Month: May 2022

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Saturday, May 28, 2022

We took the day off from the National Parks to rest and do some errands. In the morning Deborah did laundry and then we went out to lunch at a long time Cedar City spot: Hermie’s Drive In. We availed ourself of the indoor seating.

The problem with paper thin burgers is that it is really easy to overcook them and that is exactly what happened. The fries were just ordinary frozen fries. We also ordered a chocolate malt. It came with a spoon because it was too thick to drink. We searched in vain for the malt (for which we paid extra) and the ice cream was about the same quality as a Wendy’s frosty. It wasn’t a very satisfying meal.

Just across the street we spotted a bakery. They had some lovely looking items. We brought a vanilla and a carrot cake cupcake back to the hotel for later. Both had custard in the middle and butter cream frosting. The custard had little flavor and the butter cream had some other fat in it so that it was impossible to eat too much of it without feeling awful.

Sunday, May 29, 2022

Happy Anniversary to Us! I don’t know how it’s possible we could have been married for 36 years when we’re still in our 20s. I’ll tell you about our time machine later 😉.

This morning we drove from Cedar City, UT to Capitol Reef National Park. Along the way we drove past Butch Cassidy’s boyhood home. It was a tiny shack that resembled an outhouse. No wonder he turned to crime.

As we turned North on route 62 we were stopped in our tracks. A large mama cow was standing in the middle of the road. On one side of the road was a young calf and on the other side of the road was another. She must have been beside herself trying to figure out what to do. We approached slowly and drove around her. I hope she managed to work something out. There are open ranges in that area so we were careful to watch for other cows.

Just past the Capitol Reef visitor center we drove into the historic town of Fruita (pronounced fruit-a). It was once a small Mormon village. We stopped by the old, one room school house. The building is closed but we were able to peer inside and see the old desks and chalkboard. Next to and all around the school house are fruit orchards. The National Park Service maintains these orchards and offers a U-Pick service when in season. None of the fruits were ripe when we were there.

A little further down the road we stopped to see the Freemont Petroglyphs. The Freemonts were ancestors of the Hopi Native Americans that inhabited the area between 300 and 1300 CE. Petroglyphs were inscribed on the face of what once had been a very long and flat rock face. Today, because of erosion, only a few of the glyphs remain to be seen. We were fascinated by them. In some places it was easy to see that they had drawn pictographs of important people and animals. According to the Park Ranger the glyphs were well over 1,000 years old.

We continued down the road and eventually found The Grand Wash Trail which we intended to hike. The path is along a narrow stream bed that winds its way through some very high canyon walls. There were lots of signs warning hikers to avoid the trail when it might rain because of possible flash flooding. Initially the footing was rather sandy but as we walked the ground became firmer.

It was easy to imagine how the canyon came into being. The signs of how running water had eroded the sheer walls was quite evident. Eventually we came to a sign indicating that we were on another trail – a much more strenuous trail that had a very significant rise in elevation. At that point we turned around. On our way back the wind kicked up and starting blowing dust and sand everywhere. By the time we reached the car we were covered head to foot. We were in desperate need of a shower.

When we had left the Freemont Petroglyphs in the morning we had noticed another path that paralleled the road where more glyphs were visible. We returned to this spot and found more writings interspersed sporatically on the wall. It was clear that portions of the wall, where writings were likely to have been, had broken off. Still, it was fun tracking them down and trying to decipher them.

Just outside the visitor’s center we stopped at a place called Panorama Point. We climbed a small hill that provided us with a great view of the surrounding cliffs. It was the perfect place to take some more photos.

Monday, May 30, 2022

Our plan for the morning was to hike the Hickman Natural Bridge trail. This is one of the more challenging trails with a very significant rise in elevation. We were told that the beautiful scenery along the way and the magnificent arch at the end of the trail would be worth the effort.

We arrived before 10:00 am and the parking lot was already full. We parked alongside the road, got out the hiking poles, girded our loins and made our way to the trailhead. The path was very rocky with slippery sand covering most surfaces. We took it rather slowly.

The path was rather steep for a while and then it turned to sand as it leveled off. Just as we were feeling good about things it went abruptly down. That’s not too bad until you consider that you’re going to have to climb that much back up – and more. When we finally got to the arch we took some pictures. There was a loop that went down to the arch, through and around, but by then we’d had enough.

Afterwards we drove back to the visitor’s center and took the other fork in the road. It lead to the main part of the old town. We stopped at the old Blacksmith shop but there was really nothing to see, so we continued on down the ten mile scenic drive to the far end of the park.

The drive is quite beautiful. There are lots of high cliffs and colored sedimentary layers to admire. There was evidence of large boulders cleaving off the cliffs everywhere. When we got to the end there was another trail we intended to take but it meant driving a couple of miles over a dirt road. We started down the road. It was much more uneven and rocky than we thought so we went back. Our little Corolla was not meant for off-roading.

There is a dearth of restaurants in Richfield, where our hotel is. If you want fast food you are in luck but if you are in the mood for anything else there are slim pickings. For dinner we tried a local hangout called Sandi’s Drive In. We ordered a couple of patty melts, some fries and a sundae of vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce. The burgers were ok, the fries were nothing special and the ice cream was completely average. There was nothing particularly interesting about any of it. This trip to Utah has been a bust as far as gastronomy is concerned.

Tuesday, May 31, 2022

We decided to take the day off. We need to do some planning. We have two parks left in Utah and for one of them, Arches, we need to have reservations to enter the park. Of course, Arches and Canyonlands are both in the middle of nowhere so finding a suitable hotel will also be a challenge.

We found a sports bar near our hotel. We called to see if they were showing matches from the French Open. They had no idea what channel that would be on and had no idea if they carried anything having to do with tennis. We decided to go over there around lunch time and suss things out. Sure enough, unknown to any of the people who work there, they had a subscription to the Tennis Channel. We ordered lunch and for the next 4.5 hours watched Djokovic and Nadal beat the crap out of each other. It was an exciting match: Nadal won in a fourth set tie-breaker.

For lunch I had fish and chips and Deborah had fish tacos. Both of our meals contained the same, pre-packed, previously frozen, fish nuggets that had been deep fried. We were just glad to have the tennis to watch.

It was actually dinner time when the match ended. We decided to have ice cream at The Ideal Dairy. The restaurant serves some food but its staples are soft serve and a variety of hard ice creams. I had a malt with hot fudge and marshmallow. Deborah had a cup of chocolate peanut butter. Both were excellent.

We found out that we need a reservation for a timed entry to Arches National Park. Entries for the next two weeks can only be reserved the night before starting at 6:00 pm at a cost of $2.00 each. What a freaking pain! We raced from the dairy back to our hotel so we could be sitting in front of the computer at the stroke of 6. We got the entry we wanted. We have to be there between 11:00 am and noon.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2022

In the morning we went to a coffee shop and did some trip planning. The problem with all of these National Parks in Utah is that they are in the middle of nowhere. There are few hotels nearby and those that are near are very expensive. We managed to find a hotel within reasonable driving distance to our next destination: Capital Reef National Park.

