Goodbye to Petaluma! And Happy Holidays to All!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We created a light tree on the wall, no space to spare for any other kind! And Santa managed to find us! The kids were a little concerned!

this was the site in the morn!

We took another ride yesterday, Cliff and the kids had done a little research and we enjoyed cupcakes at Sift in Santa Rosa, they competed on Cupcake Wars. We are big Food Network fans! We also enjoyed dinner at a Triple D joint, as Guy would say! Citti Cafe in Sonoma. Both were delicious! The cupcakes had awesome names (and the tastes, oh my!) like Stud Muffin ~ a beer cake topped with salted caramel frosting and a piece of candied bacon, and Muffin Man, gingerbread cake with cinnamon frosting and a miniature gingerbread cookie, then the Cookie~ chocolate cake with cookies & cream cream cheese frosting and crumpled oreo on top, then the Coconut, a coconut cake with coconut cream cheese frosting and coconut sprinkled on top! No pictures available as they were inhaled in less than 5 minutes!

We have enjoyed our 14 weeks here in Petaluma, it was beautiful and sunny for weeks at a time, and more recently unbelievably rainy for weeks at a time, but now we are ready to start a new adventure! A Cruise, to Mexico! Both firsts for all of us! So, we will be out of touch for a bit! A week long cruise that starts on Sunday and time on the road to get to the next stop, wherever that may be!

Have a blessed New Year! See you then!

Pretty Petaluma, between rain storms!

Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA

Well, we finally spent a little time in Santa Rosa, where Cliff has been working for 13 weeks! 

We wanted to explore the Charles Schulz Museum, because, well who wouldn't? So we did!

I took lots of pictures to share with you! 

Alexa was more interested in seeing the movies/shows, there was a little cinema type room where you can see different shows they have made over the years. We saw Rerun wants a Dog. Never seen it before. Gavin wanted to read every comic strip that was displayed! He told me that he did not laugh out loud, but he did giggle in his head a few times. Ha, ha!

this is a little courtyard, with "the kite eating tree"

this is a wall of comic strips that creates this image, very cool!

San Francisco! Our last visit ...

Last trip into the city! 

We finally saw the Golden Gate Park!

We parked at the bison paddock, then walked to the pond where some folks were using radio transmitted boats, continued on to the polo field and fly casting pools! 

this fella put on a good show, practicing his casting! Dad would have loved to have been here!

then ... we met up with my cousin Courtney and her hubby Ted! We ate lunch at the Cliff House, with an amazing view at a great table!

I am so very grateful that we have had time in the SF area and have seen my awesome cousin several times!

We walked around the area, Lands End after lunch ....

then we stopped in at the Ferry Building downtown before leaving town!  Cliff was able to find great parking in both areas!

We had a great day in San Francisco!

together again!

Wow! Has it really been a month since I posted? Clearly it has, the computer tells me so!

Well, there has been working (for Cliff), and traveling for the kids and I (to Connecticut, with a moment in Maine!).

But, we are together again! Finally! The kids and I threaded a needle with this week's traveling! Leaving in a wind and rain storm for coastal Rhode Island and Connecticut, snow up state for both! And then here, well, here a year's worth of rain fell in less than 48 hours, 8.86 inches in Petaluma to be exact! Yes, there was flooding and roads closed, but this is thirsty soil and much has been absorbed, thankfully! There is talk of a much better ski season nearby as well, apparently last winter was too dry for much snow.

Of course I have pictures to share over the next few days, perhaps!!

the Farm! Pop's house & the barn

Thanksgiving!

the Mystic Aquarium!  playing with Juno

Coco, a naughty 28 year old sealion.

a history lesson with Gramma & Grampa at Stonington Borough

the Indian rock in Pop's yard

the smokehouse in Pop's attic

old tools

one of many fireplaces

more soon!

Point Reyes Station and Lighthouse

We took a ride to the coast yesterday to see the Point Reyes National Seashore. Point Reyes Station is an adorable touristy spot with some local cheese farm stores and old western style pubs and saloons. But we did not stay and walk around the town, we headed straight out Sir Francis Drake Boulevard to get to the lighthouse, even though we could see the thick layer of fog! 


But even with the fog we saw the ship wreck, and so many cows and mule deer along the roadside. Then we climbed down to the lighthouse, even though it is clearly posted to be a strenuous return climb equivalent to 30 flights of stairs!! yikes! From January through March they run shuttles to get folks out to the lighthouse to see the grey whale migration! But none to be seen today, we think we will try to get back here during our last week in Petaluma, the week of Christmas. Maybe there will be some whales then!

So, I have some fog pictures and some not too foggy pictures to share. We stopped and ate our picnic lunch at South Beach, where it is posted to be cautious due to the super dangerous surf and it is also posted as a shark area (none sited by us :()

the fog seen on the hill before we got into town

the ship wreck that seems to be most associated with this area, there have been more than 50 wrecks in this area

yes, they have grown! Eating us out of the camper!

our view for the picnic in the truck, too windy and cold to sit on the beach.

this one almost got us!

a foggy farm, so many farms on the coast here in CA! We think they must have the most peaceful cows on earth!

herds of deer! does and bucks!

It is a 0.5 mile walk to get to the dreaded stairs, this is that path!

The Stairs

And the little light house

view of one of the cliffs

Fall at the KOA

Well, we have not done anything exciting lately! A lot of our energy is going toward the big trip home next week! The kids are counting down, and to be fair I too am looking forward to getting back to New England, seeing family and friends, and our house! Even briefly!

I am surprised to say that there is a season change that is noticeable here. And after being in the valley I realize that there is green here too! The leaves are not much for color, but they have and are falling. Mornings are cool again. I could see Gavin's breath this morning when he got up! I am not ready to close all the windows yet, much less turn on the little furnace. It is nice to know that it is there though!

I have taken the camera around the KOA the last couple of days to show you some of the sights. One of the families of peacocks was roosting on a fence behind our neighbors site, so I did a little trespassing to get some nice pics! I keep telling the kids that cannot cross through sites, occupied or not! Do as I say, not as I do ...

leaves on the ground, but they do not really become colorful or vibrant before they drop

sunrise through the field across the street

still some color, but this bush is fading too

our happy little camper, we love this site because it is much quieter than some!

so, there are 2 families of peacocks and 5 of them were roosting on the fence behind our site, as they do daily at some point

the blue necks are boys, the green necks are girls.

the boys do not have their colorful tail feathers yet

the kids used "banana bikes" this weekend with a new friend, they do not stop the whole hour!