Travels Fall /Winter 2012

October 4-6 Hopper (Baltimore MD)

Gloria Townsend and Paul Gabbert

At the Reception

October 20-23 Lynchburg, Virginia

Nov. 2-3 Chicago SIGCSE Board

SIGCSE Board Dinner Mercat Planxa

Nov. 15 - Dec 3 Georgia Thanksgiving Vacation

Chloe and Phil at the Corn Maze in Ellijay

Rob and Chloe before the Blue Ridge Turkey Trot

Thanksgiving in Blue Ridge

Phil Geocaching in Hayesville NC

Little Williamsburg in Blue Ridge

Dec 13-18 San Francisco California visit with Suze and Luis

Clockwise from top left:

Suze and Luis' Door; Hanging cards, Parade of Boats, at Cafe Pacifica, and 100% Sweet and at the Science Museum

September travels

Coast to Coast and North to South

Pacific Coast Sept 1 in San Francisco; northern border Niagara Falls, Canada September 9, Atlantic Coast Plymouth, MA September 10 and Gulf Coast at Galveston, TX September 27

We began our car trip two days after we returned from California.  Our first goal was to get to Wauseon, Ohio for Barb's class reunion.  Most of the festivities were held at the Heritage Inn in Archbold, part of the Sauder Enterprise -- you may see Sauder furniture in high end stores like Wal-Mart
.


We also took some time to visit friends and places around Wauseon.

Phil at Fulton County Museum where we saw artifacts from my grandparents;; visiting  Jean and Dave in assisted living pictured with Jean's daughter-in-law, Bev; Barb's parents' grave in Wauseon

We headed off to Massachusetts but missed a turn in New York State and decided to detour to Niagara Falls, Canada.  We had a great time.  We saw Jay Cochrane tightrope walk from the Skylon Tower to the Hilton Hotel; and saw the evening colored light show.  We had a fantastic pizza at Johnny Peppers -- watching the owner roll the dough and bake the pizza in the wood fired kiln. In the morning we enjoyed walking through the commercial section of town and down to the lovely gardens and falls view.

Niagara Falls, Canada

We then went to Carver, MA where we had a grand visit with Phil's sister Belle.  We did lots of local exploring including a drive down to Cape Cod to Falmouth and Woods Hole.  We learned there that Paul Revere had cast the bell in the church on the Falmouth green and that Katharine Lee Bates who wrote America the Beautiful was born in Falmouth. We walked a lot in Myles Standish Forest, along the shore in Plymouth and around Carver. We ate a lot!  We had pizza from our favorite place Georgio's in Carver together with Steve and Gay.  Gay is a nurse and took everyone's blood pressure!  Crazy family!  We drove around looking at many places Phil and Belle had lived as children.

        The last evening we had a lobster cookout in Belle's backyard.

From Massachusetts we headed south for a few days at our cabin in Blue Ridge.  We did some hiking, resting, and geocachine plus Barb had 3 phone meetings and three paper reviews!  We headed to Decatur to celebrate our granddaughter Camille's birthday before going back to Texas.


The final leg of our trip was to Houston where Phil had some medical appointments at the Baylor College of Medicine.  A Trader Joe's had just opened not far from our hotel, so we had great food in our extended stay hotel room thanks to TJ.  We used the trip as an excuse to explore places on Galveston Island that we had not been to before. Before heading back home, we took a guided tour of Ima Hogg's Houston Bayou Bend mansion and gardens .  We were the only two on the tour and the guide, a chemistry/art history major at Rice was fantastic.

Galveston State Park Beach

Home at Last!!!!

San Francisco - Georgetown Tuesday September 4

Luis had to go to work but Suze took the day off to be with us.  She began doing wash and cleaning up.  We eventually walked to Golden Gate Park through the neighborhoods.  I had too much coffee and was thrilled to find a construction port-o-potty on the sidewalk!

We found a couple of geocaches (actually Suze spotted both of them) in the park.  Our goal was the free museum day at the de Young Art Museum in the eastern part of the park.  We did go in but only to enter the sculpture garden which was amazing.  We could have spent days in the two museums and gardens around them.  Another time, I hope.

