Picante/LHOS

Loud, slightly yuppie, long lines, but some of our favorite mexican food (and best chilaquiles).





Zoe and I went to Lawrence Hall of Science, which like all science museums in the bay area is a little overpriced, but still wonderful. First, there was a giant orange pushy thing:

which consisted of orange pegs that could be pushed to one extreme or the other. Kids were in constant motion pushing the pegs to one side and then running to the other side to push them back. Sometimes teams of kids would arrange themselves on either side for more efficient pushing. The patterns varied from the ever popular hand, to the full body body slam, to subtle lines traced with a finger.

Next: another zoetrope!

And then an excellent set of activites on roller coasters, where you could push balls down tracks

Next, the Zoe Show

And Kaleidezoe

When I was a kid, I went to several classes at the LHOS, and had memories of the huge double stairway that led to the lower level. Hoping that there might be something worth looking at down below, we walked down the stairs and into a lab. They were doing a workshop on walking/drawing machines. The idea is to make a "walker" that moves by an imbalanced motor (a DC motor with an asymmetrical weight attached to it). Then you attach pens, and have it draw as it "walks". Zoe loved it, even if I had to do most of the work. What gave her particular delight was to attach the leads to the motor while I was trying to repair the walker (it fell apart every 10 seconds or so), which would send another piece flying. Then the cycle would repeat, with hysterical Zoe giggles in the background.



From this room, it was on to the room full of animals, where Zoe got to pet a chinchilla,

look at snakes and crabs, and then leave when a busload of kids showed up. Next, we walked down the hall and saw a full sized cast of a T-rex skull. Zoe was starting to flag at this point, so we went upstairs to a display that had a wind tunnel that you could feed various cups, string and paper into, some more orange pushy thing action, and then finally to the Bane Of The Parent: The Museum Store. Here, it turned out that Zoe wanted pretty much everything, but especially a flower printed canteen. However, while in line, she saw a kid playing with a Hoberman Sphere, and it was as if the whole world had descended into night, except for the sphere. She looked at me seriously, put down the canteen, pointed at the sphere and said "That one, daddy". And then beckoned for my hand to bring me to the toy. Who am I to resist that? I looked at a Lawrence cyclotron on the way out. We've come a long way.

Longs

Chloe, my mom and I went to the fabulous Rockridge Long's today to buy flowers and a lemon tree. Zoe chose these

and my mom left the truck lights on, so I had to roll start it. thank goodness for manual transmissions.
Here Zoe is, helping Kenji to plant some flowers on the deck

Xmas!

This was the first Xmas that Zoe could really understand what was going on, and it was weird talking about Santa Claus and cookies and milk again, after all these years. Here is Zoe figuring out that Pere Noel had stopped by:




Shortly after the unwrapping of presents, it was cooking time. A few weeks earlier, my mom had floated the idea of cooking a turkey on her brand new fancy Weber, knowing full well that I will not say no to any grilling project. Unfortunately, it had started raining during the night, so she was now less sanguine about the idea, envisioning a Turkey Disaster. Kenji predicted, with his usual subtlty, that the turkey would be "burnt on the outside, rotten and raw on inside". Happily, he was wrong, and it turned out great: one of the most moist and flavorful turkeys that I have eaten. I was a bit worried about the size of it, since grilling seems to be used for smaller turkeys, and this one was 16 pounds. The medium indirect heating method works very well though. It took four hours and more than half of a bag of mesquite briquettes.


Meanwhile, in the living room:




My Mom's friend Bonnie came over for lunch/dinner, and it was on:




We were all a little worried that Zoe insisted on using her great-grandmother's crystal

but she did not mange to destroy it. It did require frequent refillings, however.

A day to relax (and cook)

Zoe cooked with the parents


AND chloe


Alex kept the beat


Oh, and there was a last minute high speed run to the Paramount for Chloe, Zoe and Gail to see the tail end of the Nutcracker.

Last Day in Las Vegas

Jon had to leave quite early in the morning, and Stephanie

and Christa were going to the airport earlier than us as well, so we went to the Venetian again, in an attempt to get Zoe on one of the gondolas. It turned out to be kind of a hassle (you need to make reservations and buy a ticket at some random place), so we skipped it, walked around for a while and then had lunch.

Alex mysteriously got ahold of a slice of lemon, the taste of which did not meet with his approval







We made it back to the hotel with a few minutes to spare before the airport shuttle showed up (Note to self: try to find a hotel with its own hotel shuttle in the future) and spent an hour driving around the gridlocked strip picking people up from five other hotels. In computer science, there is a famous problem that is called the "Travelling Salesman Problem", which refers to choosing an optimal route between geographically distinct locations. I am pretty sure that we managed to achieve the most un optimal route possible during this voyage. None of it was really the driver's fault: he had a list of people to pick up at specific times, and kept receiving more calls on the radio. Additionally, there was a several foot deep river running through one of the parking garages, which he was reluctant to ford in the van.

