Our Visit to Santa Rosa

Karen and I took a trip up from Hemet to visit Kimi, Mike and Carina for the weekend. We left on Friday in our motorhome and drove half way, stopping at a nice RV park near Harris Ranch along I-5 for the night. The next morning, before leaving, I spent about 45 minutes cleaning off all the insects plastered all over the windshield and front of the motorhome. (Remind us about traveling through the Central Valley in springtime!) After a light breakfast, we headed out for the final leg of our journey to Santa Rosa. Somewhere along the way, we took a rock in the windshield which started a small crack. Each time we hit a good bump, the crack got longer. By the time we arrived, it was about 18 inches long. Although this was a bummer, we didn't let it stand in the way of having a wonderful visit with our little granddaughter, Carina...and of course we always enjoy spending time with Kimi and Mike. On Sunday morning, we took a trip to Sausalito to visit the Bay Area Discovery Museum. This is a State Park converted from a former military facility, Fort Baker, has been beautifully restored and transformed into an exciting place where young children can experience a variety of hands-on learning opportunities. Carina had a ball playing in the Tot Spot where she got to climb on things, paint, play musical instruments, and generally expand her visual and tactile horizons. The weather was absolutely beautiful, although a bit chilly and windy, the sky was a bright blue with fluffy white clouds. It was such a "Kodak day" that Mike took us up to the bluff overlooking the Golden Gate bridge where we took some great photos. Our next day was spent just relaxing and taking it easy with no specific plans to do anything. Just hanging out with our extended family is pleasure enough for us, especially since we live so far away. Kimi is trying to help us get into this blogging stuff and is coaching me as I write this. She is so creative and her blogs are a delight to read, and this seems pretty pedestrian by comparison. But, perhaps we'll get better as we go. We will be returning to So. Cal. in the morning (:-( and this time we'll be driving straight through because Karen and I both have commitments on Wednesday. And, once a new windshield arrives that we've ordered, we will have to take the motorhome in to have it installed. We really enjoy traveling by RV, but in this case, it probably would have been cheaper to fly!