we had dinner together too. They are very nice, and of course, it's quite a coincidence that she is having a bmt. She found it helpful to talk to me, and we really bonded over this, of course. She starts the procedure on Monday. It's quite different than mine, though the recovery and the drugs they use are similar. We are wishing her the very best. Pat

Saturday, Jason and Lindsey made their final move. We went to Alameda to help, and then did some exploring of East Bay area, going through the tunnel to Orinda, then found some interesting things in Point Richmond. We then hung out at the condo.

Sunday, was the Sunday movie club in SFO. The movie was "The Black Balloon". It was a very realistic portrayal of family dynamics when a child with severe autism is part of the family. Acting was good, and the story line was real. The writer of the film grew up with 2 autistic brothers in her own family, so it was part auto-biographical. Toni Collette is starring in it, and we love her. We would both recommend it. On the way to the movie my windshield wiper broke. Try to find an auto parts store in the middle of San Francisco! It took a while, but we found one. It was a two minute fix, once I got the new blade. We then did our grocery shopping, and hung out at the condo.

Gus continues to improve and is still peeing incredible amounts every couple of hours. I think he and Pat are having a contest, and he is winning. I have been playing around with Twitter, and trying to figure out what use it is Twitter is an online thing. I've been hearing about it, and Scott Simon had Daniel Schorr sign up for it, so I thought it might be interesting. So far I don't quite get it. I know how to navigate it but I am searching for the usefullness of it for me.

Dan

Photo Update

I just realized that most of the pictures we have posted on Picasa were unlisted, and so you couldn't see them. I changed that, so now hundreds of new pictures are available for your viewing pleasure.

http://picasaweb.google.com/danklim1

Gus is Better

Gus is better! We got many comments and concerns about our doggie, so I thought I should tell you all that he is better. He is active, cheerful, begging for food again, and, most importantly, his paws are better. Jim VB sent some info too, including the theory that it can be exacerbated by a new environment or the sun. Well, it isn't the sun, we haven't had much, but it is  definitely a different environment out here.
He is on steroids, which is perking him up, and also, making him pee incredibly amounts! And, waking us up early in the morning to let him out. But he's better, and at least he's waking us up and not peeing all over the condo.

The above is of Dan putting the cream on his paws to keep them moist and soft.  The other is a picture of his paw that has improved, before there was a lot more white on it which is not good.

I am sure you are all thrilled by these shots!

A long and winding road to Mendocino and Zin Goes the Strings of My Heart

First I want to let people know that I changed some settings on the BLOG so that it might be easier to leave comments. We do enjoy hearing from people, so please try again. You should be able to leave a comment without registering as a follower. If you do register as a follower, you will get updates when we make changes, some people like that, others find it annoying. It is up to you.


Wednesday we had more rain, so we decided to take a trip up to Mendocino. It was a great drive. The road wound through moss covered huge Oak trees that looked spooky in the foggy day. Then, it wove through huge Redwood trees for about 50 miles.

When we got to the coast, it was spectacular, even though it was cloudy. The town of Booneville is surrounded by wineries, and we stopped at one tasting room, where we found a great Zinfadel at Zina Hyde Cunningham. We did a short tasting then headed to Mendocino.

The town of Mendocino was surprising to me. It is a cross between a New England village and an Old West town. The usual mix of clothing stores, art, and other Yuppie stuff was there, but few if any chain stores. Another unusual aspect was several water towers with wooden tanks that seem to gather rain water. http://www.mendocinoguide.com/

Pat found a staircase to the Ocean and had to walk it. It was a spectacular coastline. We bought a pair of binoculars at a discount binocular store, just in case we saw some whales. Got a pair of Nikon binoculars for $39. We then headed up to Fort Bragg. I have to admit I got a little confused and was thinking of Fort Bragg NC, not California, so i was expecting an Army base, either open or closed. Not so, it was a kind of sprawl town, with some California Victorian aspects to it. It looks better on the web site than it does in reality. http://www.fortbragg.com/.

We then stopped at one of our favorite stops, Healdsburg. It's a great place with a town square and shops restaurants etc. We ate at Zin restaurant. The restaurant was recommended by Paul G. We liked it a lot. Pat ordered the Chicken and Dumplings BluePlate special, and I ordered the Pork Chop. Both were excellent; the chicken was fork tender, in a wonderful sauce, and the pork chop was applewood smoked, tender and flavorful. We bought a bottle of Forchini wine, 2005, Proprietors Reserve. It is a Sonoma Zin of course, and really enjoyed it. See, we are turning into Northern Californians with our growing wine obsession.

www.zinrestaurant.com

You can see all the pictures on our Picasa web albums.

We returned to Novato in the rain. Water is still coming down from the hills.

Dan

  

Dan

Fairly Bad News, Very Good News and a California Bike ride

Before I write anymore, we've heard that some of you readers are having trouble posting comments. Please let us know, we love the comments! Either just keep trying, or email either one of us the comments, and we'll cut and paste them if we can. Dan thinks it's a problem with the blogger server, so please, keep the comments coming.

So yes, Gus does have Pemphigus, or so the vet thinks. We don't know the nature of how the disease will hit him yet, if it'll just be an occasional flareup or what, or how bad, we'll know that as time goes by. (we thank Becky, by the way, Dan's cousin, who told us her mother has this and it is pretty controllable--Becky, forgive me, i need to add that your mother is not a canine!----humans get this disease too!)She gave him a shot of prednisone, as well as some pills, and we'll see if that works. If it does, it's controllable at least. We aren't going to biopsy it further at this point, we'll see how it goes. It is very upsetting; though this is hopefully controllable, it reminds us that he IS going to 9, and is getting to be "an older " dog. Argh, I hate the thought of it and this starting, but it's all part of it. Hopefully, we'll be able to control this for a long time. We didn't want to put a collar on him to stop him from licking and chewing the paws, so instead, the vet suggested we buy him some socks. We think they are kinder than the booties, and he seems to tolerate them. But yes, he does look funny.

We took our first bike ride beforehand, there is a bike path near us that ends up in San Rafael. It was a really nice path, but I decided it was so typically California, as it had beautiful wetlands on one side of it, and the freeway on the other! (I know, Ruth, do the one in Tiburon---that is next, I made Dan promise!---it's finally warm enough and dry enough to go out.

Later, we drove to the East Bay because Lindsey and Jason had honored us by asking us if we wanted to go to their ultrasound appointment, to see the sonogram of their baby. We gladly said yes. We drove out early, checked out some other possible places to stay in the East Bay (Hercules and Pinole) and were not impressed. We then drove up into the Berkeley Hills, which I had found last year and took a few stairway walks. I was eager to show this part of Berkeley to Dan, and he too found it amazing.
The streets are so narrow and steep that trucks and vans have to take alternative roads, the views are amazing, and the houses are beautiful and old. We found a golf course that we are excited to play, in Tilden Park. And yes, we found a short stairway walk, Bret Harte Lane. I did not know that Bret Harte lived there, in fact, I have to google it to find that out, unless someone out there tells me why a pathway is named after him.

We then went to the ultrasound appointment, and it was a thrill. Dan had never even seen any ultrasound before, so he was fascinated. Everything is o.k., and great, and Jay and Lindsey were grinning away afterwards, so very happy that everything is AOK. We were so thrilled, i wanted to hold the baby! And Yes , it is definately a boy! I thought Jay and Lindsey looked like such typical expectant parents in the waiting room.

Sunset Movers and Sunset Boulevard

Dan came home later on friday, and I picked him up in Larkspur, as he took the "Marin Airporter". (Yes, Jim and Laura, he did, and he thought it was a good idea) Before I got him, I stopped in at this terrific bookstore named Book Passages to get an up to date speakers program. I happened upon this lovely, Scottish brogue reading aloud, and realized there was an author speaking. It turned out to be Val McDermid, a Scottish msytery writer I have never heard of, but she sounded really good. I was so happy to discover (hopefully) a new mystery writer. Have any of you ever heard of her or read her books? She signed my book, and a small group of us talked about the mystery writers we like. She mentioned Steig Larsson, whom we just discovered, and several others, who are Scandanian and Italian. (She agrees with you Per, about Henning Mankell, that he is very good, but so dark and depressive) She talked about her small village on the Scotland-England border, North Umberland, and how the kooky villagers give her all the inspiration she needs for her characters. so this was very enjoyable.


Saturday, we helped Jay and Lindsey move. A familiar activity for us! I told them that we should hire ourselves out, and call ourselves the "Sunset Movers". (play on words about this new movie, "Sunshine Cleaners" about 2 sisters who clean up after dead people---it IS a comedy) We drove around Alameda a bit, and really like it, drove down to the beach. Dan loves their house, as I do, and I did include some pictures. Here is a link for more pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/danklim1/JasonAndLindseySHouse?authkey=ZjZwNMBe4IA#

We came home and then went back to the city to an art gallery opening that our neighbor has recently opened. It was in a very ritzy part of town, on Sacramento in the Marina District. It was fun, quite elegant and interesting to see the people. I wanted to just people watch, but didn't want to be obvious, so I was subtle. We talked to the caterer, a delightful woman from Jordan who is a friend of our neighbor, Philip. It was fun, it was so nice to be included in this.

