Baltimore, June 27-29, 2010

When I was little, growing up in nearby Damascus, MD, Baltimore was sort of a mystical place known for being big, somewhat dangerous, and far enough away that we didn't go there much.  Over the years the element of danger has remained, and it's a city that has definately had problems.  But I was somewhat amazed when I got there, especially in the general area I explored, which was the waterfront to the museum district.

The downtown area has many old buildings which have been restored.  I felt completely safe in this general area.  The waterfront was incredibly vibrant.  Also, it was hot, generally being about 85 degrees and quite humid the days I was there.  There is a majestic City Hall:

It's a very walkable city, and people are out a lot on the street.  The Inner Harbor has been completely redone as a tourist area, and while it has the usual detractions of some of the less impressive food chains (Hooters), it does have a lot of activities, including a wonderful aquarium, boat tours of the harbor and surrounding historical areas, and now an impressive array of close-in housing.  Luckily, my hotel was just across the street from a Roy's restaurant, one of Tuija's and my favorite places, a chain which is able to maintain the quality and inventiveness of Roy Yamaguchi's tasty vision of Asian Fusion cuisine.  Since I was planning to have dinner at the Roy's in Philadelphia with Tuija when I got there, this was a prelude for me individually.

I did a fairly long walk to the museum district, but the planned trip to a museum was waylaid by museums of another kind.  I've been a subscriber to several financial publications of Agora, Inc. for several years, and as sponsors of The Oxford Club, of which I am a member, they have established their headquarters in Baltimore.    The Oxford Club has occasionally reminded its members that if they're in Baltimore, members are welcome to come to the main clubhouse, so before I got there, I set up an appointment, just so I could see it.  The publisher, Bill Bonner, moved the Oxford Club into a restored mansion which had been turned into a Catholic chapel by the previous archbishop.  When the Church was ready to divest itself of this gem, the Oxford Club purchased it.

When I arrived, I was greeted by a delightful woman who was the receptionist, and when I commented on the beauty of the buildings design, we started talking.  It seems that after restoring the Oxford Club building, as the publishing business grew, Bill Bonner decided to move the other sections of the business into similar buildings, slowly buying these decrepit ladies, and restoring them to beauty.  I was taken to three of them, and marveled at the quality of the restorations.  Agora is committed to the long term stability of Baltimore, and as a city with an amazing history, they've produced a small collection within a couple of square blocks of about six of these lovely restorations.

I wish I'd had the time to do a more extensive tour around Baltimore and it's environs.  I've been to some of the sights in the past (Fort McHenry and Annapolis), but as in Washinton, D.C., I love revisiting old haunts.

I had a great time, but was eager finally to prepare to move on to Philadelphia, where, after being there for a day, Tuija was to join me.

Ocean City and Washinton, D.C. June 18-27

Yes, it has been a long time since I've posted, and my loving visits by friends and family on the trip, and fantastic sightseeing have been the reasons.  I had a really fun time in Ocean City, Maryland, where I visited my Jr. High School classmate, Mary Ann.  She has a beautiful house about 12 miles from downtown Ocean City, and the contrast couldn't be greater.  She's in a quiet, heavily wooded area with birds singing and crickets chirping.  There's a stream at the back of the property and her house is real cute.  We yakked constantly and went on a sightseeing trip into Ocean City.  I got a chance to meet her daughter also.  Ocean City is a very commercialized stretch of restaurants, nice and not-so-nice hotels, but with a beautiful beach, so little wonder it's pretty built up.  It's been a favorite of people in New England for years.  It was wonderful catching up with Mary Ann, and she recommended that on my way to D.C., I stop in St. Michael.

St Michael is one of those terminally charming little towns with cute shops, with everything looking old and nicely restored.  They were having a boat show the day I was there, and I got a chance to hear a little of the history of the area.  Here's a workshop where they were showing how they make small skiffs that the locals sometimes use in shallow water.

I then headed to Washington, D.C., and stayed at a new Wyndham resort called National Harbor.  It's across the river from Alexandria on the Maryland side, and it was beautiful.  I can't go to Washington without getting strong feelings of nostalgia for my childhood experiences.  So, I snapped a few pictures of my favorite places:

I had a chance to go to the National Museum of the American Indian with Rosemary and Rispba, and it was very impressive.  I started to get some sense of the level of ignorance I have about the indigenous people who were here before the English, Spanish and French arrived.  We all ended up feeling great that we got to see the museum, but with great sadness that by simply getting off the boat, about 90% of the population of Native Americans were condemned to death by diseases to which they had no immunity.

It was really fun seeing the gals, and a couple days later I had a chance to visit Rosemary at her home for several hours.  With both of us being rather irreverent and silly, we had a great time.  During the course of my visit I also did a walking tour of Alexandria, which was "town" back in George Washington's day.   I also did a side trip to Frederick, and in honor of my mother, I submit this photo of Barbara Fritchie's house, to which on occasion Mom would take us in the furtherance of our Civil War education.

I did enough driving around to realize that the area is just so much different now, with it being real important to not drive anytime anywhere near rush hour.  I visited my old hometown of Damascus, and it is so built up that it simply is a large town now instead of a small village.  One little irrelevant bit of trivia was that I did need to go get a soft serve ice cream from the Jimmie Cone.  Old habits die hard.

I love this entire area, and am always awed by the beauty of the National Mall and touched by the basic principles that going through the history reminds one of.  It was also a relief every night, after being outside a lot in 85 degree weather and high humidity, to return to the Wyndham and my lovely room there, and especially the air conditioning.  Next:  off to Baltimore.

Williamsburg

What an interesting place, Williamsburg.  The story of its reconstruction is almost more interesting than its actual place in history, but not quite.  A very dedicated group of people in Williamsburg talked John D. Rockefeller into funding the initial rescue of some old buildings, and it has grown into an interesting, if very touristy, place.  I enjoyed the history very much, but admittedly see this as a place one would want to go once, and preferably with older children. It does give a feeling of colonial America, long before the Declaration of Independence.

 When I arrived, I first wanted to see the Governor's Mansion, since its first inhabitant was Alexander Spottswood, our (correct me if I'm wrong Kit) 11 times great grandfather.  Technically, he was the Lieutenant Governor of Virgina, but the Governor, some Lord in England, never came to the colonies, so Spottswood was the man on site.  He was recalled in about 1722, just after he'd been living there for less than a year.  Here's the house:

I had a really nice time there, and also went to Jamestown to the original site of the landing of the original colonists.  There was a bustle of activity as a group of archeologists and their summer interns were busily excavating more of the site.  I was more impressed with the intent:

It was fun to realize that when they landed, they had no idea of what they were starting, including bringing the diseases that wiped out 90% of the native population.  They sure as heck didn't envision our country as it is today (and facebook).

