Category: worries

On Saturday, October 8, 2016 John, Jon, and I hit the road for St. George at 5:45AM! Jonathan likes to take the route through Yosemite NP and as it takes a little longer, it is imperative that we leave a little early so we can finish in daylight. So armed with bagels and coffee for an in-car breakfast, we are off. Traffic is a little heavier than usual due to it being Columbus Day weekend but we make good time and by lunchtime we have reached Tonopah, NV.

We arrive in St. George around 7PM MDT, check to see that everything is in working order (both Direct TV and the internet are on the fritz) and then head over to the Club for some so-so dinner.

As we will do five times during Jon’s stay, we play tennis the next morning. Poor Jon has tennis elbow but plays valiantly through the pain. I am playing horribly through all of our sessions and only start to improve at the very end of our stay.

Jonathan and I have such fun grocery shopping and cooking. We get the ingredients for his favorite “mom” meal, meatballs and gravy over noodles with green beans.

The days fly by and Jon plays golf on his non-tennis days and arranges music, takes naps, and continues to shop and cook with us. We bring some better wines along to share. One of our older Zinfandels gets a big thumbs up from all of us.

We are also trying to find new places to eat. The dining scene in St. George is pretty grim but there must be restaurants other than Mongolian BBQ and Mad Pita to eat! We try Jalapeño’s, Dickey’s BBQ, and strike gold at Irmita’s. There are daily specials and the Tuesday mulitas are delicious and economical.

One day we decide to take a hike in Zion NP. Since October is a pretty popular time, we search out less well-known spots to hike. Our choice is off the Hop Kiln Trail along the Kolob Terrace Rd. We decide to go off-trail to find what another hiker has named Hoodoo City. We have great fun exploring and are careful to leave a cairn so we won’t get lost coming back. Plus there are no other adventurers on our hike.

Our next stop is at the Lava Point Overlook. The view of Wildcat Canyon and The main Zion Canyon peaks are phenomenal.

Our culinary point of view this week is international. In addition to the Mexican chicken fajitas above, we also make –

We all have a great time and are so happy that Jonathan loves this place as much as we do. It is nice to think that there might be generations of Pilats enjoying St. George and the wonderful nearby parks in the future.

Here’s what we made during September, 2016. Obviously we had more meals than this but some pictures I forgot to take, some dinners we ate out, sometimes we had takeout, and some evenings we were invited to other peoples’ homes.

Our good friends Eileen and Jim Kendall are up in the Bay Area visiting their daughter, Ali, and her family. We drive over to Corte Madera to see them and have some lunch. Ali and Van’s daughter, Vea, models her Halloween finery for us.  We all dine al fresco next to the Bay in the beautiful weather.  Sadly we did not get to see Eli as he was at preschool and Van, of course, who was off working. We have been slowly transferring our Bruder trucks to the Swearingen small fry.  I am so glad they are getting a new home.

Many thanks to Eileen and Jim for having us over for lunch and sharing their family with us.

 

For John’s birthday we decide to postpone the celebration for two days and head over to the peninsula for dinner, a Hookslide concert at Domenico’s Winery, and an overnight.  Food and accommodations were good and Hookslide was great.  Plus there was a bonus of getting to see Nathan and Sam!

 

Did we really drive all the way to St. George for just 5 days?! Yes, we did.The house was in good shape and ready for our trip with Jonathan in October when we will stay for more than 5 days!  We enjoyed the evenings looking at the pond, John grilling dinner, and the temperatures coming down.

We have just gotten back from our trip or so it seems and now Nathan and Sam will be heading back to school. Time for one last summer get-together. We have Zayde burgers, play fake tennis, and the kids enjoy games with Mom.

Originally our plan is to take a few days driving and get to St. George, UT to check things out at the house and then return home.  However, temperatures in St. George are hovering around 105F for a high and 80F for a low and it just seems too daunting. So instead we will spend a night in Portland as originally planned and then head home with an overnight in Redding, CA. One of our goals on this trip is to escape the heat and if we end up where it is much hotter than home that seems counter-productive.

We start out earlish because we have to cross the border back into the U.S.  Having had a lengthy delay getting into Canada we can only imagine how difficult the trip back in will be. Amazingly it takes about 5 minutes. Huh.

We want to stop in Portland because several years ago we were in Portland for Davis Cup and we ate at Jake’s where we had razor clams. They were fabulous! So after checking into our very nice hotel, the Sentinel, we make a reservation and walk the few blocks to the restaurant. (Thanks, internet, for the pictures below)

There is a saying about not being able to go home again. My experience is that it is very difficult to go back to a restaurant that you loved and have it be as good as you remember. This is true of our experience at Jake’s. We start out with a calmari appetizer which is fine but the razor clam entree is heavily breaded and the flavor is just not the same. I remember them have this maple syrupy element to them in their sweetness. This dinner was an over breaded piece of seafood with a lump of mashed potatoes and green beans. Sigh.

Oh well. The next day we hightail it to Redding, CA. We do get to see the magnificent Mount Shasta along the way.  It is the volcano that is the farthest south in the Cascade Range.  It is surprisingly enormous when it comes into view, kind of like seeing Mt. Rainier in Seattle.

Finally, we end our culinary journey at Olive Garden which normally we wouldn’t go to but, hey, it’s Redding and probably not a place to get adventurous.  Our eggplant parmesan was actually quite good.

So that’s it, our whole trip. We drove about 2400 miles, had beautifully cool weather, enjoyed ocean breezes, saw amazing vistas and fabulou flora, ate our own home-cooking and had some amazing restaurant meals, and loved being in each other’s company. Pretty wonderful, I’d say.

 

Today is our last day in Vancouver and we have a full day planned.  Also we are going back to Maenam’s for dinner. Yay!

Our first and longest stop is at the University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology.  The mission of the museum is to present world arts and cultures with a special emphasis on the First Nations peoples of the British Columbia area. As you enter the building there is an enormous room full of totems and other artifacts.

One thing I did not realize is that the totem poles were used as structural elements inside their houses. The different carved elements brought different spirits into the house.

There is also a display of large ceremonial bowls that look like small boats used for tribal gatherings. There is a giant spoon to use in the left hand bowl.

The great vaulted exhibition room holds many fabulous totem poles.

Exiting the space devoted to the First Peoples of British Columbia, there is a large space devoted to the First Peoples of the Pacific Islands, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Many of the statues are representations of myths that seem to include the capture and rape of women.

There is also a contemporary exhibit going on called Unceded Territories. The art deals with colonialist suppression of First Nations peoples and the ongoing struggle for Indigenous rights to lands, resources, and sovereignty.

There are rooms and rooms full of everything the museum has collected. It is a little daunting. In back of the museum is a large outdoor installation.

After doing a pretty thorough job investigating the Museum of Anthropology we return to our hotel for a little lunch and feet up time.

This afternoon we head out to the Nitobe Memorial Garden, also at the University of British Columbia. According to their website –

“Dr. Inazo Nitobe (1862-1933) was an agriculturalist, scholar, Quaker, philosopher, statesman and educator. Dr. Nitobe was educated at Sapporo Agricultural College, University of Tokyo, Johns Hopkins and University of Halle (Germany). Early in his life he expressed the desire to be a “bridge over the Pacific” and he devoted much of his life to promoting trust and understanding between the United States and Japan.”

It is quite a serene place with a tea house and a walk that takes one from birth to death through decorative lamps and rocks. (Unfortunately my phone starts ringing as we are amidst the solitude.)

Next we visit some park land along the English Bay so I can take a panoramic picture of Vancouver.

Tonight is our final dinner in Vancouver so we decide to go back to Maenam knowing that the experience there will most likely be better than anywhere else. The waitstaff recognizes us and greets us warmly.  The menu for the chef’s dinner has changed since we were here on Saturday so we have several new dishes. Once again it is so good. If I lived here I would come to Maenam’s at least once a week.

(I have only included pictures of the items we did not have last time. We had the fabulous clams and the duck salad again.)

We have had a great time in Vancouver.  There were many interesting things to see, the city is clean and safe, the people are warm and friendly, and the food is OUTSTANDING!

 

 

Our plan today is to go to the Queen Elizabeth Park to see the gardens and to see the Bloedel Conservatory. The park is at the highest point in Vancouver and there are panoramic views.

The first place we visit is the Bloedel Conservatory. It is full of tropical plants and birds.  There is a helpful brochure that refers to numbered sites in the conservatory.

After spending a good deal of time in the Conservatory we decide to get lunch at the restaurant at the park, Seasons in the Park. It is a lovely restaurant with beautiful views of the park out the windows. The restaurant hosted a meeting between President Clinton and President Yeltsin in 1993. And the food is good too!

After our late lunch we walk around the garden some more. Part of the garden is in quarries that are no longer in use.  It is a dramatic setting where you can look at the overall garden from above and then walk among the plantings.

In the early evening we head over to Granville Island which is the happening place in Vancouver. There are music venues, shops, and restaurants. We decide to dine at Edible Canada, a restaurant that showcases Canadian products. Our dinner starts out well but goes down hill at the entree course.  John didn’t like his and didn’t eat some of it.  John usually likes everything!

Lastly we take a walk around Granville Island and look at the shops.  The view of downtown Vancouver is pretty spectacular.

 

After breakfast we get our bags packed up and head out to find our way up to Canada.  We are hoping that the border crossing will not be too lengthy.  The times we have crossed into Canada, it has been quite expeditious. It is usually getting back into the U.S. that is time-consuming.

But not today. Times for getting into Canada are posted some miles before the crossing. If we continue on I-5 the wait is half an hour, if we use an alternate, it is 10 minutes. Wisely, or so we think, we choose the shorter wait time. It takes more than an hour and we are questioned and a dog comes around to sniff our car. The only drugs we are likely to have with us might be to ease our creaky joints from sitting in the car for an extra hour!

After finding our way to Vancouver and negotiating the myriad roads closed for repaving or repair, we get to our digs for tonight and the next two nights, the West Coast Suites at University of British Columbia.  We have opted for another apartment type set up and the University is a great setting. It is situated on a peninsula southwest of downtown and there is easy access to lots of great neighborhoods and parks.

Only downside is that there is no air conditioning! What, were they not expecting Americans to visit? And there are no screens. Amazingly the only problem we run into during our three night stay is the noise of wild animals attacking prey. It is lovely and cool and nary a bug flies into our room.

We decide to take some time to get ourselves sorted out and do some wash. We also want to investigate someplace to eat. While I am looking around the internet I find a restaurant that has won Vancouver Magazine’s 2016 restaurant of the year as well as many other accolades, Maenum, serving Thai cuisine. I love Thai cuisine! Since we have skipped lunch we make a reservation on the earlyish side .

Parking is an adventure. It is a combination of internet and phone. We call the number on the meter and we go through an extensive menu of punching in our license plate number and credit card so we can park.  Then we walk the couple of blocks to Maenum and are only 10 minutes late. (I hate to be late.) But all is well and we are set for a culinary adventure.

We select the chef’s menu which consists of at least 6 small plates. It is only $45 Canadian and the wine pairing is $30 C. Wow, what a deal! And it is spectacular. Here is what we dine on –

There was also a coconut panna cotta which was also delicious but in my hurry to eat it I forget to take a picture.  This was really a five star dinner. I am afraid that wherever we eat next will not be able to even come close.