Emily and Linda’s Travel Blog

Some of you know the story of my brother’s biologic daughter finding him after her search for her biodad.  Back in the 1980s when Jim was a starving artist jazz piano player, he was also a sperm donor to help make the rent.  At that point, no one was expecting that there would come a time when you could mail in your DNA sample and find a path to your relatives.  Adria grew up with two moms and knew that there was a biologic father in the picture, but had no way to find him until recent years.  She did find him though and it’s been lovely to connect with her and her family.  Saturday we gathered for the first time since pre-COVID days at Jim’s partner Louise’s home in Alameda.  She has a lovely place on the lagoon and it was a spectacularly beautiful afternoon:

Clementine and Juniper, Jim’s granddaughters showed up in full princess regalia:

We had a pizza party on the deck where Clementine included us all in a game she devised where we were given superhero identities with special powers (I got to be a shape-shifter and Linda was assigned the power to move water).  

Ryan, their father, works with AI and video so he created avatars for our hero selves based on our powers and characteristics.  He promised to forward the images later.  He was musing about how the kids just think it’’s normal to put that kind of information into a phone and get a picture of a powerful super hero.  

Later, Ryan wanted to show us a couple of videos he and the girls put together.  This involved a major tech discussion to get it from his  phone onto Louise’s TV

But the mission was finally accomplished.  

We got a group shot at the end or the afternoon:

And one more of Jim and Louise before we left

Aaaand one more of us that Jim took

Thursday we began our day at Kitchen Story, a breakfast-focused restaurant on College Avenue that does Korean American fusion cuisine in Oakland

Linda had her usual two eggs with bacon and potatoes, but it was “millionaire’s bacon”  - thick cut and marinated with brown sugar and spices and the potatoes are whole, splitt, and roasted

I had a breakfast bibimbap - a Korean dish with galbi (slow cooked short ribs), rice, vegetables, and a fried egg

Meanwhile, Bob Ross kept us company, painting a mountain scene in the background:

The check is presented clipped to a book rather than a tray or clipboard

Next we were off to San Francisco via BART.  Linda had a reservation for. Pier 24, a photography gallery on the Bay and I was meeting an old high school friend, Katie Riggs. 

I got to our meeting place a little early so I walked around a bit and found this lovely little public space between the big buildings on Mission

Even with the fire pit though, it was pretty breezy and a bit chilly so I continued on and found this warmer and cozy spot - also a public space - with sofas, lounge chairs, and a video mural.  A lovely place to hang.  

Katie and I met at a coffee shop and then strolled along the Embarcadero.  She let me pick the direction and sadly I picked the one with the less panoramic views, but we did wader around the old Ferry Building and got some glimpses of the Bay.

We met up with Linda later at Katie’s place in Balboa Park and were joined by Katie’s husband and daughter for a delicious dinner of roasted salmon with roasted kale with feta and farmers market corn.  Sadly no pictures of the meal.  But we did get some pictures of the people this time:

The Oakland Museum of California has become a favorite for us.  This visit they had an exhibit called “Into the Brightness” featuring work by artists with developmental disabilities via three studios founded by Florence and Elias Katz  - Creativity Explored, Creative Growth, and NAID (Nurturing Independence Through Artistic Development).  The promotional material said that several of the artists showing in the exhibit had since developed contracts with galleries and a few have published books.  The energy in the space was great and the videos of the artists at work showed a lot of joy, laughter, and dancing.   

This blog program sometimes makes its own decisions about the order of photos displayed.  In some of the multiple images below, you have to scroll to see all the works and their info.

Camille Holvoet told a heart-breaking story of her time at “Napa” (I assume Napa State- a psychiatric hospital) and the constraints placed on her drawing while in foster care and later when hospitalized.  The greater range of media and expression is apparent in her later work after she was released.   

This one especially interested LInda since it seems a cousin to some of her images in her reccent Urban Constructions show: 

Apologies to the artist below for the weird reflections on the glass, but I liked the painting so much, I decided to include it anyway:

Some pieces were videos

And these two collaborative murals:

We finished our visit with lunch at the museum cafe - a pleasant, airy space where you can take your food out into the garden, though we stayed inside because it was a little hot outside. I had a beautiful salad with blueberries, beets, goat cheese and greens.  Linda had the “best fried chicken sandwich”  Both excellent.  

Monday we got together with my brother Jim, his partner Louise, and his goddaughter, Alexis. We had dinner at 5 Tacos and 5 Beers on College Avenue in Berkeley.Their claim to fame seems to be large planks of multiple tacos and beers, but we kept to simpler fare. The adobado tacos and elote (corn on the cob grilled and served with mayo, spices, and salt) were particularly good and the "verduritas" (vegetarian enchiladas) were also very tasty  

Though the food was very good, the noise was pretty intense so we didn’t dawdle over the meal, opting instead to go back to Jim's place where conversation was more possible. We did manage to get a picture of all of us, thanks to Jim's photo setup (that responds to voice command!). 

