Category: Uncategorized

24 June 2016

Well, so much for Carmen. This was a modern interpretation and it just didn’t seem to work. It was almost an x rated version.  We left after the first intermission.

We had 10:15 am tickets to San Francisco Museum of Modern Art near the Moscone Center, downtown.  It had been closed for three years and recently reopened with vastly more space.  It is really a beautiful museum.  Almost every floor (7 in all) has a rooftop sculture garden.  It is light and airy and well layed out, but you could visit it every day for a week and probably not see everything.

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Their restaurant opens onto a sculpture garden as well and we had lunch there.

Tonight is Beach Blanket Babylon if we can stay awake!

23 June 2016

Monday  was hot, Tuesday was hot, Wednesday was cold. So cold I needed a blanket for the bed but the staff had failed to provide one in the closet.  I even looked in a storage closet I knew about and checked all around the guest house to no avail.  Finally, I put the bath robe over the bed and put a pillow over my feet.  The first thing this morning I got the staff to bring me a blanket.

I started the morning with the intention to go to Lombard Street.  I had passed it several times in previous visits to San Francisco but wanted to walk down it.  I caught the J line to Powell street and rode a cable car.  Surprisingly, there wasn’t too much of a line for the cable car and I made the second car.  I got off at the top of Lombard and walked down it.

Interestingly, it is not the crookedest street in San Francisco but it is probably one of the prettiest with all those flowers.

From the bottom of the crooked drive I walked to Fisherman’s wharf and ended back at the Municipal Pier, this time to visit the Maritime Museum. The museum is free to the public and is in the last year of renovation of the Art Deco facility, so there were not that many exhibits.  However, the WPA murals inside the building had been restored and were superb!

One interesting item was a restored whaling boat like the one you read about in Moby Dick.

You must not rely on these medicines with your doctor; explore the drugs in order to discover the most reliable and inexpensive choice for cialis viagra australia yourself. Causes of erectile dysfunction: Psychological causes- Stress, performance anxiety, guilt for not being able to satisfy the partner, depression, low self esteem and indifference among partners. bulk viagra uk Henceforth, viagra canadian this one is the considered as the most serious issue. When free viagra for women the endometrium is infected, it can lead to menostaxis. I also got a better photo of the Municipal Pier.  In this shot you can see the curvature of the pier.

Yesterday, Tom and I saw swimmers and today there were two in the bay. That water had to be freezing.

I then stopped by Ghiradelli Square and bought the chocolates that Tom lost yesterday on the street car.

The last thing I thought of doing was to go to the Exploratorium.  I knew it had moved into a new facility on the Embarcadero and had almost gone in a couple of times on previous trips.  This is the one originally started by J. Robert Oppenheimer of Los Alamos fame.  The facility is huge. It takes up one entire pier on the Embarcadero and the place was full.  Even more importantly, the kids were thoroughly engaged in the exhibits having a ball.

I ate lunch there overlooking the bay and then pulled a Tom Green and lost my Muni Pass for the week while in the Exploratorium.   I stopped on the way back to the guest house at Powell street and forked over another $40 for another pass.  It still will come out cheaper since I take public transportation everywhere in San Francisco.

More on Jenufa on my web site when I return home but it was a very interesting opera (and 1 1/2 hours shorter than Don Carlo).  Tonight is Carmen.

22 June 2016

If you have seen a map of San Francisco, have you ever noticed a curve of land into San Francisco Bay near Fort Mason near the Presidio?  I was searching for something before the trip and I saw this and wondered what it was. (You can see it here, or Google “Municipal Pier, San Francisco.”) It is a pier and the location of the Maritime Museum, a national historical place.  The pier is actually a part of the national park service so the term municipal is misleading. Since that time, I read it is the best place to see Alcatraz from the city, the city skyline with Coit Tower and the Transamerica building.  It also has a not too shabby view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

An article I read in the San Francisco Chronicle said the pier is decrepit and in desperate need of renovation but the cost is so overwhelming for the park service it would eat up the annual budget for all national parks.  It will probably be declared unsafe for pedestrian traffic soon and I wanted to see it before that happened.

The view is pretty spectacular.  Here’s the view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the pier.

