Rollercoasters and Portland

On Monday, July 18th, Rich, Sarah and I went to Six Flags Discovery Kingom in Vallejo. It is full of rollercoasters. Rich and Sarah rode on all of the major ones, including Medusa, Kong and the traditional wooden rollercoaster, Roar. I wonder who thinks of these names. I am not the sit down ride around fast, inverted, twisting, etc type so I watched, stomach intact, taking pictures. I did go on SkyScreamer which was like a set of swings that go around a center column and raise up in the air so you get a good view. The park has a bit of a zoo and an aquarium as well.

Tuesday, Sarah and I drove the Subaru north and stayed in Medford, Oregon the first night. The next day we continued with a stop in Eugene to visit one of Sarah's college friends before arriving at Portland. We stayed at Jesse and Rae's apartment.

Thursday was apartment hunting day. Sarah had researched a few places both downtown and near her new job towards Gresham. One of the apartments downtown was really a studio with a kitchenette. This mini kitchen had a half size stove/oven, a sink with drainboard and a bar fridge in a closet with a few shelves. In fact it was so small it was smaller than the galley on Windarra. Needless to say, it was not the first choice. Sarah did find a great one bedroom apartment which is about a mile from her new job, full size kitchen and bath with a living room, dining area with two window seats, one in the bedroom and the other in the dining area. If all goes well and we expect it will, she will be able to move in at the end of the month.

Thursday evening after dinner, Jesse and Rae showed us pictures from their honeymoon. They flew from Los Angeles to Basel, Switzerland for a few nights before taking the train to Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre and back to Basel. The photos were fun especially of the hikes between the towns in Cinque Terre.

Friday Sarah dropped off her application for the apartment, made a quick stop at Costco and they dropped me off at the airport for my flight back to Oakland. With relative ease, I was able to give off the plane, take the shuttle from the airport to the BART station, ride BART to MacArthur station, take the Emery-Go-Round bus to Powell Street and met Rich for a short walk back to Windarra. We are now without a car. Soon we will be off the dock.

Catching up on current events

On Monday, July 4th, we (Rich, Sarah and I), stayed on Windarra in the marina. For the past two weeks there have been signs posted about no fireworks or alcohol in Emeryville on July 4th along our street, zero tolerance, no parking and the road will be closed from 5pm to 11pm. So we decided to just stay put. Instead we watched the movie, “Independence Day”, ate hamburgers and then when the movie was over we walked out to see the fireworks over downtown San Francisco and out by the Berkeley pier. It was a very low key holiday celebration.

The next day we washed the boat as it was a bit dusty and dirty. We drove Sarah to the airport so she could catch a flight to Portland, OR for a job interview. In the evening, we had Jenny Wannier and Alec Turnbull over for dinner. Jenny is Rae’s sister and of course you know that if you have been following the blog. Jenny is living in Boulder, Colorado and attending the University of Colorado. Alec was one of Jesse’s groomsmen and he visited us in Australia in 2003 and while we were in French Polynesia as well. Alec is currently living here in San Francisco doing contract work in web site design. Both have done some extensive travelling so we had lots to talk about. We are always on the lookout for potential crew…

Friday, July 8th, we drove into San Francisco for an appointment. On the way we got a call from Sarah that she had a job offer. HOORAY! Now she is looking for an apartment in Portland. A few hours later we got another call from Sarah. Someone had stolen the Honda, our car that she had been using. Boo-Hiss! After we returned to the boat we helped coordinate a police report and notification to the insurance company. Both the police and the insurance person said that often the car is found abandon a few days later and that whoever stole the car was just interested in a joyride. Well, we will see.

Quemores visit Windarra, 6/20-23

After dropping Jesse and Rae at the LA airport, Rich, Sarah and I drove back to Emeryville and Windarra. At the same time, Chris and Kathy Quemore were riding the Coast Starlight north to the Bay Area. At 10:30pm we met them at the train station in Emeryville and brought them home to Windarra.

Tuesday morning we drove up to Napa. Summer had arrived and it was plenty hot. We made a stop at the grocery store for items to fill our picnic basket then on to Castello di Amorosa for a tour and hopefully a chance to get out of the sun and to cool down. After some tasting in the chilled environment of the wine cellar we departed and went to enjoy our picnic. We chose the same spot we had from our previous visit to show Chris and Kathy the view of the valley. A bottle of cool chardonnay from Rutherford Hill topped off the picnic. That evening we watched the movie ‘Bottle Shock’ with Alan Rickman. It brings it home when you have just visited the same location.

Wednesday we took a trip to Sausalito. It was cooler and sitting in the sun was pleasant. After lunch we walked around the town, checking out the shops and the views of San Francisco.

