The tight two-lane, winding road that is Hwy. 17 to Santa Cruz is at once exhilarating if you’re channeling  Danica Patrick  yet intimidating if you’re accustomed to the parallel grid that epitomizes the multi-lane construction of most of the roads in So Cal.  When we arrived at the Hampton Inn, just as you enter town and the highway becomes Ocean St., I was ready to check in and start chilling the bottle of 2007 St. Clement Sauvignon Blanc that I had purchased at Cellar 360 in Ghirardelli Square specifically with a welcome-to-Santa Cruz afternoon aperitif in mind . But first I had to see just how far down Ocean St. was the ocean and show Chloe the famous Beach Boardwalk amusement park area; we were a few miles away but nature was calling and a comfy bed was beckoning my teen so sightseeing would have to wait.


I opted for Hampton Inn because I could use Hilton points and I (we) have done many one-nighters when all is required is a clean room, comfy bed, and breakfast the next morning at a reasonable price. We checked in and my teen crawled into bed and was snoozing in minutes (the curvy road had prevented any earlier zzz’s).  I promptly located the ice machine, began chilling the vino,  and decided to explore the town and locate a market for some munchies.  Just so happened that there was a Trader Joe’s – my fave – and I bought some pretzel thins, seeded flatbread, gouda cheese, and a sharp cheddar with stilton.  After checking out the local color – headed back to the hotel for happy hour.


Since this trip has been stretched out like a studio, summer blockbuster series (or maybe you’re a new reader ), allow me to refresh your memory as to its purpose;  college tours: 1. University of San Francisco and 2. University of Santa Cruz.  Based on what we had seen online and read in the ONE college guide that we purchased, Fiske Guide to Colleges, UCSC was my teen’s preliminary top choice due to the fact that it has a strong Linguistics department and, as of this summer, that is what she had decided she was interested in – specifically Language Studies which combines Linguistics and concentration in a language, in her case, French.


Roused my teen out of bed at 8:30 the next morning so we could head out to the UC Santa Cruz campus and possibly get on the 10:00 bus tour as a standby (all tours for August were already booked when I checked online in mid July).  No luck getting on the tour – everyone showed up!  All the folks that didn’t get on were given an upbeat, informative presentation by a student working in the visitor center and among the materials was a map designed for self-tours.  

We ended up spending nearly four hours on the campus and I’m sure a more thorough look at the campus then if we had gone on the bus tour because we actually parked the car and walked around several of the ten individual colleges, the sports complex and fitness center, the Baskin School of Engineering, the outdoor Festival Glen theatre where Shakespeare Santa Cruz was performing that evening, and visited Linguistics department where we had a 1:00 appointment with a department advisor.  We also stopped at the bookstore to buy a tee shirt with the banana slug mascot and meandered into areas like the back parking lot of Lick Observatory as a result of wrong turns.  

In the final analysis, UC Santa Cruz is definitely my daughter’s top choice now.  The campus is situated in a spectacular setting between the Pacific Ocean and redwood forests.  As with UC Santa Barbara, the joke is that this may be the only time in your life where you’ll have an ocean view, but my teen fell in love with the residence hall set into the redwood forest.
















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Following the whirlwind of Sara’s wedding, we high-tailed it to one of Don’s favorite spots in the world: Big Moose Lake in the Adirondack mountains of upstate New York, Where every summer since Sara was a babe-in-arms he had been visiting an idyllic spot called the Waldheim for two weeks in July. Even after moving to California he continued to carry on the tradition for his, now, three daughters until about ten years ago.

It was a time to reconnect with his daughters, relax on the dock, swim in the cool waters, tramp along sunlight-dappled paths bordered by verdant, dewy ferns, mushy from recent rains, listen to the haunting calls of the loons in the dark of night, and revel in the natural beauty of this remote northern region of the U.S.

The History of the Adirondacks has been influenced by many powerful forces including: logging, mining, farming, and tourism. during the “GildedAge” of the late nineteenth century it became the summer playground of the rich and famous such as J.P. Morgan, the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers who built what became known as The Adirondack Great Camps.

Time for a celebratory cocktail cruise with old friends, so more to come.

(Originally posted on July 8, 2009 at topmomblog.com )

Its not every day that you can be entertained for 4 hours for only $6 and experience great music, belly dancing, and the current year’s top Academy Award winning movie! All in a parking lot in the middle of downtown Eureka Springs, Arkansas with 2 camp chairs, bug spray, and a blanket being the only forethought required.

Beginning the first week in June, the outdoor cinema known as Lucky 13 Starlight Theatre features a movie every Sunday night preceded by a local band along with raffle giveaways and theme events such as the best sari contest and runway show that we saw. A wonderful people-watching opportunity where “the audience rivals the actors as entertainment and Eureka’s downtown architecture is as breath-taking as any Hollywood set”.

Thunderstorms the previous night brought a drop in temperature of about 10 degrees and blessed us with weather that was absolutely balmy compared to the previous week. Chloe and I dropped off our camp chairs and walked down north main street to the garden bistro for a lovely dinner that began with an appetizer of squash blossom frite and chilled strawberry soup. at The Garden Bistro you can enjoy flavorful, farm-fresh gourmet dishes created by Chef Lana Campbell.

An update to the garden page with photos from the Garden Bistro is coming soon…

(Originally published on June 29, 2009)

Vegas is the ultimate playground; there’s a palpable excitement in the air and you just can’t help but be swept up in it. The glamour and bright lights, the adrenaline burst that comes with risk, the expectation. The possibilities…it makes you do things that you would never normally do – caution is thrown to the wind.

My girlfriend and I had been at the pool and she observed that her glasses were not nearly BIG enough – she needed a new pair because, other than a bikini, the only accessory that is de riguer at any pool in Vegas is a pair of glam sunglasses. So mind you, she is the one that caused us to be coerced into the sunglass shop at the Venetian by a tall, handsome and effective salesman. Cha ching! But aren’t they gorgeous and glittery? and the best part is, we’ll actually wear them after we leave – unlike that muumuu I bought in Hawaii.

(Originally published on April 18, 2009 at www.topmomblog.com )