We took two buses back to the apt. for a lunch of leftovers and final packing.  Suze found pictures for me to use in a newspaper wedding announcement.

We got in the car to go to the airport but I talked Suze in to driving by China Beach for a last look at the water and the bottom of the fogged in bridge. We saw the sun finally at the airport! We picked up sourdough bread for the Hulshizers in the airport and had an uneventful flight home.

See all the trip pictures

Labor Day September 3, 2012 San Francisco

I baked an apple pie using refrigerator rolls as bottom crust (not a good idea).  Suze, Phil and I walked to Golden Gate park, found a geocache and enjoyed being in the park even though it was a very foggy day.  We loved the vibrant Queen Wilhelmina Garden with its windmill. At the northwestern entrance to the park.  Just down the road was Beach Chalet with murals painted in 1936-37 showing only one tower of the Golden Gate Bridge which was then under construction.  We walked north along Ocean Beach to Cliff House and the Sutro Baths, so we have made a loop from Suze’s house, albeit on different days.  Luis picked us up and brought us back to the house. 

Once again we went to Fresh and Easy to get a few things for the “picnic.  We crossed a picket line at the store which was ironic as it was Labor Day! Luis did a lot of chopping and grilling for our feast.  Their tiny grill was down a flight of stairs in the yard but did a great job on fresh corn on the cob, eggplant, burgers, chicken and Italian sausage. He had also oven roasted new potatoes. We had our picnic indoors!

See all pictures from the trip

San Francisco Sunday September 2

Phil and I went to the store and bought supplies for a huge breakfast.  We had eggs to order, sausage, bacon, hash browns, melon, tomato, avocado, coffee, toast and juice.

The guys went back to the store for supplies for the Labor Day cookout.

It was incredibly foggy with the fog horns softly sounding in the background. We decided to head for the sunshine and the Marin coast at Point Reyes.  The Golden Gate Bridge was completely shrouded in fog.  We felt bad for all the tourists walking in the cold, wet across the bridge.

As we hit the end of the bridge, the fog lifted and it was a glorious day. We stopped for coffee and a geocache which we found next to a very dead deer! I love the changes from dry oak sprinkled hillsides to dark redwood forests.  We drove through the quaint town of Pt. Reyes Station and stopped at the really informative Bear Valley National Seashore Information station.  The ranger gave us maps and told us that the lighthouse would be in fog.  We decided to take the Limantour Spit Trail.  The 20 minute drive down to the beach was spectacular and the beach was fantastic.  We did take the trail along the estuary. Lots of birds and blue sky.


The trip back to SF was really pretty (until the fog and traffic at the Golden Gate Bridge.  Phil and I went to Fresh and Easy for supper stuff.  We watched Bernie II and enjoyed our meal.

See all pics from the long weekend.

San Francisco Saturday September 1, 2012

Phil and I woke early, ate breakfast and I worked on my pictures and diary. We found a cache near their house that was in Lincoln Park Playground (built over a cemetery that had been moved). Then we walked to a really cool hardware store narrow jammed full including a (long 4 aisle) basement, where we bought an ironing board cover to replace the ancient one on the built-in board in the kitchen.

 Suze led us on a walk up Camino Del Mar to the Legion of Honor Museum where we walked around the grounds and found a geocache. We then took the coastal trail out to Point Lobos. We ate lunch at Louis overlooking Seal Rock and the Sutro Baths. Great view but expensive $60 for grilled cheese, soup and a veggie burger plus a patty melt take out for Luis.

 Back at the apt. we got ready for the game and rode the bus and then Bart to Oakland. The seats were great and the Red Sox were awful! An older woman got hit in the back of the head with a foul bowl that ricocheted.

 

We were exhausted after the long trip back but pigged out on leftovers and watched the first episode of Scarecrow and Mrs. King. I managed to break one of their wedding china bowls and so I ordered an additional place setting.

 See all the pics on Flickr

San Francisco August 31, 2012

Friday August 31  Gtown-SanFrancisco


Neither one of us slept well – waiting to get up to go to the airport.  Getting to San Francisco was really easy on JetBlue especially since we bypassed the long security line using American priority status.

