Murphys and San Francisco, California

Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge

What a great Easter! Day was at work, Rachael was working and Caleb was at Fort Bragg....and me? Well, all alone! So Gail and I decided to head to California to visit friends we met in Cozumel last July. What a great time we had! Murphys, set in the Sierra Foothills of California has lots of wineries with superior wines! We visit

ed Big Trees State Park and Yosemite National Forest and Park....perfect blue skies for both visits. We then woke up to SNOW on Thursday morning! How exciting. Oh, and we were upgraded to a Mustang convertible os we were able to drive to Murphys from San Francisco and back four days later with the top down! Cruisin the highways of Cali in a convertible...now that was a blessing from God...a dream made reality! We spent a few days in San Francisco...visited the Wharf, Alcatraz, Coit Tower along with the Golden Gate Bridge and a few other sites and rode trolley and cable cars! The only down side was the midnight flight we booked back...I ended up being awake for nearly 36 hou

rs before I slept again! But when I did sleep, it was the best sleep I had in a LONG time!

It was a great time...the only thing better would have been my Honey by my side. I love you, Husband! Thanks for a great Easter gift!

Me!

At Pier 39 of The Wharf with the sea lions

Picnic at Yosemite National Forest and Park

Snow in Murphys, California!

At the California Science Museum, Planetarium and Aquarium in San Francisco

Colorado Vacation - July 2008

What a great time! Returning to the great state of Colorado after only one year! A co-worker and good friend of Day's invited us on vacation with him, his wife and another couple to do some 4-wheeling in the San Juan Mountains. I suggested to Day that we invite Timothy, as he loves to ride our 4-wheelers! And having been there once before, I knew the beauty and excitement the ride would bring. We spent 2 days driving and 5 days there. We rode 4-wheelers for 3 days in the Lake City area; well I did; Day got "altitude sickness" and was out for one day. He and Timothy stayed at the cabin but I refused to drive 20 hrs and sit in some small room! So off I went and it was probably the best day, as we went to 14,000 feet on Engineers Pass! It's an erie feeling to stand and be "eye to eye" with almost all the other peaks in the range! We encountered a few snow flakes and plenty of "old snow." Day got to feeling better so he and Timothy did some fishing. Timothy caught 3 fish that afternoon.

Wildlife was plentiful although we never got to see a bear...something Toni was praying hard for! Much excitement on this trip....I drove my 4-wheeler off the road! Thank God it was in a meadow/valley area and no damage was done to me or the machine! Definitely made me even safer than I already am and the rest of the vacation stayed accident-free!

We left camp early and drove an additional 3 hrs to visit with Christen and am so glad we did! We went back to our favorite town in Colorado, Ouray and it was at dinner that evening, we decided we wanted to move to Colorado. We've talked about it since our visit from last year but returning to Ouray just enforced the idea for us! We thought about Montrose but after walking around Ouray and talking with Chris, we decided the 30 minute ride to Montrose for the airport was not a big deal. We drove by a few condos and discussed it more on the way home to come up with a "solid plan."

We've decided to haul our RV up there next May.....and stay the summer. Along with a visit this January to experience snow, we should then be able to make a firm decision by next September on whether to purchase a condo or play "snowbird." I am thrilled....we are blessed by God to be able to "try out this move" with little financial burden. The only major thing will be me leaving my job and even that's not an issue, as I've been talking about leaving or going somewhere for part-time work. I am soooooo happy!

So our vacation was GREAT!