Getting to know our surroundings

The past several weeks we've had a few opportunities to explore our surroundings.

....It began one Sunday afternoon in August. Duane and the girls were captive in the car and I decided we'd go for a drive - I was in the drivers seat! I'd read in Sunset magazine about a little town called Freeport just south of Sacramento on Hwy 160 along the river. It looked to me like it was only a few miles away from us in Elk Grove if you drew a straight line across Hwy 5. Boy, was I right. We drove north on 5 one exit from Elk Grove to Pocket Road and followed the signs to Freeport. Less than three miles and we were in the little town.

I pulled over into the first restaurant/cafe I saw. It was at the Moon River Inn. We parked, walked inside and through an open room into a bar area. Honestly it looked a little 'rough' - biker rough to be exact. So we asked if outside seating was OK. The VERY nice bartender said "of course, I'll bring you some menus" and out we went. The outdoor seating was well used - several tables under canopies, beer flags all around, a small stage - ready for live music.

The bartender/waitress took our order and went off to get drinks. As we waited a couple drove up in an old El Camino - candy apple red - with some large musical instrument of some sort filling the back of the bed. A rickety man came from the car and walked our way and said to a man who may have been the establishment manager "I need some muscle" while looking Duane's way. This was the start of quite a dispute between the man, I'll call him "Rickety" and the bar personnel. Apparently he was under the impression that the Sunday afternoon live music was an open mic jam session and he was there to get his groove on. I truly don't think he could have taken on a flea but he did have a big mouth and what turned out to be a big organ in the back of his El Camino.

Our food was great and the 'entertainment' was lively to say the least. Duane and the girls aren't so sure I should choose the next cafe we venture out to however.

We left the Moon River Inn and continued along Hwy 160, passing Clarksburg and a couple of other 'don't blink or you'll miss them' towns. We also came upon a nice little winery with picnic areas called Bogle Vineyards. www.boglewinery.com They had MANY award-winning wines displayed in the wine tasting room and there were quite a few people there considering that it's virtually hidden on Rd 144 (number, no name!) in Clarksburg.

....Over Labor Day weekend Duane's parents visited and we spent Sunday checking out several Lodi wineries. Our first stop was actually a vineyard in Acampo, a few miles south of us on Hwy 99. Peirano Estate Vineyards (http://www.peirano.com/) also has a beautiful garden picnic area where we will definitely visit with a larger group in the future. The non-wine drinker (me) even found a sweet white that was pretty tasty.

We also hit a place in Lockeford that had several tasting rooms of local wineries (http://www.vinopiazza.com/) that included one with lots of dinosaur relics and other geological fascinations. But the most fantasic part of the place for Kali, Melia and I were the 6 week old kittens. The children of the owners were supposed to be watching them but one little kitten got out and someone from one of the other tasting rooms brought the little stray back. It was a little hard to tear away from those cute little kitties.

....On Monday, Sept 4th (Labor Day) the four of us headed for the California State Fair. This was the first time we'd been there as a family. Before this it had been the county fair in San Mateo for many years. This was the last day of the fair and we'd planned our visit on this day because of the musical show that was scheduled for that evening. Ciara, a very popular R&B pop star was playing on the fair stage. Since she is Melia's FAVORITE artist currently we thought this would be a great first concert experience. We couldn't have been more right!

For starters we got to the fair around 2pm and headed straight for the concert stage to find out the procedures for getting in later. Since the concerts are free we expected there would be some rule about when and where the lines form. We were able to get a wrist band that would guarantee us a seat later and could go out and enjoy the fair until it was 'line up time' 2 hours before the concert.

For the next few hours we checked out exhibits, even saw the San Mateo County exhibit, walked around the stinky animal pens, played some carnival games and watched turkey races. Around 530pm we headed back to the concert stage to get in line to get into the seated area for the 730pm concert.

Here are Kali & Melia's impressions of the their first official concert.

Kali: "At the Ciara concert we had to wait in a loooong line. When we got seated we had to wait another two hours. But it was worth it. We had a great time."

Melia: "I had fun at the Ciara concert, it was really cool."

I have to say that their comments are a little understated. After waiting two hours (thankfully sitting in chairs) once the concert began there was no sitting down for the next hour or more. In fact, Melia stood on the back of the chair in front of us with me holding her up by the waste so she wouldn't fall, while I was standing on the seat of my chair. And since I was holding on to her I couldn't plug my ears when she screamed at the most obscene volume and pitch I've ever heard. I think this experience was a highlight of her 10th year for sure. Brought back memories of my first concert - Rick Springfield at the Santa Cruz County Fair sometime in the early 80's. My very cool big brother Dave volunteered to take me and that definitely endeared him to me for a long time!

.....Finally, our most recent excursion. Today the girls and I headed up to historic Folsom for the 39th Annual Antique Faire. What a fun hour we had - well, I did. Found a cute set of small Chinese dishes (white painted with a scene in blue). Saw a few vintage iron planters and garden carts that I would have liked to pick up too but I'm not quite ready to decorate outside yet. I'm contemplating some landscape changes before I add any more accessories.

And while we went off for a couple of hours Duane was able to watch football without any interuptions or distractions. I'm sure we were all happy about that!

.....Our ongoing search for a new church continues. Two tried so far and we're not sold yet. I'm sure it will take a while. It took us MANY years to even look for a church in San Mateo and when we finally made that leap we were very lucky to find the one that fit us best on the first try, though it did take a little while Duane to warm up to Central Peninsula Church. http://www.cpcfc.org/ Now we are looking for a new church home that is very similar to CPC and it will take some time - it's a hard mold to match. So, if you are a prayerful friend, keep us in your prayers that we'll find a new church home that fits us very soon.

And, as always, if you are ever in our new neck of the woods, holler and stop by - if only because you need to use the restroom and say a quick hello!