Mudbaths in Calistoga, Feb. 2011

Here is a better post with lots of pictures
http://travelinsusan.blogspot.com/2013/12/calistoga-mud-baths-2013.html

 My friend DF (Delicate Flower) and I wanted a spa weekend and I just happened to know about a Winter Special deal in Calistoga.  If you don’t live in the Bay area, the town of Calistoga may sound familiar to you, but maybe you aren’t really sure why or where it might be.  It may sound familiar because there is a brand of bubbly water or because it has been a spa town since pretty much forever.  It is conveniently located on the north end of the Napa Valley.

We met up at our resort, Indian Springs, and relaxed in the room for a little.  I love this little resort.  It was started in the 1880’s and expanded in the early 1900’s so it has a quaint feel to it.  The buildings and spaces are larger and you can imagine yourself as a part of high society from back in 1920, or at the resort from Dirty Dancing!  Even though the downtown is small, it is packed with stores and restaurants and there seem to be at least 10 hotels/resorts/spas offering mineral springs mud baths.  The history of the hotel says that even the local Indian tribes came here for the mineral springs and mud.

We head downtown for dinner and get totally distracted by the local bookstore Copperfield’s Books (see how quaint it is, a non-chain local bookstore!) which has a fantastic selection of gardening magazines and books on food and wine that have connections to the area.  We have dinner at Brannan’s Grill-I like that they mix in some vegetables with the giant platter of calamari and they split the salad we are sharing without even asking.  The drinks are well made, dessert was tasty and they have a keyboardist/singer for the evening-just lovely.

We waddle back to the hotel and then over to the pool in cozy bathrobes.  The Olympic sized, mineral spring water-filled pool is one of the best things about Indian Springs.  It is open till midnight so you can float under the stars, it is filled with the hot mineral water right out of the ground so it is toasty and steam rises off the surface, and it is filled with pool noodles and rafts so you don’t even have to hold yourself up.  DF and I are a little OCD so we ‘rescue’ the 50 or so rubber duckies and organize them in phalanxes around the edge of the pool before we leave for the night J 

The next morning is mud bath time!  I know a lot of people think that the idea of a mud bath is gross.  But it is not like mud from a mud puddle, the texture is much more like cornbread batter-you lie on top of a tub full of it and you don’t sink, they actually have to scoop the mud on top of you..  The whole experience goes like this: lay in mud, shower, soak in the tub, sweat in the steam room, and then lie quietly under blankets.  It is completely relaxing.   I almost fell asleep, and am warm through and through.  I am not a fan of winter, even in California it is hard to be warm to the core, but the mud treatment kept me warm for the rest of the day!  I don’t have any other mud baths to compare to, but Indian Springs has some great things going for it.  The buildings are extremely well maintained, but still have a quaint atmosphere and the staff are professional and kind.  If you come here and don’t feel relaxed/pampered/happy there is something seriously wrong with you!

So at this point most people will go wine tasting…but DF and I have a love of the nutty, off the beaten path and quirky so we have different plans (if you are part of this crowd let me recommend American Gods by Neil Gaiman).  Our first stop is the Calmart grocery store in town to pick up a picnic lunch.  The whole store, but especially the deli counter, was way more than I expected for a town this size.  Fancy dessert case, above average sandwiches and salads, fun drinks, fresh bread, and a nice cheese section make for lovely picnic fixings.  Armed with our picnic we head to California’s Old Faithful which is just a few miles up the road.  So everyone has heard of Old Faithful in Yellowstone, but it turns out there are only 2 other geysers in the world to go off on a regular schedule.  One is in New Zealand and one is in Calistoga.  We pay our entrance fee in the gift shop ($10, but only $9 if you have your AAA card-the shop woman was very excited that we had one…) and go out back to the geyser.  It is a small pond with a number of picnic tables around the edges and encircled by giant stands of bamboo and horse tail grass.  There are actually quite a few groups of people eating, taking pictures, or running around.  We pick a table and start to eat as we wait for the geyser to go off as promised every 5-10 minutes.

