Onwards to the California and the Bay Area

April 4: Onwards to Carmel CA
The drive to Carmel was broken up by a stop at Tobin James Winery in Paso Robles for a tasting. We encountered several 30-somethings celebrating a B’Day. We lingered talking to one who teaches yoga in Mexico - Baja Norte. The wines and conversation made for a good break in long drive.  The weather in Carmel was a little chilly and windy. The seafood at Flahertys, Scallops & a Lobster Melt, was quite enjoyable.

Here are a few shots of some of the scenic highlights of the drive...

An Oil Farm

A Wind Farm - a cleaner look for a cleaner source of energy

Mission San Miguel - to help us deal with being away from SMA for so long

April 5: Hanging Out

Happy Easter! We spent the day strolling around town and shopping. The lunch break at Little Napoli included roasted artichoke and gnocchi and a bottle of Primitivo. We especially enjoyed returning to Demetra's (after a few years) for a "mediterranean dinner", in our case with an emphasis on Greece and a fine Agiorgitiko (Greek red wine).

The Beach at Carmel

April 6: Onwards to Los Altos & the Bay Area

We headed "home" to Los Altos by way of Capitola, a favorite stop of ours. We wandered around the shops and enjoyed lunch at a seaside restaurant. A great thing about this route is the that there are several farm stands that carry strawberries and artichokes. We topped and loaded up on both.

Capitola

Visiting with Friends in the Bay Area

It was amazing how many good friends we managed to visit in our short time in the Bay Area... a group from Apple, old friends from Stanford Business School, and more. 

In our brief visit with the Albrights we enjoyed some amazing wines.

The Heitz is 1984, the BV is 1978 and the Unico is 1970. Wow! We also enjoyed sampling some Chartreux!

On a visit to Half Moon Bay (actually El Granada) we visited Grant & Su's new home where Tom & Monica joined us for dinner.  We arrived early and shopped a bit and then hiked along the "Devil's Slide" area.  The last time we were there it was the Coast Highway. Now the highway is diverted through tunnels (due to the many issues with landslides in the area.)

We 

Pat Li came down from the city to explore with us and then have dinner with Fred & Sue. Before meeting up with Pat we wandered around Palo Alto.  And we almost missed the new Apple Store there because the glass front makes the space almost seem like just open space.

The new Apple Store in Palo Alto

The primary trigger for our US Roadtrip was the fact we planned to move to "Permanent Resident" status in Mexico and as such we cannot drive a US plated car there. Since our car was made in Japan (as opposed to a NAFTA country (ie Canada, US or Mexico) we could not "nationalize it" and get Mexican plates. So we need to sell the our 10 year old Honda CRV which had around 24,300 miles on it when we left Mexico. This just seemed a sacrilege. So we devised a plan (a US Roadtrip) to add miles before selling. 

To become Permanent Residents, we needed to return to Mexico while the paperwork was processed. So we left our car in the good care of Patty & Matt in Los Altos and returned to Mexico.  

Las Vegas

This is being posted in late May. We wrote the notes in April but apparently never quite completed the posting. Maybe we are finally getting our priorities right???

April 1: Grand Canyon to Vegas

We started our 4 hour drive from Tusayan (by the Grand Canyon) to Las Vegas after breakfast. The terrain along the highway was interesting but not very photogenic. We passed by Hoover Dam at the Nevada border with thoughts of stopping for a tour. The traffic line stretched several miles from the highway to the viewing point. We’ve been there before and we don’t like long waits, so we passed by. 


Vegas during the day is fairly acceptable. Vegas after 8pm (at least during Spring Break) is pretty crazy. The Grand Canyon was extremely busy but thinking back about it while in Vegas...it seems pretty calm (compared to the frenetic Vegas life.) Where do all these people come from? Well we know they come from everywhere. Native languages seem to span the world.  In fact we heard far less English than we expected. 

New York New York Resort - Note Rooftop Roller Coaster

The Paris Resort

When we were last in Vegas (maybe 1998) we really enjoyed life on the Strip. We don’t gamble but with the new Resorts (Mirage, Bellagio, Venetian, Paris…), the great shows (Cirque du Soleil, the Blue Men, David Copperfield, …), the great new restaurants, and the relatively calm Strip, we loved Vegas.  Now every square inch is filled in with more Resorts that are equally large.  And they are all busy.