The other thing we did was research whether camping sites were available in the parks we intended to visit. These sites tend to get reserved well in advance. We weren’t surprised to see that the sites in the most popular parks were reserved well into August. Surprisingly, sites could not be reserved online for several parks. It’s not clear at all how to get space in those parks. What we did manage to determine is that, in spite of the obstacles, there are enough parks with sites available that camping is still a viable option for us.

In the afternoon we did a little more research on what it would take to get some camping equipment. We had made a list of all the things we think we’ll need and found quite a few of them on Amazon but we were surprised to see how many items were out of stock. We decided to visit a couple of local camping supply stores to see if we could find the things we were interested in and to price them out. By the end of the day we had a complete camping inventory along with the expected cost.

Thursday, May 26, 2022

The drive to Zion was dominated by desert, high sandstone bluffs and buttes. We expected this. The drive to Bryce was dominated by rolling hills covered in green and large swathes of forest. It was no different as we entered the park and went into the visitor’s center. There was no sign of the canyons or even the sandstone we expected to see.

Bryce is basically divided into two large sections. The first section is where all of the popular viewing sites are located. Although cars can drive in this section the park service provides high quality shuttle service that makes it easy to get around. The second section is an 18 mile drive.

The visitor’s center had a suggested agenda and we decided we would follow it to get acquainted with the area. The first stop was Bryce Point. This is where we finally got to see the sandstone canyons that we had expected. It’s also the home of the famous Amphitheater. The view is striking. Before you is a huge red hued canyon laden with “Hoodoos” (tall skinny shafts of rock) that goes on for miles. We stood in awe for a while and took a lot of pictures. Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was almost 11:00 am and the light was far from ideal for taking good photographs.

We got back on the shuttle and got off at the next stop: Inspiration Point. Another fantastic viewing area. We walked up a very steep trail to a higher viewing platform. It was interesting to see how every few steps the scene seemed to change rather dramatically. It was a combination of new formations that could be seen and how the light was hitting them.

Walking up to the higher observation point was quite a chore. It’s not that it was so very high but a combination of the altitude and the temperature. Most of the canyon rim is well above 8,100 feet above sea level. Given that the temperatures were well over 80 degrees the effective height was about 12,000 feet. At that altitude there is just 2/3 of the oxygen in the air that you would encounter at sea level. It was not surprising that our lungs were feeling it.

From there we hiked that part of the Rim Trail over to Sunset Point for more canyon viewing. Next we walked over to Bryce Lodge. There was a huge line of people waiting to get into the dining room. Since COVID help has been hard to get so they’ve been having buffet meals. Lunch was $18.00 per person. We decided to try our luck elsewhere. We continued on foot and found the General Store. It was part gift shop, part camping supply store and part eatery. We ordered an onion pizza. During the 15 minute wait we sat on the shaded part of the porch and ate some cheese doodles and drank some Gatorade. We were both feeling the altitude and the heat and thought that a sports drink might help.

The pizza was nothing special but we didn’t enjoy it at all. Neither of us were feeling great. We walked over to Sunrise Point to see that view and, by the time we looked around for a bit, we knew we were done. We took the shuttle back to our car and left for the day.

Friday, May 27, 2022

We decided to get up a little extra early to try to beat the heat and bypassed the shuttle. We parked at the General Store near Sunrise Point so we could take the Queen’s Garden Trail. It went down into the bowels of the Canyon descending 600 feet. We were fortunate to get a parking space there because the park was much more crowded with Memorial Day visitors. When we started our descent the temperature was already well into the 70s and the sun was high in the sky but there were a few, diffuse clouds that really helped make it feel cooler.

The first part of the trail was really spectacular. The path took us so close to the hoodoos that we could easily touch them. Now we were looking up at the rock formations. From there the light was really quite good and I was able to get some great photographs.

Yesterday, we had seen some people hiking through natural arches in the rocks down below. It wasn’t clear how they could possibly have gotten there; the canyon walls are so steep and slippery that it would be impossible to climb down. Today we found the secret. The arches were part of the trail. Everyone stopped to take numerous selfies. At the lowest point in the trail, on the canyon floor, we followed a stream for a bit. Eventually we turned on to another trail for the ascent back to the canyon rim. This would lead us to Sunset Point.

The Navajo Loop Trail started the upward journey. It was not too strenuous at first. Soon we came to a place called, “Wall Street”. It is a narrow canyon with sheer rock formations on both sides. It was an awesome sight.

Once through that canyon there was a set of steep, switchback slopes that seemingly lead straight up all the way to the canyon rim. By now it was fairly hot and we were feeling the altitude. We stopped a few times along the way but managed to get to the top. It was a great feeling of accomplishment. We all took turns taking pictures of each other at the pinnacle. Everyone was in a great mood.

We walked the rim trail for a little over half a mile from Sunset Point back to Sunrise Point and the General Store. For lunch we had a couple of sandwiches and another Gatorade. The clerk had recommended the huge chocolate chip cookies so we bought one of those, too. It was very good.

After lunch we embarked on the 18 mile drive to the West to see the rest of the park. There were a number of Vista points. Two stand out as being particularly memorable. The first was Natural Bridge. It was a large arch that had been eroded into the rock. Even the information sign conceded that it was really an arch and not a bridge. It was a beautiful sight.

The second memorable stop was Agua Canyon. When we got there we saw two enormous Ravens sitting on the fence posts. I got the camera out and started taking pictures. I got pretty close to the first one; he just ignored me. I got closed enough to the second one to touch him. He just sat there like he was posing. After a while they both flew off. On our way back from the furtherest end of the park we noticed that they were back in their assigned places.

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Sunday, May 22, 2022

We left Vegas this morning and enjoyed the rather easy sub-three hour drive to Zion National Park. Our path lead us through a wonderful place called The Virgin River Gorge. It’s a long canyon that spans Utah and Arizona that was carved by the Virgin River. The path winds through a twisting road which crosses the river several times. Out the windows you see soaring masses of rocks that were once part of an ancient seabed. The many layers of colorful sediment have been eroded into all sorts of interesting shapes. When the light hits the canyon just right it is an amazing sight.

We approached the park through the town of Springdale and encountered a sign that said that the parking lots in Zion were full and suggested we park in town. No problem. There are free shuttle busses that run every few minutes that will take you from town into the park. We parked at stop nine, the furtherest from the park, paid $15 for the day, and walked just a few steps to where a shuttle was waiting. Parking in Zion is rather limited; those who get there early enough can park for free. We later found out that if you park near some of the closer shuttle stops the charge for parking is $40.

Right near the park entrance we found a nice little restaurant and decided to have some lunch before embarking on a hike. We split a cheeseburger and fries. Based on previous experiences eating in and around National Parks we didn’t expect much. Sometimes it’s nice to be surprised. The meat on the burger was fresh, it was well dressed and it tasted great. We tried their special oil, vinegar and garlic fries too. The dressing made them a little soggy but they were still quite tasty.

