buzzardnotes

With the promise of fun and frolic, Diana and I headed over the Sierras to our beloved gathering of Orange High longtime friends at Pajaro Dunes on the Monterey Bay. On the way, we stopped at San Jose Airport to pick up Elizabeth and Dot who flew in from points afar.

Eizabeth arriving in San Jose

Dot has an eye for the camera

We lucked out with traffic and didn’t really slow down until we merged onto Highway 1. We finally arrived at Pelican 10 at Pajaro and it was just like old times. Feelings of comfort, security and friendship abounded. It wasn’t long before the food was unpacked and the wine was opened.   Lynda had brought the scrapbook with pictures from our many years of getting together. (As always, to enlarge the photos, click on the photos)

Sherry is here checking out the latest additions being as how she missed our last gathering. All of us check it out, as the captions on many of the photos are priceless. We always get a good chuckle in reading them, even if we’ve seen them before.

Dot and I prepared our first dinner (as per tradition…then, theoretically we don’t have to cook anymore. But Dot always does because she’s got lots of ideas of how to put together meals…as do the other ladies. I just sit back and help with cleanup). We toasted those who were not able to join us this year as we missed them all. We hope they will be able to join us next year.

There was a lot of serious talking that first evening; jobs, illnesses/death of friends, politics, getting older (notice, it’s not old just older), traveling, and a plethora of other topics. Some continued throughout our time together.

Trish hit us with a bombshell early on with the fact that she, Steve and their partners are going to sell Pelican 10. They hope to accomplish this sale by the end of the year. Of course this made us sad that this was our farewell gathering there but we immediately began discussing where to go next year. It will happen and it looks like we might meet at Dot’s place in Murrieta. We just don’t know when yet.

Diana also shared with us that she and her business partner will be closing their antique shop this year.   It isn’t as much fun as it has been in the past and she would like some more spare time to do Diana things.

We all had anticipated fair weather at the beach but the mornings dawned with fog and then there was wind. The weather and tides at the wrong times hampered our traditional long walks on the beach, much to our chagrin. However, a few of us ventured out during our first morning for a relatively short walk.  Thank you, Lynda, for sharing some of your photos.

Dot & Lynda

Cora & Sherry

Dot loves the seagulls

I wonder what that seagull had in mind when he was walking on the beach.

We indulged in some regular activities such as checking emails, trying to verify or look up answers to questions we had raised and looking at magazines. Last year we learned Dropwords, a game that Lynda introduced to us. This year, she hooked us on Classic Words Scrabble. We were all playing it at one time or another. These doggone games are addicting!

Relaxing in Pelican 10

Then there was the traditional lunch at The Whole Enchilada. The owner always comes to our table to check out the beautiful ladies, flirts with us a bit, and then goes away. He always returns with a Lotto ticket and tells us we need to split the winnings with him. True to form, we didn’t win,…again. Bummer. We all could have used a boost to the income. We always take a ton of pictures there, enjoying the camaraderie.

Posing at The Whole Enchilada

Checking photos

Elizabeth & Trish

Buds since Kindergarten

Sherry & Cora

Just across the street from the Enchilada is part of the marina for Moss Landing. We checked it out and there were three otters floating on their backs, taking a nap. They were/are so cute!

A small raft of otters sleeping in the marina

It’s been our custom for the past few years to have a craft or two, perhaps to stir our creativity. Mine is almost null and void, but I did enjoy the adult coloring books and making a drawing on a wine glass. (I won’t show you mine, but it wasn’t terrible).

Lynda’s coloring project was exemplary!

I really liked Diana’s and Lynda’s wine glass drawings.

This was Lynda’s sample for us and she did a beautiful mug with flying seagulls. I failed to get a picture of that one.

I’ve always admired the group’s ability to make a decision and then several will step up to make it happen.  (Sometimes it takes us a while to arrive at the decision and sometimes it’s a decision made by indecision). An example was that we decided to have French toast for breakfast. It wasn’t more than 10 minutes that we had a gourmet meal in front of us. Congrats to the cooks!

Preparing the fine repast

Congrats to the cooks! I would recommend you all to Emeril!