Myrtle Beach and Raleigh

I continued my love affair with South Carolina by heading up the coast to Myrtle Beach.  I stayed at the Wyndham Resort there for 4 days.  This is a very old and very developed area, and when one sees the beaches, it's not surprising.  It's a very long beach, miles, and I spent a fair amount of time walking.  I played golf a couple of times, but had to go very early in the morning because of the heat.  I've been slowly shaving a few strokes off my golf score and am tending to score in the high 80's.

This was really my last time for awhile of being mostly alone.  I realized that since I got to Destin, I've been on my own.  When I leave Myrtle Beach, I'll be starting a time of being with friends and family for awhile.  I like both.  I'm needing to be with people a little bit right now.  Although I get on well with the people I interact with day to day, they're mostly service people, so are short conversations.  That's one of the benefits of golf. I get to talk to nice people I just met for several hours.  I'm looking forward to seeing some friends and family coming up.

I'm continuing to enjoy really good southern style seafood, and everyone is commiserating about the Gulf oil spill, and very worried about the livelihoods of the people affected.  

I left Myrtle Beach and took off for Raleigh to see my friend Michele.  We only had one night to catch up on what we're both doing and have some fun, but we had a great dinner and chatted into the evening.  The next morning she had to go to work and I was off to Williamsburg, Virginia.

Charleston

The long and winding road took me out of Edisto Beach and up to Charleston.  I started with a carriage ride through the historic district, and once again, that was a good way to get a taste of the loveliness that is this Southern Belle.  I then spent two days walking those streets, taking pictures, fascinated with the architecture and the care of restoration.  Like Savannah, it is a city that suffered after the Civil War, but also like Savannah, it was not burned.  The historic area is much larger than Savannah, but has much of the innate beauty.  I can't seem to get enough of the old homes.  There is the hint of a refined time which has been extended into the present.  And given the graciousness of the population, and their helpfulness in answering any questions, it does seem people here are living a charmed life.

While I have loved the food everywhere I've been, and appreciated the few places where I've had a full kitchen so I could cook myself, I decided to see what I could find in Charleston.  I had  two great recommendations from the carriage driver.   One was an Irish pub where I had shrimp and grits.  I was a little hesitant.  I shouldn't have been, and eating it with a Guinness adds just the right touch.  The other recommendation was one of the most delightful restaurants of the whole trip so far, called 82 Queen St.  I was shown down a little hallway, into a lovely white table garden courtyard.  I had a sapphire martini in honor of Richard, and then sat down to the perfect courtyard setting.  I started with she-crab soup, which includes some of the crab roe.  I had had some a couple of nights before in St. Augustine, and it was way too salty. At 82 Queen, it was seasoned perfectly, full-bodied and, well, crabby, with a hint of sherry.  I then had fried okra as a vegetable, wonderfully al dente, served with a marinara sauce.  My main dish was grilled tiger shrimp with fried goat cheese ravioli.  I was in heaven, sitting under a magnolia tree with a two foot diameter, which was rising up through the courtyard.  I wish I'd had more time to eat here again.

Before I left Edisto Beach, Lucy had recommended that I consider going to a couple of performances at the Spoleto Festival, an annual event in Charleston.  I took her advice.  I attended an opera called "Flora" which was first performed in the old Dock Street Theater in the late 1700's.  It was real cute and enthusiastically performed.  I also attended there the Noel Coward play "Present Laughter."  There's something special when traveling to be able to duck in and sample the local festivals.  The Dock Street Theater has a wonderful history and has been carefully restored.  The play was very cute, very 1940's (written in 1939, but not produced until 3 years later), and a great romp.

I also took most of a day and went outside of Charleston to a Magnolia Plantation, the house and gardens built by the Drayton family in 1640.  I loved the description of the history, the features of the house, and realized that we now live in so much more luxurious creature comforts now than even the most wealthy of that era.  The gardens were lovely.

There was also an exceptional guide on the part of the tour that took one through the restored slave quarters. He discussed how at the same time they were being bought and sold, and considered less intelligent that whites, that they were the ones who brought the technical knowledge of how to grow rice in this climate, that allowed the fortunes which built houses like Drayton and the beautiful mansions in Charleston to be built.  Apparently, slave traders were very careful to send slaves from a specific area of Sierra Leone to the Charleston area, as they were in high demand.  I was intrigued with the research going on here to study and understand the slave experience from the slaves' perspective.

And then there are those beautiful houses in Charleston.  They're all over the place, but the area called South Battery is especially memorable.

Finally, before I left, I took a tour of the USS Yorktown, and very famous WWII aircraft carrier which is docked permanently in Charleston.  It was really impressive and I'm amazed at the level of engineering which it takes to create such a ship.  I was especially interested in the medical facilities onboard, which were pretty up to date for the time, given that this was a floating city.  I then left Charleston and headed on to Raleigh to visit my friend, Michele.  On the way I managed a round of golf in about 90 degree weather.  It's been really hot and humid, and while I tend to like it, I sure appreciate air conditioning after much time outside.

Edisto Beach

I think the biggest surprise of the trip so far has been Edisto Beach.  Wyndham has a resort there which is an amalgam of various buildings spread both within one main section of the area, and then some other buildings slightly distant.  I had a condo which was at Bay Point, about 1/2 mile from the main resort.  The condo was cute, the view perfect.  I was just inland, with the ocean around the corner.  I was on the river, looking out at miles of waterways and salt marsh.  I was able to watch the pelicans diving for fish, and many other birds (egrets and great blue heron) hunting for food in the marsh.  Edisto was the quiet, sleepy little beach community that I had originally assumed Destin would be.

There are a few restaurants, but nothing real fancy, which was great with me.  The food, however, was great.  It's a fresh seafood and juicy burgers type of place.

When I arrived, I went to the golf course (the Plantation Course) and asked if I could make a tee time for the next morning.  I was informed that the next morning was their usual ladies group, and would I like to join them.  Well of course.   I had a wonderful time.  Both of the ladies in my group lived at Edisto part time, and were a wealth of information.  The course was great fun, and I finally, finally, got to see an alligator in one of the pools on the edge of the fairway at 11.   It was about 6 feet long and just quietly floating on the surface.

