Iowa for Father's Day (June 16-20)

Another overdue visit - getting out to St. Joe.  Father's Day weekend seemed like a perfect time for PJ and me to make the trip.

New plantings etc "looking good" at Mark & Therese estate.

Weather was great - especially on travel day (Thursday).  Made a v. pleasant drive-by at Mark and Therese's house - which really is looking quite sharp (including various new plantings).  We also think the overall neighborhood is neat.  Then up to New Brighton where Cecilia and Steve hosted a dinner gathering.  Couldn't have been nicer.  Angie came by with Liam, Josh and Tillie; Margaret and Jeremy; Nick, Maeve and Beau; Therese and Mark.  Good food, some nice beers (including Nick homebrews among others), lovely evening on the patio, chatted until fairly late.  (The only thing missing:  photographic evidence.)

I much liked this view toward St. Joe and the hill farm - don't get to this area of the farm very often.

 On Friday - we have breakfast, pleasant!, at Caribou with Steve and Cecilia; then drop her off at work before heading south to Iowa.  PJ does grocery shopping and eventually makes a fine dinner for us; EMG and I head up to the hill farm and poke around on F-20 carburetor; then take tractor and mower down to St. Joe bottom lands where clean up a track around the government acres.  Lovely afternoon, great views down there, I much enjoyed being out with my dad.

Selfie on 4020 headed west.

Saturday morning - EMG and I go up to the hill farm again - looking for just the right piece of post to support our fence-mending operation.  It's a nice morning and this gave an occasion to wander around the grove, behind the corn crib; look at the foundation from the cattle shed and discuss the work involved during his cattle-tending days - wow.  PJ and I go to Algona in the afternoon and have a lovely visit with Caroline.  Dinner in St. Joe; EMG and I watch some video from their 1999 European trip - stuff I hadn't seen much of before - found it interesting - this was enjoyable.

Kind of amazing how well this old tractor functions.

Sunday Mass in St. Joe; talk to various after; Steve and Liz come by; also Dolores - great to see so many folks over the weekend.  PJ puts together noon meal.  Relaxing afternoon; we watch a little golf-on-TV, also sit on front porch a bit - much hotter weather.  Watched Cleveland beat Golden State in game 7 of NBA finals (Lebron chase-down block).

Some minor fence repair . . .

Monday - got a pretty early start - I rode with EMG up to Rochester, PJ followed along in our rental car.  He had some tests scheduled (which turned out pretty much fine).  He seems to do fine with the long-ish drive.  I don't recall being in Rochester before, so it was nice to finally see the place.  Cecilia met us for the appointments, and stayed 'til the end - we had to depart for airport prior to the last phase.  The four of us had lunch at Mayo cafeteria, which worked really well.

Photo inspection during happy hour at Caroline's place.

We really enjoyed our visit . . .

It's sounded to us like EMG is doing pretty well, but we hadn't seen him in person since Mom's funeral - hard to believe it's been that long, the time has flown by.  Now we can report as eyewitnesses - if there are 87-year-olds doing better physically then him, I'd think it's a pretty small group!  Fingers crossed that this continues.  Will look forward to the next trip.

Just before heading to Sunday Mass.

Our lector . . . 

tribal caps, and more

As D'back promotions go - this one caught our attention.  (Especially CPG's attention, though his rigorous travel schedule prevented his attendance).  D'backs offered a "tribal cap" to the first 20,000 customers - a fine-looking piece of head-wear.  Still - that wasn't really enough - POC's influence is vast, but not vast enough to get hats for all, unless we actually went early and stood in line.  Not an attractive prospect in mid-June.

Then the deal was sweetened - POC comes through with discounted tickets for the first-ever "Burgers & Beers" event that same evening - as you might speculate, this features burgers and beers - and a tribal hat!  So PJ, NOC, PJr and I scurry down for the (Alison-driven) event - at the restaurant just west of the stadium.

OK, we don't really know these folks (save one) . . . but I rather adore the trophy they won.

The "burgers" portion of the evening was much better than expected - five respectable local restaurants competing for a trophy based on customer votes - and they did a great job.  As for the beers, we approached this Bud-sponsored event with understandable trepidation - but with the recent acquisition of Four Peaks, that aspect also turned out well.  PJ was a great sport throughout, and we thriftily rescued her beer-tickets from wastage.  Oddly enough, a restaurant that doesn't even include a burger on the menu - The Mission - won.  

And we also had a baseball game to attend.  A fun evening, to say the least.  

