Tag Archives: weekend getaway

My Home Away From Home

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This is my favorite hotel to stay in when we visit our kids. It’s the Claremont in Berkeley. I was walking to the most amazing bakery across the street when I stopped to take this picture of the tower and flag.

They don’t make hotels like this anymore! This is the backside of the hotel.

The Claremont Resort & Club opened in 1915 as a grand 22-acre Tudor Revival landmark overlooking the San Francisco Bay. Known as the “White Castle on the Hill”, its origins trace back to a late-19th-century private estate that burned down in 1901 before being developed into the iconic hotel. — The San Francisco Standard


Isn’t it gorgeous? I took this photo from inside the health club with a gym, pool, tennis courts and spa. I was on an elliptical machine and you can see the window reflection across the photo.

I zoomed in on the city view from the strategically placed outdoor sofas and chairs where I enjoy peaceful quiet time outside.

The Golden Gate Bridge is part of the view. The main restaurant has a deck where you can sit outside and enjoy these same views. Inside there is a wall of windows facing the bay.

The hotel’s prices vary from reasonable to too expensive. It all depends on what is going on at nearby UC Berkeley. If it’s parents weekend or a football game — forget about it. This past week, there was nothing going on, so the hotel was no more expensive than any other hotel like a Marriott Courtyard.

This is one of many hallways on the main level. It’s easy to get lost trying to find your room because there are hallways taking off in many directions. By the time we are ready to return home (like today) I have it all figurerd out.

An early morning view. I’ll share more highlights of our trip later this week including a visit to Sonoma and the Marin Country Civic Center designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Have a wonderful week! What are your plans for the rest of July?

Not what I expected…

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Mom and dad geese with goslings.

My husband and I planned a long weekend getaway to Pinetop in the White Mountains of Arizona. It’s a place we’ve never been to before, but now that I’m afraid to drive to the beach resort in Mexico, we’ve decided to explore our new state.

My optometrist told me to stay at a place with small cabins on a lake, complete with fishing and row boats. That sounded perfect to me. We were also going to do lots of hiking in the woods.

Don’t get me wrong, but Pinetop was not what I expected. The cabins on the lake were cute. The views were pretty. But it sat along a busy highway. The entire town was on the highway and looked like an urban sprawl. Big box stores, U Hauls, Safeway, Wendy’s, McDonalds, you get the picture. They did have a bunch of local restaurants and the two we tried were good. I guess off the beaten path where the hiking trails were, we would have found some nature.

But no, my first morning we were walking around the lake on a trail. There were two guys sitting on the trail in their folding chairs fishing. One guy had two dogs who growled at me. I walked around them on a steep gravel bank and bam! I went down feeling my ankle twisted and crunching beneath me.

I needed help from my husband to get up and walk gingerly back to the cabin. I spent that day and the next with my foot elevated and iced. Finally I said,”Can we go home?” Husband agreed. He was not enjoying sitting in a cabin for a long weekend — or leaving me alone.

Here are some photos I took with my iphone before I fell and sprained my ankle. I didn’t feel up to using my Nikon after the fall.

A mallard begging for handouts.

Goslings! One mom and pop had 12!

View from inside the cabin.

The deck of our cabin.

This was one of the original cabins built in the 1930s.

The interior.

Cozy and cute, but there’s no place like home.

Have you had a vacation or weekend when things did not go your way?
If so, what happened?

Views from Salt Lake City

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We had a great time revisiting Salt Lake City. The little big city has a special place in my heart because of my daughter’s four years living there for college. It’s filled with memories from our many visits. Plus, we saw my husband’s best friend from fourth grade through high school and his wife. We wish we had many more hours talking and laughing together! Every second was full. Our friend showed us a paper he wrote in fourth grade where he referenced my husband. Then he gave us a joint project they wrote together! Priceless!

Oh yes, Matteo’s restaurant owned by a former international student from Italy and swim teammate of my daughter’s at the “U” was amazing! The food and service was incredible. You can look at Matteo’s menu HERE. (Matteo is the handsome guy in the middle row photos that I linked for the menu.)

