We got home late and happy last night.. and slept late-ish.. We packed up the sweet  airbnb and headed back over to Rafe’s and Laurence’s for a big breakfast meetup. Rafes sister Rima came up from Carmel.. and sophies choral friends  all showed up and we all invaded the kitchen one more time.. !

I’m so glad we had this time here with Rafe.. He is one of my oldest and dearest friends.. over the course of the last few days, Rafe’s been up and around.. he even took some walks around the block . He’s doing so much better ! 

We all said our good byes .. and diane and I hit the road..

Our flight to San diego was quick and uneventful. by the time we got in to San Diego, it was a late sunday afternoon.. .. We decided to spend the remaining daylight walking around balboa park.. it”s a huge park loaded with museums..  .. everything was closed by then.. so there  were very few people around.. which made it a great time to explore !

From there we headed down tot eh Old Town section to seek out soem dinner.. We foudn a fun Mexican place with outdoor seating 

After dinner we took a stroll around the old town.. touristy but still very nice !

It qas gettign dark.. so we hopped. back in the car and headed 30 minutes nnrth to Rancho Santa Fe where our Airbnb was.   On the way we stopped at a Trader Joes for supplies (coffeee, etc0> I went next door to the Rite Aid to find a few tools for my class.. What I found was a store with mostly empty shelves.. Whats up with Rite Aid ? 

We got to our lovely Airbnb about 9ish (I think). We were in this samep place last year.. its a beitiful apartment about the garage of a gorgeous house on 2 acres. The land is beutifully garndednd wotj trails, fruito trees, a small ppool, a pagoda.. So many cool little corners with small fun things to find.. A chicken coop, a childs tea set on a small table, cool small statures. Its a beautiful place

Happy to be settled and nervously excited abotu the class I’m teaching tomorrow !
nite all nite sam
-me

We took another great hike today with laurence up windy hill. THis one want as long.. but just as beautiful

then we headed back to Rafe and Laurence’s   for a mega feast.. We had planned to cook dinner . It started with us just cooking for us.. then Rafe and Laurence’s daughter Sabine was bringing over some friends from school to make dinner and hamantaschen !.. Then their other daughter Sophie told us she was going to cook for her whole choral group for their morning practice 

it turned into a crazy fun mix of scampi, hamantaschen 3 milk cake, salad and burnt cheesecake. 

Then diane brought out her basque cheesecake !

What an amazing day !

nite all, nite sam
-me

We woke up early and headed to Rafe and Laurence’s… parked the car and headed up tofast  hike ‘the dish.. Its a 3ish mile walk up soem beutiful rolling hills surrounding the stanford radio telescope.. Ive run and walked this so many times over the years.. so nice to be able to hike  it with diane. 

On the way down we ran into two aggessinve male turkeys.., they wee gaurding their flock that were just off the road.. every time we tried to pass they spread their tails and staryed gogblling.. it was so freaky.. we had to climb up the hill a bit to get aroudn them

We heade back to the airbnb ro clean aup a bit. then headed out to meet our friend shannon and her kid zoe. Shannon and her husband aaron live here in palo alto. Shannon’s parents are our good freinds Kate and steve we’ve known since grad school.   Aaron had to work.. but we agreed to meet shannon and zoe at the zoe near our house. One the way there we stopped at the smal;l but great palo alto tech art museum..  Great stuff !

we finished the museum just in time to cross the street to the zoo.. shannon and zoe showed up a couple of minutes later. . It was a perfect place to meet ! Zoe is gettign so biog.. she just turned 2 !

from there we headed back over to rafes and Laurances.. and spent the rest of the day hangong out , talkign, eating.. and laughing.. so great to have  this time together. 

nite all. nite sam
-me

Diane and I woke up early and went for a short run to explore our neighborhood.. Such a cute place.. we’re a short walk between two two parks.. There’s a very cool little zoo and science museum. 

we found a red bull bottle .. which always is like a wink from Sam

Around 10 we drove out to sunnyvale to pick up Laurance (aka Lolo)  at the honda dealership where her car was getting  some work. 
The three of us headed up to black mountain just outside of sunnyvale. 
We ended up taking a beautiful 13 mile  hike up and back to the top of black moutnain where you could see the pacific ocean !

It was great getting the time  with Laurence.. ! We’re very compatible hikers.. same speed.. !

 

!3 miles felt soooo good . Wew went back to Rafes and Laurnces and had a great dinner\. We spent hours hanging out and talking..

we had so much fun talkign about old times and old friends. 
We talked lots abotu his parents.. they were such great peope.. I miss them

so glad to see him doign so well. 
More hanging out tomorrow !

nite all. nite sam 
-me