We make the most out of the trips to the mainland, so after a Vancouver trip we headed south to Silicon Valley, AKA Los Gatos, Los Altos and the surrounding areas.
It was a clear day in the the valley, and after we passed over the Santa Cruz Mountain's fog we could see forever! Super clear day.
Levi Stadium - NEW- was built for the 49ers while we lived in the area, but this was my first glimpse- as we flew over on our airport approach.
And the middle son Rick is the Varsity basketball coach for Lynbrook - and we flew right over it to see it! - NEW
That gave us a quick tour to remind us HOW DENSE the population and buildings are where we last lived.
And the car rental was a new experience as well.....it was cheaper to rent a TESLA, so we did. But BUDGET just hands you a key card, tells you the spot it's parked and off you go. NO ONE told us how to turn it on, or turn it off, or anything. I drive a 2001 car on Maui, it has a key and buttons and a stick shift. This car had nothing! NOTHING! We had to go to the internet on our phones to figure it out, to search how to run the thing. Way too NEW!
And when we finally got it going it was like driving a golf cart - pull off the "gas" pedal and it brakes on its own. Crazy sensation. Middle son laughed over dinner pantomiming the parody of us and what we must have looked and sounded like as we tried to figure it out. They got a good chuckle- and wished it had been filmed.
Dinner fun and a new Tapas restaurant called Teleferic Barcelona is in Old Town Los Gatos. Food was a delight and very reminiscent of our times in Barcelona, one of my favorite international cities.
Dad John with Justin next to him, and Rick across the table got laughs out of the drink that was served with dry ice in it and it was "breathing" at us. Puffs of vapor kept emerging.
New and Old treat was Southern Kitchen, Los Gatos, where we met up with long time friends
- new because it has new ownership but the food still hits the spot. ( translated as "grits")
New is fun but the old was a delight, like seeing long time friends (hate to call anyone an old friend these days because we are all getting so old...). We had to go to our old favorite haunt Los Altos Grill, where we dined weekly when we lived a few streets away. It was on the "absolutely, yes! we must do this" list!
The menu changed a bit (price$$! OMG) but my old favorite smoked salmon appetizer was still there and just as good as ever! The rotisserie chicken was also a past staple. It was good, but frankly did not measure up this time. I like Chipotle's chicken better...
But the scene as so familiar and so comfortable! Good wine and great company and excellent service.
Our favorite booth was still there at the Los Altos Grill, and we reminisced about old times with our son, Rick.
We missed Wine Country and the San Francisco part of the old memories tour, so we'll just save it for next time! I still have not met my grand cat Ziggy.....here he is spinning some tunes on vinyl...
Fun times with the #california #kids, #oldtimes and #new experiences with a #Tesla, #Levistadium #Vikingstadium #southernkitchen for the #grits and #losaltosgrill for the #smokedsalmon. Next time I'll meet the #cat #ziggy.