Out of Africa

#1 and Barbie are off on the adventure of a lifetime. They started with a Paris stop and then a canal boat journey within France.  They are now on an African safari.  The best part of this trip is that it resulted in blog hits for me from France and Zimbabwe. #1 reported that he repeatedly heard the same phrase in two different tribal languages.  He finally asked the guide what was being said. It translated to “get the hell out of here”.

I had another tooth yanked Wednesday. It usually goes pretty well.  This one was quick and there was not too much swelling or pain. I’m trying to determine if this is because I’m lucky or because I’m a stoic superhuman, as I’ve always thought myself to be. They packaged up the tooth as it had a gold crown.  I stuck it in the mail, tooth and all, and sent it to some concern in Philly that will give me some dough for it.

We got back from our Oregon sojourn Monday. The flight up was uneventful except for the style maven that was wearing a dull brown V-neck slanket with a red scarf.  I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. We picked up our rental Camry at PDX and headed to Cannon Beach, where we met Portland’s Young Couple of the Year, as designated by myself, my dear daughter and AG. We got some pics at Haystack Rock, a 235-foot-tall sea stack, but we did not catch the herd of elk the place is known for. We took some pics that I liked, because I did not look as decrepit as usual. Maybe it was something in the sea air.

We hit the Pelican Brewery for dinner that first night. The wife and I had poke bowls we were not particularly impressed with, but we are extremely demanding customers.  Fortunately the IPAs on tap hit the spot. The next night we stopped at The Alchemy Lounge, which was attached to the main hotel on the strip. They have several units spread out in the area and we stayed at one of their outposts up the street. The dinner and drinks there were very good, until I ordered the mac and cheese as our final dish. I could have made a better one before I even learned to cook. Or maybe I’m just being extremely demanding.

We went up to the quaint town of Astoria for a Saturday road trip. We stopped at the Fort George brewery, which surprisingly had excellent pizza. And of course, the IPAs were great. We did notice a few people walking around in sleepwear. Maybe they were just out for a quick coffee.  I also saw one guy in the most hideous track suit I have ever seen.  It may have been inspired by a Jackson Pollock painting.

By Sunday afternoon my wife and I were alone with our thoughts, which is often a precarious place to be. We headed to Bandon, which is known for golf and not much else. We liked our room at the Bandon Inn.  We had a king size bed, which allows us to get along better. We had dinner at an Italian place that reminded me of places I used to go to in upstate NY many decades ago. The food was passable.

My wife, an excellent trip planner, had put together a great coastal tour where we saw several rock formations, bridges and beaches I doubt have had many human visitors. We stopped for a panini in a small coastal town. If I had taken notes as my wife often exhorted me to, I could tell you its name.  Back in Bandon, we scoped out the ideal spot to watch NBA finals game three. The Arcade had a few gambling machines I stayed away from, along with a vibrant bingo scene.  The first pot was worth $300. Before the festivities began, they played the Star-Spangled Banner.  I stood with the crowd, in order to lower the chances of getting my ass kicked. We then got to the Crab Shack about 20 minutes before closing.  Sadly, they were out of oysters, which we had later in our trip, but the fish sandwiches were fine.

We saw more of the coast on our drive to McMinnville. We stopped in Florence for lunch.  My wife thought the town was cute, and I agreed wholeheartedly.  The fact that the weather was gorgeous likely helped.  That good weather continued for the rest of our Oregon stay, although a tad too warm in Portland. McMinnville is a very cool town, with good food and several tasting rooms. We hit two wineries, Cana’s Feast and Dominio IV. We chatted up our gracious hosts and were pleasantly surprised by the tasting costs. Dominio IV was on a farm.  They invited us to go cherry picking but said we had to watch our step.  The pourer said she had twisted her ankle a few times.  So DJ decided that perhaps he should remain seated, sip wine and forego the cherries.