After lunch we walked into the park, showed our pass, and went right in (I never get tired of saying that). Deborah had researched all of the trails and suggested we do one that was right near the visitor center. It was the Pa’rus Trail.

The trail starts at the visitor center and ends at canyon shuttle bus stop three. During the busier times of the year, like now, you can’t drive in the park. Fortunately, the park service provides a very nice shuttle service that sequences between nine different stations every four minutes or so…and it’s free. Our hike was on a paved trail that followed the Virgin River for about 1.75 miles each way. The trail is part of the way that extends all the way through the park and ends at shuttle stop nine.

We had been to Zion before in 2017 with a bunch of family members. At that time we walked a short portion of the very rugged Watchman Trail. Now we were going to get the opportunity to explore the entire park. The park is really one long canyon that was carved by the Virgin River over many centuries. Like the gorge we had passed through there were high mountains of sedimentary rocks on either side that had been eroded. Even though there is a lot of green foliage near the river the area is still considered desert so we were not too surprised to find numerous prickly pear cacti. Several were flowering. Most were yellow but we found one that was a shocking pink. We also encountered several deer. They were not the least put off by our presence.

This trail was also very popular with the biking crowd. As a matter of fact it is the only trail where cycling is permitted. There is a store just outside the park that rents bikes – both regular and electric. On our way back we found another deer in the middle of the trail eating leaves off a bush. We approached slowly but he didn’t care. He went right on with his business. As I approached I was snapping photos like a madman. At one point I was close enough to touch him with an outstretched arm. It’s obvious that the deer have not been mistreated.

We finished off the day by riding the canyon shuttle bus from the starting point to the ending point and back along the Scenic Drive. (There are two shuttle busses that you need to use. The Springdale shuttle takes you from Springdale to the park. The canyon shuttle takes you through the park.) It was a great way to see the entire park and get our bearings for our subsequent visits. We had to get off the shuttle at stop nine (The Temple of Sinawava). While we were waiting for another shuttle to take us back a turkey appeared. He walked through the crowds looking for someone to give him something to eat. It was very amusing.

Back in Cedar City, where our hotel was, we visited an old favorite restaurant for dinner called Culver’s. We first discovered Culver’s near Savanah, GA in 2019. We split an order of chicken strips and then enjoyed some soft serve custard for dessert.

Monday, May 23, 2022

It turns out that our hotel has a complementary breakfast. Because of COVID, even the hotels that say they offer breakfast really don’t. We’re never sure what the deal will be until we actually see what is being offered. The breakfast included cold cereal, oatmeal, pancakes, eggs, sausages and more. It was very satisfying. On the way out we grabbed a couple of bottles of water and a couple of yogurts for dinner at some later date.

We got to Springdale around 9:00 am. This time the sign said that there was parking available inside the park. When we drove into the park the ranger informed us that the parking had been closed for about two hours. When we asked about the sign she said that Zion had no control over that sign; it was owned and operated by the town. We drove around the parking area for about ten minutes looking for a space but found none. We drove out and parked exactly where we had the previous day and took the Springdale shuttle bus back into the park.

This time we took the canyon shuttle to stop five. This is where the Zion Lodge and gift shop are located. We took the grotto trail. It was a short walk, mostly along the road, that went past a small cave from where water runs off in the wetter months. Along the way we encountered a young male deer. He was sleeping about ten feet from the path. When we came along he picked up his head, which made for a wonderful picture. By the time we walked back he was gone.

Upon our return we explored the Lodge. There was a very nice, rustically decorated lobby but not much else to see except a staircase that led to an upscale restaurant. Just off the lobby there was a large gift shop. It had all the usual items you typically find in these park shops: clothing, games, rocks, snacks, and jewelry.

Next door was a small cafe. They had small pizzas, sandwiches, hamburgers, and hot dogs. I got a chicken salad sandwich and Deborah got a tuna salad sandwich. The sandwiches were a big disappointment. A teaspoons worth of salad was spread on a stale hamburger role which was dressed with two small slices of tomato. We washed that down with our own water. The most substantial thing we ate were the oranges that we’d brought with us.

Our next destination was the Lower Emerald Pools Trail. The trailhead was just across the road from the Lodge. The path wound its way up around a mountain until we reached a large grotto. Above there was some water trickling down the sheer mountain walls into a small pool below. The way continued on the other side of the grotto. Someone we met told us that it lead to the Middle Emerald Pool (just a puddle) and eventually to the Upper Emerald Pool (similar to the one we were at). We turned around and went back to the Lodge.

By now it was around 2:30 pm. We were both still feeling rather energetic and resolved to do a third trail off of shuttle stop nine. By the time we got to stop nine we knew that we’d be leaving that trail for tomorrow.

While driving back to Cedar City Deborah was jonesing for a streak. We found an interesting looking restaurant with an unassuming name: The America Diner. They had an eight ounce sirloin streak that came with two sides for $11.99. Deborah got a baked potato (with butter and sour cream) and mixed vegetables. I got the same thing except instead of the veggies I got the homemade tomato soup. The steaks were tender and well seasoned, the baked potatoes very satisfying and the soup was quite delicious. Even the vegetables were good! We saw what some of the other people were eating. All of the portions were huge. I don’t know how they can stay in business at those prices.

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Back at Zion we parked at the same place and took the Springdale shuttle into the park. The last two days we’d waited 15-20 minutes to get a ride on the canyon shuttle. This morning we just walked right on. We got off at stop nine and headed over to the Riverside Walk Trailhead.

The trail starts at the northern end of the park and wends its way north along the river. The gorge is pretty narrow at this point. The towering sandstone walls are close in on both sides. About a mile upriver the path disappears entirely. The gorge is so narrow that, if you wish to continue, you are mostly walking in the water. At this point the trail changes it name to The Narrows and it is actually one of the most popular trails in the entire park. A store just outside of the park rents special waterproof socks, shoes and waders for those who wish to try their luck. The guidebook describes it as walking on wet bowling balls where the water levels range from a few inches to waist high. The path extends an indefinite one to eight miles. At the point that the path disappeared we turned back.

The way back was not without its charms. We encountered several deer grazing along the banks. When we had completed this trail we had done all of the trails we intended to at Zion.

Instead of driving back to Cedar City we went into Saint George. We were looking for sporting goods companies. Deborah had gotten it into her head that we could save a lot of money if, instead of renting hotel rooms, we camped in the parks. Can you ever have imagined the name Deborah and the word Camping appearing in a sentence together?

We had lunch at an artisanal pizza place called Onyx Cafe (they really need a better name). They specialize in wood fired pizzas, homemade root beer and cream soda and gelato. We ordered a medium pizza with Calabrese ham with every intention of trying out their gelato for dessert. The pizza was good but lacked some flavor. The sauce could definitely have used some garlic and the dough really needed some salt. The sodas were very good but a little on the sweet side. Because the pizza was not as good as we had expected we decided to pass on the gelato. Eventually we hit on the happy idea that we could go to Neilsen’s Frozen Custard for dessert. We’d been to the one near Las Vegas many times and it was always first rate.

