Coming To The End

We've come to the end of our winter break.  We arrived at Carol and Dick' s on Sunay night, but tomorrow we leave for home.

The past four days have been a lot of fun we got to see the new house as it's being built, as well as some of the other cottages in the community.

The desert is very different from what we see in our backyard.

One day we went to Jerome, Arizona.  It's a quaint western mining town sitting on the,side of a mountain.  Fantastically beautiful drive.

Yesterday we went to Prescott, Arizona.  It's a nice town with some cool shops around a town square.  We had lunch at The Palace on Whisky Row.  It was,so much fun, with lots of pictures of Wyatt Earp and his brothers.  

Today we took a train to the Grand Canyon.  What fun!  

The Cataract Creek Gang busted out of jail and robbed the train.  But luckily the Marshall caught them.

Now we're headed home tomorrow.  Sad to leave everyone and these fun places but it will be great to get home. 

Bad Blogger

I haven't been very good about letting you know what we've been doing.  Well, you haven't missed much.  What we've been busy with is trying to feel better and get healthy.  Our friends, Jan and Linus were sick when we got to California and it took a while for them to feel up for company.  Then Sean and Amy got sick with upper respiratory infections.  This past weekend I had a stomach bug.  Virus, or bad shrimp?  I'm leaning toward a couple of dubious shrimp at the sushi restaurant.  At least it seems we're all on the road to recovery now.  Thank goodness.

We have been spending some time with Jan and Linus.  Shopping one day in Brentwood and wine tasting in Livermore.  Anything more ambitious has been cancelled due to illness but we're having fun anyway.

Last weekend we went to Napa for a little wine tasting.  Went to one of our favorites, V. Sattui.  Now, this is pretty typical for this trip, so you'll understand we were not the least bit surprised when the electricity went out while we were tasting.  Thank goodness I downloaded the flashlight app on my phone.

We over there in the dark!

After wine tasting we ate at a great little drive in, Gott's Roadside Diner.

Yesterday we did part of the San Francisco 49 Mile Drive.  It was very busy, but kind of fun to drive around the city.  It was hard to take pictures but I got these from the car windows.

San Francisco Skyline

Dragon Gate Entrance to Chinatown

We've been dog-sitting with our grandpuppy, Lewis.  

Awww!

Sean and Amy left on Saturday for New,York to attend a memorial service for Amy's grandmother.  They landed in Detroit but the connecting flights to New York were cancelled due to weather.  Unfortunately they missed the memorial and,spent Valentine's weekend in Detroit, without luggage most of the time.  I know they'll be glad to get home tonight.  And I know Lewis will be happy to see them.

Got The Meat Sweats!

We went into the city (San Francisco) today.  Rode the BART with Amy and John and I got off at the Embarcadero stop while she went in to work.  We walked a few blocks down to the Ferry Market Building.

After coffee at Blue Bottle, we met Sean.  He had been helping on the phones at the KQED Public Radio pledge drive.  A tour of the market took us to the booth for 4505 Burgers and BBQ.  This is the company that Amy works for.

When we were done at the market we met Amy at the 4505 Burgers and BBQ restaurant.  We had The Presidential platter.  This was featured as the best BBQ party platter on the tv show "Best. Ever." on the Food Network.  You wouldn't believe the brisket!  Melts in your mouth. Needless to say, we had plenty of leftovers.

And the meat sweats!

Into The Woods

Sorry that I've been gone for a while.  We've just been relaxing and enjoying the weather.  It's warm, in the low 70s and sunny.  Perfect for the hot tub.

Yesterday we went to Muir Woods, just north of San Francisco.  It's so quiet and peaceful.  And beautiful.  Giant redwoods tower over you.

Or engulf you.

From there we drove to Sausalito intending to have dinner at Scoma's. But, as is typical for us, they're closed on Tuesday.  We "made do" with another seafood restaurant.  It was wonderful sitting there enjoying dinner looking across the bay at the city.