Hawaii — January 2020

Link to more photos. View the photos individually to see the captions.

We took a tour that went to Oahu, the Big Island, and Maui. There was occasional rain, and there was no lava to see, but things went well. As the photos show, we hit the expected tourist spots: Waikiki, Pearl Harbor, Volcanoes National Park, Maui Ocean Center, a luau.

We didn't buy any of the optional add-on trips, such as snorkeling, submarine, helicopter, or sunrise. They were pricey. Instead, we did a bit of hiking and swimming on our own, and one brief glass-bottom boat ride (lots of coral but only a few fish).

Impeachment

I sent this letter first to the New York Times, and then, a week later, to the Los Angeles Times. Neither published it:

Republican Senators will only abandon Trump when they feel that supporting him will threaten their own re-election.

Green Card Aggravation

Yes, I was happy when Victor got his visa. And I'm very happy that he is with me now. And I always knew that after we were married, he would need to apply for a green card ("permanent residency"). And because he is here and we are happy and busy, I have moved slowly on that.

As I've said before, all we have ever wanted (for more than 25 years now!) is to be able to exchange visits — for Victor to be able to enter and leave the U.S. as easily as I enter and leave Mexico. Why does it have to be so difficult? A relatively simple tourist visa would do, but the U.S. State Department has repeatedly refused to give Victor one, first in the mid-1990s and again in the mid-20-teens.

First, there's the green card application itself. It's 13 parts on 18 pages (!) and includes several dozen questions such as 

• Have you ever been arrested, cited, charged, or detained for any reason by any law enforcement official?
• Have you ever engaged in prostitution or are you coming to the United States to engage in prostitution?
• Do you intend to engage in any activity that could endanger the welfare, safety, or security of the United States?

Dozens of these! Worse, because Victor can't read all this in English, nor can I translate all this into Spanish, I had to engage a bilingual friend so that we could truthfully check the box that says, "The interpreter named in Part 11 read to me every question and instruction on this application and my answer to every question in Spanish, a language in which I am fluent, and I understood everything."

But now, having completed that form, additional forms must be included in the application package. I have to fill out an Affidavit of Support (despite having already done so to get the visa), with all the required financial documentation. And we have to pay a USCIS-certified doctor to fill out the Medical Examination form. (And Victor will need additional vaccinations.) And we have to include a copy of Victor's birth certificate (which we do have). And we have to fill out the Application for Travel Document so that Victor might be able to visit his mother next Spring. And we have to include photos (despite having already done so for the visa). And I have to pay $1,225.

Yes, I'm damn aggravated.

Cousins trip to New York City — October 2019

From left, clockwise: 

Victor, Rodney, John, Marsha, Les, Joel, Joan, and Cherie 

(Judy and Steve were not at this lunch)

Two photo albums this time! Here's the usual one, with a selection of 15 of my photos: Link to more photos. View the photos individually to see the captions. 

For those who love looking at travel and family photos, here is a link to a shared album of 85 photos, some by me and many by my cousins.

Last year, I learned that some of my cousins have traveled together several times, and in May I heard that they were going to New York City sometime this year. Since I wanted Victor to see New York, I asked to be included. The group included my brother Les and his wife Cherie, my cousin John and his wife Marsha, my cousin Joel and his wife Joan, and my cousin Judy and her husband Steve.

The plans evolved to a three-night stay with two plays and two group meals. We paid in advance for the (expensive!) hotel and plays. I was planning to not participate in one of the plays, but the tickets were purchased anyway, so we did both. We also had reservations for group meals before each play.

Despite a rainy forecast, the weather turned out fine. It never did rain, and the temperatures were mild. 

We arrived Thursday evening. After checking in, we had dinner in nearby Times Square. Friday morning, after a casual group breakfast, Les, Cherie, Victor and I went to the American Museum of Natural History. Afterwards, we walked through some of Central Park to join most of the others for lunch at Tavern on the Green.

That evening was our group dinner and To Kill a Mockingbird. Victor had read the book in Spanish (from the L.A. library) ahead of time, so he was able to follow some of the action. I enjoyed the performance a lot. Now I need to re-read the book.

Saturday we had our group brunch followed by a Hadestown matinee. Before we left L.A., Victor watched videos of more than half of the songs with Spanish subtitles. He loved the musical.

Joel, Joan, Victor and I then walked to and on the High Line. It was OK, but much of it was narrower than I expected. It was also pretty crowded.

Cousins started leaving early Sunday, but Victor and I were not flying out until 8pm. In the morning, we took the subway to go on a Staten Island Ferry round-trip for the boat ride and views of the city and the Statue of Liberty:

Afterwards, we took the subway again to Central Park, planning to see the zoo. But we stumbled upon the Hispanic Day Parade on Fifth Avenue, and watched that instead.

The real traitor

I sent this letter to the Los Angeles Times (not published):

     Mitch McConnell says impeachment will fail 

     "with me as Majority Leader."

     Now there's the true traitor.

Autographs — David Leavitt

Unexpected autograph. During today's CicLAvia, I stopped by Libros Schmibros, and found this autographed book. So it's a new addition to the few autographed books I have where I never met the author.

I read several books by Leavitt years ago; I think I haven't read this one.

(Index of autographs)

More TB tests

On May 30, I received a voice message for Victor from the county Health Department. When we returned the call, they said Victor had to come in for TB tests! First Victor, then I, told them repeatedly that Victor had already had TWO sets of TB tests, all negative, but the woman said that because immigration had informed them about Victor's x-rays, he had to come in for more tests on June 17^th. I was angry, but we wrote down the appointment.

A few days later, we received a follow-up letter with our appointment and a cover note that included this:

Although you were cleared for entry into the US, this pre-immigration [TB] exam was not intended to diagnose or treat extra-pulmonary TB, non-infectious pulmonary TB,or Latent TB infection.... We recommend [actually, require !] that you have a medical exam to determine if you have active TB disease.

Had they explained that on the phone, I would have not have been so upset.

On June 17^th, they took another lung X-ray, took Victor's medical history, and took a sputum sample. Then we learned that he has to (again!) give a sputum sample twice more, come another time for blood tests, and come a fifth time for final results. Gee, despite what the letter said, they're re-doing exactly what we've done twice in the past in Juarez! All they can say in explanation is that they don't fully trust the clinics in Juarez. You know, the ones they insisted we visit! I'm pissed! 👿

And, of course, after all that, when we went again on August 26^th, they said the tests were negative and we were done. What a waste of time!

San Francisco — August 2019

Link to more photos.

Lured by airfares briefly as cheap as $39, I scheduled a quick trip to the San Francisco Bay area. We were there for several days this past week. The weather was warm and dry.

We landed in Oakland mid-day Tuesday, and I rented a car. There are only a few locations to buy a senior BART Clipper card, so we stopped in downtown Oakland to do that, and then visited Lake Merritt and some of its gardens. We stayed in Pinole.

On Wednesday, we hiked in Sobrante Ridge Regional Preserve and Wildcat Canyon Regional Park. The hikes were fine, with good views of San Pablo Bay, but San Francisco was too fogged over to see. Later, we went into the city. We tried to see sunset from the Marriott Marquis Hotel lounge, but it was still too foggy and there were no seats. At the Disney Store in Union Square, Victor was delighted to buy this on sale:

On Thursday, we used a hop-on, hop-off bus tour to see much of SF: the civic center to visit the central library and its LGBTQIA Center; Golden Gate Park for views from the de Young Museum tower and some gardens; North Vista Point to see and walk some on the Golden Gate Bridge; Lombard Street for the crookedest block; and Chinatown to eat. 

We were with Greg Castillo for most of Friday. At the Museum of Modern Art, while I was checking my jacket, Greg arrived and spotted Victor. We visited a few exhibits, then went to Castro Street. One new thing since I was last there: a bunch of men routinely stand around almost naked. They were happy to let us take photos with Victor standing among them:

As we were walking to one of Greg's favorite restaurants for dinner, I realized I had left my jacket at MOMA! It was now closed. After dinner, we went to several shops in the Haight to find outerwear for me. We also visited Love on Haight and tried on some of the headgear:

Greg had arranged for the owner of the Westerfeld House to give us a private, very detailed tour:

On Saturday, we went back to MOMA to retrieve my jacket, and then flew home.

Grand Canyon and more — August 2019

(click to enlarge each photo)

Link to more photos.

We went on this tour. After a night in Phoenix, we traveled to

• Sedona, Arizona
• Grand Canyon  National Park
• Monument Valley 
• Lake Powell (Glen Canyon National Recreational Area)
• Bryce Canyon  National Park
• Zion National Park

It was very good. The weather was mostly hot, as expected, but not overly so. We had a bit of rain at Bryce and Zion.

We had time after lunch in Sedona to walk around. It's a pleasant town, but it's impossible to avoid all the nonsense there:

We experienced a brief intense hailstorm after leaving Sedona. The hailstones were grape-size or maybe a bit larger. They made quite a racket on the roof of the bus:
 

I had been to the Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion as a kid, but not since. We had time to hike a bit at most places. At Grand Canyon, we went a short ways down into the canyon. (Victor went twice as far down as I did.) Here I'm looking up at the canyon wall, and you can see the trail:

At Lake Powell, I would have traded the boat ride for a chance to visit slot canyons and Rainbow Bridge.

At Zion, Victor tried the bison meatloaf:

It was a large double serving. Victor enjoyed it. I ate a bison burger on Catalina Island years ago, and I had a bite of Victor's meatloaf.

On this trip, we saw loads of amazing geology, but very little wildlife — deer several times and elk twice. These deer are  in front of Zion Lodge:

The tour ended at the Las Vegas airport. I scheduled our departure later in the day, hoping to show Victor a bit of Vegas. We did see the Strip and we went to the Bellagio, but the timing wasn't right for the water show there, and the buffet was much more expensive than I remembered, so we didn't do that, either.

Katmai National Park (Summer 2019)

Link to more photos.

As previously explained, Victor was responsible for my 2000 trip to Katmai National Park, but could not accompany me. Now that he is in the U.S., I scheduled a repeat trip with him, again with Katmai Coastal Bear Tours.

We had a great time. We watched bears for six days. The weather was great, too.

One unusual incident: A mother bear walked away from her three sleeping cubs to a nearby stream. The cubs woke up, didn't see their mother, and suddenly ran right at and through us, right over one member of our group who was lying down! When the mother returned and saw her cubs running away, she ran right at us! She stopped less than ten feet in front of us, then went around us to her cubs. It was all very fast. I wish another group had been nearby to video the whole thing. Victor got the best photo, showing the cubs approaching us:

Victor insisted on clearing everyone's dishes after meals, and he always carried others' gear when we went ashore. Here he has a tripod, camera and backpack, none his own: