Leaving sunny Arizona, we headed up to highway 99 in California to see family in Visalia and Tulare on our way ‘home’ to Oregon. We overnighted a the Elk’s in Lancaster before landing at the Visalia Elk’s for a week.

We arrived just in time to crash a birthday dinner for our friend Ernie Munday, so it was nice to get caught up with his friends and family over a steak dinner. Thanks Sherrie!

As always, I forget to get a group shot when we’re out with friends, but here Mark, Tom and Ernie are watching… something.

We were also able to time our visit to be able to watch high school granddaughter Alexis’s first JV baseball game. That was pretty exciting! Then we got to join her and Jenna for dinner afterwards.

Jenna always accepts lots of packages for us when we are on our way through, and this time Tom ordered a rack for the Jeep. He installed it while parked at the Elk’s, so we could haul more stuff from our storage in Tulare to our place in Oregon.

Another steakhouse dinner the next night with my son Eric and his expectant wife Jordyn. It was cool to see her baby bump and to hear how things were going with them. The time just flew by too quickly.

Before we got the Jeep loaded up, I took my Mom on a day trip over to the coast. The drive was a great way to visit while enjoying the beautiful spring countryside. I showed her around one of my favorite fairy gardens at a shop called Spellbound in Cambria.

It was also a business trip, as I had fairy things to collect from the beaches. We had lunch by the water in Morro Bay before heading back.

I had been excited all week about getting to go out with long time besties, Dana and Darlene, and we had a great visit at a cool new bar and grill in Corcoran called Lake Bottom Brewery. Again, Tom was on his own for food, but he managed. I don’t think I ate a home cooked meal the whole week we were there!

While Tom got work done on the jeep, I worked on getting our tax return out of the way. Ugh.

Then it was finally time to go to our storage container and load up anything we would find useful this summer in Oregon. Like lots of tools and our pop-up tent. We also piled on our singing bowl set. The car was completely packed inside and the roof rack loaded down.

Because it was our last day in the area, we treated ourselves to lunch at Tom’s all-time favorite restaurant: Sal’s in Selma.

Now we are on our way to Woodward Reservoir in Oakdale and I am beyond excited about seeing Kendall and the boys.

Happy Travels!

Peace & Love, Joy