Here are a few views from our getaway in Salt Lake City:

No trip to Utah (in my opinion) is complete without a Freshie’s lobster roll. We’ve been to their Park City location, but now they have a Salt Lake City restaurant a mile from the hotel we stay at — the Little America. If you’re wondering how lobster rolls could be a thing in Utah, read this archived article “Utah restaurant stomps coastal competition, takes home ‘World’s Best Lobster Roll’ award.” Every bite of lobster was a major chunk from claws to hunks of tail meat. There was no sketchy filler. The roll was drizzled with warm butter, garnished with perhaps parsley in a grilled bun. Oh my!

Photo of the Little America tower I took during a morning walk. The Little America has two-story buildings surrounding the tower with garden and courtside rooms. (FYI, The Little America was founded by Stephen Mack Covey, grandfather to Stephen Covey of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” who in turn is grandfather to Britain Covey of the Philadelphia Eagles.

An example of the two-story buildings surrounding the tower that I borrowed from their website.

View of the Wasatch mountains from our 12th floor room. The apartment buildings below did not exist last time we visited Salt Lake City.

We walked to City Creek Center from the hotel. It was about a mile away. It’s an indoor-outdoor shopping center downtown and fills two city blocks. To get from one side to another you can cross the street, or use their skybridge. (We were on a mission to get new earbuds for my husband’s iphone at the Apple Store there. A story for another day!)

View from the skybridge walking from one City Creek Center building to another. Notice the train tracks lined with yellow? That’s TRAX, the light rail system that makes getting around SLC so easy and convenient. It’s free downtown.

Our daughter said she took TRAX from campus to football games, to downtown or wherever — all free as a student. She’d swipe her student ID. How convenient would that be going to a football game at the Rice Eccles stadium that seats more than 50,000 people and is sold out for every game? Or for everyday life? We used TRAX this past weekend.

City lights from our hotel room with the pool and garden and courtside rooms below.

The view of the Grand America from our deck. That’s the grander sister hotel across the street.

Thanks for coming along for highlights of my weekend.

Where you live, do you have a light rail system like TRAX? I wish we had that in Scottsdale!

Do you have any favorite go to places where you live or visit — like Freshie’s that I visit in SLC?

Weekend Getaway

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Boat in Santa Barbara
I saw this boat in the parking lot of the Marina in Santa Barbara. It has my name on it!

Friday was my mom’s actual birthday. I posted my memory of spreading her ashes last year — a few days early. Mom was on my mind the past weeks. I was feeling the milestone.

Good thing I thought about how I might be feeling in advance. I had a plan. We scheduled a weekend getaway in one of my favorite places. Santa Barbara. We celebrated Mom’s birthday there. I was with friends, incredible views, a fun hotel, food, food and more food. It was a wonderful way to spend the weekend.

Here are photos from Santa Barbara:

We arrived at the Santa Barbara Airport on a sunny afternoon.

A view from our friends’ backyard.

Views from our hotel’s rooftop pool. It was breathtaking! What a surprise when we walked out on the rooftop. I had no idea it would be spectacular.

Hotel lobby. I loved how the hotel was decorated in a Spanish Colonial Revival mix with Moroccan flair.

Here we are in the mirror, with a courtyard behind us in one of the hotel’s three buildings.

Morning walk on Stearns Wharf.

Looking back at Santa Barbara from the wharf.

Where is your favorite place to go to treat yourself to a special getaway?

I’m reminded of a song by Lenny Kravitz, “Fly Away.”

A bit of joy

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One of our favorite restaurants, Pollo Lucas, across the border at the beach.

Yesterday I went to the YMCA to swim laps. I had to force myself to go because it’s been rainy, cold and gray. Not the ideal weather to jump in. I wanted to talk to the lifeguard, Wendy. I had told her about our Mexican getaway around a month ago.

She wrote down all my information about the rental agent, condo unit, restaurants, etc. Wendy said she was so excited to learn about the beach four hours away. She, like me, is a recent transplant to the Phoenix area.

Wendy made reservations for this past weekend — the same weekend my husband and I were there. I couldn’t wait to hear what she thought of it.

They were traveling with a couple who had recently retired. “Typical story,” Wendy said.”They worked all their life, finally retired and the husband got ALS and is in a wheelchair.”

She explained that her friend’s lives are very hard with the wife as the 24/7 caregiver and both of them homebound. She thought a trip to the beach was exactly what they needed.

I braved the cold to talk to Wendy and swim laps. I was the only swimmer there and had the pool to myself!