One of the gals in my group, Lucy, asked if I'd like to play with her the next day, which we did.  Another really fun round on what ended up being a very nice course, well taken care of.  After the round we went for hamburgers at McConkey's which were perfect.  She then took me on a driving tour of the island, and introduced me to one of her friends.  There are many islands there, and Lucy has a house on one of them all connected with short little bridges.  It's quiet, just the sounds of the marsh and, because it's very warm, the bugs.  We parted mid-afternoon, after Lucy gave me some advice about Charleston, to attend the Spoleto Festival, and some upcoming performances there.  I took the road out beneath the towering pines, dripping with Spanish Moss.

I've had an interesting mix on the trip of time alone, time with friends and family, and in Lucy's case, time with someone I meet along the way who really adds to the experience.  I like all of it, and it both gives me a nice mix of freedom and companionship.

Savannah

After a one day stay in St. Augustine, where I went to the World Golf Hall of Fame and also spent some time walking around the historic district, I moved on to Savannah.  I very much enjoyed St. Augustine.  The Golf Hall of Fame was impressive, and it was fun learning a little more history of the game and seeing some of the greats that I'd heard mention of, but didn't really know much about.  The historic district in St. Augustine is fun if you have some historic information or do a tour (which I did), but it's pretty commercial, so you have to be able to look past that a bit.

Savannah was simply a love affair.  I stayed at the Doubletree Hotel in the northwest corner of the historic district, and it was convenient and the service was what I very quickly came to experience in all of Savannah.  Genuine friendliness and a willingness to tarry a moment for a few words were the norm.  I initially took a trolley tour of the historic district, and then walked everywhere, spending more time at the places I'd seen on the tour, and discovering a few new ones.  I loved the restored homes, especially the Owens-Thomas home:

 Mostly, I really enjoyed the pride the people took of their city.  They love it here, and like to talk about it to tourists.  As a city that was spared at the end of Sherman's March (after the burning of Atlanta) they have felt both fortunate, and also a little that it was deserved, because they're so pretty.

There are park squares all over town.  They're fun to study, since there are frequently statues of famous people in them, which tell the story of the city.  Forsythe Park is especially beautiful, at the southern edge of the historic district.

I have too many pictures of houses to attach, some really elaborate, some looking somewhat plain, but with great historical significance, and a few looking a bit dowdy.  Here is one I especially liked:

The food here was wonderful.  Of course, many people now know about Savannah's favorite cook, Paula Deen, who has her famous Lady & Sons restaurant about 3 blocks from my hotel.  I confess I didn't eat there, only because one has to arrive right when they open on any day to make reservations for later in the day.  By 9:30 am, I was usually well into my day walking.  This is a city I know I'll come back to with affection probably many times in the future.

On To Destin, Florida

From Mobile I drove to Destin, Florida.  I had assumed that Destin was a sleepy little place with isolated beaches, probably from some novel I had read.  It must have been an old novel.  Destin is a buzzing, fun, very well developed area for about 15 miles along the gulf coast.  I was staying at the Wyndham Bay Club II in Sandestin, a resort community.  It had three golf courses, and my goal for the week was to enjoy some golf and hit the beach.  I played 5 rounds of golf, and after the frustration of the courses of the Robert Trent Golf Trail in Alabama, while these courses had their challenges, I started playing better, especially after my second round.

The Links course in Sandestin resort was not in tip-top condition.  It had recently been plugged and the greens were a bit sandy and bumpy.  But the course is beautiful, with a number of challenging holes with water on both sides.  I really enjoyed looking at the turtles on the lagoon side of things, poking their little heads out of the water, and then scurrying away if anyone came near.  I then played the Baytowne course a couple of times, and loved it.  Beautiful course, smooth greens, and I played well.  These courses wind through the resort, with longleaf pine woods and a lagoon system throughout.

On the beach side, the weather was pretty hot with a very high humidity, so I had to limit my beach time a little.  But the water was blue, and the sand there is really sugar fine white.  Everyone was talking about the oil.  I was there May 22-29, so no oil had arrived.  The Gulf of Mexico apparently drops off quickly not very far out, so deep water fishing is a major tourist draw here.  I was hanging by the docks one day and got to see it when someone unloaded a shark they had caught off one of the day charters.  Even now (writing about a month later) the beaches at Destin have been spared.  Here's how it looks:

I really enjoyed Destin.  While it's a very busy place, it is also very convenient, with all the restaurants and services one might want.  Inside the resort, it was quiet and lovely.  I did some running in the mornings before it got too hot, but also spent some time in my room as respite when I'd been out a lot.  I'd really like to go back to Destin again.

Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail

Karen and I arrived in Mobile, Alabama to meet Kit and Jim, with a plan of 11 days of golf ahead on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.  We started in Mobile because there was an LPGA tournament taking place there.  We went to the tournament for the Pro-Am on Wednesday, and then the next day took off for golf.  It was fun going to the Pro-Am because I'd never been to one before.   It was curious that the women pros all seemed to be paired with 4 men, who were the amateurs.  I think we saw only one woman amateur playing.

We got to see some of my favorites, Christina Kim, Suzann Petterson, Jiyai Shin, Se Ri Pak and Kristy McPherson.  The weather was beautiful, if a bit hot, and it was a nice preparation prior to hitting the trail for golf ourselves.  I'm not going to go through every course we played and discuss "memorable holes" of either triumph or disaster (although in my case, disaster is the more common).  But I'll give some general impressions.

First of all, the people of Alabama were uniformly exceptionally friendly and helpful.  They have to take into account here the need for water on the course due to the heat.  Off the course we had wonderful food (although we joked about one "tavern" we ate at that didn't have any beer on tap).

I found the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail to be loads of fun, and the courses at times stunningly lovely.  The fairways wind though longleaf pine forest, and I found the courses very challenging.  On more than one occasion we commented on the fact that Robert Trent Jones senior must have been a sadist.  But more objectively, I would have to say that there was one glaring problem.  It was clear that the addition of tee boxes for women was an afterthought.  Their placement frequently left blind shots off the tee that the other tee boxes did not have, or necessitated hitting a very short first shot because the box had been placed too close to the dogleg.  It penalized women who hit drives of longer than about 150 yards.  We managed.  Of the three of us women, Kit clearly was playing more consistently well, with Karen and I alternating between playing solidly or struggling, usually at different times.

