The View From My Balcony

Good News: I can see the Washington Monument and the dome of the US Capitol Building.
Bad News: There's construction going on a block away and a huge crane spoils the view.
Good News: It's only going to be a five story apartment building.
Bad News: We're on the fifth floor.
Good News: We are up the hill from the building and it shouldn't spoil the view when complete.
Bad News: It's going to take a year (maybe more) to finish.
More Bad News: We're only going to be here another 10 months.
Good News: The crane probably won't be in the way for all of that time.

Right now they are working below ground level on the parking garage. So there's a lot of work ahead. It's really not too bad and is kind of cool to watch the crane in motion. It is absolutely huge! I don't know how high it stretches up, but it must be at least 100 feet. The arm stretches out at least 70 or 80 feet and rotates in a complete 360 degree circle. After the first couple of days I noticed that the operator sits up in that little booth at the top. Hmm, how does he get up there? I was sure that there was some sort of platform elevator (like window washers use) kind of thing that took him up or down. Nope. One morning I happened to be looking out while eating breakfast and I saw him climbing up. I think that would be absolutely terrifying! Especially on a day like today where it's a little breezy.

I can't actually see the progress from my balcony because of the trees and buildings in the way. But I can see it from the roof. I'll have to remember to check it out occasionally.

DAR Museum

Yesterday I went to the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum to see their current exhibit - Telling Their Stories: 19th Century Samplers and Silk Embroideries.  It's only there for a few more days so I'm really happy that I caught it before it closed. I've seen exhibits with a handful or a dozen samplers in them, but never one that was focused on samplers. There were about 80 samplers and embroideries displayed, a few sewing boxes and some sewing tools like needlecases, thimbles, pincushions and scissors. What a beautiful collection! The majority of these samplers were made by young girls. With each sampler was a little history about who she was and who she grew up to be. No photography allowed, but since they were all framed behind glass I'm not sure how well the pictures would have turned out anyway.

I took a short docent-led tour of the buildings that comprise the DAR complex which take up an entire city block. We also sampled several of the 31 period rooms. I was able to take pictures here. The rooms are named for the DAR state chapter that sponsors that room.  The first picture is of the New Jersey room. It depicts a 17th Century English Council Chamber. All the wood used in the paneling and furniture came from a British frigate that was sunk during the Revolutionary War and salvaged about 100 years later. The second picture is a bed on display in the Texas room which depicts a bed chamber in the late 1800s from a particular residence in Texas. I don't remember the residence or city. I love this feathered star quilt. Not quite the same as being there, but you can take virtual tours of all of the rooms.

Their next exhibit, which will open in October, will feature toys from the post-Civil War era to the 1920s. Toys! I think I'll be going back.

From Crystal City With Love

Last night after dinner, we took the Metro to Crystal City for an outdoor film festival. Every Monday night from May through September they are showing a different James Bond movie. Last night's was Goldeneye with Pierce Brosnan. I thought I had seen all the more recent Bond movies, but I hadn't seen this one. Can someone tell me how it ends? The movie didn't start until after 8pm (have to wait until the sun goes down for an outdoor film fest) and since Rich had to work today, we left about 2/3 of the way through. Better yet, don't tell me. I'll add it to my Netflix list.

Busy Weekend Settling In

Even though we got in last Thursday it took me a while to get caught up on my posts about the trip out here. You might think I don't know how to count days by looking at the dates on the posts.

Thursday night after unloading the car, we walked a couple of blocks to Toscana Grill for dinner. Great Italian food, but slow, slow service. While we appreciate the slow, relaxed atmospheres of some restaurants, this was way slower. At one point we thought our waiter had completely forgotten about us! We finished eating and sat for a good 15 minutes before he came by to ask if we wanted dessert.

We spent Friday evening and the weekend trying to settle in. Even though the apartment is furnished, we still needed to get things to make life easier. There isn't much closet or storage space so we wanted to get some things to make the best use of the space that we have.  I won't go into detail since that's not what I want to blog about, but it took up most of our weekend and we're mostly there.

