California 2014 (with Postscript, Chicago with Eli)

Originally published as a Facebook Note July 15, 2014. It was my last-but-one Facebook Note, the last being my 2016 All-Star votes.

City Lights Bookstore, San Francisco CA

I had odd feelings about this vacation. I brought my own anxieties along, to which were added the inevitable uncertainties of traveling, long periods in the car on difficult roads, and then news that our home had sustained some storm damage. It seemed like every time I started to relax and enjoy myself this giant foot of anxiety would stomp me back to reality. Nevertheless, thanks to Jane's astute planning we were able to see a healthy swath of the Golden State in a relatively short time.

Friday, June 27

Staying at: Days Inn, Fountain Valley CA

Coffee: Brewed Awakenings, Cedar Rapids, before our plane left

Dinner: grilled chicken at the Proodians', Huntington Beach CA

"This is L.A.": California's impact on pop music is obvious once you start traveling around and realize every place reminds you of a song. Or, in the case of L.A. International Airport, two songs (by Susan Raye and Arlo Guthrie). When we landed at LAX, though, I first thought of the line from the intro to "All I Wanna Do" by Sheryl Crow. After awhile, I switched to Hal David's line for Dionne Warwick, "L.A. is a great big freeway." The whole state of California seemed to be in a constant state of traffic congestion, despite freeways as wide as 12 lanes in spots. I started my California experience by driving in Friday rush hour, which I must say Angeleno drivers managed with a gracefulness I don't usually see in Chicago. [On the other hand, it was no problem finding angry and/or ridiculous drivers at the beaches as we made our way back to LA the next weekend.]

Saturday, June 28

Staying at: Vern Swenson's, Vista CA

Coffee: Starbucks, San Juan Capistrano CA

Dinner: burgers and hot dogs at Vern Swenson's

Zip Line: Vern Swenson is Jane's uncle. Also joining us were Jane's cousin Amy and her very young children. Uncle Vern has rigged up a zip line in his backyard which we took turns using. Robbie filmed several of the runs with his Go Pro camera. Then he showed them on the television to the great amusement of the younger set.

Robbie on the zip line

Sunday, June 29

Staying at: Sequoiah Village Inn, Three Rivers CA

Coffee: Dagny's Coffee House, Bakersfield CA

Dagny's

Dinner: Red snapper, Gateway Restaurant, Three Rivers

Downtown: Unlike our 2010 trip (see earlier note), we hunted up the occasional authentic coffee shop. This one was special. It's in downtown Bakersfield, which augurs well for the town, although we didn't really get a feel for the town itself on a blistering hot Sunday afternoon.

Monday, June 30

Staying at: Sequoiah Village Inn

Coffee: visitors center, Sequoiah National Park

Dinner: Pizza, Todd's Pizza Factory, Three Rivers

Rio Mortal: In a park full of giant trees, I found a little lizard near a sign proclaiming "rio mortal." It is not, as it happens, the name of the river, which is the Kaweah. (It also runs by our cabin.) They're just warning people not to play in it. But it is a cool name that needs to be officially used somewhere.

Tuesday, July 1

Staying at: Redwoods Cottages, Wauwona CA

Coffee: Arco, Fresno CA. I had cinnamon coffee, which was dumb because I don't care for flavored coffee. I guess I was checking to make sure.

Dinner: light supper at our cabin

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: Sitting on our cabin deck, idly checking e-mail and Facebook, we were stunned by news of storms in Iowa resulting in downed trees and flooding. We had reports of water in our basement, the cause of which is (gulp!) my failure to keep up with the unusual amount of pine pollen in our gutters. Thanks to alert friends Sarah Lodge and Anne and Paul Salamon for minimizing the damage. Still it cast something of a shadow over the rest of the trip.

Wednesday, July 2

Staying at: Yosemite Westgate Lodge, Buck Meadows CA

Coffee: Curry Village gift/grocery shop, Yosemite National Park

Dinner: shrimp, Buck Meadows Restaurant, Buck Meadows

"Horizontalement! Horizontalement!" One of the charms nearly everywhere we traveled in California is the multiplicity of languages you hear, both from residents and tourists. Some French tourists at Yosemite were coaching each other on how to take pictures with the digital camera. We managed to avoid the worst of the crowding as we hiked.

Little lizard near some very big trees

Thursday, July 3

Staying at: Best Western Garden Court Inn, Fremont CA

Coffee: Barista's Coffee House, Tracy CA

Dinner: salad from Trader Joe's in motel room

Computer History Museum: Besides Google and Microsoft, Mountain View, between San Jose and San Francisco, hosts this modest but well-curated museum. We saw a demonstration of Charles Babbage's 19th century calculating machine, and a detailed exhibit of the history of computing.