Sure enough it is only a few minutes and the geysers goes off.  People rush to take photos and video with the geyser in the background, and the kids that were off somewhere come running over, shouting and pointing.  Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not an awe-inspiring display of Nature’s force.  The water shoots up 20 ft high a couple of times and then lower and lower, and there is a little steam around the edges, but that is really it.  I had read some of the reviews on TripAdvisor and many people were disappointed and didn’t think $10 (or even $9) was worth it.  But that made it even more intriguing to me!  I would think that if you have been to Yellowstone, this would be underwhelming and you might skip it, but if you have been to both Yellowstone and New Zealand, you kind of have to visit the California geyser to complete the set!  As this is my first geyser I'm perfectly happy.

Now, you might not think the geyser by itself is worth the $$.  But wait!  They have thought of that and have added in a petting zoo!  They have four-horned sheep, fainting goats, and llamas.  The best part is that they are just around the corner, so that the whole time we are picnicking the animals are randomly and continuously bleating.  For some reason it cracks us up to hear the disembodied bleating while eating, while watching the pond.  And then after eating we go to the petting zoo and it turns out to have quite a few animals complete with 1 and 3-week old lambs.  SQUEE!  Tiny little lambs gamboling about with their tiny little bleats, or simply standing in the hay trough because they are so tiny!! (I doubt I will ever have another chance to use the word gambol…).  We also learn a little bit of useful (?!) information like llamas only spit if they are over-socialized.  How can all that goodness NOT be worth $9?

We head a little south and check out a tiny Pioneer Cemetery just off the road on a hillside.  It is filled with many of the folks who originally started the towns around here.  There are quite a few plots and most of them have markers.  But we do notice that the map has some family plots with no one in them which makes us wonder if they could still be used by those folks today.  As we look around we do see just 2 or 3 markers with dates in 1990’s or 2000’s.  Interesting!

And our final attraction of the day?  The local Petrified Forest.  Again there were quite a few reviews complaining about the price and sadly here I have to agree.  Yes, it is a lovely (short!) walk in the woods and you will view a collection of petrified trees.  And because they are stone trees surrounded by real trees it is a different kind of interesting then the stone trees out in the middle of the desert.  But the other is a national park and this is not for a reason.  And the gift shop does not even have magnets!  

After all that we even had some time to shop the downtown street-it is perfect for an afternoon stroll with pretty much what you would expect to see in a spa town-cute stationary and knick-knacks, interesting antiques/consignment items (used Jimmy Choo shoes?!), and bath/beauty items.

For dinner we have reservations at the fanciest restaurant in town, JoLe (Farm to Table).  Wow.  This is a fantastic dinner.  The staff are readily available but not intrusive, the cocktails are innovative and delicious (almond milk and blackberries!) and the food is soooo tasty.  We have the tasting menu and get to try the butternut squash soup, brussel sprouts, lamb, duck, coconut pie, and banana bread pudding.  

Next morning some lounging about before checking out-we didn’t even get around to playing tennis on the clay courts-that will have to be next time J.  Then head south a few miles and decide to have breakfast in St. Helena.  This is also a cute downtown that we walk up and down while the town is waking up. It is bigger and fancier than Calistoga.  There are restaurants and stationary stores, but also a lot of jewelry stores, fancy chocolate, and real estate offices.  We check out a couple of properties, and there are some crazy opportunities.  Do you want to rent 50 acres with a 5 bedroom house including space for the nanny?  $30,000/month will get you that in upper Napa valley-good to know!  We feast on chorizo breakfast burritos to keep us satisfied for the drive home.  Good bye wine country-so sad to leave-we’ll return as often as we can!

San Francisco Exploratorium

This only counts as a short trip-just up the peninsula for an evening, but it was cool enough to count.  The Exploratorium is a Science Museum...but I had forgotten how quirky and fun it is.  It's not a Natural History museum (check out the California Academy of Sciences).  It's really about the most interesting parts of science and it's all interactive.  The whole museum is filled with demonstration stations for you to play with.  There are no long explanations-they explicitly state that they want people to play in order to discover the science themselves.

My favorites are the demonstrations of human perception, insights into how the brain function.  I've been told that some people hate this section-it freaks them out.  I can totally understand because it turns things that you 'know' upsidedown. One example is a slide show of a street scene that at first viewing looks like the same picture being shown over and over.  Then you think, why is this interesting and either look harder or read the card.  Turns out that each picture is different.  Very different.  They add or remove trees, cars, store fronts etc.  But because there is a blink in between each picture, your brain just glosses over that part and you see the same picture unless you know to look for something to change.  We think we know and trust our brain and here is it tricking us.  Wait a minute, what else is it covering up?  Really, how scary is that?!