I had expected that playing 11 different courses would cause my play to improve significantly as we progressed, but that didn't happen.  Or maybe it did, in that the level of difficulty of the courses caused me to improve enough that my scores were in the neighborhood of what I usually experience on other courses (usually 90-93).  I'll go into the experience in Destin in the next blog, but I consistently scored about 4-5 shots better on those courses there (more water, but less hilly and few blind shots).

The other thing we did when not playing golf was sightseeing.  We had a great time in Mobile, Montgomery, and Birmingham.  We went to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, which was exceptionally moving.  We noticed that each of these cities has now a very open attitude about the benefits for all citizens of the improvement of civil rights after 1964, but they also don't hide the past history, which makes the museums quite stimulating.  They go through in detail the roles of various officials who fought tooth and nail against integration, and the commitment of the civil rights workers.

Much of the fun, as always with golf, is the lively conversation with Kit, Jim and Karen, both on the course and otherwise.  In addition of course to solving all of the problems of society, we (Jim excepted) manage to excuse all of our lack of skill on the golf course.  Jim, of course, plays so well that he's sort of on a different planet anyway.  Karen had to leave a few days before we finished on the Trail, but Kit, Jim and I struggled onward, braving more unbelievably beautiful scenery, sweet golf course people, and very warm temperatures.

The final day got rained out.  We were in Muscle Shoals, and the thunderstorm was impressive.  We drove to Birmingham and dropped off Kit and Jim there, and then I drove on to Mobile, so I wouldn't have to drive so much the next day on my way to Destin.  I really enjoyed the RTJ Trail, but if I were advising them, there are a few things I'd suggest they do differently.  But it was great fun, and a real treasure to be able to do it with people with whom one is close.  Thanks Kit, Jim and Karen.

New Orleans

Ahhh, New Orleans. I'm not sure whether it is my history of having read all of Anne Rice's books or just the interesting contrasts of the city that makes New Orleans so attractive. I stayed at the Wyndham Belle Maison resort, and it was the perfect place. It's in an old building about a block and a half off Canal Street. Technically, it's not in the Quarter, which turned out to be a positive. It was nice to have that short walk out of the French Quarter into the relative peace and quiet of Magazine Street.

I walked all over. I walked almost every street in the quarter reliving memories of my time there with Marta some years ago. I saw the antique shops and the historical spots. I took a carriage ride which was wonderful because I got a real grounding in the architecture of the French quarter. I also took the trolley out to the Garden District, which fortunately was not damaged in the hurricane. The houses there exude Southern charm.  I walked all over, and got lots of excercise.  Here are a couple of examples:

 When I had been there several days, Karen arrived. We had some wonderful New Orleans food. We ate one evening on a balcony and I had crawfish étouffée, and she had red beans and rice. We felt like we had arrived, and giggled a bit about the fact that the four guys at the next table were all eating cheeseburgers.

Given Karen's interest in jazz, she had a magazine from the 1940s which was a jazz yearbook. It had the layout for Storyville, which was where all of the jazz clubs were at the time. We decided to see if we could find any of the old buildings.  We went down Rampart Street, and did find a few buildings from that era. Karen was snapping pictures, and fortunately her skills with a camera far outshine mine. Most of that area however has been plowed over and now has huge bank buildings. Since I had been on my horse-drawn carriage ride, I was aware of where jazz is now being played off to the side of the French quarter. So we walked through the quarter and went to that area. It was a little too early for the music, and since we had been up early that day, we were pretty sure we wouldn't be able to stay up late enough to go there for the evening. Instead we walked down Bourbon Street and found an outdoor patio with music playing. We listened to Steamboat Willie. While not perhaps a terrific singer, he was an excellent trumpet player and very enthusiastic, with a great sense of showmanship.

Karen and I also had the opportunity to play some golf at a place called Lakewood. It was a really nice course, but different from what we would experience when we got to Alabama for the Robert Trent Jones golf Trail. While we didn't play our best golf, it was nice to start getting loosened up. After Karen had been two days in New Orleans, we left to drive to mobile to meet Kit and Jim.

Houston

From Dallas I went to Houston, and the drive was lovely.  There must've been a lot of rain in the area this year because Texas was green.  In a previous post, I had mentioned that in Colorado it was real clear that spring had not yet arrived. That was not the case in Texas. It was glorious.  it was also warm. I was really tired of the cold weather that I had had in New Mexico.

Bill and Sian and the boys were great.I had several days to spend with them, and Bill, Sian and I had a chance to play some golf. It was somewhat unbelievable that having only played on a golf course twice, Sian was able to hit competent fairway shots and was quite an inspiration. Bill hadn't played in quite a while either and was also hitting really well. We had quite a good time even though it was rather warm that day. I had a chance to talk with David about the possibility of his future as a biologist. He's been very busy running track. James has been playing football. He was a little late getting home several afternoons because of practice. As has been the case in almost everywhere outside of the Bay Area, I was amazed at the real estate prices in the Katy, Texas area. As I am planning on buying a house when I return to Vancouver, I'm real interested in relative prices.Bill and Sian have a beautiful house, which seems the right size for the two of them and two growing boys.

Of course Bill and I had to have our obligatory political discussion, and as completely expected, we didn't agree on everything in spite of the fact that we generally do know how to fix all of the problems of the world. I was a little sorry to leave Katy, and look forward to going back at some point in the near future. Given the recent events with the Gulf oil spill I hope that Houston is not eventually harmed. One bright spot however in moving on, was that I was moving on to New Orleans.

Midland and Dallas

Okay so it's been a while since I wrote.   Sorry about that. When I finished I had been driving from El Paso, Texas to Midland, Texas. I had the opportunity to attend the birthday party for Jamison’s  daughter Alex. While perhaps it shouldn't have been, it was a surprise that Mary Claire and Alan were there. There were also several of Jamison and Sasha’s friends present along with several kids. The party was lots of fun and I ate too much, especially birthday cake.  The birthday girl has been a bit obsessed with princesses. It was also fun meeting Sasha’s Mother, Sandra, who was delightful.

And of course, I can't leave out her little sister, Chloe, who was helping with unwrapping presents, and snuggling with her dad.  

What was quite a surprise was the beauty of the drive across northern Texas. I remember my mother telling me as a child about the work of Lady Byrd Johnson regarding beautifying highways. The wild flowers along the highway were stunning, and I understand this is somewhat unusual. Usually it's somewhat dry in that area even in the springtime. Unfortunately, I don't have a broad enough understanding of Texas wildflowers to be able to know the specific types.

