Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography by Rob Lowe

My book for October was Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography by Rob Lowe. Sharon listened to the audio book a couple of years ago. We have recently talked about rewatching West Wing and starting Parks and Rec; Lowe appeared in both shows.

This is an almost unbelieveable story. A teen idol at fifteen, an international icon and founder of the Brat Pack at twenty, and one of Hollywood's top stars, Rob Lowe chronicles his experiences as a painfully misunderstood child actor in Ohio uprooted to the wild counterculture of mid-seventies Malibu. The book highlights this career through the 2010s as well as his struggles with alcohol and his road to sobriety.

The number of famous people that he is friends with or has crossed paths with is amazing. In Malibu, he was neighbors and friends with Sean Penn, Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen. His first major movie was The Outsiders; the cast included: Matt Dillon; Ralph Macchio; Patrick Swayze; Emilio Estevez; Tom Cruise; and, Diane Lane.

I really enjoyed this book. It is well written and very entertaining. Repeating myself, the stories are almost unbelievable. [Note to self], Sharon and I need to watch The Outsiders!

Seabourn Encore Suite 738

Sharon and I spent two weeks living in Suite 738 on the Seabourn Encore. It was very comfortable. It included a walk-in closet, two sinks in the bathroom and a hallway vanity where Sharon could sit and put on her make-up. The only gore point was the end of bed; it was almost impossible for two people to pass each other or get around each other. The one odd feature is that there is a slight step up into the bathroom.

More pics from David and Lo's Wedding

David and Lo's Wedding

Sharon and I pulled away from the house about 12:20 pm on the way to David and Lo's wedding. Dropping Tiber at Best Friends, Waze lead us on a round-about path, including 80 to 5 to Woodland to 113 to Road 27 to 505 to Winters. We took the back road from Winters past Lake Berryessa to the Silverado Trail. From there, we headed north to Deer Park, went across to 29, through Calistoga and took the Petrified Forest Road to the Mark West Event Center. oy vey. We got there at 2:55 pm.

I had a very nice evening. Our table for dinner was Drew, Carmen, Gail, Jeff, Snipes, Joy, Sharon and I. I really enjoyed getting a chance to sit next to Drew. Hunter, Yuli, Swedberg, Deb and Annell were also at the wedding.

There were over 200 people packed into the venue. When we were in Los Angeles, Tom/asin talked about the struggle that they were having managing the guest list. I actually got a chance to sit and talk to Tom/asin more than I expected.

I had booked a hotel room in Santa Rosa. With the dinner party looming, Sharon pushed for us just to head home. We ended taking off about 8:30 pm and were home just after 10:30 pm.

Bread & Butter Concert

With Sharon in Napa for the day with Janie, I walked over to the Ancil Hoffman clubhouse with a group of neighbors (Greg, Michele, Heidi, Brad, Clark, Jim and Debi) to listen to the Bread & Butter Band. Walking on to the patio, I heard someone call my name. I took me a long count to recognize Dave Newlin and his wife.

After winding her way back from Napa and dropping Janie off, Sharon eventually joined the group at the concert.

She and I finished the night playing pool with Jim and Debi. By the time I walked Tiber and got to bed, it was almost midnight.

Twenty-six Years

To celebrate our twenty-sixth wedding anniversary, Sharon and I went to dinner at Canon East Sacramento. Over the years, this was been one of Sharon's favorite restaurants. Frankly, the experience was a little subpar. Both Sharon and I felt that the menu seemed kind of limited and the service was not good. Several times in the course of the evening we literally had to wave our arms to try and get some service.

We started with a couple of OYSTERS [estate vinegars]. We split a ROASTED CABBAGE SALAD [oyster mushrooms, nashi pear, miso apple butter, dill seed vinaigrette]. For the entree, we shared BLISTERED ROMANO BEANS [horseradish-tomato jus, oyster mushrooms, gypsy pepper] and WHOLE FRIED FISH [brazino, green tomato nuoc cham, fresno chili, lemongrass]. We have had a lot of brazino over the last month.

