Monday - last day on this trip

Linda took me to Santa Rosa for some shopping and then to Petaluma to catch the airport bus to San Francisco. It was a foggy morning when we left Gualala.




California Poppy


Highway 1 through Gualala.


Snoopy in Santa Rosa Mall.


The Airport express bus stop at Petaluma Fairgrounds.


Linda


Golden Gate Bridge, photo taken through the bus window.


Best Western Grosvenor Hotel where I stayed the last night.


My hotel room.

Sunday in Gualala

We had breakfast at the Redwood Grill in Anchor Bay.




Naked Ladies






Ashley, me and Kim before they took off for the airport.


Simba

Gualala

Today we had a beautiful memorial service for Bill & Lois down at the beach.


Some pictures of the ocean and Gualala.




Highway 1 and the almost dry Gualala River.

Friday in Gualala

Group picture after breakfast at Trink's. John, Sue, Derik, Tony, Linda, Kim, Ashley and me.


Kim and Ashley.




Gualala river and the Pacific Ocean.




Gualala Hotel


Derik's dog Kona.


Hoser.

From Chico to Gualala

Sue and John drove me all the way from Chico to Gualala which was really great! Thank you! We made a stop for lunch at Parducci wine cellars.




Sue and John at the hotel room balcony in Gualala, overlooking the Gualala River and the Pacific Ocean.


Time for food again. Tony, Linda, John and Sue.


Linda, Tony, John and Sue outside the restaurant. The second cousins Linda and Sue are meeting for the first time here.

Shasta caverns and Burney falls

Breakfast at Debbie's restaurant in Paradise.


We had to take first a boat and then a bus to get to the Lake Shasta Caverns






The view from the top, after the bus ride and just before entering the caverns.


Sue and a bear :-)


Inside the caverns












Climbing down to get back to the bus.


The caverns from the outside.




Sonya.


John, Sue, Sonya, Bob.




We had lunch at Marie Callenders in Redding.




Burney falls






On our way home we stopped at the Olive Pit in Corning.


Tonights dinner was at In-n-out in In-N-Out in Chico.


Bob & Sonya

Beer and Yo-Yo's

In the afternoon we went to the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico for a tour of the brewery and for dinner.




After dinner we walked around in Chico and went to the Yo-Yo museum where they have the worlds largets Yo-Yo. Ann-Louise, Sue, John, Gary, Bob and Sonya.


And also a Yo-Yo from Sweden (actually they had more than one).


John, Gary, Sue, Sonya and Bob.


Chico


Delicious peaches in John and Sue's garden.


They talked about having black widows and rattlesnakes in the garden, but this was the most scary thing I saw, and he wasn't really scary at all :-)

Oroville Dam

Our first adventure today was a drive to Oroville Dam, not far from where Sue and John live.

Hummingbirds

The hummingbirds are enjoying the feeder at Sue and John's house.

Student for a day

Today I went with Sonya to her class at California state university in Chico. This is Sonya at campus.


Afterwards we went to Sophia's in Paradise for lunch. They served the best Thai food I have eaten outside of Thailand.


Sacramento River

From Turlock to Chico

Today George and Linda drove me to Sacramento where we met my relatives from the Chico area. We had dinner together at Mimi's before I continued up to Chico with Sonya, Sue and John.

Cats

Mickey eating cookies :-)

Javi's again

Tonight I went to Javi's again together with my "Turlock family".


Together with Janice, Finn, George, Abbey, John Thomas, Grace and Soren.

A relaxing day by the pool

Grace and Soren


Abbey


John Thomas and George in the hot tub.

Pancake breakfast

George is making Swedish pancakes for breakfast.

The pool

Farm visit

Today we went to a farm not far from Turlock where they had some fun animals. Here is the ostrich.






A zdonk (half zebra and half donkey) :-)




And finally one of George and Linda's cats!

Swedish soccer

George in the Swedish soccer t-shirt I brought him from Sweden.

