A Goof Around Day

On Sunday we found a huge flea market and spent the morning strolling around.  Jessica found lots of great little treasures, and Kurt wanted to bring home this one big treasure!  A little beer truck.  "I could see this parked in our driveway!" said no wife ever! 

We explored the area and it turned into a beer stroll.  How else do you spend a quiet Sunday except finding and trying all the local beers. 

By the end of the day, our little Gwenny just gave up.  

This was in Palo Alto at the end of a long wonderful day. She could barely keep her eyes open and needed just a little help getting back to the car. She did fall asleep like this walking through the streets as we were shopping.  Is it any wonder that she gets so much attention?

Thanks for coming to visit us Jessica.  We had a fabulous weekend.  

Napa Valley and San Francisco

Saturday we headed north to Napa Valley. It was beautiful and the wine was pretty good too! 

Even Gwenny got in on the tasting!

Only kidding...we made sure there was only water in her doggy bowl.  After all, she was our designated driver!  

Thank goodness for our GPS, it made sure we were heading in the right direction all day. 

Where ever we went we felt like celebrities because everyone was so enthralled with Gwen.  She is such a hambone!

  

After a very relaxing day in wine country, we headed to North Beach in San Fran for dinner. We found a great little place with outside seating and had a wonderful dinner enjoying the sights and sounds of the city.  

We need a wine country in the northeast!  

A Whirlwind Weekend

It has been a busy  weekend. We started Thursday night in Mountain View.  Lots of fun.  They open the streets to a car show, bands playing in the streets, and tons of entertainment.   I saw the car I want...only I want a convertible.  Any guesses??  Gwen doesn't look very excited. 

Jessica flew in Friday afternoon and spent the weekend with us.  We discovered a bunch of things to do in and around San Jose. We looked up Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and found the best falafel place around for lunch.  The line was out the parking lot and around the corner.  Gwen spent most of the time chasing the pigeons around the parking area.  Silly girl.    It was fabulous. 

Then we hung around in Little Paris...only kidding.  It was just some fun wall art we discovered. 

Last but not least, we had the best gelato.  Jessica has been waiting three years for this. Yes...she said it was worth it!

Notice the coat and glove.  It is that cold here at night. Sorry to all my friends back on the east coast ... the  weather here is perfect. Glorious during the day, and then just a bit chilly at night.  As much as I love the east coast, it beats hot and humid hands down.  

Jessica

Jessica is coming to visit!!!!

I'm Back

I'm back and so is Gwen.  I went home for a few days and flew back last night.  Kurt and I met Lauren and Kurt in San Luis Obispo for lunch and made the exchange of one little pug named Gwen.  

They all did a great job, including Jessica,  taking care of our little girl.  

We went to a great little restaurant called the Wild Donkey Cafe. I'm posting this for my friends Kiki and Chris.  It was the best little Greek and Mexican cafe we have ever been to.  Who knew the fusion of those two flavors would work so well.  Obviously the greek owner I met at the bar did! 

We spent the rest of the day investigating the area.  We found Morro Bay and it was beautiful. 

We ended the day back at our temporary dwelling. I think Gwen looks pretty comfortable. 

Heading home

Heading home to MA for a few days.  Things will be a bit quiet. Not looking forward to 90 degree plus temperatures that they are having right now.  Talk  to you soon.  Debbie 

San Jose to Santa Cruz

We started the weekend off with a bang Friday night at Santana Row in San Jose.  Went to a place called Yard House for dinner and....

I don't think I need to say anything else other than we had to go sit in a movie theater for a few hours before we could drive home.  Haha 

I met up with an old high school buddy on Saturday and they welcomed us into their home for the weekend.  Thanks John and Liz, we had a great time.  We visited Wilder Ranch in Santa Cruz and took a hike along the coast.  What a gem!  

We ended the night back at their house surrounded by a redwood forest.  It was a spectacular evening.  

We are finishing off today at an arts and wine festival in Los Altos.  It is going to be very difficult to go back to the real world.  

It's a Jungle Out There

As we are trying to get through this week with just one car, I have been driving Kurt to work and picking him up at the end of the day.  This morning, after I dropped off Kurt, my goal was to get back to our place without my GPS.  Mistake number 1.  After driving way longer than I should have been, I realized that I was a bit of course.  I tried to adjust!  Mistake number 2. I eventually ended up in a place that I recognized, or so I thought.   I thought to myself...piece of cake, I can do this...mistake number 3.  I made a few adjustments and headed on my merry way still determined not to use the GPS.  Mistake number 4!  After all, how else am I going to learn my way around.  (now I was just being an idiot)
It took me a few more mistakes before I realized that I was lost again.  I eventually turned on my GPS, except I was convinced that she was lying to me and I knew better than she did.  Mistake 7 and 8!!! Well, a 13 mile drive took me over 90 minutes.

What have I learned from this escapade you ask?

 I obviously have no sense of direction and my GPS is my new best friend.

Started the day off as a crazy person....

ended the day relaxing at my new favorite place in San Jose. 

Kurt made me do it !  

Lazy days

I do not have any big news to share.  We have bunkered down in our temporary pad in Los Altos.  It is very comfortable and in a great location.

  I did receive these pictures today from Los Angeles.  

Gwenny at work with the kids. 

I am not sure I like this one.  Kurt trying to recycle Gwenny.  

 I really miss her. I know that she is having the time of her life with the kids.  I just hope she remembers that she isn't a puppy anymore and is careful not to try to keep up with the young ones!.  