Our two dinners in McMinnville were excellent. The first night we stopped at The Bitter Monk to catch some of game 4 before dinner at La Rambla, where we had oyster and top-notch tapas. We went to Bistro Maison for night two, which featured more oysters and a killer Coq Au Vin. I can’t remember what my wife had, but she enjoyed it along with some of my dinner. We are good sharers.

We were then off to Portland for the weekend.  The girl and AG treated us to dinner at Arden for our birthdays. It really was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time. The $75 per prix fixe meal is more than a bargain. The three rounds of chow they brought were all outstanding.  You gotta go.  Tell them DJ sent you.

The next night we went to the Moda Center to see the Portland Fire beat the Dallas Wings by one with a last second foul shot. Paige Bueckers was injured so we did not have a chance to see her stellar play.

For our last night in Portland, we were supposed to have dinner with AG’s parents, but her mom came down with a case of COVID, so we had to make other plans. We made a quick stop at their house and AG went in to steal some of their chicken and the scrumptious smoked salmon that her dad had prepared. The girl grilled up the purloined chicken just right and we had a nice meal.

Back on Gull, we had a fun Facetime call with our sweet grandchildren this morning. The girl is beginning to crawl, and the boy is content to sit there and watch her. Have I told you they are both SUPER CUTE.  I did find out earlier this week that this company decided to steal my name.

https://www.depop.com/

Winning

I’m not sure how Charlie Sheen is doing lately, but Trump has been knocking it out of the park. The pic below shows him working on not falling into the Thucydides Trap. I’m looking forward to the Freedom 250 concert, which at this point will consist of Vanilla Ice doing his one hit with a stolen bass line and not much else. And a UFC octagon on the White House lawn is always a classy look. He will have to find a way to extract himself from the unnecessary war he started with Iran, but given his measured style, he should be able to do that without getting egg on his face. I do have some concerns with his new DNI choice. Given Pulte’s level of experience in that field, I think my brother would have been a better choice, as he actually worked as a security guard at one point in his youth.

I have not taken a deep dive into celeb news lately. I know Kim Kardashian is dating a race car driver and that Britney Spears has a new hairdo, but everybody knows that. I did learn that Kyle Cooke and Amanda Batula did not have sex for four years during their marriage. This was revealed during “Summer House” season 10 reunion. Since these people don’t even make the D list, I am a bit perplexed as to why I’m even reporting it. Sometimes I grasp for content. The real news is that Justin Bieber was hanging out in Millbrook, NY early last month, around the same time as I was there. Sadly, we did not cross paths.

I saw an article in SFGate about the possibility of using cannabis for weight loss. I believe that is a non-starter for some folks, like one of my gal pals that can eat a plate of brownies after a couple tokes. And there was a feature in the NYT discussing alternate uses for GLP-1. It may help with "everything from arthritis to addiction to migraines". It sounds like one medicine fits all. I wonder if it can do anything for these pesky calluses I have on my big toes.

I have to make a correction on my last post.  The NYC hoops court I referenced is at 6th Ave. and W. 4th, not W. 3rd. If I had been there 50 years ago, I could have shown off my 360º slam.

A Month?

Cut me some slack.  I’ve been traveling.

We flew to DC on International Workers' Day, which is my birthday, comrades. We were there for the Hebrew naming ceremony of our unbelievably cute twin grandchildren taking place the next day, my wife’s birthday. We rented the same place we had last Christmas. My sister and LA joined us from Sleepy Hollow and The Wig and CC came up from Richmond. The place is quick walk, which even I can handle, from SB1 and LGMG’s house.

We were up early for the ceremony, which took place at a local church the congregation is using while they work on the funding for their own synagogue. It lasted about 2.5 hours and featured more Hebrew that we were expecting, but that was OK since I’m gifted linguistically. The twins did well, napping a bit before their star turn. About two hours in, we and SB1’s in-laws were called up to hold up the tallit as the Torah was unrolled and the babies laid upon it. The significance of the chosen names was explained. SB1 choked up a bit as he spoke of his brother, which choked up everybody else. We then sat down for the conclusion of the service. Afterwards we had a catered lunch.