Here’s the view of Alcatraz from the pier.

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And here is the city skyline.

It is a shame the cost is so prohibitive to repair and probably the foot traffic is not significant enough to justify city monies. There was a sprinkling of foot traffic, some bicycles, Segways, and some fisherman, but not much else.

Tom Green is sharing my opera tickets this trip. He decided he would like to see the pier also, so we took the J line to Civic Center and the boarded the 19 bus to Hyde Street pier.  What we didn’t notice was we got the bus going the opposite way. In our defense, the 19 line was on a one way street, so there was only one place to board.  As we were taking the grand tour of the 19 line, a woman got on in an American flag jump suit.  We found she was from New York and Miami, so the outfit fit.

After we got off and back on the 19 line in the correct direction, we made it to the pier. Tom and  I walked the pier and then headed to Ghiradelli Square at the foot of the pier and had lunch.  We then spent a small fortune on Ghiradelli chocolate and someone who I will not name left their chocolate on the street car as we headed back to the guest house.  In any case, we boarded the 19 line to retrace our steps and who gets on the bus with us at another stop but old glory herself.  Long may she wave.  We did to her as we got off.

About the opera….  I’ll post my review later on my website when I get home but just a few words here.  The opera was Don Carlo and this was new to me.  It was 5 acts with 2 intermissions and ran for 4 1/2 hours!  You needed an iron butt to sit through it but I have to admit it didn’t seem that long. I think this opera had the greatest collection of male voices of any opera I’ve heard. Tenors and bassos were amazing. The lead soprano (Elisabetta) was good but the soprano cast as Eboli (yea, I also think the virus) was better. As a matter of fact, I would have sworn Elisabetta in the first act was different from the Elisabetta in acts II, III, IV, and V.  Either that or she warmed up to the music.

Tonight we dine at Petit Crenn, one of Dominique Crenn’s restaurants.  She was voted one of the best female chefs in America (seems sexist to me, why not just say best chef).  The opera tonight is Jenufa.

20 June 2016

My day started around 4:30 am EDT and is now winding down at 10:00 pm  EDT.  Needless to say, I’m a little wiped. The first “good” news was the flight was delayed 1 hour.  The other “good” news was I was number 1 on the upgrade list for first class.  The bad news was it was a direct flight so there were no options for others to change to another flight.   Alas, I flew economy. The best news was they threw caution to the wind and used up a lot of fuel to keep us only 45 minutes behind schedule.  The 6 hour flight turned into a 5 1/2 hour flight.

I immediately purchased the week long Muni pass at the information desk and took BART to Civic Center.  It was a $20 round trip on BART versus a $50 one way taxi ride. From the Civic Center, I hopped the Muni to Church Street and walked three blocks to Parker Guest House.

The guest house has been in operation since 1997 and I’ve been staying here since 2000. It’s location, location, location.  I’m 3 blocks from the underground Muni, one block from the “J” line and 4 blocks from the Castro.  I can literally be anywhere in San Francisco in 30 minutes, with transfers.

The house now has absentee owners (they moved to the Russian River) and it has suffered over the years from a little neglect even before they left, but I still come back year after year.  They have a wine social in the evening and you meet world travelers.  Breakfast is excellent and the staff are very competent and friendly.  The ground are really nice.

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I had scheduled a 3 pm massage at M Spa, a nine minute walk from Parker.  Matthew was unusual.  I would tell you he had no massage experience except he hit every sore muscle and relieved a great deal of pain. He would also talk to himself and even chant during the massage.  Whatever, it worked.  I had a bad case of swimmers shoulder and he certainly helped that issue.

From there, I walked to the Castro and had my obligatory martini at the Twin Peaks Bar at Castro and Market.

I did some shopping and as I walked down the Castro, the Bank of America allowed a makeshift memorial to Orlando on the outside and sidewalk of their building.  A little further down, someone had written in chalk the 49 names of the victims on the sidewalk.  It was very moving.

Tomorrow, I hope to climb Twin Peaks for the second time. I brought a day pack, my camera, water bottle and boots.  Stay tuned. You may be sending flowers for a funeral.

