Nov
19th – 28th …We
drove in some pretty high winds out of Medford to Redding, CA. Also
some mountainous terrain. After a 191 miles drive we arrived in
Corning, CA at the Rolling Hills Casino around 2pm. The large lot
was quite empty so we thought it would be a good place to overnight.
We drove the car just over 30 miles to Chico and went to the movie,
'Lincoln'. After the movie we shopped at Trader Joe's and then had
pizza and beer at a local place called 'Woodstock Pizza'. We arrived
back at the RV's around 930p to a lot packed with trucks. There was
a refer parked just across from us that had his running all night
long! It was a bit noisy!!!!
On
Tue. the 20th
we headed down the road 175 miles to Santa Rosa where we stayed at
the Sonoma County Fairgrounds RV park. The park was ok but our check
in experience was not. We encountered one of the the rudest camp
hosts ever. He was definitely on a power trip. Once we got settled
in everything was ok.
On
Wednesday Doug drove use around. We made a circle trip through
Sonoma, Napa, Calistoga....We had lunch at a great local Mexican
restaurant (Taqueria Maria) in Napa While in Napa we drove by the
Cedar Gables Bed and Breakfast that we stayed in several years ago.
We walked around Robert Modavi Winery but decided against the tour
and tasting as they were pretty pricey....it's not like it used to be
when they were all free. We went down the road a ways to Whitehall
Lane Winery where we did do some wine tasting. The charge there was
$15 but they waived that when Fran bought 2 bottle of wine. The next
stop was at Berringer (the oldest winery in the valley). They were
closed early due to the holiday so we weren't able to go inside. We
did walk around their grounds and took many photos...their house and
grounds were beautiful!!!! The road home was quite windy but scenic.
Thanksgiving
we drove into San Francisco. We crossed the Golden Gate bridge and
then Doug took over the driving. We drove around the Golden Gate
park, to the beach near the 'Cliff House', though Haight/Ashbury,
down Lombard Street and then headed to the wharf. We parked the car
(free for the holiday) and purchased a ticket for the cable car and
street car($14 ea). We had a lovely ride to downtown – the end of
the line. We walked around a bit and then caught the historic street
car, where we followed the piers to our stop at Pier 39. We walked
around there a bit and saw the sea lions sun bathing! From there we
walked the wharf and stopped for a beer ($31 for 4). Next stop was
Ciopinno's, a neat Italian Seafood Restaurant. We had a wonderful
Thanksgiving dinner of Seafood.....Crab/Shrimp Louie for Doug and I,
Clam Linguine for Fran and Blackened Snapper for Mike...too finish it
off we split an excellent apple dessert. Afterwords we walked to
Ghirardelli Square and sampled the chocolate. We had perfect weather
for our San Fran trip and thoroughly enjoyed our day!!!!
Friday
we rested a bit and then in the afternoon we went to Costco, a couple
of Thrift stores and a quick Walmart stop. We barbecued tri-tip
steaks that evening.
Saturday
we checked on Fran's mail which didn't arrive. Then we drove to
Korbel Champagne Cellars where we went on a wonderful tour, did some
tasting (once before and once with the tour) and then had a great
lunch at their deli. We also had to make a few purchases. At least
the tour and tastings were free here. After leaving there we
continued on the curvy river road to the beach coming out near
Jenner. We headed north and made a couple of overlook stops to enjoy
the beautiful ocean view. We then headed south to Bodaga Bay. It
was another scenic day in Sonoma county!
On
Sunday it was a 200 round-trip into Sacramento where we went to Old
Sac. We met Tracy and Larry Park from Placerville for lunch. They
are friends of Doug and Fran – Larry is a guitarist that lived and
played in Great Falls. Old Sac is a neat historic place. We had
lunch on the river and enjoyed our visit.
On
Monday Mike & I left at 930a and Doug & Fran waited to pick
up the 'general delivery mail'. We worked our way through the San
Fran/Oakland area crossing the Richmond/ Rafael bridge. We made a
quick fuel/lunch stop in Gilroy. We arrived at Santa Maria Fairplex
around 430p. Today's drive was 315 miles. Doug and Fran arrived at
6p.
On
Tues. we drove the car to Solvang, a small Danish town out of
Buellton. We were there in 2005 but Fran has Danish roots so we
wanted to go again! We had a good danish lunch at 'The Red Viking'.
Went to the Bethania Lutheran Church which was built in 1912 and was
made to the look of a danish church of the 1600's. We wondered
around town and finished off the visit with a danish pastry and
coffee! On the return trip we stopped in Buellton at Andersen's
Split Pea Restaurant where we walked through their gift shop and
little museum which told of the history of Buellton.
On
Wed. we moved down the road 140 miles to Simi Valley. We toured the
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum.. When we visited
in 2005 they were just ready to move 'Air Force One' to the library.
We enjoyed our visit and got to see several new exhibits. Getting
there was a bit of a challenge for all. Doug & Fran had a
difficult time finding a diesel station that they could fix into –
they ended up detouring on a narrow curvy road to get turned around.
We couldn't find a place to stop to use the 'facilities' – exited
twice and had to detour around as well. We had planned to park at
the Reagan Library but there wasn't room for the car/motorhome so we
went to the nearby Walmart where there was also not enough room to
park. From there we went to the Oak Park RV park – a county park
we stayed at the last time. Doug & Fran arrived about an hour
after we did and just parked the RV and jumped in with us so we could
get to the library/museum. Neither of us had lunch so we were pretty
starved by the time we left. We headed to a local Mexican place
called Chuy's where we had fish tacos. The rest of the evening was
spent relaxing! Tomorrow, the 29th we drive to Indio to spend 5 nights.
