Randy and Robin's Roving Retirement

Tangier was quite the surprise. A very international city, with a mixture of history and modernism in a multicultural setting. Languages, wow! Arabic and Berber, French and Spanish, some English and assorted other European and African idioms as well. The first step in communicating here is to determine what languages you have in common.

Our Airbnb was just blocks away from Bab Kasbah. Bab means gate, so it is the Kasbah entry gate. We enjoy being in the gritty neighborhood as opposed to the tourist area. Street cats and kittens are everywhere. Some are adorable, yet some are mangy and others appear to be near death. There are some dogs as well and they have ear tags if they have been vaccinated.

The culinary experience has been very exciting. Moroccan mint tea is found everywhere. It has a base of gunpowder tea and is always served hot in a glass with fresh mint leaves and sugar. Tajines are one of the main national dishes and usually consist of chicken or beef with couscous and vegetables in a tajine clay pot.

Pastillas are delicious meat dishes swrapped in a filo type pastry topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Blue Mojito (virgin) at Cafe Hafa and decor of Palais Zahia hotel restaurant.

The supermarkets have beautiful arrays of spices and olives. Many locals purchase their food from small, neighborhood markets and the Medina.

The doors and architecture are unique and captivating. Bab Kasbah (gate to the Kasbah) and a side view of the fortress.

Door from James Bond movie, Spectre (above left).

Plenty of history everywhere you look and panoramic views abound.

View from La Maconda restaurant in the Kasbah

Enjoying mint tea at Gran Cafe de Paris, where a scene from Bourne Ultimatum was filmed.

Yes, we even saw Barbie here. Only 35 Dirhams or $3.50 USD.

We took a wonderful walking tour with Majid on our 14th wedding anniversary. He took us through the winding medina giving us intricate historical and cultural details. We learned about Ibn Battuta, the Moroccan Marco Polo of the 14th century. Majid was once named as the #1 guide in Morocco. He guides members of the US Embassy when they are in town as he speaks multiple languages. We signed up for a 3 hour tour, but we had to ask him to stop after 5 hours as we were worn out. He even bought Robin a rose to celebrate 🌹.

Cafe Baba- Rolling Stones hangout.

Tangier was very unique, different than we expected. The people were warm and welcoming and we felt very safe even in the grittier areas. We learned a lot about the history and culture of Morocco. We don’t plan to return here, but are glad we had this wonderful adventure.

Next… off to Chefchaouen, Morocco

Madrid was a surprise. Initially it was just to be a few hour layover en route to Morocco, but we decided to change our plans and make it a 5 day stopover. We are so glad we did. Madrid is a world class vibrant city, full of museums, art galleries, restaurants & cafes, musicals, palaces, parks and history sights. An extremely efficient Metro system allows for smooth navigation throughout the metropolis.

Plaza Mayor is a large public square full of history. It was the location of torture and executions during the Spanish Inquisition.

Churros and dipping chocolate at Valor

El Retiro Park is a large city park that used to be the President’s garden. (See more pics below.)

We generally take a Hop On Hop Off bus during our first few days in a new city. It gives us a good overview and allows us to add and subtract items from our sightseeing list.

Temple of Debod, a gift from Egypt. Relaxing with morning coffee

There is so much to do in Madrid! The Rastro on Sunday, Europe’s largest flea market is huge and a worthwhile visit. We want to return and take a private tour of the Royal Palace and the Prado Museum. Also, many musicals are playing, Chicago, Mama Mia and Lion King, all in Spanish. We can’t wait to come back and see some of them. We also want to go to the zoo, and Casa Botín, the world’s oldest restaurant for suckling pig- need reservations way in advance.

Next…. off to Tangier, Morocco 🇲🇦

Almada is just across the Tagus River from Lisbon. We initially planned on spending more time in the Algarve, however the rental costs get so high in July and August that we opted for Almada. We are a few blocks from an area called Cacilhas, which is a ferry town. People come over from Lisbon to dine at the streetside cafes and visit the tourist sites on this side. Many people on this side use the ferry to commute to Lisbon. The water taxi ride is only 1.30€ or $1.43 USD. We purchased a Zapping card, which allows you to reload and is valid for the water taxi, the trains, the Metro and the bus. The transportation is very centralized. All the stations are in the same vicinity making the use of multiple forms of transit easily accessible.

