Watch Out for Falling Grammas!

This is the last leg of our trip. Interesting that we end up in an area known for snow, but it is dry. We are headed back to record snow fall still on the ground at home in Michigan and cold temperatures. We will be home for a month, then off to our next adventure in Europe, Barcelona, the Pyrenees and Bourdeaux. So we probably won't be posting until we leave for that trip.

We took Isaac on a hike on Sunday.  He is so much fun, just jokes around, and is just funny.
I made up a scavenger hunt of 20 things he had to find on the walk, like litter,
a bug, a mottled rock, a bird, etc.    The hardest thing was a bird, believe it or not, but we kept looking and amending the list.   He has an old cell phone, so he took it so he could take pictures of all the items, in case we decided he needed proof later, and to make it more fun.    By the end, he enjoyed taking pictures of us taking pictures of each other.  

as

As we were walking, there was a bit of a slope on the hill, and we began joking about falling, which then morphed into "watch out for falling grammas"!    Isaac thought this was really funny, and Dan and he were joking about it.  Isaac then wondered if there was a "falling grammas dot com" on google.  So I googled it.  And there was!  It was "falling grammas", without the dot com, but still!    We couldn't get over that!
Even the next day, he kept talking about finding it on Google.  I said I know, i thought that was so funny, and Isaac, typical rationalist that he is, says "well, we weren't talking about how FUNNY it was, we were talking about how remarkable it was."

The next day we said our good-byes, and flew home to the cold, cold cold!

Back Where we Started and Oh, That Sun!

Went up to Snowbird Ski Resort to meet Matt and Isaac.  Isaac is taking ski lessons, so we hung out with Matt while waiting for him.   It was beautiful!   This resort is breathtaking, really.    We took the tram up to the top to just look at the vistas.   I had toyed with maybe skiing, haven't done this for quite a while, but I was tempted--until I got there!   Even the easy runs, the only ones I'd even venture, looked long and difficult.   It was just as nice to explore the place, take up the tram, and soak up the atmosphere.  It was chilly, but oh, the sun!   There is a reason people come to Utah to ski!   The snow is wonderful, and oh, the sun is so intense, and the sky so blue, the mountains so huge!   The parking lots were crammed full of cars, cars were everywhere, on the roads into the place and everywhere.  Yet, the mountains are so huge and there are so many ski runs, that the slopes had no crowds on them.

Matt

We caught up with Isaac when he was done, with his instructor crowing about his progress, and how he's the fastest skier he's taught!   How wonderful to learn how to ski at age 6, and to learn to not be fearful of this sport, as well as learning how to do it well.

We later took Isaac out to dinner at his favorite restaurant, the Old Spaghetti Factory.   It's always crowded, but Rachel later said it's usually crowded with prom night teens or other small groups.  Tonight, it was one huge family after another, all with little kids crying or screaming or running around.  It was like being stuck in a day care prison!   We tried to eat as fast as we could, but this is difficult as Isaac eats even slower than Matt used to as a kid, and believe me, that was mighty slow!

Finally got finished, albeit to a few bribes, and went home to watch some Scooby Doo, then to put him to read.   We still read him stories, but now, he reads to us too.  He loves the Mo Willems "Pigeon" series, and we had ordered him a few new ones, so he read them.  He reads them with the expression they are written with, and we had giggles as he read to me.  

Reno, the Biggest Little City of Excess

The road to Salt Lake City is paved with riches.   Beautiful, sometimes bleak landscape, miles and miles of high desert with mountain ranges in the distance, train tracks carrying two engine freight trains carting gigantic loads, miles of salt flats where you can see forever, and often see mirages.
And Reno.    Reno is about the only place to stay driving from Salt Lake to our Northern Ca. destinations.   The casinos always have great specials, and some of them have very nice rooms, as we've indicated on the beginning of our trip.   This time, we stayed in the Atlantis.  Not as nice, by far, but again, cheap---$50, which includes breakfast.      We had a nice dinner at the Sterling Steakhouse, which had an early bird special (yes, it was full of people our age, but it also was a very good special in a place where the prices for food can be outlandish or you get awful food)
The next morning, we had our breakfast at the buffet at the Atlantis.   I took some pictures of all the selections, though I could only do it section by section as it's so huge.  If you've never seen a buffet in either Vegas or Reno, it's a must.   We didn't eat that much, it's obscene, really, but it's fascinating and disturbing to think of how wasteful it is!

Good Bye to Wine Country Cottage

Lucy and Bob

Well, Bob and Lucy returned after a long drawn out journey home from Mexico. Lucy shared the highlights of the trip with us at breakfast, as we debriefed them on the events at the house while they were gone.  It was a great stay there, and we will are glad to add them to our list of friends, and hope to continue our friendship.











