There's Weird, and Then There's Weird

Moving from a wet place in the middle of winter to a warm place in the middle of summer is a bit weird, but it sure beats going from Auckland to Chicago in January! After a week in Menlo Park, a mid-century suburban setting in the middle of Silicon Valley, I can attest that it is distinctly not weird. But it’s a nice enough place, and we’re just a few blocks from Ali's office, the downtown shops & restaurants, and the train to San Francisco – where you can get all the weird you want without even trying.

Some of it is delightfully weird, like the Pride Parade on Sunday. Then there’s sad weird, like seeing the shuttered remains of Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. (in Berkeley, but close enough). On Saturday we popped over to Ridge Winery, a place we haven’t been back to since we first met, fifteen years ago. Ali was a Visiting Scientist at SLAC and living in Palo Alto, and it’s been totally weird to catch glimpses of memory from the one and only time I visited then.

From Ridge we drove south through redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains, then returned via the coastal highway, where we found a farmstand with fresh strawberries and white peaches – yum! That evening we caught up with Ashish, Anjali, and Mira the Monster (her mother’s nickname, not mine!), who is now so big I hardly recognized her.

Ali kept us so busy all weekend that I didn’t even notice the jet lag – until Monday. That morning I got up with him when the alarm went off, but shortly after he left for work I stumbled back to bed and was asleep instantly. That night, of course, I woke up around 3 am, so I wasn’t much use on Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Fortunately by now I’m fully recovered, more or less.

Two nights ago Ali took me to the Empire Tap, his favorite local “pub.” Looks like it used to be a neighborhood tavern, once upon a time. Now it’s a fairly chic sort of restaurant in downtown Palo Alto, but the bar manages to feel like an upscale tavern (if that's possible). Ali hesitated to walk there because, he said, it’s kind of far. Huh? Menlo Park and Palo Alto are right next to each other!

Turns out that while I was in Auckland, Ali’s been hanging out with Saam, a good friend from Wharton who lives two blocks away. Saam grew up in San Diego so, needless to say, he doesn’t walk anywhere.

Tonight we’re going to see “Paprika,” which is playing in a theater around 3-1/2 miles away. I’m planning to walk. On the phone Ali worried again about it being "far," but I pointed out we used to walk farther to the Music Box in Chicago. And to the Havard Exit in Seattle. And that it’s the same distance as the trail at the Stanford Dish – where he took me last week right after I got off the plane. (Which is closed now because of a brush fire earlier this week, something that could never happen in Auckland.)

“But no one walks, this is California.” Talk about weird.

Cheers,
Sandie