And I do mean long.
Yes, this final entry on our travels to California had to wait until Saturday morning because Friday was one ridiculously long day.
It began at 7:30 a.m. with some wrap up discussions at Costanoa. While 7:30 a.m. is really not that early in the morning, early is a relative term for many of the folks attending the discussions who consumed far more spirits than I did.
In case you were wondering what brought us to the middle of the wilderness for such a sustained period, it was a series of meetings facilitated by the Harwood Institute. The object of their efforts is to convene public leaders and encourage honest and frank discussions about the state of their respective communities. Hence, the latter part of the week was spent with leaders from Las Vegas trying to find the path to change.
Of course, little did we know that the path was so clearly marked for us...
This picture is from Santa Cruz, California. This is a little coastal town we explored during our 8 hours between the ending of Friday's meeting and our expected flight out of San Jose.
People often criticize my new home of Las Vegas for its over-the-top nature. However, one might consider Vegas a bastion of restraint when compared to parts of California.
Consider the idea of religious missions.
I'm sure you've heard of Mission Charities, which is a Christian effort to spread the word.
There is Mission Prisons, which works to rehabilitate convicts. There is International Mission, Mission of Hope, Mission Las Vegas -- all of which consider it their Christian role to serve others.
Well, in this part of California, their mission takes on a slightly differnt purpose...
Those in this part of California have also seemed to have adopted some sort of adaptation of the ideology of the Druids that built the famous Stonehenge in the English countryside.
Here's a picture of our visit to one of their most sacred religious sites...
It seems to involve some sort of ceremony paying homage to Stonehenge but incorporating the California health sensibilities of giant slices of cantaloupe.
Of course, health food seems to be going the way of the dodo bird in this part of California.
Instead, they pay homage to another of the great health foods of our time. Look at this plaque celebrating the history of....
Yes, funnel cakes.
In the great spirit of the funnel cake, they have decided that you can deep fry most anything. For instance...
Twinkies!
And for those of you look for a healthy alternative, you must know that many things are great when deep fried...
Deep fried artichoke hearts and zucchini.
Whoda thunk?
After a very long day of exploring, we finally decided to head to San Jose and the airport for the trip home to Las Vegas. As is the case with every one of my trips if I'm not lucky enough to have my family with me, I was preparing to return with a bag full of gifts and toys for my wife and children.
Of course, some folks seem to have a different idea of what would be a nice souvenir to bring back from California for our families back home in Las Vegas.
Consider Stacey, one of the folks from our staff...
Yes, as a gift for her family, she's bringing home a lottery ticket.
A quick pick twenty draw super lotto ticket, to be more precise.
Ah, you just gotta love the sense of humor of folks who live in Las Vegas!
So we returned the rental car and headed in to the airport terminal and saw some words that are truly the most ridiculous things I have ever seen at an airport...
The Northwest Airlines sign next to another sign that says, "No Waiting."
Uh huh.
Well, I returned home to my wonderful family to discover my two littlest girls trying deparately to wait up for me, but they didn't quite make it...
Alyssa recieved her gift late Friday night, but only next morning when the other 5 kids awoke did I gave them their presents. It included a toy submarine, play scubadivers, and other water toys from the coast of California.
Of course, they all immediately decided that it was time to take a bath at 9 o'clock in the morning...
It's good to be home.
Yes, this is my fourth day in California.
And yes, I was going to write about all sorts of fascinating things (well, at least they are fascinating to me).
But we were in meetings and discussions that ran until 9:40 pm.
And then we had a Fat Tire...
...or two (or seven, but who's counting).
And like the fate of every fine ale, no matter how tasty, my entry for today ended up in the toilet.
(Tomorrow, the journey home).
On my third day in California, I cannot help but recall the words of someone I met in San Jose on Monday. I told him that we were going to attend a few days of meetings at Costanoa on the coast.
His response that befuddled me before is now painfully clear. It is official. I am "yuppie camping."
The camping part is easy enough. Costanoa consists of a lodge...
Cabins...
...and various tent encampments that expose you to the wonderful outdoors.
