WE DID IT! It has been a while since we hiked to the top of Bald Mountain, in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park……an elevation of 2,730 ft. This photo is taken facing East with a distant view of the snow capped Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Footloose United Stateside - Michele’s 70th and more
After spending this past weekend with old friends I’m inspired to start blogging again about our lives and journeys.
Our older friend, both in age and longevity, has been consistently blogging for probably 25 to 30+ years. Seeing and catching up with him motivated me to blog again. We didn’t talk about blogging I just realized how much I enjoy reading his blog Steve Stern’s Fieldnotes from a Random Walk through Life that I am motivated to actively blog again.
Steve’s wife Michele invited 12 friends to join her and Steve for her birthday weekend in Joshua Tree National Park. We rented 2 VRBO houses and enjoyed each other’s company from Thursday, January 29th through Sunday, February 1st. Beth and I started our drive Wednesday night and spent the night at the Hyatt Place in Bakersfield, it was just about half way (4+ hours) to Joshua Tree. Our driving takes a bit longer because we drive our Tesla and charge every 280 miles or so.
Our VRBO is 61837 Rosemary Lane, Joshua Tre, CA. 92252. It is a 4 bedroom, we shared it with one other couple and a single woman. All of us met each other from doing personal growth workshops 30+ years ago. We have been friends and gone on many adventures together in the years since.
This was the view from our bedroom
The house was about 1 1/2 miles up a dirt road up the hill with only nature behind us.
During the evenings we hung out, cooked dinner together, drank and caught up. There were a number of friends that we had not seen or spoken to for sometime. So it was nice to hear what everyone is doing now a days. My friends were curious about my volunteer Docent work. They loved that I get to take 3rd and 4th grade kids on 3 hours hikes in the private preserve to excite them with nature and science. The preserve is now called All Hands Ecology formerly known as Audubon Canyon Ranch.
Each day, during our time together we went into Joshua Tree National Park and did some hiking. Our first day we hiked the Big Foot/Panorama hike loop
It was so wonderful to get together, enjoy each other and appreciate how fortunate we are. There is so much abundance in this world.
And we even found a damn with water in this desert.
Before we saw The Wizard of Oz, we drove to Valley of Fire State Park
It was a magical place
Oh and I forget we had a cool stop along Highway 66.
Monday, August 25, 2025
On the road again…Germany (Berlin & Munich), Czech Republic (Prague) and Spain (Valencia)
Saturday, June 10th SFO-Berlin via Madrid.
We went for it and booked business class on American Airlines. The flight was a codeshare on Iberia. Check out how modern the Madrid airport is:
We arrived on Monday, June 11th at 7:00pm. Checked into our hotel The Mandala Hotel https://www.themandala.de/en, it is in Potsdamer Platz. the end of WW II, Potsdamer Platz formed a “border triangle” between Soviet, British and American sectors. From August 1961, the Berlin Wall ran across the square, which foe almost three decades eked out a marginal existence as inner-city wasteland. After the Wall came down on November 9, 1989, a new situation arose: early in the morning of November 12, a section of the Wall at Potsdamer Platz was cleared and a provisional border crossing created. These bricks show where the Berlin Wall used to be in Potsdamer Platz.
From here we started our walk towards the Brandenburg Gate.
Thursday, September 13, 2018
FINALLY - September 2018......visiting London, Madrid and returning to Valencia, Spain
Tuesday, September 4th and 5th
Well we are FINALLY on our way to return to Valencia, Spain to reconnect with the friends we made during the year we lived there - March 2016 to March 2017.....of course with a few stops on the way. When I say finally it is because we had a trip booked and paid for to travel in October of 2017....but as anyone reading this blog knows.....we had a curve ball thrown at us then....so we are going now!
We are fortunate to be able to purchase Virgin Atlantic Upper Class round trip San Francisco - London flights and upper class it was. Have you ever received pajamas to sleep on your lie flat seat/bed?
Easy flight, then took the train to the Tube and go off at Victoria Station to walk to our AirBnB, which is located in Pimlico, England. It was a short walk to the 2 bedroom - 2 bathroom flat. We booked the 2 & 2 because Kim & Erwan decided to fly to England to spend the weekend with us.
It was fine but nothing special....however the location worked out great.
Wednesday, September 5th - Our first evening we ate at a restaurant that I found but was also recommended to us by 2 different friends. It is called Nopi - (meaning North of Piccadilly). The food, of course, is always changing, but given the diverse backgrounds of the Chef's it makes for incredibly tasty food. This link gives you a little background about the Chef's Yotam Ottolenghi & Ramael Scully
Since we were a little jet lagged we didn't eat a lot but the little we had (the style is small dishes to share) was BRILLIANT as the British saying goes.
