Our second of three consecutive travel weekends is behind us now. We arrived in San Francisco on Saturday afternoon and headed straight down 
to Redwood City, in our very loud and flashy rental car, for my niece (I can now officially call her that) Olivia’s 10th birthday. The party was finishing up when we arrived but we did get to enjoy Marco’s hand crafted Tiki bar. I got to learn a new card game from Gianluca and we had a nice 
visit with Marco and Julie. When we checked into our usual room in Pacifica, I gave Clorinda her gift of some “exquisite” plates (causing Diana to sneeze “sycophant”) I had picked out for her at the Tablas Creek winery in Paso Robles.
On Sunday we headed down to Silicon Valley to catchup with family and friends. Diana had lunch with her friend Aimee and I had a delicious lunch with Finn at the Straits Café. Their roti prata bread with curry dipping sauce is something I had missed. After lunch Finn and I met my friend Sean for a good blether.
Then Sean joined us at Kristina and Cat’s home for dinner. He enjoyed discussing Cat’s new track racing car with him. Dinner had a Greek theme with lamb, Greek salad, dips, and excellent potatoes. As usual there were lots of laughs and entertaining stories. Rather than make the long drive back to Pacifica, we ubered over to the Toll House in Los Gatos to spend the night.
Monday started with brunch with Campbell and Molly at the Los Gatos café and their fluffy soufflé omelets. It was very nice to get to catch up with Campbell and Molly – we hadn’t seen Campbell since the wedding and Molly since our sailing trip in San Diego. We made our leisurely way back up to Pacifica via Half Moon Bay where we stopped into Sam’s Chowder House for chowder and a lobster roll for lunch. That was followed by coffee and a crossword at It’s Italia (where we had Diana’s 50th birthday dinner). We finished up with dinner at Adamo and Amy’s house.
Tuesday started with overdue workouts (Diana’s first time at the 24 hour fitness in Pacifica). In the afternoon we made the drive down to Saratoga for a pre-concert dinner at the Basin. Dinner was very good – particularly Diana’s scallops.
Then the main excuse for the visit to California – Willie 
Nelson at the Mountain Winery. I wasn’t sure what to expect from an 84 year old country singer but was extremely impressed – Willie sang and played the guitar very well. He didn’t hide behind any backup singers or guitarists at all – it was all him out front with minimal backing. His older sister, Bonnie (86), played the piano. Here are a couple of highlights from the show. He opened with Whiskey River, then highlights for me including Georgia, Always on My Mind, and On the Road Again.
The Mountain Winery venue is one of my very favorites with great sound, views, and setting. We’re going to try and pick one concert each year to attend here.
Wednesday morning involved babysitting Massimo and Luciano for an hour or so before heading to the airport for a quick unpack, wash, and pack again for New York. Thankfully they were both well behaved and easy to handle.
I really enjoyed the movie “Hidden Figures” on the flight home. It’s about female African American mathematicians and their contributions to the early NASA flights. Highly recommended.
I heard an interesting version of “Apache” by “The Incredible Bongo Band” this week – reminded me of the trip to Zin Zen with the Halls and the Shadows covers played by the local band.
and her parents, Tad and Terri, joined us. First stop was the Tablas Creek winery where Tad had arranged a private barrel room tasting for us. We liked a few of the wines but nothing jumped out and grabbed us. Our hostess was a wine student at Cal Poly who really knew her stuff and could answer all of Tad’s 
various questions with ease. Madi wasn’t dealing with the twisty roads too well and so we chose close wineries for our next stops. I was amazed at how mountainous the region was – much more varied than Napa valley and more difficult to navigate.
stop – sweet and fruity wines for the most part. The views from the mountaintop were very good with a straight line view to the Hearst ranch where the famous castle sits. We finished up at McPrice Myers which was the smallest and friendliest of the wineries. Our hostess invited us to bring in our meat and cheese 
and enjoy it on the counter during the tasting. I made friends with the house Westie. A couple of the wines at this stop were quite pleasant.
