When you next head to Northern California and want a wine tasting day, the options are enormous: you can jump the Napa Wine Train for lunch and stops at local vineyards near the tracks; ride your bike on a car free trail up to the charming town of Yountville with stops for tasting en route or on the Alexander Valley backroads; and, drive to Hess and other exceptional wineries in the Valley. Now you can also stop at Cornerstone in Sonoma to sip and purchase your gourmet picnic supplies, then dash across the street to the charming gardens at the Cline Winery. Our friends with superior palates LOVED the Cline Zinfandel 2013 from their Big Break Vineyard.

Sunset Magazine just sold off their historic gardens in Menlo Park, now densely surrounded by high tech companies, investing instead in the large, central portion of a huge wine/restaurant/farmers’ market/test kitchen and gardens/high end retail outlet…complete with diverse ethnic food trucks and concert stages.

Many creative ideas for developing your garden and lots of free tastings of some really yummy wines, kept us pleasantly strolling, except for stops to learn from visiting chefs and garden experts. We hoped to catch the chef wife of our Golden State Warrior MVP Stef Curry in the test kitchen below, but she wasn’t scheduled when we were there. Go Warriors!

Instead we caught the very relaxed, young and gorgeous Chef Ny (Nyesha Arrington, Top Chef on Bravo) chilling with some tunes right before her cooking demo. She has also been selected in the “30 under 30” list recognizing young “Rising Star” chefs. Her restaurant in Los Angeles, LEONA, serves, “Progressive California Cuisine”. That likely means, with both Korean and African American grandparents, she gets to borrow from all ethnic traditions, use locally sourced fresh and diverse ingredients, and follow…her own palate and curiosity.

Another of the fun attractions was four shiny Airstream trailers finished with expected 1950’s post-modern interiors…but high tech materials and hardware to hide every gadget you could want on your road trip, including radiant heated floors. I asked the designers what they invested AFTER the purchase of the trailer, I did not get a straight answer but it seemed as he outlined some specific project costs it had to exceed $200,000..but only because that is “what the client wanted.” It only needed Lucille Ball in her frilly apron to rock it!  It made our 19 ft. Dodge Sprinter/Mercedes Benz Diesel look like Hillbilly Haven by comparison. Oh well, we will just have to go drown our sorrows at the Tequila Tasting in 10 minutes…

 

We passed lots of legal recreational marijuana dispensaries on the way up to Rocky Mountain National Park. The business names were fun:  “Bud Depot”, “Ganja Gourmet”, “House of Kush”, and my personal favorites… “Higher Education”, and “Let Us Be Blunt”. However, our title is actually referring to the John Denver, “Get high on being a country lad singing folk songs in the mountains”,  kind of high. [Full disclosure…the last two dispensary references are made up…I just couldn’t help myself…]

Within days of Steven’s return from 2 months in Southeast Asia, I left for a pre-planned almost bi-annual, “Gals Only” hiking trip. Driving into the Colorado Rockies from Denver, a late season storm was brewing, leaving a clean carpet of snow overnight (photo below from our cabin).

That fit our plan to hike at a lower elevation the first day, to get used to the altitude and see some Colorado wildflowers and waterfalls, in this case the Cow Creek Trail below Bumpy Ridge. Although quite pretty in the Springtime melt, we could have been in the California Sierras for the terrain at that elevation. Each day thereafter it felt more like the Colorado Rockies as we set out on higher and higher elevation hikes, donning snowshoes to hike to Victoria Falls and Bear Lake on our 2nd day, and Chain of Lakes (photo below at iced over Emerald Lake) on our 3rd day.

Our highest elevation hike was surprisingly completed without snowshoes, and ended at 11,617 ft on our 4th day. We had to stop 1/4 mile short of the summit, as the wind exposure made conditions too icy, and slippery to proceed. The RMNP staff has cleared the entire Trail Ridge Road at that elevation, but the blowing snow requires daily re-plowing. It is still quite wintery at this elevation in spite of the intention to open the road before the late May, Memorial Day weekend approaching in two weeks. The road is great for hikers however, thanks to the ongoing snow plowing and car free road for two more weeks.

