This sort of vista is why I love road trips.
I have to confess that Covid had driven me a little mad. After a year and a month of careful quarantining, I had a bad case of cabin fever. Though we had done a few day trips here and there, as well as a brief visit to Jackson Hole and northern Idaho last fall, I needed a good strong dose of the open road.
So a month after getting our second vaccination, we hit the highway for a glorious three-week road trip.
Our first stop was a visit to Napa to see our friends the Pereiras and the Sterns. We stayed the night in Reno as we usually do to break up the long drive to the Bay Area, but this time instead of continuing on in the morning, we decided to meet our friend Doug for breakfast in Tahoe.
After a lovely visit, we continued on down the west side of the lake to Emerald Bay. My mother loved Lake Tahoe, and Emerald Bay was her favorite place there so I wanted to check it out.
It wasn't until we got there that we realized the we had been here in May 2013 with the Sterns.
And that in fact this vertiginous terrain is the exact location where O was proclaimed a goat.
Before that miraculous day, O had mostly manifested the sheep energy, but as I watched her climbing straight up those rocky slopes to the road without even a faint trail to guide her, I saw that she was all goat. I was always taught that "when you see the goat, you must promote." I did so without hesitation, and ever since she has been goat.
So it's a happy place for both of us.
After breathing in those fond memories, we continued on to Napa. Unfortunately, Steve was in the hospital, so he was unable to join us. Michele came up, however, and we enjoyed the Pereiras' hospitality for the next couple days.
Although we had all had our shots, none of us were interested in going out to eat, so we all rotated cooking duties. Since we are all excellent cooks, we ate and drank well.
On Sunday, Steve was able to join us, and since it was our turn to cook, we made a special celebratory dinner. I cooked Asian carnitas with ginger, garlic, and lemongrass. O made a wonderful banana flower salad and spicy Thai eggplant.
After a delicious final breakfast, we parted company, and O and I drove to Oakland to see my sister and brother. It was such a delight to see them and hug them after a year of enforced absence.
We took a long walk through the Oakland hills where the poppies were in full bloom.
This snake was also enjoying the sunny spring day. He was about a foot and a half long, about the same size as the rattlesnake we encountered in Escondido later in our trip.
After a couple days of family fun, we crossed the bridge into San Francisco. We got an amazing rate at The Donatello downtown, and spent three wonderful days seeing friends and revisiting our old stomping grounds. The city was somewhat subdued because of Covid, but we managed to have a great time. We were nostalgic for old-time SF, so we visited some of our favorite old-line restaurants: Original Joe's, Brandy Ho's, Tadich Grill (since 1849), and John's Grill (1908). Lunch at Tadich was a hoot. By my count, diners at fully a third of the tables were guzzling a martini or three with their meals.
We left SF early Friday morning, racing down 101 to make a noon lunch date with our granddaughter Syona in Santa Barbara. We had a fun visit with her, then continued down to Escondido, with a quick stop at Phillip's BBQ in LA to pick up some delicious ribs for dinner with Teresa, Matthew and Devon.
In the long year since we've seen them, T & M have made their beautiful home even more beautiful. It was such a pleasure seeing them and being in their energy for five whole days.
Matthew and I made a run to San Diego Old Town to stock up on mezcal. We made some delicious choices. The Xicaru was everyone's favorite. You can actually taste a hint of the mole used in the second distillation. Here's a link to the post I did in 2015 on our visit to mezcal distilleries in Oaxaca.
We had a close encounter with a young rattlesnake who decided to sun himself just outside the patio door. O saw it and alerted us all. Tenchi the cat had to be dissuaded from joining in the fun. Regretfully, we decided that the snake should not be allowed to grow larger and establish their yard as his territory, so Matthew killed and decapitated it with many apologies.
I took one day to go up to LA to visit some of my favorite galleries, bookstores, and eateries. I started at Phillipe's for a lamb French dip sandwich and wound up at the Hollywood branch of K&L wines to stock up on scotches for me and for John. On my way back to Escondido I stopped at the Alhambra branch of Chengdu Taste to pick up a tasty Sichuan dinner for us all. Their Toothpick Cumin Lamb is sensational -- insanely hot and flavorful. Here's my post from 2015 on my discovery of the dish and my ongoing love of LA.
I did not eat at Banh Mi My Dung.
From Escondido, we went to San Dimas to visit our oldest granddaughter, Eryn, and her family. We got to spend an afternoon and evening with her and her husband and our three great-granddaughters.
The next morning, we left very early for the eight-hour drive to Escalante, Utah. O and I are in love with the southwest Utah landscape. We've visited Zion and Bryce as well as Moab and Arches, but for some reason, we'd never visited the Escalante-Grand Staircase area. Our friends the Sterns are besotted with place and have urged us for years to go.
We're glad we finally listened to them.
Our first glimpse of the wonders in store was at sunset.
We drove from our motel in Escalante to the overlook where the landscape changes from rolling brush lands to deep, eroded canyons of spectacularly-colored sedimentary rock.
It had been raining off and on that afternoon, and the setting sun painted the drifting rainclouds in pinks and oranges.
Just gorgeous.
The owner of the motel put together an itinerary for our one-day visit. It was a full day, well spent.
We started with an early morning hike to Calf Creek Falls.
The six-mile roundtrip winds through beautiful canyons of eroded rock.
The cactus was in bloom.
The colors of the various strata look almost artificial. The demarcation of the different layers is remarkably precise.
The impressive rock formations often resemble ruined structures.
The falls have created a cool green oasis in the midst of the jumbled piles of stone. Calf Creek itself is filled with small rainbow trout.
Just downstream, beavers have dammed the creek to form a large pool. We caught a glimpse of a beaver swimming through its domain.
We were enamored of the myriad fanciful shapes of the wind-sculpted stone.
Right off the road was the narrow entrance to one of the area's many slot canyons.
The cliffs resemble the drip castles I used to build as a child at the beach.
The canyon only goes back a few hundred yards.
Some of the rocks along the canyon walls look like frozen puddings whipped up by a giant.
Down twelve miles of dusty gravel road was our last stop for the day: the Devil's Rock Garden.
These massive hoodoos seem more otherworldly than devilish.
I guess the devil found work for his own idle hands. I commend his efforts.
From Escalante, we drove ten hours straight back to Boise. It was an excellent and much-needed road trip, but we were glad to be home.
P.
