Category: Gap Year Continues in the US of A

Having shared nuptials and celebrated the wedding over the weekend, we gathered our belongings and headed to Morro Bay to stay a few days and enjoy the cool weather of the area. Over the last 30 years or so we have stayed at a B&B in Morro Bay – Marina Street Inn.

Over the years we have gotten to know the Owners and they became friends not just owners of the B&B.

If you have been following our Blog for a while you will remember that Claudia joined us in Paris for Christmas and New Years last year.

Having been here as many times as we have we do have a preference for the first floor and that’s where we are – the Dockside Room.

However, over the years we have stayed in all four rooms of the Inn.

We hadn’t been here very long before we got into Claudia’s car and headed out to dinner at the Galley. This is a great fish place right along the water in Morro Bay and a spot we have been to virtually every time we have been here. Great food, nice people and they don’t seem to mind if I bring my own wine (which is always a plus!).

The next day, after a lovely breakfast,

we piled into our car and headed out for a picnic at Justin winery. Justin has been around since 1981 with the mission of making world-class Bordeaux style blends. Since then they have expanded both their knowledge of viniculture in the unique region as well as the acreage.

After a new owner came in about 10 years ago a new tasting room and facilities were built to expand the customer experience. Located a good 10 miles off Hwy 46, the main route along the wine areas of Paso Robles, it’s a destination for sure and not something you just stumble across. We planned a picnic lunch on their patio along with a wonderful bottle of Rose and had a fantastic time.

Not being finished with wine tasting the next day we packed up and went out again – this time to Niner Winery. Niners consist of about 223 acres and are best know for estate grown cabernet sauvignon, Pinot noir and Chardonnay.

The entire place started about 2001 and has been doing OK. They have a restaurant with a limited menu and a very nice tasting room. We arrived for our lunch reservation a little early so or course had to sample a few things in the tasting room. We settled on a bottle of Chardonnay to go with our lunch.

Sitting out on the patio overlooking some olive trees, the “heart” shaped grove of trees and the lavender plantings was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Back to the Marina Street Inn for the evening ending this wonderful day we just hung out in the living room, read some books and enjoyed the end of the day together.

If you are ever in the area drop in and say hello to Claudia and if you need a place to stay be sure to mention us and I’m sure she will give you a discount!

Several months ago, our friend John Carnesale from Las Vegas called and invited us to his wedding to be held in Santa Barbara on September 8^th. While it was at least 6 months ago when the call came in we have been working our way here ever since. I did mention to him that he was getting married on my birthday so I would remember the date.

We arrived in Santa Barbara the day before and settled into a nice room close to downtown and not far from the wedding site – Our Lady of Mount Carmel

and the reception site at the Four Seasons – Biltmore

both in Montecito just a wee bit south of town.  We started the day with a late breakfast at the Four Seasons including a lovely adult beverage overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Popularly known as “the Little Church of the Fathers,” this 160-year old parish is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Montecito.

While not officially a part of the California Mission system, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church does have a connection to it. The humble beginnings of the church can be traced to the earliest rural settlers in Montecito, the soldiers of the Santa Barbara Presidio and their descendants. In lieu of a salary or pension payments, Presidio guards who watched over the Mission in Santa Barbara were given small tracts of land in Montecito and other nearby areas. Having grown tired of traveling to Sunday church services in Santa Barbara, these landholders eventually decided they wanted a church of their own. On July 16th, 1856, a priest traveled from the Mission to Montecito to celebrate Mass in a meadow and to announce that a chapel would be erected around the location of that first Mass.

The simple rectangular adobe church with a wooden porch was completed in 1859, the same year that the land on which it stood was officially deeded to the Church.

We parked at the Four Seasons and took a Lyft ride to the Church where we joined a throng of people getting ready for the ceremony.

After the wedding there was a couple of hours before the start of the reception and we took that as a sign for an adult beverage in the bar.

The wedding included a fantastic band that played great tunes throughout the night and a sit down dinner with open bar!

All in all a great way to celebrate my birthday, in a beautiful spot where we met a bunch of new friends and celebrated the joining of John and Stacy.

The 29^th of August was a big day for us. We moved everything we owned out of our home in Alhambra and into storage for the next 8 to 9 months. Thus culminates a two week long packing adventure where we tried to put everything into protective boxes and made decisions on what to keep and what toss. Having lived in the house for 40 years, we had accumulated a lot of treasures. Fortunately, before we started this adventure, we had a major “estate sale” to reduce the amount of stuff but even still there was a lot to go through. Originally we had thought about getting a couple of the “Pods” and filling them up but the more I thought about it the more discouraged I got with that idea and just called Nationwide Moving for a quote to pick everything up and move it. Turns out the quote, based on the “volume” we would have had with two pods was less expensive! This also meant we were released from the heavy lifting of loading the damn things and making sure it all fit!

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your perspective, the quote for the “volume was for 500 Cubic feet. After all was said and done, and loaded on the truck, the volume of all our worldly positions was closer to 800 Cubic feet – and 2 pods wouldn’t have been enough.

