Steph travels to California....Sept. 22nd through Oct. 5th

I got the house back to "normal" (all the laundry done, cleaning done, etc.), then left for the U.S. on Sunday, September 22nd. My direct flight from Amsterdam was about 11.5 hours to SFO. I usually fly with KLM since I get points and the service is good. The seats seem to get smaller every time I get on the plane, but maybe it's me (???!!!).

When I arrived at SFO (around noon) I rented a car (prearranged through Hotwire.com) and drove up to my daughter's house in the Sacramento area. We were able to spend a lot of time together on this trip. She is going to school full-time and fortunately didn't have tooooo much homework while I was there!

That first evening Allen and Jackie took me out to dinner at the Crawdad's River Cantina in Sacramento. What a beautiful place right on the river!

Monday evening my daughter-in-law, who lives in Delaware, and I had arranged to meet for dinner in Sacramento. She happened to be in CA at the same time as I was visiting her family in Isleton!  Her Mom, sister and a friend, she and my granddaughter came together and we met at Dantorel's Restaurant where they serve all kinds of yummy crepes. I had brought my grandson with me so the two little ones could play together! We had a wonderful meal together....too bad it was such a short visit. I have learned to savor those moments for what they are.

The following day I drove down to Pleasanton. I met my other daughter for dinner at Meiko Sushi in Pleasanton where we had a very nice dinner....lots of food!  We had enough that she was able to take some home for lunch the next day!

Because I had waited so long to schedule everything I wasn't able to find a hotel available in the area. I didn't want to bother friends....and sometimes I just need quiet anyway. I stayed that night and the following night at the Marriott's in Salinas.

Tuesday, 24 September I had arranged to have a CODE40! It was a party with some of my ex-coworkers at a park. I had reserved a picnic area at Almaden Lakes Park, which turned out to be perfect. There is some free parking there and the picnic area was covered (I was worried it might rain). The weather was a little windy, but no rain!  I arrived at the park at 1000 hrs and started setting everything up. I had bought table clothes, paper supplies, plastic utensils, etc. What a greaaaaat day we had reminiscing and catching up with each other's lives!!!

The following morning I decided to go down to Monterey. It is so beautiful down there. A friend of mine was going to meet me, but ended up having to take her Mom to the doctor.

Later that afternoon I went to my good friend Sally's house. She had asked some other friends (Karen, Jen, Cathy and Traci) to join us and we enjoyed a  nice evening together! I was enjoying myself so much I didn't take many pictures, darn it!

I am truly blessed to have such good friends!

I spent Thursday night at Sally's house. The next morning we had breakfast (Sally made eggs in a bread on the stove, it was very yummy!). Around noon we decided to go for a walk on the levy. What a beautiful area!  I don't know why I'd never been down that way!

At around 1400 I had to leave to go back up to Sacramento. Allen wanted to take me out for dinner at around 1700hrs.

There was a lot of traffic on the Altamont......living in Europe I had forgotten how bad CA traffic can be!

On my drive back up I saw this on the side of the freeway:

I arrived in Sacramento around 1700hrs. Allen got stuck working overnight (he works on cellphone towers) so he couldn't make dinner. We made arrangements for another day.
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Saturday Jackie and I decided to go to our favorite place to eat in Fair Oaks called Sunflower Drive-Up. It's all very fresh food...all vegetarian. Yummmm!

It's so cute, there are chickens running around all over the place in the parking lot!

After lunch we decided to go to the Outlets.......

That evening Allen took us out for dinner at Casa Roma's Restaurant. Very good mexican food!

 Ready for Halloween!

Sunday we had made plans to go to Pleasanton and meet other family members for a birthday celebration for James and Dillon!  We all met at my favorite restaurant in town...The Oasis Grille (where I can get Aushak.......to die for yummy!!). I had called ahead and asked that they set up a table for us outside. It was a perfect day for it! James, Hanya, Amanda, Travis, Dan, Michelle, Katherine, Clara, Allen, Jackie, Dillon and I were there. We were there for several hours...and had a wonderful time together!

Thankfully my children enjoy all kinds of different food......the following evening Jackie, Dillon and I had dinner at an Indian Restaurant called India House. Delicious!

Playing hide-and-seek with Superman!

While I was in CA Jackie was looking at houses and condo's......trying to find something in her price range to buy. We looked at quite a few.....she found one and put an offer in while I was there. It needs a lot of work, some will have to be done before they can move in...but some can be done over time.

That evening we decided on sushi for dinner. Dillon using his chopsticks!

 Saw this vehicle and thought it unusual!! It's a 3 wheeler....car....motorcycle? What do you call it?!?

The following day we went to the Sacramento Zoo!  What a perfect day!!!

 After Dillon's nap we went out for ice cream!

My last night in CA......Friday, October 4th there was a fall program at Dillon's 'school'. It was soooo adorable watching all the kids singing!

After the show we had dinner at Buca de Peppo.

 When we got home I went to pack up my suitcase....guess Lucky didn't want me to go!

Dillon wearing one of my favorite shirts!! tee hee!

So hard to say good-bye....especially knowing I won't be back till next fall at the earliest.......Using Skype helps, but it's no substitute for being there in person!