steve

Heading south from Denali national park... wish I knew exactly which mountains these were, but it's been a few years...

Agreed 100%: definitely keep the questions "out of band" somewhere so that they don't crud up the main panel thread.

If we're talking specific recordings or performances, I'll recommend Hilary Hahn & Natalie Zhu's 2005 recording of Mozart sonatas arranged as violin-piano duets. They recorded K #s 376, 301, 304, and 526, and their performance is extraordinary. …

After Carmel, my better half headed back to Portland and I went back to Pacific Grove for my conference, which was at a summer camp that has been turned into a conference center. It was right by the Asilomar State Beach, which is another treasure …

Carmel-by-the-Sea was a wonderful place to wrap up the trip. Their beach is beautiful, the town itself is full of interesting shops and lovely architecture, and we got there just in time for their annual plein air art festival. While out and about …

Yes, they had a mushroom risotto that was incredible!

After a few days exploring Big Sur, we headed north to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Along the way, we spent a day at the Point Lobos, which is an incredible national treasure. Otters, sea birds, seals, etc., with amazing views and trails around every …

We also managed to time our drive to catch sunset perfectly at McWay Cove.

The weather was perfect: clear and warm during the day, with clouds rolling in around sunset (presumably to help make for more interesting views). This shot was from Sand Dollar Beach just as the evening clouds were starting to form over the …

Having the road closed worked out very, very well for us. It meant that there was little enough traffic that we could pull over safely for photographs pretty much anywhere we wanted to!

Due to landslide and fires, many of the iconic Big Sur hikes were closed. On the advice of one of the Point Sur docents, we decided to start by hiking the Buzzard's Roost trail, which goes up... and up... and up, ending with spectacular panoramic …

We next ventured south, to Big Sur. Highway 1 was still closed at that time, and it was also relatively early in the season, so it felt like we had the place to ourselves. The further south we drove, the emptier it got, and down at the point of …

The best time of day was sunset; we canceled at least one dinner reservation at the last minute because we decided to stay out and watch the sun set rather than walk back into town. On one notable occasion, we selected a particular spot that we …

We managed to time our visit almost perfectly for the iceplant flowers; everywhere we went that week, the ground was carpeted.

Back in March, I asked Cake for advice about a (then-upcoming) trip to the Monterey area and Big Sur... https://www.cake.co/conversations/z8Yzykw/favorite-things-to-see-do-in-monterey?goToPost=ShfW3r6 The community came through with some …

Corniglia, in the Cinque Terre, 2016. Not a day has gone by since that we haven't talked about going back...

I don't have any useful financial advice, but I can sum up 99% of my homeowning wisdom in one word: water. Look for where the water will go when it rains. Is the house on a downhill slope, or even near a downhill slope? Go uphill for a bit and see …

Excellent, thanks for the tips!

OK, that’s three solid votes for the aquarium! And some great-sounding other suggestions. Thanks!

I'm going to be down in Monterey at the end of May for work, and we were thinking of taking some vacation beforehand. People who have visited that part of California: what are your favorite places to visit? Things to do and eat?