Saturday, May 12, 2012
Knoxville to Palo Alto, California
Having left Spike-dog (age 17 yrs, 4 mo) at camp yesterday
afternoon and having locked Carlos-cat in the house this morning,
we took off from Knoxville at 10:30 a.m., changed planes in
Atlanta, and arrived at the San Francisco airport at 4:30 p.m.
There we endured the world's slowest rental car check-in process
with Fox Rent A Car, but finally we secured a little gray Chevy
Cruze and drove to the Sheraton Palo Alto.
On arrival at the Sheraton, we had a mini Neighbors family reunion.
My nephew Jacob attends Stanford University, so of course we'd made
plans to visit him on our trip. Then my dad, Ed, and his wife,
Joan, decided to time a roadtrip to California to coincide with our
vacation and to meet us in Palo Alto. Also, my nephew Chris now
lives in Los Angeles, and he was able to drive up and meet us as
well! They were all waiting for Tom and me when we arrived at the
hotel, along with Jacob's girlfriend, Ebony (Ebs).
Ebony and
Jacob
The Sheraton is very nice. It's on El Camino Real, just off of Palm
Drive, at the main entrance to Stanford University. Extra charges
for parking, for wifi, for coffee. The nicer the hotel, the more
extras you have to pay for! The grounds, however, are beautiful.
We're staying two nights here.
Sheraton
Courtyard
Fishes,
see
Jake and Ebs had made dinner reservations at NOLA'S Restaurant &
Bar in downtown Palo Alto, 535 Ramona Street. Great Cajun food
and a super-fun atmosphere. I bet the bar really hops later on in
the evening. I'm glad they'd made reservations, because downtown
was packed. In fact, every restaurant was packed all weekend due to
Mother's Day.
After dinner, we reconvened at our hotel and visited for a while.
Dad and Joan and Tom and I have rooms at the Sheraton, and Chris is
staying with Jacob at his apartment on campus. We made plans to
meet for breakfast tomorrow morning.
Tom and I tried a new beer (for us) tonight, Gordon Biersch amber
lager, made here in Palo Alto. It's excellent!
Joan, Chris, Ed, and
Jake
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