June 4, Day 6: DC

June 4, Day 6: DC

I used to think that everything was just being funny but now I don't know. I mean, how can you tell?

I never said most of the things I said.

Pics: THB hard at work at Nats Park (courtesy of Bev), DB hits another art jewelry gallery, Nationals ballpark including DB and Honcho Howard.

We take a hot, steamy walk to Pain Quotidien for breakfast, strolling a gorgeous Betheseda neighborhood. It is clear that a lot of the houses has been given the roid treatment and pumped up. As Bev explains, they are tearing down the old, smaller houses and building big new ones (BIG!) on these big lots, and selling them for around $2 million. That’s what just happened to the house behind them, the house is now in escrow. The lots are so big that even with a big house, there’s plenty of room for a nice yard and distance from neighbors. Breakfast flutes, muffin, berries, café au lait (one, tooooo hot for me), $25.

We decide to repeat some of our trip to DC of 2.5 years ago; unfortunately nothing can be done about repeating the sub-30 degree weather, we are now in the low 90s with high humidity. First stop is Jewelerswerk, our only art jewelry stop of the trip. Bev is making jewelry now, and she and DB are connected on many levels. DB makes a purchase (in the pic, you might be able to see her new necklace).

One anecdote: it’s a small store, and at one point the owner takes a phone call and starts discussing the ups and downs of her daughter’s testing skills in what I can only guess is lower school (the owner is clearly an “old” mom). Besides the call being annoying to listen to, it also makes me realize how great it is to have grown up children and move on to totally different concerns, grown up concerns about jobs, money, partners, kids of their own, and most of which are now theirs to worry about and not mine (DB says moms cannot move on, the ties are too strong…or put another way, dads never get started on the concern path, so don’t have to hop off later!).

In the gallery district, we go to Rice for lunch, a mostly Thai spot, and share larb gai (diced chicken on lettuce leaves), green tea dumplings (great!), and veggie pad thai (excellent), and two Arnold Palmers, $45.

We stop in a few galleries, and then in a little small space chat up a guy who is doing lots of small projects around the country related to the confluence of art and helping foster community and sustainable eating. He’s heard the author of Farm City, Novella Carpenter, talk; her book takes place near us in Oakland (a great read, highly recommended), knows about Outstanding in the Field (not a non-profit!), and small urban gardens (like the one Joel has created out our back window in E-ville).

Back to Bethesda on the Metro (an aged version of Bart), and then out to the ballpark. Lots of traffic, so THB is making Bev and DB crazy about getting there only 1 hour early. Mack is smart, he takes the Metro from work! We arrive, and the tour begins.

We interrupt this blog to announce that the game was NOT rain delayed. It did rain during the game, at Bev and Mack’s house! Somehow, we have fooled the god of thunder (for one day).

The Nationals ballpark: no sponsor! It has 4 levels, a very large first level, a bit of grass in centerfield for the hitters’ background, and a few bronze statues beyond left field. One of the three is DB’s favorite player from the good old days: Frank Honcho Howard, who still holds the career record for homers by a Washington ballplayer (and here I thought it was Tab Hunter).

It’s almost full, the largest crowd since opening night, 33,000 here for fireworks (and anticipating the #1 draft pick, Stephen Strasburg, might be making his major league debut: people have been buying up tickets for the entire homestand. Didn’t happen for us, he starts next week.). I liked Comerica and PNC parks better, though not by much.

We had great seats, bought off Craigslist. We are right behind home plate in the second deck. Cushions built into the seats! Air conditioned concession stand behind us. Damn nice! Speciality food: a soft, chewy, oily, salty pretzel from Noahs; not bad, though pricey at $5.25 each. Kielbasa with kraut, Italian sausage (with everything), two beers (no micro-brews, DB unsuccessfully scoured the stadium for some), and a gratefully found and retrieved Gifford’s ice cream mid-game, total $40.

The game: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, did the game go on and on and on in the heat and humidity. The Reds (the FIRST place Reds, a phrase not heard in many a year) are in town, and the Nats color is red, so it isn’t easy to tell the teams apart. Harang and Livan were their usual throw-a-ton-of-pitches selves, and tons of runners, most of whom did not score. Slowwwwwwww. Many pitching changes, two different times for just one batter.

Two outfield plays made the difference: in the 7th, the Reds leftfielder dropped an easy one and two runs scored as a result. Two batters later, there was a sac fly, and the Nats shortstop got thrown out after the umps conferred and overruled a safe call at third base (needless to say, we still have no idea what happened to get the umps to confer, since they seemed to decide to do so on their own).

