After surviving some headaches the first day and some more altitude sickness, or bad food which caused my last night to be pretty bed and sink-focused, I must say that all in all I had a wonderful time at the pool with old and new friends in a new environment in a part of California I’ve never been to before, even though it reminded me in several ways of Lake Tahoe.
I’m also glad my car made it, despite some brake “burning” on the way down the mountain and a noise which my brother now believes was the wheel bearing. My friend Ed and I traveled about 900 miles round trip taking the scenic route up and down California in my Buick.
Here are the pictures from my camera and from others who attended:
Some pictures and a video of our trip around the bay today.
We thought the buildings by the lighthouse were for the staff, but it’s actually a hostel! See http://www.norcalhostels.org/pigeon/
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- Some cypress trees near the Pigeon Point Lighthouse compound.
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- It’s a good thing Aaron’s not the kind of guy to overreact to a tsunami.
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- Suddenly the weather turned as we headed up the coast.
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- Tat, Alex and Aaron in front of the flume ride.
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- Aaron and me in front of the Big Dipper
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- Trying to get a picture of the boardwalk and this woofy shirtless guy somehow got caught in the view!
I got a 2002 Buick LeSabre with only one previous owner and only 69k miles on it. It’s a V6, so it should last a long time, and seems to be in fantastic condition.
I had three celebrity sightings when I was there this time. Anderson Cooper was eating at Chat & Chew near Union Square, one of my old hangouts. He was with the Parisian guy who is reputed to be his boyfriend (I later saw a link and verified his identity). I also saw Kristin Wiig at the former Dugout/Rock Bar, making out with a woman. She was already my favorite SNL cast member at the moment. Now she really is! Lastly I saw Michael Musto at the Urban Bear Weekend fair. He’s a Village Voice columnist who I used to see around town all the time.
It was so great to see many old friends, but I did neglect to photograph a few special people, including Laura Yellon, Chris Cintron, Ted Habza and David A. Garcia, who I made sure to spend time with as they went out of their way to make sure they saw me. Here are pictures of the various events and people I saw, including my first look from the High Line Park, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
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- Looking uptown from the Highline.
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- This building definitely didn’t exist when I moved away three years ago.
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- Waving to the cars below.
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- Industrial or pastoral?
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- Behind Paul is the Statue of Liberty and Staten Island.
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- It took about six shots to get this unobstructed by the pedestrians.
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- Joisey.
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- Entering Highline from the Meatpacking District.
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- Max at Union Square.
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- Waiting for Max to bring my shorts at Union Square.
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- Busy East 14th Street behind me.
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- Union Square landmarks.
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- Max being domestic.
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- Saw this in a Garment District window.
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- The new hotel over the Highline where patrons were apparently being naughty (but not while I was there).
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- The view from my temporary New York office on the border of TriBeCa.
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- Holland Tunnel entrance from my New York office.
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- Rooftop garden below my New York office.
There is both a video and a gallery here to check out:
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- Bad lighting, but love the texture of the brick mansion in the background.
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- Helping Myles out with a challenge.
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- In the middle of a jumping jack (I think).
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- This is a classic resemblance to his mother!
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- Teasing Myles by wearing his hat (what a poser!).
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- Longtime friends of mine who are neighbors (Paul’s first time eating Japanese food).
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- Myles discovered that he LOVES caviar!
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- Both wearing hats on Montague Street.
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- Orange you glad we came to this old sushi place I used to frequent?
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- What’s next on the menu, ma?
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- Whatchyou talkin’ ’bout, mister?
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- At a Promenade playground I took Alex to when she was a toddler.
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- “Mamma mia, can you show me how to do a jumping jack?”
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- Mom and son with Japanese art.
I actually saw Village Voice columnist Michael Musto at the Urban Bear Weekend Fair, so that makes three “celebrities” I saw in an 11-day visit in New York. Gallery and (PG-13-rated) video below:
My niece Kristal lives in Phoenix. We had lunch last Saturday morning at Thefarmatsouthmountain.com, an organic farm with three restaurants, including a breakfast cafe, where we ate al fresco. It was conveniently located between her place and where I was staying with friends in Laveen.
Then, on Monday, we drove up to see Uncle Danny Stief (of Sedonatalkradio.com). He gave us a great tour of that stunning area, explaining to us about the vortexes and other metaphysical anomalies in the area (making Kristal’s name quite appropriate). We had lunch and then Kristal and I drove back to Phoenix in time for me to catch my flight back to San Francisco. On the way to Sedona, however, Kristal and I were talking so much that I forgot to get gas, and so to be sure we didn’t have to walk in the desert heat, I let the car coast down a mountainside for about eight miles to get to the next town to fill up!
Sedona is magnificent everywhere you look, with it’s vortexes and it’s manmade and natural monuments. It was great to see my uncle, who is a talented singer, and touched Kristal and me with a few live performances of Elvis songs. It was the first time Kristal and he met each other, so I was glad to facilitate their meeting and for us all to learn more about other parts of our family.
I’m also glad to have a nice base tan from Arizona last week for the two weekends in NYC I’m going to enjoy later this month!
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- I think that is Cathedral Rock behind us.
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- An eagle head carving viewed from the temple.
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- Somebody’s amazing house as viewed from the temple.
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- Documenting where we went to take some pictures on the cliffside.
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- From a spot near Sedona Airport
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- See the Teapot mountain on the right?
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- Kristal took this of me at Farm By South Mountain, where we had breakfast.
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