Well it's been a few days since I've last been on this network of social ramble about our daily occurrences and that was due to the loss of my Dell for the second time; but I've rectified that problem with my first time purchase of a Macbook. I read Steve Jobs biography and while he was a little different he was a stickler for perfection in this field of communication via the Internet and would have nothing but the most innovative people in this field. I must tell you I haven't perfected this new system and while I'm able to write about the past couple days I haven't set up the photo sharing and down loading yet from my camera to the new Book; so bear with me until I get my son in law Tyler who helped me get this far late last night after this purchase in Brandon last evening.
We headed out last Monday morning from Truckee, Ca. on I-80 towards Sacramento around 7'ish with our friends the Tracy's and Botbyl's. That was the first time for me in over 40 + years to be on that roadway. Well the traffic was stop and go so we stopped at 4 Sisters restaurant on the outskirts of Sacramento for a delicious breakfast. The last time I was in this town was to receive my college diploma from CSUS or Sac. State in 1973. This was a small town compared to what we encountered this morning. I couldn't even find the college as we passed through the area.
We headed down towards the bay area and stopped off at the Fairfield exit where I use to live and served in the USAF at Travis from 66-73. Well I recognized nothing as the city has grown so much except for the high school where I student taught and coached in the early 70's. We headed next door to the small town know as Suisun where I did various jobs to support myself while attending college after leaving the regular air force. I stayed 3 years in the reserves at Travis while attending school. Well Suisun has changed so much the main street into town is gone as well as the neighborhood I lived in is gone; it's under water as the slough is now part of the facade of the town. The old bar and neighbor is no longer but I did see the old church building where I would cut the grass on Saturdays still in tact and being used. We left the area and headed over to the Napa Valley just across the mountain towards the coast.
The city of Napa is quaint and we lingered there for awhile before heading up to the wine country. There were large estate vineyards all along the roadway with the grapes visible from the road. We stopped at the Mondulvi Winery which was just huge in it's vastness and opulence. A couple of us did the tasting but it was too expensive for my taste(no pun intended) at 20 bucks for 4 wines. Now I will stick with the N.C. tastings at 6 or more tastes for 5 bucks and you keep the glass, oh well I had to keep reminding myself we were in Ca. where gas is nearly 4 bucks a gallon. We travelled up the valley for several miles before deciding to head towards San Francisco.
We came upon the Sonoma Raceway where NASCAR holds the races on a track called the road course. This is not the typical oval shaped race way but one with switch backs and lots of curves. The place was huge in area and they let us in at no charge to watch motorcycles run the courses. Wow what an experience for us. The cycles were there to practice and not in any major competition except between the many different classes.
We next headed down towards the bay are and decided to find the Muir Woods which held some giant redwoods. Well that was a harrowing experience as we traveled up and then down this roadway through the hills that saw drop off's of several hundred feet with hairpin curves and no guardrails. A few of us were getting green and when we found the entrance to the park is was so congested and priced outrageous. So we decided to forego the hike and head to the city back up the way we had come down; needless to say the vistas were awesome but a bit discomforting. We were looking for the bunkers that over look the Golden Gate bridge and did find some exhilarating views after stopping on the narrow turnouts along with lots of other visitors.
We headed across the bridge where the toll was $7.50 per car and where they mail you the charge as no stopping was allowed. The bridge was loaded with vehicles both coming and going as well as foot traffic on either side. Well we were looking for a recommended eatery in the city but it turned out to be disappointing in our first observation as it's been there since 1947. We decided to head down to the fisherman's wharf area where we found an eatery right across from the water. Alcatraz and the Gate was in the background. Well after a barbecue supper we suffered our first mishap as Carol missed a step exiting the building and twisted her ankle and foot. Luckily she was able to go on after icing it and did not require medical attention at that time.
We travel up to the Coitt Tower which over looks the city in a panoramic view and then traveled down to Lombard Street. We visited the tourist area of the wharf where that has changed almost into a Coney Island atmosphere with hoards of folks on this Monday evening. Well we decided since we had a 2-3 hour drive from the city to Monterey it was time to head out. The 6 and 8 lanes of travel both ways was choked at times with commuters. We made it down to our motel somewhere around 10'ish. The Bay Area was having one of its warmer days which is just the opposite from the norm where cool temps, fog and wind usually prevail. Our first night at the motel found us with a room having no a/c which wasn't advertised. After opening the windows the cool air and a fan made it livable despite the road noise. We were upgraded the next night to a luxurious room complete with whirlpool, a fireplace and a/c in the room, yikes this suite was huge and very first class.
We were up early and on our way along the coast to Cannery Row and then to Carmel where we had a great lunch at a Greek type eatery. This town reminded us so much of Blowing Rock with it's vast number of shoppes and the gals had a wonderful time checking out all of the shoppes. We guys people watched and tagged along for awhile. We headed down the 17 mile ride on Pebble Beach taking in all of the vistas and watching Nancy and Carol nearly getting swept away by a rogue wave while placing their feet in the Pacific Ocean. What a hoot that turned out to be. We then headed up to Spanish Bay to see the lone bagpiper play an entertain us at this ritzy resort while drinking hot drinks on the outside courtyard. He even played a wedding song for us as it was our 36th anniversary. We met two other couples who were vacationing and made friends of them as well.
We headed over to Cannery Row again for supper and had a fabulous meal of Dungeness Crab cakes, scallops, fish and chips and clam chowder. What a super time we had and the our waitress was awesome and they even brought us a divine dessert for the occasion. We were stuffed and waddled out of the area and headed back to the motel for a restful night which really needed no a/c as the cooler temps and fog blanketed the area. The next morning we headed north towards the Henry Crowell State Park where we encountered great redwoods. The nearly mile stroll through the park had us shivering at times from the cool temps as well from these huge giants of over 2000 years old and nearly 300 feet in height. What an awesome sight to behold as we viewed these living trees in a serene setting. Wow even though I had seen some years ago in Northern Ca. their beauty was still breath taking in all of their majesty to view again.
We headed towards the Vacaville area and I found a place I use to eat at called Pietro's Pizza. The original owners are long gone but the grandson's still run the place and we had a great meal as well as got all of the info on what has transpired since I was last there. It was very nostalgic for me as I remember all of the great time with friends from years past. Well we headed on back to Truckee and got there before dark and started to get ready for our return flight to Tampa the next day. We sure had a great time, sight seeing, eating, making new friends and a few raucous cards game as well. The time just flew by and we are planning on some day to make the trip down to Yosemite when the wild fires have abated.
I was great to see our kids and grand kids and we even had the Ross kiddos spend the night on Friday night. We all attended the pool party birthday celebration for Annsley and Gabe on Saturday in Brandon. Today we will visit the church in Riverview where Bobby is leading worship and then have all of the family here for a birthday dinner for Tyler.later in the evening. I will catch up with explanations of the pictures from our trip at a later date, LATER