The other big play: Micah Owings (great hitting pitcher, now used in relief) hits for himself in a big situation and slaps a liner down the right field line and the Nats right fielder made a great sliding catch to prevent two runs (phew…..we are all praying to the other non-thunder gods to avoid extra innings at all costs).

Game time: Over three and a half longgggg hours, without the Nats batting in the bottom of the ninth. Shades of playoff games or any Yankees – Red Sox matchup.

Finally the game ends, ten minutes to get ready, and a delightful, short, fireworks show, with music playing by local E-ville band, Green Day.

June 3, Day 5: Pittsburgh – Ohiopyle - DC

June 2, Day 5: Pittsburgh – Ohiopyle - DC

In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.

I'm a lucky guy and I'm happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.

Pics: Fallingwater (and upper guest residence) and Kentuck Knob, sculpture from around Kentuck Knob including a piece of the Berlin wall, various road work


Take a tip from Mort and head towards Fallingwater on the way from PNC Park to Nationals Park. Because we put it off too long, we can’t make a tour of the house fit, so we buy a “stroll the grounds” ticket and take pictures. The house was commissioned by the Kaufmanns, who owned a major department store chain in this area (note quote above), when Frank was in his late 60s to early 70s (or so).

Heading south, we go through Ohiopyle, a mecca for kayakers and bikers; even in mid-week, there are a lot of cars parked here. There is a bike trail that runs for 17 miles one way and 11 the other, and lots of people must hop on here.

A very short ride to Kentuck Knob, interrupted by road repair (see pic), reminding us of home. This house is also a FLW design, commissioned when Frank was in his mid-80s and built in the 1950s for the Hagans, owners of a local ice cream company. Mrs. Hagan sold the house to Lord Palumbo, a British Baron, 15 years ago (or so), and he has created a sculpture garden in the meadow below the house.

We tour the house, which is built into the side of a hill just below the “knob” of the hill. The house radiates around a rather small hexagon housing the kitchen area: there is a giant living room, smallish dining area, and three small bedrooms on the east side of the house (to catch the morning light, a FLW trademark we’re told), and a great veranda facing south. The original design was for 1200sq ft, the Hagans negotiated an additional 1000 sq ft, most of which must have ended up in the living room.

We meander around the house and down to the meadow. Much of the sculpture are made by British artists we don’t recognize. However, there is a small Serra (must be a maquette; nothing special) and two Goldsworthy’s, both in his typical style (and made from local stone, as was the house).

Back to Ohiopyle for lunch: chicken sandwich, veggie gyro, lemonades, $20. Of note: the town is undergoing major road work, including right in front of the grill we’re eating at (see pic), another reminder of home.

We drive to Bethesda, just outside of DC, to spend two nights with Bev and Mack, a couple we became friends with when we spent three days together hiking in Patagonia (with Sharry and Alec), staying at the Remota Hotel in Puerto Natales. This is the second time we've stayed with them, the first was 2.5 years ago in January, a very cold January!

Well, what do you know; a thunderstorm arrives in the early evening. Fortunately, it clears up, the skewers go on the grill, and we have a great evening dining on the deck, complete with fire flies (a first for me, at least in my recorded memory).

Friday night is projected to be clear, hot (very hot for us), and the game is followed by fireworks, a bonus!

June 2 - Day 4, Pittsburgh

Day 4: Pittsburgh

An artist is somebody who produces things that people don't need to have.

It ain't the heat, it's the humility.

Breakfast complimentary at the hotel, at least they understand that fresh fruit means something other than oranges and apples, yet also appear to be banana-deficient. We’re back behind the Berlin wall, circa 1975.

Pictures: Yayoi Kusama (aka, polka-dot lady), shoes must be removed before entering (arghhhhhhhhh), DB in Memento-Mori display (note blurriness is due to operator error), and a great pairing of Duchampian art in the Warhol museum and lastly, in homage to Louise Bourgeois who died this week, one of her sculptures in downtown Pittsburgh.

And, we’ve hit the moment you’ve all been waiting for, a visit to the Andy Warhol museum, cleverly placed between the Priory Hotel and PNC Ballpark. Imagine that! And, as some of you clever folks have figured out, half of the quote-sters dynamic duo.

And, this is the bonus round, the major show at the museum is a pairing of Duchamp and Warhol. Unbelievable, the guy that invented almost every major movement in modern art in the 20th century, paired with the guy that merged it with commercialism, totally leveraging off Duchamp as he went his glum, uncheerful way.

The show is called the Twisted Pair, and it turns out they knew each other and so there is lots of memorabilia with two together (there can’t be a lot of art together, Marcel was rather stingy when it came to actually making art).