Anyway, the whole reason for our visit was an evening devoted to the Science of Cocktails-what a smart, fun idea!  A bunch of specialty spirit makers make cocktails and the museum sets up science stations.  Like what happens if you leave a gummy bear in vodka for a few hours...or a few days.  I won't spoil it for you, go try it yourself :)

48 hours in Las Vegas! (the last 36 hours)

Mornings are not really all that in Vegas but our hotel restaurant is open and actually has quite a few people.  The atmosphere is casual, some people come through to get to the pool, but the food is better than you would expect and reasonably priced.

So what can you do when the sun is up?  Check out the Atomic Testing Museum (within walking distance of the strip if you are energetic) which shows you the history of, well, the United States atomic testing history.  The exhibits are set up in digestible, well organized sections.  There are interactive stations where you can view in-depth video clips, or play a game to determine where we should store our radioactive waste!  They cover the science, the people who ran in the tests, and the culture that sprang up (atomic fireballs anyone?).  I really loved the display of patches given to those who participated in the different missions, and the short movie of an atomic explosion, rumbling seats included.  Did you know that the tests used to be a Las Vegas attraction?  From certain hotels you could see the blasts and they would hold viewing parties-check out the postcards they made out of that!

So now Vegas is starting to get moving and we go back to the strip, Bally's in fact, to see The Price is Right Live show.  Of all the game shows out there this is the only one that I wanted to watch when I stayed home sick as a kid.  I totally remember Plinko, Rice-a-roni (the San Francisco treat!), and golfing with Bob Barker.  This isn't the one on tv, but the format is similar.  You wear price ticket name tags, get called down to contestant row, bid on prizes and play a game if you make it on stage.  The value of the prizes is lower and more people win something because they call up new people to spin the wheel and play the showcase showdown.  You can bring in drinks from the bar and they show best-of clips from the tv show.  Did you know that Vanna White got called down to contestants row?   The best part of the show was that I got called down to contestants row!  And then I overbid by $5-darn.  But I'm kind of glad because the final prize was a new refrigerator and I don't think it would qualify as free shipped luggage....

By now it is late afternoon and people are going to be lining up to get into the Miss America pageant.  It's not that I'm a fan...kind of the opposite...this is an excellent people watching opportunity.  We walk through the shopping mall attached to Planet Hollywood where everyone is waiting in line to get into the auditorium and grab some pizza at a little place that has 'outside' seating.  Pretty much everyone getting in line passes in front of us and we snark.  Wow are there some questionable fashion choices.  So many sparkles, so many pairs of ridiculous shoes, so many 2-hour hair-dos.   The most memorable fashion statement was the guy with the white suit, not tuxedo-like, but with a subtle pattern of white on white, complete with white alligator shoes-he did an amazing job owning his look.  The oddest thing was that of all the gowns/cocktail dresses only one was green.  Is green considered hard to wear?  Note to self, if I ever need a fancy dress, look for green!

On the way out we try the gelato at Sugar, the candy store the hotel is hyping-not bad, but don't make a special trip.  We head to the City Center, a couple new hotels and a mall with somewhat interesting architecture, since none of us has seen it before.  The highlights for me are the Chihuly gallery (the fancy glass flowers on the ceiling of the Bellagio) and the water features outside of Aria.  The fountain in the center of the drive is a mini version of the Bellagio dancing waters without the music, but the river wall that is outside the main doors is unlike anything else in Vegas.  They run water over a vertical bed of pebbles and the sound is intense, blocking out the usual ambient casino noise, yet soothing at the same time.  Since we are close we also check out M&M world where they put their logo on everything you can think of!  Next time I'll try to figure out ahead of time if I need something printed on M&Ms.