Bloody Mary’s and bagels and lox. In the evening John and Madi took us over to Morro Bay on the coast for dinner. The water front looks directly out on Morro Rock, a 581 foot volcanic plug that is connected to shore by a causeway. It is the last peak of the Nine Sisters which extend from San Luis Obispo to Morro Bay. It was named by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (a Portuguese explorer) in 1542 – “Morro” in Spanish translates as crown shaped hill.
enjoyed them all. Tognazzini’s was our first stop where we had oysters and calamari on the deck with a good country singer for entertainment. Next was Morro Bay Wine Seller where champagne flights were sampled by all but me along with the “ultimate” crostini and some very pleasant live music. We captured this silly boardwalk picture on the walk to the final progressive meal stop at Windows on the Water where I sampled some yummy risotto. Some shuffle board and pool at 
Whiskey and June and then it was off to bed.
theme is the attempts by the pop star to create a school in Africa and the challenges that ensue. The book was very well reviewed and was a quick read but didn’t really do a lot for me. Some of the references reminded me of things I had forgotten all about – “I ventured into the kitchen to get two beakers of Ribena”, “I sometimes sang for him – the theme tune to “Top Cat”” – now I can’t get that tune out of my head.
On Sunday I had a very enjoyable lunch at Santana Row catching up with Finn while Diana met up with her girlfriends for “Sip and Dip” at Kristina and Cat’s home. Finn shared his website which showcases some of his graphic design and mobile application work – finnrobertsondesign.com. He’s working on finding the perfect job match in this field just now. I met up with the crew at Kristina’s and we enjoyed a lovely dinner and sharing stories with her Mom. We spent the night in Los Gatos and I was able to visit some favorite old haunts – Carry Nations pub, The Great Bear coffee shop where we met up with Los Gatos Amy, and The Los Gatos Cafe for breakfast (and a special carrot and walnut left over treat for Clorinda).
On Tuesday we met up with a couple of friends of D’s from Australia – Renee and Daniel. Renee taught Alicia dance and singing when she was in Australia many years ago and has since married Daniel. They walked across the Golden Gate Bridge; we met them on the far side, and took them up to the top of the Marin Headlands for the best view of San Francisco.
During the trip to California I was able to finish the book, “Two and Two, McSorley’s, My Dad, and Me” by Rafe Bartholomew. This is a very enjoyable read about the oldest continually operating bar in the United States and a father and son who have both worked there for many years – several together. Lots of insights into the operation of the unique bar are offered along with a lot of commentary on working together with one’s Dad. I was interested to read that the bar did not close down during Prohibition but was first closed during Hurricane Sandy. This reminded me of my experience trying to recover connectivity for AIG’s employees stranded at home during Sandy. This while all of the New York based team was completely offline due to lost electricity and connectivity. Not something that I hope to have to do again in my IT career.
ayou) on Oak Street – another newly opened spot – Denny keeps his eyes and ears open for anything new popping up in his city. DTB is billed as a modern Creole Cajun restaurant and menu choices included crispy duck confit, cornmeal gnocchi, and mushroom boudin balls. Another great find by Mr. Denny.
The first of four excellent musical experiences followed dinner – we saw Reckless Kelly perform at Tipitina’s. This was a country rock band with a bit of an Irish flavor that we all enjoyed – including Timmy (a rare moment when he wasn’t complaining about our musical choices being too “esoteric”). We were able to see the newly awarded Anders Osborne plate on the pavement outside Tipitina’s in recognition of his contributions to New Orleans music.
best we had ever tasted.
nobody you really must see and have to fight in early to box out a space. We saw the Iguanas at Fais Do Dos, New Orleans Nightcrawlers (my highlight) at the Heritage stage, Herb Alpert in the Jazz tent, 10 mins or so of Widespread Panic on the Acura stage, a couple of minutes of Tower of Power on the Congo Square stage and then finished up with Darius Rucker on the Gentilly Stage (Diana’s highlight as evidenced by her happy music face).
managed to work in oysters at the paddock and trips into the CD/Vinyl tent for better champagne than was on sale at the normal booths.
ncert that was the main reason for our trip. We saw the Southern Soul Assembly perform at the City Winery. This is a group of 4 singer songwriters – Anders Osborne, Marc Broussard, JJ Grey, and Luther Dickinson – who usually perform on their own but did this short acoustic tour where they each take turns singing with acoustic guitars. The music and the venue were both excellent – we appreciated the table seating with food and drink service and the sound was very precise. We had heard Anders and Marc perform separately before and both agreed that JJ Grey was the star of the show. Here are JJ Grey, Anders, and Marc – you can decide which you like best but the variety was really entertaining.
Friday started with coffee and the crossword followed by a workout on the elliptical machines. We had lunch at a restaurant called the Little Octopus near the hotel. We were disappointed they didn’t have ceviche at lunch but enjoyed the Caribbean style food very much.
had a pleasant couple of hours exploring the exhibits and learned quite a bit about the local Nashville session musicians who played on music by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Johnny Cash and a host of others.