Thursday morning we were up early to catch our tour boat to Alcatraz and Angel Island. Luckily we had booked this on Tuesday as it fills up fast. On the trip over, we caught sight of Oracle’s training catamarans. This sailboat is only 45 feet long. The boats they will race for the America’s Cup will be 72 feet. The black sails are distinctive and the boats are definitely fast.

None of us had been to Alcatraz before so it was fun to walk around. As part of the tour you get an individual audio system which tells you more about the prison, the inmates and what life was like. It must have been hard seeing the city just a short distance away. We boarded a powered catamaran for our trip to Angel Island. The catamaran has solar panels on the roof as well as wind generators to augment the diesel engines. It even has variable frequency generators, similar to the new 787s. Angel Island once served as the Ellis Island on the west coast for immigrants from Asia as well as being a military base. Now it is protected and folks may visit and picnic on the island. There is a nice anchorage with mooring buoys that we hope to visit later in July. We rode a tram around the island for a 1 hour tour. The road around the island afforded some spectacular views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. We were lucky that it was clear and fog free, which is not typical for this time of year. After the ride back we dropped Chris and Kathy at their hotel near the San Francisco airport so they may catch an early flight back to Tennessee.

We have been looking forward to their visit for a long time and we were glad to have this opportunity.

Photos from the Planet

Here are some pictures from Planet Wedding:

The rehearsal at the Rose Garden in Descanso Gardens

One of the tables at the rehearsal dinner at the Athenaeum (clockwise from bottom: Mark Saffman, Nadine Saffman, Gregory Wannier, Nancy Hansmann, Doug Hansmann, Peter Wannier, Kate Wannier, Lenora Wannier, Rich)

Charles Perrin, Rae's cousin, checking out the zip line over the pool

Dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen - Left side of table: Brian, Megan Sego, Nancy Hansmann, Elaine, Madeline Sego, Kathy Quemore, Right side of table: Dan Sego, Chris Quemore, Rich, Doug Hansmann. Lauren Sego is taking the picture.

Jennifer Hawkins, Sarah, Rae, Jenny Wannier, Polly Petkova

Morgan Harris, Alec Turnbull, Jesse, Ryan Bemrose, Michael De Angelo

Jesse escorting Rae to the dance floor, mind the dress

Rich sharing a dance with Sarah

Planet Wedding - There and Back again, June 16-20, 2011

Planet Wedding, June 16-20, 2011

On Thursday, June 16, Rich, Sarah and I drove to Pasadena, California and checked into the Westin, our base on the planet. In the evening we joined the buffet at Louise Wannier (Rae's mother) and Michael Burns (Rae's stepfather) house, almost across the street from Cal Tech. We were joined by Rich's cousin Alyce, her husband Michael Mazzoni and their daughter Amanda's boyfriend, Michael Ryder (no, not the Boston Bruin hockey player) as well as my cousin Bari and her husband Bob Stanley (no, not of the Stanley cup). Others attending included Peter and Lenore Wannier (Rae's father and stepmother), their daughter Kate (Rae's half-sister), Jenny Wannier, Gregory Wannier, Timothy Wannier, Kelly Roberts (Rae's twin sister, older brother, oldest brother and girlfriend respectively), Ruth Saffman (Rae's grandmother, Louise's mother), plus …… It was a fun opportunity to catch-up and meet some of Rae's family we had not met before.

 

Friday morning we joined Chris and Kathy Quemore for a walk around the old section of downtown Pasadena with a stop for lunch. In the afternoon Rich and I stopped by Flintridge Bookstore and Coffee House (www.flintridgebooks.com), owned and operated by Peter and Lenore. Rich and I always love browsing through bookstores and this was no exception. The bookstore also has an Espresso Book Machine that prints, collates, covers and binds a single book in a few minutes. The machine allows readers to obtain any book title, even books that are out of print or print from a PDF file, then prints, binds and trims the reader's selection as a paperback book. We missed watching it operate but we did some examples and we are considering having the website from our previous cruising printed in paperback form.

 

The next activity for Friday was the rehearsal at the Rose Garden in Descanso Gardens (www.descansogardens.org), a short distance from the bookstore. The property where the gardens are located were once claimed for the King of Spain in 1769. The Rose Garden is the site for Jesse and Rae's wedding and the reception will be at the Rose Pavilion adjoining. This is a very popular place and we had to wait for a previous wedding to finish before we could do our rehearsal. We had a chance to practice walking to our places and walking out.