Two hours and not enough time to absorb it all; the Warhol “interviews” require way more stamina and attentive wakefulness than any human possesses. Walk across one of the 41 bridges into town to have unique sandwich at Au Bon Pain (how can that be? Somehow they have a very good spicy tuna on the menu). Two sandwiches and excellent ice tea to mix with the lemonade: $18.

Book review (repeat): Calvin Tompkins bio of Duchamp. Skip the first chapter (or slog through it) and read a fascinating tale of the guy. Highly recommended!

In the afternoon, we visit the Mattress Factory museum where we get to see some of our Japanese favorites, James Turrell and Yayoi Kusama (“pumpkin” lady from Naoshima) mixed in with other installations including one where the artist built a tunnel from the fourth floor through to the third and then out the wall into thin air outside the museum. The room to the fourth floor tunnel entrance was locked, or we might have a Being John Malkovich accident or two.

The MFM has a second building open, entrance is down the street and in the front room you have to go around a giant blown up orange mouse head, tied down like a circus tent. As you head upstairs, the banisters are really troughs with hot water (we’re told it gets even hotter later in the day) running along so as you hold on your fingertips get wet.

Dinner at 11 on 11th. Part of a chain that runs a number of restaurants in the area. Very good dinners, we order the veggie tasting menu and the fish/meat tasting menu and share. Lots of asparagus in various forms (grilled, with cheese, in pasta), tuna tartare, grilled salmon, lamb with polenta (AND asparagus), and over-the-top desserts of molten chocolate cake and peanut butter swirl ice cream and cookies. One wine pairing and a levenade (cocktail) and glass of sauvignon blanc; with sin tax (extra on alcohol to keep the city from going broke) and tip, $190.

Best news: last night the restaurant had to close at 7:30 because of electrical power problems that set off the sprinklers in the kitchen. Tonight the thunderstorms are delaying the Pirates game for over 2.5 hours (sounds familiar). Thank goodness we didn’t do dinner and baseball in reverse order.

Day 3: Detroit – Toledo - Pittsburgh

Day 3: Detroit – Toledo - Pittsburgh

I am a deeply superficial person.

I wish I had an answer to that because I'm tired of answering that question.

We have another scintillating breakfast, except this time the Sheraton Four Points had (frozen) blueberries as a fruit topping for cheerios. DB opts for English muffin and peanut butter. With coffee, $7.

One addendum to Comerica Park: they had plush individual chair/seats on the lower level just under the overhang, well placed to be both out of the sun and rain. Priceless?

Pictures: Front and back views of the Priory Hotel and toilet in the room, Jun Kaneko bronze head in Toledo, views from and of the ballpark, including a close-up of one of the "racers" between innings.

On the way to Pittsburgh, we stop in Toledo to get a tour of the Glass Pavilion adjunct of the Toledo Art Museum. The Pavilion architects are the same ones that designed the 21st Century Museum in Kanazawa, which of course we had visited in April. The Toledo version has a selection of glass from the last few hundred years and a nice selection of contemporary glass. And, another Kaneko head, this time in bronze, sits at the entrance (see pic).

Our tour guide is a cousin of a walking group friend, and she and her husband have built a glass collection, as well as being very active in the museum. We get a tour of her house, which includes a large, 8 foot Chihuly installation which is quite impressive (and behind glass to protect the work).

Lunch in Toledo, at J Alexander, salads and Arnold Palmers, $40. Then finish the drive to Pittsburgh, with one stop for cookies, a total of around 4 hours 30 minutes from Detroit.

Check in to the Priory Hotel, which seems to be in a poor neighborhood. Well, it is a converted 1888 commune for Benedictine monks and priests. Aside from the quirkiness, best attribute: an easy walk to the PNC ballpark. Not so good: feeling a bit uneasy when walking back after the game.

No trouble finding the park, you can see the light standards from the hotel. We have arranged tickets through the hotel, and it includes a basket of ballpark goodies, and free Pirates hats.

Ballpark overview: a pretty generic “new style” park with the bullpens out in left centerfield, two decks, real bleachers, a view of the city out behind the outfield, lots of room in front of the concession stands. Unlike Detroit, they don’t have a “fancy” section of seats in the shade under the overhang in the lower deck.

We share a Manny’s (Sanguillen) pulled pork sandwich, above average, and the worst cheesesteak ever: no taste, soggy French fries inside, white bread and more of a patty than chopped meat; very good microbrew; something that comes in Swedish Fish flavor, I opt from mango – syrupy sweet almost icee. Total: $30.

