We've been in California for 10 days, are now back in San Diego, and will leave later this afternoon on a flight home to Honolulu.  This has been a truly great trip, for I finally got to Paso Robles and drank their Petite Sirah.  Plus we saw a lot of San Diego. Our drive from Paso Robles to first Encinitas, where Linda lives, and, finally, the Marriott Marquis in San Diego.  Goodbye Allegretto Hotel and Paso Robles. After a few miles, a look at how far we had left. San Diego is 346 miles from Paso Robles.  We stopped by at a Subway to fill gas.  My lunch. Linda and her parrot, followed by habitat for three guinea pigs. We had a sushi and beer dinner.  Linda's two sons on the right, with her mother in the middle. Sushi. Back at the Marriott Marquis.  Room 1900 is a suite. Night view. A standard free breakfast in the M Club. Day view, with the Coronado Bridge in the left background. We then spent the evening feasting on pizza, hamburger, french fries and...

But first, those two wars. The Gaza Strip ceasefire is no more .  Israel launched a wave of attacks on Gaza after accusing the Hamas of attacks.  The U.S. State Department  had warned of this happening .  Attitude of President Donald Trump?  To come.   He did say two days ago that he didn't care about a Nobel Peace Prize .  Yes, but.... This is day 1336 of the Russia-Ukraine War. Still ongoing. When Trump met with Zelenskyy last week, he pressed Ukraine to give up territory to Russia. Trump talked to Putin  for two hours on the phone, and they will meet in Budapest this week. The drive from San Diego to Los Angeles on Interstate 5 ( 120 miles ) usually takes 2 hours and 25 minutes.  Then, Los Angeles on I-5 N to CA-46W to Paso Robles ( 205 miles ) about 3 hours and 15 minutes.  Of course, these are in ideal conditions with no stops. We were picked up by Linda in her Lexus at 10AM.  This is a self-driving car.  Kind of scar...

We leave today for San Diego.  Probably will go to the zoo, some rank as  #1 in the world .  Here is another video of  how to visit the zoo .  There is also a hop-on-hop-off trolley system, with a stop at our hotel, the Marriott Marquis. But our primary purpose for this trip is Paso Robles to taste Petite Sirah.  We have relatives in the San Diego area, and four of us will drive from San Diego to Paso Robles, then back a few days later. The cities are 332 miles apart, a drive of 6 hours without stopping.   If you're a fan of this blog, you know by now that my favorite wine is Petite Sirah from Paso Robles.   There is a lot of history going back more than half a century . I tasted a very early version of this wine when it was not yet bottled.  I was spending a summer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the early 70s and knew a colleague whose last name was Concannon.   James Concannon founded the company in 188...

Today is the beginning of summer.  From  Condé Nast:    How Summer  Solstice is Celebrated Around the World : The summer solstice occurs in each hemisphere annually, when one of the earth's poles has maximum tilt toward the sun. The result is the sun reaching its highest position in the sky, causing the longest day of the year. For thousands of years, the solstice has drawn people together for ancient celebrations, from gatherings at Stonehenge to romantic rituals in Belarus . I yesterday featured red wines, and particularly spotlighted Paso Robles and Petite Sirah.  I have one more story that has nothing to do with either, but is relevant because of close proximity and utter fear.  In these drives between Stanford and Oxnard up and down Highway 101 from 1958 to 1962, we also always passed by Atascadero.  Here is located the  Atascadero State Hospital . This all-male maximum-security forensic institution houses mentally ill convicts on its 70...