We take the free tram over to the Bellagio and walk past the world's largest chocolate fountain.  It's an amazing piece of engineering and art...and draws a crowd of small children staring open-mouthed, asking if they can drink it :).   The Chinese New Years garden is lovely, I've always been impressed with the Bellagio gardeners because they manage to pack so much into a small space.  And finally dinner, we grab the corner table at the piano bar directly across from the lobby.  This is pretty much the ideal spot-the pianist takes requests, the drinks come from my favorite bar, they serve fancy snacks, and it is prime people watching.  For interesting drinks we try a Dark & Stormy (rum and ginger beer), a Manhattan (the best Manhattan we've ever had came from this bar), an extremely well made mojito, and a light refreshing aloe juice cocktail.  Fancy snacks include mushroom bruschetta, jumbo seafood cocktail, beef tartare, and the duck charcuterie plate.  Yum-I love snack plates for dinner!  To top off the evening we see O.  Like the Blue Man Group if you haven't seen it it will be difficult to get a complete picture from a short description.  It is world-class athletes performing variations on a theme with a thin story line running throughout.  It is incredibly beautiful and there is such attention to detail (live music, intricate costumes, audience inclusion).  Of all the Cirque shows this is my favorite and it is only in Vegas because of the special theater.  If you only have time/money for one show, spend it on good seats to O.

On Sunday morning we sleep in and then hit the hotel pool and hot tub.  Nothing super fancy, but it has a nice view of the mountains and we are pretty much alone.  We figure we need to work in a champagne brunch and there happens to be one just down the street at the Flamingo.  They have very pretty grounds in the back, koi ponds, mini rivers, and, of course, flamingos.  The brunch is nice, breakfast-y things on one side (bacon in four different places!) and Asian lunch-y items on the other.  An item on the dessert table that is a big hit with the kids is the cotton candy, but my favorite is a butternut squash ring filled with some sort of sweet butternut custard-I've never seen anything quite like it and it was clearly dessert, even though it was a vegetable.

A final tour of Caesars where we try to guess the nationality of a group by their clothes/shoes/sunglasses...and we'll never know how successful we were, but it was fun to pass the time.  It is usually fun to check out the indoor fountain shows in the mall, but we were at the one with Bacchus and it was completely broken-yikes, they should turn that off rather than leave such a terrible impression. And that is all we had time for on this trip.  A quick cab ride back to the airport and it's bye-bye Vegas...till next time!

48 hours in Las Vegas! (the first 12 hours)

Las Vegas, January 2011

I love opportunistic travel-travel to somewhere because someone else will be there.  We took this trip becuase my cousin Brenda was in Vegas for work, so E-- and I joined her for the weekend-woo hoo!  Now, the only thing about visiting Vegas is that we don't really gamble.  I can play a little slots, but not for long.  I'm too cheap and it doesn't thrill me at all. So what to do?  Turns out there are PLENTY of things to do in Vegas other than gamble, some are even free!

We arrive just before lunch on Friday and meet at our hotel.  I love staying on the strip in the fancy hotels, but am always looking for something different and/or cheaper.  I stumbled across The Platinum which is just a block behind Bally's and is completely non-smoking.  I really liked the peace and quite of being off the strip and the size of the suite was so huge we all had plenty of space to spread out.  Having spread out, we went in search of food and ended up at the buffet at Paris.  All the buffets have too much food so you really can't go wrong unless you want something specific.  The Paris buffet has a crepe station of course, and a wide selection of cheese, so that is lovely, and we end up stuffed-not really a surprise.

We are thinking about getting tickets to the Blue Man Group, which is up at the Venetian, so we head up the strip.  On the way though we get sidetracked-in a good way!  First there is a a photo shoot that we stop to figure out...turns out the Miss America pageant is this weekend.  Huh!  Who knew?  But it adds some possibilities to the weekend.  As we are walking past Bally's we see a Storm Trooper and Superman and Batman and Bumblebee.  For a dollar, you can get your picture taken with one of them. So this is actually pretty entertaining to people watch.  Who passes by without seeing them, who does a double take, and who gets their picture taken.  Bumblebee is clearly the most popular and Batman gets no love at all except if he is invited into the photo with Superman.

Once we are in the Venetian we see the Chinese New Year display.  Generally it is lovely, but there is a 20-foot rabbit that is trying to be realistic with its brown fur and moving parts and it is just a little creepy.  And even though we are still stuffed from the buffet I can't resist the gelatto because they have cinnamon, which I mix with caramel and it is quite nice.  Now we practically have to waddle north to the Wynn.  I haven't been there before and hear they have some fancy water thing.  You can see it if you check out the satellite view on Google Maps.  It is national parks ('forest' and 'waterfall') meets Greece (classical statues) and the light show part of it happens at night, so we will miss that.  But you can sit at one of the outdoor bars and have drinks and feel very relaxed by the sound of rushing waterfalls.  You just have to ignore that you are under the flight path to McCarren and get to hear a plane land, oh, every 5 minutes.  Actually if you are appropriately drunk that is totally possible.