After leaving Midland, I went to Dallas, and spent a few days. I had a chance to have dinner with Joslyn and another dinner with cousin Sally. It was really fun to catch up on family gossip and especially to spend some time with them, given that I've seen each of them so little over the years.

Carlsbad Caverns

I took off from El Paso early in the morning so I could get to Carlsbad Caverns.  There was quite a tailwind, a leftover from the previous day's windstorm.  I made good time, and the road was almost deserted.  The morning light was gorgeous:

I had tried to buy a ticket online to go on the King's Palace tour, but there was no availability.  When I arrived in the morning at the ticket counter however, they did have tickets, so I got one.  The only problem was that I wanted to go down through the natural entrance rather than the elevator, and the ranger there told me I'd need to "haul" in order to get there in time for the tour.  I like a challenge, so I took off.  Going down through the natural entrance is simply so impressive, that it sets the stage for the rest of the magical tour.  I made it down in plenty of time.

I'm going to publish two pictures here that I didn't take.  I took some, but in that kind of lighting, it takes someone with more skill and different equipment than I have.  They were taken by NPS photographer Peter Jones:

NPS Photo by Peter Jones

If you've never been to the caverns, it is truly a wonder.  The creation of the cavern takes into account the story of the geology I learned when I was in Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon.  Here, the interesting thing was how the material in the sandstone interacted with water to create some sulphuric acid, which ate out large amounts of the cave, and created the cottage cheese effect of many of the decorations on the walls.  Then once the cave was there, and the water level declined, ongoing leakage of water picked up calcite and deposited it, creating the stalactites and stalagmites.  It also created a crust of calcite on the floor.  I learned more about the bats in the exhibit area, but since I was there in the morning, I didn't see any.

In addition to the natural entrance down to the main level, I did the King's tour and then the Big Room.  It's hard to describe the beauty of these formations.  I was entranced, and after my initial rapid descent from the natural entrance, when in the Big Room I took a very leisurely approach.  I wanted to absorb some of the history and imagine the extremely slow creation of these amazing formations. After almost 4 hours of walking around, my legs were getting a little rubbery.  I finally left and got some lunch.  I also got a bat puppet at the gift shop for Chloe, since I already had something for Alex for her birthday and a DVD of Carlsbad for both of them.  I left the National Park still with a sense of amazement at what nature can create.

On to Tucson and Sierra Vista

Before I left Las Cruces I decided to take Mary's advice and try the restaurant in Mesilla just south my hotel.  It's called La Posta, and it's just my kind of place.  A little funky, with macaws and tucans in the lobby, cheap furnishings, and wonderful food and service.  It's just off the plaza in old Messila.

I then took off for Tucson in the morning to see Jennie.  Once again, I was surprised at the amount of green in the desert.  There were mountains in the distance, but fairly flat plains leading up to them.  The scrub was green and surrounded by a blanket of yellow flowers.  There were many types of yucca, tall and short, but blooming and pretty.

It's always fun with Jennie. We talked for hours, ate her special suffed green chile casserole (excellent), and compared notes about the family history.  She lives in the hills above Tucson in a lovely house with an old weimaraner named Heidi.  For some reason Heidi and I hit it off.  I miss dogs.  With 2's allergies, I haven't had pets for years.  Heidi is very feeble, but knew I liked her.  Jennie and I have now analyzed all of you, and decided we loved you anyway.  If we had blank spots in our analysis, we just made stuff up.  She's lots of fun, and I can't wait to see her again.  It's spring in Tucson, and the blooming of flowers is exciting. See the pics of the flowering cacti. 

The next morning I took off for Sierra Vista to see Mei.  On the way I saw the sign for Tombstone, so took a little detour there for about an hour.  It's mostly a tourist trap, but, hey, I'm a tourist!  I wandered around town thinking of something to get for little Alex's birthday party (Jameson and Sasha's daughter).  When I got to Mei's, she and I did find something for her in Sierra Vista.  We had a nice Korean dinner and she showed me around the base where she works.  She's teaching and in school, and we had a really nice time.  She has a nice house, friends, and likes Sierra Vista.  It's a little isolated for my taste, but seems like a friendly town with a high proportion of military and students.  

When I left the next morning to travel to El Paso, for the night, I hit a dust storm for the last 75 miles.  I could see ok, and only had to slow down once for about 1/4 mile, but it was impressive to see areas all around where there were high concentrations of blowing dust.  When I arrived in El Paso (so I'd have a direct shot to Carlsbad the next day), it was still really windy.  Most of the evening the wind was gusting to about 40-50 miles per hour, shaking the windows.  I was glad to take off the next morning for Carlsbad, thinking that if it was going to be really windy, I might as well be 800 feet below ground.

Santa Fe and Albuquerque

If you ever want to have a wonderful drive, take highway 285 south from Denver to Santa Fe.  It goes through a high altitude valley.  It was like an IMAX movie, driving along between two mountain ranges through this flat plain.  It was clearly not spring here yet, driving along above 7400 feet.  I kept wondering who lives here and why, but there were clearly cattle in some of the fields.  The peaks of the mountains were snow-covered, and my guess is that they stay that way well into summer.

Santa Fe was fun, but mostly fairly cold.  I had some time to visit the old town area and had some wonderful food.  My friend Ellen had recommended The Shed, so I went there for dinner just a few hours after arriving.  I had been feeling nostalgic as I drove down through northern New Mexico, not having been in this area for many years.  The mesas, arroyos, and the type of vegetation, pinion pine and mesquite, were all building a warm feeling.  Then I sat down at The Shed to a plate of green chile chicken enchiladas, and with the first bite it was an intense overwhelm of gustatory nostalgia.  This is the New Mexico I remember, real New Mexican cooking.

The next day I ate lunch at Cafe Pasqual's, having chicken mole enchiladas, and it also was a truly memorable experience.  I love the different versions of mole, with this one being complex in flavor, but only mildly spicey. Enchiladas twice in two days seemed a little much, but there is something that is so thoroughly real Mexican food about them.

I played golf once in Santa Fe at the Marty Sanchez municipal course.  I arrived early in the morning, and when I started on the first tee, playing alone, it was only 40 degrees.  After two holes I was worried it was simply too cold to play, but it slowly started to warm, and with it my general performance.  After struggling in the front nine, I played pretty well in the second.