Shopping in Modesto

This morning I went to the mall in Modesto for a couple of hours of shopping. But first Linda, Kathy and I had breakfast at Mimi's in Modesto.


The Vintage Faire Mall in Modesto.

The Duck

John Thomas

John Thomas who has grown quite a bit since last time I saw him.

The Bourne Ultimatum

Linda, Sue and I went to the cinema and saw "The Bourne Ultimatum".


The Simpson family were there also :-)


In the evening we went to Angelini's which is my favourite Italian restaurant here in Turlock.

Shopping in Turlock

I started with coffee at Starbucks, Caramel Macchiato as usual.


Linda and Kathy took me to lunch at Chilis.


And the shopping day ended at Target, but I also visited Bath & Bodyworks, Borders and a couple of other stores.

Javi's in Turlock

I'm now in Turlock and George took me to my favourite restaurant Javi's.

Sears Fine Food

My last morning in San Francisco I had breakfast at Sears Fine Food which I would like to recommend to everyone who visits San Francisco. Good food and very nice place. They are especially famous for their Swedish pancakes :-)
Luckily I got there before there was a line of people outside waiting to get in, so be there early in the morning, it is a very popular place.

Sightseeing in San Francisco

Westin S:t Francis where I stayed two nights.


Grace Cathedral


The Transamerica Pyramid




Lombard street


Ships at Hyde Street Pier.










Golden Gate is hidden in the fog behind this boat.




Pier 39


I had lunch at Dantes at Pier 39.


Sea lions at Pier 39.


Pier 39


Coit Tower seen from North Beach




St Peter and Paul church in North Beach




The gate to Chinatown


Another heart at Union Square


Yerba Buena Gardens


Yerba Buena Gardens


Yerba Buena Gardens


San Francisco Museum of Modern Art




Shopping :-)

Friday afternoon in San Francisco

My hotelroom at Westin S:t Francis in San Francisco.


Union Square, just outside the hotel.


Union Square


Fishermans Wharf




My late lunch was clam chowder at Boudin




One of the cable cars waiting to pick up passengers at Fishermans wharf.




I walked by this house with the Swedish flag, which turned out to be the Norweigan Seamen's church.


One of all the beautiful houses in San Francisco.


View from Lombard Street, Coit Tower in the background.


Cars driving down Lombard street


The cable car at the Lombard Street stop.


View over Union Square, from Macy's.


The Disney Store seen from above.

A day in Chicago

Today Carleigh and I went sightseeing in Chicago. These are all the other cars that were also on their way to Chicago.


Oak Street Beach


Oakk Street Beach with Hancock Tower


Oak Street Beach


Oak Street Beach


Buildings along Lake Michigan


Carleigh with the lighthouse in the background


Chicago seen from Navy Pier






Magnificent mile/Michigan Avenue


Impressive buildings on the south side of Chicago River


Carleigh on the one of the bridges over Chicago River.


Chicago River


Wrigley building


More of Chicago River


Millenium Park


Cloud Gate








Lunch at the Park Grill in Millennium Park


The Crown Fountain




Sears Tower





A building along the river.


333 Wacker Building




Merchandise Mart








We tried the new iced coffee at McDonalds - Carleigh used it to cool off a bit in the warm weather


On the way home from the city we ran into a lot of traffic so it took us over two hours to get back home - in a car without air conditioning!


We were very grateful to the guy in Millennium park who handed out these little fans, so we could use them to feel a bit cooler in the car

Lola

Lola is taking a nap.

Bakers Square

Trudy and Julie eating dinner at Bakers Square.


The Lemon Meringue pie I had for dessert.

House tour

One of the beautiful houses in Chicaco that were built by Julies grandfather Rudolph Ahlstrand (my grandfathers cousin).

Shopping

I did some shopping in Hawthorn mall this morning.


I had lunch at Ruby Tuesday.