Trees, birds, rolling hills.
Views of the Pacfic Ocean.
Hiking paths. Horseback riding.
Fresh air. Peace and quiet.
A wonderfully rejuvenating experience... if you like that sort of thing.
I have six children and live in Las Vegas.
I miss my noise and neon.
The irony is that this place is so far from real camping that it's funny.
First, consider that the same people who come here to commune with nature arrive in vehicles like this...
Yep, a humoungous SUV that gets a whopping 8 miles per gallon. Even as we arrived yesterday afternoon, we passed a stretch limo that had just dropped some people off.
The grandest irony is that nobody around here seems to see the irony in all of this.
To encourage our communing with nature Costanoa doesn't allow television sets in any of the bedrooms or on their property, but of course one cannot head off to bed after a long day of hugging trees without having a late night snack...
...so we have gourmet Lavosh (fresh from Hawaii, I might add).
And after hours upon hours of singing Kumbaya, one needs to clean up...
...so we're sure to have the newest Aveda hair and body care products.
But I find this perhaps the funniest of all. At the entrance to the property is the main sign of Costanoa with a clear mention of what everyone yuppie cannot live without...
Goodness knows we can't camp without a cafe and fresh espresso on hand.
At least I can partake of this refreshment confident in the knowledge that I'm doing good for the environment. After all, this is no regular espresso. This is...
I'm not sure what exactly what my cup of "Coffee with Conscience" is -- but I feel much better about drinking it now.
Of course, this bastion of nature cannot be that isolated if I'm posting all of these comments in the world of cyberspace. Look closely at my cup of mocha cappucino vente with non fat milk...
On the cup is a picture of a women in a field using a laptop. Yes, the entire property -- from the stables to the walking trails -- is covered by one giant wireless network.
So here I sit, outside in a field, passing time between my meetings, typing my inane thoughts into my laptop while peering off at the lush green hills around me. But suddenly this field reminds me of the following sign and I quickly recall why I live in the city...
Yes, we're under a "tick alert" -- we have to regularly check our clothes and legs for any of those nasty blood sucking creatures that lurk throughout them there woods!
But then again, I am and always will be a Hawaii boy at heart. So there is nothing that inspires me quite like the Pacific Ocean...
That's Jessica, Karen, Stacey and I all standing at the coast.
Then I was just paralyzed by this remarkable view...
..and maybe this place is worth a visit after all.
(Tomorrow, Santa Cruz, hopefully!)
Day 2 in California.
Did you know that San Jose is now the third largest city in California? It's larger than San Francisco and only surpassed in population by Los Angeles and San Diego.
That came as a real surprise to me, but after running around San Jose this morning meeting with countless people, I can truly believe it.
Of course, Pescadero, California might be perhaps the third smallest city in California (or at least it feels that way).
We have a whole slew of meetings going on at a resort/lodge just outside of this tiny (and I do mean tiny) little town. I'll talk more about the resort tomorrow, but I thought it would do the world good to visit the sites of Pescadero.
What is "Made in Pescadero" you ask? Goodness knows one of my colleagues barged in the store to ask, but honestly, nobody seemed to know. Mostly it appeared to be a barber shop -- but hey, that's just Pescadero, I guess.
This tiny community is over an hour south of San Francisco on the famous Pacific Coast Highway. It is so tiny that they don't bother to actually name their stores -- they just put up a sign telling you what it is they do.
For instance, here's their version of a grocery store, appropriately named...
Then there's a lovely little art gallery, named thusly...
Of course, no visit to Pescadero would be complete without a stop at the "historic" Duarte's Tavern. It's historic because 100 years ago, there were two restaurants in Pescadero. A century later, there is only one restaurant in town.
And yes, you guessed it, it's Duarte's.
While some might challenge the "historic" designation of Duarte's, nobody would question me if I declared their menu "unique."
Consider this wonderful slice of pie for which they're known...
It was a truly delicious piece of Olallieberry Pie.
Honestly, when I heard of it's name, I thought it was some sort of joke tied to the famous Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -- remember Willie Wonka's famous Snozzberry?
