Being and Formulating

Thomas Hill Organics 1

Originally uploaded by Tombrarian

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m not a fan of long drives, so I broke my trip to Monterey into 2 days. I stayed one night in Bakersfield and then stopped for lunch the next day in Paso Robles.

I had dinner at Lengthwise Brewing Company in Bakersfield. Breakfast the next morning at Zingo’s Cafe.

Before leaving for Monterey, I visited the Bakersfield Museum of Art. The highlight for me was the ceramic work of David Furman.

On my way from Bakersfield to Monterey, I stopped in Paso Robles for lunch. Ate at Thomas Hill Organics. The picture is of my Grilled Humboldt Fog Cheese Panini with Figs, Arugula, Prosciutto and side Field Green Salad.

More pictures!

California Trip

Originally uploaded by Tombrarian

This is a map of the trip I took at the end of October 2010 to various parts of California. I drove approximately 1800 miles, which is astounding considering I don’t like driving very much. And because I don’t like driving very much, I broke it up into smaller trips.

• Left Henderson, NV on 10/21 and drove to Bakersfield, CA and stayed the night.
• Left Bakersfield on 10/22 and drove to Monterey, CA with a stop in Paso Robles for lunch. Stayed in Monterey until 10/29.
• Left Monterey and drove to Solvang, CA with a side trip to San Simeon to see the elephant seals. Spent the night in Solvang.
• Left Solvang on 10/30 and drove to Carpinteria, CA for one night.
• Drove back to Henderson on 10/31.

I should be posting more pics in the coming days.

An Actual Key!

Originally uploaded by Tombrarian

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Washington DC and Philadelphia. In both cities, I stayed in old school hotels (Hotel Harrington in DC and Penn’s View Hotel in Philly). In both places, I got an actual metal key! How quaint! This is the key from the Hotel Harrington.
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Been home from Chicago over a week now and just getting a chance to write about it. The trip was fabulous. Being in a “real” city was very welcomed. Reminded me quite a bit of Philadelphia. Same balance of urban, green, and water. Similar to the first time I went to Toronto, I immediately felt at home in Chicago.

Chicago

As if I didn’t know, being in Chicago reinforced that I am indeed a city boy. I loved having interesting places to walk. Loved being able to take public transportation. Our hotel was a block away from an El stop. Loved the architecture. Loved being able to walk through the city and end up in Millennium Park and then by the lake. Loved being able to sit at a sidewalk cafe and people watch. Loved the restaurants and the art. And, since I was there for a conference, I loved seeing many of my librarian friends. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to spend as much time with some of them as I would have liked, but I should see many of those people again in October.

Chicago is huge, and I’m sure I didn’t see even a fraction of what it has to offer, but I’m glad I was able to get away from the hotel area (as nice as it was) on a couple occasions. When I went to Denver back in January, I was pretty much stuck around the hotel and convention center area because of the weather and how busy I was. In Chicago, I got a chance to go to Loyola University, which was about a 40 minute chartered bus ride from the hotel. And then one day after the conference, my wife and I took the El to an area near Superior and Wells where they have a large number of art galleries. That area wasn’t too far from the hotel, but a bit more than walking distance. While there, we also had dinner and saw a show at The Second City.

I really appreciated the art galleries, all the public art, and the day we spent at The Art Institute of Chicago. Las Vegas is seriously deficient in art, so I really soaked it all in. The Art Institute is the only other art museum I have been in that rivals the one in Philadelphia.

One of the other big highlights was the architectural boat tour we went on. It began on the Chicago River and then went out onto Lake Michigan. Las Vegas is pretty deficient in architecture as well, at least architecture that goes back prior to the 1940′s. So, I really appreciated the tour as well as being on the water.

Chicago Architectural Boat Tour

Just a fantastic week. We arrived on Thursday night and flew out the following Thursday. A friend of ours who we knew in Vegas who then moved to Detroit came and stayed with us Thursday through Sunday morning. I had the pre-conference at Loyola on Friday. The conference proper was Saturday throught Monday. I took Tuesday and Wednesday off so that we could sightsee. We were lucky with the weather. It was very humid a couple of days but never very hot.

All of my Chicago pictures are here.

After a hellishly busy semester at work, I now have quite a few fun things I’m looking forward to.

In about a week, Chris and I will be spending 5 days in Yosemite National Park. We are staying in Lee Vining, CA just east of the park.

The week after coming back from there is CineVegas. Last year, I was able only to see 3 films. This year, I bought a pass for 16. I didn’t realize at the time that the festival is shorter this year. So, it’ll be a busy 5 days.

We have tickets to see Wilco at the new Joint the week after that.

And, in July, we head off to Chicago for the American Library Association conference. I am taking a few days off after the conference so Chris and I can sightsee. It’ll be a half-work, half-vacation trip.

Chris and I went to Zion National Park at the end of May. We just wanted to get out of the city for a long weekend, and I looked at Google Maps for something that was in driving distance, saw Zion, and recalled people telling me good things about it. It was a perfect place for a long weekend. Never thought I would go to Utah, but, then again, never thought I would go to Las Vegas, yet, here we are.

Zion National Park is about a three-and-a-half hour drive. Just to show my ignorance of southwest geography, we had to pass through Arizona to get there, which surprised me. As much as I thought there was a whole lot of nothing between here and Mesa, there’s extra nothing between here and Utah. I’m still amazing at how wide-open this area is.

We originally had reservations at the Canyon Ranch Motel, but the woman from there called us to say she made a mistake and did not have a room for both the nights we needed. She went ahead and secured a room for us at the Terrace Brook Lodge. I was impressed that she didn’t just leave us in a lurch and made sure we had a place to stay. Both places are in Springdale, UT. Route 9, near the park, is a cute area lined with places to stay, restaurants, little art galleries, and other stores. It was a nice change from Vegas.

We drove up on a Friday afternoon and drove back on Sunday. The drive back was tough because of the wind, which was really pushing my poor little car around. I’m also still amazed at how windy it can get here.

One of the nice things about staying in Springdale is that a free shuttle runs along Route 9 to take people back and forth to the park. So, after my long drive, I didn’t have to drive again until we came home.

On Saturday, we went on the Emerald Pools trails. There are three pools, with the largest one being at the high point of the hike. I think the round trip hike was about 3 hours. On Sunday, we took the more leisurely Pa’rus walk, which is a fairly level walk near the main entrance to the park. For the most part, the trail runs along a creek and there are plenty of places to get off the trail and get down by the water. Again, a nice change from desert living.

And, of course, we hit a few of the restaurants. Breakfast both mornings at the Bumbleberry Inn. Dinners at Blondie’s Diner and the Spotted Dog Cafe. Lunch at Oscar’s Cafe and Deli. Blondie’s diner has an Elk pen next door, and they serve Elk Burgers. I was a little disconcerted by this and yet still tried an Elk burger.

The trip was a nice getaway, and I would be interested in going back for a longer stay so that we could also drive up to Bryce Canyon, which is about a two-hour drive, so I am told.