Trip to Washington DC

Hello family!!!

Amy and I just got back from a trip to Washington DC. I was attending a conference and Amy came along so we could combine the business trip with a short vacation visiting our nation's capital.

The weather was great (50's-70's with no rain) and we thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, the Capital building, George Washington's home at Mt. Vernon, the National Gallery, and the monuments along the Washington Mall.

The many flowering shrub and tree blossoms were almost at their peak........

Our visit left us with many wonderful memories, a better sense of our nation's history, and a great sense of pride in our nation's beautiful capital and the ideals on which our country was founded.

Greg

PS--> for those of you who don't know....my mother's maiden name is Lincoln....and President Lincoln is a distant relative on my family tree.

NoCal

I'm very fortunate that I often get to visit Joe in California while he's still commuting to VMware Palo Alto office Monday-Friday. On occassions , when he pulls back-to-back weeks, I usually make a trip to Northern Cali to keep him company. While I'm there, during the week, I do a lot of walking and exploring on my own and I get caught up on my reading; and on the weekends we try to hit a different town or land mark each day.

I was there over a week ago and our Saturday together began at the office as Joe's team had a lot of important changes to make to the system. So, he made me a frothy nice capuccino to enjoy while he took care of business.



After spending the morning at the office, we headed out to Santa Cruz.

Our rental car was a convertible chrysler sebring and we basically "Followed the Sun"




There was a Band of Teenage Brothers/ Friends fishing at the pier and they were having a really good day.

They thought this was an octopus, but an older gentleman told them that it was a giant star fish, which they threw back into the water.


They also caught 4 fish in a matter of 5 minutes


Taking work phone calls while ordering lunch at the pier.

Lunch is served: Clam Chowder Bread Bowl , fried clams & calamari....AND Fish & Chips.....YES, our eyes were much bigger than our stomachs.


Saturday ended up being a great day !

Joe can get this ahi meal at the VMware Cafeteria for around $7.00. Doesn't seem fair, does it ?


I did make sure ALL of my dinners in Cali were Fresh Fish like this pan sauteed calamari steak.


On Sunday, our original plan was to drive north towards Sausalito and check out the massive redwood trees at a National Park, but it was dark and rainy to the North, so we headed out to San Jose. Someone in Joe's office reccommended that we check out Santana Row, a one-of-a-kind neighborhood that blends a distinctive mix of living, shopping and dining experiences. It's a neighborhood of 42 acres, or roughly ten city blocks. There are currently 514 residential town homes, lofts and villas, 70 retail shops and boutiques, 20 full service restaurants, nine spas and salons, CineArts movie theatre and boutique Hotel Valencia.

We began our Santana Row Adventure with Brunch at Consuelo's Mexican Restaurant. We both had the Chilaquiles Verdes con Pollo and cafe de olla. It was one of the most authentic restaurant mexican meals we've had in a very long time. We meant to take pictures, but the food smelled so good, we just devoured it !



People like to "Cruise" down the Main Street, with their "loaded" nice cars and motorcycles. There's a lot of interaction between the "cruisers" and you can literally feel the positive energy flowing. This is The Valencia, Boutique Hotel.



Joe's Dream Car, The Bentley.


Smooth Music.......the guitarist looked like Carlos Santana's brother, and he was selling a lot of cd's.


Giant Chase Game


The Farmer's Market was closing when we finally made it to that side of the row, but we did get to see some of the incredibly colorful veggies and flowers.






They hold a Singing Competition on Sundays, in a Park in the middle of Santana Row, and next to the Farmer's Market. Anyone can get up there and sing their hearts out.


Our favorite singer was only 8 years old. She sang Michael Jackson's "I'll Be There" and she brought down the house !



A Break of Green Tea Latte & Capuccino with an Almond Tart, just before heading back to our hotel.



I can't wait to do it again. Maybe next time, the Sun will lead us North and we'll get to see the redwood trees.

Baking Bread on a Snowy Day in Winter

Several weeks ago on a snowy day I decided to bake some bread. Greg wanted to photograph the process so hence the pictures. The essay below is from a response I mailed to Tina Griego at The Denver Post in July. Tina replied to my email although the newspaper did not print my response. Greg liked my essay so much he asked me to share it on The Daily Avacado.

