Excellent Film "My House in Umbria"

Aloha Everyone,

My House In Umbria, a HBO production has everything one would like to see in a good movie. The locations in Italy are absolutely enchanting. Filmed in Siena and San Casciano, they are Tuscan towns not too far from Florence. The story based on William Trevor's novella has intrigue, romance, suspense and love. Maggie Smith's performance as Mrs. Emily Delahunty, who opens up her home in Umbria to an eclectic mix of three survivors of a terrorist attack is perfect in her role.

J.J. and I are also partial to Italy so we felt it would be worth just to see the panoramic scenes of Tuscany. As a bonus, Luciana Arrighi, the production designer, is a sister of our dear friend. Luciana, an exceptionally talented Oscar winner, has a long list of achievements in production design. They include Howard's End, Remains of the Day, Sense & Sensibility and Anna and the King, just to name a few.

Aloha -- Cathi

Blessing Is A Yoga Practice

Aloha Everyone,

Our normal pace of travel in Honu  means my daily yoga and meditation practice is done by myself. While I am grateful that my studio can be wherever I can spread my yoga mat -- usually inside Honu, I am delighted whenever I find a yoga class I can join.

Angela, with her generous sense of humor and friendly smile is a perfect yoga teacher.  She is also a Core Align instructor and technician at Ascent Physical Therapy.   An exuberant yoga teacher, Angela guided 17 practitioners who packed the studio.  Angela also took time to offer assistance on core alignment.

My sincere gratitude to Angela and fellow students for their kindness in sharing their wonderful, blissful 70 minutes with me.  

At Trader Joe's, they were promoting a new cereal with sampling, made of toasted whole grain oat with mango purée and freeze dried mango pieces. One cup serving size has 120 calories and 24 grams of carbohydrates! It is delicious and an ideal snack item.

Aloha -- Cathi

San Marcos Grill, Outstanding Mexican Food

Aloha Everyone,

San Marcos Grill is one of the feature stories in the current issue of the Visit Carson City tourist publication. According to the article, this family-owned restaurant opened about 10 years ago. Chef Marcos Brito, one of the owners, graduated from the California Culinary Academy.

J.J.'s  camarones almojo d ajo and my mariscos Guerrero were prepared to perfection!!! Even the complimentary beans and salsa for the tortilla chips were far superior than those served in other restaurants. Amazingly delicious, even though I refrained from eating chips, I asked for refills of dips which I've never done elsewhere.

It was truly an exceptionally wonderful and extraordinarily fine Mexican food. J.J. and I walked out of the restaurant talking about a return visit :-)

Summer time is great for fruit lovers. Today at Walmart, we purchased 6 different varieties including Ruby (large size cherries), Rainier Cherries, blackberries and blueberries. Ruby is a hybrid of Rainier grown alongside the Columbia River in the small town of Orondo, Washington. Even J.J. who is not as fond of fruits, commented that Ruby and blackberries are the best he has ever tasted.

Aloha -- Cathi

Driving "The Loneliest Road In America"

Aloha Everyone,

US Route 50 is one of the major routes of the US highway system. It starts at Ocean City in Maryland to the West Coast, traversing nearly 3,000 miles.

In July 1986, LIFE magazine described Nevada's Route 50 as the Loneliest Road in America. People living along this corridor seem to take a special pride in this. Today we drove through farms, abandoned mines and small towns.

We left our RV site when dawn was breaking. The trip to Carson city took 7 hours. With no cars on either direction, Honu was under my control for a good 90 miles while J.J. dozed off.

Tonight we are back in Carson City where the day time high is 89, relatively comfortable compared to many parts of the Western United States.

Aloha -- Cathi

Great Basin National Park Spelunking in Lehman Cave

Aloha Everyone,

Great Basin National Park is located in east-central Nevada near the border with Utah.

The park's name, Great Basin refers to the vast region of sage-brush covered valleys and narrow mountain ranges. The park encompasses 77,180 acres of land and its main feature is the Lehman Caves.

 After I signed up for the cave tour, J.J. and I went on the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive. The 12 miles one way route took us from 6,825 ft at the Lehman Caves Visitor Center to the Wheeler Peak Overlook at over 10,000 ft. The temperature at the base was 97 degrees, but among the pine forest, it was a pleasant 73 degrees where we were at eye level with patches of frozen snow.

I love spelunking! There is something calming and even spiritual about being in caves. The noticeable difference between the Lehman Caves and others I have visited is that this was smaller and more intimate. I had to keep on ducking and sometime walking sideways to avoid touching the walls. Imagine what happened with average size adults! :-/

Whispering Elms RV Park has a rustic charm. Clean showers with endless stream of hot water is always a welcome feature. The town of Baker has a population of 55. We decided that this is one night stay.

A couple of additional photos I took that are worth mentioning:

On the outskirts of the town Hinkley, we saw a dead tree full of shoes. According to the locals, it's called the "Rebellion Tree." Basically, it is for anyone who wants to express their rebellion. J.J. stated that it's a harmless activity.

We invited Tami into Honu. She and her husband have been thinking about getting a 5th wheeler to travel.

Aloha -- Cathi