19 May 2016

I’ve been wanting to get back over to St. Petersburg, FL for a while to see the new Dali museum.  Years ago I toured the old museum.  I was easily able to convince Jim and Holley to do the trip even though they had already seen it.  We decided to stay at the newly renovated Hampton Inn Suites in the downtown area.  They had a good experience here a few years ago when they were in town for a wedding.

We left Fort Lauderdale around 8:30 am under the threat of rain but we really only encountered a sprinkle or two on the way over.

Our first stop was a Starbucks for a bathroom  break and a chance for Jim to use his Starbucks’ app to pay for coffees.  Thanks Jim!

We then stopped in Venice and Jim found a really charming place called the Crow’s Nest for lunch.  It was perfect.  It over looked the bay.

We arrived around 2:30 pm in St. Pete and decided to do a little touring by taking the trolley around town at the exorbitant price of $0.25 for seniors, $0.50 for non-seniors. It was an excellent way to get a feel for the landscape.

After the trolley tour, we decided to visit the Museum of Fine Arts and we took advantage of the special $5 Thursday nite special admission.  This is a nice museum with a limited collection, but every single item in the museum is prime.  Georgia O’Keefe, Monet, etc. were all stuff you had seen in art books as kids.
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There was a special class of adults coloring in adult coloring books as well as music and wine on the patio.

We then took a walk around downtown and decided on dinner at The Moon Under the Water, a mix of British, Indian, and south Florida seafood.

After dinner, another walk around town, down by the bay where they were showing outdoor movies and while waiting for dark to fall, live music.  The walk along the bay was quite beautiful, particularly with all the activity in the park fronting the bay.  In Fort Lauderdale or Miami, it would have been prime condo territory.

We ended the night in the hotel pool with a bottle of champagne and cookies from Betty who couldn’t make the trip.

Tomorrow is the Dali museum!

9 May 2016

According to Joel, it’s pronounced AY dell.

I got away from the house just before 10 am and fought with the GPS which wanted me to go via I95 instead of directly to the Florida Turnpike.  It was pretty much 70 mph all the way on the Turnpike and then I75 except the last few miles.  I cranked out 436 miles in a little over 7 hours with rest stops.  No traffic tie ups and I was probably the slowest on the road.

The campsite is nice.  Again, new restroom/shower facility.  It seems Florida and Georgia are really upgrading their facilities.  I finally figured out that only specific spots in the campground are for tents.  The first clue was a tent with the circle/cross through it.  You go register with a “host” in the campground who is camping just like you albeit in a fancy Winnebago with air, kitchen, etc.  I suspect they get their fee of $38 per night waved.  My fee was $28 for camping and I’ll pay an additional $5 tomorrow for the car which is not included in the camping fee.

After a quick set up of camp, I took a walk down the Gopher Tortoise trail.  It was after 5pm and they normally are active at that time of day.  I only saw burrows.  The trail is a loop of 1 mile over very level terrain, much like the scrub community of the Lake Wales Ridge in Florida.
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There is more Tread-softly here than I have ever seen. I hope they have a way of warning campers about it because it has stinging hairs that are excruciatingly painful if you touch them.

Tonight is beef stroganoff, an early turn in, and then off to Bryson City, NC for one night in the Deep Creek campground.  According to the GPS, it’s a 6 hour, 28 minute drive from Adel, GA.

20 April 2016

I’m trying to get fit for the cross country trip this fall.  I’ve picked up the pace with my morning walk, added 20 minutes to my swim time and have a trip planned to hike the Deep Creek Trail/Martin’s Gap Trail/Indian Creek Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains in May.

I’ve hiked a portion of the Deep Creek Trail.  Actually, I’ve hiked a portion of several trails in the Smokies but have never completed most.  The first time, Crag Knox and I tried to lug a 55 lb pack up Shuckstack Trail to Sassafras Gap.  That never came to completion (and we were a lot younger then).

Next was Deep Creek.  Charlie Cooper (who passed away this week) and I hiked to a point and then came down.  We made our own loop.

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In all of these, I was 40 years younger and in much better shape.  I think you can see I’m a little worried about how I’ll do out west with peaks in the 7,000 to 9,000 foot range.  The highest point in the Smokies is Clingman’s dome at 6,643 feet.