 

In the evening, Rich and I hosted the rehearsal dinner in the Card Room at the Athenaeum (http://athenaeum.caltech.edu/ ) on the Cal Tech campus. The Athenaeum was built in 1930 and the first formal dinner was held in February 1931 and Albert Einstein was one of the guests of honor. It definitely has a wonderful atmosphere. Our 32 guests included the bridal party (4 bridesmaids, 3 of 4 groomsmen, bride and groom, 3 sets of parents of the bride and groom, 2 flower girls) and immediate family, grandmother and a few out of town relatives and guests. The maître de played a chime signaling for everyone to sit down and dinner was served shortly. We were spread across 3 tables, the bride and groom circulated and shared 1 course of the dinner with each table. The food was excellent and everyone seemed to have a good time.

 

Saturday we all converged at Peter and Lenore's house for brunch from 10:30am to 3:00pm. They have a swimming pool in the backyard with a zip line going across it. Since many of the groomsmen and bridesmaids and their significant others as well as Jesse and Rae were staying here, the pool was a busy place. Us 'old folks' watched and enjoyed conversation. The bride and bridesmaids took time out to get manicures.

 

In the evening there was lots of activity. The bachelorette party was a mystery dinner. The bachelor party included a Korean barbeque and other activities I don't want to think about. A group of us had dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen. This included the Segos (Dan, Madeline, Lauren, Megan and Brian), the Hansmanns and the Quemores. After dinner we adjourned to Living Room (aka Westin Hotel bar). We were joined by my cousins Bari and Bob Stanley, Pam Ratner and Joy Johnson. Joy started us on drinking Manhattans and you can imagine where it went from there.

 

Sunday was the big day. Rich dropped me off at Louise's house where the bride had stayed the night and she was joined by the bridesmaids. They were taking turns getting their hair done and then their makeup. Nadine, Rae's cousin, who is training to be a skin specialist in Copenhagen (yes she is fluent in English and Danish) was nice enough to do my makeup as well. Sarah and Nadine did my hair. Rich picked me up around 1pm, then we picked up Timothy (Rae's oldest brother) along with Morgan Harris (Jesse's friend since he was 3 years old), and Alec Turnbull (Morgan, Alec and Jesse were in middle school together). After dressing Rich dropped me off at Descanso gardens so I could help the bride and bridesmaids get ready. There were only two minor crises – the veil was left at Louise's house and had to be retrieved (no problem, plenty of time), the guest books were misplaced and substitutes were obtained.

 

Once everyone was dressed and assembled it was time for pictures with the bride and her family. I volunteered to help organize getting the right folks in each picture with a lot of help from Gregory. Amazingly enough we got through all fifteen permutations. The bride was in good spirits even though she was briefly entangled in a low tree branch and was quickly rescued by her trusty bridesmaids. The bride was hustled off so she would not be seen by the groom. After combination of photographs of the groom, family and groomsmen there was time to relax before the guests arrived.

 

At 5:45pm, the guests were seated, the harpist was playing and the ceremony began. The bride was radiant as she was escorted by her father up the aisle. Jesse looked calm and cool in his tuxedo as he stepped down to meet them. Doug Hansmann did a great job officiating. Rae and Jesse repeated their vows. A few of us were getting a little teary eyed.

 

After the ceremony there were more photographs with the bride, groom, bridal party and families.

 

And then… the reception! The harpist was replaced by a jazz quartet. The dance floor opened and the party began. Unbeknownst to Rich and me, Rae and Jesse had taken dance lessons in Portland a few weeks prior. Jesse was the king of the dance floor putting many to shame. Everyone remarked on it. At one point, the band struck up Hava Nagilla, Rae and Jesse were hoisted up on chairs and we danced circles around them. Both of them clung to their chairs hoping to survive without being dumped on the floor. But survive they did and we all had a good time.

After the cake cutting, bouquet tossing (caught by a flower girl) and garter tossing (caught by Jeryl), it was time for the happy couple to depart. Peter has a vintage Model T which he used to drive the newlyweds to their hotel. Rae and Jesse sat in the rumple seat complete with a 'Just Married' sign on the back. As the Model T did not have dashboard lights, Peter had to use a flashlight to see the speedometer. Upon arriving at the hotel and extricating the pair, Peter was approached by a woman in front of the hotel asking if he would drive her son and his future bride for their wedding in September. Peter graciously declined.

 

Monday morning we picked up Sarah and then the newlyweds. After a quick stop to drop off the wedding dress at Louise's we drove to LAX and dropped Jesse and Rae at the airport.

 

Rich, Sarah and I departed Planet Wedding and drove back to Windarra at Emeryville. It was a weekend to remember and we want to thank everyone who was able to attend for helping us celebrate.