First day in Los ALtos

Yesterday was uneventful and fun at the same time.  I explored the area where we are living, trying to get a feel for the terrain!  I got lost quite a few times.  Thank goodness I had my trustworthy GPS with me at all times.

The "towns" here are very different than back home.  They feel more like city driving rather than just tooling through the streets of Franklin.  I am very close to Mountain View, where I stayed three years ago.  That has been very helpful.

Kurt enjoyed his first day at the main campus.

We starting this morning by sitting outside in the hills with a beautiful landscape in front of us while drinking our coffee.  So very quiet here where we are staying.  The sounds of nature all around us.

Oh, I almost forgot....yesterday when I was sitting out here on the deck, guess who came to visit?  A robin who sat on the railing practically in my lap. Coincidence ? I don't think so.  I am not paranoid...it was not the same robin that has been torturing me back home.  However, I am thinking that maybe they have ways of sending messages across the country to their com padres!  I will try to get a picture for your viewing pleasure.

Have a great day everyone.

Arrived in Los Altos

We left LA this morning heading to our home away from home for the next 5 weeks.  We left Gwenny down in LA for a few weeks.  She is staying with Kurt and Lauren for two weeks, and Jessica has babysitting privileges anytime she wants.  It looks like she is being spoiled rotten...they made her a thrown.  

We made it to our temporary housing, unpacked, and headed back to our old stomping ground.  

We hit the the best margaritas around and then had our favorite dessert- gelato.  

Tomorrow will bring interesting things...laundry, grocery shopping, etc.  oh yeah, and Kurt has to go to work.  :( 

Gwenny and her kids

We drove thru the desert on Friday from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.  The car registered temperatures between 105- 114 degrees in the desert. The ride ranged from casino after casino to the emptiness of the desert.  

If you remember my trip 3 years ago, I told the story of being stopped by the fruit police when entering the CA border.  So during the ride Kurt and I devoured the fruit we had in the car.  We didnt want all our fruit to be confiscated.  We passed the border and to our surprise there were no fruit police.   Kurt thought I was crazy, but at I least I had a witness last time. Thanks Sharon Hornby!

And then about 20 miles later what should appear?  A California agriculture checkpoint.  Kurt starts to scurry around trying to hide our two apples as we pull up to one of the check stations, and...  No one is manning the booth.  Empty - must be cutbacks!! So we keep on truckin' to LA and ate our apples in defiance. Haha...not really, we were just really hungry.  

As we see the Hollywood sign, Gwenny was starting to get very excited.

 After all, she was going to see her kids.  Jessica texted us and told us it felt like Christmas morning.  It was a great reunion.  Gwenny even got a new kid...she loved meeting Lauren.  

It is always lots of fun hanging out with the kids. Well worth the 3850 miles we just drove.  

Las Vegas 114 degrees

Leaving Page, Arizona we stopped at the Glen Canyon Dam. Stunning mixture of nature and modern technology.

We kind of veered from our original plans for today, and  decided to head toward the northern rim of the Grand Canyon.  All day long we weaved in and out of Arizona and Utah.  It was kind of unnerving never really knowing where we were. 

Hours and hours later we finally made it to our first destination.  As we headed through the Gate at the Grand Canyon we decided to buy a yearly pass to the national parks.  The ranger at the gate asks for Kurt's license and charge card.  The ranger takes his license and says " We don't let anyone in from Franklin. " We chuckle.  "Why? Do you even know where it is ?" Kurt says sarcastically. 

The Ranger turns around with a straight face and say, "Yup. Right next to Bellingham. " 

Turns out he was from Foxboro and is working there for 6 months. Thank you Ranger  Dawd for a few laughs. Hope to see you back in MA sometime.  

It started pouring as were driving to the north rim. Kurt was playing music from his iPod, mostly

psychedelic music.  It really set the mood for the ride in to the canyon.  As the sky opened up the music took a different turn and Lady Rain  by Hall and Oats started to play....then Landslide by Fleetwood Mac. It was very spooky ,eerie, and yet so fitting.  

We brought Gwenny on the trail with us.  She got tired very quickly, so we carried her in her bag.  I think more people ooh'd and aah'd at Gwenny than at the canyon!  She had her 15 minutes of fame. 

At the end of a long day day in the car, we pulled in to our hotel in Las Vegas.  114 degrees.  What extremes!!! 

105 degrees

6:00 am

I woke up to Kurt checking work emails.  Tsk tsk tsk.   I will give him this one misdemeanor, after all it is 105 degrees outside. Too hard to do much of anything else.

 

Wally World

Well….this morning we felt like the Griswold Family at Wally World! :(

We heading over to Mesa Verde and to our disappointment we were told it is impossible to do the park in 3-4 hours.  Most people need at least 5 hours.  We thought we had this so well planned. We only had a ¼ tank of gas and it takes over an hour just to get to the interesting parts of the park.  We left Gwenny at the hotel and told them we would be back by 12 to check out.  The very nice park ranger tried very hard to suppress his laugh when we moaned and said we had to get back for the dog.  It was a lose/lose situation.  Gwenny was mad at us the rest of the day because we left her at the hotel.

We regrouped and changed our plans. 

First we stopped by at the four corners…Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado.  Believe it or not it is very exciting standing at this spot. 

We then headed towards Monument Valley.  This is the area that you might have seen in all the old John Wayne movies.  It was bigger than life.  At one point we tried to go “off road” to get a closer look.  Really…you can see these natural monuments miles away and we need a closer look!  We survived. 

Around every corner, the terrain seemed to change.  We ended up in the Lake Powell region of Arizona.  We didn’t have a chance to investigate today, but we will take in the sights as we leave tomorrow as we head off to Las Vegas.