Where was I?

I forgot where I left off on our journey. But either way, right now we are in Paso Robles, California. We got here yesterday afternoon, and spent the latter part of the day visiting some of the wineries in the area. Turley Winery has some incredible Zinfandels. If you're ever in the area, try them.

We spent the night of the 29th at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Totally cool. The Skip Barber Racing School is there, and on Thursday there were cars on the track practicing. It was almost like being at a race. We went to Monterey while there and walked through Cannery Row and then drove the scenic drive along the bay. Apparently it was cold there, given all the people in coats and jackets and sweaters. We were in shorts and t-shirts thinking the weather was just perfect. If they think temps in the 70s are chilly, what does that say about their summers?

Before that we spent 2 days in the Garlic Capital of the world, Gilroy. And yes, it does smell like garlic. Everywhere. And yes, we did the tourist thing and went and bought everything garlic. Salsa, pesto, pickles, pasta sauce, and even pickled garlic. There are also outlet stores there, so we went shopping too. Bill got about 10 pairs of shorts and I got a shirt.

The weather has been wonderful. Warm and sunny. I'm actually liking this. I think I've spent too many years in the cold. A little warmth and I'm in heaven. We're heading further south today. We want to get into Santa Barbara in order to meet Bill's Uncle Art and Aunt Andie. I've never met them and Bill hasn't seen them in almost 20 years.

All in all, we're having a good time. I'm starting to get over my homesickness, or better yet, my lack-of-a-home-sickness. We're keeping busy and seeing and doing things that we've never done before, which is keeping my mind off it. I've been cross stitching and crocheting when I have time. The dogs keep you busy too.

Speaking of dogs, today is Eugene's 3rd birthday. Tomorrow he will have been with us a full year. Can you believe it? I can't. It feels like he's been with us forever. He has definitely become one of the family and I couldn't imagine this trip without him, or Meika, for that matter. They've made it more fun.

I've been doing some birding, but the LBJs have been driving me absolutely insane! I'm finding I'm not as good a birder as I thought I was. I knew all the birds in Alaska, but now I'm not so sure of myself. My biggest issue is that the birds in Alaska are all in breeding plumage and here they aren't. And there are a lot of juvenile birds that look like each other. Gulls are giving me the same headache, but to a lesser extent. (Oh, LBJs are Little Brown Jobs.) I did, however, add a Western Bluebird to my list. And there was a large flock of California Quail at Laguna Seca. I'm working on my birding skills. I think I need to find an Audubon Society outing and join in so I can get some help from the area experts.

I guess I'll finish here. Don't forget to check out Bill's blog, http://thewanderinggrywhl.blogspot.com. He's outdoing me in the blog world and it's a very enjoyable read.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EUGENE!!

Baseball

THE PHILLIES WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!

Phillies

The Phillies beat Tampa Bay 10 to 2! They now lead the Rays 3 games to 1! One more game to win and the pennant is ours!!!!

And on top of that, the Eagles won today too! Go Philly!

Something to Ponder

This was published today in the Anchorage Daily News column titled "Alaska Ear." I thought it was interesting and wanted to share.

VERBATIM ... Only eight more days. In case you've missed the campaign, here's a synopsis:

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest (we) become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."

Cicero - 55 BC.

California

We're in Vallejo, California this weekend. It's just outside of San Fransisco. We're visiting family while we're here, but it's actually just a cover for the Napa/Sonoma wine country. That's what I'm here for. Wine, wine, wine.

We hit Sonoma and Napa yesterday. A lot of good wineries here, of course. But most importantly, they make some seriously good red wine. From Pinot Noir to Syrah (Sirah, Shiraz depending on where you're from). Where Oregon had a lot of sweet white wines, Napa/Somona has a lot of dry red wines. Cabernet Sav. is my favorite (don't know how to spell it). And the wines here range in price from $10/bottle to over $100/bottle. I haven't spent that much on one bottle of wine. Yet. But I got close to that yesterday. If it weren't for Bill...Either way, I am growing one heck of a wine cellar. Now I need somewhere to put the wine cellar.

