Driving Down the Highway...

Unpleasant procedure over and we're out of here.  They'll just have to track me down and drag me back if necessary!  Seriously though, throughout our Kaiser network,  doctors have test results fast and phone calls and emails are forthcoming.  Thinking positive thoughts!


Plus I said, hey we're heading out for 3 months. thinking a long circle trip.  First stop today will be Sacramento for the weekend with daughter Stephanie and hubby Gary, then to Medford, OR. for my nephew's wedding.  Southwest of Salem is that terrific winery, Emerson Vineyards, which not only has a super pinot noir, but Friday night music during the summer, and allows free overnight RV parking as members of Harvest Hosts.  I say "free" but we more than cover the price of an upscale RV park in purchases!

Most of August we hope to hang around Puget Sound and Port Townsend, WA, a yearly repeat.  The Point Hudson Marina & RV Park has two boondocking sites right at water's edge and allows us to stay 2 weeks for a very reasonable rate with the best views of some impressive marine traffic; think cruise ships, nuclear subs, aircraft carriers, and a continuous parade of sail and power boats.  Ferries provide scenic travel to and from Whidbey Island and many of the San Juans.  Access to the old Victorian town of PT and all its delights is just a few short blocks away.

Views (above and below) from our site in Port Townsend!

At this point a lot will depend on the price of fuel but thinking September is a nice time for Idaho and a visit with friends in Caldwell.  The Snake River and Hell's Canyon are easy day drives, as is the old Silver City mining town.

Rubber Duck races (yellow dots) in Caldwell Days celebration

The Snake River runs free thru Hell's Canyon to Lewiston, ID

Now the possibilities are many and varied.  We really enjoyed the Star Valley area of Wyoming  a few years ago, and Utah for those amazing National Parks and possibly the Senior Games in St. George the first of October.  The Santa Fe area has so much to offer; the amazing sights of the old city, nearby Bandalier National Monument and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.  We stay at the Cochiti Lake Corps of Engineers park located within the boundaries of the Pueblo de Cochiti.  And if you're into slot canyons and great hikes, the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks is a must!

The slot canyon hike...spectacular!

On our return through northern AZ we will re-visit The Petrified Forest, Flagstaff, and Sedona, and check out some of those great boondocking sites we've been reading about.  A plan is percolating!  So, once again, we welcome your suggestions and recommendations.

Our Year 2011

We have been blessed with another year of travels.  We are truly grateful for this lifestyle we so enjoy which allows us to visit beautiful places, meet up with dear friends, and make many new ones along the way. 

This year started out in the Anza Borrego Desert in southern California, where we retreat after the holidays, following the sun and meeting up with fellow snowbirds around the southwest; Sharon and Rodger in Tucson, the Panys in Yuma.

By the time April rolls around it's time for us to head for the coast and turn north toward Pismo Beach and some quality time with best friends, Edna and Allen (please hold thoughts and prayers for Allen).  We were delighted when 8 mo. pregnant daughter Terri, Clint, and Liliana decide to drive down from Half Moon Bay.  More Family Time in Petaluma as we all gather for Easter at Norm and Wendy's. In May, the 16th to be precise, we welcomed our newest grandbaby Damien.

June is anniversary month and we celebrated our 17th in Calistoga, the heart of the Napa Valley wine country.  We also enjoyed time with new friends Bruce and Phyllis, whom we in Petaluma, and "old" friends from Half Moon Bay days, Don and Joan, at their beautiful property in the Gold Country.  Our world-traveling grandson Rob just happened to be in Sacramento for a visit with his mom/our daugher Stephanie, with now wife Helga from Romania, where they are currently residing.

After the 4th of July we start out on our summer migration to the northwest.  The motorhome always needs maintenance or repairs so a stop in Eugene, one of our favorite towns, is in order.  The Willamette Valley is home to some choice wineries so we have our first introduction to Harvest Hosts at Emerson Vineyards.

August is our month in and around the Port Townsend, WA area, probably our favorite summer location, with its beautiful views of Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  The Evergreen Coho Park, provides a perfect location for sightseeing the Olympic Peninsula, especially Hurricane Ridge, and meet new friends, John and Bonnie.  But the Main Attraction was our two weeks parked right on the water at the Pt. Hudson Marina in downtown Port Townsend with a bonus visit from Steph, Gary and friends, Laura and Jim!  A ferry ride and drive to nearby Bellingham and we enjoy a wonderful day with long-time friends from Mexico days, Hazel and Dick.

The month of September brought us to a new destination, Caldwell, ID, near Boise, and soon to be new "summer home" for our good friends Beth and Chris.  Of course, they couldn't have endured without our help and support!  We enjoyed so many good meals and great sight-seeing trips; some that were really, really long days, but provided beautiful scenery.  Check out Weeks 2 through 4 as well.  Perhaps we've found another "favorite" late summer location.

The absolute best and highlight of October was our time in Medford, OR where we celebrated my sister-in-law Gay's Surprise 80th Birthday party, hosted and perfectly planned by my nephews and nieces.  All my family came from Half Moon Bay and Petaluma for the first family re-union in way too many years.  I am honored to share the same birth day with Gay!  Also, while in Medford we met up, but had precious little time with dear friends John and Babs, who had just relocated from Clarkston, WA.