We know it’s a crazy place but still the city is a work of art. Everywhere, inside and out, the Casinos, Hotels & Restaurants compete for your attention. It takes a lot to get more than a brief glance, so they put amazing effort into design.  

A Crystal Forest at "The Shops at Crystals" 

Flowered Parasols celebrate Spring...somewhere in our wanders

We arrived in the early afternoon and went to lunch at the Venetian. The Venetian, like most of the resorts spans acres.  And there doesn’t seem to be a Google Map for traversing the resort, so we were on our own.  We realize that the idea is to have the Casino areas catch your attention but we managed to find the signs for the Canal Shops & Restaurants. We found our way to Trattoria Reggiano and enjoyed our Gnocchi with Pesto and Spaghetti Carbonara as well as our artichoke appetizer …all accompanied by a very fine Super Tuscan wine.

The Grand Canal (Vegas style, ie not Venice)

After checking into our hotel we picked up discount tickets for the Zarkana Cirque du Soleil show at the Aria. 

This is nothing, she can juggle at least twice as many balls.

Yep, it is a guy on a ladder holding a gal on a ladder.
I can't recall how the piano fits in...

On the way back we stopped at the Bellagio for the fountain show. Somehow we ended up with this great shot with some key Vegas landmarks (Bally's, The Flamingo, and The High Roller Observation Wheel) in the background. 

Walking the street was a challenge with folks stopping for photos and grouped around street performers. Others were walking along with beers or with Yard Glasses of ale or cocktails.  This is either the new Vegas (the one we like less)… or it is just Spring Break.

April 2: Laundry, Shopping, Art Galleries & Tapas

Next morning we decided it was time to catch up on the laundry. From the laundromat we headed over to Fremont street. Normally Fremont Street is associated with it's casinos and it's nighttime lightshow. But we were headed to the Container Shops, boutique shops all housed in shipping containers. To our surprise, the first one to catch our attention was "The San Miguel Collection". It was the grand opening of a store featuring products from San Miguel (and other parts of Mexico.) 

Later we checked out another recently opened shopping center, The Fashion Show. It has it's share of luxe shops but there are high-end shops galore in Vegas. So to get your attention they have a "space ship".  It does nothing. It just sits there but it does catch you eye.

Later we checked out the Faberge exhibit at the Bellagio. No photos allowed, but the adjacent shops featured elaborate eggs (with either a Faberge or Easter spin in mind.)

An Easter (or Faberge) Egg

Then went to Julian Serrano's latest restaurant,Tapas, at the Aria where we had a fine Rioja and...drumroll...tapas! 

Huevos Estrellados Tapas (chorizo, fried potato, egg) — quite yummy!

April 3: Outside Vegas (and back)

We spent several hours at the Devine Springs Reserve, home to the Nevada State Museum and a fine nature preserve. We had a late lunch at the cafe (pretty decent). Enroute back to the hotel we were finally able to get our car washed...but somehow they seriously damaged our wheel covers...something we only noticed MANY miles later. 

Ocotillo in bloom

A hummingbird that posed so well and so long you just had to take a photo

For dinner we were drawn back to the Aria & Julian Serrano for Tapas & Paella, this time with Priorat.

The sauteed padron peppers were slightly piquant and basically amazing

Next: Onwards to California

Albuquerque & Grand Canyon

Friday March 27: The drive to Albuquerque via Madrid and the Turquoise Trail was easy and the two of Madrid, considered to have “boutiques”, was definitely not a shopping mecca.  The houses have character though.  There than that there wasn’t much to see.  Our recommendation: Give the Turquoise Trail a pass. 

The countryside along the Turquoise Trail

Colorful Shop in Madrid

Upon arriving in ABQ we went immediately to the Apple store to purchase a new iPhone 6 for Pat. Bill has the cast-off iPhone 5S. Lunch was at an old standby around the US, CPK (California Pizza Kitchen).

After checking into our B&B in "Old Town" we explored a few shops—most sell the typical south western jewelry & pottery, but they are cute. For dinner we went to La Crepe Michelle. The waiter recommended a very nice (and inexpensive) Graves that went well with our crepes (pork for Bill, mushroom for Pat). For dessert we shared a blueberry creme brûlée.

