You can and should read all about about the trip here to get the rest of the story, then be sure to check out the pictures (two 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 both pages too! Have fun and leave me a comment afterwards!!

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Friday March 19

It’s a long drive to Indio. With a stop for brunch and a couple pit stops, it took about ten hours of driving. Petra actually drove the whole way, though I did my part, helping out by taking a nap. We had a pretty good brunch in Kettleman City on the way and made it to our destination in Indio in time for dinner with Petra’s parents, who were staying about a mile or less away. We talked and visited a while then she and I made it back to our condo and called it a day. Which it was.

Saturday March 20

We went on this trip to relax and have some downtime. But we still wanted to see

and do a few things. Plus, you gotta eat or you’ll die!! So, well rested, we went out for brunch to a mexican restaurant that Petra’s co-worker had recommended. The vegetarian choices were slim but of course we found some things. Then, totally stuffed full and happy, we went to get some groceries to take back to the condo for the week. After that we walked over to the pool for some rest and relaxation. Later on, we drove over to the mexican market for a few more supplies. We also checked out a local flea market but there wasn’t much to see there. When we came back we went for a bike ride, right around sunset. The ride was nice and the sunset was very pretty. We came back and wanted to chill at the condo so we played a game of “Beatles Monopoly”. It was all fun and relaxing and all of this made for a nice day.

Sunday March 21

We had some leftover mexican food from yesterday’s brunch, so we turned it into today’s brunch. Twice the tasty treat! Today’s destination was the street fair at the College Of The Desert. We wandered around and shopped for a while, finding a few small items. Not enough, though, so we went to few nearby thrift stores. Tell me this is not a classic find: I found a record called “Music To Eat Pizza By” and it is performed by 23 accordian players! And they had it in mono OR stereo! For only a dollar each! I bought the stereo version along with a hard to find Groucho Marx record for a few bucks. Score!! Anyway, our friends Larry and Robin were due to come spend the rest of the week with us and right about this time they called , saying that were getting close. So we headed back to the condo and met them there. Of course we had to visit a bit. Then we headed out the a delicious dinner at nearby Ciro’s. The manicotti I had was really, really good. Stuffed again after we ate we went back to the mexican market. We got some fresh-made corn tortillas and a few other items. Larry was on a mission to find some mole sauce and they had lots of different kinds and brands. Then we headed back to the condo to visit the rest of the evening.

Monday March 22

We had a very leisurely morning and then went to hang around the pool. The water was warm and Petra loved swimming in it. In the later part of the afternoon, we all went to some nearby thrift stores to shop and explored a little, and of course by then we were all hungry. We went to a mexican restaurant nearby that we had visited last year, called La Pinata, where they have the big “Margarita Country” sign. We each had a big dinner and some margaritas. Life is good. Then back to the condo to hang out the rest of the evening.

Tuesday March 23

Today’s destination was the town and artists community of Idyllwild, nearly 6000 feet up in the nearby mountains. A friend of Larry and Robin’s had moved there and invited us all up for lunch and to visit. They fed us and then gave us a tour of and arts school there, along with some art galleries. On the way back, we stumbled across a large public art “farm”. Not sure if that is a good term but there were a few acres of public art to explore. So we did. As we got close to Palm Desert, we noticed the high-end Imago Gallery that we had visited last year. The awesome Chihuly glass piece was in the tower and we did a quick visit to see some expensive and cool art. Seriously, $140,000 for a painting? We didn’t buy anything  but it was nice to look at. Before we headed back down the one-eleven to Indio, we remembered a great vegetarian restaurant that we visited last year, Native Foods, so we went went there and had another good dinner. Everything in the place is vegan but you’d never know it. The menu has tons of stuff and everything we tried was good. On the way back we stipped at the grocery store and got some ice cream for desert. Yow! Are we having fun yet?

Wednesday March 24

Larry and Robin spent most of the day at nearby Joshua Tree State Park on a hike, while Petra and I opted for lounging around the pool. We also went to a store called The Alley and looked around a bit. All four of us went to Petra’s parent’s nearby rental house and they made us a really good dinner. We visited there the rest of the evening.

Thursday March 25

We had a light snack at the condo to get us started and then went to nearby Cathedral City. Our destination was the Imax theater. We saw the super-large screen, 3-d version of Tim Burton’s “Alice In Wonderland“. It was very impressive. The visuals were awesome and it was delightfully weird but sweet at the same time. Then we headed to Palm Springs for a few things planned later in the evening. But first was lunch at a different location of Native Foods. It was great too. Wish there was one in Sacramento! Then it was time to visit the Palm Springs Art Museum. Admission is free on Thursday afternoons so we took advantage of that. It’s a really nice gallery, check it out if you get down there. After that was the Villagefest, a big street festival with lots of booths and local merchants. After that, we were hungry again so we went to an Italian place near the condo called The Naked Noodle. It was good too. Then back to the condo to call it a day.