This morning we went birding along route 37 that goes through a really cool salt marsh. There just wasn't a whole lot of places to pull out and gawk. If you ever wanted to know exactly what an American Avocet looks like, just go there. There are thousands of them. And Marbled Godwits. Everywhere. It's a bird watchers dream.

Here's my list from this morning. I still have a couple of pictures from Bill that need to checked in case of birds I couldn't identify:
Marbled Godwit
American Avocet (life)
House Finch
Red-Tailed Hawk
Brewer's Blackbird
Snowy Egret
Snowy Plover (life)
Willet (life)
Black Phoebe (life)
Song Sparrow
American Kestral
Long-Billed Curlew (life)
Savannah Sparrow
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
American Crow
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Western Meadowlark (life)
Mallard
Turkey vulture
White Crowned Sparrow

I now have 303 birds on my life list and 253 birds on my North American list. Not bad for not really trying. Can you just imagine how many I'd have if I actually went on all types of birding trips and tours?

We drove along the coast for a while on our way here. The roads are so curvy with switchbacks and tight turns. NOT for RVs. We also had a hard time finding places to pull over to look at the sights. It's one of the hazards of the GRYWHL. Too big. We were going to stop in Mendocino, but couldn't find anywhere to park. We had to just continue on. We did stop at a park next to the water and let the dogs swim a little. (Did I mention it's HOT here?) Eugene doesn't seem to care one way or the other about the water, just throw the ball. Meika on the other hand, likes to jump over the waves as they come ashore. And then she likes to run along the shoreline in the surf. If it weren't for her thick black coat, she'd be a California girl.

We spent a couple of days in Cloverdale before we heading to Vallejo. Cloverdale and Healdsburg are in the heart of the Russian River Valley/Anderson Valley/Dry Creek Valley appellations. That's wine speak for LOT'S of wineries. I developed the tic Bill is always talking about. There would be signs at intersections with 20 to 30 wineries listed on it. We only got to 11. And 1 brewery. Yes, we're still hitting breweries and brewpubs. Not all of them have growlers, so Bill will get a pint glass. We're going to need a very BIG house for all this stuff. My next job is to document all the wine we still have (drank a few already) so I know what we got. Finding someplace in the RV to put them is turning out to be an issue. And there are still 2 areas of California I want to get to.

This place has ants, and they are making their way into my RV! UGH!

So, Bill's cousin Pat and his wife Karen invited us (including Eugene and Meika) to dinner Friday night. Karen made a chicken with all the trimmings. It was SOOOO good! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! And their dog Nevada even tolerated Eugene and Meika while we were there. I think Nevada likes Meika. Not sure how she feels about him. Nevada is a miniature Schnauzer. He's such a cutie! We're going back to their house today with the hopes of meeting Bill's other cousin Lucy and her family. Bill hasn't seen this side of the family in nearly forever.

I've been informed it's time to go. I'll finish up later.

World Series

For those of you not watching the World Series of baseball, the Phillies are now up 2 games to 1 over Tampa Bay. YAY!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Bunny from the campground in Canmore, Alberta, Canada.

Oregon Coast

We spent 4 days in Newport, Oregon, along the coast. Originally, we were going to spend 2 days, but enjoyed it so much, we stayed the weekend. The scenery was spectacular!

This is the Yaquina Bay Headlight. You can walk to the top, but being afraid of heights, I didn't make it. Bill did, though, so you'll have to check his blog for any pictures he may have.

Apparently there is an unusually large number of Brown Pelicans in the area. They were everywhere.

We are now in Eureka, California. We got here this afternoon after quite a trip across the mountains from Redding. We didn't stop for any pictures along the way. Unfortunately, the Gray Whale can not access many of the turnouts along the roads (that's why there aren't many pictures of the Oregon coast). So, we have to be content with seeing and not documenting.

