More Tucson

Tuesday, Jan. 26 -

Oh, how we enjoy visiting our friends Velma & Paddy. The days are easy when we are here. Rowan and Velma spend the first part of the day working on their research collaborations, writing papers, and having lively conversation about their common research interests. Jenni spends this time working on the blog and watching the many birds that come to the yard to feed (see photo of goldfinches). Paddy loves to watch soccer on TV(he is Irish, so he can't help it!). He has the sports channels so Jenni is happy too. :o) We also have very spirited conversations about anything political from here and abroad. It is VERY fun! We decided to spend our last afternoon in Tuscon on another hike in the Sabino Canyon. This time we hiked a loop that took us up the Sabino Canyon Trail and then across and down the Phoneline Trail in the Pusch Ridge Wilderness. Who cares if the signs warned us of mountain lion activity! Heck, we are two SCARY women! Plus, I had beef jerky to protect us :o) It was so spectacular. The heavy rain that came a couple of days before we got here has swollen the creeks so the water is running high and fast and over all of the bridges along the way. Removing our shoes became a habit before crossing the high water. When we got up to the mid ridge trail, the views were fantastic. We hiked roughly 6 miles through the canyon. Here are some photos of our adventure:

So, you can imagine how hungry we were when we finished our hike :0) On our way back to the house we stopped at the store and picked up the ingredients for fish tacos. We prepared a feast to enjoy with some very cold cervesa. YUM!!!! What a fabulous visit we have had here in Tucson. We are now headed back to B-town for a very short repacking session. Stay tuned for February 2, when we start the next leg of our sabbatical journey. Our next stop is INDIA.

Tucson, Arizona

Sunday, Jan. 24.

We hopped in the car early to get to the Burbank airport for our flight to Tucson. There was zero traffic for our drive (if only every day were a Sunday for driving in this town!) so we got to the airport in less than an hour. It was killing me to travel today since my Indianapolis Colts were having a playoff game while we were going to be in the air. So, when they told us our flight was going to be delayed, I was actually excited, since I would now be able to go to the bar and watch the game. :o) The Colts ROCKED! We got to Phoenix and picked up our car for the short drive down to Tucson.

Luckily, we had missed the commute traffic due to our flight delay. We arrived at Paddy & Velma's place just about 9pm. Velma is another of Rowan's colleagues who works in the infant vision field. They have a fabulous home just at the foot of the Coronado National Forest and Sabino Canyon Recreation Area. (see photo)

Monday, Jan. 25

The desert is so amazing. The plant life looks like it's from outer space and the earth looks like Mars. It's hard to imagine that anything could grow here. But, oh, how much life there is. It's the middle of winter and it is 65 degrees and sunny today. Looking out into Velma & Paddy's backyard, we see Quail and many other birds feeding at the bird feeders and making their way around various forms of cactus.

After visiting all morning, Paddy decided to take us on a walk up in the Sabino Canyon. For those of you reading this whom has never been to Arizona, you just cannot believe how blue the sky is. Of all the places I have been in the world, I have never seen sky as blue as this. It is just breathtaking against the landscape. As the sun moves through the sky during the day, the colors the mountains turn are unbelievable. No wonder so many artists come here to paint and photograph and create things from the earth. Here is a selection of photos from our hike in the canyon.

Red Tail Hawk

Rowan & Paddy

LaLa Land

It is SO GREAT to wake up today (Sat., Jan. 23) to sunshine and blue skies. Being back together with Rowan makes it an extra special sunny day too. She has been staying here with our friend Sue Cotter for the last week doing some science collaboration. There will be no work today! It is such a beautiful day, we decided to head off to Laguna Beach to get some lunch and enjoy the sun, sand and surf. The day could not have been more perfect. We enjoyed delicious fish tacos and mojitos sitting in a cafe overlooking the surf. Here are some photos:

Jenni & Sue

We had a few little visitors to the abundant flora right next to our table while we were having our lunch. It was very entertaining to watch these little hummers doing their work.

We finished our lunch and went for a long stroll along the walking path that follows the beach through Laguna. The views of the surf were just fantastic. We enjoyed the perfect elements of the day and watching the surfers do their thing out on the waves. We also took a stroll down on the beach to have a look at the many seashells brought up from the strong surf during storms from the last week.

Jenni & Rowan

Surfer Joe

Having days like these, one is reminded why people DO want to live in Southern California, traffic and all. :o) We reluctantly got in the car for our 30 minute drive back to Fullerton to get ready for our dinner party with Kristina (one of Rowan's colleagues) and her hubby JP.

Rowan and I threw together some yummy fare. First course: ratatouille, roasted taters, bbq sirloin and baked cod and green salad. Second course: cheese and port. Third course: sgroppino (vanilla ice cream, lemon sorbet, fresh squeezed lemon juice, vodka & prosecco all blended together. YUM!) I brought with me 2 bottles of wine and a bottle of port left over from my Napa/Sonoma trip to enjoy with dinner. This was just a wonderful way to end our stay here in Southern California. Good friends, good food, good wine and perfect weather. We are off to Tucson, Arizona in the morning.

