First off, the road (I-80) is terrible, at least on the California side! It needs paving really badly, especially through the Sierra Nevada mountains. But we made it to Reno, arriving in the late afternoon. We got a free room upgrade, to a pretty nice and roomy room, because they didn’t have exactly what we reserved. Sweet. So I got some much needed coffee and we decide to gamble a little since we had a few hours until the show. Petra had some luck. Me, well, not so much. Easy come easy go?

We had some dinner at a very ordinary casino cafe. On the plus side, free or cheap drinks were easy to find.

As I mentioned, I’ll blog more about the Elvis show soon so be patient! After the show we gambled a little more and quench our wicked thirst too. Then sleep. Crisp white hotel sheets and zzzzzzz…..

And then it was morning. Mother’s Day too! So we went in search of the only all vegetarian restaurant in Reno. You guessed it, closed. We wandered into a nearby casino for a few minutes to ponder. Then we went to a nearby pizza place that offers vegan pizza options. We had a really good vegan pizza (dead serious) at Pie Face Pizza. They do regular pizzas too. And then we hit the road, full and happy. On our way home after a heck of a nice weekend.

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We didn’t take pictures of everything but we did take a lot. You can read about the trip here, then be sure to check out the pictures (five pages worth) here on the photo page. Click on the first small photo to see the larger image and then you can either click through them, or use the arrow keys, or watch the slide show. Be sure to look at all five pages too! Have fun and leave me a comment afterwards!!

Saturday September 5
After a year of waiting, today was finally the first real day of the 2009 Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. Yeah! We monorailed it over to the festival grounds, and headed for the hospitality room. Included with our Gold Passes was three day access to this room, an oasis with free snacks, drinks, tables and chairs, and indoor clean restrooms. That last item become more important later in the day since the restrooms on the festival grounds can get a little funky. But we don’t worry about that. Anyway, we perused the day’s schedule for the 15 or so different stages and decided to first see a band called Everest.

We watched five or six songs. They were good but not awesome and we left, wanting to get a good spot for Katy Perry at the main stage. Don’t laugh! I know she’s kind of a joke but the show was pretty entertaining, better than she comes across on CD. I wouldn’t spend money on her, that didn’t change. But she was campy and fun and that worked for the 75 or so minutes she performed. After that sugary pop, we headed into “the pit’, the Exhibition Hall stage, down in the basement of one of the buildings for a set by Sick Puppies, an Australian band that our pal Jared had recommended. They were energetic and noisy, very in-your-face modern rock, but the hooks were there and they did it really well. We ended staying for their whole set. A nice surprise.

Next it was time for some comedy. We saw a few different Washington-based comics performing routines under the name of Lo-Ball. It was funny. Not hilarious but still funny and we enjoyed it. Then we saw a new artist, singer-songwriter Eric Hutchinson, who we both liked a lot. We’ll be watching for his CD. He was deceptively simple and his catchy folk-pop songs were good. The crowd was singing along, so obviously we were catching up with them here, but it was a high point of the day. He improvised a rain song when it rained for about five minutes. Oh, and I should mention while I think about it that we were eating on and off, all of the festival days. The hospitality room always had food. And besides that, there was plenty of festival food. Petra’s favorite was the “Green Cossack”, which is cooked red potatoes smothered in a creamy dill sauce. I tended toward the Pad Thai, a little spicy, with a little peanut sauce added. Mmmm. And other stuff too, as I’ve said before, “You gotta eat or you’ll die!”.

Petra headed out to watch a drumming and dancing group called Cobu, while I went to the other end of the festival grounds for a band called Uh Huh Her. I’d heard a song by them somewhere but after watching part of their set, I wasn’t impressed. It was allright but nothing special. And in a festival with all these stages, that meant venturing out again to see what else was happening. I hooked up with Petra coming out of her event, and we went loooking around. We caught a song or two by old school hip-hoppers De La Soul and we both thought it was pretty awful so on we went. We saw the very end of Kay Kay And His Weathered Underground. They looked interesting but we only had a little to go on. Still, overall it was a great day with a lot of cool music and fun. Yahooey! We all went back to the hotel, poured a beverage and headed up to the Cloud Room on 11 to talk about the day and look over tomorrow’s schedule.

Sunday September 6
We got to the festival a little damp, thanks to some rain and puddles on the way. After a snack, Petra and Robin went to an art event where you can design an outfit from various articles of clothing, vintage and otherwise. There will be a picture of their outfits posted here when I get the pictures done. Check back for that. For now, keep your eyes right here! Well, keep reading, I mean. So I hung out and watched. Then Petra and I went to the main stage to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. We have an album of theirs that is a little strange but pretty cool. They sound kind of like a more upbeat Siouxie And The Banshees if that helps. We watched most of their set and then went to see some comedy. Petra is a big fan of Reggie Watts, and his set was very surreal and pretty funny. The other comics were Matt Braugner and Todd Barry. Matt was the funnier of the two but both were good.

Of course, we were snacking and eating during the day too. Oh yeah. Then it was back to the main stage for Michael Franti and Spearhead. We have all (or at least most) of his CDs and have seen him a couple times before in concert. He always entertains and his music is great. I really like his Yell Fire CD but the others are good too, for the most part. Anyway, this was another great live show. He performed many songs from his latest album, and a good assortment from other albums too. For the last song, pop/rock star Jason Mraz came out and sung along with Michael. It’s hard to go wrong with Michael Franti in concert. After a short break, it was time for the day’s headliner (on the mainstage anyway). Petra is a big fan of Jason Mraz, the headliner, and I like him too. We had a good spot to watch from, fairly close but out of the big packed mess right in front. Jason entertained the crowd, doing most of his latest hit album and other crowd-pleasing songs too. Lots of kids in the audience were singing along. Big fun, and a great way to end day two of the festival. Then it was back to the hotel and, you guessed it, a beverage and up to the Cloud Room to talk about the day and figure out who to see tomorrow. Mama O and Liz showed up too, along with Larry, Robin, Petra and me.