Saturday March 28: A short walk away from the B&B was a trio of sights: the BIOlogical Park (the botanic garden and an aquarium and connected by a short train ride the Zoo.)  The garden was in bloom with spring flowers (including the lilacs) and accented by a large outdoor display of model trains. The Aquarium had a nice collection of sea creatures.

The trip to the zoo follows the Rio Grande on one side and passes a fine (and big) city park that includes several fishing ponds.  We didn’t see anyone actually catch a fish but they were trying.

The Zoo has a broad range of animals, the cutest being the baby elephant....and some excellent ice cream (lunch!).

We should mention that much of the route now is along this well "known" (as least by name) highway. 

Our next stop was at the east end of Albuquerque where a tram takes you 2.7 miles, from 6000 to 10,000 feet, to the top of Sandia Peak for a 360 degree view of the area. There was still a little sun at the top.

The Sandia Tram

The evening meal at Seasons restaurant was excellent. Scallops for Pat and salmon for Bill was accompanied by a very nice sparkling Blanc de Blanc from New Mexico. All in all, good enough we decide to return.

Sparkling Wine from New Mexico...quite good!

Sunday March 29: To continuing building our awareness and understanding of the native history and culture, we went to the Pueblo Cultural Center with displays on the 19 pueblos of New Mexico, each of which had distinct traditions.  There was an Apache dance demonstration, where some of the locals joined in the activities. Pat bought two new bracelets…and received training how to most easily put on bracelets that slip over the wrist.

Apache Fire Dance (the green "tails" on the costumes are fir branches.) 

The following photos represent the use of birds in the designs of 3 of the pueblo cultures.

We studied all the various stages in Indian history under US, Mexican and Spanish control. Basically the self-ordained ruling group first decides that they need to protect themselves and next recognizes that they must really do something to help the natives.  They pass laws accordingly. And surprise, surprise each new law seems to protect the government more than the people.  It’s amazing how much advantage you can take of others while spinning things so altruistically.  As Bill put it the cycle is to cite the need to do good for them (but take advantage of them), claim big improvements (but take advantage of them), claim other improvements (maybe do one minor little good thing). Mind you we were visiting a museum created by the natives, but we drank the koolaid.  Bill compares the result in the US and Mexico as being the same. In both countries the Spanish took anything they thought of value while in the US they legislated their way to the same end.

After a stop at Whole Foods to pickup some supplies (snacks for the trip to the Grand Canyon and breakfasts) we visited the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. Bill Gates and Paul Allen started their business (you may have heard of it, Microsoft) in Albuquerque before moving to Redmond, Washington.

The Computer history exhibit includes a PDP-8 (which brought back memories for Pat who spent the majority of her programming years with PDP-8’s). There were also interesting quotes by and anecdotes about Paul, Bill and Steve Jobs.

A PDP-8 with an iPhone 6 held up at the left.
Guess which one has vastly more computing power.

Computer storage media. The blue is a mag tape (vintage 1972).
Displayed in front of the large disk is a flash drive.
Again guess which one has the most storage capacity.

Another exhibit features the creation and evolution of the earth. It is very well presented.

As previously decided, dinner at Seasons Restaurant again.  Bill had Tenderloin and Pat had the Parmesan encrusted Chicken. (Pat cleaned her plate…although partly by taking much of the chicken home for lunch in the car enroute to the Grand Canyon.

Monday March 30: An early morning departure, we were off around 7:15, for the drive to the Grand Canyon. We stopped at the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest for a “few” photos. We had visited here 40 years ago along with the snowy Grand Canyon. The weather was much improved (versus our previous trip.)

Shots of the Painted Desert...

Newspaper Rock, with the lower portion covered with petroglyphs.

A petrified log

A very colorful piece of petrified wood.

We entered the Grand Canyon from the East and made several stops on the way to our hotel in Tusayan. The Canyon is “relatively" narrow at this end and the river is visible far below.

Tuesday March 31: Back to the Park for a day on the West end. More wonderful weather and views that show the vast size of the Canyon. We bussed and walked our way from the Mather Visitor Center to Hermits Rest. 

A young elk

One note: Our best meal was at the Mexican restaurant in Tusayan. We had read that you could pay a lot for OK meals at the “best” restaurants, so we didn’t even bother exploring that. Besides we need to take a break diet-wise once in awhile.