We loved this event, which was a fundraiser for the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum. To our amazement, two of the houses were on our little block – only two and three houses away from us. In fact, those were our favorites since the use of their backyards was so well-planned. It was amazing to see from their perspective the same eucalyptus forest I see from my backyard many an afternoon in my own sanctuary. I was definitely inspired and amazed at the time that was spent by so many of these gardeners. As the president of the Glen Cove Community Association, I was also particularly proud that three of the houses among the ten involved, were in Glen Cove itself (including the two on our block).
This was our second vacation/road trip since the beginning of the Covid Era. We spent a long weekend in Palm Springs and drove back and forth so we could bring our own kitchen, not have to mask up on a plane, etc.
We did get to see our good friends from the Bay Area Ken, Kevin, and Rich who now live in Palm Springs. Of course, they tried to convince us to move down, but we don’t see that happening. We want to keep visiting often though!
On our way back we stopped for milkshakes in Valencia, a very cute town. However, that was not a good idea for my tummy I soon found out. We made a pit stop in Santa Barbara as we took the scenic route home, but sadly sunset happened so quickly it wasn’t all that scenic for much of it. I still think on a Sunday evening it’s faster to travel that route than being backed up on the 5, but it was a good nine hours.
Shando had some work in San Francisco so we made a day of it, taking our two younger dogs, since the seniors are having mobility issues and we knew we’d be making several stops and going through the hills of San Francisco, which we did traverse repeatedly to get everything done. We took some time to take the scenic route back and forth from Vallejo and minimized only taking the Golden Gate. GPS kept trying to get us to take THREE bridges to get one way to San Francisco with extra tolls just to save five minutes. We’re glad we took the “long” way.
Our first stop was in the Potrero Hill area, where Shando used to live years ago.
For the first time in my life, I drove up to and wandered around the Palace of Fine Arts. Growing up in the Bay Area and having lived here most of my life at this point, I never made a point to go there.
Here is some of the scenic drive back out of the city:
We went to Hamburger Mary’s and to our surprise, there was a bona fide drag show, which I appreciated the song for this one by Ciarra. Jim visits the Bay Area yearly around this time, so it was nice to see him again, as he is one of my closest friends in New York.
We got to meet my dear friend Sharan’s sister from Italy who happened to be interning for her advanced degree in Reykyavik. We brought her a framed picture from Sharan to save a bunch on shipping charges. Valentina’s English is very good, but it was nice to be able to speak Italian in Reykavik too, which strangely I have done regularly both times I visited Iceland.
We got a cute Airbnb rental which was pretty convenient, although quite a walk to downtown if truth be told. The cabs were pretty plentiful, although expensive at this point with the current exchange rate.
Artist Kasper Rodenborn had his art on exhibit, which we went to go view. We had coffee and lunch and took some pictures near the Golden Gate Bridge. Fun times!