Sure, maybe we saved to much stuff but there are some treasures we just couldn’t part with. We have sent additional 7 or 8 boxes of things to our son’s home in Virginia (thank you very much Terri and Jason for allow us to share your place when we are on the east coast). Now all of our stuff is stored waiting for us to find a “landing pad” sometime next year.

The following day, VietnamVets came and carted away a lot of things we were not going to keep and might be helpful to others. When it comes down to it, the emotional tie you have to things can be broken if you just try. YEARS ago I took a million pictures, had a darkroom to develop and print my own pictures and some really nice camera equipment (Nikon with 3 or 4 lens). This camera equipment has been in a carry case for the last 15 years and not opened. I put it on the AmVets truck and away it went. Yes, the stuff in the case had cost a pretty penny but had little value to me now and was certainly not digital so of little interest to todays camera totting folks.

With our house on the market, and thus no home to sleep in, we continued to stay with friends in Alhambra while they were on their road trip. When they returned we moved to other friends (Phil and Jessie)

in Pasadena until leaving (today) for Santa Barbara.

Since the movers took everything away we have had a couple of offers on the house and one that looked like it might actually result in its sale. Unfortunately they got cold feet and backed out so the realtor is out drumming up more interest in the house with the hope we can get in and out of Escrow before we have to leave for Northern California at the end of September (not likely but we can hope).

As many of you know, we have a bunch of wine (thus the loverofwine.com website) and I was able to sell of 28 cases of the juice during the last 2 weeks. That still leaves another 80 cases to worry about still in storage!

All of it is safely protected in a LOCKED (don’t get any ideas) locker in a temperature-controlled building. Along with the wine are several boxes of photos, photo books and other things that will be much safer in the wine locker then in a hot storage facility.

During the years we have spent in the Area, we have gotten to know a number of really interesting people – particularly in the wine and food business. I can specifically point at Tom Anderson who was the GM at the Parkway Grill in Pasadena as the person who got me started in collecting wine (damn you Tom! [just kidding]) and to Hugo Molino as the first chef who introduced me to the joys of gracious dining and interesting meals. During our last few weeks we have been able to have dinner with Tom and his wife Nikki

and to catch up with Hugo!

Great joy in reconnecting with these people – hopefully not loosing them as we move away but visiting with them when we are in the area.

We are now in Santa Barbara for a couple of days to attend a friends wedding (tomorrow on my birthday) and then off to Morro Bay to visit with our friend Claudia (you will remember her as she came to Paris last December and stayed for Christmas and New Years with us….) before returning to Alhambra for a round of medical appointments and other happenings before heading to the Bay Area (Northern California for those not in the know) to celebrate our friends 50^th Wedding Anniversary. Until later, as Rick Steve’s always says, Keep on Traveling.

One last note, before I go, we have learned that our darling Little Miss (our granddaughter) will become an “Big Sister” in April! One more reason to be on the east coast for sure.

Man does time fly! It seems like just yesterday we were having BBQ in Amarillo and now we are already in Southern California. A lot has happened in the last 10 or so days and it’s time for a minor update.

Driving along Route 66 (well really Interstate 40) is a treat. There are certainly a lot of interesting sites to see – although the old Route 66 structures are really not in the best of shape.

After staying the night in Gallup New Mexico, we turned south away from Route 66 and headed towards Phoenix – well actually Chandler, Arizona where we were connecting with friends. However, before getting to their place, we stopped in Pleasant Valley.

In the late 1980’s I was active in a SCUBA club called the California Wreck Divers and every year we had a major speaker for our banquet. One year, one of our members was able to arrange for a shipwreck hunter and national author to be our speaker – Clive Custer

and I was the person who took care of him during his visit. Over the years Clive had found a number of historically significant shipwrecks around the US, last count more than 60 shipwreck sites – some of them have been recovered and put on display. He was able to do all of this because he writes adventure novels and people bought them – making him a bunch of money. Clive has been on the New York Times fiction best-seller list more than 20 times and written more than 70 books. Well, it turns out that Clive Cussler grew up in Alhambra – where we were living and he stayed at our home for a night and we showed him around the area. All of this ‘getting to know’ Clive was in the late ‘80’s but for some reason I have had his home address in Pleasant Valley Arizona ever since. It seemed like a good idea to drop in so I did.

After a brief visit with Clive we continued on to our friends Robin and Eric and their children Aria and Dorian (our adopted grand children). It was a wonderful visit including a lot of time to catch up on events. Of course it did include an evening out with adult beverages, always a good thing.

 

The following morning, Sunday, we learned that Janeen’s dad had passed during the night. While it is always sad to loose a loved one, Harold was 101 and in failing health. We had spent a week with him prior to heading to SoCal and we knew his time was short. The passing of the meteor shower overhead about the time he released his spirit comforted Janeen.

We arrived in Alhambra later that day to stay with our friends Sally and Jim, well actually to house sit while they do a 3-week motor tour along Route 66. We were able to settle in and reflect on all that had happened and the full live lived by Harold.

