Sojourner - Traveling with the “Canman”

Harbor below 1800's Russian Fort Ross settlement Van Damm Park Going back to where one grew up is a reflective experience. The Mendocino coast where  rural  grandeur is  unchanging  , cathartic and so relaxing to visit.    My aunt and uncle and their families still live there right where they were raised.   My Aunt Lil and her daughter at her ranch My Uncle Bob  My Italian grandparents and their kids on Little River homestead.  My dad on left and aunt in dress My uncle Bob is the baby in his mom's arms And just an hour inland, is my boyhood town of Ukiah-the same in so many ways with little impetus to grow and change.   The isolation, slow pace, manual labor and ignorance is what drove me to leave. The beauty and summer coolness is what draws me back. 1000 years from now the oceanside and redwoods will likely look the same.  What lessons can we draw? Perhaps to enjoy each precious day of life and don't fret the small stuff...

Want to go back in time and escape into a medieval Italian mountain village?  Try Bormio!  Nestled in the Italian alps near the Swiss border.  Bormio retains some of its medieval heritage with many old buildings.  More tranquillo, at least in the summer.  Winters it is famed for its skiing and dogsledding (site for the 2026 winter Olympics) . The watchtower bells (rung manually on the hour) set the tempo and could be heard far up in the mountains where I was hiking on my first day there.   Food is a mix of Swiss and Italian with a local delicacy being a buckwheat version of polenta called "taragna" served with sautéed fungi (mushrooms).  Another local favorite are fried cheese balls.  Vecchia Combo is a quaint restaurant that has been around a long time.  Mountain biking is ubiquitous and its easy to rent a bike of any variety for a day or weeklong trip.   One day bike trip gave me a little sampling of real mountain biking. I b...

"I know a place where there is no smog and no parking problem and no population explosion... no Cold War and no H-bombs and no television commercials... no Summit Conferences, no Foreign Aid, no hidden taxes - no income tax. I could go back.... Robert Heinlein. "The Glory Road" And in the same vein I know a place - a proverbial land of milk and honey basking in a Mediterranean climate. A place where adventure, incredible vistas, music, friends, camaraderie, gourmet delight and amore await you around every bend.  I will go back... I am American born and bred - 2nd generation from European roots.  Gratefully privy to all the wonderful opportunities the USA offers. Grew up in the mountainous beauty of rural northern California. Educated at a fine university (UC Davis). And for the last 30+ years have lived in Fort Worth, Texas, for many good reasons, the second fastest growing city in the US. Having traveled throughout the US, Europe, Asia, Caribbean, India, South America...

Arona Italy in April remained a ghost of its pre-Covid days. Many shuttered restaurants, some closed  forever, for the survivors only takeout (per asporto) empty streets and a 10 PM curfew. Even the weather was seasonally unsettled with rain  But in May, Arona is returning to life, with the opportunity to sample dishes not seen in the US and again engage in profound conversations too rare an experienza in the US.  Millefoglie con bufala, anchovie e pomo More food photos   I discovered a lovely apartment right on Piazza del Popolo (white building over my left shoulder in foto below-note the ancient castle ruins on the cliffs)  whose vistas are a constant reminder of serenity and antiquity.  I visited the little archeological museum tucked away in the small piazza of Arona. There the history of local inhabitants was traced back to pre stone age times (18th century BC) with remnants of pot...

Grandeur beyond description. Homo Sapiens have been roaming the planet for 170,000 years.  But that is just a "flash in the pan" for this marvel of tectonic movement and water erosion. Will the canyon even be appreciably deeper before humans disappear from earth?  "All we are is dust in the wind" Another reminder to enjoy the day! To that end Flagstaff, Arizona is a surprisingly wonderful central location to experience ancient and modern delights. Just a short flight from DFW and only 30 minutes from snow shoeing, skiing, Sedona hikes in magnificent red rock formations and the newest Kadampa Buddhist temple directed by our dear friend Gen-La Jampa. Wonderful restaurants and music. A cathartic escape tarnished only by tourist trinket "malls" in downtown Sedona. Why do humans need this?

  Thirteenth day of a 14 days solitary in a Tokyo hotel room to comply with Japan quarantine protocol.  My second 2 week quarantine in the last 4 months.  For a number of reasons this one feels harder.  Here is a time-lapse scene from my hotel window over a 24 hour period. Click twice on;  A day in Quarantine   Try to break up day up with emails, telecons, skype conversations, reading, finishing my AI Machine Learning course, guitar, exercise videos, corresponding, movie watching, news surfing.  Many of the same activities I would do when home, yet life's realism fading.  No need to dress, groom or even prepare meals (food shows up in a bag on the door).  That combined with seeing the same world view out the big glass window everyday as though I am watching a TV makes it surreal and creates a flat affect.  Feels like ground hog's day.  What is real and what is just in my mind?     A malaise and lethargy must be r...

  View from hotel room at Milan Malpensa Airport, Italy Back to Italy in December to attempt to complete flying on the last F-35 jet of the year, despite the snowy, foggy weather and resurgence of COVID in Europe.  This deployment was different than others during this COVID year. We stayed sequestered in our Milan Malpensa airport hotel rooms unless at work. All restaurants were closed except for takeout.  The stay was punctuated only with weekend roundtrip commercial flights to Amsterdam and back to comply with Italy's 120 hour stay limit. Our team surprisingly got it done! But "the thrill" is missing without the opportunity to enjoy the la vita bella di Italia.  One bright spot was meeting a brilliant young waiter while dining at the Schiphol Airport Marriot hotel in Amsterdam.  He saw me working on my Stanford Machine Learning homework while waiting for my meal and amazingly recognized the Coursera content as he is planning to take the same course (for fun)....