Guest Bloggers: Athena & Xander Reporting Live From Lake Tahoe
Athena– The family took a short vacation to Lake Tahoe before my brothers and I had to go back to school. We thought this lake getaway would be the perfect opportunity to do a water activity or two. We collectively made a decision to go jet skiing. It was lots of fun. I really enjoyed the experience of trying something for the first time and being in a new environment. I liked the smooth, fast feeling of the jet ski and looking down at the fresh, clear lake water!
Xander- We did so many exciting and fun things, from swimming in the lake and also trying paddleboarding, going on walks, playing bocce ball and disc golf while hanging at my mom’s childhood friend’s cool house just outside Lake Tahoe in a town called Truckee. (We also wanted to rent a speed boat but they were booked for the next few days.)
I was a bit bummed that we were not able to go whitewater rafting because there were no rapids on nearby rivers, but the jet skis made up for it. It was our first time going jet skiing and it surpassed my expectations. We rented a jet ski at Donner Lake, they explained the rules and we hopped on the water!
Xander– We took off and the jet ski went way faster than I expected. One of the rules was that kids weren’t allowed to drive, but this was not going to stop me because I had been looking forward to this for a long time. Once we were out of sight from the rental site, I quickly switched from the back to the front and drove away — almost hitting 40mph (under close supervision of my adult copilot, of course)!
This was the coolest experience, and Lake Tahoe was awesome!
Taking a Big Bite Out of the Big Apple
In all my years living in Northern New Jersey, there were countless tourist attractions a tolerable car ride across the Hudson River or via the Lincoln Tunnel that I never had the urge to visit (think Statue of Liberty, New York City’s many museums or Central Park). On the other hand, as a devout Yankee fan I made many trips across the George Washington Bridge to the Bronx to take in a game at the old stadium.
So on our recent summer family vacay to the Big Apple, we decided to stay in the centrally-located Chelsea/Fashion District and hit some never before-explored sights — many within walking distance or a short subway ride to a nearby neighborhood (I can recall riding the N.Y.C. subway system maybe two times before and was pleased to see how easy and even clean it was, prompting us to use it much more than I thought we would on this trip).
Among our destinations on foot were: Times Square; the Flatiron District; Tribeca; Greenwich Village/Washington Square Park/NYU; the Highline/Hudson Yards/Hell’s Kitchen/The Little Island @ Pier 55; and 5th and 6th Aves./Rockefeller Center/Radio City Music Hall/Grand Central Station.
hotel (the 22-story Hilton NYC Fashion District)
And by subway: The Freedom Tower; a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to the Dumbo/East River waterfront area (then a subway ride back to our home base); Battery Park/Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island; Metropolitan Museum of Art (or as it’s also referred to, “The Met”) on the Upper West Side, followed by lunch at an outdoor café in Central Park.
Our hotel had a nice view of the Empire State Building, where many years ago (pre-9/11) I had visited its observation deck. So as we shopped in the Times Square area on this trip, we walked down 34th Street and craned our necks upwards for a look from the sidewalk. Since we had already taken in the awesome views from the One World Observatory on the 102nd floor of the Freedom Tower just two days prior, there wasn’t a pressing desire to ride the elevator to the top of another building that has the exact same number of stories (not to mention there’s no way it could ever match the special effects, motion-graphics elements of the Freedom Tower’s lift).
Finally, while the girls had a mother/daughter night in Greenwich Village, I took the boys to my (and of course their) first game ever at the new Yankee Stadium to watch the Bombers play the Phillies and walk it off in dramatic fashion in extra innings (this event actually marked our first subway ride of the trip).
Looking back at all the sights we crammed in, it was a very ambitious and extremely enjoyable time spent in the Big Apple!
Joining the James Gang
Any road trip is rosier when you can work in a wine tasting. And with kids and first-time roadtripper Zoe – our new one-year-old terrier/chihuahua mix – in tow, it was an even sweeter side trip.
Also along for the ride were my in-laws, who have to be the most happy-go-lucky travelers in the western U.S. (even without the vino!). We’ve been wine tasting to the Santa Barbara and Paso Robles wine regions with Irene’s parents on quite a few occasions but this journey would hold some extra nostalgia since it included a couple of nights lodging in the city of Irene’s birthplace:
San Luis Obispo.
But which winery to visit if we could only fit in one among other activities to keep the teens and dog engaged? Turns out that was decided for us as Irene has a colleague that introduced us to the Tobin James Cellars family of wines.