At the airport, Kenji and Gail split from us and the two kids, since Kenji needs a wheelchair to get to the plane. Things were a little less well organized here than in OAK, and we did a lot of standing around before it was finally time to take the shoes off our fifteen month old child, etc. etc. Getting two adults and kids through the checkpoint is kind of painful. So anyway, I was midway through the process, when I looked up and saw that Kenji was at the metal detector. He usually causes some kind of stir, so I wasn't really surprised to hear him talking to the TSA people manning the machine in a confused voice. He was talking about his suspenders and starting to stand up. The next thing I knew, the entire line of passengers was getting mooned by Kenji. One of the TSA women shrieked, and Gail looked around confusedly for several seconds before either she or Kenji decided that the show was over and it was time to pull his pants back up. I was a little surprised by it all, and haven't actually seen him expose himself during security before, but events like that are not unusual when traveling with Kenji.

The wrap up: Rain played a big part in our Vegas experience, which is annoying, seeing as the LACK of rain is a big reason why climbers go to vegas in the winter time. However, it was great seeing Jon, Stephanie and Christa, and especially great for them all to have some time bonding with the kids. Happily, Christa would rejoin us in san francisco later in the day.

Venetian

Today, we mobilized everyone to go to Bouchon at the Venetian. It took a lot of effort to wake Zoe, for some reason:

As far as getting people to the Venetian, this presented somewhat of a problem, as we were seven adults and two children (and no car). We decided that the monorail would be a good way to do it, but it turned out to be a bit of a bust: with all the walking, we could probably have just walked to the Venetian (in the rain, but we were used to it at this point). It's also expensive and slow. My recommendation: take a cab! Zoe enjoyed it, though:

We eventually made it to the Venetian, and went to Bouchon via the Grande Canal, of course.

Lunch (we got there too late for breakfast) was very good, but it is probably better for breakfast. Our main complaint was with the wait staff, who could not seem to get any orders straight. One of them even moved the stroller that Alex was in, waking him up in the process. Also, in this haven of Thomas Keller cuisine, I was surprised at the chips that they served. This being Bouchon, when they asked whether we wanted chips, chloe and I both said yes, imagining some kind of "fried in duck fat" extravagance. Unfortunately, the reality of Bouchon Chips turned out to be rather disappointing: a bus boy with a handful of Kettle Chips (and no idea who to give them to).
Zoe decided that Chloe would look better in a habit


Next: a parting of ways to go in various directions.



Kenji, Gail and I went back to the hotel so I could learn how to play craps after wandering around the Grande Canal with Stephanie


Kenji, Gail and I had dinner at Mon Ami Gabi, where my plan was to get something light, but I did not succeed. The food was excellent, as usual. Kenji's "day boat" scallops in particular were excellent. I've seen the "day boat" description several times now, and did not know what it meant. It turns out to refer to the method of cultivation.

Red Rocks

Despite the rain, I woke up early to try to get some morning light at Red Rocks. After my customary lurking in front of the cafe to check email, I headed to the parking lot. Along the way I was passed by three barefoot (Did they start the evening with shoes?) Korean women returning to the hotel in an appalling state of intoxication. Appalling, I say!

I arrived at the Red Rocks turnoff before dawn, so I killed time by wandering around the Red Rocks resort, taking pictures of the massive steel cage that will soon become a new place to lose money. The pictures did not turn out well, though. Next, I drove up the road to Red Rocks, but unfortunately a flash flood had turned the road into a river, complete with river cobbles. Normally I would have just driven through it (Rental car!) but it was fully blocked off by the road guys. One of them had been up guarding the road since the wee hours, but was nice and let me photograph the carnage


I got back in time for breakfast at the Bellagio



From there, we took in the massively underwhelming and overpriced art Gallery with Jon and Zoe.

Next, Jon and I somewhat foolishly decided to go to Fry's. This involved waiting a long time for the express bus, and then discovering that Las Vegas is really not very well set up for pedestrians -- particularly during heavy rain. The bus let us off at a small stretch of sidewalk, which we walked to the end of, and then found ourselves walking through what looked like railroad track ballast. We were unable to find another sidewalk (or corsswalk) for what seemed like a long time, but there was enough stopped-dead traffic that we were able to cross at some speed bumps without getting run over. Once we arrived at Fry's, I found a 2TB drive for about $100, which should be pretty useful in corralling all these 35 mb raw files from the Pentax. They did not have what we had come looking for, however (A present for Sue which I will not reveal). Once out of Fry's, we were in the rain (again), and quickly ran out of sidewalk (again). This time, there were no rocks, but a wide swampy field which we cut through. We eventually made it to a crosswalk, but it was inundated. Faced with the choice between running through traffic and walking up to our ankles in disgusting curb water, we chose the latter. Luckily, it was only for a few steps! Next, it was more mud walking until the sidewalk eventually started again and we found the shelter for the return bus. Unfortunately the term "shelter" is a little generous, and was little more than a place to lean against, and of almost no use against the rain that was now coming in sideways. The bus eventually did show up, but died within a few blocks. The driver advised us to get onto the bus behind us, since this one would not be going any further. We obliged, and were soon on our way again, but an unruly passenger got in an argument with the driver, which stopped the bus for a while. By the time Jon and I finally arrived back at the hotel, we had learned a valuable lesson: avoid public transportation in Las Vegas!


Later that night Chloe and I had a rare dinner away form the kids at Olives, which was excellent: probably the best prime rib I have ever had. Thanks, everyone, for watching the kids, and to Gail and Kenji for funding the outing!!