The plane got to SFO early but had to circle because only one runway was open – a common occurrence in this foggy city.  Suze had circled many times in an effort to pick us up.  She got us to their house in good order.  Oh, my goodness, it is lovely.  So much room and so much light on a grey day!

We immediately went on a long walk.  Great outdoor trails and vistas are only a couple of blocks away from her apartment!  We first took a national park trail called Land’s End with panoramic views of the water and the Golden Gate Bridge.  Then we walked the other way in a VERY ritzy neighborhood called Sea Cliff.  Actually the border of Sea Cliff is just across the street from their apt. We saw what is reported to be Robin Williams house, across the street from China Beach where Suze was able to decipher the geocaching clue “Think Pink Floyd”. (The cache was in a hole in the retaining wall.)

From the beach we walked back passed her house to Fresh and Easy, a marvelous grocery a block away where we got fixings for lunch including their version of 2 buck Chuck – the Big Kahuna.  After lunch we took a short nap and then headed by bus to the other side of the city, the financial district.  I showed Phil where I had stayed in June, and we found a cache in a lovely park just across the street.  We met Luis in the Ferry building and with a few mis-starts, got the bus home.  Suze has either a cold or allergies so we went to CVS for medicine and then to Fresh and Easy for fixings for a late supper.  I made pasta, broccoli and salmon with a ready prepared pear salad.  Yum.

The cats seemed to like us and bugged us while in bed!

See entire trip pics in a slide show

Israel 2012

Friday June 29 G‘town-- in the air
We were able to leave at a decent hour since our plane wasn’t until 9:45.  I had hoped for an upgrade to JFK, but it didn’t happen.  We went to the Admiral’s Club and I bagged some muffins for breakfast.  At JFK we went to the club in terminal 8 where we checked mail, etc. and had some celery and carrots before heading to terminal 7 and another security check, drat. We shared a McDonald’s salad for lunch. We had a middle seat and window for the overnight portion on a British Airways flight. 

Saturday June 30 in air from JFK to London – Tel Aviv.

At least BA has free wine!  I chose the pasta entry – blah except for the cheesecake which was really good.  Phil had a chicken curry dish.  I slept a little bit and so did Phil, I think.  We were served a muffin and juice for breakfast.

In London we had to change terminals as well and get seat assignments for the last leg. My bag was a tiny bit too big for the bin, so they made me check it.  I took everything out and stuffed it in my back pack and one of the little bags.  In the meantime, I lost my boarding pass!  All was ok, though. Once again we had middle and window. This time BA served us breakfast but this time with eggs, and steak.  In the aisle seat was a little boy, Alexandre, age 7 who lives in London but was headed to Tel Aviv to spend the summer with his grandfather.  He spoke better French than English and also Hebrew.  I played the dots and squares game with him, then a family card game and finally a math game.  I did manage to sleep a bit.

Upon landing in Israel, we had to wait for my bag.  We then found the ATM and got money without a problem.  Since it was Shabbat, the only way into Tel Aviv was by taxi which was about 200 shekels or $50.  The cabbie didn’t know how to find the hotel, the Galileo “Boutique” hotel.  We did a lot of driving on little streets, but finally found it.  It was in the Yemenite old district, and didn’t look very good from the outside, and the narrow reception area had a Coke machine and barely room to turn around.  However, our room was fine.  There was only one floor of rooms up one floor. I got an iron from the desk. 

Tel Aviv

We then ventured out to walk to where we would catch the tour group to Jerusalem. We walked to the beach area which was really alive and packed with beach goers.  We enjoyed the walk toward the Old Port of Jaffa and managed to find a geocache. Jaffa is where Jonah took off from before he was swallowed by the whale.

On the way back, we found a geocache near a sculpture of what we thought was the whale but turned out to be a harp!  We picked up pizza slices for 30 shekels and returned to eat them on the rooftop of our hotel/  It was quite nice; we were the only ones there and we could see the sea!  After eating, we went to a nearby gas station and got what we thought was milk (turned out to be yogurt).

