Tag: vacation-2006

Today started out with an excellent English breakfast at Fox and Goose in Sacramento, based on a recommendation from klellingson. The food here was yummy, made even better by the stores next door: Rumplestiltskein and the Tea Cozy.

After that, we went over to klellingson. We got to game with Kevin’s family, as well as some folks I had known only through LJ: frellingbored, buffaloraven, groblek, kay_gmd, lyahdan, and whalejudge. There were also two folks whose names I didn’t capture. We played a bunch of games, including Traumfabrik, Vegas Showdown, Category 5, Carcassonne–The Castle, plus some that NSS&F played. It was a wonderful afternoon, made even better by the people we met.

Update: whalejudge reported that the folks whose names I didn’t catch were pasuuna and sunnysmilixer. He also reminded me of the games played by NSS&F that I wasn’t involved in: Gang of Four, Great Dalmuti, and Bohnanza.

Tomorrow, we’ll be doing brunch with barelyproper at The Farmers Kitchen in Davis (see this entry) at 10:00am. The family is really looking forward to this, as it has an extensive gluten-free menu. We may also take the opportunity to hit the Davis Food Co-op. After that, we’ll visit ellipticcurve‘s Worlds-Cutest-Nephew^TM, and his family, probably doing more gaming.

Tuesday, we return to San Jose. We were going to stop at the Western Railway Museum, but the family has indicated they would rather visit Chinatown in San Francisco, as well as either The Exploratorium or The Zeum. Those sound neat, so we’re going to do that instead.

Wednesday we’re spending the day with deedeebythebay, although I may see if I can make some time to meet kaottic97. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to visit GB Rattos. My wife also wants to visit Lacis and Stonemountain Fabrics in Berkeley, and my daughter wants to visit the Hall of Health in Berkeley. It should be a busy day; we’ll see how it works out.

Thursday, we’re visiting Jon and Von again. gf_guruilla would like to squeeze in a visit to the San Jose Quilt Museum.

We’ve had such good luck with the folks we’ve met on this trip, we do hope we can meet some more friends-list friends in the upcoming days. If things sound interesting, let us know.

Today’s reports on our goings on is being written initially by gf_guruilla, after which I’ll add any additional comments. gf_guruilla writes:

Started today rudely rousted out of bed by the cahwyguy… Can’t I sleep in at all on this vacation? Oh, well, it was for a good cause…We left the hotel early and headed into Roseville for a Brunch’n’Learn and Learner’s Minyan at Or Rishon, which was, as R. Sheryl‘s classes and services usually go, wonderful. NSS&F made a new friend, and so did I – the mother of another celiac child who was starved for accurate information. I got her e-mail, and will send her a bunch of stuff when we get home. The kiddush after services was heavy enough to serve as lunch, so after leaving shul, we trooped down to Sacramento to the Crocker Museum to see the MC Escher exhibit. Some of my favorite pieces were missing, but there were others there that I had never seen before, so all in all, it was well worth it. Also got to see an astounding pottery exhibit from a local potter, as well as the rest of the museum’s limited collections on display. Came beck to the hotel for a lovely Shabbos afternoon nap, and then we all went out to a lovely Greek dinner at a place I found in the phone book (better than a lot of the so-called Greek you can get in Los Angeles)…

Actually, that’s just about the day. We had a lovely time visiting with Rabbi Sheryl. Seeing her services reminded her of what we are missing in Los Angeles. TBH is great, but different. We look forward to seeing her again.

Tomorrow, we’ll be gaming with klellingson and crew at his house at 1:00 pm [if you are interested and know him, please contact him]. My wife might go shopping, either alone or with LJ folks, if anyone is interested. We’re likely going to hunt down brunch somewhere, probably around 10:30a; if you would like to join us, or have suggestions on good local breakfast places, please drop a note here.

Monday, we’ll be doing brunch with barelyproper at The Farmers Kitchen in Davis (see this entry) at 10:00am, followed by spending the day with ellipticcurve‘s Worlds-Cutest-Nephew^TM, and his family.

Tuesday, we return to San Jose, possibly stopping at the Western Railway Museum on the way back.

We’ve had such good luck with the folks we’ve met on this trip, we do hope we can meet some more friends-list friends in the upcoming days.

Well, we made it safely to Sacramento. Our plans for while we are here:

Today. Dinner with rose42dance and the Nosan-Blanks, followed by services at Or Rishon.

Saturday. We’ll likely go to Or Rishon again to see the Rabbi again. We might do something in the afternoon with them, or we might go to the Crocker Art Museum to see their M.C. Escher exhibition. Anyone interested in joining us to see Escher?