On sunday, we had Jay and Lindsey and others over to watch the Oscars. It was JJ, (Jay's old roommate), Lars and Kate, and Erin, Nat and Silas, who is 2 and was a really big hit. Everybody loves Silas, he's a doll. He really liked Gus! So we watched the Oscars, sort of, which were pretty boring this year, but it was fun to have a party. Everyone brought a dish, which had to relate to one of the movies. Here's the menu:
SlumDOGS (little hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls)
BodySlamBURGERS (sliders)
PickleSPEARS ( a wrestling move)
German Potato Salad (for the Reader, which takes place in Germany--this movie is a real challenge to cook for!)
Spaghetti ala Mickey Rourke's hair (this was Lars' idea)
Wine (Doubt-the wine and wafer)
Mini-cupcakes with FROSTing, but not from a mix, therefore a NIX)
Indian appetizers and sweets (Erin and Nat brought these from a great Indian place in Berkeley)
Jay and Lindsey were going to make MILKshakes, but didn't, and there was various other food that was just darn good, but not within the theme. I made Lemon Cookies with Lemon filling with fresh meyer lemons from the tree at Jay and Lindsey's new house. (yummy)
It was fun to have them all over, we all enjoyed it.

Poor Gus, Poor Paws

Today is friday, and not a happy day. The weather is nice, Dan is coming home, but Gus has a problem. He has not been walking much for the past few days---we thought it was his arthritis, or the rain, or that he hurt his front paw somehow. But he's not been asking for walks, hasn't been eating, and I noticed that he had been chewing on his paw. We bought him booties for walking, which, though he looks funny and cute in, make me so sad to put on him.
so I finally brought him to a vet today. She turned out to be a wonderful gal, and a very good vet. She is not sure what the problem is. It is possibly a minor problem, an allergy to something that affected ALL FOUR PAWS. Yes, all 4 paws are affected, that's why the poor guy can barely walk! But wait, it might be worse. He might have an auto-immune disease, called "Pemphigus". I haven't looked it up yet, but she just said she hopes it isnt' that. There is treatment for it, but it's predisone, which is not pleasant for a dog. It can shorten their life span, but she was vague about this. We just don't know yet.
It was a very hard appointment because she had to shave his paws to check, since he's so hairy, then she needed to take a blood draw to really check this out. Cleaning and checking the paws took about 1/2 hour, and the attendant was sitting on Gus to keep him from moving. He was his wonderful, patient, stoic self. She then had to clean out his ears, because they have stuff in them, and then clean out his eye, which is runny! (I know that some of this is allergy related, as these happen all the time, but all at once, the poor guy!) I was sitting there comforting him.

She was wonderful with him, kept saying what a wonderful, patient good guy he was. And he was. When she was done, she gave him some treats, and he just wagged his tail and looked happily at her, like normal. We have to bring him back next week to see how all the meds do, to see if it's just allergies and an infection.
I was so thrown; I am usually very stoic, and i was fine in the office. I got out to the car and just choked up, and cried. (my tear ducts don't produce many tears, due to my BMT, so I can't really cry, but I did) I just came back and am sitting here, decompressing, feeling so bad for him. At one point, I was holding his head and hugging him, and I think he was shaking.
she gave him a bunch of meds, which is not good at taking, nor is he eating much, so I stopped at the nearest place near here, which happens to be a Burger King, and I bought him some french fries to hide the pills in! He did like those!