We played Bananagrams and card games, and made gourmet meals at night in our comfy cabin at YMCA of the Rockies near Estes Park; the resort abuts the National Park, providing great views of Long’s Peak (below), one of Colorado’s 53 peaks over 14,000 ft. Karen and I took special pleasure looking at it, recalling our climb to the summit in 1991. It requires a 3 AM start as all hikers must be off the summit by noon, due to the high risk of lightning strikes from the predictable afternoon storms in the Rocky Mountains.

This year we were all happy to be moving at a slower pace with time for lunchtime naps on warm granite…

…lots of elk with new furry antlers wandering in town and beyond…

..and lots of time on the trail to catch up on our lives in the last 2 years (left to right: Nancy, Karen, Sally).

We three old pals feel so lucky to have sufficient time, financial resources, and good health to celebrate old age and old friendships together once more on the trail. The only thing we just missed by trying to arrive closer to the start of Summer is the annual town fundraiser, The Rubber Ducky Race in the Big Thompson River flowing through the park. Thanks to Marianne, this photo shows the dumping of 7,000 sponsored ducks at the start of the race. The little town of Estes Park really knows how to have a good time!

On to the next island, this one uniquely Hindu, on our “Java & Bali: Indonesia’s Mystical Islands”, tour by Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT). An hour flight from Java, Bali welcomes tourists with a thoroughly modern airport in the capital city of Denpasar, yet sits very close to villages, rice paddies, and dense forests rich in cultural traditions, like gamelan orchestras, intricate costuming and make-up, dramatically choreographed dance, and shadow puppet theatre.  The locals are quick to draw you into their practices.

Ubud, in the Central Highlands is famous as an arts and crafts hub with many workshops and galleries in town and nearby villages designed to teach the details of these beautiful arts.  On a luxury tour during very high heat, we appreciated our boutique hotel with outdoor swimming pools for cooling off!

Early in the morning we crossed the very calm lake Batur in small boats arriving 1/2 hour later at the remote and isolated traditional Bali village of Trunyan. Squeezed tightly between the lake and the outer rim of Batur, an almighty ancient Kintamani volcano, the views were outstanding in every direction.  The Trunyanese lead a conservative, pre-Hindu way of life with ancient, neolithic customs and a very definite avoidance of outside influences (photo below is credited to Lee Makela).

Later, our boats took us further up the shore to the local cemetery where the Trunyanese custom is to lay out the deceased in bamboo cages to decompose; strangely there is no stench.  A macabre collection of skulls and bones were on the stone platform and in the surrounding areas. Perhaps the strong perfumed scents from a nearby enormous Taru Menyan tree was masking the scent of decomposing bodies?

Walking distance from our Ubud hotel is the famed Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, a world of shadow and dense forest with hundreds of cheeky monkeys. Keep hold of your dark glasses!  (Long-Tailed Macaque – above roaming wild and free). The magnificent forest also contains many temples sacred to the Balinese and essential to maintaining a spiritual connection between nature and people.  Below is a colossal Banyon Tree attempting to engulf the ancient Dragon Bridge and even tourists crossing the gorge.

The next day, we visited Lake Bratan, to explore the famous Ulun Danu Bratan Temple complex.  So elegant, you can see why this temple is depicted on the 50,000-rupiah banknote.

On the northwestern coast we stayed at a cozy beach hotel that gave us an opportunity to experience small village life the following day; up the hill at the Tiga Wasa Village set on lush hilly farmland, we visited the local village school where many young children were actively learning; there we participated in a class with giggly children learning math.  It was quite refreshing to see the local government and the OAT’s charity arm, Grand Circle Foundation, working together to enhance the students’ quality of life with the installation of a new fresh water system and a new library to ensure healthy and intellectually challenging futures for these bright young scholars.

Below is Tegallalang Rice Terraces, famous for its undulating beauty:

Our final hotel stay was in Sanur, located by a beach near Denpasar in southeast Bali. The Balinese revere water as a symbol of life and purification; we visited a famous holy water temple, Tirta Sudamala, deep in grove of upland trees in the center of Bebalang Village, to tickle our spiritual side and purify mind, body and soul.

