California Dreamin'

I moved from California in March, 2005. Born and raised in California,  I am well acquainted with almost every part of my beloved State.  I moved to New Mexico after I was laid off from my job of 27 years.  I could not see trying to find a new job that would pay me enough to live on.  I was 54 years old and could not imagine retiring in California.  The deep blue skies and colorful mesas of New Mexico appealed to the artist in me and I felt wonderful peace and energy with each visit to New Mexico from 1999 to when I relocated there in March, 2005.

I have never regretted my decision and my occasional return visits to California, although sentimental, reaffirm for me the wisdom of my relocation.  In California, housing is very expensive, the traffic is horrible, too many people have moved to the coastal areas and the cost-of-living is very high.  Today, the increasingly massive wildfires are burning up much of the State's beautiful landscape.  Today, my family has all moved to New Mexico with both my daughters and their families now living in Albuquerque where I live.  For that, I consider myself very fortunate. We still have friends in California who we keep in touch with. And my only niece, Tracy, lives in San Francisco.

Tracy invited us to her wedding to be in the Wine Country of Napa, California October 19th.  Ron and I planned to drive there for the wedding and then head south to visit several friends.  We headed out from Albuquerque on October 15th.  The first night, we got as far as Seligman, Arizona which is an iconic Route 66 town just southwest of the Grand Canyon.  We stayed in the Historic Route 66 Motel and dined at the Road Kill Cafe.

Lots of memorabilia of Route 66 in Seligman.

We drove to Bakersfield the next day, stopping at the ghost town attraction of Calico (near Barstow).  I remember this place as a kid, it was a forerunner to to Knott's Berry Farm when Walter Knott bought and restored the town in 1951, made it into a tourist attraction and donated it to the County of San Bernardino in 1966.  The town was getting ready for their Halloween Haunt with many ghostly figures.

When we got to Bakersfield, we enjoyed Basque cuisine at Benji's French Basque Restaurant that evening.  Basque immigrants were sheep herders in the California Sierra Nevada in the 19th and early 20th century.  Many opened restaurants in California towns like Bakersfield and Fresno.  I have fond memories of the Chateau Basque in the tiny mountain town of Boulevard in San Diego County.  The "set up" includes family-style servings of soup, beans, bread, pickled tongue, salsa, tomatoes, vegetable, and salad.  For our main entrees, Ron ordered grilled scallops and I ordered the NY steak with a tarragon pepper sauce. Delicious!

We arrived in Sonoma October 17th and checked into our Airbnb where our daughters and their families would join us later that evening.  The next day, we attended a pre-wedding picnic at Napa Cellars and a dinner at the Bounty Hunter Wine Bar and BBQ.  It was nice to see my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew from Salem, Oregon.  Tracy and her fiancé, Gavin, were a handsome couple.

  

My older sister, Jeanne, is my only sibling.  It was nice to be reunited at the wedding.

My daughter, Mary, her husband Matt, and her daughter Rosemerry with Aunt Jeanne.

My daughters, Amanda and Mary, reunited with their cousin, Tracy, the beautiful bride-to-be.

   

Cabernet Savignon grapes ripened on the vine.

The wedding was held October 19th at the Auberge du Soleil Resort at the Rutherford Hill Winery.   It was a beautiful location and the wedding reception and dinner was delightful.

Ron and I at the wedding reception at Auberge du Soleil with a Michelin-starred restaurant.

On October 20th, we headed for Monterey.  We stayed at a beach hotel and enjoyed the sound of crashing waves as we fell asleep.

  

We joined friends, Steve and Janet, who now live in Pebble Beach for breakfast at a Cannery Row restaurant before heading South on Highway 1.  We drove the scenic Pacific Coast Highway through Pacific Grove, Carmel-by-the-Sea, and Big Sur until we reached Cambria in San Luis Rey County.

We found a lovely ocean front motel on Moonstone Beach, the Cambria Shores Inn, to spend the night. We enjoyed the ocean views sitting in our beach chairs and then a wonderful dinner at the Moonstone Bar and Grill where we watched the sun set.  

  

We headed for San Diego County on October 22nd.  We would stay with our friends, Page and Laurie, in their Poway home where we were married in their beautiful backyard in January, 2006.  Page suffered a stroke in November, 2018 and has slowly been making a recovery from that since we had last seen him in  April, 2018.  We enjoyed three warm and sunny days in San Diego including a wonderful lunch at the ocean front Poseidon Restaurant in Del Mar. 

Baja-style Fish Tacos with french fries

Seared Ahi Tuna with pickled ginger and cucumber spirals

Turkey Club Sandwich with French Fries

Fish and Chips

We departed California on October 24th, drove to Tucson for an early dinner at our favorite Mexican Restaurant, the Guadalajara Grill, then on to Willcox, AZ to spend the night before arriving home on October 25th.  The temperatures had dropped to freezing in Albuquerque and the leaves were all falling.  

Our road trip lasted 10 days and covered 3,000 miles so we were very happy to have made it safely and to have seen beautiful California just days before new massive wildfires and power blackouts struck the areas we had traveled through.  I wish the people who live there well but I fear their California Dreamin' existence is threatened by climate change and over-population and they may have to make a decision to relocate themselves in the future.