Monday September 7
Another day, another monorail to the festival. Dry this time, although the day did drizzle a couple times later on. You know the drill, our first stop was the hospitality lounge for some food. Then we watched a few songs from Anomie Belle. It was raining a bit but we were under a tree with umbrellas so it wasn’t bad. Then we wandered into the art exhibits. Earlier in the week we had built some paper houses for an open art exhibit. The winners were to be determined by random selection. We didn’t win. I guess we weren’t random enough. Then we went to a different stage for some songs by Visqueen. They were ok but not more than that, so we ventured into the Sky Church stage for part of a set by Point Juncture WA. This stage is inside the Experience Music Project museum and has a huge, and I do mean huge, video screen behind the band, showing electronic patterns. Very nice. Next up, we staked out a good spot at the main stage for the set by the Black Eyed Peas. I’m not a big fan of the latest album, but like some of the other stuff. We saw them in the same venue about four or five years ago and they were good, and sure enough, this time they were good too. Even though some of the songs are dumb, the stage show was decent and they worked it. So, better than I expected. Not great but very entertaining.

After that, we watched Forgive Durden, a band that had been recommended to us. They were performing their rock opera live but we weren’t feeling it at all. We moved along and then we stopped in at the beer wine garden and saw part of a set by The Devil Makes Three. Good-timey folk music, nothing deep but they were having a good time. A few songs were enough. Next we went to see some comedy. It was Doug Benson doing an act called The Benson Interruptions, where he has other comedians on and then as they tell stories he interrupts and asks questions, makes comments, etc. It was pretty funny. Next it was back to the main stage for Franz Ferdinand. I liked their hits on the radio but never bought any of their music. But seeing them live, I was impressed. They were really good live and totally rocked the house. There was crowd surfing all over the place and they played a tight and smoking hot set. They surprised me with how good they were. The headliner after that at the Broad Street stage was Metric, a band I’ve been liking a lot recently. I saw them in the same place a few years ago and was impressed with their mix of modern quirky rock, great woman singer, and cool interesting songs and lyrics. And they didn’t disappoint. We were a little ways back and the first few songs the vocals were a little under-volumed, but they played a very good set. They played most of the songs from the great 2009 album Fantasies, and also some from their previous three albums. A great “unknown” band. And that was the end to yet another great Bumbershoot Festival. Awesome! I can hardly wait until next year!!

Tuesday September 8
Not much to report here. It was a bus ride to the airport, then a quick and uneventful flight home.

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We recently went to Seattle for a week, as we have done over Labor Day for the last nine or so years. The big attraction is the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. It’s a three day festival with entertainment on about 15 stages, plus a variety of other stuff going on too. You can find out more at www.bumbershoot.org. Anyway, between that and some side events, most of the week in Seattle is taken up, and in a great way. But we managed to fit in some other fun things too. Here’s what we did…

Tuesday September 1
We caught the plane to Seattle in the morning. A nice quick flight. Then we took the Seattle city bus from the airport to the hotel. Lucky us, the bus stops right across the street from our hotel, The Camlin. It was before check-in time but the hotel stashed our luggage so we could explore the city for a while. We walked a bit and then took the monorail to the Seattle Center area. Ninety seconds of zipping above the traffic, nice concept! We walked through the center, looking at the preparations for the upcomong Bumbershoot Festival, and walked over to Kidd Valley burgers for a lunch of gardenburgers and onion rings dipped in tartar sauce. Next stop was down the street to Easy Street Records, a nice new-and-used music store where we always find things we need want.

It was sprinkling off and on but we stayed pretty dry and walked over to the State Liquor Store to pick up some supplies for the week. Washington State has some weird liquor laws. A state employee sold us some booze! Between the CDs we bought and the necessary liquid supplies, the old backpack was getting pretty darned heavy. But we bravely traveled on, walking a bit to Silver Platters record store. Of course we found a few items there too. Really, we are just trying to stimulate the economy. If you’ll believe that.

We took the thousand pound backpack and hopped on the monorail back toward the hotel. Once there, we got our luggage and unpacked. Then we took a walk down to the Seattle waterfront. That’s alway pretty and pleasant. From there it was just a short walk to Mama’s Mexican Food and, hey, you gotta eat! So we had a tasty meal and since it was still happy hour we had a couple margaritas. We hung out there for a while and decided, that since we were not driving, we would have one more margarita. We had to change tables due to a party coming in, but because we did that, they gave us the margarita free! I was ready to change tables all night! Then we wandered out into the evening. We walked to a grocery store and bought a little fruit, cheese, and crackers to get us through at least part of the week. Then we walked back to the hotel and took a beverage up to the 11th floor “Cloud Room“, with glass on three sides and a nice view and a great place to relax at the end of a fun day.

Wednesday September 2
We had some fruit in the room for breakfast and then headed out into our second-favorite city of Seattle. Down near the waterfront, across the street from Pike Place Market, we had a snack at Piroshky Piroshky. Great filled dough with lots of options for the filling. Then we took a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island, about 35 or so minutes each way. It’s such a peaceful and pretty ride on the water. We walked around on the island for a while, perusing the tourist shops. Eventually we ended up at the end of the area and, lo and behold, we came across a little place called Emmy’s Vegehouse. Yow! A totally vegetarian shack with some tables, we were all over that. Pretty good food, too. Good thing we were going to walk off all the food on this trip. Then we took the ferry back to downtown Seattle. Surprise, right near Pike’s market was another record store. What could we do? Then we walked around the huge Pike Place Market a bit and headed back. A quick stop at the Old Navy for a scarf for Petra and then back to the hotel.

We taste-tested some of that cheese and crackers and determined they we really good. So we tasted some more! Then we headed down the block to see Wicked, the big hit play. I had read the book and we’d heard good things about the play. The theater there, the Paramount, is really nice too. Long story short, the play was great, we both really liked it. The book was dificult in spots but the play was great, clever, fun, and really well done. By then it was getting late but we were hungry. Lucky for us, a block away is Cyber-Dogs, a really good vegetarian hot dog place. This place is so cool and so small. But the topping combinations she puts on the dogs and unique and delicious. I love this place. Then, after a long day, and nicely stuffed, we went back to the hotel.