Tomorrow we are planning on going to see the huge redwood trees. Since we'll be in the jeep, we should get a few pictures. Not sure what we'll be doing after that. When we were in Newport, we stayed in a state park campground, so we didn't have internet access. Hopefully now we'll have a couple of days that we'll be connected.

Bird update: Newport, OR
Brown Pelican
Pelagic Cormorant
Black Turnstone
Double-Crested Cormorant
Herring Gull
American Robin
Northwestern Crow
Northern Harrier
Common Loon
Heermann's Gull (life bird!)
Harlequin duck
Song Sparrow
Bald Eagle
Great Blue Heron
Surf Scoter
Black-Legged Kittiwake
Dark-Eye Junco
Stellar's Jay
Northern Flicker (red shafted)
Red-Breasted Nuthatch
European Starling
Chestnut Back Chickadee
Hairy Woodpecker
Western Gull (Life bird!)
Western Grebe
Black-Capped Chickadee
Great Horned Owl? (heard, not seen)
Pine Siskin

See? I told you I'd do more birding once I got to the coast.

Evergreen Aviation Museum

The Evergreen Aviation Museum is in McMinnville, Oregon. It is named after Evergreen International Airways, and is home to the Spruce Goose.

It has a lot of airplanes, many that are military. But the whole thing was built around the Spruce Goose, which takes up pretty much the whole building. It is one LARGE airplane.

On the birding front...

Bird No. 243: Western Scrub Jay.

Other notable birds yesterday: American Kestral, Killdeer. Also, a large number of European Starlings and Brewer's Blackbirds. And a Red-Breasted Nuthatch at one of the wineries.

I really haven't been doing much birding. Mostly grape watching. And the vineyards do their best to keep birds out of the grapes. I'll probably do more birding once I get to the coast. (No wineries.)

As Peregrine Joe says: May your next bird be a lifer!

Pictures from today's wine tour

Chardonnay

Pinot Noir

Vineyards

Wine Country

Oregon wine country, that is.

We left Leavenworth and headed south. The first night we spent in the parking lot of WalMart in Chehalis, Washington. Yay Walmart. At least they're good for something. We spent the next 2 nights in Cascade Locks, Oregon. We went to 3 brewpubs and 3 wineries. Lots of wine. Love wine. Anyway...Hood River, Oregon is a really cool place. Outdoorsy. It's in the Columbia River Gorge and you can see clearly across the river and you can see all that goes on on the river. There were people out there kite boarding and sail boarding. The river is so wide, it looked like they were in the ocean. We also saw a sternwheeler going down the river. And a lot of people fishing. And trains. Oh the trains. Let me tell you about the trains...

The trains went by the campground every 20 minutes or so. Freight trains. They were so close to the campground that the motorhome would rumble. Long, long trains too. Actually, it was the whistle that was loud, not the train itself so much. At least at night they only went by about every 2 to 3 hours. But during the day they were waiting for tracks to clear. What was really neat was you could see the tracks across the river. So you could sit on one side of the river and watch the trains on the other. Enough about trains.

Now we're in Oregon Wine Country. We're in McMinnville. And we're right next door to the Evergreen Aviation Museum, the one with the Spruce Goose in it. We're going to there tomorrow. Today, we spent the day driving from winery to winery. We went to 7 wineries today and I have 4 more I want to check out. Bill even found a brewpub in McMinnville. We're going to spend 1 more night here, and then head for the coast on Wednesday. I have grape pictures. I'll post them as soon as I get done with the laundry.

Stevens Pass

Yep. That's snow.

Pictures of Leavenworth

Leavenworth, Washington

We have spent the last 3 days in Leavenworth, Washington, Bavarian capital of the US, I guess. It's a very quaint town with a downtown area that looks like it came directly from Germany. We've had a great time. I've been able to learn a little more of my ancestry and what being from Germany is like. Ok, maybe not. Mostly we've been eating our way through town. I've had schnitzel and spatzle and rotkraut and saurkraut and knockwurst and bratwurst (I've come to the conclusion that I don't like bratwurst) and other types of sausages and cheese and wine and beer. Or bier as they say here. Come to think of it, I really didn't hear a lot of people speaking German. But who cares when the food is good. And then we got apples and apple cider (real apple cider, the kind with the apple pulp still in it.) All in all, we've had a great time and are making plans to come back for either Oktoberfest or the Christmas tree lighting. Or both. (Our timeshare has a property here.)