Game overview: It’s very pleasant at the park, in the high 70s and not tooooo humid. Former A’s and Cal players dominate the game as Ted Lilly holds Pirates to one run threw 7+ innings and Xavier Nady has 4 hits including a homer. However, Lou leaves Ted in for a batter too many and some guy you’ve never heard of hits a two run homer (his first in the majors) in the bottom of the 8th and the Pirates close it out behind another ex-A, Octavio Dotel. Pirates have won 7 of 8 vs. Cubs this year, and are 15-30 vs. the rest of the league. 11,334 join us for the game, a good percentage disappointed (though not too disappointed, it IS the Cubbies) Cubs fans. Several other people from Priory are here tonight as well, they are part of the Cubbies faithful.

Days 1-2, Detroit

Day 1: E-ville to Detroit















I had a lot of dates but I decided to stay home and dye my eyebrows.

You can observe a lot by just watching.

Pics: Hotel, fitness center (stand-in for THB on the elliptical), the non-souped-up toilet

DB hits the jackpot, gets upgraded to first class on both flights. Afterwards, we agree that I ate better since I had the Braeburn apple, goat cheese and Arizmendi rolls and she got served an airplane meal, and on the second flight she got zero food (45 minutes from Chicago to Detroit, no food OR drink service).

United does auto upgrades, you don’t even have to ask. Guess the million mile clubbers aren’t flying on the Sunday of three day weekends, so us 100k flyers have a shot.

It’s hot here, can’t wait to sit out at the ballpark on a Monday afternoon.

Day 2: E-ville to Detroit












I'm the type who'd be happy not going anywhere as long as I was sure I knew exactly what was happening at the places I wasn't going to.

If people don't want to come out to the ball park, nobody's gonna stop 'em.

Pics: Views from around the park, including DB and sushi-do, two DIFFERENT shots of the scoreboard (ok, same shot taken hours apart), and the infamous Harvey

Up and at ‘em in the fitness center. Two guys show up, plug in a laptop, an proceed to do a workout following some guy on their computer. Weird…sort of like mini-kick boxing stuff. Maybe it got harder after the first 20 minutes!

Breakfast at our spiffy Sheration Four Points: your choice of oranges or apples with that cereal; not even a banana! $6

Off early to the ballpark: I like to find the place, walk around, have time to shop, evaluate the concessions, get ready to score the game, and start taking notes of the new ballpark to enter into the scorecard. Okay, so I misjudged the one: we show up around 11:40, park right next to the park, and then after getting all set, wait out a two hour and forty minute rain delay.

The good news: we see a statue of Hank Greenberg, decide to e-mail it to our friend Harvey. He replies: what section are you sitting in? We reply: 130. We sit in our seats, even though the game is on hold and it is pretty hot, we’re enjoying the light sprinkles. Around 2pm, who shows up: HARVEY!!!!! The one person we send a note to (he lives in Oakland), happens to be in Detroit for a wedding, and has scarfed up the head honcho’s Tigers tickets. He upgrades us (from our very good seats) to third row behind the A’s dugout. How close are we: we can hear the players swearing at the fans that are not-even-loud hecklers!

We eat gyros and fries before the game (DUH! the game doesn't start until 3:45), a micro-brew during the rain delay, and roasted almonds during the game. The regular gyro is decent, chicken just dry without a ton of yogurt sauce. Total: $30

After the game, (well, not exactly after: we leave after 6 hours in the park), we head to Jenny and Arjun’s place for a tour. They have moved from DC to Birmingham, and we get to compare since we visited their DC place a few years ago. Pretty spiffy, lots of green space, big rooms, and just like the old old-style homes (Jenny grew up near us in Oakland and her parents now live around the corner from Harvey…this guy is everywhere!).

Pizza and salad in downtown Birmingham, $30.

Ballpark: The park is typical of the new style, spacious in the concessions, a bit eccentric in the layout of the field, and the fans are very close to the action. Statues in the stands in left centerfield, a carousel and baseball ferris wheel for the kids behind third, a number of displays highlighting teams and players from the past, and lots of places to buy Tigers-branded stuff. I get a Comerica Park t-shirt to add to the collection ($25, cheaper than the Tokyodome tee).

The game: A’s start Trevor Cahill, who seemingly has been on the mound 75% of the games I’ve seen in person the last two years. He mystifies the Tigers, and the A’s play great defense. The Tigers start their top guy, Justin Verlander. I think they delayed the start of the game to avoid getting him in for a few innings and then having to pull him after the delay. He gets off to a slow start and the A’s score 2 runs right off the bat, hold the lead and win 4-1. Verlander is practically unhittable from the 2nd to the 6th inning, yet he and ump (and the Tigers bench) whine about the balls and strikes constantly. Meanwhile, Cahill seems way less impressive and yet he mows down the middle of the Tigers order, and only gives up a run after being removed in the 7th.

A great day at the park, if only 3 hours longer than it should’ve been! DB a real trooper, she hangs on for far longer than necessary. She even outlasts Harvey!