Located eight miles east of Paso Robles on Highway 46, the vineyards sit on 71 acres of oak-dotted hills. Built from the ground up on the site of an old stagecoach stop, the open tasting room transports visitors back to the days of a vintage Old West saloon with its trio of brass-railed bars — an array of award-winning wines are poured from behind the antique 1860s Brunswick mahogany bar from Blue Eye, Missouri. Adding to the atmosphere, there’s a restored stagecoach stop that is now being used as a guest house.
We made a 10:30 a.m. reservation for our one-hour tasting. Once sidled up to the bar, our affable and knowledgeable wine pourer gave us a rundown on the tasting menu – you could choose any of the 23 offerings so we marked our choices carefully considering the early start and eventual 45-minute drive back to SLO.
Feeling our enthusiasm and intentions to buy several bottles, our sommelier uncorked some off-menu options to try as well – one of which was a 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon called “Notorious.” Being bigtime Duran Duran fans, we had to ask our som about the name. She confirmed our inquiry and proceeded to tell us that Duran fans will often buy it sight unsampled due to their love of the 1986 hit song (not to mention simultaneously belting out the chorus upon seeing the bottle!). This awesome wine lived up to its billing so we added two bottles to our purchases!
In fact, we enjoyed these wines so much that we joined their “James Gang” wine club, our first since our membership with Firestone Winery of Los Olivos (Santa Barbara)
in the early 2000s.
Doing The Six
To attract visitors back to its thrill rides, Six Flags Magic Mountain slashed the price of a ticket and would limit capacity to 15%. That sounded like a good combination to me so with pandemic conditions steadily improving, I felt comfortable enough to make an online reservation.
Of course the necessary health and safety protocols would be in place encouraging people to “Do the Six“:
Upon entry, we walked through a short tunnel that scans your temperature (and apparently any backpacks – in lieu of a physical bag search?). From there it was off to the high-priority coasters – Xander and I agreed that X2, Twisted Colossus and the new West Coast Racers are our top three. Another two favorites – Full Throttle and Roaring Rapids – were unavailable on this day.
We got in 12 rides in seven hours, four in the first hour alone thanks to much shorter lines; divided by the $45 ticket price, that’s $3.75 per ride — unheard of on a pre-Covid visit!
To help maximize your Magic Mountain experience, I highly recommending using the park’s mobile app, which includes useful features such as showing ride wait times and ordering ahead for food. We were able to jump on The Riddler stand-up coaster before receiving a text that our order was ready for pick-up at the nearby Johnny Rockets concession. (*Note: Many of the smaller snack carts are shuttered as are some indoor attractions.)
As the day progressed, it didn’t feel like the capacity was at 15% as advertised. One worker told us that if was actually FIFTY percent so perhaps with CA reaching a new health tier between the point of purchase and the day of our visit, the percentage mentioned could be modified accordingly without any notification?
“X” about to board X2 for the 2nd time!
Super-Sanitized Staycation
IN JULY 2019 we spent a week in Kona on Hawaii’s Big Island. In 2020, we knew any summer vacation plans would look a lot different due to the pandemic, but we were determined to get some kind of “staycation” booked as sensibly and safely as possible.
With Hilton promoting its “CleanStay” initiative (with Lysol protection), I focused my search on their hotels (plus I’m a member of the Hilton Honors rewards program so could rack up some points!). I came across a nice-looking place in Carlsbad called The Cassara from their “Tapestry” collection of boutique properties and booked it for two nights.
The hotel has a resort feel to it, offering a variety of room categories; we chose a corner “suite” that had a king bed in the main living area and a separate bedroom with two twin beds. A seal on the door proclaimed that the room had been thoroughly cleaned.
Punctuating the drama is the majestic lobby and pair of pools (with hand sanitizing stations outside each gate). Lounge chairs are set up in socially distant groupings and the pool had lap lanes in the middle.
On the way to our corner suite, we caught a glimpse of Legoland thru the trees just across the road.
On Night 1, we ordered dinner from a Veggie Grill that was literally a two-minute drive down the road and brought it back to the hotel so we could enjoy our nicely-appointed room for the remainder of the evening. We went to a nearby beach on Day 2 (about 10-minutes by car; *See guest blog sidebar by Miss Athena below).
A major plus that we took advantage of on Night 2: the Karl Strauss Brewery & Restaurant that sits adjacent to the hotel and a short stroll from our room — a no-brainer in jumping on the opportunity to enjoy our first dinner out in more than six months. Like many eateries in the age of coronavirus, KS has tables set up — in this case rustic high-tops and picnic bench seating — in the parking lot, with an ordering system that is equally hygiene-friendly: place your order and pay at the bar, display your number stand on the socially-distant table of your choice, where the food is delivered by a server. The nice part about this setup is your party can just leave when finished.