We spent a nice weekend with Bill's Aunt and Uncle in Duvall. We went to the Issaquah Salmon Days Festival on Saturday. It POURED. But the festival was really neat. It was huge. A lot of vendors with glass and pottery and food. Always food. (I was supposed to use this trip to loose weight, but instead I think I've gained it. My doctor is NOT going to be happy with me.) Bill's Aunt Rosemarie outdid herself with the cooking. She made breakfasts and dinners and had tons of food for us. Man, she's a good cook. Thank you Aunt Rosemarie and Uncle Jerry for such a great time!

On the bird front, there have been many birds around. Mostly the same birds we have in Alaska, but now they are here on their migration. But I have seen 2 that we don't have in Alaska. California Quail and a White-Headed Woodpecker. There are a ton of robins here. I'm not sure if it's normal, but it sure is neat to see them all.

I've been informed that we have to get moving. We're headed out of Leavenworth and going to start our journey to Oregon and California. I do have some pictures of Leavenworth which I will post as soon as I can. My computer cannot be fixed as far as the wireless switch is concerned, so I have to go with the AT&T thing and since I hate AT&T, I've been using Bill's computer.

Until later....

Washington

After spending some 5 days in Montana (2 in Whitefish, 3 in Missoula), we headed toward Washington. We drove all the way through to Tacoma in one day. It was a LONG day. Spent the night in the parking lot of Camping World. Yesterday we got a satellite dish installed in the RV. Then we headed toward the Olympic Peninsula. Last night we spent the night in Hoodsport, which by the way, has a very good winery. They use grapes from Oregon and local berries. If you happen to find a Hoodsport wine, go for the raspberry. If you're not into berry wines, go for the Pinot Noir. It's a killer!!!

Back to the trip...If you're looking for pictures, neither Bill nor I have actually been taking any. We've just been driving and enjoying the warm weather. It's been in the 70s since we got to Montana and the beautiful weather is continuing while we are in Washington. It's a foggy on the water today, but it looks like the sun is trying to break through.

I really haven't been doing a lot of birding. I don't seem to have the time. It's been killing me. I did spot a Northern Flicker in the campground in Missoula. And as we were driving along the water here on the peninsula, there was a Great Blue Heron sitting on a rock. It was really neat to see one just sitting next to the road like that. There was also a cormorant in the water, but it dove before I could really get a good look. Other birds along the way: Wilson's Warbler, Black-Capped Chickadee, Bohemian Waxwing, Pine Siskin, Common Redpoll, Robin, American Crow, Magpie, Raven, Mew Gull, a flock of undetermined gulls (planning on figuring out some of them today), and a number of raptors that are hard to identify when driving by on the interstate. Oh, and Red Breasted Nuthatches. Lots of nuthatches. Beverly would be in heaven!

Today we are heading to Sequim and Port Angeles. That's as far as we are going to get on this trip before heading back to Seattle to spend time with family. Haven't seen Bill's aunt Rosemarie and Uncle Jerry in a long time. Looking forward to seeing them again. Don't know how long we are going to stay there. At least through Saturday because they have a Salmon Days Festival this weekend which is supposed to be very good. Then off for Leavenworth. I think Bill wants to get back to his German roots. I'm not a big fan of Bratwurst, hope they have something more. Beer. They have lots of beer. And speaking of beer, we're been hitting breweries all over the place. Between you and me, I'm getting tired of beer. I'm heavy enough as it is, the last thing I need is a beer gut. Oh well...

I'll try to do better with the pictures. I have to get my computer fixed and call AT&T and reem them out. I HATE AT&T. We have to get rid of them as soon as we decide where we're going to live for a while. (And so far Montana is in the top running.) Talk to you all as soon as I can!