The Road Less Traveled (Days 54-57)

Winding around, up and down, weaving side to side, twisting and turning on the narrow two-lane road . . . we were on "the road less traveled", and I was driving. What fun it was to go through the hills leading down to the wine country (Napa, Sonoma, Santa Rosa), using the road on which trucks are not allowed, and logically so, I might add!

Neil apologized, saying "If I'd known it would be like this, I'd have driven." But I was having great fun -- loved being in the driver's seat for that particular adventure. It was better than a roller-coaster.

As we wound down the mountains, we were in a tunnel formed by the overhanging branches of the old oak trees. It was beautiful with the light shining through, dappling the pavement with sun splotches and shade. Sometimes "the road less traveled" is terrific!

Beyond that, we came to vineyards sparkling in the sun. No, we had not been imbibing luquid derived from the fruit of the vine!! Many of the multitude of vineyards we passed had shiny colored streamers tied throughout the grape vines, blowing in the wind, sun catching the "sparkles". We assume it is to keep the birds from snitching the grapes.

From wine country, we headed to Sacramento and the final weekend of our retirement trip. If you have been reading the blog, you know that the first weekend out, we had a great time with David and Mea in El Paso/Las Cruces, so it was only fitting to end the trip with a wonderful weekend with Christy & Rich and their little Jon, shown above with Grampy, although this weekend, Jon seemed to christen Neil "Bapaw."

We took Jon (22 months) and his folks to Nut Tree Village on Saturday and had a great time watching Jon enjoy the rides and other entertainment for little (and not so little) people!

Leaving Sacramento, we drove to the Oakhurst, near the entrance of Yosemite, although, sadly, we did not get to meander through that gorgeous part of God's creation. After a great but short visit in Oakhurst with old friends from our Sylmar pastoring days, we headed for Palmdale and the home of our wonderful friends, Kenny and Valerie (also from our Sylmar days) who had been kind enough to keep our little Chelsea for the two months we'd been traveling. They put a special meaning to the word "friendship"!

After picking up our special fluffy, four-footed friend, Chelsea, we returned to Pasadena. Home again!

There will be one more "Meander the Western States" blog entry. At least, I think there will be. Give us a few days to "reenter" the real world and to figure out the things we want to share from what we saw, experienced, and learned as we traveled for 58 days and saw so many people we love, so many beautiful places.

Just When You Think It Can't Get Any Better (Days 43-53)

Just when we though we surely had seen all the beauty God could possibly pour into about a third of one country -- the desert in its various forms, plains, plateaus, valleys, rolling hills, beautiful rich farmlands, magnificent mountains, rugged rock formations, forests of an amazing variety of trees -- we drove into the Wenatchee Snoqualmie National Forest, with clouds hanging low but not obliterating the beauty, across the sound in the early morning fog, and into the Olympic National Forest, and our hearts almost stopped with the beauty. And then . . .

Through twisted tree trunks, we caught tantalizing glimpses of rough waves crashing against rugged rocks of the Oregon shore, and humbled, we thought, "How great is our God!" How could He think of such an amazing variety of ways to create beauty in just one country? We've not seen it all by any means, and yet the beauty and variety we've seen in this trip alone are overwhelming.


And color? God's painting pallette is unsurpassed by any artist that has ever lived. In addition to the amazing splashes of color that we shared with you from the Yellowstone/Grand Teton drive, we saw amazing colors when we spent time with Tim & Stacy Hughes, two of our "Fuller kids", in Port Angeles, WA. (Tim & Stacy are pictured here at the port on a beautiful clear afternoon when we arrived in Port Angeles -- the day before we took the ferry.)


The next day, the four of us went to Victoria, BC, crossing on a ferry in fog as thick as split pea soup, trusting that the pilot had a clue where we were and where we were going. Despite some drizzle and overcast skies in Victoria, the four of us had great fun exploring the town, with the sky clearing for part of our day, but showering us profusely as the trip ended.



The four of us also had great fun watching ducks in a fountain in Victoria, again marveling at God's creation and the beautiful color on those web-footed creatures. In addition to the beauty of the landscapes of the trip, we have enjoyed seeing such a great variety and beauty of God's "critters". I'll likely write more about them another time.



Traveling abroad is a great experience, but we are reveling in the overwhelming beauty of our own country and feel so blessed to be able to do this trip.