California

Finally we made some westing in our tin can and hit the Pacific Coast.   Our first stop was to see friends, Mike and Alison Courson in Alpine.    Mike built his boat from a bare hull in the same yard we were building ours, way back in 1977.  We had the same hull design, a 32' Islander.   Now they are  anchored to a lovely hillside spot in Alpine which they steward with care and a landscaper's eye.

We mangled another jack on our trailer attempting to get up their very steep driveway so we could park in front of their house.    Then we went on to Chula Vista where we caught up with Ed Byrd who Jim used to work with at San Diego Gas and Electric back in the 70's.    Ed is happily retired and remarried to Lori, a nurse, who he wishes he had met first years ago.

Heading North from San Diego, we stopped for a while along the central California coast and camped near  Morro Bay.   We both loved this area with green carpeted rolling hills, dramatic coastal scenes and viticulture just about everywhere you looked.   What could be better?    The high real estate prices and poor fiscal situation in the state of California prohibits settling there  but we can certainly visit the place once in a while.

 Then farther north to catch up with cruising  friends we made in Marmaris, Turkey back in 05'.   Joe and Suzy Altmann have a lovely hillside home overlooking farm fields in Aromas, near Santa Cruz.    We did some bicycling in Monterey on a chilly day and Joe and Suzy took us around the sights in Santa Cruz and surrounding area.    At night I got to rest my bones in their hot tub.

 We got to spend Easter with their family.

 This is a photo of a glassblower's collection.  The lovely lamps you see sell for more than $500.  Fun to look at!!!!

We decided to get through San Francisco.  One of my favorite towns on earth, it is too hard to manage with a trailer so we hot footed it across the Golden Gate Bridge to get to the more manageable northern coast of California.

Next we visited Jim's uncle Skip Carey and his wife Jeanette in Arcata, California.   We poured over photos of family dating way back and Skip took us around town pointing out some of the houses the family had owned over the years.    Skip is a hot rod enthusiast and proudly showed off his '41Chevy Coupe which he restored.

We took a ride through the redwood forest one day

and had lunch with a friend :)