Then Tuesday night, we had dinner with our college friend Denise and her husband Caleb on their lovely deck. Also joining us was another Pomona College alumnus, Frank and his partner Bill. We realized that we had last been together the very same day 2 years ago. 

As usual, Caleb and Denise put out a wonderful spread, starting with homemade hummus and baba ghanoush and home cured olives from their own olive trees. Frank had also made a fabulous gaspacho with a surprising secret ingredient - cantaloupe! Sadly, I forgot to photograph the first course which is a shame because it was very much a feast for the eyes.   The Main course was a Santa Fe Stew with beans, butternut squash, and green chiles, garnished with avocado, pepitas, and a chipotle crema. 

Two sides were offered as well - a super slaw of cabbage, jicama, apples, and carrots as well as an avocado corn salad. 

For dessert there was homemade sugar-free banana-chocolate "ice cream" (no dairy or sugar) and cookies, but the light was too low for photos.  

So we've been well fed two nights in a row, but of course the most important part was the company and conversation. 

We've been in Berkeley for a few days. Lots of visiting with friends and family, but have not managed to remember to get pictures. Will see friend Loretta and brother Jim again and hopefully get photos then. 

We're staying in the same house as we did 2 years ago in the Oakland part of the Rockridge neighborhood that also extends north into Berkeley. 

Lisa got out our old HS yearbook to compare notes and prod each others’ memories, particularly of chorus and theater productions.  Later conversation turned to all the changes we’ve been through, aging and it’s consequences, gratefulness for the things we now enjoy and worries for the way our country and culture are shifting.  Sometimes reunions with old friends leave you wondering how you were ever connected, but there was no lack of common ground here.  

Since it’s a long drive back to the Bay Area, we decided to stop along the way in Santa Rosa (one of the best parts of being retired is not having to rush to anything).  We stayed at the Hotel La Rose, right in downtown Santa Rosa.

Again, not a terribly impressive building from the street, but lovely inside and we actually stayed at the more modern part of the complex across the street - the “Carriage House”

It had a nice little outdoor patio for morning coffee-sipping

For dinner we chose Jackson’s Bar and Oven.  Quite the happening place, though we probably raised the average age of the clientele by 20 years by walking in. 

We started with shishito peppers.  Then Linda had a lamb-stuffed flatbread and I was able to have a pizza from their wood-fired oven since they had a gluten-free one with a garbanzo-flour based crust (new one to me, but very tasty).   

After dinner, we strolled around a bit and came across the Arlene Francis Center for Spirit, Art, and Politics. 

 People our age will remember Arlene Francis as the most frequent guest on the old TV show “What’s My Line” where the panelists were blind-folded and had to guess which of 3 guests was the person they were all pretending to be based on how well they answered questions put to them by the panelists.  She was also the first female guest host for Johnny Carson and played other TV and movie roles. Along with Kitty Carlisle, she embodied a certain kind of real New York City dame.  

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlene_Francis

I was surprised to learn that she was of Armenian descent and that her father had immigrated to the US after his parents were murdered in the Armenian genocide in the early part of the last century.  The Center seems to be a place where all kinds of artistic and creative endeavors take place.  We chatted up one of the managers who was sitting outside.  He told us that at that moment there was a rehearsal for “Shakespeare in the Parking Lot - Twelfth Night”, an open mike night in the cafe, “Circus Jam” - a workshop to teach skills like juggling and clowning, and an improv workshop. The center’s mission is to produce:

“…nonprofit and charitable cultural, educational, social, ethical and ecological activities united by a common purpose—the development of a theory and practice that will foster the creation of a better world, one in which human beings will come to see one another as the source of each other’s completion, as inherently good and caring social and ecological beings who seek to fully recognize each other’s common humanity and interconnectedness with all of life, and to create a world based upon justice, kindness, love, and respect for the earth.”

Phew! That’s some heady stuff.  Who knew? 

On our last day in Arcata, we decided to go for a cruise on the Humboldt Bay aboard the Madeket, which is the oldest Coast Guard inspected vessel in continuous service in the US, according to our captain.  It was originally a ferry to get people from the mainland to the islands in the Bay or across it.  Now it’s a tour boat docked in Eureka.  It was a perfect day for a boat ride - sunny and warm with almost no residual fog by the time we disembarked.  

We saw a lot of sea birds, including Ospreys, Cormorants, Pelicans, and Egrets,, some impressive orange jellyfish and a seal or two (sadly, the seal and jellies eluded my attempts to photograph them).  

The egrets were nesting in a grove of trees - Jo says sometimes there are so many that it looks like snow on the trees from a distance.  

After the cruise, we returned home to feed the animals and change.  Then we were off to the Hatchet House Arcata, which we remembered fondly from our last visit.   We again decided to go in the afternoon before the drinking crowd arrives ((hatchets and booze - what could go wrong with that?).  

