Emily and Linda’s Travel Blog

Thursday we had a laid back day (pretty much the usual attitude when we travel). Breakfast of chilaquiles (scrambled eggs with tortillas and salsa)at the hotel.  We appear to be the only guests so far, so we get a lot of attention from the very gracious staff. Then off to the Parroquia and the town center again. The Parroquia cathedral is notable because it’s Gothic in style. 

We ambled around the area, watching the buskers in the square and poking around in the shops

We were particularly taken with this pod of whales (ballenas) by Juana Gomez. We’re pondering going back to buy one of the medium-sized ones to ship back home. 

Next stop was the Centro Cultural de Ignacio Gomez also known as the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, a famous art school founded in the last century.  It’s housed in a former convent with a beautiful courtyard garden (I seem to have lost the courtyard picture)  

Inside, we stopped to see a huge indoor mural painted by David Siqueiros. He was a contemporary and colleague of Orozco and Diego Rivera and taught for a while at the Bellas Artes, giving classes to Canadian and US veterans in the 1940s. The mural was intended to be called The Life and Work of Generalissimo Don Ignacio Allende, but it was never completed so now it’s known as “El mural inconcluso” or the unfinished mural and is studied as a window into his technique since he sketched out the grids and outlines for the remaining part of the work. 

There’s also a lovely cafe along one of the garden’s arcades where Linda had an aggressively skewered, but delicious crab-cake burger and I enjoyed salmon with esquites (grilled, spiced corn). Max declared herself still “llena” (full) from breakfast so no other dish to show  

By then we were ready to head back to the hotel for a siesta. 

Yesterday we left the house at 5:30 am, took a flight from JFK to Mexico City and then another flight to Querètaro where we were picked up by a shuttle van for the 90 minute ride to San Miguel de Allende. 15 hours total in transit. 

The second flight was as the sun was getting low and gave me a view of a spectacular variety and quality of clouds like none I'd ever seen  i know cloud pictures from a plane almost never come out, but I had to try because they were so unusual.  We were just at the foot of the mountains where the clouds pile up and the angle of the sun brought out the layers of clouds with the ground below  

We finally arrived at what would be 9:30pm NYC time, pretty wiped out, but pleasantly surprised to be welcomed into the Tres Fuentes Hotel, located in the old part of the city which is beautifully preserved. Like many of the old buildings here, the only thing you see from the street is a wall and a large “porton” door, but once inside you are admitted to a series of rooms which surround a large central garden and gallery

The house we're staying at has a lovely front garden with cherry tomatoes,tiny peppers, kale, and a lot of herbs, including this spectacular rosemary bush (I might have to snip a bit to bring home because it travels so well). 

This is a parking lot sign I’ve never seen before - not even in a hospital where you might expect it (it was actually in the local Safeway lot):

On the next to last night here, we had drinks at Skates on the Bay, one of our favorite spots by the Berkeley marina. We've been sampling the fried calamari all along the way on this trip (I think 4 different versions). We recalled that almost 5 years ago we went to Skates for dinner. There was a wait for a table so we sat at the bar and ordered drinks and the kung pao fried calamari. It was so delicious and abundant that in the end, we decided we didn’t need dinner and left happy. So this time we planned on just that and no dinner. It’s always tricky when you have that kind of memory - was it really the food and wine, or was it the company or a special moment that made it so good? But we were not disappointed. Beautiful views, perfectly crispy and spicy calamari, and an Oregonian pinot noir to accompany it. A very satisfying farewell to the Bay. 

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

I particularly enjoyed the wearable art

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. 

For those into house pics, there are more in the post from our 2021 visit

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