California Dreaming...

Whew... It's nice to be back in my own bed! California was incredible. Flew into San Jose and with the help of the nice Garmin lady I eventually made it to the thriving metropolis of Turlock, located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mts. It felt like I had stumbled into a Steinbeck novel... farms and foothills all around. If you look closely, you can see the wind turbines.

Bob spends most of his time rehearsing the brass line on whatever field they can find. I found a quiet place to read to help me pass the time. That's me and Mr. Twain.

Most of the week was spent driving from the hotel in Turlock to the practice field in Hilmar (home of the Hilmar Cheese Factory... I took the tour!). Everyone sleeps on the floor in the gym. How cozy :) We did get a hotel room for a few nights since it would be a long time till Bob sleeps in a real bed again, plus it was nice to have a real shower! Here's Bob at rehearsal.


On Wednesday they had a free day and it meant a car ride into San Fransisco. We took the brass staff with us and learned that you can have 5 or 6 conversations going at the same time while Bob is driving, but you can't do it while he's parking...

The Tigers were in town to play the Giants and we are not ones to turn down a baseball game. AT & T park is an awesome stadium to watch a game, though we did switch our outfield seats for some slightly less sunny in the upper level.

From the park we hit Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf. Such a touristy place, but it had its moments. We made the 5 block trek uphill to see Lombard Street, the "crookedest" street in the world. Sunset on the beach was too good to pass up, so it was off the Ghirardelli Square to wait.

I'm still a bit jet lagged and have many more pictures from the trip, but they'll have to wait for another blog. All in all, it was a great trip and I'm so glad I got to spend a little bit of my summer with my husband (for a change!)