We had made a list of all of the camping equipment we thought we would need but we really had no idea what kind / what size tent we would need. None of the places we called or visited had tents set up on their floors. Stumped, we decided to get gas and then get dessert. Along the way we found two interesting sporting goods stores that Google had failed to mention. Both had a full compliment of camping goods, including tents. We were able to determine that a four person tent would be more than enough for our needs.

The Neilsen’s in Saint George was charming. It looked like it had been around since the 1960s. Given that they were having a lot of trouble with the custard machines I’d say that we weren’t that far off. We ordered a single scoop of vanilla with caramel sauce and a single scoop of chocolate. The portions were much smaller (and cheaper) than we were used. The presentation was anything but neat but at least the custard was good.

Thursday, May 12, 2022

The trip from Reno was rather long and uninteresting. You’d think there’d be a direct route from Reno / Carson City to Las Vegas but there isn’t. We basically started off on 95 ALT, had to go through some towns, picked up 95 ALT again, went through some more towns until we finally got to 95 South. There wasn’t much to see because it was a dark, overcast, moonless light. We got to Las Vegas around 1:30 am.

I reported to jury duty at the appointed time of 10:00 am. There were about 50 of us in this group. They checked us in, validated our parking, and showed us a short video on what it means to sit on a jury. By 10:30 am they announced that we’d be taking a break for lunch and that we needed to be back by 12:30 pm.

At 12:30 pm they announced that at 1:00 pm we’d be going upstairs to a courtroom. After we were all seated the judge explained that we’d all been selected as candidate jurors for a capital murder case. The actual case would be starting over a month from now on June 16. We were then asked to fill out a ten page questionnaire; the prosecution, defense, and judge would all be reviewing these papers. Some of the candidate jurors would be notified to return for further questioning, some of the candidate jurors would be notified sometime before June 13, that they were not needed, and the rest would have to return to court on June 16 for voir dire. After we completed the questionnaire we were free to leave.

Are you kidding me? The court was putting a large number of people’s lives on hold for over a month? I was given a summons and I showed up ready and eager to serve on the appointed day – but to ask me, and the others, to put our lives on hold for over a month is just plainly abusive. I asked for an opportunity to speak to the judge but was told that would not be possible. Not happy in the extreme. Given that I made it very clear that there were no circumstances under which I impose the death penalty on anyone it’s likely that I will be excused – but you never know.

That evening we had dinner at Taco Bell and finished off the day with, what else, ice cream at Baskin Robbins.

Friday, May 13, 2022

The market has been on a severe downward trend. I spent the morning tinkering with our stock market portfolio in the hopes of avoiding the poorhouse.

For lunch we went to a restaurant with an unassuming name: Bros Breakfast Lunch and Dinner. My country fried steak was breaded with cornmeal instead of flour and the gravy had a distinctive Southwest flavor. Deborah had the chicken fajitas and said that they were very good. Mom raved about her strawberry chicken salad.

Mom’s kitchen is a disaster. The entire thing has been stripped down to the studs because of a water leak. She was planning on having it put back together the way it was but we suggested that this might be a great time to do a full remodel. We spent the afternoon at a home center checking out countertops, cabinetry, and flooring. It might just be too large and too time consuming of a project for her to take on right now.

None of us were really interested in dinner but we did manage to find a new ice cream place. Apparently it opened in March, shortly after we left Las Vegas. It’s called, “Sorry, Not Sorry”. Weird name but great, small batch ice cream in about a dozen unusual flavors. The two most interesting flavors were sold out so we tried the chocolate brownie (it was excellent), the honey lavender (interesting but wouldn’t choose it again), the butter cake (it was awesome), and the salted caramel (nothing special). We’ll definitely have to go back and try the flavors that were sold out.

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

I had yet another call with Apple tech support. They had no idea what the issue with the pictures was but I managed to find a support article on the web that was directly on point. The issue appears to be that Apple is considering emails from Bluehost (the blog’s hosting site) to be SPAM and so is declining to download the images. The tech agreed that I had found the issue, updated the case notes, and opened a bug report with the engineers. She said that someone at Apple may actually look at the bug report and may actually fix it but there was no telling when that might happen. As far as she is concerned the case is closed. If the engineers ever get back to her she will let me know.

This has been a very frustrating process. One day everything is working perfectly and the next it’s not. I’ve been wracking my brain for a good, long term fix. I think I finally stumbled on a decent solution. The emails don’t actually contain images – they contain links to the images on the website that then have to be downloaded – and it’s the downloading that’s at the heart of the problem. Could the pictures be imbedded directly into the email? I think that would work well. The only problem is that emails would go from several kilobytes in size to several megabytes in size; some email platforms might reject the emails because of the increased size. In the future we will have to limit the number of pictures we include and will have to drastically reduce their resolution. Still, I think this is the best practical solution. Implementing it will be another story. There is no standard way to embed the pictures in the WordPress universe. I will have to hack some code. I may not get it right at first but it’s doable. Wish me luck.

Thursday, May 19, 2022

We decided to hightail it out of Vegas for now. We’re going to head North and explore some of the National Parks in Nevada and Utah. If we have to come back to Vegas for Jury duty in mid June at least we’ll be fairly close.

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Monday, May 9, 2022

This morning we headed over to a local tire store. A tire store? Yesterday the tire pressure light once again appeared on the dashboard. Yeah, we were pretty ticked off but since it appeared on Sunday there was little we could do about it. Our hope was that the light came on because the temperature had dropped from the high 70s to the mid 40s. The thought of having to replace a third tire was maddening. A mechanic checked the pressure and added air to all four tires. The indicator turned off. He said that if the light came back on we should return and he’d look more deeply into the matter.

When Deborah worked at Weare Middle School she was friends with a woman who’s sister was an artist. Deborah had spoken to Phylis the previous night and arranged a tour of her studio in Lake Tahoe. The problem was that Lake Tahoe was due for some weather and our little Corolla was not suitable for ice and snow. After leaving the tire store Deborah phoned Phylis to get an update on the weather. It was not good news.

Plan B was to drive about 30 miles North to Pyramid Lake. The Lake has a very interesting backstory. The 112,000 acre lake is the largest remnant of an ancient inland sea that had once covered most of Nevada. Evidence suggests that the area was inhabited as long ago as 9,500 BCE. It is also the site of some of the Earth’s most spectacular tufa (calcium carbonate) deposits. Today the area is part of a Paiute Reservation. Swimming, fishing, and hiking are permitted with permits that are available from the tribe.

We had intended to hike some of area’s trails but had difficulty finding any specific information. Based on our experience we would find better information near the water. As we approached the lake we found a parking lot with a bunch of signs. We pulled off the road and found information about both the lake and the Paiutes, but nothing about hiking.

