We've gone back and forth to the Tahoe area twice over the past few weeks, dropping our daughter off at
Walton's Grizzly Lodge for her first sleep-away camp (for two weeks! But that's another story...)
This weekend, we stopped at the new
Nut Tree complex in Vacaville to check it out and grab a bite to eat. For those who've been in the Bay Area for a while, the Nut Tree was one of the few places to stop on the road to Tahoe (along with the Wooz maze in Vacaville!). I'm not quite sure when it was shuttered, but it's been upgraded and re-opened last year.
Aside from a standard strip mall, there are a couple of nice features that make it a good family stop. It was a little hot for the bocce ball courts, but the mini theme park was going strong. There are a bunch of rides available, including a little train and a pretty carousel. Admission was $4.95 per person, which included 4 ride tickets (which gives you one train ride). There was a little pond near the front, and you could rent a wooden sailboat and push it around with a stick. They were definitely going for an old time ambiance, appealing to nostalgia for the old Nut Tree. Overall a great stop to burn off some energy, especially if you have little kids (under 8, I'd say) in tow.
Next to the little park was an old time candy area - very little had opened besides a nice Jelly Belly shop where you could sample any of their flavors. Good if you didn't want to go all to the way to the factory in Fairfield.
And finally, a Fenton's Creamery was also right there - for those who aren't familiar with Fenton's, it's a soda fountain in Oakland that's very well known locally. Fenton's at Nut Tree was spacious and would probably have been very crowded had we stopped anywhere near a normal mealtime. We split a good club sandwich with excellent curly fries, and my daughter had mac & cheese, which she pronounced as "weird-tasting". Our waitress scooted right over and without our asking, promptly replaced it at no charge with chicken fingers (or whatever cute name they had for that dish on the menu). A nice old time soda selection was available on the way in with black cherry sodas, draft root beers and cream sodas. They also had a huge ice cream selection which we didn't end up trying because we were anxious to be on our way. Next time...
Overall, a great little stop on the way to Tahoe especially if you have little ones who need to take a break.
Since the Olympic Equestrian events are taking place in Hong Kong, there was a great deal of excitement when we were there. It started with a large Olympic countdown clock at the airport.
It looks ordinary enough, but has a sensor so the seat cover raises when you walk into the room. The seat is heated so wonderfully that it's a joy to sit down.
A family friend was a high roller (i.e. big gambler) at the Venetian and arranged for 3 complimentary rooms for our party using his apparently very large balance of casino credits. When we arrived (picked up by many bowing people in private vans at the ferry terminal) we were ushered up to an extremely large 3 bedroom 
high roller suite and asked if that "would be ok" instead of 3 regular rooms. We quickly agreed ;)
The suite was unbelievable - probably around 3,000 sq feet with 3 large bedrooms with enormous walk in closets and bathrooms, plus a workout room with sauna and steam room, a massage room with massage table, 2 (yes, TWO!) salon rooms with hairdressing chairs, a kitchen, a media room, a dining room and 3 other large sitting areas. And really nice bath products (Bulgari The Vert - mmmm, good). 
We flew up to HK for a few days and spent one night at the HK Disneyland Hotel, in our continued quest to visit all the Disney properties around the world. The hotel looks just like the Grand Floridian at Disney World.
Highlights included a Small World ride with an expanded Asia section and the incorporation of various Disney characters, and the lines were all very short.
It was the first time I had the option of snacking on Korean squid in a Disney park - and I had a really good blackcurrant jelly ice cream bar.
guo" - or crispy taro balls - first time ever presented as swans!)
- Chinese roasted chestnuts. This is a HUGE fave. Nothing beats hot chestnuts roasted in charcoal, Chinese-style. You can see the vendor frying them up in a large wok by the side of the road.
You can see the above screenshot of the GPS location of where I am right now - Emporium Suites on Sukumvit Soi 24 in Bangkok.
This is a serviced apartment, which means that it's like a hotel, with daily maid service but with all the facilities of an apartment. There are a mixture of short and long-stay people here - the short stays are either tourists or regional business people who come to Bangkok on a regular basis. The long stays are usually expats with one or two year postings to Bangkok, who don't want the hassle of dealing with a house or apartment rental (and whose firms pick up the high expense of staying here).
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