Entering CA, we could see fires from the freeway.
As we drove through Redding, overpass after overpass had thank you signs for all the firefighters who’ve helped that community fight the fires.
Many businesses had billboards and banners up as well. Their gratitude was as obvious as the smoke.
We entered our former home state sooner than expected due to skipping Crater Lake. We’d be taking I-5 all the way down to the Bay Area. This would take us past Orland, CA, which when you look at a map, isn’t too far from where some really special friends live.
So, I texted Kimberly and asked if, last minute, she, Nic, and Jack would be able to come out to meet us. Thankfully, it was after school and they had time to visit. What a cool thing God did – if we’d gone to Crater Lake, the timing wouldn’t have worked out for us to see them. But God is so good at turning a disappointment into something beautiful, and time with friends is always that – beautiful!
We ended up taking the exit for where my grandma used to live, and ended up driving right by her old church, the El Sobrante SDA Church.
We continued the next day into Oakland, CA. Albert had heard of and watched online videos of a vegetarian chef named Chef Chew. This isn’t just some screen name. His name is actually G.W. Chew. Isn’t God fun? I think He loves irony, too. So Chef Chew has a vegetarian restaurant in the Dimond District that serves a lunch and dinner menu.
That’s Chef Chew, making some yummy grub!
One of the items Albert was really excited to try was Chef Chew’s fried “chicken”. But we noticed the fried chicken wasn’t served until dinner. So, what do we do?
Left to right, top to bottom: Nachos, Philly Cheesesteak, Grilled Chicken Sandwich, Cheese Steak Fries, Kale and Sesame Salad – all vegan!
We ate lunch (above) and then headed off to a dog park for Mel. We were back in familiar territory. Places we’d been near for years but never stopped at. This park was on the bay near Richmond, and it was so breezy and cool.
Then we stopped at another place we’d always driven by — Rosie the Riveter WWII National Historic Museum. This ended up being such a fun stop. The Museum is so well done and packed with so much history. We enjoyed the two movies on the history of Richmond and the shipyards there during World War II.
As dinnertime rolled around, we headed back to The Veg Hub for some fried chicken and mac-n-cheese.
After dinner, we drove to Novato for the night. We had another fun “always wanted to but never did” adventure awaiting.
This is a hike we’d driven by for years, and always wondered what it was like. Now we know 🙂
This is just as you head north out of Novato.
If you’ve ever watched the CBS news show, SUNDAY MORNING, this reminded me of the end, when they always show some peaceful place in nature, with the lovely sounds of nature.
White Pelicans
I apologize for the blurry picture. This doe was so cute with her big ears. It reminded us of Mel.
Brodee spotted this big beauty on the bridge.
Mel proudly carried her hiking stick.
Friday took us back up into our old stomping grounds of Sonoma County. Our first stop was to see some friends of Albert’s when he worked in Petaluma. These two brothers work together, and we took them a yummy treat we brought from Montana. Next, of course, stopped at Amy’s for some veggie chili-cheese fries.
We tried to do a quick load of laundry at a laundry mat in Windsor. That’s Albert, talking to the laundry mat owner, getting instructions on how to possibly get our laundry out of the machine it was stuck in. Eventually, at almost 10pm, we did.
- We stopped by Hauth Family Taekwondo, where the boys took classes for almost four years. Mrs. and Mr. Hauth (rhymes with out) are on the ends, and Miss Brem, another instructor, is in the center. What’s awesome about this place is that the Hauths and the adults they have helping them really care about the kids and want to help them grow as people and in character as much as anything else. You can’t beat that! (Ean and Miss Brem were having a tippy-toe war to see who was taller for the picture 🙂
We ate yuuuuummmmmyyyy Round Table Pizza with our friends Wade and Donna. It was so fun to sit and feast on delicious pizza while having such a fun time catching up.
Sabbath morning, we were back in Healdsburg SDA Church, worshiping with our dear friends. We hit the jackpot when we found out our friends Paulette and Bob were making their famous breakfast. And Brodee had the honor of helping pick up the offering – his first time. He did great and was even partnered with our friend Bill. My parents and our friend Leslie joined us at church, along with Albert’s side of the family. In the afternoon, the cousins enjoyed a few of the local parks together.
The cousins enjoyed lunch together out on the steps.
Later that afternoon, we had the privilege of visiting 4 week old Border Collie puppies. Their mama, Georgia, is doing a lovely job of raising eight little ones. Needless to say, we loved every second! The non-puppy (cat) in the middle is Reno. He’s a lovie! And then we got to meet some of the beautiful horses and of course, Thomas, the miniature donkey. Emma, Leslie, and Cooper were so gracious in hosting us out at Emma’s home.
Saturday night, we enjoyed another meal with Wade, Donna, and my parents. This time, it was at the Himalayan Restaurant on the Town Green in Windsor. We LOVE their lentil soup!!!
On Sunday morning, we had a fun visit with our friend, Will. While in Windsor, we stayed on our old street in Big Boy, parked along friends’ homes. We didn’t have far to go for our morning visit.
It was an incredible surprise to find out our Windsor courts had been resurfaced! They look so official now — and just in time for the US Open!!
Then it was off for a court date. We met our friend Bill at the Windsor Tennis courts. It’s always so fun to play tennis with him when we’re in town.
Another unexpected God gift was meeting some Taekwondo friends there, too. They were having a tennis lesson. We haven’t seen them since we moved a year and a half ago, so this was such a surprise! We had no idea they’d been taking tennis lessons for several years while the boys had, too!
This is our dear Coach Anna. We first met her here on these courts. (You can read more about that back in our Carolinas post.) She coached the boys for years. She stopped by for a quick visit and to see how the boys’ game has progressed. Her mother stopped by as well, so this was a memorable time on the courts!
After all the fun and special time playing tennis, it was time to head out for the next leg of our trip.
A Malo Walkabout 