Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

What a fabulous trip we had! It was so wonderful to spend time with family, in such a gorgeous part of the country. The week passed by so quickly, but at the same time was so full.

Steve and I lucked out on all our flights to and from Fairbanks to Sacramento, in that we were able to secure seating in an emergency exit row. The additional legroom is a real treat, especially when you suffer from restless leg syndrome (as I do, when seated for too long), or have long legs as Steve does.

We arrived in Sacramento a little after 6pm. As we approached the escalator that would take us down to where Julie and France were waiting for us, I asked Steve if he thought he would recognize Julie after all this time. He assured me that he would.  Just to be on the safe side though, Steve emailed Julie a current photo of himself before we left, so she’d be able to pick him out of the crowd.

After exchanging hugs and introductions, we gathered our luggage, and made our way to dinner. Julie made reservations for us at Biba Restaurant, owned by award-winning cookbook author and cooking show host, Biba Caggiano. Dinner was outstanding, but the company was the best part. We savored our meal, sipped wine, and had lively and fun conversation. An outsider would have thought that we had known each other forever.

Julie and France’s home is absolutely gorgeous. And their yard is beautifully landscaped, with roses and climbing vines full of blooming flowers. Despite the close proximity of the neighboring homes, when you’re in the yard, you feel like you’re alone.

Julie and France share their lives with three furkids: Eli, Gracie, and Wolfgang. These three are only the latest members of the family, in a long list of rescues that Julie and France have opened their home and their hearts to.

The guestroom where Steve and I slept, is a testament to the care and love that these two women have bestowed upon four-legged *kids* in need of a home.  We shared our room with the ashes of furkids past, lined up on the bookcase in beautiful boxes and urns with their favorite toy or their leash. It made me think about Sedona and how much I love her.  It’s sad that our four-legged family members don’t live as long as we do.

STATE CAPITOL, OLD SACRAMENTO, and THE OLD SUGAR MILL

The next day, after tending to the pups and enjoying several cups of coffee, Julie and France took us downtown to visit the Capitol Building and gardens, and then to Old Sacramento for some sightseeing. Afterward, we stopped at The Old Sugar Mill to partake in some wine-tasting. There are six wineries at the Old Sugar Mill.

The grounds around the Capitol building are beautiful, although we were all in agreement that the rose bushes needed to be dead-headed. Too many dead or dying blooms detracted from the beauty of those in full bloom.

The gardens are really neat in that everything is labeled - to include the different trees. It was my first time seeing Seville orange trees, hanging heavy with fruit. The oranges on these trees look just like the kind we eat, but this particular orange is sour and rather distasteful (from what I’ve read) and is used primarily for fragrance or marmalade. The blossoms in spring are gorgeous, which I’m assuming is the reason these trees were planted on the Capitol grounds.

We explored the Capitol Building after walking through the gardens. We didn’t run into Arnold though. *grin*

I love this photo of Steve with Julie. We won’t let 20+ years go by between visits. Life’s too short, and family is too important. (Too bad they both had to wear their “secret squirrel” sunglasses!)

Old Sacramento is a really neat place. With 53 historic buildings, Old Sacramento has more buildings of historic value condensed into its 28 acres than most areas of similar size in the west. The properties in the district are primarily owned by private owners, with individual businesses leasing shops and offices. You can read more about the history of Old Sacramento at the website.

We were able to get a closer view of the Tower Bridge. The Tower Bridge is a vertical lift bridge crossing the Sacramento River. It was neat to see it lift while we were watching.

We were famished and decided on Fat City Bar and Cafe for a bite to eat. I opted for the soup and salad combo (French onion soup and Caesar salad) and it hit the spot nicely. Chased with an ice cold Guinness Cream Stout, I was feeling fat and happy when we left the restaurant.  The restaurant is beautiful inside, with historic details and furnishings from the Gold Rush Days.

We walked off some of our meal, ducking into shops along the way. Steve was happy to find a tobacco shop so that he could pick up a few cigars for our beach trip. The weather was perfect (to us): warm and breezy. Steve and I joked that we could tell who the residents were because many were wearing coats. It felt like summer to us.

The Old Sugar Mill is an interesting place to visit because it houses six wineries under the same roof. This made for ease of tasting. France declared herself the designated driver, so that Julie, Steve and I could enjoy the varied and delicious wines offered.  We bought several bottles of wine to add to the collection going to the beach with us.

In one of the tasting rooms, the walls were decorated with adorable paintings of dogs. I had to take a photo of the display, as the colors were so cheerful and vibrant, and the dogs are so cute. The artist is Mylette Welch and you can see her work at her website. Her paintings make me smile.

WHICH WAY TO THE BEACH?!

Julie and France rented a lovely house at the beach in Mendocino County. It was their first time renting this house, so we weren’t sure what it would come stocked with. Needless to say, our packing list was fairly large - much larger than it needed to be. The house had everything we could possibly think of, except for food. And believe me, we had plenty of food!

Eli went with us, while the other two pups stayed home with a pet-sitter. His crate took up a large portion of one vehicle, so we had to take two. On the trip out to the coast, I rode with France, while Steve rode with Julie. We swapped on the ride home.

Northern California is beautiful and the landscape is so diverse.  We loved the drive! The landscape changes dramatically as you make your way from inland to the ocean. We drove through fertile agricultural areas with sweeping views of vineyards, and many opportunities to stop and taste the wine produced from the luscious grapes growing in abundance. And this we did, purchasing several more bottles of wine for the beach.

The road became winding and switchback, as we crossed over hills and drove beneath the majestic redwoods only found in this part of the California. The trees weren’t nearly as tall as those that Steve and I saw in Jedediah Smith Redwood SP while en route to AK, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t impressive. After 7 years of living in interior AK - a place where permafrost keeps trees from reaching great heights - driving in the cool shadow of these towering trees was a soul stirring experience.

I felt a little queasy during this portion of the drive (both coming and going). It wasn’t the driver; but the constant back and forth, slow down and speed up, required when driving switchback roads. There wasn’t any opportunity to keep my eye on a level horizon, and my stomach wasn’t very happy.  I’m sure the many stops for wine-tasting didn’t help either!

The drive (including the winery stops and a yummy burger lunch in Boonville) took about six hours.

We met a lot of wine pourers along the way. *grin*

The beautiful redwoods:

You can really see the size of the trees in this photo, when you compare the big stump to the car:

This photo was taken from the car while driving the coast road to the beach house. I love the cottages and the blooming flowers (and weeds) everywhere!

A view of the coast from the car:

The Coast Road:

Once we arrived at the rental, we made fast work of downloading the vehicles and opening all the sliding glass doors of the house, allowing the ocean breeze to come in and freshen the air.

(PART TWO is here)