Friday night we rode the Metro into DC and had dinner at Georgia Brown's. Not only was the food wonderful (I had the Jerked Chicken), but the restaurant just had such a nice relaxing feeling to it. I think part of it was the ceiling treatment. Since the lights were dimmed it was hard to tell what the "ribbons" were made of. At first I thought they were wood, but because of the way they curve and curl, I just didn't think they could be carved wood. Rich thought maybe they were copper. They made you feel as though you were sitting out under shade trees. From the website I find that they are "bronzed ceiling scrolls reminiscent of grand Oak trees outstretched like a lace border over Southern streets." And that's just the feel it had. The restaurant was packed and yet it didn't feel that way.

On Saturday we stopped for lunch at Café Asia. Not just "Chinese food," they feature cuisine from several different Asian countries. We ate outside on the patio and the weather couldn't have been nicer. Rich had sushi and I had Thai Chicken Basil. Since it's a very short walk, I'm hoping we'll eat there often enough that I can try a few dishes from some of the other countries.

We also took the Metro into DC and walked around a bit. Not anyplace in particular. I needed to learn how to read the metro maps and get a SmarTrip card and we figured since we were doing that we may as well go someplace and walk around a bit. We passed by The White House. Hopefully, we'll get to take a tour sometime.

We wandered into the Corcoran Gallery of Art. There was a very interesting exhibit by artist Elena Del Rivero. There were two works, but the one that I found most interesting was [Swi:t] Home: A Chant. Once again, no photography allowed, but you can read about it and see a picture of it by clicking the link on her name. On this page, the top two photos are of this work of art. It's nowhere near the same as being able to walk around it in person, but it'll give you an idea of the enormity of the project. The explanation of how it came about starts at the fourth paragraph. Walking around it and taking a look at all the pieces of paper and thinking about where they came from, who they belonged to, the time it took to sew it all together (not to mention coming up with the idea in the first place) made me realize that I could never be an artist. I'd have thrown all that "trash" away.

Saturday night while out shopping we walked over to the Hamlet Restaurant for dinner. Another great place to eat. While we've been eating at some really wonderful restaurants, we were happy to finally get out and do some grocery shopping so that we can start cooking. We probably won't be eating out quite as often now. You're probably getting tired of hearing "the food is great" anyway.

Day 6 - Home at Last

Our new home for the next 10-1/2 months that is. We left Charleston, WV and drove just about straight through to Arlington, VA. We wanted to make sure we got here before rush hour. I think we stopped for lunch but I can't even tell you where. It was another beautiful drive like yesterday's through tree-covered mountains, but I was kind of excited to get here and just didn't want to stop anywhere. I was getting a little tired of being on the road. I think a road trip would be more fun if you could occasionally stop and spend a day or two in the same place. But checking in and out of a new hotel every day was starting to get a little old.

Our apartment is furnished with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The living room and bedrooms have windows that face DC and we can see the Washington Monument and the Capitol. I'll share pictures from the balcony in a future post. We are on the 5th of 17 floors. There's a nice outdoor observation deck up on the 16th floor next to the pool. (The 17th floor only covers about half the building, so the pool and observation deck are on the roof.) It was a little cloudy when I took these so they're not the best, but here are a couple of pics from the roof. You'll want to click on them to make them bigger.

This pic is from the same direction that my apartment faces. Because I'm on a lower floor I don't have quite this nice a view.

This pic faces north, slightly northeast actually. This is what I see when I'm on the treadmill at the Fitness Center on the 17th floor. I don't know what everything is yet, but I'm pretty sure those red brick buildings in the middle are Georgetown University.

The details are hard to see in this picture, but this is looking southeast. That long, flat building with the rows of windows is the Pentagon. Just behind the Pentagon (on top of the building in the picture), you can see just a little bit of Reagan National Airport. Behind that is the Potomac River. Airplanes follow the river right into the airport. I see a steady stream of them going by day and night. Surprisingly, I hardly ever hear any airplane noises.

