Today is our first wedding anniversary. I still smile with joy remembering our wedding. Thanks again to all who made the journey and shared our day:
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This morning we went to the evacuation centers offering our help, dropping off toiletries and such we had laying around. We registered with the red cross as a host home – we can take some pets along with their owners here and thought that would be valuable. We then went to the east shore (Nevada Beach) to retrieve our mighty hound Ras. We knew we were okay. Well. When we returned and approached our neighborhood around 2:00 pm we were alarmed. Lots of smoke. We began to think more about ourselves. We printed out an evacuation list and followed its instructions: turn on all indoor lights, remove inflammable window coverings, place lawn furniture into the garage, unlock all doors, turn off the gas, etc. The situation was very different from this morning – way different from being able to offer shelter to others! I was up on our cedar shake roof hosing it down trying to keep it moist. At one point I realized I could feel the heat from the fire and the red glow on the underside of the nearby smoke billows was exciting. We had already gathered the essentials – passports, records, valuables, stuff like that. I filled some trash cans with water, and continued to hose down the roof with two hoses hooked up to our hose bibs. Helicopters were flying overhead – the kind that drop water. I could see them so nearby it was amazing – just down the street at tree-top level. The fire was reported to have jumped the highway (highway 89) that had been separating us from the fire. Smoke was billowing really nearby as we prepared to leave. I called my sister Sally and asked for advice on things to grab, not being particularly lucid as I raced around – Mel is the cooler head around here! The phone rang and we answered it a bit gruffly as we raced to get stuff into the truck. As we prepared to leave we heard about more and more mandatory evacuations from nearby neighborhoods. But the conditions really began to look better. We hooked up our trailer (need a place to stay after all!) and waited to see what would happen. We and the neighbors kept looking around and gauging the situation. We learned that the traffic leaving our area was bumper to bumper, just a parking lot, and leaving home to sit in traffic 400 yards away just did not seem necessary. Some people left, but we are hanging around still as of this post. We have learned that we can leave but that it is difficult or impossible to return. The conditions are much better than earlier this afternoon. We intend to stay as long as we think it is safe and/or until we receive a mandatory evacuation order. What happened today is that the wind came up and the fire just jumped up like crazy. I am hearing on the tv news now that two fire fighters became trapped and had to resort to deploying their fire tent in a meadow as far from timber as they could get and hunker down. They are fine. Unfortunately the weather report is not good – strong winds for the next four days. We saw our friend Doug today – he lost his home utterly. He is staying with our friends Kurt and Maryellen. The agencies are here in a big way, and things are getting handled okay, but lots of loss and grief here. As I read over this I want to assure you that we are not doing anything stupid – we can get out of here in a heartbeat and will do so if it comes to that. Posting tired with a churning stomach… -Steve We live in South Lake Tahoe, CA, where a large and devastating fire erupted on Sunday. Over 200 homes have been destroyed and more than 1000 people have been evacuated. We are not among them. We are fine, and our house is fine. That said, we have several friends who are now without homes. One man, Jim Patterson, lost his wife to breast cancer two months ago and Sunday got out of their house with their five pets but not with her ashes. He now says that Lenore’s ashes ‘will be part of the new foundation when I rebuild.’ We just got back last night at midnight, and today we need to fireproof our own place to the extent we can. This means rake pine needles off of our roof – a cedar shake one! – connect our garden hoses to our spigots, deploy a ladder to our roof, leave a light on in every room and the doors unlocked, etc. Also we want to do some basic preparation for evacuation – critical documents, photos and other items. Then we need to track down some friends who are now not answering their land lines and see what they need. A tragedy. Gotta go! -Steve Halong Bay is in North Vietnam, in the Gulf of Tonkin near Haiphong. We travelled by train from Hanoi to Haiphong, and then by hydrofoil to the island of Cat Ba where we stayed a few nights. One day (Dec 24th, 2005 to be exact) we and 4 fellow travellers boarded a small junk and spent the day touring Halong Bay. It is a magical place (and a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Limestone pinnacles/islands fill the bay. This evidently is the result of post ice-age rising ocean levels in a large river delta, the river having eroded the limestone into sheer faces. There are so many of these islands that the bay is really