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David's flights from Huntsville to Dallas to Los Angeles to Santa Rosa are on time and mostly go smoothly (a bit of turbulence on way from Los Angeles). Bob and Shirley are at Santa Rosa Airport to meet him and are so happy to see him walk off the plane and up the sidewalk. He is carrying his bag, so we all go straight to the car and drive home without problem.
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We head to Bodega Bay and make two stops there. The first stop is at The Tides shopping mall which has a small shop with quite a selection of sea shells, of which David buys many for himself and friends. Then we drive to the Spud Point Crab Company to buy the best crab sandwiches and clam chowder there are. We load the food into the car and drive to the Shell Beach parking lot, where we eat in the car.
After sating ourselves David and Bob begin their 5 mile hike which tops out at Red Hill. Such beautiful views of the Russian River, the coast, Jenner Preserves, and Willow Creek Park. And wildlife: 1 bunny and one hawk. Plus walks in the forest.
Plus: Bob, while walking on a very muddy path, has both feet slip forward and falls on his back with no harm but lots of mud. David will attempt on a few occasions to meet his Dad's example, but never manages to fall completely down on his back, though he does get muddy.
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Here are pictures of the "paved" road Bob had told David about at the start and end of our hike.
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We return to the car in which Shirley sits. Earlier Shirley had taken a walk down towards Shell beach and another along the Kortum Trail. Bob and David then follow the path down to Shell Beach, then return to the car and we all drive home.
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On Christmas day we walked in the neighborhood (with the rain pouring off and on) and ate a wonderful meal prepared and cooked by Shirley.
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After our Christmas lunch/dinner we all napped and then evening was movie time - we watched Dune, then Joyeux Noel.
Shirley and David went shopping for shoes and hiking boots and later we played a game of Scrabble. In the afternoon we all went on a neighborhood walk and listened to a lot of frogs.
In addition, David and Bob walked up to visit our neighbors Reenie and Bill and to return the empty container which Reenie had filled with candy and provided to us earlier (when she also presented us with a persimmon bread/cake). Much to our delight, Reenie re-filled the candy container. Another neighbor, Cathy, had also given us a Christmas cake. Life is sweet.
In the evening Bob and David put on their hiking boots and with the use of flashlights hiked up the trail from the East Recreation Center to the Lawndale Trail, then hiked up the Lawndale Trail for a bit before heading back. No cougars, deer, or people, but David did see a bat.
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In the morning David and Shirley worked on painting stones, then we all went to the St. Francis Winery and walked around with of course some wine in our glasses.
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After the winery we returned home so David and Shirley could continue to paint.
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For dinner we ordered Pizza from Mountain Mike's. We went to bed early, since we would be getting up at 4 AM so David could catch his 6:20 AM flight heading back to Huntsville (via LA and Dallas)
We did get up at 4 AM, out by 4:20 and arrived at the airport by 5 AM. David checked in and disappeared into the TSA departing passenger building, tickets in hand. Shirley and Bob drove home, where Bob went back to bed, and all flights went well for David. He is back home in Huntsville.
Pictures taken by David, Shirley (with her new iPhone!) and Bob
Contact/Website Author:
Bob Phillips [phillips bob 27 at yahoo dot com - no spaces]
Santa Rosa, CA
February, 2016
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