Birdwatching...

After our hike, Leigh and I enjoyed some margaritas in the hot tub, before eating dinner outside with Rich. He’s into birdwatching and after he pointed out the pair of western bluebird parents feeding their babies, I found that I couldn’t stop watching their activity the next morning at breakfast.

Was thrilled to catch an action shot.

After breakfast, Leigh took me the CVS Pharmacy in Redwood City, where I received my first COVID-19 vaccination by Moderna. When I first arrived in California, I was quite excited about the possibility of getting a vaccination, but it proved a bit tricky at first to book an appointment. Luckily I got a tip to attempt booking at midnight when the next rounds of appointments would appear online nightly and it worked on my forth night of trying. While I was prepared that I might have to wait for months to get the second jab since the Dutch vaccination program was far behind the US, it turned out I was able to get it exactly on time as the Dutch had vastly ramped up their efforts while I was away. 

A few days later, Leigh sent me this photo of one of the newborns that Rich captured from his telescope. Since that first brood of babies, there’s been two more sets. 

 

Walking in California...

Ann and I walked many mornings in her neighborhood. One morning she took us to Bedwell Bayfront Park in Menlo Park...

…which has paths overlooking the San Francisco Bay salt flats. 

The following day Leigh picked me up for an overnight stay and a nice long walk at Rancho San Antonio Reserve. 

The last time I was in this particular park was with in Eden back in 2000 while I was pregnant with Ashlynn. I had to laugh when I reached the same hill where Eden finally realized that I had a good excuse to be slow pushing Veronica’s stroller uphill. 

It was a beautiful hike with flowers...

…great views...

…and a very skinny potentially venomous snake.

 

A Garden Oasis...

Ann’s garden was in full bloom.

We regularly had lunch and happy hour outside. What better place to enjoy Ann’s signature margaritas? 

 

Spending Time with Ann...

I arrived in Silicon Valley on April 11 to spend two weeks helping Ann to sort through Dad’s life. Needless to say, she was heartbroken, but that didn’t stop her from looking incredible. I especially loved how her hair turned out after she stopped dying it during lockdown.

One of my big tasks was to sort through Dad’s large closet. After Ashlynn requested that I bring her one of his Hawaiian shirts, I set out to identify shirts for the rest of us. Ann looked great in this one.  

One of my funnier tasks was to attempt to open the wall safe. I had very low expectations after a few others had already tried following the combination lock instructions, so I didn’t expect much luck. 

Imagine my surprise when it opened on the first try. 

Never expected to discover this in Dad’s wallet: an old Far Side cartoon that I’d given him decades ago.

Despite the nine hour time difference, I managed to participate in two Brussels H3 Friday Night Zoom calls. I picked up some unique US microbrews for the occasion. I couldn’t resist taking photos of the beers for Untappd with some of Dad’s jazz figurines.

As gross as this one might sound, I really liked it.

In addition to sorting through Dad’s closet and office, I looked through lots of photos and letters in this large hall closet, which also housed Dad’s impressive record collection. 

I brought home a lot of old family photos and slides (which Veronica will scan for me), plus some special treats like this adorable pop-up card that Ashlynn made many years ago.
 

First Flight in 1.5 Years...

After flying around the world in 2019, I never flew in 2020 at all, so it would be my first flight since returning from Boston in October 2019. 

Somehow I ended up being called last to board, which allowed me to catch the interesting lighting in this empty gangplank. 

To ensure plenty of space, I booked Delta’s fancy premium select class. Turned out there was only one other passenger in this section of the plane from Amsterdam to Seattle, so there was no worries about social distancing. Since it was a daytime flight and there were lots of good movies to choose from, I didn’t get much sleep.  

The windows on the Airbus 330 were nice and big, so I took some photos. Here’s some nice fluffy clouds over the UK...

…reflections of clouds over the ocean...

…lots of snow-covered mountains...

…and lots of water near Seattle. The Seattle Airport was shockingly busy, which made me uncomfortable as I was no longer used to crowds, but I managed to find a table to myself for a meal before boarding the flight to San Jose. 
 

Big Night Out at Schiphol...

On April 9, I had my first ever COVID test so that I could be cleared to fly less than two days later. 

I had a lot of luggage, but actually packed light allowing lots of space to bring back some of Dad’s belongings.

Since my flight was pretty early on the 11th, Jimmy suggested that we spend the night before at the CitizenM at Schiphol. Here we are standing on the spots on the ground instructing us to stay socially distanced in the elevator. 

We got a laugh out of the greeting on the iPad in our room. 

Our view over the airport was pretty cool. Since restaurants were still closed, we just picked up some takeaway sushi and salads from Albert Heijn to eat in the room while watching movies.

I believe this hotel was the first one built in the chain, so had the early design of the bathroom, which consisted of separate pods for the toilet...

…and the shower, which reminded me of the old sci-fi series Lost in Space.

We got up early to check-in for my flight and stopped for some photos by the mirrored face sculpture, which was tricky due to the bright lights. 

We’re pretty tiny in this selfie.

Getting through security was incredibly easy as there’s no longer a requirement to take electronics out of bags with the upgrade to new scanning equipment. The airport was pretty empty. I took this photo to highlight a few things: the airport was nearly empty, there’s a cool plant wall that I hadn’t seen before and I was surprised to see several folks wearing full protective suits.