Week 31

A fairly calm week and then a whirlwind weekend.  Still on the road heading home as I finger type this on my iphone.

Mark worked off the ranch part of the week and fought more thistles and hauled more hay on the ranch.  

I got the privilege of introducing our friends' 11year old grandson to horses.  He ended up coming out to the ranch 3 times to ride.   We had fun.

We also got invited to his family's lobster feast overnighted from Maine.  I'm allergic but Mark sure enjoyed them.

Some of the sunsets this past week were exceptional because of all the fires raging in the area.

Mark had Friday off and our weekend began. 

Left our home early Friday morning with a coastal fog river blowing through.

Heading south on the 101 we entered thick smoke from the Lodge fire.  Oh boy, the acrid smell brought back bitter memories of the fire on the ranch in 2003. We toured through the wine country and across farmland to my sister's place near Sacramento.   We had a fun filled Friday with her and her husband. 

Saturday had us heading up to Lake Tahoe to do a shuttle service for backpacking friends.  The mountains were lovely and the conversation sweet.

After dropping them off at their car at Ebbetts Pass, we drove down the mountains and eventually into the small, historic town of Jamestown where we browsed the shops and did a wine tasting.

It was fun being road trippin tourists with the music loud and the sunroof open.  We were cruising.

Rolling through the now golden foothills of the mighty Sierra mountains. 

We ended our day at our son's house in the San Joaquin Valley, the bread basket of California.  Flat ground, fields of green and blue sky.

This morning we enjoyed playing with our grandson Zane. Later, we stopped by Mark's folks house and had a nice visit.    His dad recently had surgery, but was in good spirits despite the pain.  

Now we still have a long tour north.   Up the big valley, then across San Franscisco Bay, through the vineyards, then the smoke and redwoods and up the hill to home.   Mark has work in the morning and another week will begin. 

Gratitude for time and family and strong coffee.  Lots of strong coffee ahead as we are both tired and have about 6 hours of driving to go.