I had the beer sausages (grilled cheddar brat/chili-chicken link, fries, pickled onion, spicy honey-sriracha mustard, $13.95) paired with a nice IPA while the rest of the famiglia dined on grilled chicken sandwiches (BBQ $14.50, mesquite $13.95) and a Chicken Chop Shop salad (grilled mesquite chicken breast, avocado, beer-brined bacon, poblano peppers, mixed lettuce, tomato, corn tortilla strips, chili-ranch dressing, $16.95).
And one glitch: I had set up a digital key in the HH app but never received it so had to resolve the matter in person at the front desk, where I was informed that the hotel hadn’t yet synced our particular room category with the app – a minor snag, though still slightly annoying nonetheless considering one of the main reasons for booking a Hilton property was for the chain’s contactless room entry feature. But all’s well that ends well: the hotel GM put 2,000 bonus points into my HH rewards account for the inconvenience!
* * *
BEACHY KEEN
By Miss A
As we pulled into the parking lot at Grandview Beach in Encinitas (San Diego County), I noticed it was very different than LA beaches. There were long wood steps down to the beach with palm trees standing next to the stairs. The view from the top was so pretty, the water was very blue and it was a beautiful day.
When we got down to the beach, there was very little sand space, mostly rocks and water. We set up our blanket and chairs sitting against a huge rock wall, the water almost touching our feet. I liked the different vibe, it was something new.
As usual my brothers and I went in the ocean, the water felt perfect because it was a hot day. Since there were so many different rocks on the wet sand around us, we picked out some that stood out and looked interesting. I had a fun day because I always enjoy going to the beach. It’s one of my favorite activities during the summer.
Sipping & Sliding
The 73-floor U.S. Bank tower in downtown L.A. is the city’s tallest building at just over 1,000 feet. Located on the 69th & 70th floors is OUE Skyspace, an immersive ode to the City of Angels.
For our recent visit, we purchased a Travelzoo deal called “Sip & Slide” that included an adult beverage and one slide for Irene and me and combo entrance/slide tickets for Troy, Xander and Athena (the Travelzoo voucher offer mentioned a “tip” that you can take as many slides as you want between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., bonus!)
Attached to the side of the building, the 45-foot glass-enclosed Skyslide takes the rider down one floor — the family consensus being that it was simply too brief to experience anything more than a momentary thrill.
The open-air observation terraces afford eagle-eye views of L.A. landmarks such as Dodger Stadium and the Hollywood sign (Lesser known fun fact: I never realized how many helipads there are on top of the surrounding buildings). A popular spot for photo ops on one of the outdoor decks is a glass barrier with painted angel wings where Athena stood between the wings and struck her best “Heaven Can Wait” pose.
Later, we all relaxed with our refreshing beverages and snapped quite a few photos of the panoramas. The amount of time spent soaking in Skyspace’s features is completely up to you (we were there for a little over two hours before heading down the elevator to explore late lunch options).
Beyond the slide, there are two selfie stations (one of which was offline) where visitors can choose a background and email .gifs to themselves, and wall-mounted supersized tablets with touchscreens dispense on-demand info about Los Angeles and its geographic environs.
Winter Daycation: San Juan Capistrano
It has become a bit of a tradition in recent years to book a last-minute road trip right as the winter school break comes to a close. This year we packed our overnight bags and pointed ourselves in the direction of the OC on a “mission” to visit San Juan Capistrano.
We invited Irene’s parents to join on this particular journey since we knew they would enjoy seeing Mission San Juan Capistrano and are always fun travelers in crime. We arrived at our destination by 10 a.m. and were able to get a much-earlier-than-usual check-in so we dropped off our stuff in the rooms, grabbed some coffee and were at the landmark mission by 11 a.m. – just a half-mile drive from the hotel.
Mr. V (as I have endearingly called Irene’s dad over the years) told me that he had not been back to SJC (“the birthplace of Orange County” as it’s known) since Irene was four, when she lost a bracelet during their first visit to the mission.
Strolling the beautiful mission grounds, with its central koi-filled fountain and stone ruins reminiscent of Rome’s Forum, we soaked in as much museum history as possible during our 3+ hours there, which included a brief break to dig into the picnic lunch we brought with us.
And let’s not forget the winged ambassadors of this mission – the swallows.