Thursday September 3
We started the day again with some fruit in the room to get us started. Then we monorailed to the Experience Music Project, the world’s coolest music museum. We spent a little while there and saw the new exhibit and also played a little on some instruments in their Sound Lab. After that, we met up with our friends Larry and Robin, who had flow into Seattle that morning. Our friend Mama O and her various posse members were due to arrrive later today and over the next couple days also. Anyway, the four of us checked out the Bumbershoot Festival preparations and walked a block or two to the Bamboo Garden vegetarian chinese food. Hundreds of menu items and no meat at all. Wish the whole world was like that

Full again, we monorailed back to the hotel and walked a while to the Pioneer Square area. Today was the First Thursday Art Walk so we looked at a bunch of art in a bunch of galleries. There were vendors too, of course. And lots of people. We were hoping to meet up with Mama O but it didn’t happen that day. We did, however walk a while and hooked up with a different Mama. Yep, we were back at Mama’s Mexican Food! Ole indeed! More food, a few drinks, and a nice walk back to the hotel. The four of us headed up to the cloud room to relax and talk. A nice end to another fine day.

Friday September 4
The four of us headed out into Seatlle, first taking a walk to a downtown jewelry store that Robin had read about. We looked around there for a few minutes and then went on to the grocery store for some supplies. Soon after that we were on the monorail to the Seattle Center once again. We had a gardenburger lunch at Kidd Valley and then went back through the Seattle Center and first thing, picked up our Gold Passes for the upcoming (tomorrow) Festival. We touched base with John, the Gold Pass leader. What a nice guy, he remembered us and said he thought he saw us earlier in the year in Palm Springs! Small world and sure enough, that would have been on our Indio trip. Anyway, he was great the whole time this year, as always, making sure everything went fine for us.

Then we headed to the Bumbershoot Visual Arts exhibits. They open them up a day early and it is MUCH less crowded so we always go see them on Friday. And as always they had a variety of interesting art. Some if it was strange but in a very good way, so that’s cool. Four, five, or was it six large rooms of visual art, that’s a nice way to spend an afternoon. After that, we walked a bit and ended up at a nearby coffee shop where we had some liquid refreshment and a needed caffeine boost. And then it was back to the Seattle Center for the advance preview of the Film Festival. During the Bumbershoot Festival, there are three days of short films, but the preview is a less-crowded and more relaxing way to get a taste of it. Usually the Bumbershoot festival has so much else going on, that we don’t get to the film portion. With the Friday preview, though, we do see some of the films! Then it was back to the hotel, another nice day. And Bumbershoot starts tomorrow!!

Stay tuned for part 2 – including the actual festival! In the meantime…

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Thursday June 25

And we hit the road running. Well, driving actually. Portland is a ten or eleven hour drive from our NorCal home base. On our way, we stopped in Yreka, right up near the top of California on the I-5, at a small place in a mall, called Linda’s Soup Café.  We had stumbled on this place a few years back when we drove to Seattle and somehow remembered it. Linda’s is not your usual mall food. They even have a vegetarian menu with a whole bunch of items that looked good. Imagine us vegetarians having too many things to choose from!  Anyway, fully refreshed, we headed north again. We stopped in Southern Oregon for gas and remembered the unusual law in Oregon that says you can’t pump your own gas. So we let the man service us and headed north once again. Round about dinnertime we pulled into Portland. Or I should say the suburb of Lake Oswego, where our hotel was. We checked in and unpacked. We got on the internet with our laptops and although the Ethernet connection worked the WiFi didn’t, meaning only one of us could be online at once. That wouldn’t suffice for the whole week, so we had someone from the hotel check it out and they got it working within minutes. Yay! We’ve had Internet problems at hotels a few times, and this was the fastest it ever got fixed. The room was nice too, and the rate was very cheap for a Hilton Garden Inn. In fact, the Hotel situation was great for the whole week. But I’m jumping ahead. Then we walked a block or so to a small and local Thai food restaurant called Thai Basil. Coincidentally, there is a Thai place in our town with the same name. No relation. Both are good though!

Friday June 26

Today was the first day of the Lake Oswego Art Festival, which was one of the reasons we made the trip. The festival was split between a building complex and a park. In the building (and a huge tent behind it), there was lots and lots of art. The theme was mosaic and there were amazing examples of that, but there were also paintings, metal work, ceramics, glass, and other art. We’re talking hundreds of pieces. Then, at the park there were 60-80 vendors showing and selling various types of arts and crafts. There were food vendors too, and music. Mid-day we grabbed some lunch nearby. Petra got a sandwich at an Italian deli and I got a chili relleno burrito (never heard of that before) at Senor Taco and we met at a table in the middle to eat. We took a break from the festival in the afternoon and went to Trader Joes to get some breakfast food and snacks to keep in the hotel room. We had a fridge and microwave, along with the aforementioned Internet and one of the most important things a hotel room can have, an in-room coffee-maker. On our way back to the festival we stopped at a chain Mexican restaurant called Azteca. They said it was a chain. It looked like one but I’d never seen any others. Anyway, just that day they had started a special with two enchiladas, beans, and rice for only $6.99 so both we ordered that. What a bargain! It almost made up for the $8.75 margaritas. Ouch! But they were huge so I guess it was ok. Then back to the  art festival. The music for the evening was Marv and Rindy Ross, better known (maybe) as the 80s band Quarterflash. My wife Petra had always liked that band and had seen them in her early years, so we watched the current version. They did do a few of their 80s hits but everything else was more recent.

