For us the convenience of staying at the Elks Lodge in Petaluma is pure parking perfection~~~

During part of the spring and summer months we hang out in Petaluma in Northern California, about 30 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Elks Lodge in Petaluma has become "Ground Zero" for us for several years.  We're near family, medical facilities, and beautiful places to sight-see.

An artsy rendering of our Petaluma Elks Lodge parking

If you are a member of an Elks organization like we are, the lodge in Petaluma offers the best RV parking available in the San Francisco Bay Area. There are 18 sites on asphalt with full-hookups for $25 per night, many suitable for larger RVs, with grassy dog runs and overflow parking.  Their system now offers reservations making it convenient for planning ahead.  Janis, the very best RV host, has lived in Petaluma most of her life and will assist in making your stay memorable.

Enjoying our grassy, manicured back yard.  There are tables and chairs for afternoon happy hours The doggies love it too!

This is an opportunity to enjoy the delights of a beautiful old historic city packed full of great restaurants, regional parks and hiking trails, all within an easy drive to San Francisco to the south, Pacific beaches, and the famous Napa valley wine country.

Ahh...The Golden Gate Bridge...we have about 30 miles to go north to Petaluma.

Going down...to the Pt. Reyes Lighthouse

Vineyards offset by coastal hills and clouds at Green String Farm

The Petaluma Visitor Center used to be the old train depot in 1914...

Historic downtown Petaluma

Shollenberger Park has miles of trails and is an easy walk from the Elks.

There is a 2 1/2 mile loop trail around the lake, part of which lies adjacent to the Petaluma River which is navigable and runs in to the San Francisco Bay.

A hike at Helen Putnam Park involves a lot of hill climbing.

Layers of coastal fog and farm land lie to our west as we hike the trails of Helen Putnam.

Another side of Helen Putnam Park, groves of old oak abound.

Napa Valley...where we hope to be next week!

Here we're enjoying a beverage and some fine food at Dempsey's Brew Pub with a river view of course.

Another day and the sun performs perfectly with shadows and colors.

The pedestrian bridge across the river takes us to Main Street and all the fun stores.

Tuesday's eastside Farmers Market.  There is also a Wednesday evening market in town and Saturday morning at Walnut Park.

And this lovely bouquet is for you!  Thanks for coming back...

Yes, there has been a long hiatus but I plan to correct that!  I have been sick but am mostly back to normal now.  It is a long story and at some point I may decide to write about it.  Right now, it is just too raw.

Our plans now have us on the road soon.  We have been near Sacramento where the temps are near 100.  Our daughter has a nasty combination of gall stones and Pancreatitis, a very serious condition to say the least.  Hoping now to have the pancreatitis under control, they plan to remove the gall bladder this coming Saturday.  I'm sorry but having an operation on Saturday doesn't bode well with me!

We plan to spend a couple of days next week in Calistoga and the Napa Valley Wine country making up for our 21st anniversary which was yesterday, the 24th.  We are looking forward to our yearly dinner at the Greystone Culinary Institute.

Dirty Laundry on the Bottleneck Trail

It rained off and on during our week in the Okanagan Valley but we have no problem with a bit of down time.  Howard plays with his cute little magnetized chess set purchased in Port Townsend, practicing strategies from the The Mammoth Book of Chess.  He then tries them out with a game against the computer. 


I go through photos, editing and playing with Picasa, my program of choice.  Their Orton-ish feature allows you to create a painting/postcard effect that works great with landscapes.  We have lots of books downloaded to our Kindles and just finished James Lee Burke’s Light of the World, an edgy thriller set in rural Montana appropriately described by the heading of Good and Evil by a Library of Congress cataloger.


In between showers we went for short drives and hiked along the park’s trails, all the way to the south campground and back.  This involves a distance of 3 miles or so with a lot of up and down.  The sun did come out for the weekend so we decided to check out a few of the wine trails.  Yes, there is Dirty Laundry involved.


The Bottleneck Wine Trail is a peaceful meander off the busy highway near Summerland and offers spectacular scenery overlooking vineyards and orchards high above Lake Okanagan.  The Dirty Laundry Winery is a destination in itself.  Named after a laundry years ago which had a brothel at the back, this theme runs through everything from the laundry pins at the gate to the old laundry equipment in the garden. You even pass a clothes line hung with underwear to get into the shop!  You can bring your own basket of goodies or purchase from the menu on the Terrace patio and admire the gorgeous view.  You can’t go wrong with a sip of Bordello, an exotic swirl of cabernet sauvignon and merlot with a dash of cab franc!








That was the scene at Dirty Laundry!  We ended our day back at Bonitas Winery for an early tapas-style dinner by the lake and near our campground, sharing the very best crab and goat cheese dip on flat bread, Asian-style ribs, and white chocolate cheesecake topped with fresh berry compote for dessert.



