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.

San Francisco

Fisherman's Wharf area.

Cathedral.

A Victorian style home.
A shot of the old style in the forefront, new in the far back.
Looking down at the bay from top of Twin Peaks.
Can't remember what these trees are called, but limbs are trimmed back every year, then they leaf out again.
Golden Gate Bridge, getting close to sunset, so it looks dark.

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

The grape fields in California go on forever, these were near Bakersfield.
Of course there are many areas with the wind turbines, especially between mountains. It was really cloudy today and went thru some areas with some heavy rain.
Click on this picture to see the many turbines in the valley.

We are on our way to San Francisco, not San Jose. We wanted to make it to Fresno today, but settled for Tulare, about an hour south of Fresno. We had been in the truck for 9 hours and were both exhausted. We will get to San Francisco tomorrow and hope to see a few sites before we stop for the day.

Our neighbors in Yuma, George and Sheila, are taking care of Hobbes again. He looked so sad this morning, he wouldn't even raise his head to look at me. Whenever we get the suitcase out, he sits on it, and won't move, he knows it means we will be gone for a while. He likes Sheila, though, and she always gives him treats.

Puzzle Time

Nikki sent H jigsaw puzzles for his Birthday, this is a thousand piece, he put together in 3 1/2 days.
Completed puzzle, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Bob (brother-in-law), sent these pics of snow in Ohio, the snow is beautiful, just wouldn't want to be there.
Nothing more beautiful than undisturbed snow.

It is going to be another beautiful sunny day, again, here in the southwest, should be in the high 70s.

Yum-Yum

This is the first time ever I have made a Butterscotch Meringue Pie. This is H's favorite and his birthday is tomorrow, so I called every bakery in Yuma, no one makes Butterscotch Pie. I went on line and found a recipe, I hope it tastes as good as it looks. Actually I almost never make any kind of pie.

Happy Birthday to H tomorrow, he will be 67, but does not look it.