Saturday June 27

We ate breakfast (some fruit) in the room and then had the free hotel shuttle take us to the local light rail station (aka The Max). Portland has a great public transit system, much much better than the meager one here. We took the light rail train downtown. We’d seen most of the art festival yesterday so we decided to start exploring Portland today. Big surprise, we checked out a record store first. But we didn’t buy anything there. Yeah, how often does that happen! Then we had a pizza slice at Hotlips Pizza. Mine veggie slice was pretty decent but Petra found her plain cheese a little lacking I think. We wandered around “The Pearl” district downtown and looked at shops and walked. One of our “must” destinations was Everyday Music, a huge new and used record and CD store. I love that place and we spent quite a while there and found a number of items to purchase. We strolled through a couple art galleries, including the Bullseye Glass Gallery, which is always cool. We stopped at the Deshuttes Brewpub and had an appetizer and some liquid refreshment. I had the Black Butte Porter, one of my most favorite dark beers. Our friends Larry and Robin were scheduled to get into town to hang and explore with us and, well, also, their son Brian lives there. Maybe that had something to do with it too. We all checked out the amazingly huge Powells Books (a square block with multiple levels, you could easily get lost in there). Then the five of us stopped at a small local Lebanese Restaurant for dinner. We got a quick look at Brian’s nearby condo and then all went to see him at work. He works as a bartender at The Lotus. He suggested a concoction of about a third Captain Morgan Spiced Rum, a third orange juice, and a third cranberry juice. It was mild and very tasty. It’s amazing how the Captain works with so many things.

Sunday June 28

Happy birthday to our granddaughter Josephine, who turns eight years old today. We started the day again with some fruit (and a scone) in our room. Ok, so now we’re ready to go. First stop was the Bullseye Resource Center. This is the headquarters for the Bullseye Glass Company, makers of the high-quality art glass that Petra (and others of course) use for their glass art projects. We learned about the “Bull Pen”, the bargain glass room and had a nice visit there. Larry, Robin, and Brian met us there and we all headed over to the Screen Door, a small but inviting local restaurant for breakfast. It was really good food. Then we continued our exploration of the city, first walking the Alberta District, then the Hawthorne area. After all that walking, shopping, and wandering, we were hungry again (surprise) and had dinner in the area at Vege Thai, a vegetarian Thai food place. It was good but not great. By that time it was getting late, but the day was not over. Brian’s band was having a rehearsal and we were invited. Sure, the rehearsal started around 11:00 PM but they had a great rehearsal/studio space and we went for a little while. They are a good band, but it’s a little funny to hear young kids doing that British Blues aka early Led Zepellin. Still, we liked it and thanks to Brian for letting us be there. Rock on, dude…

Monday June 29

After a small snack in the hotel room, we went to have lunch with a high school friend of Petra’s (named Margaret) and her husband Tim. We ended up spending the whole afternoon with them, talking. It was a nice visit. Then we met back  up with Larry and Robin at a nearby movie theater, the Laurelhurst, to see Adventureland, a recent film. The movie was entertaining and we all enjoyed it. But the really cool thing was that the theater served beer and wine and food that you could take into the theater. Some of the rows of seats had been replaced by tables so you could set your food/drink there while you enjoyed the movie. We had a carafe of wine (the ladies) and a pitcher of Oatmeal Stout beer (da boyz) and a couple slices of pretty tasty pizza, all in a movie theater. How cool is that? We sure need some theaters like that here in Sactown! After the movie we took a stroll down the street and paid a brief visit to a large record and CD store, Music Millenium. I found one item before they closed. More music, more fun!

Tuesday June 30

We met Larry, Robin, and Brian for breakfast at the Cricket Café. Yep, another delicious breakfast. I could do this everyday. At least until I went broke. We decided to use a combination of The Max (the light rail) and the streetcar to get around. We went to the Rose Garden, a famous tourist attraction. Lots and lots of roses. I mean lots. We’ll have pictures on the site one of these days. Also at the same general location was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Holocaust Memorial. We saw both of those and they were both impressive. The Holocaust Memorial was especially moving when we read some of the quotes from people who were there at the time. We had a shaved ice and headed on. After a walk back to the condo, we caught the light rail and the streetcar and got off near the Rogue Brewery. We had a snack and I had a couple pints of the Shakespeare Stout. It was heavenly. I mean really delicious. Oh, yeah. Then we rode the Sky Tram, a tram on a wire that goes up the side of a mountain. Yikes! But it was enclosed and it was smooth and there was art at the top. So it was good. Then we headed to dinner at a nice place, a little more upscale maybe than the rest of the trip. It was The Farm and I had the best veggie burger I have ever had, totally different and miles ahead of any other. Go there. Get one. Then we went over to the Doug Fir for a cocktail. It’s a combination of modern retro and log cabin. Weird, no, not really. It was pretty nice. Then we headed back to Brian’s work at The Lotus and spent a few minutes and a drink there. We said goodbye to Brian since we were leaving in the morning. Then after we got back to the car it was another farewell, this time to Larry and Robin. Then back to the hotel for the last night.

Wednesday July 1

We hit the road for home. Bye-bye to Portland, a great city that I liked a lot. We stopped at an unremarkable diner for lunch and got home in the evening. One last meal out, at 524 Mexican, was in order. Then the vacation was over. We had a great time, I loved it!!!!!

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Friday, February 13th
We got an early start since we had over 500 miles to go. But after a while on the road we were hungry, so we stopped at Pea Soup Anderson’s for breakfast. They are known for, guess what, their pea soup, but I don’t like pea soup and it was breakfast after all. A pea soup omelet? Pea soup waffles? Pea soup benedict? I don’t think so. We had a normal breakfast. Well, if normal includes waitresses that are very reminiscent of Frau Blucher (video) in the movie Young Frankenstein. And if you haven’t seen that movie then you must see it. Now. Meanwhile, full and happy, we headed onward toward the promised warmth of Indio. Imagine our surprise when we drove through  the “grapevine” portion of I-5. It was snowing! Holy guacamole! We got through the snowstorm and continued on. (and yes, pictures will be on the web site soon). We stopped later at a taqueria for a so-so snack. It wsa raining pretty steady now and the weather basically had been bad almost the whole drive. But lo, about a half hour from Indio the rain stopped and it was sunny! Yay! We used Petra’s Dad’s expert maps and thorough phone directions to get to the condo. He met us and we checked in. They were staying a little less than a mile away, for two months. That’s a l-o-n-g vacation. Anyway, they invited us for dinner. We waited a bit for Larry and Robin to get there, and then had a very delicious meal. Thanks!

