July 27, 2020 · 3:13 am

Door County Day 2: Baileys Harbor, Waseda Farms, Cherries, biking to sand bay Beach, wickham house bbq, Garrett Bay Boat landing, Ellison bluff sunset, Door County Creamery

(July 2020) I can’t believe this was one day. We did so much. It was raining so we took lovely county road F to Baileys Harbor for a very small farmers market at the town hall and excellent coffee and chèvre with honey and toasted nuts on a thick slice of sour dough at Bearded Heart. Almost everyone is wearing masks now (which is a relief) after a County mask order.

The rain was in and out most of the morning, adding drama to the bucolic waterfront and farm scenery. We stopped at my dream organic farm, Waseda Farms, to pick raspberries in the drizzle, taking refuge on the porch of a late 1800s school house during a downpour that made the gardens, full of flowers, fruit and vegetables, even lusher.

On to cherry land along Highway 42 from Egg harbor to Fish creek to Ephraim. We stopped at several varieties of cherry store from strange old-fashioned with grandma behind an old cash register (hyline) to sleekly commercial (laughenbach). We came home with raspberries, blueberries (from Michigan!) sweet cherries, brats, goat chèvre, and leftover bbq brisket and ribs from the lovely Wickham house in Ellison Bay. The main house is closed due to Covid but diners and takeout customers enjoyed the lovely gardens-side dining. Every one is improvising due to the pandemic with good results. Wickham house was serving only bbq and it was excellent.

After splurging on a caphrina in the garden we found an amazing empty spot overlooking a surreally calm bay to eat out takeout on a bench, driving deep in the woods until a clearing by the water, at Garrett Bay boat landing. On the way back to Sister Bay we hit a scenic overlook at the end of another clearing in the woods just in time for a spectacular sunset at Ellison bay bluff. We got to Sister Bay just before Door County Creamery closed for some goat milk gelato and then wandered the almost free of tourists main drag. I almost forgot to mention our 5 mile bike ride down Waters end road to Sand Bay, a small beach with soft sand, where we swam in Lake Michigan which was gentler and warmer than I remembered from childhood trips up north in Michigan. Glorious.

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July 26, 2020 · 2:37 pm

Day 1: Madison and Door County

(written last week of July, 2020)

 

Feels great to have a change of scenery – this is our first trip since the pandemic began in earnest in March. Our behavior hasn’t changed much though. Still social distancing, wearing masks outside in public when it looks like we are nearing a clump of people. We did go to our first restaurant since March. Waited over an hour for an outside table at the sweet Trixie’s in the lovely tiny village of Ephraim. There were inside tables but we aren’t doing that yet. No hardship waiting. We sat on a comfy bench far from others in the grassy park across the street overlooking the bay and the setting sun.

The meal was good, especially the tempura fried white fish with tzatziki and cucumbers. Felt so good to be a little less isolated. I do wish more people were wearing masks here outside. Very hit or miss even though Door county just issued an edict to wear masks and people must wear them indoors.

Our Airbnb is lovely and as promised secluded and spotless. It’s in the woods and meadow just north of Sister Bay in a cool contemporary house, blue shingles with white trim. We have a high ceilinged loft above the garage with bed, couch, small table and kitchen (no stove). All white walls, white comforter, tan wood, very Scandinavian pristine which feels right in this perilous moment. (This is also our first time staying outside our home during the pandemic, which feels a little verboten, if not risky. I’m less paranoid about surfaces than being around other people. No other people here.)

We stopped en route in Madison for a cheese exchange with our friend Jane who lives in Madison and knows I love Bleu Mont, the local bandaged cheddar. She ended up joining us (from six feet) in a park to eat said bandaged cheddar for lunch. The drive was uneventful up to Sister Bay. This area so far reminds me a bit of Up North (Michigan) which is just across Lake Michigan from here and Martha’s Vineyard with the tiny white clapboard buildings in Ephraim. 

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July 20, 2020 · 3:08 pm

Cool new sights in Waterworks and Riverview Parks, DSM

Bike riding has been our saving grace during the travel-limiting pandemic – and I write this, sadly, while RAGBRAI was supposed to be happening. Peddling along our favorite loop ride from Beaverdale to downtown Des Moines yesterday , we admired new attractions in Waterworks Park downtown and Riverview Park, near North High School.

Waterworks Park is now home to a sculpture honoring RAGBRAI founders John Karras and Don Kaul, who we remember fondly from working in the 1990s at the DM Register during happier days (for newspapers and the world beyond…). Adjacent is a fantastic new playground/playscape made of huge grey rounded logs that reminded me of the Flintstones and an F Troop fort. Would love to see what kids make of it. And this is all part of the great new outdoor amphitheater there, where last year we enjoyed a free DSM Symphony concert (in the rain, no less).

The tunnel leading under Fleur Drive from Waterworks to Grey’s Lake Park is not technically open but it proved a fantastic alternative to riding across four lanes of busy traffic. It’s also very attractive.