The fish was good. I was pleasantly surprised to find a Greek wine by the glass on the menu [Romeiko - Manousakis Winery - Nostos, Crete, Greece].

Spondi

Menu from our dinner at Spondi in Athens on Day 16 of our Greece and Turkey Trip.

2022 Greece and Turkey - Day #XX - Map of our Seabourn Encore Cruise

Piranesi

My book for September was Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. This is the second of two books that Carmen gave me for Christmas. Piranesi won the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction. It was a finalist for the 2020 Nebula Award and the 2021 Hugo Award.

This is a difficult book to describe. Piranesi (the main character) lives in a place called the House. It is a world composed of infinite halls and vestibules lined with statues, no two of which are alike. The upper level of the House is filled with clouds and the lower level with an ocean. The story is told through entries in a journal that the main character is keeping. As the story progresses, Piranesi discovers who he really is and how he came to be in the House.

Reviews of the book are very polarized; it seems that people either loved it or hated it. I found the book interesting. I like science fiction books that play with ideas. Although this is more fantasy than science fiction, it has some interesting ideas. I enjoyed it and graded it a "B-". It was a nice break after the 960 page tome about Grant...

Delayed End of Ordinary Time

Over the last twenty-five years, Sharon and I have lived into a rhythm of decorating the house for fall, Christmas, Valentine's Day and Easter. After we take the Easter decorations down, we have started calling it "Ordinary Time." Sharon has few summer decorations. This lasts about four months from Easter to Labor Day.

With Sharon and Tom's trip to New York Adventure and our Greece and Turkey Trip, we only started decorating the house for fall today. Still feeling under the weather, I spent the morning dragging boxes back from the shed. With the fall dinner party in two weeks, we have a sense of urgency.

Ancil Hoffman

Teeing offf at 11:56 am, Sharon and Marlene played golf at Ancil Hoffman. Afterwards, Marlene stayed for dinner. We barbecued a couple of filet mignons.

Head and Chest Cold

My Achilles heel has always been that I often get a nasty head and chest cold when we do a marathon travel day at the end of a trip. I have lost my voice and I am very under the weather. It is just a bad cold; I have tested negative for COVID.

iPhone 14 Pro

I have been carrying an iPhone 11 Pro since February of 2020. This is the longest that I have used that same phone since I left the Farm Credit Banks in July of 1998, more than 24 years ago. Like several of the my other iPhones, the Lightning connector stopped working about a year and a half ago. It has been a pain, but I worked through it by charging wirelessly and getting a wireless Carplay connector for the Volvo.

At 5 am on Friday, September 9, I ordered an iPhone 14 Pro. I was surprised that I could pick it up at the Arden Apple store at 10:15 am on Friday, September 16. After Sharon and I got our COVID tests for the cruise, I ran over and picked it up. Given that we were getting picked up to go to San Francisco at 2 pm, Sharon thought it was crazy to try and get it set up. Of course, I did. The setup went smoothly and I carried the new iPhone on the trip.

I took a lot of pictures on the trip. I definitely feel like the camera quality is a step up from the 11 Pro.

2022 Greece and Turkey - Day #19 - To Sacramento

25 1/2 hours door to door in one day!?!

Setting an alarm for 6 am, we finished packing. We had breakfast in the roof top restaurant. The view of the Arcopolis from there is amazing.

One odd note. When we came back from the museum on Tuesday, police were stationed at the front door of the hotel and we had to go through a metal detector to enter the lobby. Last night and this morning, there was a woman stationed outside the door of a room on our floor; she clearly had a fanny pack with a weapon in it. There was signage in the lobby for Munich Stra/tegy Management Consultants. Underneanth the title, it said Diplomats with an arrow to one of the meeting rooms. I was curious what was happening and who was there.

The transfer scheduled through Seabourne picked us up at 8:15 am. It took almost an hour to get to the airport. We breezed through checking the luggage and security. Our plane was coming from Newark and was running about 45 minutes late. The boarding area was a cattle car. The flight pushed back from the gate about 1:00 pm.

We upgraded all of our seats on the way home. For Athens to Newark, we had United Premium Plus. We had 21J and 21L: two seats on the right seat of the plane with an aisle and a window. The seats and the spacing were better than some of the first class seats we have had on older planes.