Our Airbnb is smaller than the one we had in Lagos, but we have a spectacular view from the 13th floor balcony, which we call our office 😀. There are multiple markets and cafes, all within short walking distance and even a laundromat down the block.

Our office view from the 13th floor balcony overlooking the Tagus River and Lisbon.

Our day and night views (above), our unit marked in red (below).

View from our 13th floor window shows the convenient location. We have stayed in many Airbnb’s, but we lucked out with this location.

🟣 On left- ATM

🤍- bus stop

🔵-pastry shop

💚- garbage drop

🟡- tram- light rail stop

♥️- mini market

🟣 Arrow – street with 35 cafes, pastry shops, and gelato stores- below

Cacilhas, with its oodles of sidewalk cafes with grilled sardines, pizza, pasta, steaks, salads, Indian food and more.

A glorious seawall walk along the river with the April 25 bridge in the background. It was originally the Salazar Bridge, but renamed after the Carnation Revolution in 1974.

The map shows our loop, as we walk Casilhas to the waterfront, then the seawall, take the elevator (above left) back up to town and then down back to home.

We actually found live music in Almada at Cine Incrível where we saw the Samuel Lercher Trio. Samuel was amazing on piano and Bruno Pedroso awesome on drums.

Our local eateries include Restaurarante Marisqueira “Valle do Rio” and Valdo Gatti. Robin loved the mushroom ravioli at Valdo.

Church of Our Lady of the Good Success is just a short walk down the main street in Cascilhas.

Grilled sardines are everywhere and very tasty.

Beautiful beaches at Praia da Caparica, just 6 miles away.

We saw this restaurant owner several times and finally had to stop and tell him he looked like Stanley Tucci. He said ” he’s my twin brother.”

Lam was our favorite waiter. He was always commending us on our passion for life, from dancing, to drinking wine while playing cards, to our kindness to each other. He said that he felt as though we were locals and he told his other customers about us and how “that’s the way it should be.” Once Randy did a few magic tricks Lam was sure that Randy was performing in Lisbon.

Adventure in Cascais

A fortuitous encounter with a fellow American led us to Cascais. We met Kendall on a bench at our train layover in Tunes. We kept in touch and invited him to join us on a food tour to celebrate Robin’s birthday. He was not available, but said he had extra tickets to see the sold out Lionel Ritchie concert in Cascais. We took the water taxi to Lisbon, the train to Cascais and walked to the venue, the Hipódromo Manuel Possolo. A magical night, starting with Filipe Karlsson, a performer Randy enjoyed. Lionel rocked the house with all his best songs and All Night Long for the encore. The concert ran late and we did catch the train at 1am, but would not be able to catch the last water taxi. We hopped off in Belem and caught an Uber to take us over the April 25th Bridge back to Almada, arriving about 3am. Thanks a million to the wonderful kindness of Kendall.

Lisbon Day Trips

Pink Street near the city center

Food Tour with OhMyCod Tours

Our fun group above, minus our guide, Rodrigo. We met under the Arco da Rua Augusta, built to commemorate the city’s reconstruction after the 1755 earthquake.

It was Robin’s birthday and she had a fantastic day. We went to 4 cafes and had 17 tastings including sardines, cod, Mozambican food, chorizo, octopus salad, green wine, Port wine, Ginjinha (sour cherry liquor), and more. At the last stop, the workers sang Happy Birthday in Portuguese, same tune, different lyrics 😀.

Christo Rei

The Christ the King monument here in Almada overlooks Lisbon and the April 25th Bridge. It was inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro and completed in 1959.

Belém (just west of Lisbon)

Belém is near the mouth of the Tagus River, and is at the heart of Portuguese history. It was from here in the 15th century (Portugal’s Age of Discovery) that explorer Vasco da Gama set sail for India. It is also known as the home of the pastel de nata (custard tart), Portugal’s national dessert. Pastéis de Belém uses the original recipe first created by monks in the monastery next door (Jerónimos Monastery).

Jerónimos Monastery- construction begun in 1501 and completed over100 years later.

Monument to the Discoveries was built in 1940 and made permanent in 1960 to mark 500 years since Henry the Navigator’s death. It depicts Henry, Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan and others, 33 in total.

The Belém Tower is a 16th century fortification that served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers. It was competed in 1519 and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Estoril and James Bond

Estoril, pronounced “shto ril” is a short train ride from Lisbon and is just before Cascais. The claim to fame is that Ian Fleming stayed in the Palacio Hotel and visited the neighboring casino in the 1940’s. There he found WWII spies and dignitaries and this prompted him to create James Bond in the 1953 novel, Casino Royale. The 1969 movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, with George Lazenby as Bond, was filmed at the Palácio Hotel and Casino Estoril.

