Why No Posts?
Sorry there have been no posts for a couple of weeks but we have been busy doing other things.
Two weeks ago we went to San Francisco where we saw ‘Tuna Does Vegas’ at the Curran Theater. We have seen a couple of the Tuna plays here locally at The Stage but were disappointed in this latest production,
Before the play we wandered around Union Square and had a look in Macy’s and Bloomingdales. After the play we visited a couple of photography galleries on Geary and then had a wonderful dinner at the Farallon Restaurant on Post.
Last weekend we visited friends who live on a winery up in the Santa Cruz mountains. Normally they have wonderful views overlooking Monterey Bay and Loch Lomand but not at the moment. There are so many wildfires burning all around that the quality of the air has been affected and it is very hazy. The worst fire is at Big Sur, which is just to the south of Monterey. 12 miles of Highway 1 have been closed for quite a few days. We heard that the fire came very close to Nepenthe but it was reprieved, at least for the time being.
Last Friday was the 4th of July and we drove to Fresno to visit Tom’s Dad for the weekend. We left home after breakfast on Friday, which is a bit later than normal. In so doing, we encountered more traffic than usual. On Interstate 5 we were right behind a truck which blew a tire. What with the smell, bits of rubber flying everywhere and having to avoid a large piece of tire deposited on the road right in front of us, it was a hairy few seconds.
It was a relief to turn onto Nees Avenue and enjoy the relative calm of driving past cotton fields and orchards towards Firebaugh.
For lunch, the three of us took a drive south to Harris Ranch. Our intended route was via Routes 41 and 198. The Central Valley is a vast, complex area of agricultural activity. On the surface it may appear boring – long straight roads with views for miles over huge fields. But, for me, there is always something interesting to look at. Well I was so busy writing instead of navigating that instead of turning right on Route 198 we found ourselves many miles south of Lemoore. We drove on to Kettleman City where we turned right onto Interstate 5 for the 25 mile drive north to Harris Ranch. Some detour we took, all 50 miles of it!
Harris Ranch is a huge cattle ranch with between 70 and 100 thousand head of cows at any one time. Approaching from the south though we did not see any cattle, the hotel and hotel complex was the first thing we saw.
There are three restaurants, all in the same building – the Bar Restaurant, the Kitchen Restaurant and the Steakhouse. The last one is the most expensive but it is only during the evenings. We plumped for the Kitchen Restaurant. Although they were busy, the pace was not rushed at all. Tom and I had burgers and Don had a sandwich. On the way home we turned on our GPS (should have done that on the way down) and drove up a few exits on I5. After exiting on to Hwy 145 we immediately saw not just a few cows but thousands of head of cattle. They were in pens. Each fair sized pen held about a dozen cows but they were not crowded. There were an awful lot of pens though and not one blade of grass to be seen. We then passed some buildings and saw a mountain of grain. Poor cows were heading to the slaughter house. We yelled for them to escape but they’re pretty stupid.
Before long we were back in Fresno. The rest of the afternoon we relaxed and I took a dip in the pool. As the temperature was well over 90, it was a real pleasure to jump into the cool water.
On the Saturday we were up early and the three of us drove to Yosemite to visit Glacier Point (see next blog) and in the evening we went to watch the Fresno Grizzlies play the Sacramento River Cats at the Chukchansi Park in downtown Fresno. It was a lovely, warm Fresno night and we all enjoyed the ballgame.
This coming Thursday I am off to the UK for 12 days on a business trip. I will be at the Farnborough Air Show but, of course, I will take time to visit the family. Tom hopes to be out and about over the next couple of weekends so watch out for his posts.
We should be back to normal by the end of July.
July 07 2008 11:27 am | Further Afield
Margaret and Tom on 11 Aug 2008 at 2:16 pm #
We just received a comment from a John. I can’t allow it to show up here due to a certain “F” word he used to call us idiots. However, he had a good point in that we just ate burgers at Harris Ranch and then yelled at the cows to run from the pens. It was just a feeble attempt at a little humor and I didn’t really put two and two together. Thanks, John, for setting us straight but next time just “idiot” will suffice.
Tom