OK, no dream, we headed off to the Golden State from Oregon for some friend and family time, although we had to leave the Grandkids behind for a while. The ultimate destination was the San Francisco Bay area where Ellyn’s Sister, Laura, her husband, Jay, and Ellyn’s Father and his wife live. But our first stop was in the wine country East of Salinas at a house we rented for the weekend with a bunch of Ellyn’s friends, all of whom are celebrating their 65th birthdays this year. This was the fourth time since their mutual 50th birthdays that they have gotten together. We spent the time hanging out around the pool, eating, drinking wine, and reminiscing over the past umpteen years since they were all kids. We jokingly called it the “Medicare Summit”.
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Our chef, Nina Grayson, did a great job keeping us in fine cuisine, although we wish she could have taken more time to enjoy the weekend, We tried to pitch in but she was “in the zone” and working some real magic in that kitchen, although it could have used some air conditioning. Actually, the whole house could have. It was a very hot weekend up there in the desert. Fortunately, the evenings cooled off a bit and the nights were comfortable enough for sleeping.
Driving the RV up there was an adventure, as much of the road was one lane and very windy. The last mile of it was dirt and the RV and the car showed it when we finally arrived. We had a bit of trouble with the generator, which has been giving us trouble off and on for a while. Well, it was on now because we needed it. We had to leave the engine running during the hot parts of the day so that the dash air conditioning, which has been working lately, could keep the RV cool for Jordy, who could not come into the house.
Geoff found some photographic subjects in the humming birds that gathered around one of the flowering trees on the property. He was patient and snapped some very nice pictures of one of them getting a drink.
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But all good things must come to an end. The group had to head off in their own directions. We headed north and west to Pacifica, where we parked at the San Francisco RV Resort within walking distance of Ellyn’s sister’s house. Here we will spend the next week, visiting with friends and family, and then we will head back to Portland to spend a couple more months with our Grandkids and waiting on other life-cycle events in the family.
