Neil likes hanging out with his dad at comic book conventions; and Kelly wanted to stay at the hotel, mostly (I think) because it had a heated pool we liked playing in. But Peter discouraged us from driving in to the show on Saturday, and recommended we take in one of the very many other…
I Hate LA
I’ve lived in northern California long enough now to instinctively dread and dislike LA. It’s a rather odd aspect of northern Californians, the automatic dislike for their own state’s largest city. In contrast, Angelenos will express their love for San Francisco and its beauty if the subject ever comes up. In fact, I’m not even…
Gearhead Fry’s
After Peter set up for Wizard World LA last weekend, he realized he was missing a few cables. I hate LA, but at least it’s civilized enough to have Fry’s, because Peter’s unhappy if he has to go anywhere else for his technology needs. And this time, for once, I was driving, because now I…
Camping at Sunset Beach
Neil’s cub scout troop had a family camp out at Sunset Beach on March 8th, and of course we went. Kelly loves camping, and she loves the beach, and combining the two was like a dream come true for her. Neil could hang out with other boys and do boy stuff. Me, I got to…
Stowe Lake By Boat
The Saturday I got back from Germany, I took Neil and Kelly to the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. Their Saturday children’s art activity was focused on tromp l’oeil, and Neil just loves that art form. He has tromp l’oeil books and his art last summer was making tromp l’oeil projects. After a…
The Museum of Communication
While I had some time in Frankfurt, I wanted to see the Museum of Communication. I’m pretty sure I visited it once as a child, though I just remembered it as the telephone museum. It’s so much more: it’s all about how people have communicated with one another at a distance since the earliest times….
Frankfurt
As I was heading out of the Frankfurt train station, my big city instincts fully ablaze, I was approached by a young man with a thick Bavarian accent and a sob story about needing just 30 euros or so to get home. I told him (in German) that I was foreign and didn’t understand him….
Wiesbaden
I’d planned to spend my last night in Germany in Wiesbaden, rather than in Frankfurt, because my tour book made Frankfurt sound kind of dangerous and dull. But instead, I was surprised how awful Wiesbaden seemed to be on my brief trip into it. It was almost like Fate was steering me away from it….
(Long) Live (God) Vegan
While I was biking along the Rhein River, I saw this carved on the banks: I swear to you, my German’s pretty good, but I seriously did not understand it. I thought the first word was missing by some accident, and it said “Long Live Vegan!” What an odd message, I thought. Does someone have…
Biking Bacharach and Beyond
I’d mentioned my plans to travel down the Rhein River while I was chatting with some Colognials at the Dom Forum. I was mildly confused when they kept referring to each place along the river as a “bend” not a village, but as I rode the train along the Rhein River from Koblenz to Bacharach,…