36th wedding anniversary (Winslow/Flagstaff)

PJ and I repeated one of our favorite trips in observance of our 36th wedding anniversary - probably the third time we've done pretty much this exact loop?  It will be repeated.  Here's what we did:

"waterfall" atop Tonto Natural Bridge

Hit the road after breakfast on Saturday, May 28; quite a bit of traffic in and around Payson as it is Memorial Day weekend.  We proceed up to the Tonto Natural Bridge state park - lovely weather - we wander beneath the waterfall, scramble over all the slippery rocks, hike all the way through the creek area per usual (my ageless wife doing fine throughout) - a unique spot.  We drive onto That Brewery up in Pine - the place is packed but we end up with very fine outdoor seating and enjoy the food and beverages.

Where else would one wander in Winslow?  (Saturday afternoon)

Onto Winslow and we check into Mary Colter's marvelous La Posada Hotel.  Got our same room looking over the railroad tracks to the south.  We are rather obsessed with this hotel, and if anything we liked it more than previously.  We wander around town a bit but mostly relax; loved our dinner at the Turquoise Room.

Pretty sure we won't find "Piki Bread" elsewhere.

Endless whimsical touches; these two brayers are among my favorites.

Sunday, May 29 - three amazing meals at the Turquoise Room - not to be missed, they do a great job with all three menus.  After late/leisurely breakfast we drive up to the Hopi Reservation - we love the look of this countryside - ran into a guy in a shop that we think will be a useful contact point for future trips there.  Made it back for late lunch - one of our favorite meals of all.  Again did quite a bit of walking around the area before dinner.

One of the lovely common areas at La Posada.

Meteor Crater is a big hole in the ground.

Monday, May 30 - breakfast at the Turquoise Room, we were sorry it was our last meal there for this trip.  Eventually we check out.  Weather continuing favorable - not all that hot and not windy at all - so we take a flyer on "Meteor Crater" - which we've managed to drive past dozens of times without any strong inkling of stopping.  But it's right off I-40.  Interesting enough, but I'd say one visit will be plenty.  On into Flagstaff; early check-in; lunch at McMillan.  We wander around town per usual; stop at Historic; back to hotel eventually.  Dinner at Tinderbox.

This shot gives a little better perspective on the hole. [Meteor Crater postscript below.]

Tuesday, May 31 - breakfast - amazing - at Martanne's.  Perfect weather.  Which we take advantage of via a quite-nice hike south of town - nice, and overdue, to get out of town a bit.  Back for lunch at Criollo; then return to Phoenix where we have dinner later on.

Flagstaff-area hiking speaks for itself.

Hard to beat this stuff, another excellent anniversary observance with my pal.

Breakfast at Martanne's ( as always)

Flying Phoenix - Minneapolis 17 days after visiting Meteor Crater
(first time seeing it from ground level, now from the air).

First few months of 2016

Catching up here . . . via quick notes on various events in opening months of 2016 . . .

1.  Per earlier post:  enjoyed EPG's company well into January; lost K prior to 12/31 but to a good cause.

2.  O'Connell visit at end of January, fun as always.

Dinner with DJ and "Debbers" at 706.

The ladies claim they had a fine outing (sans gentlemen).

3.  PJ and I enjoy an overnight in downtown Phoenix for Valentine's Day.  Kimpton - per usual.  First-time restaurant for dinner - Province - they did a very nice job.  Phoenix Public Market.  Great/seasonal weather, wandering around downtown from hotel up to Roosevelt Road and beyond.

Seems to be our only photo from Valentine's Day?
Oh well, you can see that it was a lovely evening
(per view from our hotel room).

4.  PJr and I participated in Arizona Musicfest in late February (after taking last year off) - Carmina Burana - PJ still in throes of bad cough so has to miss out but several fans are able to attend, nice gathering afterward at Bootleggers.

MusicFest (courtesy NOC Instagram feed)

5.  PJ and I repeat last year's Tucson B&B weekend - really enjoy the southern AZ sights, the Tucson restaurants, the relaxed wandering.  Nice.

Just hanging around in downtown Tucson.

6.  PJ and I had a great trip to Virginia in mid-March to visit Kerry, Luis et al; some notes and photos are posted separately.

7.  Next-gen folks threw a really quite excellent 60th birthday party in late March for PJ and me at the end of March; some notes and photos are posted separately.

8.  Opening Day baseball courtesy POC.  Zack Greinke did not dominate. But we had a fine time.

POC shepherding Mark Grace onto the field for Opening Day introductions, as
shown on video board.  Opening Day, always fun.