I LOVED the Herdwick mutton shawarma, kohlrabi, pickled watermelon, yoghurt with flatbread. We also had the Courgettes, edamame, samphire, kefalotri, tarragon. Plus one more dish of crushed beetroot, goat's cheese, a'tar and hazelnuts. I'd return over and over and over again if I lived here.
Thursday, September 6th, 2018
We started off our first full day in London with a fantastic breakfast near our AirBnB. The place is called Pimlico Fresh. I had the sweet French toast with caramelized bananas....it was delicious.
Gee I'm only a dinner and breakfast into this post and the only thing I am talking about is FOOD!
Ok so off we go to see the Town of London....but first I need to call to make a reservation.....just kidding....nowadays it smells like these are used not for phone calls but for....
The Tower of London as those of us from the United States like say is AWESOME. I found it difficult to photograph this structure. If you click on link above and click on the photograph on the right you can see nice photo's.
I did however capture the inspection of and changing of their guards.
We both were in AWE of the Crown Jewels check out the 530 carat diamond or the 5+ pound gold and jewels crown.... just across from the Tower of London is the Tower Bridge . After our visit to the Tower of London we walked across the London Bridge, but their is an old London bridge in Lake Havasu, Arizona if you can believe that we all remember the nursery rhyme, right?
Well we are FINALLY on our way to return to Valencia, Spain to reconnect with the friends we made during the year we lived there - March 2016 to March 2017.....of course with a few stops on the way. When I say finally it is because we had a trip booked and paid for to travel in October of 2017....but as anyone reading this blog knows.....we had a curve ball thrown at us then....so we are going now!
We are fortunate to be able to purchase Virgin Atlantic Upper Class round trip San Francisco - London flights and upper class it was. Have you ever received pajamas to sleep on your lie flat seat/bed?
Easy flight, then took the train to the Tube and go off at Victoria Station to walk to our AirBnB, which is located in Pimlico, England. It was a short walk to the 2 bedroom - 2 bathroom flat. We booked the 2 & 2 because Kim & Erwan decided to fly to England to spend the weekend with us.
It was fine but nothing special....however the location worked out great.
Wednesday, September 5th - Our first evening we ate at a restaurant that I found but was also recommended to us by 2 different friends. It is called Nopi - (meaning North of Piccadilly). The food, of course, is always changing, but given the diverse backgrounds of the Chef's it makes for incredibly tasty food. This link gives you a little background about the Chef's Yotam Ottolenghi & Ramael Scully
Since we were a little jet lagged we didn't eat a lot but the little we had (the style is small dishes to share) was BRILLIANT as the British saying goes.
I LOVED the Herdwick mutton shawarma, kohlrabi, pickled watermelon, yoghurt with flatbread. We also had the Courgettes, edamame, samphire, kefalotri, tarragon. Plus one more dish of crushed beetroot, goat's cheese, a'tar and hazelnuts. I'd return over and over and over again if I lived here.
Thursday, September 6th, 2018
We started off our first full day in London with a fantastic breakfast near our AirBnB. The place is called Pimlico Fresh. I had the sweet French toast with caramelized bananas....it was delicious.
Gee I'm only a dinner and breakfast into this post and the only thing I am talking about is FOOD!
Ok so off we go to see the Town of London....but first I need to call to make a reservation.....just kidding....nowadays it smells like these are used not for phone calls but for....
The Tower of London as those of us from the United States like say is AWESOME. I found it difficult to photograph this structure. If you click on link above and click on the photograph on the right you can see nice photo's.
I did however capture the inspection of and changing of their guards.
We both were in AWE of the Crown Jewels check out the 530 carat diamond or the 5+ pound gold and jewels crown.... just across from the Tower of London is the Tower Bridge . After our visit to the Tower of London we walked across the London Bridge, but their is an old London bridge in Lake Havasu, Arizona if you can believe that we all remember the nursery rhyme, right?
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
August 2018....I;m almost caught up!
August 17th and 18th, 2018
After an extremely busy July, August was a lot more laid back. Our friends Esther and Jan opened an incredible new Mini Golf Course in downtown San Francisco called Stagecoach Greens. We attended the ribbon cutting the night before opening day!
It's a pretty unique and challenging mini golf course, however Beth did get a hole-in-one on a hole to win a prize of 5 tickets to a Giants game (Friday night August 31st, we invited Laura, Mark and Katherine Flessel to join us)
We spent the night in San Francisco and on Saturday night August 18th we went to dinner at John's Grill to celebrate Peter's 70th birthday.
August 27, 2018
Tonight we are at another Birthday party, this is for one of Beth's best friends (and mine) Myra Rothfeld. It was held at the Perry's restaurant in the Embarcadero. It was a wonderful event, although I do not have many photos.
Kevin and Jim
After an extremely busy July, August was a lot more laid back. Our friends Esther and Jan opened an incredible new Mini Golf Course in downtown San Francisco called Stagecoach Greens. We attended the ribbon cutting the night before opening day!
