Adventures in Lodi

Sometimes campgrounds are spacious and other times we can pass the sugar without opening a door.  This was a cozy stay. But while we were here...

Watching the Sandhill Cranes coming in to roost.

My favorite birder - Dave, along with lots of others at the Woodbridge  Reserve. 

We saw perhaps about 1,000 cranes fly in for the night. It was awesome!

And as always, after a week, it's time to move on down the road.

Cutting a Rug

We were parked in a church lot for about a week and we were informed that we should keep our doors locked at night as there are many folks who travel through the area.  So we did.  In the bed of our truck we keep all kinds of stuff, hoses, wood, chocks, and our outdoor rug.  Of course, our truck bed does not lock and we did not think we had anything worth taking.

When we arrived at our next stop and wanted to use our outdoor rug, it was missing. We had to smile because while a dirty piece of outdoor carpet might not be worth locking up or considered valuable, to a homeless person in need of shelter it was probably quite a find. 

A Visit - Trending South

 My dear friend, Linda, lives in Minnesota.  When the opportunity to visit sunny California came along - she jumped.  

On one day we rented a car, and with Dave as our chauffeur we played tourist and visited San Francisco - Lombard Street, Cliff House, Golden Gate Bridge, onward chauffeur.

When we are together we are ALWAYS in search of a happy drink.  We had lunch at one of the MANY choices at Fisherman's Wharf- and a Bloody Mary - happy drink.

After sampling in San Fran, we decided we could enjoy our own Bloody Mary bar.  Success! 

It is certainly counted as valuable treasure to have people who have walked with you through the years and miles. 

Playing Tourist at Lake Tahoe

It was a beautiful fall day in sunny Lake Tahoe.  There were very few tourists, which gave us a chance to see the locals relax.   

Thai Kitchen served up a wonderful meal.  We knew it was THE place as we entered because members of the county sheriff's department were eating there as well.

YUM!

Snowball fight? 

Forty-five of the eighty-one trapped members of the
Donner Party survived to live in California

This memorial is built in such a way that
visitors can visualize how deep the snow was in the winter
of 1846 by looking at the height of the rock pillar.

Now you may consider this bad form to talk about my yummy lunch when the next topic of my tourist day is Donner Memorial State Park, but there you have it. 

We saw a movie about the Donner Party (which was not much of a party at all) along with a school field trip group from Reno, Nevada.  Dave and I were much noisier than the children.  We could not help ourselves the movie was probably filmed in 1960 complete with blacked out spots.  It reminded me of grade school when I hoped the film would break so I could miss more class time and maybe even get early recess! The film may have been old, but it was informative. The Donner Party should not have taken "Hastings Cutoff," it did not save them 300 miles as they had hoped.  As one child opined in the movie, "get started as fast as you can and don't take short cuts." 

So often Dave and I get busy with work and neglect to enjoy the sights. 

We have been living full-time on the road for 5 1/2 years and this was our first visit to Lake Tahoe. I feel as though we have just gotten started and we don't take short cuts - hauling our house, are you kidding? We don't take short cuts.  

Back to the Beginning!

I have fond memories of our time in Hannover.

Our family moved to Hannover, North Dakota, in 1986, where Dave began his public ministrty.  It was fun to see pieces of our past while parked in their lot for a few days. The people were just as kind and the post-concert treats just as yummy as I remember.
Our daughter started Kindergarten and our son, preschool.  Big firsts for them. I lived on the prairie for the first time in a non-town with about 17 people and all the trees were in rows. It was quite an adjustment for our family er... me. 

Our haRVey in the foreground with our first parsonage in the background.

My friend Patty... we learned a lot together. 

Kenny and Audrey, our kids adopted them as grandparents and have great memories of spending time with them.

17 miles south of Hannover stands Salem Sue Worlds largest Holstein

Across the road from St. Peter - a field of Sunflowers, such beauty on the prairie.

Making a Trade

I usually have a few items to give away. Either we no longer use them or we discover we have two.  How could we end up with extra??? Easy. Just like when I had a stick house, the only way to lay hold of the old one is to buy a new one! We had a set of chocks we no longer used, and an empty storage bin.
I took these giveaway items to our campground neighbors and mentioned that today only I was willing to part with these items for FREE! My neighbors actually needed the very kind of chock offered, I gladly unloaded gave them away. The storage bin was a bonus for them. BUT... unwilling to just take my stuff, I was given the fruit pictured in trade.  The oranges are from their backyard; the grapes and avocado are from their friends' garden. All in all it was a great trade. 

The Clamming Sport

 We walked to the beach in the evening following the conference in Seaside, Oregon, and learned about Razor Clams. There were families all along the beach area and we thought they were all coming to enjoy what promised to be a great sunset. We were surprised to learn upon closer inspection they were all dressed for clamming!  You must have (as we used to call them, "Juneau Sneakers") boots, and a PVC pipe with a handle called the clam gun, a bucket for your catch, and as in all sporting events - patience. Starting to sound interesting, huh.

It was a beautiful evening and so much fun to watch generations on the shore some practiced and sure while others were learning the ropes. "I got one," yelled a child of 8 or 9, and his dad helped him dig through the sand for the prize.   

There were a few groups who came prepared with beverages, munchies and headlamps. They were in for the long haul.