We still have time before the show so we wander over to Treasure Island and get alcoholic slushies-just look out for a brain freeze!  They have some cool stuff on display, a sculpture that is part motorcycle part woman and old carved ivory tusks that are so intricate the carvings had to be done over generations.  Can you imagine seeing your dad carving this tusk knowing that you are going to have to continue working on and you won't be done so you'll have to pass it on to your kids-wow, that is some dedication to the piece!   And now we realize we may as well hang out until the show starts.  Now, it's been a decade since I saw the show and I basically remember there was some sort of pirate battle (duh, it's called Treasure Island).  They have 'sexed' it up...I guess.  The one ship is pirates, the other is sirens (female obviously) and they have a bit of a battle.  That includes singing and dancing and clothes removal.  The only advice I have is if you want to see the guys, stand near the street, if you want to see the gals, stand near the casino.

We make it back to the Venetian and our Blue Man show.  So if you have seen it, you already know.  And if you haven't...it's super hard to explain.  It is part musical, part comedy, part cultural commentary, and all performance art.  I really enjoyed it and the family behind us did too.  Turns out that was a long day, so even though the night is young for Vegas, we head back to our place and crash pretty quickly, and a good thing too because tomorrow will be a busy day!

Pt. Reyes Lighthouse

Even trips close to home counts as an adventure and there are so many great options in the Bay Area.  Point Reyes National Seashore is a really great example of the Northern California coast.  Growing up my image of California came from the tv shows of the time (CHiPS anyone?!) so I thought that all of the coast was warm water and sandy beaches.  Wow, was my move to the Bay Area an eye-opener.  The norm is rocky edges at the base of cliffs where the ocean crashes spectacularly and if you get in you better be wearing a dry suit!

On the Friday after Thanksgiving E-- and I met up with a couple friends and her folks who were visiting from Michigan.  We met at the original Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes Station.  It is a tiny little town that lots of folks love because it is quaint.  That means that it has a a couple of restaurants, a few small stores selling whatnots and some artist studios.  Not actually the type of place I visit a lot because I get bored with that after an hour.  But Point Reyes Station has cheese and that is awesome.  We purchase bread and cheese and head on out.  If you plan ahead though you can get tours of the cheese making process.

To get out to the lighthouse you have to drive the tiny winding roads that pass by historical ranches-huh, who knew that ranches can be historical!  Once out there though it is worth it-the ocean view is amazing.  First we take some time to see it from the top from a couple of different vantage points.  Then we head down to the lighthouse.  They warn you that you will have to walk back up the 300 steps, but that is really no reason to stop you as put in some nice little benches along the way.

The lighthouse itself is interesting and there will be a ranger there to answer questions about the Fresnel lens, the foghorn, etc.  But the amazing thing to think about are the men who ran the lighthouses-what a harsh lifestyle.  They have some neat documentation about the rules and regulations they had to follow.  They were in charge of keeping the light going even in the stormiest weather.  But at least stormy would be interesting-consistency was the most important attribute in a lighthouse keeper.  You can't just take a 'mental health day'.  I'll keep that in mind the next time I feel like whining at work :)

NYC cont.

Monday-we head home later today, but there is still time to get in a few visits.  First is a nostalgia tour of the Columbia University campus where we went to school.  Good spots to visit are St. Paul's chapel, the whispering bench across from the chapel, and the Steps.  On a nice day sitting on the Steps and people watching is one of the best ways to pass the time.  We visit the last nostalgia food stop, Famous Famiglia's pizza.  This was my introduction to pizza bianca-no red sauce and glops of garlic infused ricotta.  I LOVED this stuff as a student.  Plus the counter guys were actual italian guys which was novel to me. They are not as good as I remember, maybe because they became a chain or maybe it is my memory.  Still, it has a nice crisp crust and satisfies the craving for cheese.