Sunday July 1 Tel Aviv – Jerusalem

We ate out breakfast in the room and dragged out suitcases to the Mercure hotel to wait for the tour bus to pick us up.  It was a bit of hurry up and wait.  We had to wait again at the bus depot.  Turns out they had us booked for Bethlehem, not Jerusalem but it was fine.  Our tour guide was good and nice.  On the way from the Mercure to the bus depot, the guy behind us sneezed all over Phil and talked loudly on his cell, and in addition the man had been very late for the bus.

We rode to Mt. Scopus Hotel in Jerusalem where the passengers got sorted out for the various excursions again.  We bought coffee and used the internet before starting the Jerusalem tour.  We drove around above the old city where we could see Gethsemane and the Mt. of Olives before descending to the Old City.  We parked under the wall, and walked through Mamilla, a modern, upscale shopping mall before entering at the Jaffa gate.

The tour began by David’s citadel, went through the muslim quarter to the wailing wall and finally to the Christian quarter where we spent a lot of time in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which Helen the mother of Constantine had declared to be where Christ was Crucified and buried.

Old Jerusalem Tour Part I

Our group had lunch outside a store that the guide recommended.  Phil and I ate falafels.  We walked back to the Jaffa gate and Phil and I took a cab to the Capitol Hotel Jerusalem.  It was in the middle of the muslim section, not far from Herod’s gate. After we got them to turn on our A/C – internet never worked in room, we ventured out to look for a cache near the Damascus gate.  We couldn’t find it because some guys were setting up a tarp there over their stall, so we walked through the old city to the Dung gate.  We looked for one cache inside the wall but gave up.  We then spent a long time looking for one outside the wall.  Finally Phil found it.  The evening light was lovely so we continued our walk.  A cabbie tried to give us a ride.  When we refused he yelled “F—k you!” and drove off.  We ended our walk around the outside of the wall at the Jaffa gate and walked though Mamilla,

Old Jerusalem Part 2

When we came out at the other end of the mall, I wanted to find a place to eat.  I went off to get out of the traffic noise and call Eucalyptus (not open) and when I came back Phil was talking to two cute young girls!  They had asked him to take their pic. We finally ate at a restaurant called Candyland – huge Greek salad and a tahini, egg sandwich.  Really good!

We took a cab back to the hotel.  Cabby overshot the street and we directed him back correctly.

Monday July 2 Jerusalem – Haifa
We ate breakfast in the hotel and packed.  Then we went for a walk, looking for the cache we couldn’t find.  Phil wanted to do the part of the Via Dolorosa we had missed so we went in the Damascus gate and tried to find our way to Herod’s gate.  When we got lost, an old muslim man led us through really desolate lanes, coming out at St. Anne’s church.  When we walked up the Via Dolorosa we actually missed all the signs for the stations!  When we came out at the Damascus gate we once again looked for the cache – no luck.  We had just enough time to go to the Garden tomb.  It was wonderful.  Our guide was an older man from Texas, who gave a Christian witness.

The Garden Tomb

We had the hotel call a cab to take us to the bus station to get a bus to Haifa.  We figured it out and took the nearly two hour trip to Haifa, where we got a cab to the Technion which is on Mt. Carmel and very gated.  The guards did not know where we wanted to go, so finally I had the cab driver call the office and he got us there and checked in.  As we were checking in, Lenore Blum and her husband Manuel (who is a Turing Awardee) and Renee McCauley were checking in.  We were able to unpack, walk for milk,  and I ironed all my clothes.  We then went to join the working group bus down to the reception in town.  Then we went to the German colony for the committee dinner.  Tons of food.

ITiCSE Reception and Dinner in German Colony Haifa

Back to the Technion and we were exhausted.

Tuesday July 4 Haifa and Sea of Galilee Tour
We took a very early cab with Renee down to the Colony Hotel where we met up with the tour groups for our tour of Galilee.  The guide was abysmal but the tour stops were really good.  We stopped at the church of the Beatitudes, then the Church of the Multiplication, then back to the river Jordan at the base of the Sea of Galilee to see where Jesus was baptized.  Returning to Capernaum we had lunch at a restaurant right on the lake.

Church of the Beatitudes and Sea of Galilee

Church of Multiplication, Jordan River and Sea of Galilee

On returning to the Technion, the keynote was Michael Rabin, a Turing winner.  I was on a panel on K-12 Standards with Steve Cooper and Judith Gal-Ezer.  Renee and I went to snacks and wine afterwards.  Phil had a cold and didn’t feel well.

