Napa Valley - Lake Berryessa Area

Today we headed out from the Sacramento Area over to the Napa Valley area, but expect to return to the Sacramento Area on Tuesday and stay until we leave the area on the 22nd.  On Monday and Tuesday my brother-in-law, with very little assistance from me, put a thick aluminum angle bar on the motor home mud flap.  We (he) also turned the exhaust pipe so that it blows out and down to the side of the RV, instead of just straight down.  This should help keep the exhaust off the HHR that we tow.  (I noticed a huge difference on this trip already.)

We got on the road around 10:30.  I decided to fill up with fuel at the Sacramento 49er Truck Stop, which is a Pilot truck stop....was glad to see that the price of fuel was down to $4.12, about 25 cents lower than the highest price that I think we paid so far per gallon.  It was a fairly easy trip, outside of 5-6 miles of construction along California Highway 12, and we pulled into the Skyline Wilderness Park.  We have full hookups for $33 per night, which includes everything except for no cable TV, but we do have adequate TV over the antenna. 

Above is a picture of other RVs in the park.  Below is our American Eagle.

 After we got hooked up and had lunch, we went for a ride over to Lake Berryessa.  It is the largest lake in Napa County, formed by the dam which was built in 1953-1958.  The lake covered up the city of Monticello when it finally was filled in 1963.  The dam is named after the city of Monticello.

The dam is protected by a large fence with razor wire along the top (could you say nine-eleven?), and even the signs are safely protected behind the fence (picture above).  Below is a look at the dam (I had to place the camera lens through the fence).  The Monticello Dam is nothing spectacular, and probably needs a bit of work.

But the view down below the dam is ok....

 And the road along the side of the dam is a very nice drive....

 With many views of Lake Berryessa...

 

 The lake is nice for boaters....

 There are trout, bass, catfish and even salmon in the lake....

 And is used for waterskiing, jet skiing, kayaking and canoeing...

Below is a close up of the point to the right side of the lake in the picture above, and reveals the swimmers enjoying the lake on a nice, 80 degree day.

Lake Berryessa was, at the time it was filled, the second largest lake in California.  It has over 160 miles of shoreline, and a maximum depth of 275 feet.

One Dead Squirrel

The day would come, we all knew that....the day that one of the dogs actually got a hold of a Squirrel.  I always thought it would be Bubba, but no....it was my little Skruffy, and right in front of my eyes.

I didn't know where she was at the time I shot the picture above, and the Squirrel must have felt that she was no where in sight.  But suddenly, BAM!

She came out of no where and it was history....

It put up a struggle....but alas, little Skruffy overcame.


Ok now, before you all call the animal activist....

It was just a toy squirrel....


And even Bubba knew that, as he passed right by it.

But as the late Paul Harvey said...."now you know the rest of the story", which is this.....and this, believe it or not, is the honest truth.


As my brother-in-law and I were starting to work on another motor home project, when his somewhat elderly neighbor drove up the driveway and told him that there was a dead squirrel in her back yard.  He told her that he would be glad to get it and throw it away for her, and proceeded to go over to her house while her and I talked about our motor home travels.  He returns and says something like, "Well, I gotta tell you...that is one dead squirrel...and then pulls out the toy squirrel from behind his back to show her it was just a stuffed toy that her dogs had played with.  She was as embarrassed as she could be ... and my mind started thinking about how I could tell this story in my blog.   Hence, the white lie above...


Yesterday, Marcia and I went to church at the same location we did last week, which is the Metro Calvary Church, in Roseville, California.  Last week, with Memorial Day Weekend, the crowd was smaller than it was yesterday.  Here is a "not so good" picture of the outside of the church, which is located in a business complex making it hard to appear as a church building.  But inside it is very much a church, much like the one we attend regularly in Palm Harbor.

Being such a large congregation, they are very involved in many ministries.  They are very much up on the various areas of today's communication with the youth and young adults, such as facebook, twitter, having outlines of sermons available for handheld devices, and they have a wide array of ministries for young and old, the community of Sacramento in general including those who have basic physical needs, let alone spiritual needs.


Sunday we celebrated my parents upcoming 64th anniversary.  We all ate over at their favorite Chinese Restaurant, Wonderful Chinese, where we enjoyed another great meal.  Then we gathered at my sister's house for some Blueberry Pie that Marcia had made, along with some store-bought lemon cupcakes for the one (my dad) who is not into Blueberries.

Above is the newest grand-daughter-doggie sitting on Grandma's lap.


And finally, a shot of some birds at the feeder...

On Wednesday Marcia and I are headed for the Napa Valley area for about a week.  We are nearing the end of our time in the Sacramento Area.  Around the 22nd we plan to say goodbye, and head up the California Coast to continue or travels.