Last week the Mr. and I spent a long wonderful weekend with our family in northern California. We had such a great time hanging out, eating, sightseeing, eating, getting to know our great-nephews and eating some more. The visit to the west coast is not complete without the obligatory stop at IN-N-OUT which we did within an hour of our plane landing. The burgers and fries are made fresh to order and even this non-meat lover eats there every time we get to California.
I was so surprised to see my nephew still driving my parents old van…..this car is more than 20 years old and still going strong. It seems that vehicles last longer out west without the spraying of salt and extreme weather that our cars must endure.
On our first day there we enjoyed the sunshine driving around in my brother’s Mustang convertible. My brother is a research scientist with the Exotic and Invasive Weeds Research Unit at the US Dept of Agriculture. One of the things he is working on is the Arundo plant.
It seems like he could spot the plant miles away, although I am sure that is somewhat of an exaggeration. He has data loggers on plants throughout the country that measure light and other aspects of the plant. He even has data loggers on plants in Tightwad, Missouri. It was an educational afternoon hearing about his work.
On another day we drove about an hour to Placerville for an apple festival. Apple Hill is home to over 50 ranches that include fruits, Christmas trees and vineyards. On this particular weekend, many of the apple ranchers had crafters, pumpkin patches, hay-bale mazes, face painting and petting zoos. We ate apple doughnuts, apple fritters, apple cider, kettle corn, caramel apples, apple turnovers and I think we even had room for nachos and sandwiches. It was an eating frenzy!
Not once this weekend did I have to slow down because of achy joints…..life is good!!!