Pregame preparation is essential.  EPG able to stay on just a few days after 60th weekend.

9.  CPG and I were in a performance of Honegger's King David with ASU Choral Union (and other groups) at the end of April; PJ and Dharma attended (once logistics were straightened out).  The work has a number of nice moments and we stopped for a bite afterward at the Parlor, a fine evening.

10.  PJ and I enjoyed a great trip up to San Francisco to visit Patrick; photos and notes are posted separately.

11.  Lovely Mother's Day (May 8) - NOC, CPG, PJr treat to brunch at Richardson's, then Dharma (with some assist from CPG) treats to excellent dinner at her apartment.

Richardson's brunch crew.

Beautiful evening for a walk - here we are at Steele Park.

Visiting EPG

Viansa - our first stop after the airport.

PJ and I visited EPG up in San Francisco - our first time since he's relocated there, long overdue.  Delightful visit, EPG packs in lots of good stuff; here's what happened -

We enjoyed seeing Jason again after quite a few years (Viansa) . . . 

Friday, 29 April 2016 - Patrick and Jason (a U of A pal that we've met previously) picked us up at the airport and drove us straight up to Sonoma.  Gorgeous weather.  Tasting, photos at Viansa.  EPG then had thought that Benziger would be a good winery to visit (what with the tour and all) - not knowing this was the favorite of PJ and me, as noted here.  The winery grounds are pretty amazing; it's fun to ride along via the tractor and see what's up; and the tasting was quite nice.

Benziger = a lovely spot in Sonoma.

Benziger perhaps just a bit hurried because EPG had gotten a difficult patio lunch reservation at Girl & The Fig on the Sonoma square (not knowing this also was one of our favorite Sonoma spots - we seem to think along the same lines - which I suppose isn't surprising), and we certainly didn't want to blow it.  Charcuterie, salad, mussels, Pliny the Elder on tap, beautiful day on the patio.  After which we wandered the square a bit; Jason treats to a tasting at Bryter; return trip to SF where we drop him off, then head up to EPG's apartment.  Which we see is well stocked with our favorite food/beverage treats.  Enjoyed the view; made it down to Heche for dinner; Five Crowns later on.

Saturday 30 April 2016 - we start walking; coffee stop at Spike's; nice breakfast at Squat & Gobble on the patio; a bunch more walking (our favorite vacation activity, especially when (as here) the weather's perfect and the town is endlessly interesting to look at).

Magnolia Brewery doing good work.  And open  for business in the morning.

Haight-Ashbury!

EPG and I split a flight at Magnolia as we wander the storied (at least to persons of our generation) Haight-Ashbury district.  Enjoyed the 60s/70s shops even if perhaps aimed a bit at tourists just like us.  Then we pick up rental bikes - this worked really well! - wander a bit through Golden Gate Park, the Presidio - and then the main (biking) event - crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.  OK I can see that a lot of folks do this and it's not that difficult etc. - but I find it pretty amazing to think that we can bike across, pause and enjoy the views, etc.

PJ and EPG taking a short rest from biking . . . 

Halfway across.  Perfect weather, amazing views.

Made it!  Reviewing our work on far side of the bridge.

The bike ride ends in Sausolito; lovely lunch overlooking the water at Barrel House; while we wait for our table PJ finds a just-right pair of sunglasses.  Ferry ride after a bit of waiting; disembark after some bike-disentanglement efforts; drop off bikes and wander around the pier.  Next:  a walk to 21st Amendment brewery - enjoyed the flight and snacks, a lot, and came away with t-shirt and tasting glasses courtesy EPG and PJ.  Back to the apartment; eventually we go to Flour+Water for our 10:45p dinner rez - I can see why EPG likes the place (and why getting a rez is a challenge).  Head back to the apartment after the Sorento stalls in a painted-lady district.  This was a full day!

Looking back - on our biking-way to Sausolito.

Sunday 1 May 2016 - breakfast at Reverie Cafe; lots of walking from there; visit the DeYoung and wander through (including something we've not previously visited - the top-floor observation area); much more walking; this part of town is quite lovely; back to apartment and enjoy hanging out on the patio with a rather amazing charcuterie/beverage combination.

Barrel House - pleasant + lunch in Sausolito.  Views!