Well, it appears that this berry is an actual thing. Click on Olallieberry to learn more about this cross between a Youngberry and a Loganberry.
That was odd enough, but there is also an unbelievable fascination with artichokes in Pecadero.
At Duarte's you can buy an artichoke omelet. Artichoke ravioli. Artichoke lasagna. They even offer deep friend artichoke. You name, it and they probably can make it with artichoke.
Here is Stacey Wedding from our staff and Melinda Gallegos of the Tang Foundation partaking of cream of artichoke soup...
Of course, the most unnerving part of Pescadero's sole restuarant is the sign we noticed outside the front window on the way out the door...
Ugh.
Perhaps fish in the Pescadero area of the Pacific Ocean like artichokes.
But then again, it was worth the visit to Pescadero if only for this remarkable view of the big beautiful Pacific Ocean...
It's February and there we were standing on the beach! This is the way winter should be.
(Tomorrow, a view of Costanado)
Today began another of my periodic trips without my wife or children in tow.
In other words, so begins another of my attempts to occupy my mind with musings on different places I visit. Yes, it's a poor substitute for the wonderful cacophony that is my household, but it helps pass the time in lonely hotel rooms.
And thus is the start of my week long adventure in California.
Leaving Las Vegas is in and of itself kind of an interesting experience. Right up until the last moment you leave our fair city you will find yourself surrounded by opportunities to pay my taxes for me. There is no personal income tax in Nevada because you can always find a bank of these right outside your airport gate...
Of course, Vegas is a very welcoming and accomodating place. You can't smoke in most airports nowadays, but in Vegas, we make sure that everyone feels welcome...
Hey, smokers are welcome to pay my taxes, too!
Unfortunately, the airlines don't seem to be quite as nice as Vegas itself.
Consider the fact that my flight from Las Vegas to San Jose, California is only a little over an hour. As such, smoking is banned by federal law on these short flights.
Now I am not a smoker, but even I had to think that the airlines were playing a cruel joke when the inner pocket of the airline ticket portfolio has the following advertisement...
It's sort of like, "Welcome to our flight, here's a picture of cigars which you can't have. Nanny nanny boo boo."
These airlines seems to be constantly dreaming up new ways to torment their passengers. Indeed, the torment had just begun.
After boarding the plane, we were told that we'd have to wait 20 minutes until we pushed back from the gate. All total, we sat for nearly an hour and a half in those little seats waiting to leave for California.
I must admit, though, that the airline's ability to put an optimistic spin on everything is getting a wee bit out of hand. Once we arrived in San Jose, we were told that the airport doesn't have those "jetways" which connect the terminal gate to the airplane door.
Instead, we were told that we'd be using the "air stairway" to exit the plane...
I guess that means that I have an "air stairway" from my living room at home to the bedrooms upstairs.
In Nevada they're called stairs. In California, it's an "air stairway."
California is an unusual place, after all.
Walking out to dinner this evening, we came across an unusual public restroom in a park...
Upon close inspection, however, one could see the California budget crisis in full view. Consider this zoomed in closeup of the same public bathroom...
Yes, even this bodily function is taxed in California.
I wonder if they charge more if you need to go #2?
Of course, California is a home to some wonderful cultural activities. Here's an advertisement for the Ballet San Jose...
From left that is Karen Rubel, our Director of Development, Stacey Wedding, our Development Officer, and Jessica Bretzlaff, our Director of Programs.
I guess this is what happens when a bunch of folks from Vegas arrive in sedate San Jose.
These Vegas folks make me think of this sign I saw in the airport before we flew out this morning...
There's a joke in there somewhere but I'll leave it to your imagination.
(Tune in tomorrow for more updates as we travel to Pescadero, California)
I'm not really sure why things always seem to turn out this way, but our life is never quite as normal as it first appears.
For instance, this is the picture everyone sees of our wonderful son Bretty who played basketball and was overjoyed that his whole team took home trophies at the end of the season...
Yet it broke my heart while he was playing because he was never quite that enthusiastic during the games...