calm – makes for great views. This day the bay was mystical and magical: We wound slowly through passages between these monoliths. Our crew knew the way, but it felt like a Disneyland ride. Around every corner lay surprises, such as floating villages: Or serene views of fishing boats: Take the time and go. Go to Vietnam soon, it is changing very rapidly. Mel and I fell in love with this country and its people. I’ll post more about other places in Vietnam another time. Have a look at the complete Halong Bay album: Happy travels! -Steve Mel and I found ourselves in Athens last summer with a long week on our hands before embarking on our Yachts of Seabourn cruise to Istanbul (see post below). We spent a little time looking into going to one or more of the Greek islands. This was July, and the ferries were heavily booked, the flights totally booked, and places to stay were impacted as well. We put together a couple of scenarios none of which were super appealing since they involved long ferry rides and changing places to stay while on a given island. Our cruise was slated to visit three islands anyhow, so we looked elsewhere. We settled on the idea of renting a car and driving to the Peloponnese. This peninsula is connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus at Corinth which is cut by the canal of the same name. The peninsula is huge, around one-third of Greece. This is where mount Olympus is, Sparta and hosts of other historic places we all reognize, but which I could not have located within Greece on my best day prior to our trip there. When we told our concierge at our hotel in Athens (the Hotel Grande Bretagne, a great property) about our plans he just lit up! He pointed out a couple of places on our map we should go, and off we went. Driving in Greece is no problem. Almost all of the road signs are repeated in the Roman alphabet, so we were able to navigate just fine. We took the excellent expressway to Corinth and on into Peloponnese beyond. The terrain is mountainous and arid – reminded this Southern California boy of home. We had a copy of Alistair Sawday’s Special Places to Stay in Greece with us and found three very special places to stay indeed. The first was on a road south from Tripoli (just love all the place names here!) down one of the fingers of the peninsula in the province of Laconia. The place is in the town of Gerolimenas and is named Kyrimai. The building is the home of the local quail baron – the cliffs have huge populations of quail which the region exports. A gorgeous stone mansion right on the water. We spent a couple of nights here and enjoyed the coastline: By contrast to the islands this time of year, we were able to find places to stay without lots of advance planning – our cell phone was helpful – make sure you get or take a GSM phone. Exploring the peninsula by car was really great. We drove through some remote and enchanting areas, the peninsula dotted with olive groves and villages, with herdsman and their herds of goats roaming the hills. We would picnic with Greek olives, cheese and bread and, of course, wine. The weather was excellent as well. Life is good here! We managed to get to places so remote that we ran out of Roman-alphabet signs. Mel and I could both sound out the greek letters and form the sounds of the place names and then recognize them, but we would have to pull over and spend some time doing this. It was fun figuring out directions. We then went to a small town name Kyparissi on another of the ‘fingers’ of Pelopponese. The drive over featured a herd of goats on the road: The descent down to Kyparissi was scary! One lane with a sheer drop-off hundreds of feet to the ocean: We met a vehicle coming up as we descended on a blind corner. Our palms were sweating! The road was built in the seventies. Prior to that people came and went by sea or used the trail: The town is simply beautiful, a small fishing town on a cove with the cliffs high above: There are some beautiful houses right on the cove: This town was a favorite of ours. Many of the people there were from the San Francisco area, locals who had emigrated years before and now came back for the summers. Dining was a delight. We would sit, the waiter (son of the woman who did all of the cooking) would tell us what was available that evening, and we would order. It was always excellent, and unlike other countries in the EU we have travelled to, our US dollar went a ways here. Kyparissi is tranquil – what a great place to spend some time. We left Kyparissi for Nafplion. This is an old Venetian city with Venetian architecture, a fine port and old forts surrounding it. The streets are fun, narrow and full of people strolling in the evenings and dining outdoors. As we drove into town, we saw a small cruise ship and realized it was the Seabourn Spirit – the ship we would embark on the next day! That really excited us. After a dinner of fish soup and lamb kebabs, we went to bed happy we had chosen to visit this part of Greece. For our honeymoon we booked a one-week cruise aboard Seabourn, a fabulous cruise line with small ships (‘yachts’ as Seabourn prefers to say) carrying up to 208 passengers. We had 180 on ours, the Seabourn Spirit. We were thinking of booking a three-week Venice to Istanbul itinerary, but being first-time cruisers, were afraid we wouldn’t like it. I, in particular, was afraid of being trapped on a small ship wishing I could be somewhere doing something instead of, I guess, playing shuffleboard. We boarded in Athens and went to the Greek islands of Miknonos, Milos and Patmos, and to the Turkish ports of Bodrum and Kusadasi (gateway to the ancient Roman city of Ephesus). We disembarked in Istanbul – another fantastic place I will post about another time. The ship, our cabin, the cuisine and the service were exceptional. Our destinations were likewise fantastic. We enjoyed the cruise very much and would recommend it without hesitation. Here are some pics and commentary:
This type of cruise is definitely luxurious, and Mel and I are (to say the least) unusual one-time cruisers in having been only on Seabourn. But it has opened up a new mode of travel for us that has its place in our journeys. Ran into our friend Doyle at the hardware store yesterday. Mel told him about starting her own travel agency. We started talking travel and places we like to go and have been. Doyle and his girlfriend went to Cabo San Lucas recently and stayed at an all-inclusive time-share place for two weeks. Doyle mentioned that it was too long. I asked if he was just too type-A, and couldn’t just hang on the beach for two weeks. He said that the food started to taste all the same (“lobster, steak, it all came off the same grill.”). He said he is not interested in going back to Mexico. Then he started telling a story about a different trip he had been on to Mexico – sailing on a friend’s boat down the Pacific coast of Baja towards Cabo. He liked that trip. He told a story:
This is a valuable experience, the sort of thing we are looking for in our travels. I think you can have these valuable experiences on any sort of vacation or trip, but I think the chances are increased if you get off the beaten path and find your own way. That increases the risk of some, lets say, trying experiences. But I also think it increases the chances of those memorable ones. -Steve Mel and I have always been independent travelers. We are also foodies. We were not drawn toward all-inclusive resorts. We feared being trapped at a place with bad food and nowhere to go. One December after teaching Fall quarter I was fried and asked Mel (the great researcher) to find us a trip. She found a good deal at Couples Negril in Negril, Jamaica. Couples is a chain of four all-inclusive resorts in Jamaica catering to, well, couples. There are no children which we like (our child has four legs and black fur). We had travelled to Negril before and loved it! Jamaica and Jamaicans are wonderful, the beach and ocean at Negril is to die for, good fresh food was available, and we knew we wanted to go back someday. Anyhow, we booked to an all-inclusive, took a deep breath and got on the plane. When we got to the resort the initial view took our breaths away – just gorgeous with a view from the elevated open-air lobby over the pool to the beach and calm, turquoise Caribbean beyond. We were shown our room which was lovely – nice grounds with lush vegetation and a balcony view over the tree-tops with tree frogs singing. We went to get something to eat (it was late in the afternoon, before dinner and after lunch). The option available at that time was the beach grill where they serve hamburgers and fries, jerk chicken and other Jamaican street food like chicken patties, and the like. I got the jerk chicken, Mel hit the salad bar and had some fries. The food was okay, but not great. So our fears were not alleviated just yet. We were tired from our trip and went to bed. The next morning we awoke to a nice breakfast buffet with tons of fresh fruit, yogurt, an omelet station, a hot line with potatoes and Jamaican specialties such as saltfish and ackee, and a carving station with ham. It was good, but, know what? Breakfast is not the test of cuisine. We went off to the beach which is spectacular in Negril and this resort in particular – white sand, calm breeze, ample shade available – just perfect. Around noon I got up and told Mel I was going to check out lunch. When I saw what was up I came running back and reported to Mel: they were carving a suckling pig and had fabulous food available! We went to luch and were very impressed with the cuisine. We remain impressed. We needn’t have feared. Couples Negril has great food, and is totally all-inclusive – the wallet stays in the room safe the entire time. The resort has a fine dining restaurant with simply excellent food. Even on nights when we eat from the buffet line we are impressed with the food – fresh grilled fish, curries, sushi, carved roast beef, Jamaican chicken and fish dishes, all excellent. We have been back to Couples an embarrassing number of times since and continue to love it. At certain times of year they offer a ‘Fall in Love Again’ special, which is a two-for-one offer. We cannot resist as it represents such a good value at around US$300/day total for both of us. So I have come from never considering an all-inclusive to going to one often. But, choose wisely. It is possible to find less expensive resorts, but we have heard horror stories about food – bad food, running out of food, people getting food poisoning. You may also want to ensure that your alcohol is included as it is at Couples. Part of relaxing for us is not having to pay, sign chits, tip – just being free to ask for anything you want at any time and have it all paid for already adds to the relaxing feel of the trip. This place is awesome! Located in the central party of Turkey (nearest big town is Kayseri), this region is dominated by a large volcano. The rock formations from its ash deposits are soft, and nature erodes them into fantastic shapes, many of them like big mushrooms. People work the rock too. The region is full of dwellings, villages, even entire cities carved out of the stone: Natures handywork is even more beautiful:
Our hotel, the Esbelli Eva in Urgup, is a beautiful dwelling with rooms partly carved out of the stone, and then partly built-up of stone blocks. This keeps the rooms nicely cool during the hot summer. Here is the bedroom where we stayed:
The people of Turkey are warm and friendly. Here is a shot of some local men at an outdoor cafe:
The cuisine is excellent, with the freshest of ingredients all prepared simply. We ate beef, lamb and chicken with good fresh vegetables and potatoes. We went out one night to an upscale restaurant in Uchisar with a French-trained chef. His meals are wonderful:
When we tell people about Turkey we find some are put off by – “isn’t it dangerous? Aren’t there terrorists there?” We don’t think so! Turkey is officially a secular country, with no state-imposed religion. Turks are free to practice any religion they choose. A majority of them practice Islam, but there are Jew and Christians (and everything else, I am sure!) in Turkey as well. The Turks we met were really nice people, interested in who we were and where we were from. They seem eager to join the world and welcome all visitors. They are really eager to join the EU, so much so that their license plates are already equipped the the EU’s circle-of-stars emblem. Mel and I cannot rave enough about Turkey. Go! -Steve Mel and I have a real passion for travel – we travel when we can, and we read and talk about it all the time. We (especially Mel) research extensively and find places we want to visit, and accomodations we dream of staying at. In our travels we meet locals and fellow travellers and we talk and trade experiences. Once you are on your trip, word of mouth is really great – you learn about good places to go to and stay from people who have been there recently or who are from the area. We like travelling this way – we have an overall game plan, and we book our flights and maybe the first couple of nights lodging, and then follow our nose for the rest of our trip. We have had some really great experiences travelling this way, and some really bad ones too! The good thing is that if you end up in a bad place, you just leave and go to the next one. But we can both name bad nights we have had on our trips. Our most precious commodity is time. We are not wealthy people – we both work for a living and have to travel on a budget. But when we spend time on a trip, we want to have a high value experience. This means seeing, learning, tasting, smelling. This means many exceptional experiences, and rarely some terrible ones. But that mix works for us, and we grow close as a couple adventuring in the world. And we grow to appreciate each part of the world we have travelled in and the local people we have met there. We have met many folks who share our values regarding travel. Often when we talk with them we trade information – sights to see and places to stay – countries to travel to. After around the 100th time someone has said to us ‘you should start a travel agency – we would book with you!’ Mel decided to start her travel agency. Mel and I think we can help increase the value of your vacations and trips. We think we can filter through the mounds of information available to you and help you make choices that will work for you. What we cannot do is find you the very cheapest airfare, the least expensive cruise package out there, the cheapest three night all inclusive resort package in Cancun. If that is what you are looking for, we suggest you look elsewhere, for example travelocity or expedia or site59 for airfare, and maybe one of the mega travel sites for deeply discounted packages. We have some dear friends with 2 young kids, who had dreamt of going on a cruise. Mel talked with Marcie about a couple of cruise lines that Mel can recommend, and also about an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica that we like to stay at. Marcie and her husband instead contacted a travel agent and booked a 5 night cruise to Mexico. They booked an inside cabin (no window or porthole to the outside of the ship) on an inexpensive cruise line with assigned-seating dining. They hated it! The cabin was dark and depressing and they were stuck at a 4-person dining table with another couple they did not care for at all. The trip was cheap, but it provided poor value. They spent some of their precious vacation time on a bad trip. We want to help you avoid that. Happy travels! -Steve |
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