Wednesday July 4 Haifa.

Full day of meetings.  Lenore Blum was the Keynote.  I met Phil for lunch with the conference in the student union.  My panel was right after lunch on assessment of community based projects for social good, led by Paul Leidig and with Mikey Goldweber.

At the end of the afternoon, I went back to change and we took the conference bus to Acre (Akko) for the banquet which was held at a beach club right on the water for hors d’oeuvres.  We moved inside for more food and dancing.  I was really tired when it was over.

Banquet at Akko

Thursday July 5 Haifa

Another long day of meetings.  David Harel was the keynote. I had a meeting with Renee, Mikey, Mats and Michael Casperson about the future of ITiCSE and Informatics Europe..  I skipped most of the sessions, and hung out with Phil.  We went to lunch with the group and began packing.  Renee and I got falafels and wine to take back to our room for supper.

San Francisco Trip

Thursday June 14 Georgetown – San Francisco

I headed to the airport, stopping at Jack in the Box to get a sandwich.  No problem getting an aisle seat since I had checked in on line only about 20 minutes after it opened.  However, I just missed the bus to Caltrain and had to wait nearly an hour for the next one.  But there was no trouble getting to the train.  That train was really bad – almost an hour late because there had been a fire that closed down BART and there was a Giants game so this train was completely packed from Palo Alto on.


I dragged my suitcase quite easily to Roger Wood’s office where I was me by Delia his assistant who was very helpful!  I then dragged the bag further to the apartment which was everything it was advertised to be.  I walked around the neighborhood a bit to find the grocery and to look for a cache in the above ground world away from traffic. Susannah got off work early and we went to Safeway and bought food for supper. When Luis got off we ate on the deck and then went to the Ferry building where we saw fire dancers.

We inflated the air mattress I had in my carry on and I slept on the floor while the kids took the bed.

Friday June 15 San Francisco

I got up at 5:30 and made myself a cup of pressed coffee (with the coffee I had brought in my suitcase!) and sat on the gorgeous deck and enjoyed the view.

The purpose of the early trip was to go to the Palace hotel for the Turing Centenary.  Someone said during the course of the day and a half program that it was like being in a history book and watching all the characters step out of it.  There were 32 Turing award winners (oops – now we are supposed to call them laureates), all of whom are rock stars of computer science history.  There were panels and talks by most of them that had come.

The entire program and its webcast is on line at
http://turing100.acm.org/

Suzanne Westbrook came back to the apartment with me at the end of the day and we ate leftovers from the night before, again on the deck and then went geocaching and walked around the neighborhood.

Saturday June 16 San Francisco

Up early again to enjoy the view and coffee.  We walked to the meeting via the Ferry Building Farmer’s market.  I picked up a few cherries as the rolled of one of the stands – yum! There were more exciting talks in the morning.  Jane Prey, Boots Cassell, Suzanne Westbrook and I walked to Union Square for lunch at Sears Fine Food restaurant.

We walked back to the apartment for me to get my fancy clothes for the ACM awards banquet.  I walked back to the Palace Hotel and changed in Boots’ and Jane’s room.  There were gorgeous hors d’oeuvres and then a sit down meal.  It was fun to see everyone dressed up.  Boots and Jane wore dresses they had worn to their sons’weddings!

Once again I made the trek back to the apartment.  I had to pack because I needed to get the first Sunday am train to Palo Alto at 8:15, and drop my bag at the Palace first.  Lots of walking!
Sunday June 17 San Francisco

I had a quick breakfast and final pack before the walk to the Palace and to the train.  I was pleasantly surprised when Susannah met me at the Palo Alto Station.  We walked to the Stanford stadium , I bought a lei from a vendor for Luis, and Suze and I got there just as the graduates were marching in.  Luis got interviewed by the radio as he walked in.  It was awfully hot so mostly Suze and I watched from the concession area in the shade, standing the whole time.  The speaker was Cory Booker, mayor of Newark and he was fantastic! I actually cried.