Another tradition is to have a taste or two of Bailey’s Irish Crème after dinner (or whenever). I had picked up a bottle of Costco’s version of Bailey’s and we ran a blind taste test. Interestingly, all except one chose the Costco version as the one we liked best.

We took our annual field trip to Carmel by the Sea this year. It seemed to take forever to find a parking spot, but Lynda managed to find one for or two cars to park together. We walked a bit, visited a few shops, made a few purchases, looked in some galleries (that was after lunch) and had lunch in a Hobbit house lookalike place called the Tuck Box.

The Tuck Box serves good food (we know all the good places) and is known for their tea and scones. I also recommend the coconut cream pie. YUM!

Thanks, Sherry, for the salute with the teacup. I note in this picture that Trish is talking with her hands again. She’s good at that and doesn’t knock things on the floor as I would with the hand motions.  🙂

All too soon our time together wound down. Then it was time to settle up what is owed to whom. Lynda and Dot have a spreadsheet where data is entered to figure out what is owed and to whom. It surely does beat the old system of trying to figure it out by hand. There was a glitch or two this time, but it was eventually worked out to everyone’s satisfaction.

Sherry is squaring things up with Dot

I don’t know that our theme was traditions this year but we certainly did do them all. We just fell into them naturally and felt comfortable with them. We will continue them, I’m sure, in future years, just in different locales.

US!

I also want to thank Trish for hosting us year after year. Pelican 10 has seemed a bit like a home away from home because we’ve been there so many times and we now it so well.

Thank you, Trish!!!

Looking at the Pelican Point complex from the south

Pelican 10 is on the second floor

Saying farewell

Last Christmas, Jerri gave Dalan 12 things they would do together throughout 2016. One of those things was to hike C Hill together. They decided to do that on May 10 and I was invited along. Such fun it was on a gorgeous day!

Here is a little explanation about C Hill for those of you who don’t know about it. C-Hill is a popular summit just northwest of downtown Carson City. It is so named for the “C” representing Carson City located on its east-facing slope. After 911, a group of folks built a giant all-weather flag above the C. People love it and it looks really cool above the C.  The route we took was about a mile long and had a gain of a bit of 1000.’ The summit of C Hill is 5775.’ It was pretty steep at some points and Jerri and I were panting. Dalan just trucked along like he was a gazelle. That’s what happens when you’re 13 and in terrific shape! (Don’t forget to click on the photos to enlarge them)

A photo as we began our hike. The “C” can barely be seen at the top, center of the hill. Note how blue the sky was that day.

This photo shows our goal as we neared it.

We saw several varieties of wild flowers and passed by some beds of white lupine that were so sweet that the odor was almost sickening.

The view from just above the “C” was a super panorama of Carson City and its valley.

Looking north, northwest. The white buildings in a row at the base of the mountain/hill in the center are the Carson Tahoe Hospital.

Looking northeast. You can see Hwy. 50 going east toward Dayton.

Looking east. You can still see Hwy. 50. The big white building in sort of center is the old Ormsby House (a hotel and casino) Between the Ormsby and 2 red -roofed buildings is the capitol. It’s pretty much hidden by trees.

Looking south east toward the south end of Carson City. Prison Hill is the hill between us and the mountains in back of it.

We finally arrived at the flag and took this silly picture. You can see the flag in back of us.

Then we turned around and took some more silly pictures. Between my hat brim and left thumb, you can barely see the cupola of the capitol building. It’s a silver round thing.

These are the painted rocks that form the “C.” You can get a perspective of the steep incline when you look at the buildings below. The building with a parking lot is a good sized church.

We’re starting back down the trail. Slide Mountain is the snow covered peak in the background. Its elevation is 9698.” That is short by Colorado standards but not bad for a Sierra “foothill.” 🙂

Jerri didn’t sit in anything. That pink thing on the back of her gym shirt says “Strong Bodies, Happy Minds, Healthy Lives.”   I think that’s an apt motto for a person going to the gym on a regular basis.

The lizard below is the only critter we saw (besides birds). He was a large one, maybe 12” long. His tail might have had a mishap as it looked like it was growing back and didn’t have the design that his body did. I’m thinking he might have been a type of alligator lizard.

It was a great day and a fun time that made me grateful that (A) Jerri and Dalan wanted me along and (B) I can still do it.  Yea!!!