Trailer Treks: Other Adventures

Showing posts with label Other Adventures. Show all posts

Friday, May 23, 2008

Mendocino May 2008

We decided to go on a road trip without the trailer and try out some pet friendly accomodations. Mendocino County is very pet friendly and we settled upon a cottage offered by Sweetwater Spa & Inn. The Inn is in the town of Mendocino, but this cottage was 3 miles south in Little River.

The Inn boasted cable TV and Kaya was certainly looking forward to it. Being satellite dish owners, we didn't realize that cable TV could be so snowy and hissy. At least the reception fit the old-timey TV that didn't have a remote. You'll notice the TV doubles as a wine bar.

Hey! How come Maggie gets the deluxe bed?????

Where are we going for dinner Bud????

The Inn provided dog towels for wet paws and sheets for "furniture jumpers" and some biscuits! We didn't need the towels or sheets, but the biscuits were a hit.

While in Mendocino, we took a walk right outside of town. It was still foggy, but really, really windy. The fog eventually disappeared for the rest of the trip. The wind, however, was with us the whole way.

A look back at town from the trail.

Flowers were everywhere. A really beautiful time of year.

A post-walk happy hour on the deck. It was nice and sunny, but still very windy. At least we had some shelter from the vegetation here.

We enjoyed a day of wine tasting in the Anderson Valley. We visited Goldeneye, Navarro and Standish wineries.

Vineyard at Navarro Vineyard and Winery.

Doggie rest break at Navarro.

All in all, the road trip was a hit with humans and canines alike. The dogs slept very soundly all three nights.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

37th Anniversary Day Trip - November 28, 2007

Seems like yesterday.......

For our anniversary, we decided to spend a day seeing some new sights. Bud saw an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge located off I-5, north of Williams and south of Willows. It was a clear, windy day in the low 60's - a good day for bird watching. Keep in mind that Bud and I aren't "birders". We do recognize some species like pelicans, sea gulls, hawks, herons, egrets, ducks etc., but mostly it boils down to "there's a white one and there's a black one".

There is a nice visitor's center where we met a very informative, chatty docent. We proceeded along the wetlands trail that has numbered stops with matching descriptions in the trail brochure.

This is a seasonal marsh, yada, yada, yada

Wood ducks, we found out, nest in hole in trees. In the middle of the picture below is a nest box for wood ducks. Boxes like this are placed to make up for lost nesting trees.

Pretty trees along the trail.

The refuge has a 6-mile auto-tour which turns out to be a wonderful way to see the birds. They are not scared off by the slow moving vehicles. On our walk, we sent quite a few birds into flight by our presence.

Bud looking at Snow Geese and Ross Geese. We saw this group take flight and return - incredible sight.

On a clear day you can see the Sutter Buttes....

More geese and ducks. We saw a blue heron at one point.

We then proceeded to the R.H. Phillips winery in Esparto. They also produce the Toasted Head brand. It was a winery we have been wanting to visit. It is a large, beautiful facility in the middle of nowhere. However, the tasting experience was less then thrilling (wine and the staff lacked the right stuff). Now we can say we've been there, done that, but didn't buy the t-shirt.

On the way home we stopped in Old Sac at the Rio City Cafe for drinks and our favorite appetizers - Ahi Tuna Nachos and the Cheese Loaf..... yum

Monday, November 12, 2007

San Francisco Adventure - November 10, 2007

While on our neighborhood RV trip to Columbia we discussed taking Amtrak for a shopping excursion to San Francisco. Well, it wasn't just the beer and wine talking - we actually did it!

Martha, Diane, Mary and I left P'ville at 6:00 am (:-b) and caught the train in Sacramento. We made sure we weren't on the "quiet car" and had a great trip into the city. Once we arrived at the San Francisco Shopping Centre , we attacked Bloomingdale's first then proceeded toward Chico's when alarms started going off and a message over the loudspeaker said an emergency had been reported and to exit out of the center.

Undaunted, we headed to Union Square. A crew was busy putting up the Christmas tree in the square. They were drilling holes in the trunk and adding extra branches. No wonder all those outdoor trees are perfect!

Mary, Diane and Martha stopping long enough for a photo before attacking Macy's shoe sale.

Mary, Me and Diane

After Macy's, we were famished and went to Lefty O'Doul's for lunch. Bud and I eat here about everytime we are in the area. Bud has memories going there as a kid with his family. It is reminiscent of Sam's Hof Brau in Sac.

Enjoying corned beef sandwiches and beer.

Lefty O'Doul was a friend and team mate of Joe DiMaggio, so there is a big Joe and Marilyn presence in the memorabilia. For more info on Lefty, click here. Every baseball fan should drop in and have a beer.

Dodging a few rain drops, we made it back to the SF Shopping Centre and it was still standing! We never did find out what the emergency was (we forgot to ask the sales associates). We finally made it to Chico's after stopping by Nordstrom's shoe sale.

Chico's closed a few sales.

Three years ago, the shopping center was expanded to include the Parrot Building which housed Emporium Capwell and it's famous dome. I found this website showing pictures of workers raising the dome. Here's another news article regarding the dome. Interesting stuff!!

But we didn't care, we just wanted to shop! Diane, Martha and Mary under the dome (which is not in the picture).

Martha almost got the dome in this picture. She was the only one of us that could get down and the floor (and back up!) to take the picture. She looked like a fashion photographer taking pictures of the Chico's models.

A nice couple took our picture on the rainy train ride home. One minute after this was snapped, a dice game of Pig broke out and Martha was the winner. However, we all felt like winners at the end of this great day.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

An Evening at Boeger Winery - August 2007

Good snacks, good wine and good people - another nice evening at Boeger Winery . Our friend Cheryl joined us for a relaxing evening and Ali and Ross were able to meet up with us as well. This is a very popular event and we snagged the last good table.

Bud and Ross wisely wore wine-colored shirts; something they've learned from experience.

There were lots of families with well-behaved kids. We were the only ones that couldn't control our kids.

Wrestling and screaming broke out.

At least kids this age tire out easily.

A young local artist, Sarah Gautchi, was the evening's entertainment. We have seen her a few times at other events. She is only 18 years old and has been doing this for a couple of years and doing it well!

Friday, July 13, 2007

July 2007 - American Century Champioinship - Lake Tahoe

On Thursday, July 12th, we went to Celebrity Day at the American Century Championship Celeb-Am Golf Tournament at Edgewood Golf Course in South Lake Tahoe. Celebrities were paired with four VIPs that paid for the privilege. The selected charity this year is the Lance Armstrong Foundation - Live Strong. Money is also being donated to the Tahoe Angora Fire fund.

Tee off started at 7:00 a.m. We arrived around 8:00. It was gorgeous weather. Low 60's when we arrived with a high of 82. Completely clear, sunny skies. Admission was only $10 and it was one of the few days cameras were allowed.

The club house at Edgewood. Nice little bar inside :-)