It's a pretty unique and challenging mini golf course, however Beth did get a hole-in-one on a hole to win a prize of 5 tickets to a Giants game (Friday night August 31st, we invited Laura, Mark and Katherine Flessel to join us)
We spent the night in San Francisco and on Saturday night August 18th we went to dinner at John's Grill to celebrate Peter's 70th birthday.
August 27, 2018
Tonight we are at another Birthday party, this is for one of Beth's best friends (and mine) Myra Rothfeld. It was held at the Perry's restaurant in the Embarcadero. It was a wonderful event, although I do not have many photos.
Kevin and Jim
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Will I ever catch up? Yes, of course - Rugby 7 X 7 - Middlebury Midcore/Monterey and more
July 20th -22nd, 2018
So after a wonderful trip to Massachusetts and New York it's nice to be home again.
Soon after we returned I had tickets for the entire weekend of the Rugby World Championship 7 X 7 played at our A.T. & T. Park.
I had never seen nor did I know much about Rugby, which is normally played 15 X 15. But as I understand it 7 X 7 is basically the same rules, however with only 14 total people on the field vs. 30 you can imagine how much more room the players have to run. It's an incredibly fast and powerful game. Each game has two 7 minute halves with a minute or two half time. So in 15 minutes the game it over. I was very impressed with the POWER and SPEED of players. I loved it.
Friday night Beth came with me and since I sold my other tickets to John Diserens and he was out of town we invited Ford and Lynn Goodman to attend, they also loved the games.
Saturday and Sunday I was with John (and Aussie) and Gail and his kids.
The following week we once again helped in Middlebury College's Summer Immersion Program called MiddCORE. This is the 4th time we've helped with the previous 3 being up in Lake Tahoe. This year it was in Monterrey at the Asilomar. What we LOVE the most is the Innovation Challenge
We are always so impressed with the innovations these students create!
A few flowers growing in the sand dunes of Asilomar
Of course we HAD to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium and as is always the case it was very impressive. We loved the Jellyfish
And to finish off a busy July 2018 my Best Man, Larry Katz invited me down to San Diego to see the Giants play the Padres on Tuesday, July 31st. A few times a year he gets these FRONT ROW seats that include EVERYTHING.....meal in a restaurant pre-game, with Martini's of course. They service during the game with again EVERYTHING....drinks, food, candy you name it. And to top it all off the position of his seats mean we are on TV. So everyone watching can see us....thank you Larry!
Hoe about that...paper straws!
So after a wonderful trip to Massachusetts and New York it's nice to be home again.
Soon after we returned I had tickets for the entire weekend of the Rugby World Championship 7 X 7 played at our A.T. & T. Park.
I had never seen nor did I know much about Rugby, which is normally played 15 X 15. But as I understand it 7 X 7 is basically the same rules, however with only 14 total people on the field vs. 30 you can imagine how much more room the players have to run. It's an incredibly fast and powerful game. Each game has two 7 minute halves with a minute or two half time. So in 15 minutes the game it over. I was very impressed with the POWER and SPEED of players. I loved it.
Friday night Beth came with me and since I sold my other tickets to John Diserens and he was out of town we invited Ford and Lynn Goodman to attend, they also loved the games.
Saturday and Sunday I was with John (and Aussie) and Gail and his kids.
The following week we once again helped in Middlebury College's Summer Immersion Program called MiddCORE. This is the 4th time we've helped with the previous 3 being up in Lake Tahoe. This year it was in Monterrey at the Asilomar. What we LOVE the most is the Innovation Challenge
We are always so impressed with the innovations these students create!
A few flowers growing in the sand dunes of Asilomar
Of course we HAD to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium and as is always the case it was very impressive. We loved the Jellyfish
And to finish off a busy July 2018 my Best Man, Larry Katz invited me down to San Diego to see the Giants play the Padres on Tuesday, July 31st. A few times a year he gets these FRONT ROW seats that include EVERYTHING.....meal in a restaurant pre-game, with Martini's of course. They service during the game with again EVERYTHING....drinks, food, candy you name it. And to top it all off the position of his seats mean we are on TV. So everyone watching can see us....thank you Larry!
Hoe about that...paper straws!
Monday, September 10, 2018
July 2018 - Gloucester, MA - NY, NY and more....still catching up
July , 2018
We flew to Gloucester, MA to spend time with Beth's Dad, Michael. We love visiting Michael and Gloucester plus we got to see Beth's brother, David, wife Susan and our nephew Nathan.
Usually we NEVER miss 4ht 4th of July in Sonoma as Beth LOVES to lay under the fireworks as they explode over our heads. However this year was different, we were in Gloucester for the 4th.