Heading South

My travel plans for heading to Southern California were delayed by a day because of the torrential rains. I intended the leave Monterey on Thursday the 21st, but the rain, wind, hail; thunder & lightening (oh my!) convinced me to wait until Friday the 22nd. I also had to change my driving route since now the Interstate 5 grapevine portion of the highway is closed due to heavy snow. The Grapevine Mountains are between the central valley on the north and the Southern California basin. I will now drive highway 101 down the very soggy coastal route. In order to wrap my head around the potential stressful drive, I decided to put on Nina's 'head wizard' spider hat to help relieve the stress from my brain. Really! That s what it is supposed to do! (see photo)

It did make me laugh, so therefore, I forgot all about my stress. :o)

I got in the car on Friday, tuned in to a fabulous Spanish radio station and headed south. Hispanic music is always so happy. My drive took me through more of the amazing Salinas Valley and further south through Gonzales, King City, San Lucas, San Miguel (where I

stopped at the Mission), and the Paso Robles wine country. This was the greenest landscape I think I have ever seen through this part of California. All of this rain really has turned this typically brown landscape into what looks like Ireland. I was so overcome by beauty, I had to keep stopping to take pictures. Here are a few photos from that region:

I have the fondest memories of riding my bike through these valleys and over these mountains on my rides from San Francisco to LA. We always rode around and along the 101 routes through many of these towns. I finally got to the coast when I reached Pismo Beach. I love this town. So quaint and laid back. I kept heading south through Santa Maria, Los Alamos and on to Santa Barbara. I had to stop just south of here to take in the smell of the ocean and let that salty sea air refresh me. Here are a couple of photos of the beautiful coast.

At Ventura I cut inland to meet Interstate 5. This is when it started POURING rain! When I hit the Hollywood Freeway, I was reminded why I would never live in LA. I spent the next 2 and 1/2 hours bumper-to-bumper going 5-40mph! It took me that long to get to Fullerton, a trip that should have taken only about 40 minutes! Ugh! I had to laugh when I finally pulled into Sue's driveway and it started to hail and thunder and lightening. I sat there for 20 minutes before I could even get out of the car! I thought to myself, 'and they call this the City of Angels'!!!!? Whew! I can't wait to see Rowan.

Monterey - The Salad Bowl

For those of you reading this that have never been in Monterey or the Salinas Valley in California, you have to know that this region has some of the most fertile earth for growing fruit and vegetables in the entire country. Once you come down hwy 101 into the valley you are completely surrounded by artichokes (see photo above), newly planted strawberries (see photo right). The chokes are in season and the berries have just been planted on top of plastic sheets). There is field after field of freshly turned earth ready for planting. I have

cycled through this valley and the surrounding coastal mountains 4 times during my AIDS Rides from San Francisco to Los Angeles in the late 90's. Riding my bike through the early summer crops of lettuce, chard, strawberries, cabbage, cauliflower, celery (you name it) that cross the landscape, into infinity, is a site to behold. One develops a whole new appreciation of farm workers when you see them bent over in the fields for hours and hours in the hot California sun. Work none of us white folks would ever think of doing today. Even if we were out of work and on food stamps! Sorry if I'm getting political, but hey, I AM a progressive Californian. :o) We need to give thanks to all of

those Hispanics who pick the food we eat every day. As we approached Monterey and the ocean, you can sense the change in the smell of the air.

Fresh, salty, misty, alive. The sand dunes are simply stunning with their winter ice plant color on to contrast the sand dunes in the background (see photo).

We arrived at Nina and Kim's Monterey home (see photos) to 'no power'. No surprise if you remember my last blog entry about the storm we drove through to get here. We spent the late afternoon getting settled and arranging candles

around the house so we could see as darkness fell. We decided to go out to Carmel for dinner, since we still had no power. We ate at a most excellent sushi restaurant called Sushi Heaven on Dolores Street. Well, of course I had died and gone to HEAVEN! I still can't get enough fresh seafood!

I do love coming to visit here. We just kick back and relax and do 'whatever'. No expectations. No worries. Sit and read a book all day. Do a little work via the Internet. Go for a hike. Shop for great food and then cook it together (of course it helps being on sabbatical and having

the time). That laid back California image the rest of the world has can exist every once in a while. As the storms kept coming, we kept losing power. We had to cook dinner one night by candle light. Very intimate and quite challenging to not lose a finger while chopping onions. We managed to make some great pasta with tofu meatballs (remember, you are in California!).

YUMMY! The tofu meatballs tasted just like beef. I SWEAR! Nina

is just a queen in the kitchen (see photo) :o) I will end this blog entry with a beautiful Monterey California sunset sky picture.