Nana's Trip to San Jose

Hurry for California!

First, we have to send out a huge "shout" to CLJ for making Nana's first trip to California possible. She certainly had a good time (we hope) and we were so incredibly happy to have her visit, and to get a chance to share some little glimpses of our new neighborhood. So naturally dragged her everywhere!! Thanks Mom for being a good sport.

First Day

Okay it is a long trip from the east coast to the west coast so we relaxed the first evening but yeah that was still fun. We showed Nana around our very exciting beige apartment. :)

Day 2 - Monterey Bay

On Saturday we took it easy and got a nice late start. We drove down to Monterey Bay and explored the Aquarium. World class to be sure! It is hard to explain the joy of lunching near where the sea otters dine. Nye and Nana had a chance to explore everything from touch tanks to what if feels like to be swamped by a wave. For those of you who haven't been to the Aquarium there is an awesome new exhibition all about Sea Horses. While very crowded while we were there we were all impressed by these amazing these little creatures. We enjoyed all the usual thrills, kelp forest, touch tanks, ocean views, and on and on. We have a family membership which includes a couple of guest passes so you're invited to visit with us if you can. (FYI, It is worth it if you haven't ever been to this amazing place.)

Day 2 - San Francisco

One of the wonderful things about the Bay Area is that things just aren't that far away. On Sunday, after a late brunch, we decided to explore Golden Gate Park. The park has a special connection for us since it was designed by Fredrick Law Olmstead who also designed Central Park and Prospect Park in NYC. Golden Gate has a vibe that we really enjoy. We took Nana up to the top of the D. Young Tower to see a spectacular view of the whole area. From there we traveled to the Japanese Garden for a little wandering and afternoon tea (check out the movie for all the images of great little space!) We enjoyed all the vistas and the scale of spaces because it makes you feel like you were exploring a much larger environment -- very Japanese.


Day 3 - San Jose

Monday was a day to walk around Willow Glen. Powell's candy shop was a highlight. Nye was very excited to show Nana this "legendary" (in his mind) candy shop. The gang also checked out the pool and the local population of hummers. (Seriously we have to get a humming bird feeder!) Later Nana, Nye, and Archil explored the Tech Museum of Innovation while Sara worked. We're glad Nana got a chance to see the scale and features of our new neighborhood. Arch and I really appreciated Nana babysitting Nye while we went to see Leonard Cohen Monday evening in Oakland. (Awesome, thanks again that was a once in a lifetime opportunity Nana!!)


Day 4 - Redwoods . . . they are so cool!

On Tuesday we explored the Redwoods. I think Nana enjoyed the quiet awesome beauty of these most magnificent trees. The scale is overwhelming at first, but for us they are becoming more familiar. I find I appreciate their quite grace. Somehow I and feel compelled to attribute them with animistic qualities which is probably more about human nature, but they are so very calm, stately, and peaceful. We walked and toyed and played underneath their fine and lace like branches. Ironically, we don't see many animals in the redwood forests. There is a lot of activity up at the canopy but down at ground level it is a bit quiet. We were thrilled to spot a black tailed deer at a clearing in the woods at the end of our trip.

We said goodbye to Nana on Day 4--Wednesday but we sure hope she'll come and explore with us again. We had so much fun sharing our local environment and San Jose with her. We were only able to touch upon a few highlights. Next time she comes we're taking her to Yosemite! Thanks for coming to visit Nana!

XO,

Sara, Nye and Archil

Our Visit with Ted & Nancy Peach

I'm a little behind in updating the blog. We've been very busy
and having loads of fun as you'll see in the next few entries!

Nevada City - Foothills of the Sierra Nevada's

The first weekend of April we drove up into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range to visit with good friends Ted and Nancy Peach. We last saw Ted and Nancy in a CT reunion in 2006. And after years of reading reports from the "Dream Cabin in the Woods" we were delighted to check out their homestead in person.

We explored the woods around the cabin. We were impressed all the work and attention to detail that has gone into all aspects of their lives there from the bear proof bird feeder (with solar powered motors to raise and lower the feeders for easy filling.) The feeders were visited by small groups of black tailed deer and turkeys in addition to tons of finches, sparrows, and several species of humming birds. Nye really enjoyed spotting lizards on rocks, logs, and in the brick lizard house. Nye also really enjoyed meeting Patches. I think after loosing Birdie the chance to connect to a lively dog was a lot of fun for him. Patches belongs to Ted's son but seems to spend most days following Ted around.

We took some lovely hikes down into the ravines. On our Sunday morning hike Ted showed us all how to pan for gold in the stream. This seems to chiefly involve swirling water and debris in the bottom of a specially shaped pan. The gold is heavy and sinks to the bottom. Lighter rocks, gravel, and dirt stay up near the top and can be pushed off the pan. Ted was equipped with beads of copper shot which we used as "test objects" to ensure that we were getting the technique down properly. We tried and tried but never quite came up with a flake. But we did spot some very large and wonderful California Newts. We'll just call them gold bellied newts since they did have bright orange bellies!

We packed so many good times into such a short weekend. From watching Bruce Springsteen to enjoying wonderful meals together. The real gold was in spending time with two wonderful people and we can't wait to visit again soon!

Sara, Nye, and Archil