Fentons

We have started a two-week California/Oregon adventure with our whole family.  To kick if off, we all met at Fentons Creamery in Oakland.  Fentons opened its store on Piedmont Avenue in 1961 and Anna Lee went there when she was at Cal before Jerry.  We both traveled over the bridge from San Francisco to indulge in monstrous portions of ice cream and syrup and whipped cream.  With Harold and Coral, we used to bring our infants in car beds for an inexpensive night out.

Then back in the ‘70s there was a dinner in Roseville.  A friend, noticing that a boring ice cream was on the menu for dessert asked if we remembered Fentons.  Foregoing dessert, we paid the bill and loaded six adults and three children into two cars and drove an hour and a half west

FYI:  In 2009 Fentons was featured in the animated movie Up.

On Saturday night, twelve of us, spanning three generations, gathered to enjoy dinner and wonderful ice cream treats.  Bennett had his first Fentons experience joining Dave and Cheryl.   Cheryl’s high school friend Edie came with her husband and three lovely daughters.  College friend Juliette and her fiance also joined us.

 

The evening was delicious, noisy and very enjoyable..

 

In a couple of days our family heads to Oregon.  More postings later.

Jeff Joins Us

Jeff took the train down from Troy to join us for our last weekend of this trip.  We started with our traditional Dim Sum brunch.  As if we weren’t full enough, we then went to Union Market, an old warehouse now filled with all kinds of food stalls.  Each of us enjoyed collecting various delicacies for a picnic dinner.  The Market is featured in the current issue of Natl. Geog. Traveler.

The picnic was part of an evening jazz concert in a park near where Cheryl and Dave live.  The opening act was geared for children and the performer did an excellent job of engaging the many school-age children in songs with action.  Bennett was an active viewer.  

 One of the reasons Jeff had come down was to participate in a Post Game, some kind of activity we don’t understand that is put on by the Washington Post.  It involved the old Village People’s YMCA song and running to various places near the Mall.  

We opted out and instead went up to the National Portrait Gallery where Bennett spent the afternoon happily stomping in the water installation.

  We bid farewell to Jeff knowing we will all be together again the end of the month.

The weather in DC went from cold to hot to pouring rain to thunderstorm to spring perfection, all this within forty-eight hours and then repeated.  The afternoon before we left was a perfect example, clear and sunny until we got out of the car at the zoo.  Then it poured and the humidity soured but it did not dampen our enjoyable visit to the panda bears and the elephants.

 

The finale of the trip was Bennett riding the National Zoo’s carousel.  His face went from doubt to wonder as the ride began.  He stared with disappointment as the next ride began without him,  but his mommy will be sure he goes on it another time.

Our standard farewell meal in DC is at Spices, an excellent Japanese Restaurant where we are known as Cheryl’s parents.  The food is great and we have our own personal server.  Once home we will prepare for the family invasion including Bennett-proofing our senior residence.

To be continued at the end of the month.

Longwood Gardens

We visited the DuPont Estate of Longwood Gardens last fall and wanted to see it during spring bloom.  While there were less flowers than we expected those we saw were lovely as shown by these peonies.

We also went for the fountains.  Three times a day they shoot up and cascade down presenting a delightful show.

Art takes many forms as even this installation that was made of an assortment of colored snap ties shows.

Plants can also make art as Bennett observed.

 In the Conservatory, where last time we saw a huge mum display, Bennett was entertained by flower and animal water spouts in an area specially designed for children of all ages. 

He even helped brush the dragon’s teeth. 

By the time he was done, he was happily soaked.  Wisely, Cheryl dressed him in swim trunks.

We all worked up a healthy appetite and were eager to again meet up with Bob and Barbara for dinner for a return visit to Victory Brewing Company.  Unlike California where children are not allowed in drinking establishments, this place was filled with families and resounded with clamor.  The beer is very good and as is the food.  We even managed to converse.

The Newseum & Beyond

On our free day in DC, we got everyone off to work and to the sitter, then we walked a 10K Volksmarch through the Embassy District.  Most of the embassies we saw were from the Middle East, except for China, Singapore and Austria.  The embassy of the Kingdom of Brunei had the most interesting design.

Since the walk went through the zoo, we were able to meet Cheryl for lunch.       

The next day we met cousins Jean and Ron at the Newseum.  They had not been there before but we knew the museum and the special Photo Journalism exhibit would interest them.  We had forgotten about school field trips.  The lobby was crammed with students from states all over the East.  The building is huge and once we started viewing, the crowded feeling vanished.  Humor is evident throughout the museum including signs representing actual published headlines that decorate the bathrooms.

The 4D movie (seats shake and things feel like they are crawling on you) gave a good history of investigative reporting and photojournalism.  We also saw a brief film on the Photo Journalism prize winning photos of 2013.   The exhibit of last year’s photos was more disturbing for its immediacy.  The few less newsworthy ones brought welcome smiles to our faces.   What makes for a prize winning photo is set forth in the introduction to the exhibit.

Timing is everything and we were fortunate to attend the museum’s interview with the two Pulitzer Prize winners for 2014.  Both are New York Times photographers. Tyler Hicks was living in Kenya near the Westfield Mall when terrorists attacked.  He repeatedly snuck into the mall to capture photographs during the siege.  Hicks spent four hours in the mall at the start of the five day standoff between the terrorists and the army.  His winning photo is of a mother protecting her children.  The woman later saw the published picture and contacted Hicks to tell him that everyone was safe.

He said the mall was fully stripped of goods by the police during the siege who were there to stop the terrorists

Josh Haner spent a year documenting the recovery of a man who lost both legs at the Boston Marathon bombing.  These photos were touching and intimate.

Both men discussed the background of their images and what it is like to win the Pulitzer Prize.

We were invited to ask questions after the presentation and were able to personally speak to the photographers at the end.  A great end to a great day.