I must admit that I felt somewhat enlightened as I walked inside, surrounded by the greens of the jungle and the growing moss on the temple stones. Chants and prayers were echoing all around me, mixing with the sound of water trickling from the walls (photo below). Wading into these cleansing holy waters was a soothing and cleansing ritual regardless of your religious or spiritual leaning. The water then proceeds down to the village to become the primary source of drinking water, providing internal spiritual cleansing as well.

Our last OAT stop was the Uluwatu Temple, a Balinese sea temple, one of six key temples believed to be Bali’s spiritual pillars; it is renowned for its magnificent location, perched on top of a steep cliff 200 feet above sea level.

The final leg of my very hot and humid two-month Asian travel was a well planned and luxurious cultural tour, “Java & Bali: Indonesia’s Mystical Islands”, with Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT).  A separate blog on Bali will follow. As usual with OAT, the tour was extremely comfortable with amazing meals and accommodations and a thoughtful and generous guide, Manik, educating and herding me and the delightful 10 ladies and 3 gentlemen on our tour.

Java, an Indonesian island, is the most populous island on Earth with over 150 million residents; it is also the most populous Muslim majority country in the world encouraging both conservative and modernist religious practices. Indonesia, situated in Southeast Asia, between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, is the largest island country and contains the most volcanoes in the world. With more than thirteen thousand islands and a total population of over 260 million people, it is the world’s fourth most populous country!  The Indonesian Constitution recognizes 6 religions: Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism.  Today, compared to most places in the world – it’s a harmonious melting pot of diverse communities, religions and cultures.  Furthermore, I can honestly say that the locals that I met here in Indonesia were the nicest people I have ever met.

Our OAT tour first started in Jakarta, the country’s capital, located on the northwest coast of Java; it is the country’s financial, political, and industrial center.

As this was a return trip for me, I ditched my tour group to explore neighborhoods with solo fast-walking.  Heavy traffic with loud honking cars, fleets of motorcycles weaving through traffic like a tapestry with no pattern, and a multitude of suicidal yet calm jaywalkers are daunting to North American pedestrians.  Because of this wonderfully unrehearsed dance of man and machines, it appeared impossible to cross any road, side street and even alleyway – without first telling your family you love them.  However, without many traffic lights, I joined the Jakartan way of life, and dashed and dodged with the best of them.

The key is The Hand.  Don’t underestimate The Hand, it has the power of Moses parting the Red Sea.  I raised out The Hand to the oncoming traffic, puffed up my chest and just started walking. Somehow, these cars of all sizes and motorcycles miraculously deftly swerved around me. Jaywalking, I admit, took guts and skill, but most of all, The Hand.  Without it, motorists will just assume you have a death wish, instead of the drivers’ interpretation of the gesture as a polite way of saying “Excuse me, Kind Sir, I would greatly appreciate it if you didn’t smush me.”

Next, we flew an hour east in Java to Yogyakarta (pronounced ‘Jog-jakarta’ and called ‘Jog-ja’ for short).  It is renowned as a center of education including a world-class university; and classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik, dance, drama, music, poetry and puppet shows. Visiting important archaeological sites like Borobudur, Prambanan, and Sambisari Temples presents an overwhelming amount of sculpture and masonry to teach the history and its ways of life of the area.  We also walked 12km around the active Mount Merapi, visited the local arts and crafts producing neighborhoods, met with a number of kind Indonesian veterans, and dutifully shopped like good Americans at a gorgeous batik production site.

Borobudur (above & below) and Prambanan, are 9th-century Buddhist and Hindu temples, respectively, and UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Centers.  Both were built some 300 years before Angkor Wat in Cambodia.  Also, the close proximity of the two temples tells me that on Java, Buddhism and Hinduism lived peacefully together, or felt no need to destroy the other religious icons when one became more dominant.