Famous for their annual return to the mission each March, the swallows’ nesting numbers have decreased over the years due to urbanization. Interesting swallow fact: While the cliff swallows are the species that have traditionally returned to the mission to build their wasp-like mud nests under the eaves of the buildings, the more social rough-winged swallows are newer to the mission and nest in colonies.
After we flew the mission coop, we all had enough energy left in us to explore the quaint surrounding environs and took the short three-block walk over to Los Rios Street, where there’s an Amtrak stop, and just across the tracks, some rustic dining and shopping establishments worth checking out.
For dinner, a Siri inquiry of “restaurants near us” yielded a waterfront seafood spot in neighboring Dana Point called Wind & Sea that turned out to be a very good choice — excellent calamari, swordfish, poke and happy hour drinks.
Everyone thought Dana Point was so nice, we decided to visit twice, so after a quick breakfast at the hotel on Day 2, we took a nice stroll on one of its cliffside beaches (Strands Beach) to stretch our overnight Daycation in the OC just a little bit further.
With photo ops around every corner, this post warrants its own mini photo gallery
Guest Bloggers: X-man and Miss A’s Cruise Review
The Food, by Xander
My Dad’s prime rib with horseradish, onion rings and a baked potato side.
The food on our 4-day Carnival Cruise to Ensenada was fantastic. There were two dining options: you could eat at a food court or a fancy sit-down restaurant (the food was included in the price of the cruise). First the food court: it included a deli, pizza place, celebrity chef Guy Fieri’s gourmet burgers with toppings bar (I liked the smoky bacon bits and sautéed mushrooms), a taco/burrito stand, an ice cream machine, and a lot more. Also, each of these food places changed over for breakfast.
Baked Alaska (meringue ice cream cake with a flame in the middle!) for the final formal dessert.
The sit-down restaurants for breakfast and dinners were my favorite because the food was delicious and our servers were extremely nice. The menu changed every night with delicious fancy foods. My two favorite appetizers were alligator fritters and escargot bourguignon. Yum.
The Activities, by Athena
About to hit the water slides on Embarkation Day
We went on our first cruise in 2014 so this time we had the chance to check out some of the things we didn’t do the first time. We chose to visit many new activities and spots such as the spa. At the back of this area was the gym; after my mom and I worked out a bit, we went into the sauna and the steam room.
Following dinner the second night, we enjoyed the “Divas” show in the main Dynasty Theater (a sing and dance show). In the show, the performers sang and danced to Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Rihanna and more. It was very entertaining. On Thursday night, the first day we got on the cruise ship, we watched the Hasbro game show with volunteers from the audience playing games such as “Operation” onstage. It was fun with the British host/cruise director “Matey.”
Xander getting sprayed by La Bufadora!
When our ship (named the “Imagination”) docked at the port of Ensenada on Saturday morning, we took a shore excursion to “La Bufadora” (The Blowhole). Our tour guide Gilberto led our group on the short walk to the natural geyser; we passed many small Mexican shops offering souvenirs and food and “Gil” gave us each a free drink sticker to the Habana Banana! We watched the geyser, which sprays sea water up from a small cave, shopped a bit and had a delicious lunch at the Habana Banana, where we all shared a platter of soft tacos , shrimp and clams. Shortly after lunch, we made our way back up the line of shops and got back on our tour bus to return to the ship.
On Saturday night, we went to a rock ‘n roll show (held in the same cruise theater as the “Divas” show and featured the same performers) except the songs were rock and we watched from the upper balcony seating. My parents also got to have some alone time in the Serenity adult area in the very back area of the ship with two hot tubs and comfy lounge chairs while me, Xander and Troy were one deck above sliding down the waterslides in the mini-waterpark.
Amazing Indian head sculpture carved in 15 minutes!
My dad and brothers also saw an ice carving show on the Lido deck where a champion ice-carver transformed a block of ice into an Indian-head ice sculpture in just 15 minutes. We also learned how to make towel animals with Matey (a dog and an elephant). The new activities we got to do were so much fun and I thought it was nice to experience some of the things we missed on our first Carnival cruise.
Conquering Mountain High
There are few things more satisfying than watching not one but all three of your kids pick up on a sport or activity collectively – especially after you’ve traumatized one of them and she bounces back from it a couple hours later.
The setting was during a Spring Break overnight trip to Mountain High Ski Resort in Victorville. The kiddoes would be taking just their second lesson ever (the first was an introductory group lesson at the smaller Mt. Baldy in 2015); but first, to kill some time before the instructors arrived, I thought I’d relay some pre-lesson tips from my many years of snow skiing and head over to the bunny slope for a couple of test runs.