Since we are on the names topic, I’m going to veer just a bit to discuss blog names and grandparent names, which will be one in the same in some cases. Going forward, I won’t have to refer to “SB’s in-laws” because they will be Grandma and RaRa. We’ve already told RaRa that the r sound is one of the last a kid masters, so we’re not sure what they’ll be mumbling at him for the rest of the decade. As any true student of the blog knows, I am D Pop.  My wife will be Grammy. The two grandmothers dug deep for their names.  Also, I had floated CC for Mrs. Wig in an April post and just used it above, so it is indeed fortuitous that that is also her grandmother name.

With the ceremony in the books, the after party took place at our Airbnb. We fortunately had good weather, so the outside deck provided additional space for the crowd of forty or so. My sister and LA had brought up some goodies and SB1 hit Costco earlier so everyone had their fill. The twins had company from the several youngsters there.

We hung in DC until 5/6, spending a lot of time holding babies and supporting the take-out food industry. One evening I acted as prep cook while chef/SB1’s MIL/Grandma cooked us a fine meal we had at our place. The grandmothers had had a busy day, taking the kids to the park, where they practiced their sitting. There’s a cute video of my grandson – will he ever have a blog name? – sitting then slowly plopping over. His sister is a little ahead of him in that skill. We closed out our stay with a dinner in Georgetown with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, who jaunted in from Potomac.

We then took the Amtrak up to NYC. It was a gray day and towns like Wilmington looked a bit drab from the train window. We picked up a lot of passengers in Philly, birthplace of DJ. A couple more stops and we were in Penn Station. We hopped on the subway downtown. We both managed to pay our fare with our phones without too much difficulty. I pushed my bag through but didn’t manage to push myself through, so I had to double pay on that one.

We checked into Hotel Washington Square, kitty corner from the park. Dinner that first night was with Rockville Centre’s golden couple, The Running Beast and his wife. We chowed down at Boucherie and were not disappointed. It was pretty roomy and they were serving several tables outside as we departed around 7pm.  We had scheduled an early dinner as our companions had a flight the next day.

I need to be particularly detailed about the NYC leg of our trip.  JB and I have had a recent email barrage, but she does not seem to be satisfied with the data I have provided her. I was apparently supposed to have done more with my time in NYC. When I told her we visited Ellis Island and the 9/11 Museum, my upbeat friend dubbed it our “depression tour”. I also learned that we were in the city at the same time.  She had lived there for many years and still goes often from her Florida home.

Our first full day took us to Ellis Island. My wife told me I had walked over three miles that day, so I was a proud gimped-up geezer. The weather was excellent for our boat trip. We saw folks from many countries and heard varied languages.  One guy was taking pictures of his family with his glasses. I plan to skip the glasses and wait until they can implant a chip in me. Am I digressing? OK, lots of folks hopped off at the Statue of Liberty and then we docked at Ellis Island. We watched a movie and saw dozens of pictures of immigrants in their native dress. These were taken by one of the early 20th century employees who was also an amateur photographer. Unfortunately, the section where you can research your family’s roots was closed for remodeling.  My son has already done a great deal of research, so I know that my nonno Tommaso arrived there on 03/24/1904.

I was a little tired afterward, so we hopped into a cab. My spidey sense said we were about to be scammed when he asked if we had cash. He then said the short drive to Washington Sq. would be $40 to $45. We indignantly hopped out. We may be suburbanites, but we are not complete rubes. We then were scoping out the subway route on the phone when a friendly local stopped to give us directions.  We had a nice chat and learned that his granddaughter is playing soccer for UCLA. I proudly mentioned my Middletown roots.

Dinner that night was at Cecchi’s. My sister and LA came down, and my brother came in from his PA abode. Google refers to the place as a “trendy eatery”, so I felt right at home.  It was packed but we scored a window table up front, so we were pretty well insulated. I’m always amazed when full cocktails arrive without a drop spilled. Do they have one guy clear a path and the other guy carry the drinks? This and many other things puzzle me, such as why don’t I take notes so I can tell you what we ate. Ah hell, you don’t really care.