Sunday. Gaming with klellingson and crew. My wife might go shopping, either alone or with LJ folks, if anyone is interested.

Monday. Brunch with barelyproper at The Farmers Kitchen in Davis (see this entry) at 10:00am, followed by spending the day with ellipticcurve‘s Worlds-Cutest-Nephew^TM, and his family.

Tuesday. Returning to San Jose, possibly stopping at the Western Railway Museum on the way back.

Today, we celebrated our anniversary by going to the Winchester Mystery House. Although a tourist trap, we viewed it as an anniversary gift to ourselves that didn’t clutter the house when we got back home. We started by walking through the gun musuem, where it was fun watching some southern tourists saying, in full accent, “You know, Mabel, my gun is bigger than that, and it better condition.”

We then took both the museum and behind-the-schenes tours. For those unfamiliar with the house, it was built by one of the heirs of thw Winchester Rifle fortune, after both her husband and 6 week old child died. Fearing the spirits of those killed by the rifles, she followed the advice of a psychic and moved to San Jose, and started construction on a house that was never completed. The tours covered a number of the oddities of the house, including stairs that went from floors to ceilings, doors that opened to the outside (on the 2nd or 3rd floors), rooms never completed, all the occurances of the number 13, odd stairwells, etc. The behind-the-scenes tour covered some more technical aspects, such as the gas generation system, the water pumps, the aviary, the basement of the house (including the floating foundation). etc.

I found the tours interesting, but there were questions where the tourguide refused to answer the question or didn’t know. I was curious who currently owned the property, and how they acquired it. I was curious about how the house changed between the time Mrs. Winchester died (in 1921) and when the tours officially started, in 1973. What shape was the house in during that time? How was it maintained? What prompted them to start the tours, and how did they do it? All unanswered.

After the mystery house, we then went to South San Jose to visit with our friends Mike and Carol. Mike was a friend of my wife’s from the years she went to Santa Clara University. Mike is currently in Electronics and Communication System Design, Carol is getting into a business making period costumes (including Reinaissance and Dickens area — those reading this who want more info let me know). We had a lot of fun visiting and talking. They took us out to dinner for our anniversary at Outback Steakhouse, one of the few restaurants around that has a formal Gluten-Free menu. After dinner, we went back to their house and talked, mostly about their daughter’s wedding. NSS&F had fun playing with their cats, and teasing them with a laser pointer.

That was our day. Tomorrow, we’re driving to Sacramento, where we’ll be meeting with rose42dance and having dinner and going to Shabbat services at Or Rishon with Rabbi Sheryl Nosan-Blank and her family.

This trip is much less about what we see than who we see. It’s an interesting experiment.

This evening we visited the Wall and Biggar mishpocha. Mark, Jon, Larry, Gloria, and ‘von are friends of ours dating back to when we were all living in the valley and working at SDC. It’s been a few months since we had seen them, and years since we had been able to spend a long time together socializing. Whilst my wife, ‘von, and NSS&F worked on a puzzle, Mark, Glo, Aron, Jon and I played games. We got in a game of Traumfabrik (I came in 2nd), and then Larry and NSS&F joined us (replacing Mark and Jon) for a game of Category 5. Just a very fun evening.

Tomorrow we’re going to be going to the Oakland Museum of California to see their exhibit of the early days of Disneyland. Believing in “the more the merrier”, we’re going to be stopping by deedeebythebay‘s house first and borrowing a couple of kids :-). After the museum, we’ll run back to Mountain View for dinner with bdot and tsgeisel at Fiesta Del Mar Too on Villa near Castro. We’ll be meeting at 7:00pm. Come and join us.

Thursday is our anniversary. We’re not quite sure what we’re doing yet, other than having dinner with some long-time friends in San Jose (who were at our wedding 21 years ago).

Today: I watched testing at a vendor site. My family spent the day with some friends of ours (Jon, Yvonne, and their family), and we all went out for dinner afterwards.

Tomorrow (Tuesday): For me it is more of the same, while my family and Yvonne and the kids go to the Gilroy outlet. I hope my wife remembers we don’t have a lot of luggage space, and there is still Vacaville :-). Tomorrow evening we’re having dinner with the Biggar Mishpocha (which is really a better term than “Clan Biggar”): Jon and ‘von and crew, Larry and Gloria and crew (although I don’t know if jamesquincy will be there), and Mark. I’ll need to remember to bring my games :-).