I left for Albuquerque on Monday, the 26th early, and arrived in time to play at Twin Warriors as a single.  I was paired with a young man from Ohio, whose wife was in the cart, but didn't play.  He was very good, and we had a good time.  The course is beautiful, but still, with it just being on the brink of spring, the trees were not yet in leaf, and it was relatively windy, varying between one and two clubs during the round.  I'd love to play there again sometime, preferably when it is warmer.  I went later that day to Mary and George's house in Placitas and stayed with them for a couple of days.  Their house, which George built, is not only beautiful, but has many very innovative touches.  It is so easy to be there, and we had a great time.  The next day I did some minor shopping and then went to Michael's house in the far northwest corner of the city to have lunch with him and the boys.  I couldn't believe how much the boys are now young men, fairly constantly teasing each other.  It was a fun lunch.  Later that evening Mary, George and I went out to the Hyatt for their 8th Anniversary dinner.  It was delightful, and the atmosphere was great.  Their hospitality was so gracious and I was most appreciative that the weather started to turn warm.  

I then traveled south to Las Cruces for the night, impressed with how much greener the southern part of the state looked than I remembered it.  It is Spring, and I was told it has rained more than usual, but the hills and distant mountains are like a lumpy blanket of green across the plains to the edge of the hills.

Denver and Bailey, Colorado

I arrived in Denver with the intent of spending some time with my brother, Jim, also known as “Charming Little Brother.”  I arrived early afternoon after leaving Grand Junction early since Jim had told me to be careful about the weather.  The drive was picturesque, but it was nice to get to a city after being in fairly out of the way places.  I’ve become a fan of Priceline, and had fun playing “how low can you go” in getting my first night at the Grand Hyatt for less than half of the published price.  I already had a reservation for the next two nights at a Hampton Inn nearer to Jim’s apartment. 

We were going to play golf the next day in the mid-afternoon, but when we got to Fox Hollow, it was starting to rain lightly, and we decided to bag it until the next morning.  GOOD decision.  The next morning the weather was great. 

In the meantime, Jim took me to the Morrison Inn in Morrison for the afternoon, and we had a terrific lunch of Mexican food.    It’s a really cute little town, and we did some driving beyond the town to see the sights.  Jim goes into the hills frequently and knows these areas very well.

The golf the next morning was fun.  We played with a young couple, both of whom were pretty good, but the guy, John, was hitting from the championship tees, and making par on almost every hole.  Jim hadn’t played in about a year, and his style is, shall we say, “home grown.”  But he is a natural athlete, and by the 8^th hole, he was starting to hit the ball pretty consistently, both straight and solid.  It was really fun, and gave us a chance to laugh a bit with each other, since we don’t really see each other that often. 

When I left Denver, I drove to Bailey, Colorado, which is up in the hills, at about 7800 feet.  I got to see Heather, Daun, and the kids, Devlin and Kaelin.  I had a great time with both kids my first evening there, but I especially ended up having some fun with Devlin, age 4 ½ , the next day.  Heather was starting a new job as the county WIC educator, so Devlin and I had the day together.  We played games in the morning and watched some silly cartoon, then we went to a special lunch at the Coney Island hotdog place, just outside of the small town of Bailey.  The hotdogs were, well, adequate in quality, while being absolutely delicious in the impact of the fun with Devlin.  He was really more into the fries, but we were eating outside, and there was some music playing over the sound system (oldies but goodies,) and when I started lightly singing, he got real interested, and started swaying to the music.  We started dancing while sitting, and had a great time.  Then we went to the Pine Creek Open Space, about 12 miles away, and went on a nature walk around the lake.  When it started to sprinkle, we went under a huge fir tree, and he did experiments on what one could throw in the river that would float or sink (rocks sink, pine cones and sticks float-who’da thunk it).  It cleared up in about 10 minutes, and we continued around the lake. 

Heather was a great cook, making a fantastic chicken dish in the crock pot with some Mexican overtones.  We all read books with the kids, and being with them was truly a warm family event.  I also went outside with the kids and we did some chipping with a couple of golf balls.  Kaelin has some real interest in golf, and of course, Devlin has interest in anything Kaelin does.  I have visited them 3 times now, and each time is always a real treat.  I left early on the 21^st to drive to Santa Fe, after hugs all around. 

The drive from Bryce Canyon to Grand Junction was another beauty, but there was an interesting stretch in there that can only be described as desolation. There were large vistas, but the mountains and steppes were almost completely barren of any plant life. Then I hit the Colorado border, and things started to green up a little.

Grand Junction is a small city with a nice attitude. The people were very friendly. I was at the Ramada Inn and they were very helpful in anything asked. I went to the Colorado National Monument one afternoon, and it reminded me a lot of Zion National Park in the beauty of the spires and the way the canyons developed over time. It’s been great having a National Parks Annual Pass, as getting into the parks is now so quick and easy. I’ve decided to mostly let the pictures tell the story here, but I feel the people who live here are really fortunate that they have such an amazing national park nearby. And if the others I saw along the way are an indication, they do take advantage a lot.

I had been told that the steaks at WW Peppers would “melt in your mouth.” It was right beside the motel, so I decided to try them. I had one of those exceptionally perky, 45 year old waitresses with a hairdo from a 1960’s teenager who was a real treat. The steak was less than advertised, but the experience was rather fun.

I played golf at a place called Adobe Creek and realized that I was slowly getting my golf game back in shape, but was having some difficulty with my driver. It was very unpredictable, but especially I was tending to pull the ball strongly. At the same time, my proficiency with my relatively new 3 fairway metal was becoming quite good, so on short par 4’s, I was using that. Since then I’ve realized it has been more a problem with my weight transfer, so I’ve been to the range and worked on it. The other interesting thing is that one can get very seduced into thinking one’s power is increasing dramatically when you’re playing golf at 4000-6000 feet in altitude. I was regularly banging out 210 yard drives, when 190 is about my usual average. I’ve had to recalculate the distance of each of my irons also, as I’m hitting all of them further at this altitude.