Last time we went to Pollo Lucas, this cat was sitting on the windowsill outside the restaurant.

Wendy was ecstatic! She literally thanked and thanked me some more. They loved everything about the beach and her entire family is planning on returning for Christmas. She said her friend with ALS cried he was so overwhelmed with joy.

I feel happy too, like I shared a bit of joy in someone’s life. I also feel good because I managed to get a swim in yesterday.

We did take out. One chargrilled chicken with the trimmings — but they (or we) forgot the rice and beans. This chicken dinner with homemade tortillas, pickled onions and salsa was $9 USD.

What has brought you joy this week? Have you done something that made someone else’s life brighter? What was it?

Three Little Towns

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Space Age Lodge in Gila Bend

The Space Age Lodge in Gila Bend.

There are three little towns we pass through on our way from Scottsdale to the Mexico border. This is the stretch that I usually drive. I wonder what it would be like to grow up in a small town like those? What are the people like? What do they do? There’s poverty, graffiti in some and EBT stickers on store and restaurant windows. But these town are very much alive. You can see pride in neat yards with most homes and businesses well taken care of.

Here are the three towns we drive through, starting at the border heading north.

WHY

The population in Why at the 2010 census was approximately 167.

Why is the smallest of the three towns. There is a sign pointing down a dirt for a Rock Shop that we npass by. I wonder if they get any business? There’s also a combination busy gas station, store, and cafe called the Why Not Travel Store. I learned Why has it’s own radio station! I almost hit a large dog running across the road.

I thought the town was called Why because WHY WOULD ANYONE LIVE HERE?

From Wiki:

The town derives its name from the fact that two major highways, State Routes 85 and 86, originally intersected in a Y-intersection.[ At the time of its naming, state law required all city names to have at least three letters, so the town’s founders named the town “Why” as opposed to simply calling it “Y.” 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why,_Arizona

AJO

I saw this mural in Ajo when we stopped at a gas station. This is a sign for an adjacent “resort.”

Ajo (pronounced AH-hoh) is a much bigger town than Why. On the drive, the speed limit slows to 25 mph as you wind through the residential and business streets. At one turn you pass two beautiful white churches. One is Catholic and the other a Federated Church. This is a very scenic part of town with Spanish style plazas and buildings.

From Wiki:

 Ajo is the closest community to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The population was 3,304 at the 2010 census. Ajo is located on State Route 85 just 43 miles (69 km) from the Mexican border.

Ajo is the Spanish word for garlic (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈaxo]). The Spanish may have named the place using the familiar word in place of the similar-sounding O’odham word for paint (oʼoho). The Tohono O’odham people obtained red paint pigments from the area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajo,_Arizona

GILA BEND

We stopped yesterday so I could get the photo of the Space Age Lodge (above). I’ve been fascinated with it since we first drove through. It’s funky space age relic from the 1960s that thankfully somebody let survive.

It has small Mexican restaurants, deserted mom and pop motels as well as name brand fast food restaurants and grocery stores. Interstate 8 runs through it west to San Diego and east to Tuscan.

From Wiki:

Gila Bend founded in 1872, is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The town is named for an approximately 90-degree bend in the Gila River, which is near the community’s current location.[4] As of the 2020 census, the population of the town was 1,892.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_Bend,_Arizona

About the Space Age Lodge:

Stovall’s Space Age Lodge opened in 1965, according to a brief history on the back of the Lodge’s restaurant menu. A local wheeler-dealer named Al Stovall was its visionary. He had friends in the military and government, and his connections got him autographed photos of astronauts, which he hung on the walls of the Lodge’s restaurant. He also owned a plastics factory, which produced the custom space-age decorations that made his motel the closet thing to the Jetsons this side of the 23rd century.

https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/15079

What places have you been fascinated about that you’ve driven through? Where have you stopped to explore?

Sunrise Sunset

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We took a Thursday evening beach walk at sunset.

This morning we woke up to this.

We headed south of the border yesterday for a weekend of beach walks, seafood, and enjoying the Sea of Cortez. What a joy to arrive in time for a beach walk at sunset. I was stunned this morning to wake up and see this magnificent sunrise from our room.

Have a great weekend!

What highlights do you have planned for this weekend?

Do you like sunrises or sunsets more? Why?