Mustard, Montana, Movies, and Merlot

Yes, it's been a while since we wrote, so we'll catch up now. On tuesday, I brought Dan to the airport for his trip to visit his brother, Jerry, in Montana. I then went over and put down shelf paper in Jay and Lindsey's new house in Alameda! It was really fun, Paula, Lindsey's mom, Lindsey and I were there for a while working, then Jason came over after work. This place is really nice, I'll include pictures some other time, after they move. It's a little Victorian, built in the 1870's, and in wonderful shape, updated, painted and spotless. Great windows and ceilings, and a separate entrance and downstairs big room and bath for visitors. Yeah!
Dan, meanwhile, got stuck in Salt Lake City, of all places. He called Matt, and since it was late, they decided to meet for breakfast the next morning, as Dan's flight was leaving late. So he got to see Matt, that was nice, but he was not very happy with the airlines, long story, just really frustrating.
He got to Montana, and found Jerry so glad to see him, it was really good for him to go. Dan will probably include some pictures later, and write his own words.
I did not do much on wed., I exercised, took care of some email business, then went to a movie, "The International." I love this nearby theater here, they have good movies, seats and popcorn, and many people go alone.
Thursday, I took a walk in the morning--it is finally really nice here! Warm and sunny. In the afternoon, I went into Sonoma to visit the HGTV (www.hgtv.com/dream-home) dream home. It was lovely, please go to the link and look at it. The best parts were the storage and the laundry room and den. The kitchen had two attractively built in pantries that were behind glass curtained doors, so it added to the ambience of the place and also held alot of dishes. I really liked that idea. The dining room was quite large, and had a little sitting area in it too by the window, another idea I really liked. The den had storage for wine in it, and lots of built ins, also a separate entrance. I could do therapy in there and serve my clients wine to help them open up, and they could come and go privately! All the counters were silestone, which seems much more practical and cheaper than granite. Oh, they had a little vineyard out in the backyard, I am including that picture.
While I was waiting for the tour to start, I shopped in Sonoma, and found these really nice prints that I bought! Do you like them? They are colorful, and painted by a local Sonoma artist. The yellow in the prints show the mustard that is growing here rampantly at this time of year, in face, it is the "mustard festival" in Napa right now.
Later, I met Kathleen for dinner in Petaluma. We ate at a cute, little place called Sooze's Wine Bar. There were only about 4 tables in it, and the owner cooks the meals from scratch as you order! We split a wonderful duck breast with a great sauce, and each had a deliciously fresh lobster bisque. It was an enjoyable day, I really had a nice time. Sonoma looks so beautiful today, with the sun out and the green beginning, the flowers beginning to bloom and the yellow of all the mustard!

Rain, rain, go away, and a picture for Inger

Sunday we went to the "Key Cinema Club." They have these in a few cities, such as Washington D.C., St. Louis, and a few others plus San Francisco. This is an organization that you can join, or go as a guest, and they preview movies prior to being released. So you get to see movies, all indies, I think, before they get reviewed or released. Today we saw "Two Lovers" with Joachim Phoenix and Gwenneth Paltrow. Dan did not like the movie at all, Jay sort of liked it, and Paula, Lindsey and I (Pat) did like it, maybe 2 1/2 stars. It's fun to go, you go in the morning, and they are careful to monitor that no one is bringing any equipment to make a copy. Interesting! This is apparently Joachim's last movie, or so he says, but, we'll see. We don't think he'll make it as a rap star, at any rate.
Later, we met Kathleen at a wonderful restaurant in Larkspur called "The Lark Creek Inn." It was great. Kathleen had prime rib, which was served with Yorkshire Pudding, Dan had Sole, and Pat had fried chicken, served with a buttermilk biscuit. This place is really great, I might want to return for a special meal. Lovely atmosphere, great food.
Pat
Monday was a hike in the Golden Gate National Park area, around Sausalito. We were looking for a trail, and when we found it, it was closed, probably do to erosion from the rains. So we took a different trail, which was also acting as a drain from the top of the hills. The 2-3 inches of rain are running down any incline that is present. Driveways, hillsides and paths all act as drains. I can see why there are flood warnings. All the creeks that were dry when we got here last week, are running with water. The rain is supposed to subside tomorrow, with some warming into the 60's and partly sunny. I am going to Montana on Tuesday for a few days to visit my brother Jerry. Weather there is in the 40's and cloudy. I'll be back on Friday.

Dan

The walk was good, strenuous, but so good to be hiking and exploring. When it rains in this coastal area, it is very different than when it rains in Michigan. You can see why it floods! The signs in the Marin Headlands Park were also very strange to us, to watch out for frogs in the road! (did anyone see the movie "Magnolia'?) So we didn't see any frogs, thankfully, as stepping or running over a frog comes close to a nightmare for Pat, but we did see a huge slug on the path. We took it's picture for our Swedish home exchange hostess, Inger, who told us when we visited that she likes all the slugs we saw on walks there. so this one's for you, Inger!

