Fall trip to Calif

We took another 6 weeks to go out to California to see my mother and sister after we got back from Europe.  We meandered across the southwest going out, and a little north coming back.  Our first stop was Ruidoso, NM.  We visited the White Sands National Monument from there.  It is a huge gypsum dune field created from a combination of mountain minerals, lakes, evaporation, runoff, and wind erosion that breaks the gypsum into fine particles like sand.  It mounds and blows like a huge white sand area.  The edges of it move as much as 30ft NE each year while the stable parts remain basically unchanged.  It is not like anything we had seen before.

We also spent some time in Phoenix and visited the Joshua Tree National Park, another unique area.  Traveling across this nation continually points out the astounding variety of geography, geology, and plants that inhabit the country.  It boggles the mind and delights the imagination and senses.



From there we moved to southern Calif, traveled up the Calif coast to spend time with friends and family, and continued north to the Napa Valley.  We took a tour into San Francisco one day from the timeshare.  It was easier than fighting traffic and parking, and the limo was nice.  There were four couples that signed up for the tour and we had a nice day.  It was cloudy but didn't rain.  It was also nice to revisit familiar spots from my youth growing up in the East Bay Area, plus we went to a couple new ones for me.  One, Grace Cathedral, had a special art project going called the Ribbon Project.

Another tour we took was to wineries in Sonoma.  One, Castello di Amorosa, was built to look like an Italian castle.  The man who had it built wanted to bring a little of Italy to Calif and to illustrate periods of Italian construction methods, so different walls look different from other walls.  It really is a fascinating place with miles of underground storage tunnels.  In all we visited 6 wineries and bought 2 cases of wine.  A very "fruitful" trip. (very punny)

Spent Thanksgiving week in South Lake Tahoe.  Always pleased with the scenery and surprised by the clarity of the water.





Our last stop was Park City, UT.  Saw more family and revisited the Christmas Lights in Temple Square which are so pretty.  Always like seeing them and it gets me more into the Christmas spirit.