It was a very easy, comfortable ten hour flight. I finished reading The Acts of St. John and then watched Patton.

In Newark, we breezed through passport control. I was surprised that we didn't have to fill out an entry form and go through customs.

We grabbed some spring rolls, pot stickers and vegetable dumplings for dinner. Although we had a three and a half hour layover, it went fast.

We boarded a 7:30 pm United Flight to Sacramento. I took the same flight in December coming back from the Army/N@vy game in December. We had economy plus seats. Mostly trying to sleep, I got very restless.

We were on the ground about 10:45 pm. I was shocked that our luggage beat us to baggage claim. Sharon's brother Tom picked us up and we were home before 11:30 pm.

More postings and pictures from the trip in the coming weeks...

2022 Greece and Turkey - Day #18 More - Athens, Greece

View from Dinner at the Hotel Grande Bretagne.

2022 Greece and Turkey - Day #18 {penultimate} - Athens, Greece

Sleeping a little later, we eventually had breakfast in the roof top restaurant at the hotel. Based on some feedback from the Gainsleys, we had originally planning to take a Viator tour to the Delphi Oracle. When the schedule got screwed up for Sunday, we decided to cancel that tour.

We spent the morning wandering Pláka, the old historical neighborhood of Athens featuring labyrinthine streets and neoclassical architecture. Sharon did a lot of shopping. While she shopped, I explored the area and people watched.

As a rule, I try to blend in when we travel. I purposely don't wear anything that marks me as an American. I keep a low profile. Northern Europeans travel the world. I think that I can pass as a generic EC tourist. Over the years, I have had a number of people come up to me and start talking to me in German. I am fascinated by what some Americans wear and how loud they are. There was a group of Texians straight off a cruise ship near us at dinner last night; it was clear that they were Americans from a mile away. I saw a number of Americans while I was people watching today that stood out like a sore thumb.

We grabbed lunch on a street corner near the hotel at The Greco's Project. Sharon had a pork gyro and what I think were leek balls, while I had a Greek salad.

After dropping stuff in the room, we caught a taxi to the National Archaeological Museum. Using a Rick Steves tour of the museum, we focused on the highlights. There are number of very interesting pieces, including the Mask of Agamemmmon, the Artemision Bronze (either Zeus or Nepture), the Artemision Jockey and the Grave Relief of a Horse.

We took a taxi back to the hotel. This is our penultimate day; we fly home tomorrow. We relaxed a litte and started to pack.

Getting cleaned up, we wandered up to the roof top bar for a cocktail. The place was packed so we just took our table. We finished the night with dinner in the hotel's GB Roof Garden Restaurant. We split an eggplant appetizer. For mains, I had a very good Handmade open seafood ravioli, with prawns and star anise scented sauce, while Sharon had Seabass ‘en papillote’ with capers, fennel, green peas and lemon. We had Tiramisu for dessert.

With a very long day on deck for tomorrow, we crashed very early...

2022 Greece and Turkey - Day #17 - Athens, Greece

Up early, we had breakfast in the restaurant on the eighth floor of the hotel. It was interesting watching the sun rise on the Acropolis.

Walking towards the Acropolis, we met a Viator tour at the metro station at 9:30 am. We had a nice tour of the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum; the guide did a great job. The tour guide stopped at Theatre of Dionysus, The Temple of Asclepios and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus on the way up. At the top, we wandered around the Temple of Athena Nike, the Ancient temple of Athena and the Parthenon. Although there were swarms of people, the wait was never very long at a couple of the gore points.

Following the tour of the Acropolis, we walked to the museum. The new Acropolis Museum was opened in 2009. The third floor does a fantastic job of displaying some of the artifacts. As I noted when we visited the British Museum, I am shocked at how much of the Parthenon is in the British Museum. As I said at the time, the artifacts should be in Greece, not in England!

After some confusion trying to find restaurants in the Rick Steves book, we had a late lunch at the God's Restaurant near the museum. We split a Greek salad, hummus and pita bread and Moussakas.