We had approached the lake from the South and decided to try our luck going East. The tribe has established a number of beaches wherever there was a large, sandy outcropping. Each beach has parking, bathrooms, and a few picnic tables. Large Tufa can usually be found nearby. Continuing on we noticed some large, white birds flying overhead. These were white pelicans. The island in the middle of the lake is home to a very large colony of these birds.

As we traveled on we came to another beach where we saw dozens of white pelicans, along with geese, and some unidentifiable ducks. We stopped there and took a bunch of pictures. Out of the corner of our eyes we were delighted to see some geese escorting their goslings across the water. The babies couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old.

We imagined that the area would be very busy in the summer but when we were there the place was virtually deserted. The temperate was in the low 40s with some occasional light snow flurries. We never did find the Paiute museum and figured it was a seasonal building. Eventually we turned around and found the town of Sutcliffe. There was a visitor’s center, a number of administrative buildings, several dozen homes, and an RV park. Everything was closed. We looked around for a bit and decided it was time for lunch. We never did find any hiking trails.

In Sparks, basically a suburb of Reno, we lighted upon a place called The Coney Island Bar. The place had great reviews and people raved about the deli sandwiches. I was a little reluctant to have lunch in a bar because they are often smokey. Fortunately this wasn’t the case. It’s not clear how the place got its name but neither the menu nor the decor had anything to do with it’s namesake town in Brooklyn.

I ordered a roast beef sandwich and Deborah ordered a Turkey sandwich. Aside from the meat there was a little mayo on the bread and nothing else. I asked for some raw onion and was also supplied with a side of horseradish sauce. We were surprised at how good they were. This was not meat from some commercial supplier. According to the waitress they roast all of their meats in house every day – and it showed. Half sandwiches could be had for $8 and full sandwiches for $12. We thought that was pretty reasonable.

We hit a grocery store and a gas station before heading back to our hotel.

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

We decided to visit the WM Keck Museum located on the University of Nevada – Reno campus. We started the car and stared at the dashboard. No idiot lights. It was a relief. Our GPS directed us to a parking lot where we were not allowed to park. We drove around the campus for a while looking for a parking area that didn’t require a special sticker and found none. We finally settled for lot with meters and pre-paid for two hours.

We walked the entire perimeter of the building that the car’s GPS had indicated. None of the doors were open. There was no sign of the museum. Before giving up we consulted Google. It showed us that the museum was actually on the other side of the campus – a part of the school that was only accessible by foot. The sky was overcast, the temperature was in the high 30s, the wind was blowing, and a light snow was falling. It was a lovely morning for a walk.

It turns out the campus was a lot larger than we thought. We walked briskly for about 15 minutes before finally finding the museum. Located in the Mackay School of Mines the WM Keck Museum is home to a collection of ores, minerals, and fossils. Entry has been free since its opening in 1908.

The first floor is home to a large collection of rocks, ores, minerals, and crystals. The second floor has a nice collection of fossils found in Nevada. We also found information on the history of mining in the state. The lowest level contains a 1,250 piece collection of Tiffany Silver service that was commissioned by John W. Mackay for his wife Marie-Louise. Mackay made his fortune by developing the fabled Comstock Lode in Virginia City.

We learned some interesting information…

• The myth of Jason and the Argonauts quest for the Golden Fleece probably had its origins in the ancient use of sheepskins to trap gold particles. When the skins were hung out to dry they probably looked like a Golden Fleece.
• Opals have been mined in Nevada.
• Tungsten is a naturally occurring mineral. I always thought it was an alloy.
• Silver is the most electrically conductive metal followed by copper and then gold. I always thought that gold was the best.
• During the Pliocene Epoch (1.6 – 5.3 million years ago) Mastodons, smaller cousins of Wholly Mammoths, roamed Nevada.
• When Nevada became a state in 1864 its constitution contained a clause that mandated a mining engineering school be part of the University of Nevada. The first one was established in 1882.

By the time we got back to the car it was past 1:00 pm. It was time for lunch. Deborah really wanted to go back to Joself’s Vienna Cafe and try some of the lunch items on the menu. She ordered a goulash soup and spinach and mushroom quiche combination. I ordered the bratwurst which included mustard, sauerkraut, and pickled red cabbage. This time we managed to get water after only the second request. As before the food was very good. We had another place in mind for dessert but, considering how full we were, we decided to go for a walk around nearby ⁨Idlewild Park first.

⁨Idlewild Park sprawls along the Truckee River. It has some ball fields, a swimming pool, two duck ponds, and a small scale train. We parked near the pool and found our way to the pond. It was laden with geese, mallard ducks, and a single wood duck (was he lost or confused?). On the other side of the pond we found a paved walking path that followed the river. The path is part of a very long trail that terminates at Lake Tahoe.

On the way back we circled around by the second pond. We found several families of geese with their goslings. We saw a dog, who’d been left off-leash, running towards the pond. He was chasing a squirrel. The female geese and their babies all headed into the water. The male geese formed a perimeter around their families. They started honking and flapping their wings, trying to frighten the dog away. It was quite a sight to see. Fortunately the dog only had eyes for the squirrels. After a few minutes he gave up and trotted off.

Finally it was time for dessert. We headed over to Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard. It’s a chain that can be found in over 30 states. We’d never been to one before. The local store had great ratings and wonderful reviews.

The store sells Italian style ices, soft serve custard and scooped custard. We really weren’t interested in the ices. I ordered a twist soft serve custard with rainbow sprinkles. Deborah had vanilla custard topped with carmel sauce. Our high hopes were dashed. The custard was slightly sweet, rather dense, had little flavor, and an artificial after taste. In fact it was hard to tell the difference between the vanilla and chocolate flavors. The carmel sauce was little more than flavored corn syrup. Maybe we should have tried the ices.

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

We have no idea of what we’ll be doing today. Will we be staying in Reno another day or be driving through the night to get back to Las Vegas so I can serve jury duty? We planned our day as if it would be our last full day here in Reno.

First thing in the morning we drove over to a laundromat. Afterwards we hit a camera repair store. When you look closely there have been spots on some of the photos. The spots appear regardless of which lens I’m using, which means the camera’s sensors need to be cleaned. I called the store yesterday and they said they could do it in 15 minutes as long as they weren’t busy. Today I got there shortly after they opened and was informed that I’d have to leave the camera. They told me it shouldn’t be more than an hour. Five hours later I called. Didn’t someone call you? Your camera is ready. Expletive deleted!

Shortly after 6:00 pm I called the jury duty hotline. I need to report tomorrow at 10:00 am. It’s going to be a long drive tonight.

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Saturday, May 7, 2022

We decided to go out for dinner. One of the restaurants at The El Dorato was rated by the Food Network as one of the 10 best pasta restaurants in the United States. We showed up around 5:15 pm and were told that the wait would be over two hours. Each of us had thought about making a reservation but things around town seemed very slow and, besides, who else besides us goes to dinner so early? Time for Plan B. We decided to try a Tepenaki restaurant called Ichiban. We took two passes past where the restaurant was supposed to be but never did find it. Time for Plan C.

