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.