They have what is called the "Horribles Parade". As you can see in the attached link, there are LOUD marching bands, cheering cheerleaders, Little teams and lots of families, dogs, it seems to me like the whole town comes out to see it. I love that Gloucester puts out chairs for people to use. It's been almost 80 years that Gloucester has held the Horribles Parade. For sure the kids love it as its like Halloween without dressing up and knocking on doors. They just wait on the side of the parade and candy is thrown to them. We love seeing so many patriotic people, all in the red, while and blue, waving flags.....proud to be an American!
Of course we can not visit Gloucester without a visit or two to The Causeway Restaurant. Beth loves the Baked Haddock, me I love almost everything......fried calamari, fried shrimp, fried clams, clam chowder.
We love spending time at Good Harbor Beach
We we walk the beached around Michael's neighborhood you must pass Bass Rocks golf course, if your a golfer I'm sure it is a great place to golf with the ocean as the background.
Another thing I love, that we NEVER see in California is a summer down pour....enjoy.
We also took in a free concert in Stage Fort Park
We also like to visit Rockport, MA, which is just a few minutes from Gloucester....it's quite photogenic
How do you like this rocking chair made of old lobster traps.
July 12, 2018
From Boston we flew to New York as we are attending a surprise 90th birthday party for my Dad's cousin (but close family to us) Elaine Leiberfarb.....but first a few days in Manhattan.
The streets Manhattan....so colorful in the summer
A visit to the Chelsea Market
We then took a very nice stroll along the High Line.
The next day we visited the International Center of Photography and saw photo's of Henri Cartier-Bresson
Lastly, we were fortune to see 2 different plays; first was Hello Dolly with Bernadette Peters, it was amazing. Then we saw Once on This Island it was creative and different, but not something I loved...it maybe that I really didn't know to much about the story
We also had time to visit the Whitney Museum, we saw the photographs of Harold Edgerton. zPlus check out some of these War protest posters and other images.....do you think they could be effective today?
Saturday, July 14th
90th birthday party for Elaine at Michael and Crystal's home in Bellmore, NY.....PLUS they made an announcement!
90 year old Elaine enjoying a Margarita with my sister Claudia (who also flew out for the surprise)
IT'S A BOY, CONGRATULATIONS MIKE & CRYSTAL
We flew to Gloucester, MA to spend time with Beth's Dad, Michael. We love visiting Michael and Gloucester plus we got to see Beth's brother, David, wife Susan and our nephew Nathan.
Usually we NEVER miss 4ht 4th of July in Sonoma as Beth LOVES to lay under the fireworks as they explode over our heads. However this year was different, we were in Gloucester for the 4th.
They have what is called the "Horribles Parade". As you can see in the attached link, there are LOUD marching bands, cheering cheerleaders, Little teams and lots of families, dogs, it seems to me like the whole town comes out to see it. I love that Gloucester puts out chairs for people to use. It's been almost 80 years that Gloucester has held the Horribles Parade. For sure the kids love it as its like Halloween without dressing up and knocking on doors. They just wait on the side of the parade and candy is thrown to them. We love seeing so many patriotic people, all in the red, while and blue, waving flags.....proud to be an American!
Of course we can not visit Gloucester without a visit or two to The Causeway Restaurant. Beth loves the Baked Haddock, me I love almost everything......fried calamari, fried shrimp, fried clams, clam chowder.
We love spending time at Good Harbor Beach
We we walk the beached around Michael's neighborhood you must pass Bass Rocks golf course, if your a golfer I'm sure it is a great place to golf with the ocean as the background.
Another thing I love, that we NEVER see in California is a summer down pour....enjoy.
We also took in a free concert in Stage Fort Park
We also like to visit Rockport, MA, which is just a few minutes from Gloucester....it's quite photogenic
How do you like this rocking chair made of old lobster traps.
July 12, 2018
From Boston we flew to New York as we are attending a surprise 90th birthday party for my Dad's cousin (but close family to us) Elaine Leiberfarb.....but first a few days in Manhattan.
The streets Manhattan....so colorful in the summer
A visit to the Chelsea Market
We then took a very nice stroll along the High Line.
The next day we visited the International Center of Photography and saw photo's of Henri Cartier-Bresson
Lastly, we were fortune to see 2 different plays; first was Hello Dolly with Bernadette Peters, it was amazing. Then we saw Once on This Island it was creative and different, but not something I loved...it maybe that I really didn't know to much about the story
We also had time to visit the Whitney Museum, we saw the photographs of Harold Edgerton. zPlus check out some of these War protest posters and other images.....do you think they could be effective today?
Saturday, July 14th
90th birthday party for Elaine at Michael and Crystal's home in Bellmore, NY.....PLUS they made an announcement!
90 year old Elaine enjoying a Margarita with my sister Claudia (who also flew out for the surprise)
IT'S A BOY, CONGRATULATIONS MIKE & CRYSTAL
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