Goodbye, Hello!

 

We have been dreading and looking forward to this visit for a long time.  We had to say goodbye to the beautiful blue sky vineyards of northern California and abandon our wonderfully scenic US 101

to wend our way through the Pacific marine layer enveloping the densely populated, high traffic San Francisco Bay area.

I 580 sent us over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and south along the east (landward) side of the Bay.  I 580 and I 880 parallel each other here but the GPS sent us along I 880 so that’s where we went.

View of the mouth of the bay.  The Ocean is out there in the fog.

For people who prefer wide-open spaces over cities, threading our way way through the Oakland area was rather nerve-wracking.

Lots of graffiti along the highway

traffic and people everywhere.

Leaving Oakland, (the dreaded part of this trip) I 880 ended at  I 580 which took us east through the golden hills to where we stored the house.    From there Duane soared with the Eagle and I lumbered behind with the truck on a  twisty route over and around the mountain.  Duane enjoyed it immensely. What I could see of it was beautifully scenic, but unfortunately I couldn’t take any pix!

In due time we arrived at our new home for the next week. This is the part of we were looking forward to.  Everyone was very excited to see us at last.  Katie made Grandpa welcome by transforming him into Mr. Cool Guy.

Mel(anie), Katie, Jack

Duane, Mel, Katie, Jack, daughter-in-law Beth, and son Matt ready to chow down.  We like coming here to visit.  The kids make things lively and fun and Matt and Beth not only fold us right into their family life, but also like to play games (like cards and dominoes)  in the evenings.

More fun with the family coming up, but we’ll be doing stuff on our own too.

Louise and Duane