The redevelopment of Riverview Park is coming along nicely – with a huge outdoor amphitheater rising and a fun new old-fashioned-looking playground with a red and white carnival look that I assume is a big nod to the former Riverview Amusement Park, which was built on this site in 1915 – based on Brooklyn’s Coney Island – and lasted until 1978. The amphitheater stage has acrazy 60-foot high steel arch that mimics the Amusement park’s old rollercoaster and is named after the Riviera Ballroom that was once part of the park, hosting luminaries including Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington!.

Seeing these new projects gives me hope during a bleak time.

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April 18, 2020 · 11:00 pm

Social-isolating at Pammel State Park – Madison County, Iowa

It was easy to keep our distance from other people at Pammel State Park, a pretty 40-minute drive southwest of Des Moines in Madison County (as in “Bridges of…”), because there weren’t many people there. Which is why we picked it as our destination – the first after a month of staying very close to home during the pandemic lock down. Nice to have a change of scenery. The park is small, a wooden expanse with a cool 1920’s CCC wood and stone lodge and modest hiking trails. The coolest part was fording the Middle River in our SUV, paralleling a small dam. Driving through the gentle rush of water was the only way to get across. Not the best-marked park but friends advised us to cross the river to the quietest hiking trails near the lodge. It almost felt like a normal spring day except the public bathrooms were closed, as were the shops along the lovely square by the old stone courthouse in Winterset, the county seat.

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March 9, 2020 · 10:11 pm

Flying during a possible pandemic

I have flown three times during the past 10 days (Feb 29-March 9) of the coronavirus situation (Des Moines to San Francisco via Vegas on Southwest; San Francisco to Burbank on Southwest; Burbank to DSM via Salt Lake City on Delta) and here’s what I noticed:

– A few people wearing masks, not many.

– A few people wiping their seating area with wet wipes and their hands with hand sanitizer. (Me included by flying day #2 when I found unopened wipes in my travel bag that I bought last fall in Vietnam. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been doing…I couldn’t find wipes in San Francisco or Burbank. We found hand sanitizer only after we asked a shop keeper in San Francisco who let us know he had a secret stash behind the counter. “One per family,” he said. Which seemed wise.)

– Not many people are using their tray tables or tucking things into their seat pocket. I predict a (further?) decline in readership of the in-flight mag, not to mention the safety brochure. One woman I saw using her tray table for her laptop was wearing a mask. Huh?

– My delta flight today (March 9) was delayed for cleaning but only a few minutes (and I welcomed the cleaning.) Southwest attendants wore gloves. But my delta flight attendant didn’t wear gloves while serving but did when picking up empty cups. (But she was very pleasant and offered a wider snack selection including granola bars than the other flights.)

– The occasional sneeze or cough (including by me…allergies. Really!) is more noticeable and noticed.

– My second flight had lots of empty seats. We all took our own aisles and window seats. (Maybe we read the same article saying that window seats exposure you to less germs.) Pleasant surprise for this aisle-flyer: it was fun looking out the window.

– Other flights, including the one I am on now, seem almost full (although I have no neighbor.) Maybe more people would cancel if the airlines (other than always reasonable Southwest) extended their Covid-9-inspired, no-charge-for-changes policy so it includes flights right now (not just those purchased between now and March 31. Thx guys but you could do better. Your self- interest is showing.)

– people are calm and pleasant. Not sure I would know anything was different if I didn’t read the news.

– I noticed new signs (I think) in the bathroom in Des Moines (some that could use copy editing) asking “travellers” (yes, misspelled) to wash their hands.

– I also found myself not holding onto the railing on the escalator, to avoid germs and making use of sanitizer stations.

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March 7, 2020 · 9:04 pm

Jon and vinnys (on fairfax), rodeo drive, larchmont village – Los Angeles

My brother has a knack for finding hidden gem restaurants in urban neighborhoods and I am pleased to see that this continues from his New York days into this latest Los Angeles chapter, which is how I ended up eating at a small hole-in-the-wall called Jon & Vinny’s in what we think is West Hollywood. I had to wait 45 minutes but it was worth it. I ended up sitting at a small counter facing the very busy chefs and the wood fired oven where all pizzas and other hearty fare were moved around.

I ended up getting a salad with a slightly spicy Calabrian dressing and toasted bread crumbs on each leaf…delicious and some perfectly grilled bread that had more flavor than I expected. I would love to return with companions so we could share a pasta, pizza, meatball or dessert. Next trip.

I also walked down Rodeo Drive, for the heck of it, since I hadn’t been to Beverly Hills in decades and then to the original farmers market (near Jon & Vinnys) and then to Larchmont Village for a quick walk around and some ice cream at salt & straw. Today we are lying low but made a quick visit to the farmers market in Burbank. It never gets old seeing fresh oranges, grapefruits, kale, avocados and artichokes this time of year. Also took my darling niece Lucy to the local Donut Prince – her choice – and was surprised to see Californians dining on donuts at 4 p.m. on a Sunday.