James Bond leaving his Aston Martin in front of the Palácio Hotel

Our view in July 2023

Town of Sintra and the Peña Palace tour

We took a half day tour with Phillip from One Direction Tours. He met us off the water taxi by the Time Out Market and drove us to Sintra. He informed us about the history of the palace, the royalty, the 16th century and 19th century constructions, and more.

(above) a model of the palace and Phillip explaining the history.

Almada turned out to be a serendipitous blessing for us. We will definitely return to this location. The easy access to Lisbon, the public transportation, restaurant choices and entertainment all make for a wonderful lifestyle here. We found a small town feel in a big city.

Where to next? Off to Madrid for a short stay before heading to Tangier, Morocco.

Lagos, pronounced “lah’ goesh” is located in the western part of the Algarve on the Atlantic Ocean. We have been planning on coming here for years as Covid derailed our initial target of July 2020. With a population of 30,000 year round residents, tourists flock here by the thousands in July and August. Most of the tourists are from Europe, although we have met a few from the US.

It’s all about the beaches here. We can walk to most of the Lagos beaches. There is a long sandy beach called Meia Praia which has a great wooden boardwalk, excellent for long walks. Praia do Camilo is quite scenic with over 200 steps down to the bottom and a short cave to walk through. Praia Dona Ana is also beautiful with ample sand, lounge chairs and swimming.

View from the top of Praia do Camilo stairs

Lagos marina

Our neighborhood is just north of the walled city. Right around the corner is a bakery, called Delicias, with wifi access and delicious ham and cheese toasted sandwiches for 3.20€. Next to it is Happy Sumo, a Japanese/Chinese restaurant with wonderful food, friendly staff and decent prices. There are 2 Chinese stores across the street from each other, selling clothes, electronics, craft supplies and any household supplies you need.

Our complex and our view from the hill

Sunset from our balcony and we have a baby seagull on the next roof.

Our favorite convert consisting of bread, olives, crostini and paté, cheese, and butter, at Borsalino.

Old Town Lagos

It is short walk to old Town inside the walled city. Many shops and restaurants as well as historical sites.

The slave market (left) is the oldest known in Europe, dating back to 1444. Entrance to the walled city, central Lagos (right).

Lagos Zoo

Catamaran Ride

We took a 3 hour catamaran ride with our fellow Senior Nomad friends, Jeanne and Phil. Amazing view of the coastal beaches and formations.

Beaches!!!

Dona Ana is a nice swimming beach with minimal stairs to reach the sand. Rooftop restaurants are popular at the top of the stairs.

Praia do Camilo is a very scenic beach. Excessive seaweed makes it not so pleasant for swimming. There is a cave tunnel to a separate section of the beach.

Praia da Luz is a great swimming beach, easy to get to from the parking lot. The community is notorious as the location where Madeleine McCann disappeared from in 2007. We took a lovely morning day trip with Jeanne and Phil.

Sagres

Another fun day trip with Jeanne and Phil, courtesy of their rental car. We drove to Sagres, the SW corner of Portugal and Europe, known as the end of the world.

Albufeira

Robin and I took a day trip, a bus ride to a neighboring town. Then an Uber took us to old town. Different vibe than Lagos, yet lively and scenic.

We were dropped off on a narrow street and wandered through the upper older portion of Albufeira.

Overall, Lagos was awesome. Our Airbnb was probably the nicest, largest, best equipped and most centrally located on our travels. We experienced wonderful weather with a few very hot days. Culinary delights including grilled sardines, swordfish and salmon. Next stop Almada, just across the river from Lisbon, so a 4 hour train ride.

Praça do Comércio

Lisbon is a vibrant, historical city, with so much to explore, eat and drink. We had no expectations upon arriving here and it has been nothing but joyful. The food is amazing and after months in Panama where the selection is limited, we are in food heaven. The Pastel de Bacalhau Codfish Cake with a glass of Port is our new favorite. The Pastel de Nata is an incredible egg custard tart and it appears that in 2009, The Guardian rated it as one of the 50 best things to eat in the world.