Saturday, February 14th
We had a leisurely morning and Petra went for a swim. The pool was only about 12-15 feet from our door, which was very convenient. The swimming helps her since she is still felling the effects of the surgeries and recontructions of the last few years. Then we all headed over to nearby Palm Desert for the Palm Desert Street Fair, which was a bunch (a big bunch) of vendors selling everything from produce to kitchen accessories to quick food to golf stuff to well pretty much everything. We spent a little time there and all had a vegetarian hot dog for lunch. Then it was off to see some art galleries. We all enjoy doing that, and every gallery is different. Next was a visit to a few thrift stores. Larry was looking for a funky tuxedo for an Oscar party, but we all used it as an excuse to look at some throwaways and junk valuable collectibles. We also had found out about a nearby record and CD store, so we went there to check it out too. We bought a few assorted items. We always do! And of course all those activities had made us hella hungry. After quite a bit of searching, we found a mexican restaurant close to the condo and had a big meal. The service was slow but luckily we had a pitcher of margaritas to help with that wait. It did help, too. The food, though slow, was really good. Cheesy and tasty and large portions. Mmm. Then we went to a nearby mexican supermarket (grande mercado?) and picked up some food for breakfasts, snacks, some Captain Morgan for good measure, and headed back to our home for the week. we relaxed and visited and played some cards for a while too. A nice day, wouldn’t you say?

Sunday February 15th
We decided to drive to Idyllwild, about 45-60 minutes away and a long way up. Its a small town in the mountains with a lot of arts, crafts, shops, etc. And snow. About a foot and a half of it. Brrr. We went from about minus 22 elevation in Indio up over 6000 feet and down just a bit to get there. Desert/mountain whiplash almost happened, I’m just saying. Actually it was a lot of fun up there. We wandered around and looked at art, including some of the best glass art I had ever seen. On the way back three of us saw a huge Chihuly glass piece in the corner window of a buiding. We all yelled “turn around!” and once parked we went into the Imago Gallery, a very impressive high-end gallery with lots of Chihuly glass as well as a whole bunch of other art: painting, glass, sculpture, mixed media, a lot of it and really good. Of course we had to be hungry at that point and finally ended up at Ciro’s Italian Restaurant. It was pretty good too. I had a tasty salad and some killer vegatarian lasagna and a glass of Chianti and what’s not to like about that?! Then we headed back to the condo, had a few drinks, played some cards, and called it a day (which it was).

Monday February 16th
We decided to check out a nearby Indian casino. Like almomst all casinos, it was too smokey. And like most casinos, the cheap blackjack table was double-full, in hopes that you would play the empty high-stakes table. Nuh-uh, no thanks. We played some slots and lost a few bucks and that was that there. The four of us went to three or four thrift stores to see what kind of not-quite-necessary junk we might find. After that it was dinner time and Petra‘s parents had invited us all over to have dinner. Petra’s mom made a really good dinner and we visited for a while.

Tuesday February 17th
In the late morning, Petra took a swim and I joined her in the very warm pool for a few minutes. Larry and Robin were headed to Joshua Tree National Park to take a 5 or 7 mile hike. Yow! Too long and too much for us wimps. Petra and I went shopping for a bit with her parents, including lunch at Schlotzsky’s Deli. When we got back, Petra and I took a walk for a while, at which point Larry and Robin got back.The four of us went out to dinner, at a vegan restaurant that Larry had found, called Native Foods. None of us are vegan, but we are all vegetarians. The food was nicely presented and really good. The place was nothing fancy. But overall we all liked it. And then it was back to the condo.

Wednesday February 18th
Larry and Robin headed back home this morning. They left their Joshua Tree pass with us in case we wanted to go, and this afternoon we did drive over there. First, though, we had a nice breakfast at a local restaurant. Once at the Park, we took an interesting one-mile hike, then drove up to the high point, where we could look out for miles, seeing the Salton Sea, the San Andreas fault, the highest peak in Southern California, and more, including some snow on the ground. What was that, three times we saw snow on this desert trip? Then we stopped at a different part of the park and took a short hike, about a third of a mile. The first hike was better, with huge rock formations and rock hills. The desert is a weird place. They say the temperature can change 40 degrees or more in a day. But it was nice today and we enjoyed our visit. On the way back we saw a sign that said “Dig your own cactus – 59 cents“. It drew Petra in like a moth to a flame. But once we got in there, turns out it was not exactly true. Can you believe it? Yeah, ok, me too. Turns out you get to use a pair of tongs and take a small cactus froma plastic tray to a pot. Oooh, exciting, isn’t it? Well, they got us. We didn’t do that but did buy a couple small cacti for a few bucks total. Then it was back to Indio for a dinner with Petra’s parents. We visited and played a board/card game for a while and that was another day done.

Thursday February 19th
We had a short visit ot the pool in the late morning. Man, they keep the water so warm in that pool. Like a bath. Nice. Petra’s Dad had wanted us to take a visit to the local WorldMark property in Indio, so we drove over there and took a look. It seemed very nice too. Then we drove to nearby Cathedral City for a very tasty lunch at El Gallito, a family-owned Mexican restaurant. Next we went to nearby Perez Road where there were some galleries, consignment shops, etc to check out. Our next stop was down the road to the Palm Spring Art Museum. Admission was free on Thursday afternoon, and we took advantage of that. This was a really impressive museum. We had a guided tour of their glass gallery, where a docent explained about each piece. I enjoyed that. Then we saw their huge Wayne Thiebaud exhibit. The irony is, this artist lives in Sacramento like we do, but we saw his work over 500 miles away. I had only seen his pastry paintings, but here they had lots of other types of works, from sketches, to landsacapes, to some off-kilter cityscapes that we actually pretty cool. Then we wandered to the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit of photos. These were portraits of celebrities and they were really good. I enjoyed nearly everything we saw in this art museum. Much recommended. And then it was time for the Palm Springs Villagefest. They block off four blocks of the road and it is lined with booths and vendors of all types. We bought some brightly-colored “rebar art” for the back yard. You have to see it to understand. We had some local vegetarian food there too, then it was back to the condo.