Pat

Sip, Nibble, Sip, and Rain, Sun, Rain

Happy Valentines Day, and Happy Birthday, Matt. Dan bought Pat flowers for the day, so nice! It feels like home.










OK, we're ready for the rain to stop for a while. This area has been in a drought, so the locals are excited that they are finally getting rain. For us, a week is enough already and we are ready for some sun and a little more warmth, though it has been consistently in the high 50's which is quite nice compared to Michigan. The rain has not really slowed us down much, but has just altered some activities.

Friday we went to Sonoma to partake of a wine matching at St. Francis winery. www.stfranciswinery.com. Last year when we were here, (see Pat's blog) we had joined their wine club, and we have received a few shipments of their Artisan series wines. We probably are not going to continue this, as we have since found other high quality wines which we prefer, but part of being in their wine club is a complimentary wine pairing. The way that works is they pair four wines, with four small portions of food. It is interesting to see how the wines and food compliment each other, the rule of thumb is to "sip, nibble, sip." One thing we learned was to eat something prior to enjoying this, as the quantity of food is very small and the quantity of wine is larger than the average pour in a vineyard. We had a great time and then visited two more wineries, Ledson www.ledson.com and Martinelli www.martinelliwinery.com. We found Ledson to be interesting as they offer a very large variety of wines and do not sell outside of the winery. Their tasting rooms are in a mansion that sets off the road near Santa Rosa. Martinelli is located in a very plain, wooden facility. We plan on exploring more of the 122 wineries in Sonoma, so that leaves us 119 to go. Probably won't accomplish that this trip, but it's a nice goal.

Saturday we had more rain showers. We did regular things around the house and stores, then went to a movie. We saw "The Wrestler", which was worth seeing. It is a very different movie. I'd give it 3 out of 4 stars. Pat gives it a 2 1/2.

Later in the evening we went to Rancho Nicasio. Pat found this place last year, and mentioned it on her blog. It is quite something, out in the countryside of Marin. It is only about 10 miles off of 101, through a very, very curvy road, beyond George Lucas's house, (yes, that George Lucas) and over hills and dales. It is a building that is over 150 years old and has a bar, dance floor, general store and post office . It is an old country bar, complete with moose and deer hanging on the walls. Their Valentine's Day entertainment was a group called the Baguette Quartet. They played old French dancing music. We had a ball. Many people were dressed for the occasion, wearing red, or french cafe clothing, and everyone got up and danced the fox trot, tango, waltz. We met one of the owners, who was sitting at the next table, Jane Brown. She and her husband were with another couple, and we had a very enjoyable evening dancing and talking with them. We plan on going back for more entertainment Check out the web site. www.baguettequartet.org

www.ranchonacsio.com

Birthday Wishes!

Happy Birthday today to 2 inspiring men!  Do you know them both?

Can't control how large the Lincoln picture is, sorry about that.

They are both 200 years old today.

Do you suppose they had ever met?  Does anyone know?

Rodin exhibit

After we met Jason for lunch at Bakesale Betty's in Oakland, we drove to Stanford University in Palo Alto and saw the Rodin exhibit at the Art museum. Pictures are posted on our web album on Picasa. http://picasaweb.google.com/danklim1/CaliforniaFeb2009?feat=directlink

It is quite an impressive collection of Rodin's sculptors. The weather continues to be in the 50's and rain off and on, so indoor activities have been called for, though there are still very enjoyable periods of sunshine. Storms are forecast for the next week, so we'll see what that brings.

California's Most Dangerous Beach and Cows Do Run

We drove up to Bodega Bay and Jenner, and saw the beautiful, rugged, forboding coastline of the Pacific. As we stopped at Goat Rock Beach, we heard the tremendous roar of the waves before we even saw the huge, powerful waves. There were signs up everywhere about how dangerous the beach was, the "most dangerous beach in California." Play the videos to get a sense of it. Yes, it was fairly cold, though not by Michigan standards!
We also found a walk, which does qualify as a stairway walk, as it had stairs! It was quite steep and interesting, so I did get the walk in.

We drove back down Hwy One, through countryside, farmland, and the Tomales Bay. Dan


really liked the drive, and thought
Tomales Bay was an unexpected gem. It was a beautiful and delightful day. We were coming home around 4, and saw cows RUNNING in the pastures as it was evidently feeding time. Pat was quite surprised to see that cows can actually run.

