Happy Birthday Samantha!

Samantha's 12th birthday was yesterday. This is her fishing last year.

Sunny and Delightful!

Today has been an absolutely beautiful day, the sun is out , not a cloud in the sky, and it is warm, about 76 degrees. It has slowly gotten back to what we like about Yuma, the warmth. We have a sun shade now the drops from our awning to protect us from the harshest rays in midday. Sorry that I am making a statement like that, when I know it is only 23 in Ohio today.
We only have another month here then we leave for Texas to visit with family. GG will not be joining us there this year, she refuses to get on a plane by herself. We hope to see everyone, if they have time for us.

Chilly Day

We visited with our friends from San Diego on Friday and spent the night with them. Christa, Bart, H, and myself went to Outback for dinner Friday night, good as always. Saturday AM we went to see a rental house with them, it is on top of a hill in Escondido, from the patio you can see the ocean. Don't know if they will rent it or not, but the scenery is certainly beautiful and the area is so quiet, it is a gated community with a clubhouse, Olympic size pool, tennis courts, basketball court, workout room, and a party area.

We arrived back in Yuma Saturday PM, with the sun still shining and temps warm. We got up this AM to a slightly windy cool day, the sun disappearing behind the clouds. I was so looking forward to the warmth of Yuma after the chilly week in California. Well there is always tomorrow, at least I know we are much warmer than Ohio.

Valentine Birthday

Elle has a birthday tomorrow, now a teenager. Happy Birthday!

Down to San Diego

H enjoying the sunshine and a break from driving.
Vineyards in front, oil wells behind, and mountains in the background. Click on picture so you can see oil wells.
Snow topped mountains and high winds.
Me.
This is Charlie on the pier to Ruby's in Oceanside.

I have to say many thanks to Kinty and Sue for taking such good care of us on our first visit to San Francisco, letting us stay with them, feeding us and taking us to many sites we would have never found ourselves. We really had a good time.

Golden Gate Bridge and Muir Woods

Beautiful View of the bridge. Today we went to Muir Woods, Kinty and Sue have been wonderful taking us everywhere, I'm sure we would have been lost if by ourselves.


Entrance to Muir Woods.


View looking over the city.
Cross section of a redwood tree on display in Muir Woods.

H in front of a redwood.

Kinty, their friend, and Sue.
H and me.




Flower beds in front of a museum.

Napa Valley

Monday Kinty and Sue took us to Napa Valley, to tour the area and taste some wine. The flowers are beautiful, the scenery is beautiful even though the grapes are dormant now.
This vineyard is in Yountville.

This is in Oakville, Robert Mondavi Vineyards.

H, Kinty, and Sue enjoying the sun.

Statue of St. Francis at the Mondavi Vineyard.
This is a mansion at Beringer Vineyard in St. Helena.

This is cut grapevines in fireplace of the mansion.
Lights hanging in the tree in front of mansion.
This is Winston, who kept us entertained while we ate a picnic lunch at the Frank Family Vineyard. He wanted us to throw the ball continually.
This is a view from the terrace of the Artesa Vineyard between Napa and Sonoma. Click on the picture so you can see it better. Acres and acres of vineyards everywhere you look.
Fountains at Artesa Vineyards.

Alcatraz

H in front of ferry to Alcatraz Island.
Approaching Alcatraz.

Sign says it all.
We did the audio tour of the prison.
Cells were 5' x 9' x 7'.
Courtyard where prisoners would spend 2 1/2 hours on Saturday and Sunday.
Three levels of cells.
They weren't allowed to put of any pictures on the walls but they did allow some to have shelves to place personal items.
The remainder of the house where the warden lived.
The view of the city of San Francisco from Alcatraz.

A long view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Alcatraz was named by the Spanish for island of birds.
This afternoon we went to Kinty and Sue Lin's home. H went to college at ONU with Kinty and has not seen him for about 33 years. These are their grandchildren, Michael, Timothy, and Naomi.
May(Kinty's daughter), Ming and Michael(Kinty's daughter-in-law and son), Sue, Naomi, me, Timothy, Michael, H, Ming's father, and Kinty.
Me, H, Sue, and Kinty. They took us out for a Chinese New Year's dinner tonight. Food was very good, many dishes to try, with preparations different than traditional American. So good to see them again and to see their children all grown up and the grandchildren. We are staying with them tonight, not sure what we will do tomorrow due to much rain today.