Friday February 20th
Today we headed home. We stopped midway at a pizza place for a lunch buffet. And. lo and behold, there just happened to be a new and used CD store right down the mall. We bought a small stack and headed back to our home. It was a nice week, warm and pleasant.

What do you think, any comments?

So, naturally, we invited 30 or so of our friends (and a few other people) and had a bash. There was food and drink, of course, but so much more. The guest of honor was Barack, as you can see in the party photos. And he was smiling the whole time so it must have been a good great party! We had it all: the worlds most difficult puzzle, pig stacking, a pool table, musical instruments, and of course the legendary Big Bowl of Bushisms, a bowl filled with hundreds of the dense and dumb things that former president Bush has said over the years. And he said enough dumb things to keep the party rolling for a long time. More about Bushisms here and here. But the best thing about the party was all the great people who attended. Thanks for coming, if you were here. If not, as Mr T used to say, “I pity the fool”. Hahaha!

Now – check out the party photos, and you will see what a happening event it was. Click on any thumbnail photo to view a larger one. While viewing the larger ones, you can click on the right arrow in the upper right of the screen to go to the next one. Or there’s a slideshow option up there too. Ok, sure, some of the pix are a bit blurry, but then again some of the people were too. But it’s ok, we accept all people, be they blurry or crystal clear. Plus, you can get to those photos and many more on the photos page. But just don’t think you can find out any of the 48 solutions to the puzzle by looking at these photos. We’ve blocked out the solution, you’ll just have to work the puzzle for yourself. If you dare…

Were you there? Were you square? Did you love those photos? Why not leave me a comment?

Monday 9/1

The last day of the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. Yikes! So let’s enjoy it!! After a quick monorail ride to the festival grounds, we strategized in the hospitality area. And we ate. Hey, you gotta eat or you’ll die, right? We started the days entertainment with an hour containing two short independent fims grouped loosely under the title of Portrait Of The Artist. The films were a bit weird but harmless and not bad really. Then on to the main stage for recently popular modern rockers Paramore. They are a young and energetic band with a charismatic female singer, and we were up pretty close to the stage. I had ony heard a song or two by them but ended up liking their entire set. I’ll have to watch for their CD. Oh, and as a general side note, there will be pictures of them and the rest of the trip up on this site soon. Check back often! Then, when the pictures are not here yet, you can grumble “Why is Steven so slow?” Ha! It’s fun, try it! Anyway, Paramore was fun modern rock, you get the idea. There were people crowd surfing and young kids singing along with every song. Then of course after that we needed more food, a little at least.

And back to the main stage for The Offspring. They have been doing their punk rock act since the 90s and are still doing it. In fact, their recent album is pretty good. They did all their hits and a good chunk of the new album too. The crowd was really wild during their set. Lots of crowd surfing and I do mean lots. (In case you don’t go to rock shows often, that is when a person is passed around (not gently) on top of the standing crowd. It can get pretty intense up there and eventually they get passed all the way to the front and the security folks pull them down. At that point some are pumped up and smiling, some are dazed by the ordeal, and a few look pretty scared. It’s not easy having fun, apparently). Back to the Offspring show. There were hundreds of crowd surfers during the 90 minute set, but the moment that blew everyone away was when people lifted a person in a full-size wheelchair up on top of the crowd and passed him, sitting in the chair, all the way to the front of the crowd. If I had not seen it I would never have believed it. It looked really dangerous but I guess he wanted to do it. Not sure why, though!!

Suitably stunned, we decided on a sit-down comedy show for our next venue. It was a variety of local Seattle-area comics being funny without actually doing standup. That’s what they said anyway. They were standing up, and they were funny. Next we tried to get in late for up-and-coming political rap/rockers Flobots, but there were hundreds more people than the venue held so we didn’t make it in there. Good excuse to go get a drink. We got three drink tickets as part of our gold pass package. Three tickets, three days, you do the math. Next Petra went to a live show called Cheap Wine And Poetry. She didn’t get wine there but the poets did. Two Buck Chuck (except that in Washington it costs three dollars). I saw the Old 97s, a rowdy country rock band . More rock than country, really. We met back up to see the headliner Death Cab For Cutie. And no, they are not a death metal band. Sheesh! They are a talented indie-type modern band with catchy songs and sensitive-but-clever lyrics. Their album-before-last Plans is one of my favorite albums. And tonight they did not disappoint at all. They were great, on both the rockers and the softer songs. The sound was mixed well so you could hear quite a bit of the lyrics and vocals. They have become very popular in the last few years and the crowd was singing along with nearly every song. It was a high point in a festival with a lot of high points. Another great Bumbershoot! This will be eight years in a row for us, and each time it was a wonderful experience. We already have a room reservation for next year, does that give you an idea how awesome this is?

