Two Weeks in Visalia                                                         April 10 to 24, 2017

We left the lovely Port San Luis to drive to our parking spot at the Visalia Elks Lodge on April 10.  Although our new parking spot wasn’t nearly as pretty, we were centrally located to do lots of visiting with old friends in Visalia.  The lodge had 16 RV spaces behind the building with water and 50-amp electrical service so we were set!

Our two-week stay started out with a bang!  Jerry picked up Lynn Heiges (we had just seen them at the coast), drove to our favorite meat market in Exeter, picked up a tri-tip, and was at their house for dinner by 6 pm.  Whew!  We were surprised Lynn and Maureen didn’t know the Exeter Meat Market or their burgundy pepper tri-tip!  Delicious as ever.

Tuesday morning we dropped in on Mike and Sandy Albaugh (we’d just seen them at the coast, too!) to see how their backyard patio project was coming along.  Of course we stayed all morning to lend a hand!  They took us to the Livestock Café for a late lunch.  We had lived in Visalia more than 30 years and didn’t know this place exited.  Best hamburgers we’ve ever had!  It was hard to see the café at the road and, of course, it was at the stockyards, providing a certain pungent aroma.

Tuesday evening it was “Taco Tuesday” at the Elks, so we walked across the parking lot to join several friends…the Albaughs, George and Sharon Pfefferkorn, Joan and Roy Bremer, and Doug Berg.  Lots of good conversation!  Parking at the Elks was a good thing.

Wednesday morning, April 12, I was fortunate to be able to attend a bible study with the members of Mary Martha Circle, at Christ Lutheran Church.  These women have been my friends and my mentors and it was wonderful to spend the morning with them.  I could tell funny/inspiring/engaging stories about each one of these ladies, and my photo only captured half the table.

Wednesday night, we had dinner with Sharon and Dale Norton.  We had visited them in their home on the South Carolina coast last November and wanted to see them once again.  They are moving to Fripp Island, SC, at the end of the month.  What a big change for them!  The photo taken at Fripp last winter didn’t look anything like Visalia!  The egret rookery on this pond was full of the snowy white birds.

Thursday, April 13, was unscheduled!  How did that happen?  We decided it was a day for a good walk, so we made our way east down Main St. to Brewbakers Brewery and back to the bus…about 5 miles, I think.  We texted this photo to Joy, knowing that she liked this restaurant as well.  She knew right away where we were!

In the evening we went to the Maundy Thursday service at church…the beginning of many services to attend as Holy Week concluded.

Friday, April 14 we drove east from Visalia to Jake Bender’s ranch.  He had explored the hills and valleys with his Gator and gave us a “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” (is that still a ride at Disneyland?) all over the place.  In spite of the overcast skies, we saw beautiful hillsides.  Kaweah Lake was not up to the high water mark, although it had been.  The Corps of Engineers were letting out water expecting that this year’s snow melt, in a couple of months, will deliver a lot of water to the lake.

We made it to the top of the ridge and had a spectacular view to the west of the little town of Woodlake and Bravo Lake.  We had originally thought we would hike up here but it would have taken all day!

We saw a few wildflowers on the hillsides, but as much as we had expected and no poppies anywhere!  The explanation we have heard is that the mountains had so much rain this year that the grass took off before the flowers could get going and they were overshadowed.  Still pretty, though!

Friday evening it was back to Christ Lutheran Church for the Good Friday service.  The choir plus orchestra presented a beautiful requiem, interspersed with readings and the Stations of the Cross.  In the photo, you see the cruciform/cross draped in black, at the end of the service.  It was quite moving. 

Saturday, April 15, we drove to Kaweah Oaks Preserve, east of Visalia, to walk among the protected valley oaks.  This park has been here for many years, but we had never been there…time to correct that oversight!

This private preserve is a 344-acre valley oak riparian forest.   Individuals who wanted to maintain a remnant of the San Joaquin Valley’s past developed it in 1983.  This was how the area looked as the early settlers arrived here in the 1850’s.  We saw many majestic valley oaks, an old irrigation canal, and a pastureland just begging for grazing wildlife.  Surely a buffalo or two would be happy here!  Nice little walk on a Saturday morning!

Because we had a pretty, clear day, the view of the snow-covered Sierras was amazing.  Due to the wet winter, the creeks were running in Visalia, and the countryside was lush.  We decided to drive up Dry Creek Road to Mountain House and south again through Elderwood (just in case you have a map on your lap this is basically CA-245).  This was our best hope at seeing California poppies in bloom.  In previous years the hills above Dry Creek have been covered in these bright orange flowers.

Not a poppy to be seen!  We saw lots of fiddleneck and pretty little white daisies, but the poppies were sadly absent.  It was still a lovely drive, and Mountain House was hopping!  Bicyclers, motorcyclists, and us random tourists all stopped here for lunch.  Nothing like on a burger on their back deck, gazing out over the valley below.

Jill, Bob and Lauren were having a fun Easter Saturday, too, at an Easter egg hunt.  Lauren liked the face painting!  Don’t you think she looks like Jill?