Murphy was quite excited when they returned, but interestingly he remained comfortable with all of us there. The size of his pack has increased and I guess we are still members. We will miss him.  We will miss all of the animals, and the great weather of Sonoma as we travel East and eventually land back in the frozen north. But it is time to go home, and rejoin the hearty few who chose to be in Northern Michigan in March. 

Pat gives a hug as she wipes off a wet Murphy

The end is near

This is a price list for bread at a bakery in the Ox Bow Market in Napa.  I thought the prices were a bit outrageous even for California. Must be good bread.






Lucy and Bob return today from their adventures. That means we move back into the guest cottage for one night before we hit the road for Salt Lake City and begin our trip back home. When we got here, Murphy the 100 lb Bernese Mountain Dog, wouldn't come within 50 ft of either of us. Right now he has his head in my lap and is bugging me to let him go outside. I guess that's progress. It's been a great three weeks here, we've enjoyed the area, and had fun with the animals and sharing them with Henry on his visit..

One thing different about this visit to California, as opposed to our earlier ones, is that we have been able to see people that we know from other visits, our past and our present life.  It has made us feel less isolated out here on the coast. Pickle ball has been great fun also, and we have met some very nice people in that group while we got a chance to improve our game.  We'll be keeping at it when we return to the frozen north. 



We have become quite adept at living in other peoples houses. Having done this several times now either as "house sitter" or on a home exchange, we've picked up a few skills in that area. It takes a while to get settled, and to find out where things are and what the various peculiarities are to each place but once we do, it becomes comfortable.  If there's something we think we can't live without, we go to the Dollar Store to supplement. That's usually in the kitchen and bath.  Though we are as careful as we can be, sometimes things get broken, and we try to replace what we can. This time it's a butter dish, a glass baking pan, and a couple of wine glasses.  Ceramic floors are unforgiving.  Hopefully we leave things in as good a shape as they were when we moved in. We do appreciate this opportunity to experience Sonoma county from a new perspective.

This trip was particularly fun because of the variety of activities on the property. The guests in the cottage were all interesting, and seemed to have enjoyable visits. Those who rated us on the various rental web sites gave us good marks.  The animals were fun, and even the chores gave us some sense of belonging here and put some structure to the day. 

A Celebratory Sunday and A Phat Wet Non-Stop Monday That had Mixed Reviews

We drove to Jay and Lindsey's today, so eager to see them and Henry.   It was for the celebration of her parents 70th, as both of them have birthdays within a couple of weeks of each other.    We were also going to watch the Oscars.   It was fun at the celebration, and Henry enjoyed the ribbons and decorations on the gifts.  Had a nice dinner, and watched some of the Oscars, which was really fun for me and Jay and Lindsey.   We left early, as Henry really needed to get to sleep, and the show was going to go on forever!  Still, a pleasure to watch it on Pacific Time, as it goes so late!






Monday.
Well, it's still raining.  No pickleball, no sun.   We aren't complaining too much, it's not snow and it's not below zero.  But, we are getting tired of the rain, and also anxious about getting ready to leave.

We drove to Mill Valley as I had to return something to the Eileen Fisher store there.  It's always an enjoyable town, with very classy shops!   The rest of Marin County is actually pretty casual and low key, but Mill Valley is the ritzy one.   Except for one restaurant we stumbled into a few years ago, Phatbuger!    It is indeed, the most delicious hamburger we've ever eaten, and we decided to have a pig out today.    Not just the cheeseburger, but the chocolate milkshake and the garlic fries!  Oh, we are bad!  But oh, it was good!

Later, we quickly came home, did our duty with the animals, putting on high boots and sloshing around in the mud to feed them.  Decided to go to a movie. (we actually plan to catch up on movie watching when we're in Ca., as it generally rains part of the time we're always here, plus we aren't scheduled very much).   Anyway, we saw "Non-Stop" with Liam Neesam.   Oh good grief, this movie is SO bad!
We decided they need to do an Airplane 3 take off of it!   Made absolutely no sense, was just laughable.  The couple who walked out with us were trying to tie it together, seriously, and I really wanted to tell them, "people, this movie is just not logical, forget it!".  I didn't, I answered their question.  Which of course, brought up another, because it was completely improbable!

What to do in the Rain and We Lost Another One

Well, it's been raining off and on for the last 3 days. It pours rain, slow down and it stops, and the sun shines.  Murphy, the 100 lb Bernese Mountain dog that lives here, is not much of a water dog, so he  goes outside just long enough to get very wet, then comes in and gets dried off. He's a beautiful dog and has finally warmed up to us.