For some reason, in our minds, we were leaving on Tuesday.  Not so once I re-checked the reservation receipt.  We must leave on Monday by 11 a.m, which means one less day to see the Myra Canyon Trestles trail or the Naramata Bench wineries near Penticton. There is always next time!  The Okanagan is a fabulous destination, though I will say during a busy holiday week the traffic, especially around Kelowna, was  hectic.  More from along the road…..

The Lands of Fruit and Vines

The towns of Peachland and Summerland invoke scenes of orchards and vineyards, summertime fun, ripe and bountiful produce, wineries, parks and farmers markets… and situated by the shores of Lake Okanagan, framed by mountains often covered in clouds.  There you have the picture exactly as it is!  We are parked for 9 days at Okanagan Lake Provincial Park about equal distance to both towns.  At this time of year reservations would be necessary.

Summerland roadside market

Peaches in Peachland

Apple orchard

Vineyards galore

Sunflowers on a cloudy day

Our drive and border crossing were uneventful and, yes, the insurance cards arrived as promised.  I wish I could say as much for my dealings with Verizon.  As soon as we crossed the border the Verizon Jetpack started beeping data warnings.  I called a number on the message to obtain global assistance and was sadly informed that the previous service rep had misinformed us on the data coverage though the phone and text were as stated.  We are now paying $25 for every 100 MB we use on each device, not the 4 GB we thought we were getting.  I am therefore on a data diet and cannot browse my favorite blogs as often as I would like.

Our site at Okanagan Lake Provincial Park

Lakeside at the park

Sheep grazing

Summerland fun

Lakeside in Peachland

Peachland Museum

Anglican church in Summerland

Since our arrival the weather has been a combination of bright and sunny, cloudy and overcast with intermittent showers and temps in the mid 70s F.  We have barely scratched the surface of this huge approx. 100 mile-long lake and valley, thus far concentrating our outings on Peachland, Summerland, and briefly to Penticton.  We did venture to the Walmart in Westbank for a DVD series (season one of Breaking Bad) to replace our Direct TV  that does not work in Canada.

At Bonitas Winery

Afternoon tapas at Greata Winery

Lavender and vineyards

Day use park in Summerland

The days "catch"...Okra??

I am using Windows Live Writer to save on internet time so will be interesting to see how this appears on the blog.  Today is Wednesday, August 28th.  We depart on Tuesday, September 3.  Though it is currently raining cats and dogs, I’m hoping by later this afternoon we can get outside for more exploring.  Time is running out!

To Who Knows Where!

We left Petaluma after 2 1/2 months, back on the road in the motorhome, traveling to who knows where and returning who knows when.  What we do know for sure is:

Road mode but don't forget the Jeep!

We're heading up I-5 for a family weekend in Medford, OR, a drive of 350 miles.  The drive was pretty uneventful and not very conducive to drive-by shootings through layers of haze.  Mount Shasta, shrouded in clouds, did produce a rather interesting effect when photographed through tinted window glass going 60 mph.

Mount Shasta in sepia

The temps soon climbed to 100 degrees F and the dash air couldn't keep up, so we fired up the diesel generator and blasted both AC units.  The generator needs a good work-out occasionally though the fuel efficiency factor took a bit of a hit.  On the plus side, considering all the steep grades, we had to turn off the dash AC anyway to lessen the chances of the engine overheating.  Bottom line, we and the engine, are very happy!

A year ago we celebrated my nephew Kyle's wedding to his adorable wife Wendy.  I am so happy to have her and her kids as nieces and nephews adding to our large Medford family.  So we return for a visit which conveniently falls on their first wedding anniversary.

Happy anniversary Wendy and Kyle!

The Rogue Valley here in southern Oregon is another great wine scene and a bunch of us met up last Saturday night at the 2 Hawk Winery very close to where we're staying here at the Holiday RV Park.  During the summer months many wineries offer weekend entertainment featuring local bands and this night just happened to be the Rogue Suspects, the very same band that entertained at Kyle and Wendy's wedding.

2 Hawk vineyards

We shared a bottle of the 2009 Temporanillo, a good varietal grape native to Spain that offers spicy red fruit aromas and flavors.  As friends and family arrived we ordered platters of great tapas and antipasto and enjoyed some groovy music.  Wendy, a singer in her own right, joined the band for a beautiful rendition of Summertime, so appropriate on this balmy summer evening.

Pretty much gone at this point!

Wendy sings with the Rogue Suspects

We left this morning, Monday July 29th, once again heading north of I-5.  What we do know for sure is that today's destination is the Timber Valley Escapees RV Park for a couple of days, and that the air quality is very poor due to the numerous fires burning in the area.

Smoky air!

So stay tuned for the continuation of the great adventure to who knows where!