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Tuesday, December 14, 2021

North to Calistoga and Davis, California

The day after the wedding we flew from Cancun to Los Angeles (LAX), overnighted, and took an early flight the next day to San Jose. After a few days of recovery at Sun-Ling's sister's in Saratoga, we headed NORTH to the Napa Valley to visit my old friend Mike who with his wife Laura own and operate Laura Michael Wines in Calistoga. Mike is known as the Pope of Calistoga and we had a fun time tasting Michael Laura wines, eating, and strolling around Calistoga. Rainy weather canceled our planned hike near Mount Saint Helena, so we made an early start of the drive over the hills to Davis where SL's niece is a junior at UC Davis.

Our time in Davis was pleasant. We stayed at the house of old friends. They were out-of-town so we were hosted by their daughter Zora, a top notch host and conversationalist. On Saturday we picked up Sun-Ling's niece Cameron and drove west past Winters to Stebbins Cold Canyon for an awesome hike and picnic. To sum up: the kids are alright! And not to mention that we ate some tasty Burmese, Nepali, and Indian food in Davis.

Traveler's Tip:The American Airlines Verifly app allowed us to quickly get through check-in and to the gate at the Cancun airport for our international flight to LAX.

Sun-Ling heads to our gate at LAX. LAX - Los Angeles, California

The view on takeoff south to Redondo Beach. Taking off from LAX - Los Angeles, California

Sunset from the balcony of SL's sister's house in Saratoga. Moonrise at Sunset - Saratoga, California

Mike and I with Laure Michael vineyards in the background. Calistoga, California

Gas prices in Calistoga.
Calistoga, California

Downtown Calistoga. Calistoga, California

Mike and I. Mike and Me - Calistoga, California

On the road from Calistoga to Davis, California

On the road from Calistoga to Davis, California

We stopped to hike the lower section of the Stebbins Cold Canyon Loop before continuing to Davis. Pretty cool "entrance" to the trailhead, no? Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve  - near Winters, California There was a bit of low clouds on the rocky, green hills. Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve  - near Winters, California Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve  - near Winters, California

The next day was sunny and beautiful and we had a great hike on the Stebbins Cold Canyon Upper Trail with Sun-Ling's niece Cameron. Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve  - near Winters, California Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve  - near Winters, California Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve  - near Winters, California

...with awesome views to the east of Davis, Sacramento, and the High Sierra. View to Davis, Sacramento, and The Sierras from Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve, near Winters, California

Tasty Nepali dinner at Kathmandu Kitchen. Eating Veg at Kathmandu Kitchen - Davis, California And lunch at Yeti. Naan, Pakora, Samosas, Momos - Yeti Restaurant - Davis, California

On the drive back to Saratoga, we stopped for a long walk at Tilden Regional Park in the hills above Berkeley, and had lunch with this view to downtown San Francisco, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Lunch Spot - Tilden Regional Park - Oakland, California Our outbound route was on the ridge top, and the return in the canyon. Tilden Regional Park - Oakland, California

2 comments:

Kathy said...

Good to hear from you, glad the trip is going well.

Must be a lot of tax on that California gas, cost me $3.13 a gallon last week here in Cary.

john said...

@Kathy, FYI: the final time we gassed up in California, Dec 6 I think, we bought premium at $4.39/gal in Redondo Beach in the midst of the SoCal oil refineries.

The trip went well. We've been home for 7 days, but our checked bag did not make it until today. Apparently the bag spent 5 days in SFO before someone noticed that it was not headed to RDU. ;-( Thanks Frontier. Not.

I may have more to day about lost bags in a later post.

Oh, this was the same bag that spent 5 days alone in Istanbul a few years ago. ;-)

Have a happy and safe holiday!!! Hug, -john

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