Now it’s time to move forward – and that includes the sale of our home of 40 years. The house was listed on August 2^nd and on Sunday the 12th, the day we arrived; there was an open house. As of today, August 21^st, we have accepted an offer with a 30-day escrow. Between now and the 29^th, when movers show up, we have to finish packing everything we intend to keep.

This “stuff” will be put into storage until we figure out where our next “Landing Pad” will be. That means lots of packing to be done and decisions to be made about what to keep and what needs to find a new home.

During our down time from packing the house, we will be visiting friends, going to the Huntington Library and Gardens (Janeen will go several times while we are here) and generally trying to enjoy our time in CA. Once the movers take everything away there will still be stuff that needs to find a new home – Am Vets will make a visit, as will others to haul the debris away.

We are in Southern Cal for the next several weeks packing, visiting friends and generally trying to deal with all that is happening in our lives. After escrow closes, which should be mid to late September, we head to the Bay Area to celebrate with friends their 50^th wedding anniversary and on or about October 1^st we drive back to Macomb to hold a memorial service for Harold check on Trust business there.

So, while our Blog hasn’t got the usual tid-bits of historical interest, I wanted to keep you up to date with what’s going on.

 

 

 

Wow, it’s been a while since I posted – so here’s a little update on what’s been happening.

After we got to Springfield, we had two things scheduled – tickets to see Hamilton at the Kennedy Center and an appointment for a long-term visa at the French consulate. Hamilton first opened on Broadway in February 2015. Since that time, it has continued on Broadway and also gone on the road. Broadway tickets are still VERY EXPENSIVE and the Bus and Truck crew also costs a pretty penny. Well, I figured I wasn’t going to see it if I didn’t just dip into the wallet and get tickets. Prior to doing our Northern Loop (Canada, etc.…) I had gotten a couple of tickets for the Sunday performance on July 22^nd.   During our Northern Loop we had listened to the sound track a couple of times to be at least familiar with the music; that was a really good thing.

The songs and dialogue really go quickly and having some idea of what is being said was a real benefit. The play is well over 2 ½ hours and has lots of action and historical references (we have also been reading the biography of Hamilton written by Ron Chernow which is what inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda to write the play and a good deal of the dialogue comes from the book. We were NOT disappointed and would love to see the play another time.

The second major thing to get done was a visit to the French Consulate to see about getting a long-term visa. Due to an existing treaty, US Citizens can stay in Europe for 90 days in a 180-day period without a visa. Most times this isn’t a problem. However with Ryan and Chris living in Paris, two different April river cruises booked and a desire to tour more parts of the European part of the world,getting a long term resident visa would make it a lot easier to just wander around without having to worry about the time limit. The appointment required a whole lot of documentation to be put together and all of that was ready to go. When we finally got to the “desk” it seemed as if everything was going to be OK until we realized you cannot formally apply for the extended visa more than 3 months prior to going. So, as we were just a little over 4 months prior to our initial departure date ,we gathered everything and left with the understanding we would need to make another appointment sometime late October. The good thing about going when we did it confirmed we had all the information together and also gave us some pointers on what additional materials we might need to make sure we were successful next time.

OK, with all of that out of the way, we packed up to start our trip across country. First stop was Macomb,Illinois to visit with Harold (Janeen’s dad) and make sure he was getting all the care necessary to be comfortable. He is now under hospice care in the long-term care facility, Wesley Village, and doing as well as can be expected for someone who is 101 years old. We stayed a little over a week visiting daily and talking with his caregivers and others. One of the goals was to make sure all of those visiting him understand his condition and that, while it will be a sad day when it happens, he is slipping away to the other side. We were able to make sure he understands we were leaving for California as we have a time -frame to resolve some issues for the sale of our home and a wedding we have committed to attending in September plus a 50^th wedding anniversary for friends in the Bay Area.

Now we are on the road. The first day was long – about 500 plus miles to get to Tulsa OK.

Next day (today) we drove to Amarillo,Texas. Most of today has been spent driving along Route 66! After getting checked into our Hotel, it seemed like it was time for BBQ.

So, first thing I did was check at the front desk to see if they had any recommendations – nothing really jumped out. Next was to check on Trip Advisor and see what was around. Not surprising there area bunch of places, but the one that caught our eye was a small place called Tyler’s Barbecue.

All of the reviews were 5-star (at least the dozen or so posted) and it was a small place serving ribs, brisket, pulled pork, sausage and all the other stuff you think about when thinking BBQ.

This place did not disappoint. We ordered the three-meat dinner with three ribs, some sliced brisket and a mound of pulled pork.

Along with this were potato salad and a peach cobbler for dessert. The place doesn’t serve “adult beverages” which helped to reduce the cost impact for sure and wasn’t missed actually.

Tomorrow we head further west stopping in Gallop NM and then to Chandler, Arizona to visit with some friends and then to Alhambra where we will work on getting all the remaining stuff out of the house and selling it. More updates as something interesting happens.