NYC day 2 started with a tour of the 9/11 Museum, which is certainly an emotional whirlwind. We had seen the memorial fountains the last time we were there, but the museum was closed that day. It is a tough slog but I’m glad we did it.  They displayed the remains of the first fire truck to arrive. We spoke with a docent from Staten Island who provided lots of detail and also pointed us to an exhibition that we almost missed. I’m pretty sure I mentioned my Middletown roots again.

Since I have to be detailed, I’d like to mention a star sighting. Esquire magazine recently had an article stating that John Bernthal is everywhere. Well, he was certainly at the bball court on 6th Ave. and W. 3rd. They were running full and I wished I was forty years younger so I could take Bernthal to the hoop. He is currently doing Dog Day Afternoon with The Bear castmate Ebon Moss-Bachrach when he’s not taking jumpers.

We dined alone that evening at the Little Owl, a tiny spot at the corner of Bedford and Grove. My sister recommended the meatball sliders, so we had those as a fine appetizer. We also shared our entrees. We played fair and left each other exactly half. The Ridge Zin I had seen on their web menu was unavailable, so we consoled ourselves with a Sonoma Cab. JB had asked me if it was a good place for old people. I told her they had welcomed me with open arms, but that I doubt she’d have the same experience.

The next morning, we were off to Grand Central and hopped on Metro North to the Tarrytown station. My sister picked us up and brought us to their Sleepy Hollow enclave. My college RA will soon be one of her neighbors, once they complete the latest set of condos in Sleepy Hollow. This final stop allowed us to relax a bit before returning to our hectic retired life in FC. My sister and LA always treat us like royalty when we are there. It was good to have a few home cooked meals. We ventured up to the Millbrook Winery in Dutchess County on Mother’s Day. LA picks up her Williams Selyem shipments there. It was well attended and we had some good food truck BBQ before making our exit minutes before the skies opened up. Our final dinner was at Trattoria Da Vittorio. We took a quick hop over the Tappan Zee to Rockland County’s Piermont to this cozy place. Many thanks to our gracious hosts.

The Wait Is Over

I have completed one third of today’s trifecta, a vigorous pole-assisted walk through FC’s neighborhood two, its most posh. I now feel the need to post because, in the furthest recesses of my imagination, my audience is restless.

A late congrats to #1 for taking the Extended Village March Madness pool.  His SB1, who came in 2nd, had been leading in the early going. I came in 3rd and noted MI alum the Wolv was 4th. Four others that had picked MI took the 5 through 8 slots.  My wife came in 9th.  She had chosen Duke.  I had forgotten to remind her that our family does not root for Duke.

In my recent YouTube viewing, the Pod Save America dudes were discussing Tucker Carlson’s recent question re Trump: "Could this be the Antichrist?" I’m glad to see him coming around. Trump’s beef with Pope Leo and his posting of pictures of himself as Jesus – or maybe just a doctor – is not harming Tucker’s case. If you bomb a country to distract from the news that you could be a rapist and pedophile, you might helping his case.

Trump said the pope was weak on crime. Somebody needs to inform Trump that Leo is Bishop of Rome, not Sheriff. I saw a clip of a comedian making fun of this.  He said maybe the Popemobile is for fighting crime. JD jumped on the bandwagon, saying the pope should stick to theology. I expect JD’s career will be going up in flames soon enough that nobody will give a shit what he says.

I had a brief exchange with #1 about the bastardization of our language.  He brought up stanning and I responded with my disdain for that, and looksmaxxing, and all the other crap people come up with on a daily basis. I may get a DJmobile to fight language crimes.