After the late lunch, we walked the Acropolis Loop, explored Ancient Agora and visited the Temple of Hephaistos. With tentative plans to walk Hadrian's Wall next year, we searched out the statue of Hadrian and then ran into Hadrian's library by accident.

Back at the hotel, I ran to an iStorm(?!?) to get a couple of USB-C chargers.

Walking to dinner, we had some fun trying to find a place to have a pre-dinner cocktail. Sharon originally thought there was a bar at the restaurant; there was not. We ended up at a bar at the Niki Athens Hotel.

We finished the day with dinner at 2Mazi. For starters, we spilt Wild greens pie with phyllo dough made with Carob seed flour and feta cheese mouse and Risotto with zucchini, asparagus, lemon confit and crayfish. For a main, Sharon had Guineafowl with parsnip puree, corn, graviera cheese and lemon thyme sauce, while I had Tuna with smoked eggplant, stamnangathi wild greens (Cichorium spinosum) and (kakavia) fish soup sauce. The food was solid. A group of six from Texas off a cruise ship sat near us, but that is a longer story...

Walking back to the hotel, we were able to connect with Jack on Facetime. We crashed about 10 pm.

2022 Greece and Turkey - Day #16 - Athens, Greece

Up early, I wandered up to the Observation Bar for coffee. The ship was already docked in Piraeus.

We had to be out of the room by 8 am. Unfortunately, our origiinal plans for the day were blown up. There was a "Race for the Cure" in downtown Athens. All of the streets are closed; they couldn't get us to the hotel until after 1:30 pm. Our departure time from the ship was set at 1 pm.

We had a lazy breakfast at The Patio; we both had breakfast burritos. From there, we hung out in the Seabourne Square for a couple of hours reading our books and surfing the internet.

Eventually, we had a light lunch in the Colonnade. We left the ship about 12:45 pm. Getting our luggage and boarding the transfer to the hotel went extremely quickly and easily.

We are spending three nights at Hotel Grand Bretagne. We got to the hotel about 1:40 pm. Unfortunately, check-in time was 3:00 pm. They said that they would call us when the room was ready. We had a glass of wine in the bar and then sat in the lobby. Our room was not ready until about 3:40 pm.

We spent the loin's share of the day in a weird purgatory. Sharon and I agreed that this was an unusual experience; we have never had this happen before in the middle of a trip.

After getting in the room, we went to the rooftop bar in the hotel for a cocktail. The bar has an amazing view of the Acropolis of Athens.

Sharon had made a 7:30 pm dinner reservation at Spondi. We had an adventure with taxis trying to get there.

Spondi is 2-Michelin-Star Restaurant. For twelve consecutive years, it has been voted “Best Restaurant in Greece” by Athinorama’s “Golden Chef’s Hat Award”.

We did their fixed Discovery Menu with a four glass wine pairing. The food was very good. The menu is here. It was a leisurely three and a half hour dinner.

By the time that we got back to the hotel, it was almost 11:30 pm. We made an attempt to FaceTime with Jack and then crashed hard.

2022 Greece and Turkey - Day #15 - Spetses, Greece

Sleeping late, Sharon and I wandered up to the Observation Bar for coffee. We had a late breakfast on The Patio.

This is one of three days on the cruise that we hadn't booked an excursion. After breakfast, I went to the fitness center. I did a Peloton upper body workout for thirty minutes and then walked for twenty-five minutes on the treadmill. On each of the days that we didn't have an excursion, I used the fitness center.

The ship anchored off the city of Spetses. We caught a tender into the port about 11 am.

Sharon's super power is finding restaurants. She found a tavern for lunch about 3/4’s of a mile north of the port. The Patralis Fish Tavern is the oldest tavern in Spetses. It was established in 1935. We got there just as it opened and bogarted the best table on the water. The food was very good; we shared a grouper. After a leisurely lunch, we briefly explored the town and eventually headed back to the ship.

After taking a nap, we worked on packing up the room. It has been great to be unpacked and in the same place for two weeks, but tomorrow is moving day.