Just outside of Circus Circus, along “The Row” between the three hotels, we found a small food court. One of the restaurants was Habit Burger, a chain that we’d never tried before. I ordered a cheeseburger and Deborah ordered a burger with portobello mushrooms on grilled sourdough. The burgers themselves were on the small side but they were piled high with fresh and tasty toppings (still they were bigger than Dave’s Giant Burgers). We shared an order fries and a soda; the bill came to about $23.00.

It was still too early to retire so we went over to the game room and played some skee ball. We must have done fairly well because we earned enough in tickets to trade for some of the cheaper prizes. We decided to keep our tickets in case we try our luck again.

For dessert we intended to patronize a cafe back in The El Dorado. We’d passed by several times and they had some nice looking pastries. As we were waiting in line Deborah noticed some additional display cases around the corner. We were delighted to see that these cases were filled with gelato. That made for an easy choice.

We decided to share a two scoop serving. We chose chocolate and hazelnut. The gelato turned out to be vey high quality. The chocolate was dark and smooth and laced with small chucks of chocolate. The hazelnut had a very strong flavor and paired beautifully with the chocolate.

Sunday, May 8, 2022

Happy Mother’s Day!

We decided to check out The Atlantis. It’s the newest casino in Reno and it’s on every must see list. The 3.5 mile drive took just over ten minutes. The main casino, where the restaurants are all located, is not too big. There was a long line for the buffet. Most of the other restaurants didn’t open until 5:00 pm. Our only other choice was a NY style deli. The menu looked rather appealing but the environment was so smokey that we decided to seek greener pastures.

Deborah had researched a number of restaurants. We checked our list and headed over to Josef’s Vienna Bakery Cafe. Given that it was Mother’s Day we hoped that the wait wouldn’t be too bad.

It looked like there was a line of people waiting to give their names for tables but when we talked to the cashier she told us to just sit at any available table, the other people were waiting for a large table to open up. The place was very busy. While we waited for a table to open up we looked at the display cases containing cookies, cakes and pastries. We wanted to try them all.

Since COVID service in restaurants has been pretty slow. Most establishments are having trouble getting help. Given that the restaurant was packed we expected the service to be glacial; we weren’t disappointed.

Eventually we ordered our food. I got a scramble with bacon and green apple. It came with potatoes and home made english muffins. Deborah got eggs benedict with black forest ham and potatoes. Both of our meals came with a small pastry. The food, at least, was worth waiting for.

The scramble was very tasty. It was fresh and well seasoned. The potatoes lacked onion but had copious amounts of rye. The benedict was well executed but could have used more lemon in the hollandaise. We decided we might go back and try some of their lunch menu another time.

After lunch we visited the National Automobile Museum. It was voted one of the top ten car museums in the United States. Entry cost $15.00 per person. We arrived around 1:30 pm and were told that a docent would be giving a tour at 2:30 pm. We wandered around the museum for an hour and then joined the tour.

When we got to the meeting place the docent was already in full swing telling stories. We could see he was a car fanatic and a real nut. We liked him immediately. He took us through three of the five rooms starting with the earliest steam powered cars dating from the late 19th century.

According to our guide the museum has well over 350 cars. In total there have been over 5,000 car manufacturers in the U.S. alone. Many of the earliest car companies started as bicycle manufacturers. Most didn’t survive the Great Depression and the rest eventually folded, got bought out or merged. Most of the cars in the museum came from the personal collection of Bill Harrah, the founder of Harrah’s Hotels and Casinos. Of course, over the years, more cars have been added.

If older cars are not your thing there were a couple of areas that contained McLarens, Indy Car winners, and cars designed to set land speed records. Another section contained famous cars from popular TV and movies such as the original Batmobile (a 1966 Lincoln), The Green Hornet’s Chevy Imperial, The 1946 Ford “Grease Lightning” from Grease, and the 1966 Volkswagen Beetle used in Herbie: Fully Loaded.

Some of our favorites included…

• 1936 Silver Mercedes-Benz
• 1948 Delahaye in Dark Blue
• 1954 Kaiser-Darrin in a color that could only be called Butter
• 1956 Mercedes-Benz in white with gull-wing doors
• The Batmobile (of course)
• 933 Auburn in two-tone
• 1921 Rolls-Royce with copper body ordered by the King of Spain

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Thursday, May 5, 2022

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Unlike Star Wars day Cinco de Mayo is a somewhat made up holiday. 🤪 It’s true that the date corresponds to Mexico’s victory of the Second French Empire it is not that big a deal there. In the U.S. it has come to be a celebration of Mexican culture. In any event, it’s a good excuse for a drinking party.

Our original plan was to visit a couple of additional national parks along the California coast and then head into Oregon and Washington. So, what the heck are we doing in Reno? Well, I got called for Jury Duty in Las Vegas and the most they would postpone it would be six weeks. Reno is a lot closer to Las Vegas than if we’d continued up the coast and we’ve never been to Reno before. I have to call on the evening of the 11th to see if I’m needed. If not this will have been an annoying diversion. If I do have to serve then we’ll only be a seven hour drive away.

We had planned to visit Sacramento, California’s state capital, during our stay in Vacaville, but the only thing we could find of interest was a tour of the capital building – and they are no longer doing that. Instead we decided to stop in on our way to Reno.

The rather impressive capital building itself was built in the 1860s. It’s a Neo-classical building modeled after the capital building in Washington, D.C. Nearby you can find the Supreme Court building and the main branch of the Public Library. The capital building sits at one end of a large, impeccably groomed, park. We walked around for a bit. They have a large variety of trees from all over the world; fortunately for us they were easy to identify because most of them were labeled. The park also contains the ship’s bell from a 1919 version of the USS California, a statue commemorating the Spanish-American War, a replica of the Liberty Bell, and memorials to California’s firefighters, California’s veterans, and a rather interesting Vietnam Memorial.

Continuing on we stopped in Colfax, CA to eat at a place called Beach Hut Deli. It’s a small chain in the Northern California area. Like the name suggests the restaurant was decorated in a surf theme. We immediately noticed something odd about the sandwiches: almost all come with creamed cheese instead of a more traditional cheese. It sounded weird but we were game. I got a roast beef and Deborah got a turkey sandwich. They sandwiches came well dressed and were quite good. Each one was about $12.00. For good measure we tried an island inspired bottle of Calypso soda. If you like sickeningly sweet Hawaiian Punch you’ll love this stuff.

We had a little trouble checking into our hotel in Reno. First, it was hard to find the registration desk. Next, they gave us incorrect instructions on where to park. After circling the block a few times we went back to the front desk and got better parking instructions. We had booked through a third party site and got a really good deal but they never mentioned the required $25.00 per day resort fee we would have to pay. It seems all hotels have now decided that this is a great way to nickel and dime their customers.