One of the big proponents of looksmaxxing is Clavicular. I’m not sure if he smacks his cheekbones with a hammer as some of these knuckleheads do, but he did manage to OD while he was livestreaming. I myself have a strict no-alcohol policy when I livestream. I am also unclear on the origin of his nom de guerre. I did consult Merriam-Webster and, as I thought, it means of or relating to the clavicle. I’ve been familiar with the clavicle bone since I was a small child, as my brother busted his when he was three or four.

I was glued to the TV last week watching the Masters. I was rooting for Rory all the way. Things are starting to go his way. Sergio Garcia lost his shit and smashed a tee box with this club, but at least he apologized a few days later, which made me feel better. He also received the Masters first code of conduct warning.  Man, that’s gotta sting!

The Gray Lady recently did a profile titled "Someone Has to Be Happy. Why Not Lauren Sánchez Bezos?". I sometime put things I perceive to be witty on FB, and I was going to post it and say “read it and puke” but I decided to rise above it. I was glad to see Katie Couric chime in, along with a few thousand other commenters. Somebody said, “the NYT is rage-baiting us”. I appreciate the sentiment but not the use of “rage-bating”, which I put in the same category as stanning and looksmaxxing. In any case, I’ll close this paragraph by letting you know that Jeff and Lauren are currently visiting the Galapagos on their half billion-dollar yacht.

I’ve got my calendar marked for July 3.  That is when Confessions II, Madonna’s new album, drops. I just listened to a preview of “I Feel So Free” so you don’t have to.  It’s a whispery spoken word piece with some electronic music in the background.  I don’t know how she does it.

We had the 4Ms over for dinner on Sunday. The recipe for the masterpiece I created is below.  They found it tolerable.  As usual, 4M digs around in his wine cellar to provide us with his best.  He recently hit 70, so he dug up some of his 1956 wares. He brought this one to share with us. The bottle will have a special place in our kitchen hall of fame ledge along with his homemade vino from their last visit.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1026287-one-pot-roman-chicken-cacciatore-with-potatoes

I’ll end by reminding you that my 69th birthday is a mere two weeks away, so get your gift shopping done quickly.  I’ll be celebrating with this dignified individual.

Disappointed Yet Again

Perusing my Statcounter, I see #1 and the Wolv visited earlier this morning. I can almost see their grief-stricken faces as they came across the same late March post.  I cannot, in good conscience, allow this to continue.  And the Wolv will be doubly glad this evening when MI pastes AZ.

We spent last weekend in Sacramento. Friday brought us to Golden 1 Center, where we watched the two women’s Sweet 16 games. UCLA had a slow start but came out in the second half to rout MN. The second game, Duke vs. LSU, was a tight one, with Duke dropping a buzzer beating trey to take it.  I felt bad for Kim Mulkey. I have an affinity with her because of our similar fashion styles. 

The next day we joined the No Kings protest across from the state capitol. My wife made us some good signs. I saw a few repeats of my “clean up on aisle 47” among the other witty and profane placards. It was well organized, with shady spots to sit down and abundant water bottles. We departed before the marchers arrived and somehow landed at Joseph A. Bank because my wife is tired of the shirts I’ve been wearing. I was annoyed because there were no selections from the Mulkey line, but I came away with two nicely patterned long sleeves that mitigate my protruding gut. We then headed to the home of a good friend of my wife from her SDSU days.  She and her husband treated us royally for our overnight stay, with sumptuous meals and fine selection of beverages.

I have ventured into new culinary territory recently.  I’m not sure what came over me, but I attempted not one, not two, but three new recipes this week.  The first one I got from Mrs. Wig. As I stated in my 2/21 post, I need to come up with a new blog name for her.  I’m thinking CC might do it, but I’ll give her veto rights before making it official. All new names need to go before the MBB (Mediocre Blogs Board) for their blessing. In any case, my first attempt at this recipe was not a sterling success, but it was edible. My wife pointed out that I should have used the non-stick pan to fry the meatballs. As always, she was right.

https://themodernproper.com/chicken-piccata-meatballs

I really went out of my comfort zone for this next one. It came out pretty well but made me do a little research on coconut milk. I will try it again, or something similar, when the spirit moves me.

https://downshiftology.com/recipes/chickpea-curry/

The big winner of the week was my Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe. I’ve always enjoyed this when I’ve had it at restaurants.  I did not actually follow one recipe, but watched a few videos, such as this guy who I enjoy, as well as read through different recipe versions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msi0RPjBZ40

I’ll close by saying goodbye and good riddance to Pam Bondi. Below is South Park’s depiction of her.