We wandered up to the Observation Bar for a drink and some appetizers.

We finished the night with dinner at The Restaurant. We walked up just as it opened and got a great table by the window. I started with a CHEF’S SALAD [mesclun lettuce, tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, parma ham, citrus dressing], while Sharon had CHICKEN LIVER PARFAIT [port wine onion confit, micro greens, brioche]. For entrees, I had CRISP SOFT-SHELL CRAB [green & white asparagus risotto, lobster foam], while Sharon had RAGOUT OF SHALLOTS & FOREST MUSHROOMS [celery salad and puree], My entree was solid; I was shocked that Sharon ordered pasta.

2022 Greece and Turkey - Day #14 - Santorini, Greece

Oia Village and Greek Cooking
Top 3 Reasons To Book

• Oia town's world-famous Cycladic architecture
• The Akrotiri area's Aeolos Taverna
• A cooking demonstration and lunch of local ingredients

Experience the best of Santorini with a visit to the beautiful village of Oia, followed by delectable Greek cuisine during a cooking class at a well-known local taverna.

Tender ashore and board a comfortable motorcoach to begin your ascent of the colorful, rocky caldera wall. Outside your window are breathtaking panoramic views the whole way up. As you reach the top, you'll head north through traditional villages. Along the way, your guide will point out the different layers of volcanic lava produced at various phases of the volcano's activity.

In Oia town, stroll with your guide through the cobblestone streets, admiring the world-famous Cycladic architecture and the beautiful old mansions perched on the cliffside. You'll also have magnificent views of the caldera and other smaller Cycladic isles.

Relax on the scenic drive to the Akrotiri area, where you'll stop at the Aeolos Taverna. Upon arrival, you will be greeted with a chilled glass of wine or ouzo (traditional aniseed flavored liqueur) and samples of local Santorinian specialties, as well as some of the more popular Greek dishes. A cooking demonstration by the master chefs at this acclaimed taverna will showcase local ingredients and unforgettable techniques that are sure please the palate. After the demonstration, enjoy the chef's creations in the form of a sumptuous lunch.

At the conclusion of the tour, re-board your motorcoach for the drive back to the town of Thira. Guests who wish to stay in town to shop or explore are welcome to do so, but must return to the ship on their own. It's a three-minute walk to the cable car that will take you back down to the pier.

Sharon and I both wandered up to the Observation to watch the ship sail into the caldera. It was pretty spectacular. Sharon had a light breakfast. I ended up dashing to the Colonnade for a quick breakfast.

Gathering in the Club on deck five, we caught a large tender to the new port. We boarded us on a bus that climbed up a series of switchbacks to the rim of the caldera.

Have I have said recently how much I dislike heights?

The first stop for the excursion was Oia. We wandered the edge of the city and took some pictures. We had about an hour of free time.

Back on the bus, they took us to the other end of the island for a cooking demonstration and lunch. We got a few more ideas for the dinner party. The lunch was very good. The view was spectacular.

After lunch, we took us back to Fira in the middle of the island. Sharon and I wandered the city for a while. Apparently, we were lucky; there were only two small cruise ships in port. The guide talked about how there were five cruise ships earlier in the week, including two large ones and the island was overrun.

Eventually, we stopped for a glass of wine in a restaurant overlooking the caldera. Afterwards, we took the cable car to the old port and caught a tender back to the ship.

For the second day in a row, we went to the pool on deck nine. We bounced between the pool and the hot tub.

We got cleaned up and headed up to the Observation Bar for a drink. From there, we headed to the Colonnade for dinner. At this point, the fun started. We were obviously behind everyone else in going to dinner. We got seated inside. As we ordered, the waiter said "things are a mess." Forty-five minutes later, we still didn't have any starters.

Sharon wandered off to talk to someone. At this point, the place was pretty empty. Sharon got them to move us outside. Even though one of Sharon's starters came just as we went outside, they reordered our food.

With a late departure from port, the silver lining was that we got to watch the ship sail away from Fira and Oia and out of the caldera. Eventually, Sharon got her artic char and I got my salmon. We have been generally unimpressed with the food. More on that in a future post...