This is a little more south than the previous picture. See those three spear-like things sticking up? I don't know what they are, but they sure have captured my attention. As soon as I get out that way I'll let you know. My guess is they are a sculpture, but I don't know what they represent.
[Update: Bob is right. It's The Air Force Memorial. I haven't been there yet, but had to look it up and find out about it after his comment.]


I think I'm going to like it here.

Day 5 - On the Road Again

Not too much to talk about today. No pictures. This was our longest day of driving. I think we spent about 6-1/2 hours total on the road. Had we not needed to get to DC by tomorrow, I think we would have broken this up into a couple of days and done a little sight-seeing. We drove through Kentucky to Charleston, WV. It may have been long, but it was an absolutely beautiful drive through tree-covered mountains. I tried taking a couple of pics, but they just came out looking like lots of green.

In Charleston we ate dinner at Blossom's Deli. We had a little trouble finding it though because of all of the one-way streets. Also, we didn't have the exact address (left it at the hotel) and just had a general idea of where it was. I think we went around in circles for about 10 minutes knowing that we were close, but not actually finding it. We may have to break down and get a navigation system. I felt like that scene in National Lampoon's European Vacation, "There's Big Ben!" Except for us it was more like, "I know it's here somewhere!"

Anyway, the restaurant started out as an art deco style cafe built in the 50's. Now, it's two restaurants in one. For lunch it's a classic deli serving sandwiches, salads and soups. For dinner, it becomes an elegant restaurant serving filet mignon, crab cakes, veal scallopini and other contemporary cuisine. Dinner was wonderful. I'd love to go there for lunch too.

We've been lucky to find some great places to eat along the way. That has made the trip as much fun as the attractions.

Day 4 (cont.) - Who knew?

After I was done at the quilt museum we checked into the hotel and then headed back to downtown Paducah for dinner. All the shops had closed in that time. Apparently downtown Paducah closes up at 5:00pm. I would have liked to have seen  some of the shops, but not if it meant less time at the museum. We had dinner at C. C. Cohen Restaurant and Bar. Check out their site to read about the ghost that lives upstairs!

Paducah sits right on the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers. Back in 1937 the city suffered a devastating flood. Afterward the US Army Corp of Engineers was commissioned to build a flood wall to protect the city from future flooding. Why am I telling you all of this? Because back in 1996, a team of muralists under the direction of artist Robert Dafford began capturing Paducah's history in paintings on the flood wall. I don't know how many there are - 60? 70? - but each mural has its own plaque with the history that inspired that panel. And, each mural has its own spotlight so that people can enjoy the murals after the sun goes down. Here are a couple of "long shots" of the murals.

We easily spent a couple of hours walking along, looking at all the murals and reading all the plaques. I had no idea that Paducah had such a rich history. I had never even heard of it before finding out about the National Quilt Museum. It kind of makes me wonder how many other places I've never heard of have such interesting histories. I think it was a brilliant idea to use the flood walls as a visual historical record. I'll leave you with a few individual mural shots.

Day 4 - Here Comes the Sun

We started out with a light rain and I thought we were in for another day of it. But after about an hour on the road it cleared up and it was all sunny skies from there on.

We got an early start as planned and headed northeast. We stopped in Sikeston, MO for lunch at Lambert's Cafe - The Only Home of Throwed Rolls. And yes, they really do throw the rolls to you. A fun place. The décor is something like Cracker Barrel with a lot of vintage items all over the place. You order an entrée from the menu, most come with your choice of two vegetable sides. On top of that servers are continually coming around with free, all-you-can-eat "pass-arounds" in large pots. Some of the ones we saw were fried okra, fried potatoes and onions, black-eyed peas, macaroni and tomatoes, and of course, the hot rolls. Mostly, they were tossed from a few feet away, but once in a while I'd see one fly across the room 15 feet or so and every one of them hit their intended target. I wondered how much training they had to have to do that, or maybe they only hired former baseball players for that job. LOL. The portions are huge, the prices are not. A fun place to stop and eat. Only now as I check out the website do I see that they have a large mural covering the entire side of the building. Totally missed it.