After a few days of recovery from Trans Atlantic weariness, we learned the Metro subway system and ventured out. Our own neighborhood was very convenient with a croissant bakery downstairs, numerous restaurants close by, an amazing grocery store, Continente, down the block, as well as the Metro station entrance and the Jardim Mário Soares park. Randy’s Portuguese is improving daily, however the majority of people speak some English, with many completely fluent. Another takeaway is that the cost of living here, groceries, dining, transportation is less than in Panama. Of course, we usually travel and stay outside of the major tourist center where prices are higher. On another note, we haven’t been this cold in a long time. Temperatures drop to 58F (14C) overnight, while In Panama it is more like 74F (23C).

Exploring Lisboa

We took an enjoyable 1 hour city tour in a bus with a video screen.

Walking the Avenida da Liberdade with the Rodeo Drive brand stores and stopping for a drink and a snack in our neighborhood park, Jardim Mário Soares.

Randy with a Pastel da Nata, the custard tart, Robin with a ham and cheese croissant. Yes, we love the food in Portugal.

Bread and pastries everywhere.

A fortuitous meet-up with Karen and David from Ajijic, Mexico. We got together at Lisbon’s Time Out Market (mercado da ribeira).

The market was packed inside, so we ate at a cafe outside and Randy brought his cards.

Praça do Comércio

Santa Justa lift and a Sangria stop.

A sardine store?!

Our typical breakfast at Sam Croissants, 2 ham and cheese croissants , breakfast tea and abatanado coffee, all for about $5 US.

Lisbon Zoo

This was an incredible zoo, with multiple entertaining shows, modern, well maintained habitats and a skyway cable ride. We spent about 5 hours exploring here.

Sumatran tiger

The Enchanted Forest bird show was fun with some unique birds and animals

Wow, there was even a pet cemetery in the corner of the zoo. I thought it was for zoo animals, but no, just dogs and cats.

Riding the zoo cable car skyway about the zoo treetops.

Lisbon Aquarium

The aquarium is very modern and well laid out. Sea otters, sharks, rays, jellyfish, penguins and loads of fish are present throughout the 3 level facility.

Cuttlefish

We found Nemo!

Lisbon was awesome and now we are off to Lagos, Portugal in the Algarve for 5 weeks. After that, we will be returning to the Lisbon area, staying across the river in Almada.

Até logo! (See you later!)

The purpose of this trip was to connect with Debra and Charles and celebrate New Years together. This was important to us as we had to cancel our July visit to Fort Myers, Florida due to my cardiac incident in Seattle. Three weeks in a small Mexican beach town is a very pleasant time, especially when shared with good friends.

Chocolamor was our favorite nearby coffee and breakfast cafe. Randy loved the chai latte with canela (cinnamon). We shared crepes, ham and eggs, BLT’s, carrot cake and more. Bolivar and his family were a pleasure to visit with.

View across the street from our 2nd floor balcony. We actually had about 1800 sq ft.

Dancing salsa in the street with a dog joining us. Good times! (below) Acting crazy.

The beach and the buffet at Chacala were awesome and we made several trips there.

We enjoyed a boat ride to Isla de Coral (Coral Island) for Debra’s birthday.

Thursday Market was always a good time. We found nuts, jewelry, bowls, a bag and a hat.

The view was incredible from Vista Guayabitos overlooking Guayabitos beach.

Pelicans begging for fish and a 7 color canary at Chocolamor.

Sunsets at the malecon were a frequent meeting time to enjoy conversation.

The last supper at Avanti Trattoria for a pleasant farewell before our return to Panama.

Our time with Debra and Charles was absolutely amazing. Robin was able to reconnect with her longest and dearest friend in a way that only 3 weeks in an unstructured environment can provide. I was able to spend quality time with Charles, who is quite a pleasant, charming and intelligent man with a great sense of humor. We can’t wait to meet up with them again, as we traveled so well together. Perhaps Panama or Portugal? Time will tell.

Now we head back to Panama to install new tile on our terraza floor as well as complete a few other small projects. It will be great to connect with friends and fellow expats in Playa Blanca.

Next travel adventure: in May we head to Portugal- starting in Lisbon for a week and then to Lagos in the Algarve. We are still selecting our 3rd Portugal location and after that, we are off to Morocco for a month, Madrid for a week, and then to Boston to visit Joe & Amber.

Happy trails!

We made it back to Panama to our new condo in Playa Blanca for 6 weeks. It was time for remodeling, stocking up, meeting new friends and having visitors, Ron and Eva.