Friday March 26

It was time to leave Indio. We had a great week! Technically, we were spending tonight in Hollywood, on the way back home, so the vacation wasn’t over yet. We gassed up the car at Costco and said goodbye to Indio (adios, Indio) and drove to Los Angeles. We stopped on the way at a Shakey’s Pizza for lunch. Funny thing, that pizza chain started in our town of Sacramento but all the ones here have closed down. The hyperactive, yelling kids in the next booth put a damper on it but what the heck. We got to Hollywood in the afternoon and checked into out hotel. We had some free time so we took a wark down Sunset Boulevard, grabbed a coffee drink, and checked out the area. It got to be dinner time and we had already decided to visit a place we had been to once before on a visit, Toi “Rockin’ Thai” Food. The place is funky, open until 4AM, with rock posters decorating the walls everywhere. Then we headed to our actual destination, Club Largo, where we went to see Jon Brion. He’s a very talented musician, multi-instrumentalist, producer, etc. We’d seen him years ago at a Bumbershoot Festival and were really impressed. He uses electronics to record himself doing pieces of a song and then “looping’ them together to sound like a full rock/pop band. You have to see it to see how great he is at it. Oh, he can also just stand the with guitar and sing/play too. He did that on a couple originals and a great cover of the Kinks classic “Waterloo Sunset”. He did a noise-fest version of The Beatles “Tomorrow Never Knows” that was a nicely shaped wall of electro-pop. And then there was the marimba and loops version of The Cars “Just What I Needed”. Great stuff. There were also original songs from his solo CD and some of the soundtrack songs he’s done too. Great show, very impressive. There was an after-show announced in the nearby “Little Room” (about 60 people) and we got in line for that. We were way back in line but when I went up to ask the guy at the door, he suggested that we come back the next night. I said “we’ll be 500 miles away then”. He looked concerned and told us to stand “over there”. A little later he came over and let us in, he gave us the last two seats in the place. Sweet!! This show was totally different. Jon had a bunch of friends with him and he let them do a lot of the show, but still playing and singing with them. This was more folk and even bluegrass. Very different from the main show, but still entertaining and the musicians were really talented. How fortunate that we were able to see both shows!

Saturday March 27

It was the day to head home, but we weren’t quite finished yet. We had brunch at the nearby the Hollywood Mel’s Diner (it was OK), and then went to the world’s biggest independent record store, Amobea Music. They have an unbelievable selection of new and used CDs, records, memorabilia, and other music items. It’s a huge place, they even have maps of the store if you need them, but the staff is helpful too. It’s so big it would take a day (or more) to look at everything. But we did spend a few hours and did some dollar damage, finding some rare things, some very good bargains, and some other stuff too. I’ll list that stuff in a diffent post when I get some time. But after all that time in the record store, we were finally ready to hit the road and go back home. And that’s just what we did…

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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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Simon says “leave me a comment”. And he means it.

Then we met up with our Santa Cruz pals Larry and Robin and had dinner at the other San Francisco Herbivore location. After that went to a play, Woody Allen’s The Floating Light Bulb. He wrote it back in the 1960s but it has endured. It was a good drama, well performed, with some humor in it too. Then we drove the couple hours back to our own city. It had been a really nice, fun day. But that was about to change. We got home around midnight or a little after, and discovered that my cell phone was missing. We had looked at it to see the time after the play so we only had a couple hours to account for where it could have been. After a thorough search around our car, garage, and house, it was nowhere to be found. So, we decided to go back to San Francisco the next day and look for it. Yes, two more hours driving. Each direction.

So the next morning we dropped one car off for a scheduled servicing and headed back to San Fran in the other car. Would we find the phone or would it be a wild duck chase? First we stopped outside the theater, where our friends car was parked, and checked the street, the gutter, and the sidewalk where we had walked. Nope. Then we drove over to where we were dropped at our car. We checked the gutter, under the cars now parked there, the sidewalk, a pizza place at the general location. And whata ya know? Nope. No phone. Well, that was everywhere we had been except inside the theater. But that wasn’t open yet and we couldn’t tell when anyone would get there except there was a performance that evening. So we potentially had five or six hours to wait. Well, you gotta eat, right? Herbivore was right around the corner so we ate there again, three times in two days (two different locations). And it was good again. That helped.

We decided to go a few places to kill the day and maybe even make it fun. We went to Scrap, where Petra always finds some very cheap, cool art and other supplies and other stuff too. Then we went to a junkyard place where they sold “recycled” just-about-anything. Including art glass, which Petra will use for an art project. We still had some time to kill so we went back to check and see if the theater was open yet. Nope. So we went into a nearby coffee shop, The Coffee Bar, and had a refreshing drink. Then we took a walk and found a couple bookstores and a strange indie-only record store. Really, nothing on a major label! Anyway, then we walked back to the theater and there were finally some people there. They let us look for the phone but again no luck. We had looked everywhere. So we drove the long drive back home. Other than that phone thing, we had a good time.

The next day we went to see a local (Davis, CA) performance of the play Jesus Christ Superstar, which was entertaining, and then Petra’s parents invited us to dinner so we went to Petra’s favorite restaurant (and one of mine) Todo Un Poco. They had a large, eclectic menu and everything I have tried has been either very good or really great. I highly recommend it! But now the weekend was over and still no phone. Guess I will have to file a claim, since I did have insurance on it. I’m still bummed out about it, there was a memory card in it with 350 pictures, only some of which I still have elsewhere. But nothing critical, so it’s not the end of the world. At least we did some fun stuff this weekend!

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?

Today’s culinary tip: What kind of wine should one enjoy with a fake “turkey”? Most experts, including myself, would suggest limiting it to either red, white or pink. Anything else would be a major faux pas.

Now, could you kindly please pass the Tofurky, the nut loaf, the potatoes, the stuffing, the corn, the soup, the bread, the gravy (of course), and both kinds of pie? You can keep the cranberry sauce ;-p

Don’t believe me? Read the frequently asked questions to find out what the measure will do and why it is necessary. In a nutshell, this measure will provide more humane treatment of millions of farm animals by phasing out their confinement in small crates and cages where they can barely move for virtually their entire lives. The law would take effect in 2015 and would require that calves raised for veal, breeding pigs, and egg-laying hens are given enough space to turn around, lie down, and stretch their limbs. Similar laws have been passed in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Oregon, and throughout the European Union’s 27 member countries.

VOTE YES ON PROP 2 !!!

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!”

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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!!

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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!!!

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