On the walk back to the hotel we stopped for a picture of Diana with her new angel wings – do you see the guitars in the wing design? We laughed as Diana jumped in between a group of silly young girls who were taking forever to take multiple typical teenage poses in front of the wings. There was another couple waiting patiently and Diana told them, “That’s how it’s done”.
Thursday night’s routine with a trip to the rooftop bar at the hotel – quite a bit colder this time though so we sat inside. Then it was a quick Uber ride over to the Butcher and Bee restaurant – excellent Mediterranean food. The night finished with a quick visit to the Sambuca music club across from the hotel where we enjoyed a good cover band.
er in
Record factory and store. This is run by Jack White of the White Stripes band. Have you heard of them? Diana hadn’t and didn’t recognize their song “Seven Nation Army” when I played it on my phone on the walk over.
That evening we tried the Searsucker restaurant in the gas lamp district to see if it lived up to the Yelp reviews. It did for the most part with creative food, a nice casual setting and great service.
did a much better job than Captain Molly who took over the wheel just when Diana was downstairs in the head and learned quickly that large movements of the wheel cause the boat to turn very quickly and the boom to swing over. The official captain was quite entertained by the exploits.
On Saturday evening Diana and I ventured out to the gas lamp district again and found a fantastic bar/restaurant called the Whiskey House. This place had over 1,000 whiskeys from all over the world around the walls and a very impressive menu of whiskey based cocktails. The ones we sampled were perfectly made and delicious. We had a snack of scotch eggs and were wishing we had an appetite to try more from the great looking menu.
After dinner Denny consulted the extensive listing of concerts happening in New Orleans that night and we decided on Marc Stone at the Columns hotel. He was playing in the front room and at one point there were just the four of us listening to him. Denny had a good chat with Marc and didn’t forget to slip in some “Wash Dat” marketing activity. I thoroughly enjoyed his show. So much fantastic music is happening all over New Orleans every night. We headed to Dos Jefes cigar bar next to listen to a Japanese trombone player with what appeared to be a band composed of local music students – a great finish to our first night in New Orleans. We’re always amazed at how much ground we cover in a day when there.
erage Museum). Toups meatery has a restaurant inside and I loved the goat tacos that I had for lunch. There were lots of interesting exhibits on food and cocktails over the years. Next we had a coffee at “Morning Call” – a 24 hour coffee and beignet shop close to City Park and also to the restaurant where Denny had last left his credit card. Next to the coffee shop was the outdoor sculpture garden and we had a pleasant wander through it while enjoying the beautiful weather. Here’s a picture of my favorite sculpture – it seems to represent the evolution of man but I can’t remember the official name.
The boys always enjoy torturing “Miss Diana” when she comes to town. She’s in the middle of some kind of protest here. I see the boys play about once a year and am amazed at how much they progress – the team played really well.
Campbell clearly enjoyed his “all about me” day. His friends left to right are Cody, Patrick, and Cameron (turtle). He’s known them all since elementary school and they’re a great bunch of friends. Will and Christine, Melanie, Laquita, Campbell’s girlfriend Molly, and Diana (meeting Melanie and Laquita for the first time) all participated. It was quite steamy as the evening wore on but the kids didn’t mind or even notice I don’t think.
Greg) for cocktails at what is reported to be the “World’s Best Cocktail Bar”. The “Dead Rabbit” has won all the major best cocktail bar awards for the last few years and it did not disappoint. I had a “Fifth Gear” which was based on Irish whiskey and very strong. That was accompanied by my favorite pub food – a shepherd’s pie made with lamb.
was a full day of meetings. The organizers tried to spice things up with some “lightning talks” – 5 mins or less on any topic an attendee had in mind. We submitted topics in advance and the audience voted. My talk, “Humble and Kind”, was selected first. The idea came to me after enduring the prior week of hateful speech from all sides and particularly the reports from our schools. The talk seemed to be well received and the song “Humble and Kind” by Tim McGraw was played at the end of the day 
on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
ng provided a real musical highlight. We saw Marc Broussard perform at the Granada theater. Dinner before at the Sundown restaurant next door to the theater was very good. Marc has a great voice and a solid band including 3 horns. We enjoyed a couple of soaring saxophone solos. My highlight of the show was a cover of “Sneaking Sally Through the Alley”, originally recorded by Robert Palmer with The Meters from New Orleans as his band. The George Porter bass line is one of my favorites.