Tuesday 9/2

Now that the Bumbershoot Festival is over, we still have a little time to explore Seattle. It is my second-favorite city after all. So we bought an all-day transit pass for ( I think) $5.50 or around there. Because we had to wait about five minutes for the employee, they threw in a bunch of free bus passes too. We’ll use some of those for the trip to the airport tomorrow. Thanks. Anyway, first we took the short walk to Olympic Sculpture Park on the waterfront. A nice, walkable park with large public art pieces on display. Then we took a combined walk/bus ride down the waterfront to a pier to catch the water taxi to West Seattle and Alki Beach. This was included in the all-day pass, what a nice deal. After wandering around there for a while we decided to head back. After all, the 3-foot tall replica of the Statue Of Liberty was not ready until the following weekend. Curses! We took a bus back, also included in the pass, and saw some of Seattle that we had not seen before. Nothing remarkable but still interesting. They have such a great transit system we never had to wait long at all. We ended up in the Pioneer Square area, full of shops, restaurants, people, galleries, and cafes. We shopped a while at a huge bookstore and wandered in and out of other stores. But we decided to go back over to the Lower Queen Anne area for dinner. We took another (free) bus and got off at the Seattle Center. They were starting to take the Bumbershoot decorations, stages, and displays down. It’s sad that it’s over but there’s always next year! We decided to have a drink before dinner so we went to The Funhouse. It’s a divey punk bar that a few years back our friend Cal described as the “evil clown bar”. Of course he has some clown issues. It was very punky but harmless, at least in the daytime.

Beginning to relax a little (more), we went in search of dinner. By that point we had scrapped our plans for dinner in Queen Anne and decide to walk or bus to the nearby Belltown area and mexican food at Mama’s, known as Seattle’s oldest mexican restaurant. The “Elvis Room” was taken but we still had a tasty dinner with equally tasty margaritas. I could go for a couple of those right about now almost anytime. Totally stuffed in a very good way, we walked the mile or two back to the hotel. Then we grabbed our remaining food and booze, changed into our jammies, and headed upstairs to the top floor Cloud Room to spend our last night in Seattle (until next time). Sigh. We toasted Seattle and Bumbershoot until we, too, were toasted. Then off to bed.

Wednesday 9/3

A bus (free, see 9/2) to the airport, some airport food, then home to Sacramento, CA. It was all over too soon. But as our lousy governor governator says, “I’ll be back!”

I’ll bet you have a comment. So, say it! Don’t know how? It’s easy!

Saturday 8/30

Today is the first day of the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. We are totally psyched and even more ready. Lots of music and almost every kind of arts spanning what, 15 or so stages, and elsewhere on the grounds too. It’s huge and wonderful! Check out their web site! We got there and ended up standing in a bit of a line to get in, since it is such a popular event. Once in, we headed to the hospitality area. Since we had bought the “gold passes“, we got an indoor area (with private restrooms) and free snacks and beverages all day long. We were with friends Larry and Robin and we met up with Mama O and her posse there too. Then the various groups headed their various ways. Petra and I went to see Neko Case, a female singer-songwriter with an alt-country folk-rock style (if that describes it). She was good and we watched nearly the whole set before we headed out for something else. There is always so much going on and you miss so much, but then again you see so much too. Next we saw a live comedy show based on The Sound Of Young America (an NPR radio show), featuring female comedian Tig Notaro, an interview with Jeaneane Garofalo, and a humerous singer named Colton that did a couple songs. Then it was time for food, as so often happens. Petra picked up a Russian Green Cossack (potatoes with a creamy dill sauce that she loves. I had some Pad Thai that I could eat every day if the world were just a little bit different.

Then we were off to another live comedy show. This one was the MySpace show, and they basically picked people from the audience, showed and commented on their MySpace web page, and then did improvised routines based on that person’s page. It wasn’t a complicated idea but I was entertained. I should note that at various times during all three days of the festival we wandered in and out of the hospitality area snacking and picking up beverages for the day. We also got some free drink tickets for more, er, adult beverages. But then it was time for some more music. We saw Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby (now husband and wife). Eric is a longtime former new wave rocker from the Stiff Records days in late seventies England and Ms. Rigby is a folk-rock singer songwriter with some edge in her lyrics. Together they were charming and charismatic and played and sang some very real and enjoyable music. Then Petra headed off to see performance artist Christa Bell do a one-woman show called CoochieMagik. Let’s just say it was about empowering women, After all, this is a family blog, damn it! Well, whatever.

I stayed at the other stage for Tim Finn, the New Zealand singer-songwriter from Split  Enz in the 80s and Crowded House (for one album anyway) in the 90s. He’s had a solo career under the radar for a long time and has done some decent songs. Nowdays, his voice has lost some of it’s clarity and accuracy so after four or five songs I headed out again, with Petra now back too, for one of the many other venues at the festival. It was time for the headline act anyway, which was the quirky and very popular Beck. I like his offbeat music, his versatility, and his musical and lyrical cleverness, and those were in evidence tonight. Unfortunately, the sound system was muddy and gunky and what could have been a very good show was lost, at least partly, in the poor sound quality. Too bad. On the way back to the hotel we realized we were hungry (again!), so even though it was after eleven, we went by Cyber Dogs and got yet another great veggie dog with lots of exotic fixins. Yes, I wrote fixins, what a word that is, huh? Then it was back to the hotel for some visiting with friends and some sleep. In that order too, if you are keeping track.   But why are you keeping track…??

Sunday 8/31

Another day and more food in the hospitality area. That’s a good way to start things off. Then I went to watch a little of a local (Seattle) alt-country singer and band, Star Anna. Meanwhile Petra went to another area of the festival where they were doing hair. And I do mean doing! They teased and tossed and then sprayed a bunch of pink on it! And it actually looked pretty cool! Then we went to see soul singer (and apparent diva) Keyshia Cole. In eight year of Bumbershoot, I’ve seen probably a hundred or more acts and none were ever more than a couple minutes late to start. But Keyshia was half an hour late for her already short set. She never apologized and acted like she was doing us a favor by being there at all. Uh-uh, no way, buh-by. We left after a few minutes. She can take that diva act somewhere else. But soon there was food and all was ok with the world again. Funny how that can happen. Then Petra headed out to see another one-woman show called Yoga Bitch.  She said it was funny and entertaining. Meanwhile I watched singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards, who was pretty good too. Then I saw a little bit of Strange Fruit, some modern acrobats who performed on tall poles.  That was also good but then I started watching singer Dale Watson who was exactly what I don’t like. It took only half a song of the ultra-twangy country before I hit the proverbial road. Ugh.

