.jeri.

Hey gang,

I wrote up a post last week but the site went down and it disappeared. Bummer. Well, things have been quiet around here because I was busy planning a vacation and then I went on vacation!

Ric and I have never been to Yosemite and have never done tent camping together, so we decided to give it a go. I had to borrow and buy all sorts of equipment to make it happen. By the time we got everything together, I was already pooped. On a Friday night, we drove up to Fresno and spent the night there before continuing on to Yosemite the next morning.

We were supposed to camp near the West entrance, but missed a turn and actually entered the South entrance. That actually turned out to be a good thing. We got to drive through a lot of the park and see it in all of its fall glory. I got one shot while driving:

We actually had to leave the park to go meet up with our cousins and their family, who were staying at a nearby lodge. We gathered up all of them and then headed to our campground to set up, after a quick stop at
a view point:

That day we gathered firewood, started a fire, cooked dinner, ate smores, and enjoyed each other's company. The cousins went back to their lodge while we slept in a tent. It was cold!

The next morning, it started to rain, which wasn't in the forecast. A quick-moving storm came in. We wanted to see what would happen with it, so we met up with the fam for breakfast at a local joint and spent the morning playing darts and table shuffle board. When we checked on the weather, it was only getting worse, so we all went back to our campsite and broke everything down in the pouring rain. It was actually kind of funny, even though it was sad.

Since we had planned to spend the next few days in Yosemite, Ric and I had to create an impromptu agenda! We decided to go back to his hometown, so we spent the afternoon driving there. We went out to dinner and spent the night watching shows on our laptops, and the next morning we went to the cemetery to visit Ric's dad's grave:

From there, we went up to Old Sacramento. I had never been (couldn't afford the 4th grade trip when I was little, so I got to go 20 years later!). There, we went to the train museum:

Then we visited some local shops (bought a gnome for our front doorstep), had a good Cajun lunch, and then visited Fort Sutter, where I found the height of the doorways to be extremely convenient:

I also got this great shot of Ric and his growing beard in the jail at the fort:

From Sacramento, we drove in to San Francisco. We stayed by the wharf and took a good walk down to Union Square and had a nice Irish dinner at a local pub. The next morning, we had lunch on the wharf and then drove in to Castro Valley to visit the family out there. We stayed at Ric's grandpa's place. We visited with him, then we went with him to visit Grandma in her assisted living home, then went out to eat with the whole family to celebrate our aunt's birthday. Here are the cousins with their aunt:

It was a lot of fun staying with Grandpa, who is an example to all of how you can keep your mind sharp into your elder years. He's also pretty spry for 87 - still driving and doing yardwork and keeping up a very clean house!

After Castro Valley, we headed up to Benicia to see my sister and her family. We had dinner out with her and a couple of the nephews. Obligatory shot for the parents:

Benicia was a quick visit, and we were headed out the next morning. On our way home, we decided to check out the nearby Jelly Belly Factory, where we took a tour. It wasn't magical so much as it was crowded and stuffy, but it was fun to learn about how candy is made and see the factory machines in action. I was bummed that we weren't able to take photos while on the tour, so here's us in our tour hats:

After the jelly beans, it was a long ride home. Thankfully, audio Harry Potter books kept us entertained. It was a fun vacation, despite the fact that we had to wing most of it and spent a lot of money on camping food that couldn't be saved. It was great to see family and drive around lovely northern California.

The rest of our photos can be seen on FB here.

Well, I'm off to do some baking for Thanksgiving! This year my thankfulness is for family. I hope all of you have a blessed time focusing on what you are thankful for, wherever you celebrate.