Museum volunteer demonstrates Babbage's machine

Friday, July 4

Staying at: Best Western Garden Court Inn

Coffee: Gallery Cafe, San Francisco CA

Dinner: light supper in our motel room

Head North: The historic San Francisco neighborhood of North Beach was the only urban place we visited on our trip. It is a model of economic and linguistic diversity, densely but not suffocatingly populated. It has a charming but accessible personality. People live there, in contrast to the tourist inferno of Fishermans' Wharf. It struck me how urban personalities are different: San Francisco is not Chicago is not Boston is not Washington. I don't think design can order a personality, but it can facilitate it. One way not to have a personality is for everyone to drive their own cars to their own houses and sit in their basements watching movies.

Successful cities have their own personalities

Saturday, July 5

Staying at: Creekside Inn, Cambria CA

Coffee: Shell, Pacific Grove CA

Dinner: Pizza, JJ's Corner Pizza, Cambria

Sealing the deal: Near San Simeon is a large beach where male elephant seals come to shed their skins. They don't fight much, because there are no females around, but we did observe some pulling of rank. Mostly they lie around and throw sand on themselves. A friendly woman from the Friends of the Elephant Seals told us everything we needed to know.

Sunday, July 6

Staying at: Raddison Hotel at Los Angeles Airport, Los Angeles CA

Coffee: Shell, San Luis Obispo CA

Dinner: Fish sandwich, Burger King, Los Angeles

That's my otter in the water: I got turned around this morning trying a "shortcut" to the beach. We wound up at he Fiscalini Ranch Preserve in another part of Cambria, where we saw otters, whales (in the distance), seals, and a plethora of sand crabs.

Monday, July 7... flight back home. 

As we approached CR, we saw the Iowa River had overflowed its banks in several places. The Cedar River is high but not flooded. Our basement damage is not too bad, but the carpet's ruined and will have to be torn out and pitched. A lot of people got hit a lot worse, of course.

Tuesday, July 8. 

Semi-normal day at home and work, cleaning up what needs to be cleaned up.

Wednesday, July 9

Staying at: Inn of Chicago, Chicago IL

Coffee: Tazza Bella, Mt Pleasant IA

Dinner: Alcatraz salad, Rosati's, Chicago. Most of Rosati's salads are named for places in California, which was weird since we'd just come from there.

Getting into training: We drove down to Mt. Pleasant to catch Amtrak. Amtrak has strong strengths and weak weaknesses. The train got to Mt. Pleasant 2 1/2 hours behind schedule, and arrived in Chicago almost 4 hours late. It was much more relaxing than driving, and took only marginally more time and arguably cost only marginally more. The scheduling issues (and lack of food and beverages) are fundamental problems, however. We ran very late on our return trip as well.

Thursday, July 10

Staying at: Inn of Chicago

Coffee: Caribou Coffee, Downers Grove IL, after lunch with my sister and brother

Dinner: BBQ ribs, Hard Rock Cafe, Chicago

Going up: Along with Rosati's, one of our Chicago traditions is the John Hancock Building sky deck. It's inexpensive and the lines are short, unlike the Willis Tower or the Empire State Building. The sky deck is uncrowded and the experience feels unhurried. Tonight was clear and you could see all the way to Michigan, or at least maybe to Michigan City. A new feature of the Hancock sky deck is Tilt!, where for an extra $7 you can get in a booth that is gradually rotated forward out over the edge of the building. We didn't try it; I for one am both cheap and acrophobic.

Friday, July 11

Staying at: Inn of Chicago

Dinner: turkey pesto panini, Starbucks', Ohio St, Chicago

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (part 2): We got word this morning that Mitzi, our cat of 14 years, was very sick. She had had stomach tumors for awhile, and they finally caught up to her. Jane took her to the vet, where she was put to sleep that afternoon. We were sorry to be away from home when it all happened. As Jane wrote on her blog, she was known for keeping the backyard safe from birds and butterflies, sitting on laps (only once on mine, though) and her rarely requited passions for ice cream and cream cheese.

Saturday, July 12

Staying at: Home

Coffee: Starbucks', 55th St, Chicago

Dinner: hot dog on the train

Buckets of rain: Our visit to the University of Chicago this morning was complicated by a ferocious storm that hit just as we were trying to leave the hotel. The helpful staff guided us to the White Hen Pantry across the street, where we purchased umbrellas that for some reason have foam knuckles on the handles. They kept our heads dry, but our feet got soaked as did some papers in my backpack. (I must have written some notes in water-soluble ink, because when I dug one page out later, all had vanished except some cross-outs and some pencil notations.) The storm had mostly abated by the time the campus tour started, but added a couple parting claps of thunder. The Admissions director offered anyone who wished the chance to go inside. One boy from drought-stricken California told his mother he was fine. "Besides," he added, "How often do you get to see rain?"