Time for more food! Petra and I met up with Larry and Robin and walked a couple blocks to the nearby Bamboo Garden vegetarian restaurant. Hundreds of chinese food items and none with meat! Not real meat anyway. So newly renewed (if that makes sense), we went back into the festival to see Jakob Dylan. Yes, he is the son of Bob, but their music is not too similar. Jakob did a couple Wallflowers songs (his former band), but mostly performed the semi-acoustic numbers from his recent solo album. I thought they worked well in the live setting and the large crowd seems to agree. After, we regrouped in the hospitality area. Petra and I went to see up-and-coming singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, a big sensation on MySpace and getting more exposure all the time. She was very young but pretty good and I think Petra liked her quite a bit. I thought her stuff was very catchy and radio-friendly with easily memorable melodies and choruses. We watched and enjoyed her whole set and then on the way back caught a few minutes of reggae legend Lee Scratch Perry. He was kind of repetitive and forgetable and we left soon after. But not before wandering over to the impressive International Fountain. It’s fun and peaceful to see the kids playing in it and to watch the water and it’s patterns.

More about the totally great trip soon, check back!!

And why not leave a comment?

Note: Be sure to check out some of the links too!!

Wednesday 8/27

We flew into Seattle. Actually the plane did, but we were on it. There was me and Petra, friends Larry and Robin, and Mama O (who would meet up with the rest of her posse later). We took a crowded bus to the Camlin hotel. It let us off right across the street which was very convenient. We checked in and took a quick look at the nice rooms. But of course we were all hungry so we walked a block over to Cyber Dogs Internet Cafe and Vegetarian Oasis, a great vegetarian hot dog place. The dogs are meatless but good and the toppings more than make up for that. I’ve tried a couple different ones over the last few trips and all were great. The menu is here, check out the specialty dogs. After food, what else is important? You guessed it. We took a quick and easy bus ride to the state-run liquor store. Yar!! Then we started walking back to the hotel and stopped at a grocery store to pick up a few breakfast and snack items for the week ahead. Then it was back to unpack. Of course, after that we were hungry again! It doesn’t take much to talk me into eating, so we walked up toward Capital Hill and a small but tasty vegetarian Asian place called In The Bowl. Mmmm. Next time I gotta remember to order the peanut sauce, it is killer! Now we had to walk off a little food, so we took a pretty long walk to and through the nearby Belltown area. We ended up near the Seattle Center so we took the monorail back most of the way, walking the last four or five blocks. We would walk a lot on this trip. A lot. But you can sure see more that way, instead of speeding by things in a car. Once back at the hotel, we fixed ourselves a drink (or glass of wine as appropriate in some cases). And, like the prescription said, repeat as necessary.

Thursday 8/28

Rise and shine. Well, rise anyway   It was a little late and Petra and I started out by taking the monorail back to the Seattle Center. We would meet up with our friends later in the day. We popped into a burger place (Kidd Valley) for a veggie burger (was it Kidds?) and some Walla Walla onion rings. Then we got serious and shopped a couple record stores. Easy Street is a great store in the Queen Anne area of Seattle and we found some music there. Then blocks away we stopped at Silver Platters and picked up a few more CDs. Everything at both stores was used (except one) and everything was under $10. What bargains and the more you buy the more you save! Or something like that. Whatever. We stopped at a local coffee shop for some liquid rejuvenation, then headed out on foot, back into the nearby Belltown area. We saw a bit of the Olympic Sculpture Park and an ultra-modern furniture store, but time was limited because we were headed to the nearby Spitfire restaurant/ bar where the large back room would be broadcasting Barrack Obama’s convention speech on a large screen for us and other supporters. There were several hundred Obama fans there to watch the speech and cheer, since it was an impressive and inspiring speech. And it was so cool to be watching it, 800 miles from home, with all those other fans, bursting into applause and cheering throughout. Go Obama! After that, we were pumped up and hopeful. We walked back to the hotel and talked for a while, ending a fun and enjoyable day.

Friday 8/29

Another day, another monorail trip to the Seattle Center. And did I mention that Seattle has a wonderful transit system, with easy and convenient busses, some on the street and some in tunnels? And plus the monorail of course. As for the busses, the whole downtown area and nearby is a ride-free zone most of the day so you can hop on and off as much as you want. Even the long ride from the airport had only been $1.50 for, what 20 miles? You can’t even get on a bus here for that price! Anyway, our first destination was the Experience Music Project (EMP), the world’s coolest museum. Lots of music-related displays and exhibits in a Frank Ghery designed futuristic building. And now it also houses the Science Fiction Museum, which is included in the price. We spent a couple hours there then got our wrists stamped to come back later. There is so much to see and do there. We walked across the Seattle Center and checked out the preparations for tomorrow’s Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival, then picked up our passes for the festival. We’re so ready. Actually, I’ve been ready since the minute last years festival ended! That’s how unbelievably awesome it is.

We wandered across the street for some lunch at Chutney’s, an Indian food buffet where everything except two items were vegetarian! And all you can eat. Life is good. Then is was back to the festival grounds, where there was a preview of all  the visual arts exhibits. You get to see them the day before the big crowds get there and that is just what we did. Cool stuff. Then back to the Experience Music Project for a couple more hours to see more of it. Petra and I also checked out the Space Needle gift shop close by, but didn’t buy any overpriced souvenirs (this time). In the evening we had reservations for a free advance showing of some films related to the Film Festival that is part of Bumbershoot. We saw about 90 minutes worth of very strange but mostly interesting short films. One in particular about a mumbler gave us all the creeps but overall it was interesting and worthwhile. Next, we took a walk down the street to the lower Queen Anne area for a quick slice of Pagliaci pizza or slow vegetarian lasagna in my case. Good though and what is the hurry anyway? It’s vacation. It’s Seattle. It’s almost Bumbershoot. Does it get better than that? We wrapped up another full day back at the hotel with a few drinks and some friendly and lively banter. I always wanted to use that word in a sentence. Hahaha!

Read more about the Seattle trip soon…  Check back!!!

In the meantime, leave me a comment about this exciting trip!