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.