Now it is time to do something we never did while we actually lived in the area-visit Grant's tomb!  http://www.nps.gov/gegr/index.htm  It does not take much time, though the building is relatively large for NYC, inside are Grant AND his wife, and a few small exhibits.  I was surprised by how many people were visiting, but if you are in the area it is worth it.

Finally we get our gear and head out.  This time we take the LIRR, just because we can-pretty nice but not really much faster than the subway.  Coincidentally a good friend will be landing about 2 hours before we leave, so we meet up and chat for an hour.  That's it-a reasonable flight and our quick NYC weekend is over :(

NYC Nov 2010 cont.

Sunday morning is clearly for sleeping in.  I generally pack a lot of activity into a small space, but never neglect sleep!  Lack of sleep makes everyone cranky and less fun.  After E-- and I finally get going, the first stop is another nostalgia food stop.  Amir’s falafel-they have a super decadent tahini on the schwarma that we’ve not found elsewhere.  Fortified we head to Brooklyn for the New York Transit museum  http://mta.info/mta/museum/index.html.  We’ve been meaning to go pretty much forever-the subway system is so cool and living in New York it’s a necessity so you come to know about your little piece of it that you take for granted while keeping in the back of your mind that the possibilities are endless.  Anyway, turns out we don’t think we ever really have been to Brooklyn.  I mean we’ve been across the bridge, we’ve been on the Long Island railroad to the beach and of course the airports….but never Brooklyn for its own sake.  Finally we are going there for the museum.  Which is just right-not too small, not too big, not empty, not packed.  There are exhibits on how the subway was built, the history of the ticket system (from paper, to tokens, back to paper), the improvements in turnstiles, the money (this was amazing-the amount of $$ in the system-wow), the trolleys and buses, and of course the subway cars themselves.  And all of it is in an old subway station that still has working controllers.  Probably not a must see on your first visit to New York, but if you ever lived in the city, like trains or transit in general it is worth a stop.

To get back to Manhattan, we walked back over the Brooklyn Bridge.  It is quite a popular attraction for tourists, plus some folks actually use it to get back and forth, so it is busy with people and thus good people watching.  The bridge ends near city hall and our plan is to wander up to China town to catch the subway.  On the way, we stumble across a National Monument that we didn’t even know existed.  It is the African Burial Ground National Monument http://www.nps.gov/afbg/index.htm and it’s quite moving.  It is a tiny little plot of land in Lower Manhattan where burial grounds were discovered during a construction project.  During the 1700’s this area was outside of the city and since Africans weren’t allowed in the cemeteries, they formed their own.  The symbolism is nicely explained in the brochure and you can get more information from the Park guide.

Once we wander through Chinatown, we get on the 6 train heading south.  Which is odd because there is only one stop left and it is City Hall, and we just walked up from there….hmmm.  I’d read online http://jalopnik.com/5684329/how-to-see-new-yorks-secret-city-hall-subway-stop that there is an old stop at the end of the 6 line where the train turns around.  It was designed to be a highlight with beautiful mosaics etc. but because it is on a sharp curve it is not safe.  So at the last stop they ask everyone to get off, but they don’t enforce it, so you can stay in the car, ride past the stop, and be on the Uptown 6 when it stops again.  So we take the short ride, sit put when the canned announcement asks everyone to leave and look over at a father and son who are also sitting put.  We admit to each other that we heard about this online and wanted to check it out.  The doors close and off we go.  It is a short ride, and sure enough, midway through we can see out the right hand side that there is a subway stop.  It is dimly lit so hard to view all the great work that is there, but worth this quick detour to see something usually reserved for the conductor!

And we’re off to Times Square!  The whole reason we are here is to see Pee Wee’s Playhouse on Broadway.  We meet up with our friends and grab a quick dinner at Mars 2112, a space themed restaurant.  Is it good?  Well, it all depends on what you are looking for!  Entertaining?  Yes.  Food?  Decent, a tad pricey (remember that you are paying for atmosphere).  American style?  Most definitely!  I would call a novelty place, almost on par with Casa Bonita.  And finally we get to the show.  It was fantastic!  Now, obviously we are fans of the original.  Which is why we went and it was exactly what I wanted.  Enough of the original to do fan service (the set, the cast, the word of the day) but with current events (including suggestively naughty bits) as well so it is not just something you could have seen on tv.