Once settled in we wandered around the hotel/casino for a bit. There are actually three Caesar’s properties right next to one another and they connect: Circus Circus, The Silver Legacy, and The Eldorado. It was late afternoon on a Thursday so, as you can imagine, all three places were rather slow. We did find a lovely game room with a lot of old arcade style machines. We figure we’ll spend a lot of money on ski-bowl at some point. In celebration of Cinco de Mayo we had a couple of Margaritas before retiring for the night.

Friday, May 6, 2022

We walked down to the Truckee River and the River Front District. These was a nice, paved, path that followed the river for some distance. It was so different from Las Vegas where there is a dearth of water. Here everything was lush and green. There is something to the sound of water rushing that is quite enjoyable. The way went through an older part of town. On the right were some lovely houses. Across the river, up on the hill, were large mansions probably dating to the turn of the last century.

About a mile in we found a few small shops. We indulged ourselves and had some iced coffee at Hub Coffee Roasters. They roast their own espresso beans and change the makeup of the mix every season. The coffee was strong with fruity overtones.

We continued along the waterway for a while and then went back to the hotel and picked up our car. At first we tried to find the mansions we’d seen from across the river. They were hard to get to because they were down some private roads. We wandered around the neighborhood for a while; there were many beautiful homes. It was sad to see that so many had been converted to businesses.

Further into town we stopped at the Stremmel Gallery. This gallery is the exclusive home to the work of Phyllis Shafer, the sister of one of Deborah’s colleagues from Weare Middle School. We tried to purchase a painting from her some years ago but Phyllis decided the piece was not her best work and declined to part with it. The gallery was showing works from two different artists. We asked the manager if he had any of Phyllis’ work. He laughed and said that she was one of their most popular artists and that her work sold almost as soon as it came in. They were not expecting any more of her paintings until her next show in September of next year.

For lunch we decided to go Italian. Shocking! We drove over to Mario’s Portofino and as soon as we opened the car doors we knew we’d made a great choice. The entire parking lot smelled of garlic. I ordered tortellini alla pesto and Deborah had eggplant parmigiana. Both were good but lacked a little seasoning (not garlic, of course). At around $13.00 a plate it was a pretty reasonable meal.

After a quick trip to Winco for groceries we came back to the hotel. We toyed with the idea of getting gas at Costco but decided not to brave the long, Friday afternoon, lines.

I had another follow up call with Apple this evening. Nothing to report. Very frustrating.

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Monday, May 2, 2022

Sonoma and Napa, both in Northern California, are well know as wine producing areas. To be frank we’ve never been very keen on California wines but we thought we’d take a trip up that way and check things out. This morning we drove up to the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. We had made a reservation for a tasting (strongly encouraged) the night before.

We were seated on a lovely patio overlooking some vines arranged neatly in rows with rolling hills in the background. We had two choices for tastings: we could sample wines that were readily available in retail stores or we could sample (supposedly higher quality) wines that were only available at the vineyard. We choose the latter. Both tastings consisting of four flights. As our waiter brought each round he gave us a description of how each wine was made and what we should expect. Surprisingly there were no food or chocolate pairs – just wines.

We were started off with a complimentary glass of a champagne. It was light and sweet with soft bubbles. Then we had a chardonnay. It was smooth, without the characteristic acid and very buttery. Next came a pinot noir, which was very dark in flavor, a syrah with a strong, peppery flavor and lastly a cabernet that was dry but lacked real acid or bite. It seemed to us like each of these wines was purposely designed to be very different from what you’d expect from the standard. We thought it was interesting way to distinguish yourself but an odd choice for the wines themselves. We didn’t fall in love with any of the wines so we declined to purchase any bottles.

The patio lead straight to the gift shop where you could buy any of the wines, some food items to pair with the wine, or just some memorabilia with the name of the winery. Next door we found memorabilia from many of Francis Ford Coppola’s films. There was a display case dedicated to Apocalypse Now, another to Bram Stroker’s Dracula, and several others. Naturally there were also several large displays regarding the Godfather series. They even had Vito Corleone’s office desk on display but it was roped off so you couldn’t take pictures while sitting at it.

During the tastings the waiter had indicated that the grapes came from several nearby growers. When we have completed our tour of the grounds it occurred to us that we’d never seen any of the structures you’d typically see at a winery. No vats, no tanks, no caves full of bottles, etc. We started wondering if the wines were actually made onsite or they were just produced to their specifications elsewhere.

The grounds there are really quite beautiful. They have a swimming pool, a bocce field, and other activities for families to spend the day. We would have considered having lunch there but the restaurant was closed. Fortunately Healdsburg and its many restaurants was nearby.

We took a turn around Healdsburg. Most of the places around the main square were restaurants, tourist shops, or places for wine tastings. We opted for a sausage pizza at Pizzando. The 12 inch pie was just enough for the two of us to share. The pie had homemade sausage with lots of fennel, strips of red onion, and black olives. We thoroughly enjoy it. Nothing else in town peaked our interest so we decided to head into Napa, look around, and seek out dessert.

We quickly managed to find parking on the Main Street and proceeded to check things out. Napa is really geared towards wine country tourism. All of the shops and restaurants reflect that. Still it’s a nice town to do some window shopping. When we happened on Anette’s Chocolates we knew it was time for dessert. The shop boasts high end truffles and chocolates but we headed towards the back where we found a counter selling homemade ice cream. They had about a dozen interesting choices. Deborah had a medium (two scoops) of hazelnut praline. I split my choices between Dutch chocolate and Italian cherry. The ice cream was amazingly good. It was smooth and creamy and yet so dense you could practically chew it. Virtually no air had been injected into it at all. The flavors were bright and strong. We would definitely rate this as some of the best ice cream we’ve ever had.

This was now the third time we’ve had ice cream late in the afternoon that stood in for our dinner. When we were in Romania we tried drinking our dinner on Fridays. That only lasted two weeks. The ice cream thing might have more legs.

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

First and foremost we took a trip to the local Toyota dealership. Yesterday one of the idiot lights on the dash indicated that we had low tire pressure. None of the tires were flat and the car was riding nicely so we just assumed we needed air. The dealership said we needed a new tire because one of them had been punctured by a nail. They said they would order the tire and replace it tomorrow.

We consoled ourselves by splitting a roast beef and asiago sandwich for lunch at a very highly rated Italian deli in the center of town. It was tasty but nothing special. The rest of the day was consumed with chores: laundry, getting gas, grocery shopping, etc.

Wednesday, Mar 4, 2022

Star Wars Day. May the Force be With You!

In the morning we went to Pena Adobe Regional Park. There we found a lovely pond with a 2.5 mile circumference. The lake was full of pairs of geese teaching their goslings to swim. We also had fun bird watching as there were many breeds of colorful birds flying around.

For lunch we went back to Fenton’s Creamery. For the sake of propriety we both had small dinner salads before we ordered ice cream.