We three headed over to Memorial Auditorium where we met up with Edda and her sister Trixie and family for the Civil Engineering diploma ceremony.  The audience cheered Andrew Luck, the Stanford quarterback who got his undergrad degree.  There was a nice reception afterwards where I saw several people who had been in the Bahamas for Suze and Luis’ wedding.

Suze, Luis and I walked back to their apartment where I saw the cats for the first time since Christmas.  Then we all joined up at Café Epi for snacks before Edda et al, headed to Vacaville and Suze dropped me at the train to go back to the Palace for Ed council meetings.

Monday June 18 San Francisco

I got up early and walked to Chinatown to find a geocache near the gate on Grant Avenue.  Very interesting panel on on-line learning.  Breakout groups in the afternoon. 

Suze joined me at Chevy’s for a drink on her way to the train and before I went to the Ed Council dinner at the Thirsty Bear.  I sat with Alison and her grandson Noah and entertained him with paper games.  We all shared tapas.

Tuesday June 19 San Francisco – San Jose

I woke up just in time for my 6am ABET training and had all kinds of trouble getting signed on, etc., but I was able to join before any new info was shared and passed the course!  I finished just in time to close my suitcase and get to the Ed Council meeting.  We had an interesting group discussion on CS2013 Programming Languages, etc.  The close of the meeting was lots of reports, including SIGCSE. We had lunch at which I took lots of the leftovers and then Mehran Sahami took me and Owen Astrachan back to Palo Alto.  Suze and Luis signed papers on their new SF apartment.  She got off early so I waited with the cats at her Palo Alto place and then she and I went to Trader Joe’s for food for supper.  We watched the video of her wedding before she took me to San Jose to my hotel.

Wednesday June 20 San Jose – Georgetown

One more very early up – 4:00 am to get a 6:35 planed home. Once again I was able to get an aisle seat and had lots of room.  I passed through several little rain showers on the way home.  I made a late lunch or early dinner for us, using Phil’s new grill for pork tenderloin.  It was good.  I took a nap and then read while Phil watched the Red Sox win by a huge score.

The wedding installment 8

Final packing to leave for home after our first night's stay in the real master bedroom of the villa.



I made myself a chavrie omelet for breakfast. I brought the rest of the food from the fridge and Jim cleaned up a lot of the kitchen. Phil and I loaded our stuff in the car. Then we went for a neighborhood walk with Jim. When we finished loading Jim’s stuff in the car, Nat was just pulling in. It seems there was a new set of guests moving in during the afternoon. The Buteras had to rush to pack and get out.


From Foursquare we learned that they used the early checkout to go back to Paradise Cove for lunch before their flight. There was quite a line at US Customs (in the Bahamas!) and Jim had an incident where his customs card got caught in his zipper! Big laugh all around. Our flights were uneventful.



We discovered Cuban food at the Miami airport. We loved the papa rellanas and spinach empanadas – lunch for under $5! We had 3 hour layovers in both Miami and Dallas.



Lucky us that all our luggage made it safely to Austin and we were home before midnight.

See all photos from today

The wedding installment 7

The morning began with a mad rush for Rob to take Chloe and Camille snorkeling on a party boat

When they were safely off, Gwyneth, Phil, Jim, Marty and I headed off to explore the West End of the island.  We drove through many villages including 8 Mile Rock and stopped to search for a cache at Paradise Cove aka Deadman’s Reef   It was the perfect spot with very friendly owners and staff.  We searched for a while with no luck and decided to go to the end of the island and come back for lunch.

Paradise Cove

We had to give our names to explore Old Bahama Bay Resort where we admired the yachts and had a chat with the chef from one of the yachts.  Then we drove along the water in West End.

 West End

Back to Paradise Cove for lunch and a stop in town at Butler’s.

Conch Fritters

Suze and Luis had come to do their wash on the way to their honeymoon at Pelican Point near the east end of the island.

Nat called to tell us about a political rally downtown that would be on TV but urged us to go see it live.  There were at least two rallies – one at which the prime minister spoke (everyone had on red shirts) and the PLP one where everyone had on yellow shirts.  Rob, G and I drove to find the rallies.  There was no parking but we did find them and saw firsthand the intense political participation on the island.  After we got home, Jim, Marty and I went for a walk.

See all the day's pictures