I Didn’t Do It

I’m trying to figure out which of my alleged friends in The Village did the cyber-attack on the Foster City gubmint. I know TCG and #1 have the chops, but those guys keep themselves busy with legitimate activities, so I’ll continue my research.

We had a big night here on Gull last night, with #1 and Barbie and the Hotelier and Janet slipping in for a free meal. My girl and AG are in town, so this gave them a chance to spend some time with them. My daughter mixed up a cocktail she found via AI.  Everybody but me drank the orange liquid. New things frighten me, so I stuck to Tanqueray up. My wife whipped up an excellent chicken dish she first tried on our recent Palm Springs visit. We have enough for a second meal, so my cooking duties have been greatly reduced this week. We also had a good box of wine.  I had put several slits in it earlier in the afternoon to let it open up. And #1 got a birthday cake my wife made. I told her the event merited only Safeway bakery items, but she went all out.

My big bro pinged me a couple days ago. I had spoken with him from SMA on 3/10 for his 71st birthday. He had a burning question for me. We are quite competitive in a sense, so he quizzed me, asking me to tell him at what age LBJ died, without checking of course. This is normal brotherly chit chat where I come from.  I nailed it at 64. Unlike my dear brother, LBJ did not have a healthy lifestyle. We both like to think we have steel-trap minds but use each other as sounding boards re childhood memories etc. And we sure are fun at parties, as we can name several African capitals.  Addis Ababa, you say. You are correct sir!

I’ve been keeping good blog notes, so I’ll be able to update you on some celeb activity. Nicole Kidman – the one that does not like bad breath – appears to be dating fellow Aussie Simon Baker, he of The Mentalist fame. Letterman made a hilarious joke about The Mentalist in one of his monologues years ago, but I have not been able to turn it up in my Google searches. If I find it, I'll let you know. 

There is a new Bon Jovi biopic in the works. I plan to be the first in my neighborhood to see it. The Hotelier mentioned that he’s seen his display in the Rock and Roll HOF, where they correctly spell his name as Bongiovi. In other D list news, if I see one more article about Taylor Frankie Paul, I might go postal.

The house right next to us recently sold. Our dear neighbor passed away at 106 last year. Her husband had made it to 99. They warmly welcomed us to the neighborhood back in ’94. They were the original owners. The new owners, a young Indian couple, stopped by to introduce themselves a few days ago. We had them in for a chat. I was thinking it might be cool to have a few rugrats next door, but I refrained from saying “when ya gonna have kids?” I’ll wait until they are settled in to ask.

4M and I both had the same reaction to this article. “How the hell do they do it?”

I think we all agree that Erica Kirk should go away, but this recent article had me confused.  Was she talking about her mailman?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/erika-kirk-facing-backlash-her-152325616.html

Afroman, he of “Because I Got High” fame, was cleared in a lawsuit filed by Ohio sheriff’s deputies. They did not like their portrayal in this hilarious video.  Tough shit fellas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xxK5yyecRo&list=RD9xxK5yyecRo&start_radio=1

SMA

We got back from San Miguel de Allende on Wednesday night, so it is time for me to jump into action and document the rest of our journey south of the border. There are some really critical celeb updates, like the fact that Nicole Kidman is turned off by bad breath – how unusual! – but I am now laser focused on SMA. I will be aided by #1’s journal notes.  