So now it's time to return to Petaluma where we gladly accepted an opportunity to babysit our 5-year old granddaughter, Christina aka The Bean, have special bonding time with Annie, our grandlab, and enjoy cooking and hanging out with son, Norm, while d-i-l Wendy was on vacation a business trip.  Petaluma is a great town, centrally located, with so many fantastic Day Trip opportunities. The Marin County coast is not to be missed, and of course, a Dog Day with Annie in San Francisco...priceless!

By now you surely know we have a Really Big Trip coming up so must get our motorhome in storage mode with the help of our family and friends near Sacramento!  We fly from Sacramento, via Chicago, via Toronto, to..ta-da...Barbados, on November 3rd.  After two wonderful days seeing Barbados with friends Paul and Dalya, we boarded The Star Flyer for 22 days of sailing to beautiful islands, like the ABC Islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.

After 2 days at sea we arrived in the beautiful, old colonial city of Cartagena, Colombia, a truly magnificent experience; then another day at sea before anchoring off the San Blas Islands, home of the indigenous Kuna People.  Our trip to one of their villages, seeing their beautiful crafts and molas, was special indeed.  The piece de resistance, the grand culmination, the top of our bucket list, our Panama Canal Transit was more than our combined imaginations could conjure, even after reading  McCullough's The Path Between the Seas.

The Third Week takes us into the Pacific as we sail from Panama to Costa Rica, anchoring off beautiful, uninhabited islands with stops in Golfito and Quepos, before disembarking in Puerta Caldera.  We end our month-long journey in Jaco, Costa Rica for a much-needed 4 days of quiet decompression, before returning home to the Bay Area on December 1st.

Now and through Christmas once again is family time as we make our circle tour; Petaluma, Half Moon Bay, Citrus Heights, counting our blessings and counting the days until we once again start the New Year 2012 in our beautiful Anza Borrego Desert....and so it goes!  What will this New Year bring?  We so look forward to meeting up with you along the way, on Facebook, or in this wonderful blogging community.

May you and your families be blessed with an abundance of peace, prosperity, health, and happiness in this New Year 2012! 


Lynda & Howard

                              

Harvest Hosts First!

We happened upon Harvest Hosts earlier this year at an FMCA rally in Indio, CA.  The concept is brilliant and especially tailor-made for RVers. Overnight parking at a vineyard or farm for a very low yearly fee is offered by many member/hosts throughout the country.

As luck would have it, we headed out in need of repairs, with Eugene, OR and Oregon Motorcoach Center as our destination.  More on this later.  After checking in and getting lined up for work to start in a week, we checked out the Willamette Valley area.

This is where the good karma kicked in and we found Emerson Vineyards in Monmouth, OR in our Harvest Hosts online guide.  I called Tom, the owner, and we were more than welcomed.  The online map provided "door to door" directions and  the drive north along 99W was an easy two-lane, scenic hour or so.

We've arrived!

The countryside

Elliott, the winemaker, working the vineyards

Around the property

Surrounded by a field of orchard grass

Old oaks & wildflowers

Our first reaction, and you can see why, was utter amazement at the location and beauty surrounding us.  How could we be so lucky in our first experience and does it get any better than this?

Tom greeted us outside and pointed us to our parking place in a nice, secluded location surrounded by a field of orchard grass, then met us in the tasting room after we got set up.

Tom educates us about the Emerson wines

We're ready!

Horizontal barrels are a good thing!

Emerson Vineyards is a family operation evident on many levels:  the namesake is Tom's great-grandfather Emerson Waldo Fisher.  Tom and Jane are the owners and live on the estate with Tom acting as business and marketing director, and I might add, social and people specialist.   Their son Elliott is the "vines and wines" man, having graduated from the Oregon State University's Fermentation Science program.  We mostly saw Elliott on his tractor tending the vines.

Emerson's winemaking philosophy is vineyard-centered. They believe that the key to world-class wines is beautiful, carefully farmed grapes grown in the best possible conditions. If successful the wines almost make themselves; they just take care of them.  The wines we tasted were excellent, though the pinots, both gris and noir, were our favorites.  The Reisling and Brother Red (named after Emerson's brother, Red!) also got rave reviews from our fellow tasters!

Tom told us that last year was their worse in terms of growing and environmental conditions.  The shortage of rain coupled with some very aggressive migratory birds and a crop disease which blew in from property to their east caused their production to fall from 50 tons to 10! This year, if the healthy thriving vines we saw are any indication, will be a very good year.

To top off this very enjoyable experience and these beautiful surroundings, we were just in time for Friday night music at the vineyard.  This night featured music by folk singer Larry Kenneth Potts who, coincidentally, is from Petaluma.  A good crowd gathered bringing along their picnic goodies with Emerson's wine (of course) and beer available for purchase.

Entertainer, Larry Kenneth Potts

Howard has us all set up!

Having a great time!