Let’s just say that the hatchet leagues will not be recruiting us at this point, but we had a good time.  Jo was the most practiced and most skilled.  You’ll notice my picture demonstrates that I got the axe into the wall, but not how close (far) it was from the target (I’ll let you draw your own conclusions).  Good fun though.  

That evening, Jo pulled out some photos she took of us in college days.  Here are two from 1977

Jo is a master baker.  On our last visit, she made a spectacular gluten-free blackberry pie.  This time, in preparation for our visit, she picked a LOT of sour Morello cherries from the tree in her yard.  She froze them and also made a gluten-free pie dough and let it rest in the fridge.  Sunday morning, the great pie-making event began with letting the cherries thaw and rolling out the dough.  The bottom layer of dough is lined with a layer of fruit only apricot jam to help keep it from getting soggy and also add an extra layer of flavor

Add the top layer and it was a thing of beauty  

Linda shot a video of the bubbling goodness as it came out of the oven:

You can imagine how great the house smelled by then.  But we had to leave the aroma behind and let the pie cool while we went off on our afternoon excursion to Arcata’s historic Minor Theater to see Barbie which seemed like a perfect outing for these three 70s feminists.  Better minds than mine have analyzed it, but it seems to me a very strange juxtaposition of arch, tongue-in-cheek feminist analysis with weirdly supercharged marketing. Still, I haven’t laughed that much in a movie in some time. 

 It was fun to see it in a small town.  The local kids turned up in their Barbie finest.  

After the movie we came home to a double pie dinner.  We had chicken pot pies from the local shop Slice of Humboldt Pie, including a very tasty gluten-free one for me. 

(We did add sides of vegetables from the Farmers Market the day before, but they didn’t make it into the photo).

And then the piéce de resistance - the Morello Sour Cherry Pie.  Fabulous, creamy, great crust (if you didn’t tell us it was gluten-free, no one would be the wiser). Just the right balance of tart and sweet.  Delish!

Another great day, as Jo often says.  

Saturday the dog walk was on Clam Beach.  Not as dramatic a vista as Moonstone, but still lovely and the dogs and humans seemed to enjoy it very much.  Linda looked up and saw a bunch of runners - she said she could hear the music from Chariots of the Gods in her head. 

She also captured some of the joyousness of the event:

Later we checked out the Arcata Farmer’s Market

There were lots of beautiful vegetables and I was especially excited to see that there were sugar snap peas.  I wait eagerly for those in NYC and Long Island every year, but missed part of the brief season this summer so it was an unexpected treat to find California-sized ones in abundance here in Arcata.  I was also taken with the fabulousness of the flowers at several booths.  

There was a portable wood fired pizza oven making a Margarita pizza with just picked tomatoes and basil which was really special.  At another booth they were dishing up Nicaraguan pupusas with curtido (a filled corn cake and savory cole slaw)

Some huge bubble blowing and hula hooping for the kids:

In the evening we had some very tasty Mexican food at El Chipotle (definitely NOT the chain restaurant) in Sunny Brae.  Once fortified, we strolled the Eureka Arts Alive festival that happens every first Saturday of the month.  It’s kind of a street fair/open gallery/small music venues and general happening sort of event.  I confess I lost track of photography and Linda didn’t have her camera so there are no pics. My two favorite things were a very talented jazz ukelele player and a demonstration of a small hand-operated printing press where we got to make our own hand-printed cards.   

Through the COVID Pandemic and since, we have been seeing Jo’s fabulous photos of her dog walking group out on the beaches of this area.  A group of folks get together every morning and walk their dogs together in the early morning, often under spectacularly moody skies over shimmery smooth sand. The camaraderie of the group over years and the beauty of the Northwest coast is something we wanted to join during our stay.  Jo told us that Friday was especially auspicious for the walk on Moonstone Beach because there would be a “negative tide”.  The geoplanetary factors that produce it are still not very clear to me, but the simple version is that the tide would be out longer than usual and the sand would be very hard - much easier for me to negotiate with my walking sticks. 

It definitely did not disappoint.  First, here’s a panoramic video of the scene:

A few shots of Molly and Jo playing fetch with the ball-chucker

And a spectacular shot that Linda took:

Mollie, Queen of the mountain

I had a great time with my walking sticks  - since I’ve been practicing with them, I’ve increased my walking range and was able to walk for almost an hour on the hard packed sand.  

The fellow in front of us here is Bongo

Two more to show the drama of the place (and the doggie pack)

And another furry friend we came across on our walk:

Later in the day, we went out for dinner at Larrupin Cafe in Trinidad.  We got so involved in our conversation that we forgot to get pictures of ourselves or the meal, but here’s what the outdoor patio looked like:

To finish the day off, a bit of culture - a performance at the TBAM Festival featuring The TBAM Festival strings, a local-grown, but world-traveled soprano, Clara Lisle, and John Chernoff on the piano.  The second half was twentieth century music, including a piece by Grazyna Bacewicz, a Polish female composer.  

A really spectacular day in Trinidad.