We stopped at the bar in Nicasio to get their entertainment schedule. This bar is out in the middle of nowhere, but claims to get quite a crowd. It's sort of a country bar with gourmet food, we will have to try it.
We ended up at Boca, the local restaurant, where they have a great tuesday Happy Hour--1/2 half all appetizers and half off all bottles of wine. They have an excellent wine selection, as well as Pat's favorite wedge of lettuce salad with blue cheese dressing.

The Spirit Moved Us but We Didn't Fall Down

With apologies to the similar name of a poignant book , I had to entitle this entry that because we went to a Meditation Center last night named "Spirit Rock." We had never been to a meditation before, and this center has beginner meetings on monday nights, taught by renowned teachers.
So, we liked it. It's hard to say more, because it really is all inside us. But here is my favorite quote:
"Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth,

"You owe
Me."

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the
Whole
Sky."
— — شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Shams-al-Din Mohammad Hafez

The next morning when I went downstairs, I looked out the window and noticed the sun shining on the little bird feeder outside the window. I had never really noticed it before!

Pat

Stairways Redux , then Packing Redux, then Baby Makes Three

We drove into the city today. First of all we did the first stairway walk of this journey! I am so happy to be back to this activity. This walk is a brand new one that was in the SF Chronicle . It's at The Presidio, and part of their on-going restoration. It was a beautiful walk, short, but we wandered through the Eucalyptus and Redwood trees. At the top, and on the walk, you could see wonderful views of the bay near Golden Gate bridge. A beautiful walk. We met many people, who were also out to check out the new walk, and everyone gave this an A+.
Later, we went to Jay and Lindsey's to yes, help them pack! Oh yikes, we thought we were done with this, but no, it is ongoing. At least this time it isn't our stuff, it's theirs. We didn't do too much, they were actually pretty organized themselves.
Later, Lindsey managed to open the Hope Chest her mom had been saving for her, and found all these wonderful baby clothes that had been hers and her brother's, from when they lived in Scotland. We had so much fun looking at them all.
We left them fairly early, as they were tired, and came back home. Sigh, a nice day. Pat

Re-connecting

This is out of order, again, but until we figure out how to edit it otherwise, there is nothing to do about it. (and who cares anyway, you are all saying).

On Friday night, we went into the city to meet Jay and Lindsey. We had talked to them, but hadn't seen them yet, as they had been busy working and signing their lease for their new house in Alameda. They will move in at the end of the month.
We went in early on Friday, as there were some destinations that I (Pat) had seen that I wanted to check out. The first was an Art Deco antique store near Russian Hill, named Decorum. It had beautiful antiques in it, really beautiful! It was all Art Deco, alot of it french. But so expensive! Nice to see, a nice shop. How do these places stay open, you have to wonder? How can they make a living with this?

Anyway, we then bolstered our driving courage and drove downtown. We're not really wimps, after all, we drive in Chicago all the time, but the parking in San Francisco is actually the worst. We finally realized we should just bite the bullet and go into a parking garage, and pay the price. We walked to Belden Place, which was described as a small French little enclave in the heart of the city. Well, it was cool, it was a little street off of Post St., but all it had was restaurants. It would be cool to go there for a meal, esp. mussels. An interesting find, but not much else there. We walked around the area for a bit, then headed to Jay and Lindsey's.

We visited with Lindsey, who looks really good. She really does have that pregnancy glow, feels 70% better than when she was in Ann Arbor at Xmas time. When Jay got home, we went to this restaurant named "Aziza". I had been there before. I had taken Jay and Lindsey to it. It's one of their favorite places, and we all wanted to share it with Dan. It's sort of Moroccan-Mediterranean . It is really a beautiful place, many little rooms with couches and curtains. They have a "tasting menu" where the chef decides what he'll be serving you. Yikes, we had so much food! We were stuffed! So delicious! Their version of bisteeka, couscous, lamb shank, hummus, scallops, etc. The picture is from there, and the people in it are just random customers. It is very dark, but I wanted to include it.

We also just found out that the chef from Aziza will be on The Iron Chef on March 1st!

On Saturday night, we had Kathleen over, and we cooked. It was so good to see her again. We had a really nice time. Good to re-connect!

One final comment--the weather. It's been rainy and cool. The rain is off and on, as is the cool. It still isn't snow, and it still isn't cold. it doesn't stop anyone from activity, which is great. We have a hot tub in our complex, which is really nice too. It reminds us of Sweden, actually! The Swedes would call it a "Swedish Beach Day."(are you reading this, Per?) (to understand this fuller, you can check out our blog to Sweden--www.danklim.blogspot.com--and look up 7-6-08)

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