On March 2 we took a four-hour van ride from Mexico City to SMA. We saw a few military convoys to remind us of the ongoing troubles within the country, but we never encountered the slightest problem. We settled into Casa Elegante, which was pretty elegante. Each couple had a large room with their own bathroom, and the kitchen was well equipped. The fourth floor was a patio with great views. There was even an elevator, which I occasionally employed.

We did a big shop at City Market, which is also pretty elegante. It is geared toward the large ex-pat community, but that was mainly for breakfast and lunch.  For three evenings, Pepe and his crew came in to cook some fantastic meals, large enough to provide dinner the next evening as well. We had some good meals out as well.

We made our own lunch early in our SMA stay at Maria’s cooking school, which featured Sopa de Nopales (Cactus Soup), Arroz Verde (Green Rice) and Pollo Encacahuatado (Chicken in Peanut Sauce). We learned several things. #1 mentioned the chipotle/habanero sauce he creates each Christmas for friends and family.  Maria immediately slapped him down and informed us that you can’t mix fresh and dried peppers, nor fresh and fresh, only dried and dried.  Who knew #1 was such a rebel? We also came to the realization that sharp knives work very well and decided we’d get ours sharpened when we got home. Lastly, a unique cooking method is what causes Mexican rice to have each kernel stand out as opposed to the usual clumping.  It is deep-fried before it goes into the water.

https://mexican-cooking-school.com/

That night we took a short walk down the road to catch Credence Clearwater Revisited, not the legit band with actual CCR members, but a knock-off with three Mexican guys and a Brit. The guitarist visited our table, and I gave him a band-aid for his sore finger. He said he played a metal gig years ago and had the same problem, bleeding all over the place to the delight of the audience. I never did understand metalheads.

The next day brought us to Live Aqua, a posh club much posher than mine. We were supposed to have a pool at Casa Elegante, but it was closed for repairs. #1 sent some strongly worded emails to the management company and secured us a day at Live Aqua, along with credit for food and drinks. I took a few laps in the very long pool then had some tasty fish tacos.  Our day was cut short with a torrential downpour, so Katie and #1 decided to walk home because they wanted to know what a drowned rat feels like. The rest of us waited an eternity (20 minutes) for a cab, watching the rivulets run down the street.

That was our only rainy day, so we had beautiful weather the next day for our excursion to Fábrica la Aurora, an old textile mill converted into an art center. I saw several pieces I would have loved to take home, but as I used to tell my kids, I don’t have a money tree. Since I am a huge fan of the WWE and Mexican wrestling, I picked this guy up.  There were several cool ones, but this guy sports the M, as in DJ.

The wife and I joined Katie on a trip to Escondido Hot Springs, aka aguas termales. The cab ride out there, about seven miles, could not described as harrowing, but I was a tad ill at ease. That’s why we decided to use the same guy on the way back. He was already in the parking lot when I texted.  I attribute this to the fact that I am an excellent tipper. Enough about our taxi. Escondido did not compare to Live Aqua but did not carry the same price tag. The several pools of varying temperatures were very relaxing, and we laid around quite a bit, as is our wont. 

There were a few jaunts I opted out of, such as a walking tour of the city and the beautiful vistas from El Mirador. DJ is a geezer and needs his rest. I would have liked to have participated, and this sentiment was echoed by the entire crew. “It wasn’t the same without you, pal. It was so much better.”

Alas, the big fun had to come to an end. We were up early for our 7:30am van ride to the Guanajuato airport, where we caught a flight to Houston. IAH was short on wheelchairs, so my cane got a good workout.  Fortunately, they had just reinstituted Global Entry, so we got through the customs process with minimal hassle. #1 and I along with wives caught our SFO flight after a short delay, but TCG and Katie were not as lucky. Their original Houston/Denver/Reno itinerary did not work out, so they got into Reno about 2am.

I’d like to close with a shout out to my travel mate TCG, who had a successful knee replacement yesterday. We all hope he’ll be up and around in no time.  I am looking forward to 2027, when TCG is scheduled to undergo a personality replacement.