I’ve decided to be proactive.  Today, I loaded up the pack (as I would have packed for the Smokies trip with 40 lbs of gear and water).  I then drove to the parking garage at the main library in downtown Fort Lauderdale and hiked up the five stories of the garage (14 flights of stair with 8 stairs per flight) 3 times.  I intend to do this as often as I can before the Smokies trip.  I probably should have started a little earlier but better late than never.

One great tip I learned from my Bugaboos adventure was how to step in high elevation when you are not used to the altitude.  Take baby steps and as you place your foot, shift your weight forward and push up with your knee.  This mitigates the stress you would put on your hips and your back and allows you to breathe a more normal rate.  It works.  I used it on the stairs today and was able to do more than I thought.

The flight home was uneventful.  We even managed to touch down in Fort Lauderdale 20 minutes early and I was home by 3:00 pm.  I jumped in the shower and changed to shorts.  From 40ºF to 81ºF was quite a change.  Fortunately, the humidity wasn’t too bad.

Jim and Holley stopped by at 4 pm and we went over to Southport Raw Bar for happy hour.  A pitcher of beer, peel ‘n eat shrimp, a dozen raw oysters, conch fritters, Bahama bread and fish dip later, we were stuffed. I even let them have some.  Holley treated me to a welcome back happy hour!

I slept 12 hours last night.  It’s been years since I did that.  Today, I grocery shopped and had a ton of laundry to do.  I also worked on some of my photos.

If you remember, I took some time-lapse shots.  There were 74 shots of 20 second exposures with 10 minute intervals.  Here are the results in a very short movie.  It takes a little while to load since it is over 16 megabytes.
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Aurora Borealis – HD 720p

Thanks for following my blog!  I have another trip at the end of April and will write about that.

 

This has been a recovery day. Too little sleep takes a toll. I hate to admit I ate a Gold Rush breakfast in the Gold Pan Saloon this morning: two eggs, hash browns, bacon AND sausage with two pancakes. I was able to wolf most of it down.

Although we had scheduled a third night of Aurora viewing, we three agreed we were done in. The forecast for Aurora activity was low even though the skies were clear. You can actually check the activity online every day through several sites. You can check the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks at http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast. You can also check the Canadian Space Agency (who knew) at http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronomy/auroramax/hd-480.asp. We figured with three nights of viewing, we could get one night guaranteed. It turned out to be our first night.

We returned to the steak house for dinner and I had their special pizza. The small pizza was an impressive amount of toppings. I immediately lost a cap on my front incisor with the first bite. Fortunately I didn’t swallow it. Call me snaggle tooth. I’ll get it re-installed when I return home. Wonder what security will think when they x-ray my carry-on and see a tooth in there?

We flew out at 8:30 am for Vancouver with a four hour layover to Denver. The next two nights will be just outside of Denver in Louisville where we hope to explore Rocky Mountain National Park, where by the way, they have a travel advisory for 5+ inches of snow, ground blizzards and 8F temperatures. Denver, by comparison, will be a balmy 53F. The difference a little elevation makes!

Apparently I am traveling with a couple of rogues. Both were pulled from security and “wanded” down. Nancy was further patted down and Michele had her camera wiped down and analyzed. I, of course, breezed through.
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It took longer to get through American customs than it did Canadian customs. The good news is that with the chip in your passport, you can “declare” pretty easily at a self check in machine and then with the Global Entry, make it through faster. Global Entry is the way to go.

We landed safely in Denver (my second visit to the airport but none to the city) and got our rental car for tomorrow. We head out around 9 am to Estes Park Mountain Sports to rent snowshoes and then to Bear Lake for a ranger led snowshoeing trek. We’re dressing for extremely cold temperatures.

One irritant was we made a specific request, confirmed for a four wheel drive Jeep Grand Cherokee so I would feel at home driving it. We got to Thrifty and the guarantee was not there. We are in a four wheel drive Ford Expedition and, dangerously, the controls, gauges, etc. are opposite the jeep.

Our reservations in Louisville are at a Residence Inn. This is my first time staying in one and I am impressed. I related the yapping dog story to the clerk and he checked to make sure there were no dogs in the room next to mine!