Instead of using the people mover (think “tow-rope” from back in the day!), my brilliant plan was to introduce them one at a time to the easier of a pair of chairlifts. I would take Athena up first, ski back down the short distance to get the boys and we’d all ski down like one happy foursome.
Except it didn’t quite happen that way.
Yep, I accidentally chose the more challenging “beginner” chair and it was all downhill (pun intended) from there. Long story short, I ended up behind an accelerating Miss A yelling “Lay down, lay down!” before catching up to her and eventually side-stepping down together — about 45 minutes later — to the waiting and not-so-happy Troy and Xander. “Where WERE you?!” they screamed at me.
“Uh, trying to get Athena back down in one piece; sorry boys, we took the wrong chairlift!”
But as I already alluded to at the top of the story, this tale has a happy landing! Because when their actual lesson with an actual certified instructor was over, T, A & X were a sight to behold (especially Miss A what with having to overcome the horror of her maiden run!) Now they really were ready to take multiple chairlifts up to that very run. And Troy and Xander even summoned the courage to explore a more advanced trail by day’s end.
With my poles in one hand and my iPhone in the other, I followed behind them to capture a video of their shared triumphs:
Scenes from NYC
Irene recently returned from New York City, where all the Valverde siblings
helped their sister Janet celebrate her 50th b-day. Here are some very cool shots
taken on Irene’s iPhone 7:
Looking down on the Oculus, the $4 billion train station at the Freedom Tower
The Freedom Tower
Night view from the birthday girl’s building.
The iconic Brooklyn Bridge
The Guggenheim Museum
In stark contrast to surrounding Tribeca-area buildings, a 60-story tower rises like a Jenga game.
Perfect day for shopping
View across the Hudson — Long Live Joisey!
Pic(s) of the Week: Zoo-tography
The famiglia took an overnight daycation to Santa Barbara over the holidays and hit the Santa Barbara Zoo; not-too-shabby iPhone shots if I do say so myself:
Guest Bloggers: EIEIO
A collage graphic of Troy and Xander out in the field picking bok choy and a shot of our washed veggie stash back at home.
The kiddies had such a good time on their first visit to Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark they requested a repeat visit over the Fourth of July weekend. So we packed a picnic lunch and made the 45-minute drive from West L.A. to basically play the role of Old MacDonald for a few hours. The following is their account of the outing.
Picking Fruits and Veggies, by Athena
As we walked into the enormous field of fruits and vegetables I was so excited and curious about what I was going to pick, taste and see. Although I’ve been to Underwood Family Farms once before, there would be different kinds of fruits and vegetables because it was a different time of year.
First we picked beets, then we kept walking and saw red lettuce, radishes, bok choy, and some more greens. We saw navel orange trees and avocado trees, but sadly they were not ready yet. The raspberries were in season so we picked a lot of them. I liked how when you are picking your fruits and veggies you can eat as many as you want at the same time. I ate so many raspberries because they were so delicious. Then we came upon the strawberries and ate even more.
After that we picked some peppers, a squash, potatoes, green tomatoes and carrots. I had a lot of fun getting the carrots because you pull them right out of the ground and they are so sweet and tasty. We also picked zucchini. I had so much fun and I loved picking the fresh fruits and vegetables like a farmer.
Farm to Table, by Xander
When we got home, I grabbed the fruits and vegetables that we bought, ran into the house and started washing them. We were planning to make a salad with all the vegetables we picked and added some teriyaki steak strips. We also made fried green tomatoes; I sliced all the vegetables such as carrots, American radishes and French radishes.
My mom and Athena cut the lettuce and grilled the steak while my dad and I made the fried green tomatoes in our little Fry Daddy. The fried green tomatoes were complicated because you had to coat them in egg, then a flour coating, and finally the bread crumbs. Then you put them into the fry cooker and wait 3-4 minutes. We all ate the delicious meal together as a family and we all loved Underwood Family Farms!
Pot belly pig at The Animal Show
Besides fruit picking, there was a small area with animals you can feed and a show we saw with four different animals. My brother, sister and I fed several animals such as chickens, ponies and sheep by putting 25 cents into a machine that gave us food for that type of animal. We weren’t allowed to touch the animals, but we could take pictures of the ostriches, goats, bulls, pigs and more.
“The Animal Show” featured four different trained animals. They did tricks like jump over a pole, spin in a circle and give their trainers high-fives. There was an alpaca, a potbelly pig a baby goat and even the farm family’s dog. The two trainers explained some of their traits and history. We got to pet the dog at the end of the show but not any of the others.
A little humor posted on a restroom facility
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