Cut-up, Wine, and Exit South

(Note: Ellyn and I did not confer and both wrote on the same subject. Hers is below. There is some duplication, but mine has pictures)

After Yosemite, we were back to Pacifica for 6 more days to Rosh Hashanah and to look after Ellyn’s sister Laura, who is recovering from surgery. Ellyn made us all a New Year’s meal which could not be beat and her Father and Liz also joined us. First, they stopped by the RV for a look see and to enjoy some hors d'oeuvres, and then to their house for the main course. Ellyn and attended services on Shabbat Evening (Erev Rosh Hashanah) at B’nai Israel Judea in San Francisco. We were attracted there because Ellyn found out that a friend of hers from her camp days is the Cantor there. The Friday evening service was really nice and we enjoyed it a lot. We also went to the Saturday morning Rosh Hashanah service there and, although it was also nice, it was very long (3 1/2+ hours!). We had to tear out of there and get some food right after it was over. Too bad but we were glad we hung around Friday night to schmooze a bit. One surprise was that when we arrived Friday evening, a gentleman at the door overheard us say we were from Alabama and he said “Not Dothan, Alabama?” and we said “Yes!”. It turns out he knows one of the most prominent families in that congregation. We only caught his first name, “Zef”. 

After Pacifica, we headed up to wine country, Napa Valley. We had reservations for two days at the Napa Valley Expo Fairgrounds at the RV Park on the grounds. It was very nice, not at all like other fairgrounds we have stayed at, but paved slabs to park on and nice grass and other landscaping touches. We were supposed to meet our friends Brian and Nina, who were going to show us around and be able to talk “wine” lingo with our friends up there who are in the wine business. However, the day we traveled up there, Nina had an accident at her workplace and had broken her nose and dislocated her shoulder. Ouch! Travel the next day was out of the question, but we still had a nice time visiting Joel and Jenlea, who own property with grape vines on it, which they hire someone to tend to and harvest, and Tom and Beverly Porter, who own the  Porter Family Vineyards, which was featured on an episode of “Dirty Jobs” when they had a wine cave dug on their property. We got a nice tour of the winery and cave and got to sample some of their wines. We also toured around the area and saw some very beautiful grape-growing country. It was a fun day!

Now we are on our way Southward. Yesterday we were in Capitola, CA north of Monterey at the New Brighton Beach State Park and then today we drove into Monterey to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They had some nice displays featuring Sea Horses, Jellyfish, and Kelp. We also enjoyed watching them feed their Sea Otters. We even saw some wild ones frolicking and feeding in the bay as we ate our lunch. Afterward, we went to the end of a pier near where we parked the RV and saw about 1000 seal (sea lions?) sunning themselves on the rocks of the breakwater.

Then we took a leisurely 3 hour drive down California Route 1 to Morro Bay where we are parked for the night. Tomorrow we head into L.A. to visit with friends there and attend Yom Kippur services.