One night in Lisbon and on to the USA

Tap airways seems to have become our airline of choice to get from Europe to the USA. Their one way pricing and timing of flights works out well. Rich can buy extra leg room seats, and the planes they fly have a 2 4 2 seat configuration so we can sit just next to each other. No dreaded middle seat. Since TAP flights from Geneva go through Lisbon we can spend a night or few days there. This trip we spent just one night in Lisbon, at a hotel on the red line so it was easy to get from and back to the airport. This is what traveling with a master planner is like.

Enjoying a warm summer evening in Lisbon.
Hanging out at our favorite little park, Jardim Fialho de Almeida.

So what is it like coming back to USA? Busy. We try not to go crazy with over scheduling, but there are always so many people we want to visit. In the past we’ve landed in NY or Chicago and stayed with friends or at a house sit. This time, arrival June 1st, we stayed in a hotel in downtown SF for two nights (friends had come down with Covid so we pivoted). That gave us time to go out to our storage unit, recover from jet lag a bit, and have a wander around downtown before heading to our first house sit with two cats not far from Golden Gate Park.

Salesforce Park above the beautiful transit center in downtown SF.
The retired engineer reflects on his experience working on the transit center.

It’s an odd feeling to stay in a hotel in what was for so many years our hometown. It was the first time we’ve ever stayed in a hotel in SF so we leaned in. The Galleria Park Hotel had a nightly happy hour with a signature martini, or wine. We settled into cozy chairs and chatted with a fellow guest from Oroville, California. It’s a social buzz to get to the US and be able to talk to everyone again. Thankfully Californians are quite friendly.

The room keys were ready for Pride!
These two were much friendlier than this photo makes them look.
Storage unit mayhem! It’s fun shopping for clothing in your storage unit – everything is your size and in your style.

Our summer schedule was built around our niece’s wedding. That was our first must not miss event. A stop by the storage unit to get clothes for the wedding was good timing, as we discovered that moths had moved in. We’ve had our things in this storage unit for almost three years and haven’t seen a moth. I assume they came in with someone else’s stuff and flitted around looking for tasty wool. I left a wool sweater loose on top of a bag last January. That obviously was like a formal invitation to dinner for moths. We spent a few hours moving our clothing from cardboard boxes to plastic containers with cedar blocks in them. Other than that one sweater we saw no visible damage. Hopefully we’ve made our storage unit inhospitable to the moths.

The cleaned up version of us. Clothes from the storage unit.
It was a little warm even up in the mountains, so a pre-wedding creek foot dip was welcome.
Our niece and her new husband. A gorgeous and fun filled wedding.
The wedding venue, Gordon’s Rim Rock Ranch.
Lights and fire pits as the sun went down and the fun continued.

The wedding was up near Mount Shasta, Old Station in Shasta County. It’s a beautiful area, shaped by the volcanic activity of nearby Mt. Lassen in Lassen National Park, and Mt. Shasta a bit further north.

Rich and his step mother out for a hike.
Walking through Subway Cave Lava Tubes.
You walk in one end and out the other.
Information signs as you walk through and marvel at how a lava tube is created.
And out the other side a stunning view of Mt. Lassen. It’s actually named Lassen Peak and it’s a
10,457 ft (3,187 m) lava dome. Last eruption 1914 to 1921.
Very northern California.

After the wedding and lovely visiting time with family we headed out to stay with friends near Redding before driving back to SF to catch a flight to Grand Junction, Colorado. If you’re wondering about logistics, at this point back in the US we took BART from the airport to downtown SF. A car share out to our storage unit, a MUNI bus to our first SF house sit and, then after our house sit a rental car to the wedding.

A stop by McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park and a peek at the 129 foot waterfall.
This osprey parent with chicks in the nest helpfully built their nest trailside. What a classic sight. Huge nest on a tall snag.
Mt. Shasta,
elevation of 14,179 ft (4,322 m). Last eruption 1250.

Grand Junction Colorado is another frequent stop for us, where my Mom and Sister live. It’s been another home for us during our three years of nomading. We are thrilled to have Breeze Airways flying directly from SF to Grand Junction now.

Kathy, Mom, Rich and Lorilie – the ranch Dalmatian.
Some sunset dog play time. The extra dog, Mo, belongs to a niece – he comes to ranch camp when she is traveling.
A cloudy day feels rare in the Grand Valley. Made for a nice hike in the canyons near Fruita.
Look at those lovely clouds. And handsome husband.
My sister getting the newly cut and baled hay in before the rain started.
Mom and I helping by staying hydrated. It was hot.
Kathy took some time away from work to take us up to the Grand Mesa where it was quite a bit cooler, and beautiful.
Sisters with a view. That’s the Grand Valley behind us.
Always take photos. It brings back the feel of the day.
The 500 square miles (1,300 km2) of the Mesa rises 6,000 feet (1,800 m) above the river valley. Since Grand Junction is already 4593 ft / 1400 m above sea level, you definitely notice the altitude.
A haircut for Mom. She’s a good sport and not too picky with the job I do.
Showing off the finished job.

After our Colorado stay it was back to California again to visit more friends and family. A night in Redwood City, two nights in San Luis Obispo, and on to Moorpark where my brother and sister-in-law live. It’s a good thing all our bike touring has made us good at packing and unpacking. It’s tempting when you have a rental car to gather more stuff to take with you, but we try and keep our life lived from a rental car as minimal as possible.

With our friend Jim hiking the coast near San Luis Obispo.
With Chuck and Linda in downtown Ventura, a nice pedestrian street with cute local shops.

From Moorpark we took the Metrolink train to downtown LA to visit the Broad Museum and have a wander around.

Moorpark Station and a rail enthusiast.
Always check out the bike car, even when we don’t have bikes. Nice. A very good use of space.
We were post rush hour so the train was not crowded.
The Broad Museum. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler. It’s a stunning building and entry is free by timed reservations.
Under the Table, by Robert Therrien. Or, as I called it, Rich gets to feel like a cat.
Red Block. Born in Ghana and based in Nigeria, El Anatsui crafts bottle caps, reused aluminum commercial packaging, copper wire, and other materials into giant shimmering sheets of what he calls “cloths.” We saw another of this artist’s works at the Guggenheim in Bilbao.
A day at the coast and time to enjoy the newly renovated Point Dume State Park in Malibu.
We saw workers continuing to remove invasive plants and encourage the native plants.

After a great stay in Moorpark it was back in the rental car and back to the Bay Area. We’ve been eagerly awaiting a house and cat sit for friends for the entire month of July in our old neighborhood in San Francisco. Our second summer must do. That’s where are now. Not only do we have two wonderful goofball cats to live with and love, but it’s Tour de France time, so, after fetching our big screen from the storage unit we introduced the cats to the joy of watching the tour.

Can I catch a cyclist? I’ll try.
The great thing about the Tour, according to the kitties, is loads of lap time.
Rich and his riding buddy Fred at a foggy Golden Gate Bridge.

So what’s next? After a wonderful month in SF full of catching up with friends and being happily in one place for a change, we’re headed to Seattle for the month of August. We have friends to visit and one house sit lined up. Have a wonderful summer.

The happy travelers having a chill summer.

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cbink

After decades of living and working in wonderful San Francisco we gave it all up to travel the world. Not owning a car allowed us to save money and live hyper-locally. Now we’re living around the globe. Follow along to see where we are and what cats I manage to pet.

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