  The much needed rain has given us a chance to catch up with things, like movies! We saw "Gloria" the other night, which is a Chilean movie that won some award as Best Foreign Film.  Not great, but enjoyable, and good to go to a foreign flick. We saw "Nebraska" the next night, in Sebastopol, and really enjoyed it.   A very sweet movie with very good acting.  What was amazing was that we bumped into Christina there, my Zumba friend from Leelanau who is staying in Dillon Beach and we visited earlier.   So funny to bump into her!

Yesterday, we went wine tasting with these people we had met through our home exchange group, and in whose home we had stayed a few years ago.   They belong to wine clubs at Seghosia and Michel-Schlumberger,  both wonderful wineries!   Because they belong to the clubs, we got free tastings as well as some of the wines not normally listed.   Very fun, very fun day with them.

Today, we met some Newcomers who are nearby visiting their aunt (Al and Carol).   We met in Santa Rosa at the Santa Rosa Brewing Company, best known for their beers.  (clearly not their food!)   It was fun to be with them, we don't know them very well, but I think we will become friendlier.

newcomers in santa rosa!  (with their kids)

It's been really nice to be social out here, as there have been times we've come out for a while and barely knew anyone.   This has been different this time, and it's been great.   Playing pickleball with this group has really helped too.   It's been a really good time, and we are getting sad about leaving soon.

And oh dear, oh dear, we lost another chickie! We are not sure which one, we think it's one of the brown ones. It was one that slept in a tree next to the coop and wouldn't go in the coop at night.  It disappeared in the night, leaving behind a handful of feathers. It's hard to not be sad about it, we feel attached to them. Lucy told us that losing  them is inevitable with predators in around.  It was interesting that the other chicken that slept in the tree decided to join the rest of the flock in the coop tonight.

The weather in Michigan continues to be unbelievably awful, and we just don't want to face it again!

Sunday we will spend the day in Alameda, with a stop in Berkeley.  We will be celebrating Lindsey's parents 70th birthdays and staying around to watch the Academy awards. We miss Henry being out here this weekend.  His visits here were fun, as he loves all the things out here.  He's at such a great age for this place.

Hopefully we will get some better weather the next couple of days and get some more pickle ball in before we head back to Salt Lake and then the frozen north.
One thing we have done out here is spend some time planning our next trip which is in April.  This one will be to the Barcelona, the Spanish, Pyrenees, then Bordeaux, France.  We have most of our travel plans done now, just have to figure out a car on one leg.
Pat and Dan




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A Feast for Foodies and a Diamond of a Stairway Walk

Went into San Francisco today, despite the rain, because it's Wednesday, and we thought the Farmers Market was at the Ferry Building.   (it wasn't, it's tomorrow, but it was fine, it was actually less crowded)  This is our favorite location in San Francisco, the first place we tell people  to visit here.   An old building converted into shops, restaurants and also hosts a fantastic Farmers Market on saturdays, and, yes, on thursdays!   Wonderful food all around, wonderful shopping.
Had lunch there at Out the Door, the take out place of The Slanted Door, one of the top restaurants in San Francisco.    It was very good, of course!  Then, went food shopping, and here is the bounty:

goodies from the Ferry Building

Acme Bread----rustic rye bread

Baccaloni Sausage--regular Salami

Miette Bakery--a brownie

Tcho chocolate (from their nearby factory) assorted chocolates

Cowgirl Creamery--montgomery cheddar cheese, Point Reyes Blue Cheese,plus 2 other assorted Bellweather cheeses, hand churned butter

some of these will be gifts, but so good!

Then, we did a Stairway Walk, which has been one of my continual goals out here, from the book,

Stairway Walks of San Francisco.   I haven't done a walk in quite a while, as it's sometimes hard to get into the city.    We decided to do this today, even though it was raining, though at that point, not very hard.    It's called the Diamond Heights walk, as that is the area it is in.   well, we walked up and down a few streets, and then realized we could not do the whole thing on foot!   We'd have to return to do that, if we did nothing else that day.  These are hills, people, steep, steep hills, knee hurting on the way up and the way down.    So, we drove part of it, that which we could.  It is gorgeous, a neighborhood we've never seen before.  Gorgeous views of the whole city and the Bay from atop the hills, just wonderful!  you have to look closely because it looks all like mountains, but it's the city in the lower picture, amid the trees, and the Bay behind that.

view from Diamond Street

We came home after that, needing to get out of the city before the traffic got crazy.  The rain got much, much worse, and that just about cripples this city.   Not something to scoff at though, as flooding happens very quickly.   As much as they need the rain, it can cause havoc.  The driving was very bad, very foggy, poor visability and a steady rain.

Came home to feed our charges, and it was a whole new thing, going into the barnyard in the rain and mud!    Oddly enough, I found 6 eggs today, the most I've found yet.    Strange!

like the fashion statement?