In Petaluma again

Hello, all.

Please excuse my long silence.

As you may recall, there was a broken seal in a back window of the RV when we purchased it in Oregon.  Because it is under warranty we decided to have it replaced.  The window has finally arrived at an RV service/dealership in Dublin, southeast of Petaluma and directly south of Walnut Creek, in the SF Bay Area. 

Lee and I decided to have the work done here so that we and "the boys" (aka, the birds) can stay at my sister's while the work is being done.  It will take at least a couple of days because of some other minor problems that need to be addressed while the RV is in the shop.

So, Lee and I have been essentially hanging out, not venturing far from Petaluma, for the last several days.  We have been exploring the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, and no, we have not been on a drinking binge.  We are not big drinkers, so have not visited any wineries while here.  But we have been enjoying the gently rolling hills, green now because of rain last weekend, and walking through small towns, sampling meals at small, but very good, restaurants. 

The weather, by the way, has been beautiful.  As in most of the country, it has been a much warmer winter than usual.  We have enjoyed sunshine and temperatures in the 50's and 60's every day. 

I have been remiss in not taking any photos, and have nothing to show of our wanderings.  Hence, the lack of posts.  I suppose the reason might be that I know the area too well, so lack the initial excitement of one to whom the scenery is all fresh and new.

That's it for now.  It may be another week before you hear from me again.  Not to worry, all is well.

More of the Monterey Bay Area

We visited friends, Kathy and her husband Dave, while in Monterey.  Kathy and I started with a hike through the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve.  The slough is a tidal marsh that reaches far inland, and provides an important habitat for many birds, animals, fish, and other organisms.  This is near its mouth at Moss Landing, where there are hundreds of shore birds:

The landscape itself is beautiful, populated by grasses and oaks:

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The old barn houses barn owls during breeding season:

The next day, Lee and I traveled the 17-mile drive along the Monterey shoreline.  Spanish Bay was rocky:

Bird Rock was populated with noisy elephant sea lions instead of birds:

There were deer on a nearby golf course:

The famous Monterey pines are always beautiful:

On the rock in the photo below is the Monterey pine that is photographed more than any other.  Do you recognize it?

Lee had to stop to see the infamous 18th hole of the Pebble Beach golf course:

A visit to the Monterey Bay area is not complete without a day at Carmel-by-the-Sea.  The main street (Ocean Drive) is lined with pines,  high-end stores, and great restaurants. 

We strolled the streets with our friends Kathy and Dave, whom I have known for many years.  Good times! 

Lee and I visited the town of Monterey a few more times, and below are the pics to prove it.  By the way, it turns out we were very fortunate to catch such beautiful weather.  Normally, January is cold, wet, and foggy.  We just happened to catch sunshine and an unusual warm spell, resulting in great photo opportunities!  The photo below was taken looking towards Monterey's harbor, filled with sailboats.

The three specks you see in the water below are scuba divers, heading out to explore the kelp beds:

And the harbor again, from a closer vantage point:

I am sure you have heard of Cannery Row, of which John Steinbeck wrote.  Here is Lee walking towards what used to be the canneries. They canned sardines here until the sardine fisheries crashed from over-fishing following World War II.  Today, Cannery Row is filled with tourist shops:

I loved the sunset - the pink sky colored the water pink.  Beautiful!  By the way, we were also told that one rarely sees the sunset from the Monterey Bay shoreline, because it is usually shrouded in fog.  We saw numerous glorious sunsets!  Are we charmed?  I think so. 

Monterey Bay

We are staying at Moss Landing, midway between Santa Cruz and Monterey.  I have never been to Moss Landing, and find it to be a very interesting place.  There are three research agencies here that study the Bay, and some surprisingly good restaurants that serve very fresh fish.  The RV park is surrounded on three sides by a harbor and its boats.  We watched American coots grazing on a lawn:

 

The beach is within walking distance:

We watched a US Coast Guard ship pull up channel markers for inspection:

and enjoyed yet another spectacular sunset:

When one visits Monterey, one must visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium to see sea dragons:

jellyfishes of various kinds:

and the guest of honor, a Laysan albatross!  She only appears on days when she feels like it.  Some days she just doesn't want to face the crowds.  We were fortunate to catch her on a good day.  She loves to have a good head scratch, just like Munchkin!

The aquarium cares for several shore birds that were rescued, including the long-legged black-necked stilt.  They look much larger close up:

The Aquarium has different ways of creating wave action for its residents.  Even the shore birds have a little beach to themselves that is washed continually by small waves:

Some of the residents are very colorful:

Seahorses are such amazing creatures.  The Aquarium has several tanks, each housing different species.  I took a video of a yellow seahorse that blended perfectly into its surroundings.  Click this link to view:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0xDHqz6Epk&feature=youtu.be

The sea otters are very popular. There are five in the sea otter tank, all female. They sometimes serve as surregate mothers to rescued pups. To view a short video on YouTube, taken with my iPhone video function, click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ymXXUWc36Q&feature=youtu.be

Family and friends

I have to correct the opening of my last blog post.  I said "I'm baaack", when in reality it is the blog that is back.  : )  Lee and I are still in California, and plan to return to Philadelphia towards the end of April.  It is hard to believe we are more than half way through our year-long odyssey!

I had stated that Lee and I would spend the holidays with friends and family, and so we did. 