This next portion of our trip was the only time we weren't traveling on a major highway. Between Sikeston, MO and Paducah, KY we took smaller, scenic routes that went through lots and lots of farmland. We also crossed a couple of bridges. Rich snapped this picture while I was driving. Isn't it great? It was a beautiful drive, but we didn't stop to see anything because I wanted to make sure we got to Paducah with plenty of time to see the National Quilt Museum. We did and I wasn't disappointed.

We made it to the museum around 2:00pm. I looked at the quilts until 4:45! So many beautiful quilts to look at. Unfortunately, absolutely no photography was allowed. I did buy a book with pictures of quilts from the museum's collection, but the pictures don't show any of the quilting detail which makes so many of these quilts extraordinary. They had a little bit of everything in their main exhibit. My favorite were the hand-appliqué quilts, of course, but every single quilt was exceptional in some way. They also had a couple of special exhibits displayed. One was from Quilt Japan, the largest international quilt contest in Japan. A lot of art quilts with some unusual techniques I hadn't seen before. I tried to find a link online but didn't come up with anything.

The other exhibit was called On a Grand Scale. This was actually two different collections. One by artists Inge Mardal & Steen Hougs. Since no photography was allowed I don't have pictures, but if you go to their website you can see a slide show.  The other collection was by Eleanor McCain. She also has pictures on her website. As you can see, both collections are very artistic but in completely different ways. Mmmm, eye candy.

Day 3 - Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down

Well, not really, but it is Monday and it rained most of the day. I'm really starting to lose it I don't mind it. After all, it's not like I'm having to walk around in it. Much.

Since we'd been out late the last two nights, we decided that today would be a "catch-up" day. The plan was to get up when we felt like it, drive, eat lunch wherever, drive, arrive at Little Rock, eat dinner and get to bed early so that we could get an early start on Tuesday. Things went very much according to plan. Because of this, there's not too much to report for today.

We did hit rain almost the entire day. We stopped for lunch at Garfield's in Fort Smith, AR. We don't have these in Albuquerque. The food was good, but what really caught my eye was the tile floor. I guess since I haven't been working on projects much for the past couple of weeks, I'm seeing quilt patterns everywhere. I felt a little funny whipping out my camera to take a picture of the floor in the lobby, but I knew I'd forget what it looked like before I made it out to the car to sketch it. It's much easier to break down the units this way anyway.

We arrived in Little Rock, checked into the hotel and started looking for a place to eat that was close by. I found a place called Shorty Small's about a mile or so away from the hotel. Our food was awesome! Rich had ribs and I had a pulled pork sandwich. Rich has declared this his new favorite "rib place." For those of you who know my husband, you know that's saying a lot. For dessert, Rich tried the house specialty - Deep-Fried Twinkies. I had a bite. I don't like Twinkies all that much, but it was much better than I expected.

I'm sure there's a lot to do in Little Rock, but we got in without much daylight left and wanted to get an early start on Tuesday. So we turned in early.

Day 2 (cont.): O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A, Oklahoma, OK!

It stopped raining! So, after resting just a bit, we went to Bricktown in downtown Oklahoma City. What a great place! Located near the Santa Fe railroad tracks, this area was once a major center of commerce. One thing that all the buildings had in common was that they were constructed of red brick. You can read more about the history of Bricktown at the link, but it is now an entertainment district with more to come in the near future.

The first thing we did was take a ride on the water taxi. A couple of streets have been converted into a canal resembling the Riverwalk in San Antonio. We had a great guide who told us lots about the history of the area, pointed out areas of interest and told us what was coming in the near future. I always seemed to be on the wrong side of the taxi for getting good pictures. The tile mosaic at the top has over half a million tiles and took a couple of months to complete. It was much more beautiful in person.

There were several murals on the sides of buildings depicting what life was like at different times in the city's history. These are just a couple. You can still see some empty buildings with broken glass here and there. It really gives you an idea of what it all looked like not too long ago. What a wonderful idea the city leaders had to transform this place into an entertainment district.