Onto Zuni for their roast chicken dinner (tasty plus plus); Shane had joined us.  Easy walking distance to Symphony Hall where EPG had arranged tickets for a performance of Faure's Requiem - one of my very very favorites, I listen to it constantly (and run on about it at some length here) - and it's not just any tickets that have been arranged, these seats are located in the first row immediately behind the chorus - we look over their shoulders at their music and see them following the conductor - we were a bit worried that it was organ accompaniment rather than the symphony but that turned out to work really well - mixture of professional and volunteer chorus members - just a wonderful performance.  Which we told the choristers as they walked off.  Memorable.  (We even liked the contemporary opening work - the composer was part of the performance via his on-stage laptop - something of a meditation on space and distance based on early 20th century Dutch telephone company interns stationed in East Indies - nice.)  Then it's onto Martuni's - we settle into a table and Shane treats to some beverages while we play multiple Five Crowns games and listen to theater types sing along with a piano player.  For a long time.  Another ridiculously full/fun day.

Symphony Hall - a memorable performance of a favorite work.

Monday, 2 May 2016 - after standing in line a bit, a pretty wonderful breakfast at Tartine - croissants, banana creme pie, coffee - unique.  Followed by a bunch of walking (with a couple stops in the furniture mart district); we arrive for our tour at Anchor Steam brewery.  Surprisingly interesting - it has a longer history than I knew; didn't realize the "steam" reference alludes to a cooling technique from the old days; we liked several of the beers quite a lot, the "Mango Wheat" being most interesting.  Which I wouldn't expect for that style.  We wander the area a bit and find a place for lunch; then swung by the "Galvanize" shared work space and took the CSuite tour with Rodrigo; back to the apartment a bit; down to Delfino's for dinner (we liked the place, a lot); back for sipping, view-admiring, Five Crowns, etc.

Anchor Steam - interesting story, good tour, fine product.

Tuesday, 3 May 2016 - EPG has some work to do in a.m.; PJ and I wander down to Spike's for breakfast; deal with AAA on the Sorento, do a few work things of my own, and we pack.  Take the slide down the hill(!); lots of walking through interesting neighborhoods (with some territory now becoming familiar); excellent lunch at Nopalita's; then some more walking (including swinging by the Painted Ladies, which we since note constantly in SF stock photography); back to the apartment where we hang around on the patio and review the long list of fun stuff that happened in these quick days.  Uber to airport.

Hilly area very near Patrick's apartment - we heard neighborhood kids making
use of this slide, and we didn't miss our own opportunity.

Sorry to leave EPG, happy to see what he's built/building there, delighted with our adventures, looking forward to the next time.

Wandering SF on our final day ("Painted Ladies")

60th birthdays (observance weekend)

The next-gen was kind enough to host a quite-fine weekend for PJ and me for our 60th birthdays - the fun started on March 23 and I'd say lasted until the first few days of April (when EPG headed back to CA).  We're pretty sure it involved lots of planning and not a few $$ - we were grateful.

In addition to travels by EPG and K&L, Cecilia visited from Minnesota for several days.

Key activities (in addition to general socializing):  wedding venues were checked out on Thursday-Friday; small-group birthday dinner at 706 on Friday evening; large-group birthday party at PJr/Nedda's place on Saturday evening; road trip to Tucson on Monday.

Not sure how it could have been nicer.

Dinner at Grassroots - Wednesday, March 23

Pig's Meow (March 24) (scene 1)

Pig's Meow (March 24) (scene 2)

Checking out potential wedding venues (downtown warehouse #1) (March 25)

We liked the Croft quite a bit (March 25)

Lovely birthday dinner at 706 - great menu, couldn't have been nicer.  (March 25)

PJ, Cecilia and I did a bit of hiking at 40th Street (March 26)

60th birthday party (scene 1) (March 26)

60th birthday party (scene 2) (March 26)

60th birthday party (scene 3) (March 26)

60th birthday party (scene 4) March 26

Four Tumacacori visitors (March 28)

Tumacacori National Monument; Mexican gold poppies (March 28)

We wander down to the Santa Cruz River on a lovely morning (March 28)

Stopping by San Xavier del Bac (scene 1) (March 28)

San Xavier del Bac (scene 2) (March 28)

The local ladies launder and changes clothes on this statute of the BVM (San Xavier del Bac, scene 3) (March 28)

One more statue (because I love looking at them) (San Xavier del Bac, scene 4) (March 28)

Tasters at Pueblo Vida Brewery (downtown Tucson (March 28)

Bowling excursion at some old-timey lanes in Sunnyslope neighborhood.  Very fun - partly because
scores were higher than expected in most cases.  And particularly in PJ's case.  (April 3)

Bowling (scene 2) (April 3)