It took the dealership about an hour to install a new tire. They said they were having issues with their tire balancing machine. In the 18 months that we’ve had this car this is the second time we’ve had to replace a tire due to some sort of puncture. We’ve never had this kind of experience in any other car we’ve owned. We’re not happy.

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Saturday, April 30, 2022

I opened a case with Apple this morning about the emails of this blog that are missing pictures. The problem only manifests itself if you’re using an Apple email reader. The same issue can be seen on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. If you’re using the gmail reader on your Apple device or are on the Android platform there is no issue. Of course Apple can’t imagine that the problem could be on their side and are concentrating on the software that generates the emails. I have low expectations for any real progress. It’s very frustrating.

As promised we returned to the airport to see what their event was going to be like. When we arrived we noticed a bunch of tables and tents set up with vendors selling all sorts of interesting things. The first person we encountered was a person who had been cast as a Tuscan Raider in the Star Wars movies. He had photographs of himself in and out of costume and on a Bantha on Tatooine. Autographs were available for a fee. Right next to him was a tall man who’d played Darth Vader in just about every movie. He was in a very talkative mood and told us several tales from his movie and commercial engagements. He also had a large collection of photos that could be autographed for a fee.

The vendors had huge quantities of Star Wars collectables and memorabilia. A lot of the figurines were mint, in box from the original trilogy. Several sellers had large, made to scale fighters and spaceships, too. One gentleman brought a life-sized R2D2 that made authentic sounds and moved around the grounds posing for photos with guests.

There was a ton of Star Trek stuff as well as Transformers, Pokeman, GI Joe and others. We walked around for about an hour and investigated everything. It was so much fun. One vendor referred to the event as a “CON”. It kind of was; it certainly had nothing to do with the aviation museum. Our favorite artifact was a “Boba Fett” helmet (think Mandalorian) that was signed by every actor who’d played that part.

For lunch we went to downtown Fairfield. They have a long, Main Street-like district with shops, delis, restaurants, and more. We strolled up one side and down the other and investigated every restaurant before settling on an Italian themed restaurant called Evelyn’s Big Italian. We noticed that they had eggplant parm sandwiches and dinners so we asked if they could put the eggplant on a pizza. The waitress was doubtful and asked another waitress. The second waitress was also doubtful but decided to ask in the kitchen anyway. When she came back she was all smiles. We ordered two slices with eggplant and onion. We only ordered one slice each because we knew from the reviews that they were huge. Each slice completely filled a dinner plate. The eggplant was okay and the rather thickly sliced onion was fairly raw but it was still good, truly New York style pizza.

Next we drove into Suisun City to visit the Western Railway Museum. Their website mentioned that they did rides in some of the old equipment but other than that there was very little information. We weren’t sure what to expect.

When we got there the clerk told us that a train was leaving in 10 minutes. We bought two $15.00 tickets and walked briskly to the train yard where we were directed to a third class car (apparently they had first class cars, too, but we weren’t offered than opportunity). The car we sat in had been made in 1912, had a steel frame, wooden construction, and had been fully restored. It was in wonderful condition. It looked just like the passenger cars we’ve all seen in a million Westerns. The train eased out of the yard and switched on to the main track and picked up speed. On the right side of the train we could see large fields, cordoned off by barbed-wire fences, holding horses, cows and sheep. The view fit in perfectly with our turn of the century train. On the left was a huge installation of electric generating windmills. The dichotomy between the 19th century and the 21st century was striking.

The train went about five miles and stopped. The train had run out of usable track. We were all given a chance to get out and look around before going back. Apparently both end cars had full controls. The engineers connected the tethers in the former rear car to the overhead electric service and we were ready to go.

As we approached the point of embarkation we were given the option to get off in the train yard and tour one of the buildings. We were surprised that only about half the people on the train availed themselves of this opportunity. The building was huge, and had about six tracks which were laden with all sorts of rolling stock. There was a wide variety of engines, passenger cars, freight cars and cabooses to see. Most dated from the early 1900s. Our guide went up and down each track and told us all sorts of interesting things about the various cars. Many had been fully restored and were used occasionally for rides. Some of the others were awaiting their chance at restoration. Although the museum specializes in electric trains they did have one, stream locomotive. The engine was impressively large. I would have loved to have seen it in operation. The most interesting exhibit was a Fully Restored Pullman Car – and we were allowed to go in. Pullman Cars were used for many years for long distance travel. This one had a coach area where the berths converted into sleep quarters, restrooms, a kitchen, and a richly appointed dining room. The museum had loaned this very train car to a studio for the making of the movie Harold and Maude.

The museum is an all volunteer operation. People donate their time to maintain the buildings, restore the trains, fix the tracks, give the tours, etc. They are all wonderfully informed, enthusiastic, friendly, and engaging.

During our ride they had invited the children to the front to see the conductor operate the engine, so we never got to see the controls. After the tour I asked the guide if I could get a peek into the control area of the approaching train. Not only did he allow us to go and see it but he told us how it operated and allow us to take pictures with each of us at the helm. Since the train had already completed its last trip of the day the conductor was going to drive it into one of the buildings for overnight storage. He asked us if we’d like to ride with him. We gratefully took him up on the offer. As the train approached the barn, the engineer got out to open the doors, and the train slid neatly in. As the only two passengers on the train we felt very special.

Sunday, May 1, 2022

We got a late start. Our first excursion was for lunch at Babs Delta Diner in Suisun City. The restaurant is located in the waterfront district and sits right on the Suisun Slough (river). Given that it was Sunday morning we weren’t surprised to see that the restaurant was busy. We registered at the front desk and were told the wait would be about 45 minutes. We used the time to walk along the river and had fun checking out the numerous boats in the harbor.

When we were finally called we found ourselves with an outside table adjacent to the river. It was quite picturesque. I ordered the corned beef hash with eggs, potatoes and toast. Deborah order blueberry pancakes. The food was truly homemade and very tasty. The portions were so large that we each took a doggy bag back with us.

Fully fueled we headed over to Rush Ranch. In 1988 the Solano Land Trust purchased 2,070 acres which it dedicated for recreational and educational  purposes. It is an actual, working ranch featuring a blacksmith shop, horses, cows, and an educational center. We headed for some of the walking trails which went by several fields with grazing horses. As we approached the horses came to the fence to greet us. They liked to be petted but were really looking for food. We found some straw along the path and offered it to them. It was exactly what they wanted. As we moved on one of the horses followed us a ways – probably hoping for more food.

Our last stop, before heading back to the hotel, was to Fosters Freeze. It’s a small California chain that dates from 1946. They serve hamburgers, hot dogs, and soft serve ice cream in cones, as sundaes, or mixed in a cup with candy pieces. I had a medium twist cone with sprinkles and Deborah had a medium cup with chocolate. At $3.50 each they were very large and an excellent value. The ice cream was smooth and creamy and had a rich flavor. It was definitely worth the stop.