The Trip Out

Due to having two sets of reward points, Teare and I took different flights to San Francisco.  My flight included a stop in Las Vegas.  On the way, I chatted with a couple who were heading to Vegas.  The lady shared her story with me.  She originated from Iran and first came to this country at the age of 15.  After telling me about her family, she shared that she attended and graduated from The College of Wooster ‘86.  Further, her cousin had come from Iran and had attended Wooster prior to her arrival.  We had a good chat when I told her we had that in common!

Teare and I met up in San Francisco and flew together to Eureka, California.  Here, we stayed one night and rented a car in order to visit our daughter Betsy and son-in-law Brett in Redding.  Our drive from Eureka to Redding took us across State Route 299, over the Trinity Mountains and right through the heart of the Carr Fire destruction, which, as of this writing is 96% contained.  At some spots you could see the charred roadway where the fire crossed the highway.  The fire skipped around so that there were areas left unscathed while next to it the landscape was either charred or singed.  Many leaves were brown from the heat, but not consumed.  Closer to Redding, we saw rubble where homes once stood and burned out cars left abandoned along the road.  Photos of the Carr Fire are included below.

We enjoyed a nice visit with Brett and Betsy.  On Wednesday night, we went out for hamburgers and to Fall River.  The brewers of Redding collaborated to make a beer for which the profits would go to the Carr Fire Foundation Relief Fund.  We also fit in a game of Euchre.  Between the generous donations of Denise Gilmore, Brian Merce, and Performance Partners LLC, we were able to present a check for $1000 to go to the Carr Fire Relief effort.

Sunday, September 2, 2018

We were up early as today was our first day with tours.  I fed the gulls.  I noted the dominant male gull (still unsure if it is my old friend Fred) was there when I laid out the cat food was accompanied by a new mate.  I raised the flag and swept the walkway.  I noticed a couple healthy banana slugs on the walk! (pictured below) We had breakfast with Brett and Betsy.  Soon after, Dottie, Jill and Fred arrived and we planned the tours.  We conducted tours from 10:00 AM until after noon.  This involved 105 guests and $670. In revenue from donations and gift shop.  A good day!  Teare worked the register in the gift shop.  Jill led the tour in the Parlor, while Fred took the bedrooms.  I manned the tower.  The day began with clear skies and great visibility, but  between 11:30 and noon the fog rolled in and greatly impaired the view from the lighthouse tower.  We enjoyed lunch on the picnic table, soaked in the sun and played cards in the afternoon.  We tinkered with the gator and got it running after we unlocked the weird sequence of steps to put it in reverse!  We enjoyed dinner and a great sunset.  Betsy helped me lower Old Glory.  We spotted what appeared to be humpback whales and visited with four young folks who wandered over.  We invited them in for a private tour.  It turns out two of them were from Australia and the other two were from Medford, Oregon.  Thanks to Teare for some late night sweeping!  We finished the day with some ice cream and called it a day!