I then drove to Denver. I’d spoken to my brother, Jim, and realized the weather might get a little testy the next afternoon, and since I had to go over Vail pass, which is over 11,000 feet, I decided to get an early start. One of the most interesting parts of this trip is the driving itself. This was a beautiful drive, winding through very narrow canyons on very well-maintained highway. Driving through the ski areas made me long for getting back on skis again, but that will have to wait until next winter. In the long descent down into Denver, there was one stretch where the cops were out in force, and I saw 3 people pulled over within about 10 minutes. I have been very careful with my speed on this trip, partly to avoid a ticket, but also as part of the experience to really see the countryside and not be in a hurry. The less traffic, the more I simply put it on cruise control and look at the world. Next: Denver

Bryce Canyon was not quite awake yet. I checked into the Bryce Canyon Resort Motel (a bit of an exaggeration, but the cabin was cute, well equipped and a little rustic. The manager was exceptionally pleasant and gave some good advice about the Park. Once again, the next morning I went to the park.

I focused on going to the various lookout points, since number one, it was cold, about 44 degrees, and two, the rangers were warning everyone that the trails were pretty muddy. The views, as you can see here, are unbelievable. Several times the lining up of the Hoodoos, which is what the spires are called, reminded me of the Chinese Terra Cotta Warriors. I showed up at the appointed time and place to hear a ranger named Jan Stock discuss the geology of the area. A huge area called the Colorado Plateau started out as a base of sedimentary rock, caused by an inland sea which split what is now the United States in two. As that sea receded as tectonic movement caused the Colorado Plateau to rise, there were freshwater lakes which put down millions of years of sandstone. The various colors are due to the relative amounts of various minerals, obviously iron being a predominant one causing the red color. These particular formations are due to a unique interaction of climate. Due to the altitude, this area has about 200 days per year where the daytime temperature is above freezing and the nighttime temperature is below freezing. Given the amount of rain and snow the area receives, the rather fragile sandstone is subjected to freezing and thawing of water in the cracks many days of the year, so little bits of it chip off. The beautiful Hoodoos are caused by this erosion, which doesn't happen at either much higher or lower elevations due to the lack of the temperature shift from freezing to above freezing. It's either too consistently warm or too consistently cold. The bad news is that this erosion is fairly rapid in geological terms, so the Hoodoos change fairly quickly. It is estimated that within a mere 3 million years, they will be reduced to rubble. I suggest you make a plan to visit soon.

I loved Jan's talk of about 50 minutes, though the last 10 minutes were difficult simply because I was getting quite cold. I left the park at about 3 pm, and went back to the motel to warm up and eat leftovers. That night it snowed about 3 inches. When I looked out my window at about 6:30 am, I decided it was time to go back to bed for awhile, so the roads had some time to get clear. As you know, for me to stay in bed beyond 6:30 is pretty much against my religion, but it felt very nice. The forecast was for temps in the mid-60's that day. Sure enough, by 8 am, while everything else was still covered with snow there was a thick band of steam over the roads where the water was evaporating rapidly. I went back to the park and took more pictures. As with Zion National Park, this is an area I'd love to come back to for some backpacking.

Zion National Park

OK, so why didn't someone make me go to this place before? I drove in from Las Vegas and stayed at the Zion Park Inn, a very pleasant, clean place with nice service, but not particularly fancy-in other words, just the kind of place I like. As you will see in the pictures, the National Park is especially memorable. I purchased an annual pass for the National Park Service, and this was my first use of it. Since it costs $25 to get in per vehicle, it was a good start on recouping the eighty bucks. But even before I went to the park, just the view from the outside of the motel was amazing. Huge rock formations to rival Yosemite were everywhere. I went to the park early the next morning with my hiking shoes on and took the shuttle up to the end point, stopping along the way to catch the morning light on the formations. Then, after hiking about 2 miles at the end point, I caught the shuttle down to another area and went on another 2.5 mile hike. The whole experience was magical, but it was quite an education to remember what it's like to hike at 4000 feet when you're used to sea level.

The last 15 minutes up to the upper Emerald Pool was fairly strenuous, and I ended up taking off both my windbreaker and polartech shirt to just be in a T shirt when I got to the top. But there was a beautiful pool with the water cascading down from above. It made me feel I wanted to come back here for a week and do some camping in the back country, and a lot more hiking. The next morning I took off for Bryce Canyon, about two hours away. The drive from the park entrance through the park to the exit was exceptionally pretty, with many wonderful spots to stop and see more interesting rock formations. Powerful is how I would describe most of them in Zion, with many sheer cliff faces. I even saw a climber or two along the way.

When I got back to the motel, it was just in time to see the last 9 holes of the Masters Golf Tournament. I went to the little bar/restaurant next to the motel called Jacks, which ended up being a very nice choice. The proprietor was really nice, and the nachos were terrific. It was the one time I've had a beer so far, and after all the hiking, and a lot of water, it was soooo good. I loved the outcome of the tournament, with Phil Mickelson getting the green jacket. It was exciting right up to the end, and touching, given the difficulties Phil's wife has had this past year with breast cancer. One could see the love clearly in that long hug when he came off the green.

After I left the Park, I had breakfast at a nice little place on the plateau just outside the Park a few miles, called the Buffalo Grill. Their Cowboy Breakfast was just what I needed, though I saved about half of it for later. I then started the ascent up to Bryce Canyon National Park. While not wanting to go into too much of a geological discussion, the lower strata of the formations at Bryce are at the, level as the upper strata of Zion. The lower strata at Zion is at the level of the upper strata at Grand Canyon. When I describe Bryce, and the delightful Jan Stock in the next post, the reason this is important will be more clear.

Anyway, still having fun, and I actually noticed as I left Zion that I hadn't been to work in awhile (12 days). It's starting to sink in, that this is a whole new lifestyle. I keep meeting very nice people along the way, on the trails, the entry rangers at the park, waitpeople in restaurants, all willing to give local information and very kind.

Las Vegas

Ok, what can one say about Vegas? It was great fun. I picked up Tu on a Wednesday morning and we stayed at the Wyndham Grand Desert. Nice place, with a lovely room, clean and with exceptionally friendly service staff. We played a little bit of blackjack together, something we've never done. I like blackjack and poker, she's a slots enthusiast and likes poker too, but only online. We both lost some money at blackjack, but as has happened the last several times I've been there, sometimes it comes back.

We didn't play long though because we had early dinner reservations at Roy's. We were celebrating my retirement (oh, yeah, been milking that one for all it's worth), just as we celebrated her 21st birthday there. It was just wonderful. I had butterfish, and could hardly talk after the first bite, just wanted to savor the experience. For us, it simply seems like Roy's is consistently excellent. But good as it was, in just 24 hours it was going to be slightly upstaged.