I loved your column today. One of my favorite folk tales as a child was The Little Red Hen. In the early 70's I taught myself how to make bread by studying the diagrams and reading directions in The Tassajara Bread Book. I bought a wheat grinder and my husband mounted it on the end of the kitchen counter, tightening it so hard it cracked the formica. I made it my goal to bake all the bread we would eat for an entire year. The only time I recall it being inconvenient was when we wanted hamburgers, a meal which used to be quick, but now I had to also allow time make the buns. As the demands of a growing family and my return to teaching consumed my time, bread baking was reserved for summertime and special occasions. Since retiring, I have rediscovered the joy of baking bread. The sweet smell of the yeast and fresh flour as it is stirred, the mesmerizing rhythm of kneading the dough, the first peek under the towel to check on the magic of the yeast and memories that come when shaping the dough are a part of the joy it brings. When deciding to bake bread, you need to slow down because you will need to be home for about four to six hours. Your world becomes calm as you return to a simpler time. And this all happens before you put it in the oven and the delicious smell wafts through your house. And then of course the fruit of your passion... a treat to share with my husband, who is always begging and drooling for more!

Speaking of Ice Sculptures

For those who likes Greg's pictures of the Breckenridge ice sculptures... Here is another bizarre thing of ice.

I was riding last week out by Chatfield reservoir on my way up to Morrison. The trail I was riding passes under C-470 via a tunnel. I cruised down hill into the tunnel at a pretty fast speed - like 25 MPH. The tunnel was really dark and freezing... ahead I could see some strange white splotches but couldn't quite make out what they were so I slowed down a lot. As a came closer I saw that water had been leaking into the tunnel from the highway above. Over time this cold winter it has formed these huge ice stalagmites... Could have been quite dangerous if someone took the tunnel with some speed.

I went back a few days later with Rob Hammer to record the event and as always, he did it justice. I may use it for my website as a "Winter weather riding advisory".

News from Greg and Amy, January 2010

Hello to everyone in our wonderful families!!!

January has flown and here it is February already. It seems like just yesterday we were enjoying all of the Christmas festivities.....why is it that time seems to go by more quickly as we age??? Oh well, thank goodness Joe created the Daily Avocado where we can all keep in touch with family and share memories and news from our busy lives.

Sooooo........here's a quick update on what Amy and I have been up to this past month.

January 8th was Amber's birthday.....while she has grown into a beautiful accomplished young woman....she will always be our favorite "first born" daughter (inside joke between my children and me;-)

Amber now....and when she was four.......

January 15th Amy and I took our parents to the rodeo. Estelle (Amy's mother) grew up in small town Colorado and while I grew up in Denver....but as "westerners"....going to the rodeo every year was an annual event in both of our homes. We had a wonderful time watching all of the events and we topped off the day with dinner at El Tejado's Restaurant....a Reed family favorite!

On January 22nd, Julie and Joe took Amy and I out (it was our Christmas present) for some great food (at Park Burger on Pearl Street) and music (we heard Antje Duvekot at Swallow Hill Concert Hall)...she was great! But the real treat of the evening was just spending time with Julie and Joe!!!!

January 25th was Amy's birthday....and we enjoyed having family (Fritz was sick so he and Estelle couldn't come) over for dinner on the 24th ....and on her "real" birthday.....we enjoyed a movie (Broken Embraces) and dinner at Fruition Restaurant. We would highly recommend both the movie (Penelope Cruz was great) and the restaurant!!!

Amy now.......................................and when I met her and fell in love (she was 18)

Amy now and then........

Amber and my mom on Amy's birthday

Julie and Joe at Amy's birthday

On our way down to Salida last weekend....we stopped by Breckenridge to see the Ice Sculptures being created at Breckenridge's annual Ice Sculpture contest. The artists were hard at work creating their sculptures and it was fun to watch them as they worked under a beautiful blue (but cold) Colorado sky.

The Ice Scupture team from Mexico!

Finally, we were able to get to Salida twice during the month of January..... once in early January when there wasn't much snow on the mountain sides (so we hiked)

and then last weekend, we drove down again as there had been a big snow early in the week which made for perfect snow shoeing conditions. In the evenings, we enjoyed great live music at the Salida Cafe seeing Chuck Pyle on Friday night and a pretty good jazz/swing/ folk/blue-grass band on Saturday (they were all over the place musically so it's hard to categorize their music/style).

As we drove back to town....we couldn't resist taking a few pictures of the beautiful long horned cattle on ranch just outside the Salida city limits!

We hope this posting finds everyone in our families healthy and happy!!!

Love,

Greg and Amy

PS---> Joe, I've got to learn how to space things better on the blog....when I create them...they look fine....and when I preview them...they look fine.....but when I post the blog...the spacing is never right.