The most beautiful though was The Land Rush Monument that is being assembled one piece at a time. When finished (approximately 2015) there will be 40 pieces at one and a half times life-size. There are currently 19 pieces. The detail is absolutely amazing. We must have spent over an hour walking around the pieces and taking pictures. The pics are of the soldier and cannon who will start the race, Rich standing next to one of the pieces so that you can get a sense of the scale, and a front on view of some of the horses and buggies. There are a few plaques scattered around telling the history of the land rush. I sure hope I can make it back when all the pieces are put into place. It is going to be truly amazing!


Walking around all these sculptures we worked up quite an appetite. We wanted to have dinner at Earl's Rib Place but they were closed. The water taxi guide told us that they have been voted the best ribs in Oklahoma City eight years in row. Disappointed, but still hungry, we walked along the canal a little bit and had dinner at Bourbon Street Cafe. We didn't need to be disappointed after all, because dinner there was wonderful. The food was great and we were able to sit outside on the patio overlooking the canal and watch the water taxis go up and down the water. So relaxing.

As we left the restaurant we passed Harkins Theatres and decided to see what was playing. Rich still hasn't seen The Dark Knight, but we would have had to wait for an hour before the next showing, so we saw Tropic Thunder instead. We thought it was pretty good and laughed a lot until about 3/4 of the way in. The movie stopped, the lights came up and it took management almost five whole minutes to come and tell us that they were having issues with the projector and that it would be fixed in five minutes. More than ten minutes later the movie started up again and it was obvious that we had missed a few minutes. They did give free passes to everyone on the way out, but being from out of town I turned and gave our passes to some people walking next to us. They were pretty happy. It was well after midnight by the time we got back to the hotel.

Out hotel was a Hawthorn Inn. Their logo was embroidered on this pillow. A few minor revisions and I think it could make for a nice quilt pattern.

Day 2 - Everything IS Bigger in Texas

Since we got back to the hotel late last night, this morning we slept in a little. After breakfast, we took the scenic route from Canyon, TX back to I-40 so that we could stop and see Combine City. It was sprinkling a little (notice the cloudy skies?), but I was still able to get a couple of pictures. Combine City was started just a couple of years ago when a farmer bought a used combine for the spare parts. It was going to be too difficult/costly to scrap it so he buried it instead. Now there are 11 of them!

After leaving Combine City it started pouring. We were going to stop at Slug Bug Ranch, but since we could barely see the road, we decided to keep on driving. Maybe next time. What is it with Texans burying their vehicles anyway?

Back on I-40 and just before coming to Groom, TX we saw "the 2nd largest cross in the Western Hemisphere." It stands 190 feet tall and is a pretty amazing site to see from the highway. Around the base of the cross are life-sized bronze Stations of the Cross. I wanted to stop to see the sculptures around the base, but it was still pouring rain so we kept driving. Rich rolled down the window to snap this picture. If you make it larger you can make out some cars and trees around the base to give you an idea of just how big it is.

After passing Groom, TX we stopped at an Art Deco-style Route 66 themed rest area with interpretive displays in the lobby. I didn't get a picture of the outside, but if you click on the link you can see what it looks like at night. I would have liked to have seen that. A little history, some old photos, made this fun, informative and a little nostalgic. Not your normal rest stop. This tile mosaic was in the women's restroom. Rich said the men's room had one too.

As you can imagine, I'm starting to get a little sick of the rain about now. We made it to Oklahoma City, had a late lunch, checked into the hotel and crashed for a bit.

Day 1 - Gettin' Our Kicks on Route 66!

Got off to a little later start than we had hoped. Seems there's always "one more thing" to do before leaving on a long trip. And, when you know that you're going to be gone for an entire year, well that makes for quite a few "one more things." The little birds that come to my feeder in the backyard were enjoying the bird bath/fountain so much I just had to snap this picture. I'm going to miss watching them over the next year. I won't be able to put up a bird feeder where we're going.

We finally got out the door about an hour later than planned. Our first stop was just a couple of blocks away to have breakfast at Flying Star. I love their breakfast burritos. A perfect send-off.

