February 27, 2009

Today is Don’s 73rd birthday.

We woke up in our cabana at El Castillo Del Sol in Palm Springs, California. From our bed, we can see the pool and woke up to blue skies and warm temperatures. It fit’s the bill. Yesterday we drove 500 plus miles through the rain, over mountain passes and arrived to 80 degree weather here in Southern California. Barb had rented this place for a week. The house is owned by a man from Seattle and he rents out 2 of the wings. It is a funky, eclectic home from the 1930’s with Hope/Crosby/LaMour as neighbors in old Palm Springs. We have a little kitchen, use of the pool and hot tub. And all the grapefruit we want. Last night was VillageFest in Old Town with lots of booths with crafts, dates and funky California stuff.
(We are still in California and we’re already 1800 miles into our trip.)

February 25, 2009

After saying our good byes to Patty and Gerry, we drove south along the east side of the bay to Arjun and Bindu Israni’s house in Fremont. They live in a gorgeous home in the hills with views all the way to the water. Arjun shared some of his extensive wine collection with us- wonderful California cabernets. The evening was filled with wonderful food, great wines and lots of reminiscing.

February 23, 2009

We had lunch with Mildie Whedon. Mildie and her husband, John are dear friends that we had met on a trip in the Scandinavian countries. John is now in the Alzheimer’s wing in a home in San Rafael. Mildie has moved to a lovely condo just minutes away from John. Mildie is planning a trip to Italy with her Italian study group in June and still is as feisty as ever.

February 22, 2009

Yesterday we drove up to Sonoma and Napa valley to visit wineries. We stopped at Jacuzzi, Larsen Family and Ballentine to taste. Each had its own unique character. Jacuzzi was very crowded but the host was very attentive and focused on us - their speciality is Italian style wines which were very tasty. The Larsen Family is located down unpaved road - very rural feeling. We really enjoyed the Gewurtztraminer and purchased a bottle which was consumed while we played a game of boules overlooking the vineyard. Gerry and I took an early lead. Patty and Don tried to make a comeback but we pulled out a win. The mustard was blooming in the fields and was very photogenic. For lunch, we dined at The Rutherford Grill (Patty and Gerry's favorite restaurant) - good food and ambience. We ate so late that it became our lunch and dinner. Our last stop was at Ballentine-we purchased a case of red - big, full taste - YUM!!!
Today it is really raining here. We are taking a slow, lazy day. Patty is leaving us to fly to Albuquerqe, New Mexico with her mom, Lois for a meeting and some touring. We'll miss her.

February 20, 2009

We left Reno this morning. Our drive into Reno was uneventful. The weather was gorgeous. We had purchased chains for the truck in Sacramento because the highway report insisted that chains were required for 40 miles along I-80 across Donner Pass and partway into Nevada. Of course by the time we had driven up into the mountains, the road was plowed and very clean and no chains needed at all. Frustrating but the driving was very easy. We gambled our way around Reno - no big winners and no big losers either. The weather was very good and driving back into California on Friday was easy.
We drove to Patty and Gerry Hiatt's house in Mill Valley today and are sure happy to see them. It has been so long since we have had the chance to visit and we've really been anticipating this visit.

February 17, 2009

After we left Washington, we drove to Red Bluff, California. Crossing into California was uneventful, however, as we drove into the Mt. Shasta area we entered a snow zone with lots of snow along the road and big flakes hitting the windshield. We were not amused. As we got to lower elevation, the precipitation changed over to rain which continued throughout the evening. Unfortunately, the weather report was full of bad news. It was snowing in the Sierra Mountains and chains were required to get over the pass into Reno. This meant we moved out reservation out a day in Reno and spent the night in a motel in Sacramento.

February 15, 2009

We packed up the truck with clothes for every situation, camping gear, and all our maps and headed south. Our first stop was with Dave and Mandy McCallum in Vancouver, Washington. The weather was spring like and really put us into the travelling mood. Dave cooked a wonderful meal of lamb which we enjoyed with Mandy's parents, Ed and Eileen Hyde. Ed's daughter from France, Viv and her husband, Allan were also visiting. The evening was fun with lots of laughs and a few bottles of wines.

Reason to Leave Seattle

So much snow has fallen this winter in Seattle that we knew we had to get out of town to someplace warmer.