That was kind of a sad oddity. Mostly, though, it's just plain weirdness in our home.
Here's our eldest son David after a visit by the toothfairy -- who apparently was working overtime that night...
Upon closer inspection you can see that he doesn't just lose one of his front teeth like most normal people, he lost both of them at the same time.
But I must admit it does make him most amusing to listen to nowadays.
Then consider our daughter Alyssa who celebrated her 14th birtday the other day. Pretty normal, right?
Well, not in our household. Something had to be different, after all.
For instance, rather than a birthday cake, we had to have this...
Yes, Alyssa asked for a birthday pie.
Or think of my lovely wife Cari's Valentine's Day present.
Flowers? Nope.
A heart shaped box of candy? No way.
Diamonds? Nah.
So what does my wonderful wife get for Valentine's Day?
Two pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards.
Alas, while our lives are not quite normal, I'm not a complete fool! Here is my lovely wife with her real Valentine's Day Present...
Pearl earrings and a pearl necklace.
I'm trying to get ahead with my brownie points because you know it's just a matter of time before I once again do something really stupid.
Let you think I don't need to do that, well, even my mother apparently thinks so. She even helped earn me a few more brownie points because the jacket Cari's wearing is a gift from her!
Perhaps the most overused (and thus most annoying) joke in Nevada is when folks ask you if you've taken the dam tour.
And when you're there, be sure to leave your car in the dam parking garage.
Then visit the dam souvenir shop.
Or have a quick bite at the dam coffee shop overlooking the dam.
After a while, the whole theme becomes dam annoying.
Although I must admit, the dam itself is pretty dam cool...
And the view is dam spectacular...
Yes, this was our visit to the remarkable engineering marvel known as the Hoover Dam. At the top, the dam is some 45 feet across. However, at the base of the dam, the cement is 660 feet thick!
The dam's construction required excavation of some 6.48 million cubic yards of rock and dirt to build the tunnels and way for the dam. Over 96 million pounds of steel was needed and some 4.4 million cubic yards of concrete was used over a four year period through its completion in 1935.
The water pressure from the Colorado River places some 45,000 pounds of pressure per square foot at the base of the dam!
Hoover Dam is also a major entry point into Nevada from Arizona. As one who grew up in Hawaii, I still am amazed by the fact that you can drive from one state to another. Remember, it's some 2,000 miles to travel from Hawaii to California, the next nearest state.
Obviously, I'm not the only one who thinks the closeness of one state to another is really neat...
Yes, this is my father standing in two states at once. The left side of the picture is Nevada and the right side is Arizona. He's standing on the line that divides the two states -- which is smack dab in the middle of the dam -- in the middle of the Colorado River!
Unfortunately, the Colorado River is not what it used to be. Lake Mead (which was created by the construction of Hoover Dam) is fed by the melting snows from Utah and Colorado. A sustained drought in those states and less than spectacular snow falls over the last five years have dramatically lowered the water levels on Lake Mead. Note the discoloration on the sides of the cavern walls which show you how high the water used to be...
Of course all our friends from Marietta will notice is that somehow a sternwheel found its way to Nevada. See, who said that a low river has to mean the cancellation of the Sternwheel Festival.
No matter how remarkable or majestic something like the Hoover Dam might be, nothing could excite our boys quite like the next place we visited (click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see the conveyor belt in the background)...
Yep, nirvana.
A donut factory. Chocolate covered, to be precise.
Unfortunately, little Malia doesn't get to eat many donuts, she's stuck learning to adjust to basic table foods. Grandpa Bernie thought he'd undertake the challenge of trying to feed her a bit.
Well, after one completely covered shirt and one overwhelmed Grandpa, here's Malia finally proclaiming victory over dinner time...
Ah, the wonders of our six children -- here with Grandma Betty and Grandpa Bernie.
Yes, the doll freaked me out the first time I saw this picture as well. I thought maybe Cari went and had another baby and I missed it.
Hey, it's hard to keep track of that many kids when my hand has only five fingers.
Posts
