Last month, I visited the Museum of American Heritage. Located at 351 Homer Avenue in Palo Alto, the Museum offers a free peak at American’s not-too-distant past.

During my visit, the Museum of American Heritage had a special Lego exhibit. An ordinary city block with the ubiquitous 7-Eleven convenience store and Starbucks coffee shop.

Santa and Rudolph out on a mid-day sleigh ride.

The exhibit also include Lego trains, ships, planes and carnival rides. I was particularly impressed with the moving Lego Scrambler.

Inside the museum, I saw an antique phone.

The museum also featured an Underwood typewriter. I am absolutely shocked that Amazon sells typewriters. I guess these relics have not been completely banished to the history bin just yet. However, you can imagine what happens to a typewriter when it is placed in a location accessible to children. The kids want to push all the
keys at once, thereby jamming them altogether.

The glance into the pantry of generation’s past was illuminating. Some brands have endured to the present while others have disappeared off supermarket shelves long ago.

The final treat was a glimpse at confederate money, with 2011 being the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War. Perhaps, the last place you would expect to find confederate money is a small museum in California.

The Elizabeth F. Gamble Garden Center offers an enchanting garden for young children to explore. Located in Palo Alto, the 2.5 acre garden showcases a delightful collection of brilliant flowers, soaring trees and a tantalizing fruit and vegetable garden. The grounds feature water fountains to discover and rows up rows of color-packed flowers in the spring and summer. Best of all, access to the garden is free.

Returned to Howie’s Artisan Pizza for some more good food and photos:

The delicious flatbread that accompanies the hummus and tahini appetizer. Who can resist warm, soft, puffy flatbread? Great plain or with the hummus.

The above-mentioned hummus and tahini.

Finally, I ordered the chipotle chicken sandwich just for variety. Loved everything except for the chicken breast. The pizza and flatbread are the true stars at this place. No reason to order anything else.

Whenever I want pizza, I always return to Howie’s Artisan Pizza, which is located in the Palo Alto Town & Country Village. During my last visit, I ordered the pepperoni pizza and the cherry tomato, smoked mozz’ and salami pizza, both of which are pictured below.

I’ve also enjoyed the sausage and roasted red onion pizza, sun dried tomato pesto & scallion pizza and the works during previous visits. I don’t have a favorite pizza because all of them were quite remarkable.

Previously, I was not a fan of thin crust pizza. However, this place completely changed my mind as to how a great pizza should feel and taste. The real star is the pizza crust, which is both light and tasty. I could easily enjoy several slices of pizza at one sitting without suffering from that heavy and bloated feeling that a thicker crusted pizza would present. Now, I can’t imagine pizza served any other way.

The other standout dish is the hummus and tahini appetizer, which comes with their house-made flatbread. Like the pizza crust, the flatbread is amazing. In fact, their flatbread reminds me of naan, which I can never get enough of.

The Palo Alto Airport hosted Airport Day on September 12, 2009. During the entire visit, we witnessed the constant buzz of small planes taking off and taxiing down the run way. We could also see up close planes of all shapes and sizes, as well as helicopters and gyroplanes. Little kids could also climb aboard a brilliant red Palo Alto fire engine and enjoy the view from inside the truck. I spotted a vendor selling a cup of frozen lemonade at a price that may have been higher than I had paid at Disneyland.

Would you believe that you can find a place in Palo Alto for under $100,000? Yes, it’s true. Under the Below Market Rate Program, a buyer purchased a 2 bedroom 1-1/2 bath residence for $98,800 back in April 2007. However, to be a qualified buyer, you must meet the Palo Alto Housing Corporation’s income and asset limits. So, what’s the catch?

With a deal this good, you have to join a long waiting list. Palo Alto Housing Corporation estimates a wait of 5 to 10 years or more for people currently seeking to join the wait list. If you are fortunate to be given the opportunity to purchase a residence under this program, well, there’s good news and bad news.

The good news is that if you finance with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, you can lock down your housing costs. You won’t be subject to changes in the general housing market, including interest rate fluctuations or annual increases in rent. The bad news is that unless you manage to dramatically improve your finances, you will not be moving out anytime soon. If you ever have to move, you do not benefit from the current market rate of housing in Palo Alto. Instead, you must sell to another Below Market Rate buyer at a price indexed to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Buy low, sell low.

I stopped by the Palo Alto Airport Day festivities this afternoon. I saw quite a few small planes on display, as well as helicopters from the Santa Clara County sheriff, U.S. Coast Guard and Stanford Hospital. The San Francisco Bay Area offers many fun activities and events. Many charge admission, but some are free. I really enjoyed the visit to the Palo Alto Airport. Wish I had time to join the Palo Alto airport tower tour though.

I stopped by Sushi House in the Palo Alto Town and Country complex for lunch today. I saw some respectable reviews on Yelp and decided to give it a shot. I ordered the tempura and salmon teriyaki bento box with a side order of hamachi (yellowtail). The hamachi and tempura were good. The miso soup was exceedingly salty. Wasn’t a big fan of the salad. I don’t think the dressing was well incorporated so some bites were seasoned and others were just plain lettuce. But, worse of all, the salmon teriyaki was overcooked. I don’t like dry, overcooked fish. And, to top it off, they charged me 75 cents for a cup of tea. C’mon. Do you really have to nickel-and-dime me on the tea? Let’s say that while the tempura was good, it wasn’t good enough to overcome the overcooked fish.

Had lunch at Mike’s Cafe in Palo Alto yesterday. I usually don’t order a salad for lunch (except as a side dish) because I don’t want to be hungry in the middle of the afternoon. But, being in an experimental mood, I tried the Cobb Salad—which I have never ordered before at any restaurant. That experimental!

Anyways, the Cobb Salad featured a bed of fresh, crisp lettuce tossed with dressing. On top were slices of hard-boiled egg, feta cheese, chicken breast, tomatoes and crumbled bacon. I also tasted a hint of anchovies, but I didn’t see them. Maybe they were mixed in with the bacon or I was just imagining these flavors. Despite being just a salad, I found this dish quite filling. It keep me full through the afternnon and well into dinner time.

However, I discovered that I wasn’t a fan of cold chicken breast. I can handle deli-sliced chicken breast, like the kind found in sandwiches, but chunks of cold chicken wasn’t my thing. Also, a few weeks ago, after I bought some Cherokee Purple heirloom tomatoes at the Farmers Market, regular tomatoes have tasted “just regular” since.

Despite my above comments, I still think this was a good, solid, filling salad.

Palo Alto Online reported that the city utility will be raising water rates.

The commission also recommended raising water rates by 10 percent to generate $2.2 million. A fixed charge of $5 per residence and more for businesses would also be added that is not based on water usage, according to a staff report. Additional money is needed because less water is being used due to efficiency and the loss of large customers. Supply, operating and staff costs continue to increase, however, according to the staff report.

So, if you use a lot of water, your rates will go up. And, if you conserve water, your rates will still go up. Either way, you’ll end up paying more. So, the next time they send you a flyer about conservation, you know where to file it.