We had tickets to Cirque du Soleil's "Ka" that evening. It completely lived up to the Cirque standard. Lot's of martial arts and people floating on wires in a romantic ballet. We came out smiling, amazed as usual that no one seems to kill himself. I'd love to have the opportunity to see rehearsals.

The highlight of the trip was our last evening when we ate at the Mesa Grill, Bobby Flay's restaurant in Caesars Palace. It was intentionally a slow experience, starting with margaritas and the chicken tacos. The chicken has a sweet barbecue sauce, and there is also an ancho chile sauce to go on it. Each dish was exquisite and we had a pineapple upside down cake for desert (having done our chocolate fix at Roy's with the chocolate souffles. We walked out very full and wanting a little exercise. We walked all over Caesars and then, while Tu played a little Wheel of Fortune, I sat at a blackjack table, hit a brief winning streak, and won back the money we'd lost before and a little more. So all in all, lots of fun. It's the last time Tu and I will see each other until July, so the good-bye hugs were warm.

The Uneventful Drive

What do you see when told it's a pretty uneventful drive? It was magic. Several days after going through Joshua Tree National Park, the trip required retracing those steps to return through the Park, and on north to Las Vegas. It was early morning and there were almost no other cars.

The joshua trees were brightly outlined in the morning light. There were hills of jumbled rounded rocks. Piles of them stuck out in the middle of nowhere. In other areas mountains of multi-layered, colored stone had obviously been pried from underneath, up, up into to the sky.

The wind was firm, but not enough to remove a very distant level of haze. Up through the cholla forest, fuzzy cacti which look cute, until a close-up reveals the stiff spines. The sun is slowly rising, casting more direct light on the rocks and the profusion of flowers. Then over the hill on toward Twenty-nine Palms. The alluvial plain stretches for 50 miles below, the silent vista denying the "uneventful" nature of the experience. One can imagine long ago flows of water, carving out the hills, leaving small peaks in a succession of slightly decreasing shades of gray in the distance.

More hills and then moving into the Mojave National Preserve. Slowly the hills change from rounded on the top to the start of more powerful uprisings. Sheer cliffs of multicolored stratified rock. What are the layers? What was the climate like when they were laid down? Were there dinosaurs? (no, happened before the dinosaurs) The road moves through more valleys each with a slight change from the one before. There is an area of salt flats, and then a lonely mile long sand dune. In Kelso, there's a short wait while a long freight train rambles by. Then up onto the plateau, with more grand vistas, and another joshua tree patch. Now they're friends, sentinels insuring that there is watching happening, noticing the slow passage of time, and feeling the brisk wind.

Finally the spell slowly dissolves when the Nevada border is crossed, and suddenly there are more cars, all speeding to Sin City. Oh yeah, but the moment isn't lost, and is etched into memory.

Golf and Earthquakes

The last two days have been eventful. Kit, Lynda and I did our usual procedure at the Kraft-Nabisco Tournament in Rancho Mirage. We played golf early in the morning on one of the two courses at Mission Hills that the pros weren't using, followed by watching the tournament when we got off the 18th green. The golf was wonderful. The weather was just about perfect, chilly in the early morning in the desert, followed by the temperature moving up into the high 70's with minimal wind. I love this club. The Palmer and Dye courses are beautifully maintained, and after having played Harding Park in San Francisco about a week ago, the greens here in Rancho Mirage were noticeably more smooth, faster, and more undulating. I'm shooting in the low to mid 90's, and by the end of this trip would love to be in the mid-80's. I know it's possible, but as we all know, consistency is always the problem.

We were sitting around yesterday afternoon, preparing to watch the Stanford Women play Oklahoma in the semis of the NCAA basketball tournament, when the house started to sway. It was a slow waving motion, seeming to move slightly more up and down that side to side. Nothing fell off walls or countertops, but it lasted a good 15 seconds. Having been in numerous quakes when living in San Carlos, I guessed this one at about a 6.5. We immediately got on the internet, and discovered its epicenter was in Baja, Mexico, near Mexicali, and was a 7.2. So given our distance away in Rancho Mirage, my initial guess seemed pretty close. This morning at 4:15 we had another noticeable aftershock.

The earthquake was one minor level of excitement, but the Kraft-Nabisco tournament was really fun. Wendy Tseng won, consistent with Kit's prediction after round 3. Suzann Pettersen made it very interesting at the very end, bringing it to one stroke difference with a birdie on 18. But Wendy played the last few holes very wisely, being careful and not making any major mistakes (in spite of a drive into the rough on 18). As usual, we attended on the first 3 days, sometimes sitting at hole 6 near the amphitheater style hill around the green, and at other times following players for a few holes before shifting to others. It's really fun to see them up so close. They're all so young, so talented, and we always marvel at how loose and enjoying themselves they seem.

On the final day, we always watch the end at home on TV. You get to see more players on different holes and see every shot. It seemed that Yani could hardly wait to jump into the pond, and she smiled, and truly seemed the very young, exuberant woman that she is.

We then prepared to watch the Stanford game when the earthquake happened. The game itself was more exciting at the end than I wanted. The Oklahoma team came within 4 points in the last minute, after having been down by 18. They were fighters, but in the end, the Cardinal came through, setting up a showdown with Connecticut. We watched that game with UConn against Baylor after the Stanford game. UConn is truly awesome. As a former basketball player, I am amazed with their absolutely complete game. They are proficient in every aspect, and they never give up. Although Brittany Griner was very impressive, we talked more about her potential in the years to come. She is just getting started, and as her sense of how to use her body and positioning grow, she will be unstoppable.

Between the two games, Kit gave a good example of how to do an absolutely fabulous dinner very simply. We had tortellini with a simple olive oil and parmesan topping and some grilled asparagus. Simple, exceptionally tasty, and serious basketball conversation was flowing with Kit, Lynda, Jim and me. No buffalo wings, no guacamole, just the pasta, veggie, and a little cabernet sauvignon. Excellent!

So yesterday was a very eventful day. Today should be a little more sedate. I'll take pictures in Joshua Tree, and let my slightly tired body rest from 4 straight days of golf. What with moving, retiring, and preparing for this trip, until Harding Park last week, I hadn't played golf for about 2 1/2 months, very unusual for me. So I feel a little rusty and can't wait to hone my skills a little more. But I need a few days of rest, and after all, there are other delights around me, so look forward to a few pictures of wildflowers from the desert.