 

By the way, Jesse and Rae have a website on the wedding. Check this in the future for more photos from the wedding (https://sites.google.com/site/wannierjablonskiwedding2011/).

Sarah Graduates!

On Friday, May 20, 2011, Rich and I left Emeryville and drove up to Portland, Oregon via an overnight stop at Medford. On Sunday, we spent some time with Jesse walking about downtown Portland.

Sunday evening, Doug and Nancy Hansmann joined Rich, Jesse, Sarah and I at Papa Hadyn's for a celebratory dinner. Rae was flying back from Montreal for a Bar Mitzvah so she missed the laughter and jocularity that always accompanies a meal when we get together with Doug and Nancy. The meal was excellent and the desserts afterwards were sinful but we all enjoyed every minute and morsel of it.

Monday was Graduation day. We gathered for breakfast at Gray's center. Jesse and Rae joined us and we got our seats for the ceremony. As this was the 97^th commencement of Reed College they are practiced with Pacific Northwest weather and all of the ceremony was under a large white tent so everyone was shielded from the intermittent rain. Colin Diver, the president of Reed College, gave the introduction and Pamela M.J. Cox '75, vice president of the World Bank for the Latin America and Caribbean region, gave the address. Following the speeches, the graduates received their diplomas, according to department. Sarah received a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from the department of Mathematics and Natual Sciences.

Several students present Colin Diver with a memento when receiving their diploma. One student gave him a mounted deer's head. We are still not sure what this was signifying. Others presented him with posters, leis, a bottle of vodka, etc. There are two assistants at the graduation that are there just to collect these items. When Sarah received her acceptance letter to Reed in December, 2005, the envelope was contained not only the letter but was filled with confetti. She saved that confetti and when she accepted her diploma, she asked Mr Diver to bend over and she sprinkled a handful of this same confetti over his head. Below is a video clip that Doug took of this event.

After all of the graduates received their diplomas and to the standing ovation of the parents and friends, the recessional proceeded out the tent and the sun began to shine, at least briefly. The faculty lined the pathway and clapped as the graduates walked by. We were able to get a few pictures of Sarah before she went off to congratulate friends and we adjourned to the nibbles and champagne tent.

We are proud of Sarah and her accomplishment. She is not sure where her next path will take her but we are looking forward to her joining us on Windarra for at least part of the summer.

Celebrating and Wine Tasting in Napa

On April 29, our friends, Dan and Madeline Sego, flew down to visit us for a long weekend. On Saturday morning we drove out to Napa to check out the winery scene.

Our first stop was a tasting at Mumm's (http://www.mummnapa.com/). The weather was sunny and warm so we sat outside on the patio, sipping 3 samples of bubbly and nibbling on nuts, dried fruits and crackers while looking over the vineyards.

Our next stop was Silver Oak Winery, where life is a Cabernet, near Rutherford (http://www.silveroak.com/ ). I played designated driver while Rich, Dan and Madeline tasted various red wines. We watched minibuses and limousines deliver and pickup groups for wine tasting and posing next to the statues on the grounds near the tasting room.

This strenuous activity required a late afternoon nap at the hotel and an even later dinner in downtown Napa.

Sunday morning we drove to Castello di Amorosa winery (http://www.castellodiamorosa.com/). The castle is 14^th century Tuscan style with 107 rooms and winery. There is even a small chapel, Saint Catherine of Siena, where they have Latin Mass on Sunday morning at 8:30am. (We passed on this experience) The winery specializes in Italian style wines. After a self-guided tour of the castle we went to the tasting room. Dan and Madeline selected wines for a case to be sent back to Seattle, plus 2 bottles and we were ready for our picnic.

We drove across to Rutherford Hill Winery and a small picnic area with a beautiful view of the Napa Valley. Wine, cheese, salami, fruit, bruschetta, bread and crackers made up the picnic as we celebrated both Dan and Madeline's anniversary (30 years and growing strong) and Rich's birthday (65 years and growing stronger). Cheers!

Monday morning we drove through San Francisco for a walk across the Golden Gate Bridge and back. Unfortunately the clouds and wind were coming in and it was a might chilly. We had lunch in Sausalito to recover those calories we lost during the walk!

In the afternoon we dropped the Segos at Oakland Airport for their flight back to Seattle.

Friday, May 6, was our 27th anniversay. To celebrate we drove to Carmel for lunch and some sightseeing. After lunch at Merlot's, we took the 17-mile drive around the Pebble Beach area. The views were gorgeous. We continued to Monterey and checked out the marina as it has been 10 years since we were here last. We plan to stop here again some time this summer on our way south.