The magnificent Borobudur temple is the world’s biggest Buddhist monument, an ancient site widely considered to be one of the world’s seven wonders.  It is built from over two million stone blocks in the form of a massive symmetrical stupa, literally wrapped around a small hill. The nine-level monument is massive; imagine an 11-story building on less than 3 square city blocks. The six layers at the bottom, represent the everyday world; the top three layers represent enlightenment.  At the base layer, there were series of bas-reliefs representing the world dominated by passion and desire, where the good are rewarded by reincarnation as higher forms of life as you ascend, while the evil are punished with a lower life form reincarnation.  There were richly decorated narrative panels (below) carving out a virtual textbook of Buddhist doctrines as well as many aspects of Javanese life 1000 years ago.  Plus some 500+ serene-faced Buddha images staring out from open chambers, as well as inside many latticed stupas on the top three tiers.  Once a year, Borobudur is used for pilgrimage; and today, Borobudur is Indonesia’s single most visited tourist attraction.

At the apex, we watched smoke emerging from the nearby Mount Merapi, the most active volcano in Indonesia that erupted in 2014.

As the largest Hindu temple complex (above) in Southeast Asia, the beautiful and graceful temple of Prambanan is a magnificent spectacle. The height of a 14-story building, the highest Hindu temple in the world is dedicated to Shiva – the destroyer, and the two smaller ones are dedicated to Brahma – the creator, and Wisnhu – the sustainer. More temples nearby are dedicated to the animals (below) who served them.  This temple complex is surrounded by some 200 ‘Guardian Towers’ all crumbled except two, recently restored.

A lifetime opportunity appeared in the form of a scuba dive safari to a World Heritage dive site on a liveaboard ship in the Sulu Sea. Although it was challenging traveling from Bangkok to the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, it was worth it.

First by air, from Bangkok to Manila, the Capital of the Philippines, then to the port city of Puerto Princesa on Palawan Island where the ship awaited. 10-hours away at sea (~93 nautical mi), east to the middle of the Sulu Sea, is the Tubbataha Reefs. Arriving there at the crack of dawn was rewarding and breathtaking.

Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park is Philippine’s first national marine park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the heart of Coral Triangle. It’s recognized as a center of marine biodiversity due to the astonishing density and diversity of the sealife; 75% of the described coral species and 40% of the world’s reef fish are represented here. In sum, lots of gorgeous tropical fish and friendly sharks, manta  rays, and sea turtles and healthy coral life – everywhere!

By law, these dive sites are only available from mid-March to mid-June. It is protected and pristine, one of the best dive sites in the world.

MV Stella Maris Explorer, our liveaboard ship, is a spacious 36 meter pleasure cruise yacht with an open-air top deck – perfect for observing the dramatic sunrises and sunsets.

On this scuba trip, I enjoyed frolicking above and below water with all of the 20 guests aboard: a group of 15 close-knit Israelis (many of them have been diving together for over 10 years), two lovely couples (American and Japanese) and an elderly British East Indian gentleman with over 500 dives under his belt; he was a lovely roommate in a deluxe room with icy AC, a full bath with hot shower (the benefits of a big diesel engine!) and an espresso-maker. Nice! Our Dive Masters, Nori and Bond (below) provided outstanding professional service. They don’t call these liveaboard diving trips, “Float and Bloat” for nothing; the entire staff was attentive and friendly, service  was efficient and top notch, and especially the cook/kitchen staff provided plentiful and tasty food. Excellent job folks!

On most days, we had a maximum of 3 dives and 1 night dive at 12 different sites; the weather was very hot (average 97F) and yet balmy; and sea conditions were mostly at their calmest and clearest ever.

Unfortunately, after the fourth day of diving, I and few others suddenly got quite sick: feverish, hacking up phlegm, and with eye infections. Luckily, we were all well pampered and slept a lot in our beds and up on the open-air top deck. Once back on land, I immediately went to medical professionals and got treated as my generic travel antibiotics were ineffective. I am on the mend.

Although we missed some of the dives due to illness, we were all very pleased to witness another world: amazing sea creatures from gregarious white-tipped sharks and playful mantis rays to tight swarming schools of Giant Trevally, and most amazing of all…. a calm and very large whale shark. Whew!

Today, I am a PADI certified Advanced Open Water Diver and Nitrox certified as well (an air tank with higher oxygen and lower nitrogen content allowing divers more bottom time).

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Sulu Sea, Philippines