We got a lot of rain along the way. I hate driving in the rain, but knowing how bad parts of New Mexico need the rain it's hard to complain about it. It stopped raining just long enough for us to stop in Tucumcari, NM. There's a Route 66 monument there next to their convention center. We're going to be spending a lot of time on I-40 which overlaps Route 66 in a lot of places. I had heard about this monument and thought it would be nice to take a few pics there. Like many small towns along Route 66, there are all kinds of businesses with "Route 66" in their names....Route 66 Diner, Route 66 Automotive, you get the idea.

A lot more rain and then we stopped at Cadillac Ranch. It wasn't raining when we got there, but it sure was muddy. The last time I saw Cadillac Ranch was 17 years ago. The cadillacs were all painted blue then. Now, they are all graffitied. In fact, graffiti is encouraged. We stayed there a long time because I kept getting stuck in the mud and was afraid I'd slip and fall. Don't worry, though, Rich had the camera and would have snapped as many pics as possible if I had. My feet and sandals were so muddy when we got back to the car. It took a long time to scrape the mud off. I didn't think to take a picture until after they were mostly cleaned up. Sigh.

Lots more rain. We stopped in Amarillo for lunch and decided to forgo some of the other items on the itinerary and head to Canyon, TX and check into our hotel. After checking in and resting for a bit, we drove to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Pictures don't begin to do this place justice. It's the second largest canyon in the country (I'm assuming Grand Canyon in AZ is the largest). The rain let up so we hiked a little bit (a very little bit) and stopped at several "scenic view" spots before heading down to The Pioneer Amphitheatre for dinner by The Big Texan Steak Ranch and the musical drama "TEXAS." It was a wonderful show, but, you guessed it...it started raining. It was just a very light misty kind of rain during the first act. Hardly noticeable. Then, during intermission it picked up a little. We put on our emergency ponchos (Be prepared.) and by the middle of the second act it was really coming down. No thunder or lightning though so the show went on. The performers sang and danced as if nothing unusual were happening. They were fantastic.

We didn't get back to the hotel until after 11:00pm. A long, but fun, day.

All My Bags Are Packed, I'm Ready To Go!

Rich and I will be heading out in the next half hour. The car is loaded and I'm just doing a little last minute printing of maps and things. I'll do my best to keep you posted as we go, but it all depends on internet connections along the way. I promise to catch up once we get there.

I'm going to miss a lot of things here in Albuquerque over the next year. And, I'm going to miss some really special friends. It's a lot easier knowing that I'll be back next summer.

Happy Birthday, JC!!

Decisions, Decisions...

Between my trip to California and my upcoming move I haven't had much time to work on my projects lately. I haven't touched my sewing machine in a couple of weeks, but I have been doing a little hand appliqué the past few evenings when I've tuned in to watch the Olympics. Last night I finished this block.

The block is Summer Plume and it's from the quilt Thru Grandmother's Window by Piece O' Cake Designs. There are 12 blocks and this is the 7th that I've completed so far. You can see the rest of my blocks here.

Since I'm not going to have a lot of space in the apartment, I've been trying to decide which projects to take with me to work on. My friend Olive suggested that I make kits of my projects to make them more portable and easier to work on once I get there. I think this is a fantastic idea and have a couple of projects ready to go. I've got the rest of the blocks for TGW "kitted" and ready as well as two other appliqué quilt projects. I'm not sure I'll get that much hand appliqué done over the next year, but I'll certainly have a variety of things to work on. Here's a pic of some orange fabrics that I'll be using in one of the projects. Orange is not something I've used much before. This quilt will surely change that. What do you think they could be for? I'll post pics as I use them.

I'm also taking a couple of pieced quilt kits that I bought a couple years back. I think they've been gathering dust long enough and since they're already in kit form I didn't have to spend a lot of time cutting.

The hardest part now is deciding what supplies to take. I know I won't NEED every ruler I own, but they sure make my life easier. Hmmm, I'll have to think on this one just a bit.

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Before leaving San Francisco on Saturday, Bob took us up to Twin Peaks, two hills right in the center of San Francisco with beautiful views of the city and the bay. It's a pretty popular place. During the time we were there half a dozen tour buses came and went. Here's a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge from the top of one of the hills. If you click on the picture it'll come up larger and you'll see it better.

