California!

Monday-Wednesday, June 18-20 2012
It has been a long time since I've had both the time and an Internet connection in order to post. We are still alive and haven't plunged off a cliff along CA Rte 1.

Pulled out of Nevada, drove through Truckee, CA--skipped Lake Tahoe as we had visited that area a few years ago. We did stop in the old town historic area of Sacramento. Managed to find an ice cream shop and a fully stocked knitting shop. I needed different sized needles for a project. I thought knitting a sweater would be the perfect handwork while riding along when Mel is driving. Hmmm...the scenery has been so beautiful, it has been hard to find time for knitting. I don't want to miss any of the sights. Maybe across the desert. Anyway, I made it out of the shop, Rumplestiltskin, with my needles and some interesting Habu paper yarn for a vest. Nice shop.

Mel, nieces Eryanne, Erika and brother Dennis

We arrived at Mel's brother Dennis' house and had a chance to visit with both his daughters, Erika and Eryanne, and Erika's boyfriend Erik. Eryanne had just graduated from UC Davis the day before with a degree in Landscape Architecture and Erika graduated a few weeks before with an MFA from USC School of Cinematic Arts with a concentration in movie and TV production.

It was great having the opportunity to catch the girls both in Davis. Erika is living in the LA area now and Eyranne will be looking for a job most likely in the Davis area. We headed downtown Davis after Dennis got home from work for a Mexican dinner.

Tuesday


Sculpture on UC Davis Campus

As Dennis needed to go into work, we decided to give the Davis Bike Loop a try. Luckily it was a beautiful, cool day for our 15 mile trip which took us through the middle of the UC Davis campus, along the community garden plots, and through miles of green park lands throughout the city.

Eric and Erika

Erika and Erik had headed back to the LA area, so we took Eryanne out for lunch in downtown Davis. Laundry and email filled the afternoon for me while Mel worked on Eryanne's secondhand bike that needed a little TLC. Eryanne's boyfriend, Steve, stopped in and joined us for dinner at a fairly new Italian Restaurant - great food.

Wednesday


Eryanne & Steve...did I mention Baxter?

Along with Dennis, Eryanne, and boyfriend Steve, we headed out to the San Francisco airport. Eryanne was headed to England where she will meet up with a friend and backpack to Ireland and Scotland for three weeks. Steve  was headed first to Germany where he will meet up with a college class group and travel on to Egypt. Should be an exciting summer for both of them. Happy travels!

Dennis took us across the Golden Gate Bridge on the way back to Davis and we stopped for lunch at Kappas Marina. Nice lunch and interesting back yard. The small bay was filled with house boats. A couple of our favorites....
We wrapped up the day with visiting and computer time...Dennis had just received a new Dell laptop from work and was busy installing and installing.

And here's Baxter!