Facebook has helped me reconnect with cousins, colleagues and friends, which made it easy to find people once I arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area.  One day I received an email from Lucy, whom I worked with over 25 years ago at the Contra Costa County Library System.  She sent me an invitation to join a group for lunch, held biweekly, of people I had worked with all those years ago.  Of the 10 people at the luncheon, I knew 9 of them!  It was so much fun to see them all again, such a treat for me.  Most had continued to work for the library system, and had retired within the last couple of years.  All baby boomers, like me.  Can you believe it?  25 years later? 

I saw my cousins Kim, Heidi, Geof and his wife Jamie, and my Aunt Joan.  Below is a photo of my cousin Kim and I, when we met for  dinner one evening in Concord:

Lee and I spent quite a bit of time with my sister Corinne, who took time off work while we were here.  I also saw my two BFF's, Nan and Laurin, whom I have known since sixth grade on Maui.  They both live in the SF Bay Area now.

On this particular day, Corinne, myself, Nan, and Lee hiked in the hills of Lucas Valley:

We looked down at the George Lucas buildings that are located in the valley.  It was from this facility that the original Star Wars movies were created.  I learned something new - Lucas Valley was so-named long before George Lucas came along.  Interesting, huh?  The bright spot in the center of the photo is a pond, which feeds a man-made waterfall half-way up the hill.

On January 2, Nan, Laurin, Corinne, Bob (Laurin's husband), Lee and I stopped for brunch at Nan's, then drove off in two cars to meet at Muir Woods.  Muir Woods is a beautiful place, a grove of redwoods, sacrosanct, as magnificent as any cathedral.  The last time I visited the grove there were about ten people and just a few cars in the parking lot.  This time, there were hundreds of cars parked up and down the canyon road on either side of the grove, and people walked a mile or more to reach the woods.  We decided to bail.  I couldn't imagine all those people in the grove - it's not very large to begin with.  So we drove back to Mill Valley and walked around its charming town center.  We found a grouping of redwoods behind a directional sign, and took a photograph to commemorate the day we did NOT visit Muir Woods:

As you might imagine, Lee and I have learned many things about each other on this trip.  One thing that I found surprising is ... cats love Lee!  My sister has two cats, and she sometimes watches two cats for a friend.  Four cats in a condo!  Can you imagine?  I took this hilarious photo of Lee surrounded by three of the four cats.  Who'd a thought?

I have one last set of characters to introduce you to.  The KOA Kampground in which we are staying happens to have a menagerie of animals for its petting zoo.  Peacocks, a Guinea hen, goats, donkeys, a sheep and chickens.  They are all very friendly.  During the holiday season they reminded me of the creche scene with its menagerie of farm animals.  Here are a few of them (I can't help myself - I love animals of all kinds):

So cute!

Some day I want to have a couple of goats.  They have personality plus!

One last note: an update on my Nikon D60, which you may recall I dropped into the ocean at Cape Disappointment, Washington.  I sent the camera and the lens to Nikon.  The camera came back to me labelled "Beyond repair"  ~sigh~  But they were able to fix the lens, so that's the good news.

The next edition of the blog will be from:  Monterey Bay! 

Happy New Year!

Hello to everyone!  I'm baaaack!

I hope your holidays were filled with family, friends, and good times.

I really enjoyed the time I spent with my family this last month and a half.  It has been many years since Lee and I have been able to visit family on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I am abundantly grateful.

We now plan to stay in Petaluma, northern California, until Sunday, January 8.  Lee feels it will be easier to drive through the Bay Area on a Sunday, as the traffic will be lighter, and I think he is probably right.  We will drive south on the East Bay freeway, through San Jose, and then on to Monterey as our next stop.

Lee and I had some time for sight-seeing during December, revisiting some of our favorite places.  The second day here we drove to Sausalito, north of San Francisco but south of Petaluma.  The view below is of Tiburon, across from Sausalito's harbor.  Tiburon is  partially lit by the sun.  

A day or two later we visited San Francisco, starting with the Presidio.  We wanted to see the new (new to us) George Lucas buildings, where the digital portions of his films are created.  Regulations require that new buildings fit in with the existing architecture, and in this case it was done quite successfully.

Who knew there was a fountain featuring a statue of Yoda??  What a special treat!

There was also a statue of Eadweard Muybridge, a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences (if I remember correctly), and a photographer who, through his ingenuity, was the first to photograph a galloping horse with all four hooves off the ground at once, thus solving an age-old mystery.   The Academy owns a copy of his ground-breaking work, which includes the walking, trotting, and galloping of dozens of animals, including some from the Philadelphia Zoo.  Did you ever wonder how a camel walks or runs?  Check out Muybridge!  (And yes, that is Lee in the background, admiring the Palace of Fine Arts.)

I love seeing the Golden Gate Bridge emerging from the clouds:

We even saw Alcatraz Island partially hidden by the fog:

You never know what the view is going to be when you are on the bay!  Landmarks come and go with the fog.

The Golden Gate Bridge is my favorite bridge - it is so beautiful.  When I attended UC Berkeley way back when, I lived on the 8th floor of the dorm where my view was of the bay, the Oakland Bay Bridge and Treasure Island, and the Golden Gate Bridge.  As you might imagine, it was difficult to focus on homework.

What else did we do?  We drove to Mendicino one day, a small town on the coast.  It has several cute shops and some lovely views of the Pacific Ocean:

We saw yet another beautiful sunset, one of many, at Bodega Bay, then ate seafood at a restaurant on the harbor.  I never get tired of visiting the California coast.  It is sparsely populated, because the narrow roads one has to take to reach it wind in and out of hillsides and ravines.  It is not particularly fun for those of us who get motion sickness, but worth the effort in the end.

Look for a second installment of this week's blog in the next day or two.

It's nice to be back!  I have missed hearing from people!