Next stop, Lombard Street! We didn't actually drive down it. We considered it, briefly. Cars were backed up for several blocks to take the drive down "the crookedest street in the world." And, I did have a plane to catch. So instead, Bob drove by and we hopped out to take a few pics. Yes, I was standing in the middle of the street, but hey, isn't that a great shot?

We decided to grab some lunch before heading to the airport. On the drive there we passed lots of buildings that had the most beautiful murals. I thought I was taking pictures of them, but when I downloaded all my pictures they weren't there. Hmm, I guess I need to find out what that little flashing red light means on my camera. This is the only one that I got. It's a beautiful tile mosaic.

We stopped at Mr. Pickle's Sandwich Shop in the Mission District for lunch. Didn't think I could go a whole blog post without mentioning food, did you? These were really great sandwiches. And the bread was really good, fresh-baked bread. Did I mention that these were really great sandwiches? Here's Bri and I with our new friend, Mr. Pickle. Actually, I think his name should be Señor Pickle what with the sombrero and being in the The Mission and all.

I was flying out of Oakland, so as we crossed the Bay Bridge on the way to the airport we stopped at Treasure Island for another scenic view of the city. I don't get good far away shots on my camera, or I just haven't learned how to yet. Here's a part of the Bay Bridge and a last look at San Francisco. It is such a beautiful city with so much to do. I hope it doesn't take me another 15 years before I get back for a visit.

Another One Rides The Bus

On Friday, we went to lunch at Chava's, my favorite Mexican restaurant in San Francisco. Okay, I've only eaten there once before (the last time I visited San Francisco about 15 years ago), but it's still my favorite. This was the "new" Chava's as the "old" one burned down. They have several beautiful murals inside. This is one of them. I promise this blog won't just be about food and restaurants, but there are so many good places to eat in San Francisco, how could I not mention them?


After lunch we took a tour on the top of a double-decker bus! We got on and off the tour at the de Young Museum. We didn't go inside (maybe next time), but there were a lot of interesting sculptures outside to look at while we were waiting for the bus. It was so much fun. It was a little cold and windy crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, but other than that we couldn't have asked for better weather. I know I'm not going to remember everywhere the bus went, but we went by Fisherman's Wharf, The Ferry Building, Union Square, North Beach, The Presidio, and we crossed the Golden Gate for some beautiful views of SF from across the bay. You can see Mom, Bob and Bri on the top of the bus. It was hard to get good pictures from the top of a moving bus. I took a lot of pics, but most of them aren't exactly blog-worthy. Here's the Golden Gate taken from one end. Looking back through the tower you can see the other tower. I was so close to getting that dead center. Missed it by that much. Oh well, I'll just have to go back some day and try it again!

I really like this pic of the Painted Ladies because of how much of SF you can see in the background. I wonder if the people who live there get tired of tour buses passing by their homes umpteen times a day.

I'll finish my San Francisco trip in my next post. It took a while to put this one together because I'm still not that good at getting the images to go where I want them.

Dim Sum and Then Some

Spending a few days in San Francisco visiting with family. The weather has been beautiful. A little foggy at times, but mostly sunny and warm which is unusual for this time of year.

Being such a multi-cultural city there is such wonderful, wonderful food. On Wednesday we had lunch at El Zocalo, an El Salvadoran restaurant. I had pupusas for the first time.  One was chicken and cheese and the other just plain cheese. They were delicious. The other items are an El Salvadoran-style tostada and a meat-filled empanadita. Mmmmm.


Yesterday, we had lunch at Ton Kiang, a dim sum restaurant.  I had never had dim sum before. Didn't even know what it was. I thought it was just the name of an Asian dish as I had only heard people say, "Have you had dim sum?" Now I realize it's the Asian equivalent of tapas. I tried so many things and don't remember the names of everything, but it was all wonderful. Here's a pic of my mom and sister standing in front of the restaurant. If you go to San Francisco you definitely have to eat here.