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March 6, 2020 · 3:05 pm

Out the door/Ferry building, ferry to Oakland, jack London Square , Teracotta warrior chinese – San Francisco

More glorious weather (which is not helping drought conditions…). Susan and I rode the MUNI (N Judah line) to Embarcadero and wandered around the food stalls at the Ferry Building. Ate the best Vietnamese food I’ve had since visiting Vietnam last fall at the take out counter for the famous Slanted Door restaurant. (Out the Door) where we got excellent noodles with big pieces of chewy bbqed pork and moist rice with goodies (egg, sausage, veg) inside wrapped in a banana leaf. We ate on a rustic bench overlooking the ferry docks.

We rode the ferry across the bay and under the Bay Bridge to Jack London Square in Oakland. Fantastic views of San Fran from the water. We wandered a bit around downtown Oakland…good used bookstore run by the public library, a few interesting shops and then ferried back. Dinner was at Terracotta Warrior, a few blocks from Susan and Eric in the sunset. Northern Chinese food with strange items (for Chinese food) including lamb, tomatoes and what seemed like spaetzle (small dumplings) in the soup but may have been pita. Ended the night in the hot tub. Perfect!

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March 5, 2020 · 6:13 pm

Java Beach Cafe, Mary’s consignment 24th Noe Valley, biked along Great Pacific highway past Lake Merced, a Mano/hays valley , Cable Car – San Francisco

Susan and I rode bikes along the ocean where the highway was conveniently closed due to drifting sand. Near Lake Merced we ended up stopping for lunch at laid back Java Beach Cafe, where it was a perfect day to eat outside.

Dinner was excellent at A Mano, a northern Italian place in Hays Valley. Excellent pasta (bucatini ametriana, with pancetta and cheese; puttanesca with shrimp) and chocolate mousse/pudding. I returned to hays valley today, wandered around on another spectacular to the mission, stopping for lunch at Tartine, then to the water which I realized I was craving. I wanted someplace distinctly San Fran. So I ended up on the cablecar from Fisherman’s Wharf, past Union Square and other places I haven’t been in years. Kind of pricey ($8 one way) but Great views and atmospherics.

In the eve, I went with Susan to her pottery class in a pretty old building in Golden Gate Park.

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March 2, 2020 · 6:00 am

San Tung/Chinese food, Harvey Milk terminal, marijuana dispensary, Lands End, Kishu mandarin oranges/farmers market— San Francisco

Always great to be back in San Francisco, which I have loved since my mother took me here for my 16th birthday (awhile ago). Newer reason to love it — my friend Susan has been here for decades. Her neighborhood, the Sunset, was hopping last night as we walked past Asian shops to a great neighborhood Chinese restaurant San Tung packed with big families and smaller clusters of young people lucky enough to live in this gorgeous city.

I grew up with Chinese food but rarely find it now, especially good Chinese food. My kids’ version of Chinese food is Thai or Vietnamese. This was very good Chinese good – crispy fried chicken wings (who knew?), fresh mu shu pork (which I haven’t had in years) and perfectly stir fried green beans) The place is also known for it fresh noodles, (next time)

I am sorry I can’t post photos (technical difficulties) especially of all the lush green vegetation and colorful flowers – purple, orange, red – here and there. Welcome change from brown muddy Iowa.

We stopped in at the neighborhood marijuana dispensary— the smell of pot lingers on the sidewalks , here and there. It’s very clinical looking, more like a sleek pharmacy then a head shop. Samples in antiseptic jars on shiny white counters and iPads with interactive displays that showcase products with cold soulless names. This is not your grandma’s Mary Jane, weed, pot. Kind of sucks the hippie character out of the act of getting high. Guess that’s the point. Make it professional, medicinal, acceptable.

I also was blown away by the new Harvey Milk Terminal that I stepped into after deplaning. Awe-inspiring, bright, airy, sleek, white, trendy furniture, bold art work and wall installation with what looks like wood bits of old barn, a poignant display of photos and texts about Harvey Milk, whose 1978 assignation I remember hearing on the news in college.

Sunday we went to a farmers market full of gorgeous fruit and veg and flowers. Discovery: tiny kishu mandarin oranges smaller than a satsuma and even sweeter.

We hiked along the coast on a spectacular afternoon with lush vegetation and the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, thru the fancy sea cliff neighborhood, stopping to tour a $12 million house for sale (it was an open house so we walked right in…) we walked past baker beach and into the presidio and Richmond areas. A six mile walk, as it turns out.

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February 29, 2020 · 9:14 pm

Shake shack at the Las Vegas airport!

Well that was a nice surprise and dining option during a long layover. The Vegas shake shack opened last October, about the time we stumbled upon one just about to open at the Minneapolis airport. Apparently it’s a trend, with shake shacks at airports in Nyc (jfk and laguardia), Phoenix, Dallas and Los Angeles (LAX)!

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