Easter Sunday morning we attended the 8 AM service at Christ Lutheran Church.  What wonderful music!  The entire service was fabulous.  It felt really good to be back with congregation where we had attended for so long!  Listening to the choir in the photo at left brought back lots of happy memories for me.  Of course, the men of the congregation provided a pancake breakfast and we got a lot of visiting done!  The biggest change we saw was that those little kids we knew 7 years ago are now teenagers, almost all grown up!

Easter brunch was at Doug and Judee Berg’s and it was warm enough to eat on their patio.  What a pretty morning!  Afterward, we went for a drive to Three Rivers, hoping to see the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River booming with snowmelt.  Well, not quite that much water, but it was pretty there. 

Monday, April 17, began our busy week.  Lots of folks that we still wanted to see!  We had lunch with Don and Judy Landers.  Although we did not know each other well in Visalia, we had enjoyed reading about their travels in their motorhome on Facebook.  We regaled each other with trips, problems, and human and dog healthcare!  The best part of our getting together was meeting their three Great Danes!  Imagine travelling with these handsome guys!  Don and Judy make it work and love travelling with their robust companions!

Monday evening was another delightful get together with old friends, Paul and Cyndi Godlin.  We had just seen them at the coast and easily dove back into comfortable conversation.  I took this photo the evening we had dinner with Paul and Cyndi in Cayucos, several weeks ago.  I didn’t use it in the last letter/blog, but it’s so funny I’m putting it in now!  This is a container of bifocals at the register, for those of us who need a little visual assistance as we sign our credit card bill!  Funny!  The four of us had a good laugh over this creative and practical idea.

Tuesday, April 18, was another busy day.  Jerry helped Mike Albaugh with his patio cover.  You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen two engineer brains problem solve together!  

Mike’s wife, Sandy, and I went to visit an old friend, Barbara Balerud, while the guys slaved away!  Barb and her (deceased) husband Andy were good friends from the time we came to Visalia.  After they retired they did extensive retiring in the Pacific Northwest (Barb grew up in Portland, OR) and they introduced us to Anacortes Lutheran Church!

Tuesday evening we were off to the home of Lee and Carolyn Duncan in Tulare.  I worked with Carolyn at College of the Sequoias for years.  Carolyn and I are exactly 2 weeks apart in age…I’m the older one.  She never lets me forget that!  This was another evening of wonderful conversations with old friends.  They have a fifth wheel and we hope they will come to visit us in Anacortes this summer.

Thursday, April 20, was even busier!  Jan Luther cut my hair…wonderful to visit with a lady who has “trimmed my locks’ for the past 20 years or so!  We visited our old house in Visalia that we now have leased.  We saw lots of discouraging changes and think maybe it’s time to sell it.  Sad!  The highlight of the day was “wine time” with Berkley and Carolyn Johnson.  Berk was Jerry’s boss when we first moved to Visalia and they’re our older daughter’s godparents.  Good folks and dear friends! To finish off the day we had drinks with some of the folks Jerry used to work with at the Kraft plant in Tulare.  More great conversations and reminiscing.  We were pooped by the end of the day!

Friday was just as busy…0630 Well Women Bible study at a downtown restaurant.  This faithful group of ladies meets every other Friday year round and has been my spiritual support group for a long time.  I love these gals!  Lunch took me to Watson’s Veggie Garden with my old boss, Cindy DeLain.  She will retire in June and we shared retirement plans.  Jerry was off to Applebee’s to have lunch with Tony Portugal, an old Butler colleague.  When we first moved to Visalia, Tony helped Jerry with several Saturday projects at our house.  The girls were little and loved to see him come, since they knew him as “Tony Candy Bar!”  Friday evening we were downtown at Sequoia Brewing Company for dinner with Guy and Jeanne Evans.  Their daughter and son-in-law recently had a second baby girl and we loved hearing all about their growing family.

Saturday we were off to a late breakfast at the Woodlake Airport, Runway Café.  When Jerry was flying, we would jump in the plane for the 15-minute trip to this little foothill community.  They had the best biscuits and gravy around!  

We had just ordered when here came the Schneider’s…Gerald, Nancy, and Gerald’s brother Gary.  (You will remember that I had just had lunch with Nancy…we taught together at COS).  More great conversations and plans.  We will see them in Washington for the Fourth of July in the little town of Home, WA.  We’ve been there before and know they have a great celebration.

Woodlake’s Botanical Gardens was our next stop.  With the abundant rain and warm weather, the roses and blooming cacti were amazing!

Sunday, April 23, we had one more worship service at Christ Lutheran Church, and then it was off to the Country Club for lunch with another longtime friend, Rita Crandall.  She has done extensive travelling in Europe and we picked her brain for European locations to visit for our 50^th anniversary next year. 

Sunday afternoon we had a glass of wine with Lynn and Lee Mirviss.  Lynn was also a boss of mine at COS for many years so we had lots of news to discuss.  Both Lynn and Lee are huge Giants fans, so I stole this photo off Lynn’s Facebook page so you can see what a great couple they make!  Our visit with them was entirely too short!

Monday morning, April 24, it was jacks up once again to make our way to Coyote Valley RV Resort in Morgan Hill, CA, just south of San Jose.  We will be here for 2 weeks and see lots of Jill, Bob, and Lauren.  Lauren got a new bike just before we arrived and Jill shared this photo with us.