Sunday, May 23, 2010

A TWO-YEAR ODYSSEY COMES TO AN END ...

We are in Roseburg, OR for the second night camped at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. W & E for $20.20 a night. Very quiet except for the freeway noise but only a couple other rigs. This is going to be a short post with lots of pictures because I’m writing it on Friday. We are on the road and I do not know when I’ll have a chance to write again. We are expected in Shelton, WA on Saturday afternoon and Phil and I look forward to spending the rest of that evening with our dear friends and hosts, Gloria and Les—therefore no chance to write and schedule a posting of my blog before Sunday morning. Does that make any sense? It's late and I'm pooped so probably not but hopefully, you can figure it out.

Two days before leaving Pleasanton the Alameda Fairgrounds was inundated with Rvers arriving for the Irish wolfhound Club of America National Specialty competition. Penny the Pace was surrounded with these magnificent, sociable animals in all sorts of very large pens, tents and canopies. We couldn’t help but go for a walk and get a giant puppy fix and one 15-month-old male liked Phil so much, he nearly knocked him down rubbing his massive head against Phil’s leg. They are just a wee bit smaller than a Great Dane but with heavier bodies. We loved getting up close and personal with these wonderful dogs.

On Tuesday, we rode with Robin and Walt to visit a beautiful country estate featured on the PBS series named America’s Castles. FILOLI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filoli is set on 16 acres of formal gardens surrounded by 654 acres owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is open for public tours, which include self-guided tours, guided tours, and nature hikes. The largest gardens are working gardens for the production of cut flowers for the mansion and for the growing of some vegetables. Eleven full-time horticulturists and over 100 volunteers who come weekly maintain these gardens. It was a cool overcast day for our visit but perfect weather to spend several hours exploring this lovely place.

To cap off our visit with my sister, Robin and her family Walt drove us to San Francisco and we enjoyed dinner at the historic Cliff House Restaurant. Our table overlooked the ocean and several huge rocks as well as the remains of the Sutro Baths on the north side above the beach. The food was expensive (Robin says about normal for San Francisco prices) but tasty with fairly large portions. Note to Roger: Phil had a hamburger that was a fair match to the one you had recently but no doubt cost a lot more! :)

Thanks for stopping by …
Until next time!


3 comments:

  1. OK, but what about the end of a two-yeqr odyssey?a

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  2. I am in TN with Sharon this week. Weill go home Wed. I will be over to see you at some point this summer. Have a mahhhhhvelous week. Love Lea

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  3. The photos this week were wonderful. What a beautiful place to visit and those flowers are gorgeous.

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