Our view from inside and outside

New friends, Sheila and Dave, drove us to Las Bovedas, a restaurant in the Ensenada area. We were joined by more new friends, Melody and Jeanette for a wonderful lunch and walk.

We enjoyed a delightful Thanksgiving at La Esquina and we love Pippop’s ice cream.

Robin loves being back at her beach

Javier and our team of workers removed the tub from the master bathroom (left) and put in beautiful glass block and new tile in both bathrooms. We got a new washing machine, had new toilets installed as well as one ceiling fan in our master bedroom and one on the terrazza. On top of that we had 3 new air conditioners put in. We are almost done now, with the retile of the terrazza being the main project remaining.

A few fun social encounters as Christmas approaches.

Ron and Eva come to Panama

Ron Perkowski and I met sometime in 1961. We didn’t keep in touch much after college, but with Facebook, we reconnected and Ron visited Seattle in the 2010’s. He just became our first visitor to our new condo in Panama. We stayed at the Marriott in Panama City to meet up with Ron and explored Casco Viejo. The next day, we took a Panama Canal tour and then drove to Playa Blanca. Ron got an Airbnb in a neighboring building with our identical floor plan. Eva, his friend from Indonesia flew in a few days later. We found a zoo just a few miles away, took a pleasant day trip to El Valle and enjoyed some lovely meals and happy hours.

El Valle is a beautiful mountain town in the caldera of an extinct volcano.

We wrapped up our visit and headed to Panama City to spend the night before flying off to Mexico! We will land in Puerto Vallarta and then head to La Peñita de Jaltemba for 3 weeks to spend New Years with Debra and Charles.

Ajijic is a lovely lakeside town of about 11,000 people located on the shores of Lake Chapala, the largest lake in Mexico. It is a friendly community, with both locals and expats sharing farmers markets, holiday celebrations and wonderful dining opportunities. The city has many art galleries, yet the true art is displayed in the city itself.

Robin loved the crew at Scantto’s Deli where she had the best potato soup.

Robin and I became close with Benjamin at our local store.

Barn swallow and Snowy Egret

Art of Ajijic

Celebrations & Performances

Mexico loves to celebrate! We were here for all of the Independence Day celebrations (Sept 16th), the Hot Air Balloon Regatta (small balloons) as well as the Day of the Dead. The central Plaza is the hub of all the gatherings with musicians, vendors, food, parades, families and fun. The Lake Chapala Society hosts amazing music performances throughout the year and we made it to several.

Karen and David

Through a serendipitous blessing, we were able to connect with some family we had never met. Karen is the cousin of my brother in law, Charlie Hoehn. She and her husband, David, have lived in Ajijic for 11 years. We toured their beautiful home in the La Floresta area. We went out dancing a few times, as well as dining , saw a musical performance, explored the Andares Mall in Guadalajara, and spent Day of the Dead together. Fun, active people, it was a pleasure to connect. Their dog, Taco, is a very pleasant and well behaved fellow.

Taco

Jocotepec

We took a fun day trip by bus to a neighboring town, Jocotepec. We were joined by new friends, Ted, Maria and Bruce. It has a glorious, scenic malecon with loads of water birds. We ate birria for lunch at the central Plaza.

Monica comes to visit

My OVS high school classmate, Monica, came to visit us. It was a whirlwind 3-4 days of walking, dining and exploring. She may end up living here at some point in the future and this trip helped her get a feel for the area.

Wonderful Food!!!

Guadalajara Zoo

The Zoo is an hour and a half drive from Ajijic, so we took the long cab ride. We spent 5 hours, walking 15,000 + steps. We rode the skyway upon entering to get to the far end of the zoo where there were very few people. Later we rode the safari mobile that took you in with the animals. At the end we rode the train to see the last sections of the Zoo. Our favorite part was feeding the lorakeets.

Tlaquepaque

What a fun adventure, plus I like to say Tlaquepaque ( tah lah key pah key). A suburb of Guadalajara, it has several paseos that are closed to car traffic. Many shops and dining establishments as well as incredible preparations for Day of the Dead.

Spa Termal Tlalocan (Hotel Balneario)

Located down the road in San Juan Cosalá, the thermal spa was incredible. You spend 20 minutes in each of 6 baths. Apple cider vinegar, floral hibiscus, salt and minerals, coffee, oatmeal and the final bath is a rinse after applying mud to your face and body and letting it dry. Then you have aromatherapy inhalation, steam bath with eucalyptus leaves,the cool pool walk thru and ends with the reflexology walk on cobblestones. The large pools are 95F+.

Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead is an incredible holiday with no equal in the US. The Angelito’s (children) are celebrated on Nov 1st and older family members Nov 2nd. The altars are created by family members and can be very intricate. Many leave beers, cokes, meals or cigarettes as favorites for the deceased. On the 1st, Karen and David took us on a tour of Ixtlahuacán de Los Membrillos, a small town nearby. After lunch, we stopped at the orphanage they support and brought some second hand clothes for the kids.

On the 2nd, we went to the Ajijic Plaza and watched the parade and then the candle lighting at the Muro de Los Muertos (wall of the dead).

At the orphanage that Karen and David sponsor

Ajijic will always hold a special place in our hearts. The friendly people, wonderful traditions, excellent food and markets, plus the amazing celebrations make this a must return location. Next time we will fly into Guadalajara and stay for a week to see the zoo and the museums, as well as the historical center (where we will stay the first 4 nights) and then move to Tlaquepaque for the remainder of the week. Then we plan on at least a month in Ajijic Centro this next time. We miss our friends, the dining establishments, the thermal baths and the lovely weather.

San Miguel de Allende is truly an amazing city, a UNESCO World Heritage city as well as Travel and Leisure’s world’s best city in 2017, 2018, and 2021. We thoroughly enjoyed our time here. Cost of living is very low here. Our friend, Caulyne, is renting a 1 BR fully furnished, including utilities for $650 a month. We buy delicious street tacos for $.75 each and most taxi rides are $3.50. There are so many places to eat out here that we won’t even scratch the surface. There are many small markets all along our street, selling fresh tortillas, fruits & veggies, jewelry, crafts and flowers. We have watched parades, visited a piano bar, hiked a botanical garden, ridden horses in the country, drank at rooftop bars, danced salsa, and walked many miles on cobblestone roads in this scenic city.

El Charco del Ingenio (botanical garden)

We took a taxi and walked a beautiful botanical garden full of plants, trees and birds. There were lots of trails as well as structures and information boards. We will return the next time we come back to SMA.

Horseback Ride

We did the combination horseback ride and hot springs. We were picked up by Beth in her Suburban along with a group of 4 from North Carolina. We rode for 2.5 hours with several passes through the river, up the ridge to an overlook. After a brief rest we circled around and down to barn. We dismounted and enjoyed a delicious local lunch. Later Beth drove Robin and I to the Escondido thermal springs where we relaxed after a great ride.

Yes, we thoroughly enjoyed our time here and definitely plan on coming back and staying in the same neighborhood. One month was not enough for us. For now it is off to Ajijic, Mexico for 2 months…

We have been planning our USA visit for quite awhile. Randy’s Ojai Valley School 50th reunion, visiting the Baskins in Fountain Valley, CA, a stop in Vegas (timeshare exchange) and visiting our daughters in Seattle were all on our agenda.

We had a lovely 4 days with the Baskins, enjoying food, conversation, hiking and life. Our first stop after being in Central America for 9 months, we were excited about simple pleasures like Walgreens, Starbucks, Outback Steakhouse and Amazon orders.

Next Stop- Hollywood

Although I grew up in Hollywood, there were a number of tourist attractions I had not visited. We stayed in a shared Airbnb with a friendly couple not far from my childhood home. It was a beautiful neighborhood to walk in the evening, with tall palm trees lining the streets.

Paramount Studio tour was very enjoyable and educational. We got to hold a real Oscar.

The Getty Museum

World famous art is on display at the Getty Museum in Brentwood. Neither one of us had ever been here before. Free admission, just pay for parking.

We also did a Tour of the Stars Homes

Getty Villa

On the way to the LAX Airport, we stopped to tour the Getty Villa,in Malibu. We enjoyed this more than the Getty Center. Beautiful grounds, well kept facility, lots of volunteers and rotating exhibits.

Ojai Valley School Alumni Weekend. (my 50th high school reunion)

We drove to Santa Paula, CA and then made our way to Ojai. Friday night dinner hosted at Suzanne Harvey’s beautiful home. Shared a great meal with long time friends. Saturday we spent the day at upper campus for a lunch and tour. Saturday eve took place at lower campus for cocktails and dinner with more friends.

Vegas and Seattle

Our next stop, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico