Bodega Bay February 2008

We ventured to Bodega Bay for a few days. It was our first time staying at the Bodega Bay RV Park. The weather was absolutely gorgeous - sunny, no wind for a couple of days, then foggy mornings with mild days for the rest of the stay. The park was very nice. We made reservations for Thanksgiving before we left.

We arrived on Friday, Feb. 8th and Ali and Ross joined us for two nights (9th and 10th). Bud and Ross enjoyed a 4-5 mile hike on Sunday morning through the dunes to the beach. See Ali and Ross' blog for pics of that.

The RV Park is right next to the Children's Bell Tower. This is a memorial for Nicholas Green, a 7-year old Bodega Bay resident who was murdered in Italy while on vacation in 1994. Nicholas' parents decided to donate his organs that helped seven Italians. The bells were donated mainly by families, schools and churches in Italy to express their sorrow and appreciation for their decision. The bell in the center was blessed by Pope John Paul II.



Some cocky pregnant lady with a ginger ale bottle. It sure looked like a beer bottle to passersby.


Snacks in the sun....


While Maggie enjoyed some quality nap time.


On Sunday we took a ride on the "scenic" route. After a loop on Bay View Road, on which Tippy Hedrin was filmed driving on in the movie "The Birds", we traveled to the little town of Cazadero. We hadn't been there for years. Found some nifty little tye-dyed fashion statements for the baby in the General Store, plus a much craved Hostess pie for the "incubator".

Then the adventure began... Having never been on Fort Ross Road, we traveled the 9 winding miles over the mountain. Below is a picture of the fog and ocean as we reached the top.


We made it to Fort Ross for Ross' first visit to his namesake. According to the sign below, it's May Tee Nee Time!!!! But first, we must play tourist...


The barely literate chomping at the bit to see the Fort instead of reading about it in the visitor's center. Ross, the literate, learned much more then these folks on this day.


The Eastern Orthodox Chapel at the Fort.


Picture inside the chapel dome.


View from one of the buildings.


Good Baby Bump picture.


On Monday after Ali and Ross left, we went to the Tides and bought a crab for dinner, then stopped by Gourmet Au Bay for a couple of wine "surfing" flights.

Nevada County Neighborhood RV Trip

December 14 - 17, 2007 - Seven couples (Lundquist, Hackett, Willoughby, Maxwell, Frost, Russell and Wilford) ventured forth to Nevada County and stayed at the Nevada County Fairgrounds with their RVs/Trailers for a festive weekend in Grass Valley and Nevada City. The fairgrounds have full hook-ups and served as base camp for the weekend.

We obtained use of a room that we were able to use for evening snacks and games and morning coffee get-togethers. The room had just been winterized, so with no carpet or amenities (i.e., bathroom), we enjoyed the heater and company and of course, dice.


On Saturday the 15th, we split up and ventured forth to historic Grass Valley to see the sights. Ten of us ended up in the same restaurant for lunch (Cirino's). Great food, but the service ended up to be a little terse. Still worth the visit.

Most of us then went to the Empire Mine State Park - the 3rd largest producing gold mine in the United States. Some of us took the docent led tour and learned quite a bit.


Brad, Roger, Diane, Martha, Mary and Cy enjoying the lecture.


Roger, Diane, Mary, Cy, Martha and Brad in the mine shaft. Quite awesome actually - pictures do not justify.


On Sunday, the Hackett's, Maxwell's, Willoughby's and Wilford's went for brunch at the Northern Queen Inn in Nevada City. Diane and Roger have stayed there a couple of times and recommended it. It was a wonderful brunch - great food and service. Beautiful grounds!






Next stop - Victorian Christmas in Nevada City. This is a very popular event. Such a cute historic town with great holiday spirit.

Martha, Mary and Diane checking out some booths as they set up.


Brad and Bud keeping warm. It was a little chilly!!


A bell ringing group from Sacramento.


Whoa!!! It's Father Christmas!


Holidays are not complete without Celtic dancers.


Here's precious Greta Lundquist enjoying her trip until.......

this mean old rooster attacked her, cutting one of her legs. A trip to the vet, some antibiotics and pain pills and Greta was more comfortable. NOTE - beware of roosters!!!!

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

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.

Doran Park, Bodega Bay - October 2007

We spent a few days at one of our favorite spots - Doran Park. The day we arrived it was 80 degrees! That doesn't happen very often and it felt really strange, but it was beautiful. The wind and fog did arrive on the following days, but it was still beautiful in the high 60's/ low 70's.

View from our trailer door. It is the boat channel from Bodega Harbor (to the right) to Bodega Bay (to the left).


Seagulls and the Jetty

Maggie trying to herd the seagulls. (she was on a leash)

Bud's birthday was on Thursday the 25th so we celebrated with a picnic at the Marin French Cheese Factory. We discovered the Schloss cheese when Ross' parents were out for a visit and just had to have it again.

We then had a WONDERFUL dinner at sunset at River's End in Jenner. We have been going here to the restaurant and cabins for 25+ years, but this was the first dining experience under the new owners. Below is a picture we took from one of the cabins during Ron and Robbie's visit in March. The restaurant was closed the night we stayed there, so we'll have to take Ron and Robbie back someday for dinner.

September 2007 - Neighborhood Group Trip to Columbia, CA

A group RV trip was planned with four other couples in our neighborhood. We decided to go to Columbia, CA, the historic gold rush town which is a historic state park , and only a 2 hour drive from home. The group stayed at 49er RV Ranch for 4 nights (we stayed one extra night). The staff at the RV park were very friendly and very accommodating. We had the use of a group room whenever we wanted. The weather was in the 70's, with one day of off and on rain.

The Five Rigs


Cy, Roger, Diane and Mary


Brad, Bud and Martha


Billye, John, Christy and Jack
John and his friend Christy were visiting for dinner. John is Jack and Billye's son who lives in the area.


Bud sharing a loving look at his wife with the camera.


Calaveras Big Trees
On Friday, Sept. 21st, we took a hike at Calaveras Big Trees State Park with Brad and Martha. Click here for our Trail Tales blog for pics and description of the hike.

Moaning Cavern
On Saturday, Sept. 22nd, Bud and I went to Moaning Cavern for a tour. I don't have very good pictures, but what can you do when you are 165 feet underground? We also did some wine tasting/buying at Irish Vineyard. We were very impressed with their wine and enjoyed the visit.

Metal staircase descending down the cavern was constructed in the 1920's from WWI war ship scrap metal. Over 400 steps. I strained a leg muscle on the descent and it took a couple of days to lose the limp.


Formation named the "igloo".


What a happy tourist!!


Railtown 1897
On Sunday, Sept. 23rd, Cy, Mary, Roger, Diane, Brad, Martha, Bud and I went to Jamestown to Railtown 1897 State Historic Park. This was a great little steam engine train ride with a very informative docent in each car. This is known as the Movie Railroad as quite a few movies and TV shows have been filmed here. TV shows of note - the beginning scene from Petticoat Junction, Little House on the Prairie, Wild, Wild West, Death Valley Days, and many more. Movies - Unforgiven, Back to the Future Part III, High Noon to name a few.

Diane, Roger and Cy - Mary is back there somewhere


The steam engine transferring to the back of the train to pull us back home. What a classic picture - little boys and trains just go together.


Signs from movies and TV shows. Note the Petticoat Junction sign at top.


Movie backdrop - real track in front, painting in the distance. Now they just use computers!


Movie prop - fake rock. What a stud!


Yosemite National Park
On Monday, Sept. 24th, the gang headed home as Bud and I spent our last day at Yosemite National Park. There were lots of people and tour buses. Can't imagine what it is like during the summer.

El Capitan from the Valley floor


We ventured up to Glacier Point as neither of us had ever been there. It was really worth the view.

Half Dome from Glacier Point


The Valley floor




Can you see Nevada Falls in the middle of the picture?