Scenes of the Noll Christmas 2013

row 1: Vanessa, Hunter, Ben, row 2: Deb, Sam, Katie, Emily, Jen, Mark row 3: Scott, Greg, Evan, Bob

Hunter got a quilt lined shirt

Gramma made matching pajamas

Enjoying a meal together

Ben's birthday cake

San Francisco Neighborhoods and Trivia

What are these ladies making?

Today we spent our day in three famous San Francisco neighborhoods.   Can you guess where the first three pictures were taken?

Where's Waldo (I mean Deb)? 

What caption would you give this picture?

This picture was taken from a very famous hill in San Francisco.   Do you know what it is?   In case you are wondering what the picture shows...It's the home stretch of the America's Cup final race.    Yahoo Oracle.   An amazing and record-breaking comeback.   Some are saying the greatest comeback in sports history!

Well, this one is pretty easy...Especially for those of you with gray hair and a bit of "hippie" blood in you.

Just in case you are wondering where we were today:   Chinatown, Telegraph Hill, and Haight-Ashbury.   It was a great day.  We just finished our dinner of lasagna, salad and a whole bottle of Korbel champagne.   Life is good.   One more full day in this amazing city.   It has been so fun.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Bob and Deb

More Sights on Tuesday

We never would have imagined that the America's Cup sailing race would still be going on when we reached San Francisco.   New Zealand had such a big lead, that everyone thought it would be over last week.  Well, the Oracle has won 7 races in a row!   It was a thrill to see it yesterday, and amazingly, we got to see two races again today as we toured Alcatraz.   In the picture at the right, you can see just how close they came to the short of the island.   It would have been cool just to see the race, but it was way cool to see the Oracle win again...both races!    The whole shebang is now tied at 8.   The final is supposed to be tomorrow.   Hmmmm, wonder where we will be.

After we finished our Alcatraz tour we headed to Pier 39, one of the most famous on Fisherman's Wharf.   People, shops, sea lions, and some pretty darn good shrimp and crab chowder!

We returned to our apartment and had a quick supper.   Then hopped on the local bus to head to the area called Land's End.  As you can see above, we made it just as the sun set.   The waves were crashing on the rocks below us.   The beauty and the power of the ocean are always amazing.

We are now settled back in for the evening and it is time for our tea.   It was another great day on the Bay.

Hugs,

Bob and Debbie

Alcatraz

After breakfast this morning we headed back into the city for our scheduled tour of The Rock.   The picture at the right was taken as we waited to board our ferry out to the island.    As you can see, it was another beautiful day.  The biggest difference is that the wind picked up considerably.   You can see the whitecaps beginning to form on the water behind Bob.    The picture at the top left is taken as we started our tour.   Alcatraz began as a military encampment during Civil War days, and stayed a military prison for many years.   But when it became a federal prison in the 1930's,  Alcatraz must have been quite a place.   We were given headsets with audio commentary as we walked through the corridors of the main cell block.   It was so creepy.   It has been left very much as it was the day in 1963 when the prison was closed and all the prisoners left.   In 1969 a group of American Indians took over the island in protest of their treatment by the United States government.   Some of them stayed on the island for more than a year.   Once they were removed, the island was taken over by the national park system.

The tour and our walk around the island was most interesting.  We learned about some of the famous "guests" at Alcatraz, like Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, and the Birdman of Alcatraz.   We also were told stories of the handful of escape attempts, most of which failed.  It was where the worst of the worst were sent.   One quote on the wall summed it up.   It went something like this, "When you don't follow the rules, you go to prison.   When you don't follow the prison rules, you go to Alcatraz."

It was a most interesting visit.  

Great Day in the City by the Bay

 Monday dawned beautifully clear.   We had a leisurely breakfast and then hopped on the bus heading to the Golden Gate Bridge.   We had decided that we wanted to walk the bridge today since it was predicted to be very windy on Tuesday.  Another reason is that Bob knew that New Zealand and the United States were going to be racing today right in the Bay in the America's Cup race.   It took us about 40 minutes to cross the bridge along with many, many other walkers and bikers.   Quite an experience!      We reached the other side and settled in for our lunch at Vista Point.   We had planned to just have a short stop here and then head back across the bridge, planning to stop and watch the race from the bridge itself.   As it turned out, our views of the race course and the two boats preparing for the race, was fantastic.   So we just stayed put.   In the picture below you can see the two boats at the start of the race with the city skyline in the background.   It was really quite a sight.    The Oracle, the USA boat won handily and has now closed the gap between itself and the New Zealand boat.   There is another race tomorrow.   Go USA

We then made our way to Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower.   The picture above is taken from the top of the tower.   It is 210 feet tall and the highest point in the city.    Then it was off to Fisherman's Wharf for some yummy crab sandwiches on sourdough bread at the famous Boudin's Sourdough Bakery.  

When we finished supper, we headed for our first cable car ride.   You can see that Bob even braved riding just holding onto the grab bars along the side. It was amazing going down those steep streets!

We got off the cable car and hopped back on our bus to head home.   We are now sitting in our apartment 12 hours after we left with very sunburned and windblown faces and arms, but with some wonderful memories of our day.   Bob is treating his sunburn pain with a cup of tea laced with some Korbel brandy we bought Saturday at the distillery.   Deb is treating hers with a cup of green tea with a wine chaser!    Tomorrow we will remember to bring our sunscreen.  

Toodles to everyone.   Wish you were all here:)

Bob and Debbie    

Day 1 in San Francisco

 We made it!    We left our hotel this morning near Berkeley at about 11:00.   We would have been on our way a little earlier, but we discovered the Packers were on tv so watched for a bit.

We returned our rental car a few miles away near the Amtrak station where we arrived on Wednesday.   We then hopped on the free Emeryville Go Round shuttle which took us to the BART station  (Bay Area Rail Transit).   That took us quickly into the city where we got off at a station near the bus line which took us out to our apartment. We dropped off our things, had a few light snacks, and then headed to Golden Gate Park just a couple blocks away.   The two pictures of Bob were taken in the park.   It is quite amazing.   It is HUGE.   It is so hard to believe there is such an immense green space right in the middle of the bustling city.   We just got a short taste of it today until our walking legs gave out on us.

We  headed back to our apartment and stopped at a small market on the way to buy a few things for supper.   Only problem was that it was in the Greek neighborhood, so we had no idea what most of the things were.   We settled for some ramen noodles and bread.   Stopped at the nearby Chinese take out place for egg rolls.   We topped it off with some wine and aged goat cheese we had purchased in Napa.  Not too shabby.

We are now starting to droop.   Since it isn't even 9:00 yet, we are trying to keep our eyes open, but not having much luck.   May just cash it in soon.

Our plan for tomorrow isn't firm yet.   Lots of possibilities, including venturing over to the Bay to take in the America's Cup sailing race.   We thought it would be done already by this time, but apparently the US is making a contest of it.   We also plan to head back to Golden Gate Park to take in the de Young art museum and Japanese tea garden.   We have also talked about walking across the Golden Gate Bridge and then taking the ferry back.   Isn't traveling wonderful??

Good night to all.   We can't wait to let you know of our adventures.

Bob and Deb

The Napa Valley

  

We woke up this morning to rain showers.   We decided after breakfast to just sit tight at our hotel in Santa Rosa till the weather cleared.   Worked out perfectly as they had a guest laundry, so we were able to wash some clothes.    The weather has thrown us a curve-a good curve.   We haven't even used a single long sleeved, cooler weather item!   We certainly could have saved some room in our suitcases!    

We left Santa Rosa about 11 and made our way over the hills from the Sonoma Valley into the Napa Valley.   Our first stop was in the charming town of Calistoga at the Twomey Cellars Winery.   It was a rather unassuming place, but the wines were so amazing! The sun had broken through, they had amazing cheese and bread to pair with the wine and needless to say we were feeling awfully happy when we left.   Headed to a little park in Calistoga for a picnic lunch and then crossed over to the Silverado Trail.   We stopped at several more wineries as we worked our way south.  As you can see in the picture below, many vineyards in the Napa Valley were still heavy with grapes.   So beautiful with the green vines, purple grapes, blue sky, and trees turning color.   Heavenly.

Add caption

We worked our way back over to the main highway going south toward Napa.  We passed by so many famous wineries.   Mondavi, Cakebread, and Menage A Trois to name a few of our favorites.   We decided to make two final stops.   First one is pictured at the left.   The Beringer Winery is one of the oldest in the valley and this is their original home. The property was beautiful.

Our last stop took us off the beaten path up into the hills to the Hess winery.   It too was quite amazing and the views down into the valley were wonderful.

We are now settled in our very unassuming Super 8 hotel in Berkeley.   It is not fancy, but serves our purpose as it is close to where we will turn in our rental car tomorrow morning and make our way into San Francisco.   We are looking forward very much to seeing the city.   Our suitcases are a bit heavier with our wine purchases, so we will be enjoying some of that each evening during our stay in Frisco.

Toodles to everyone.   Heard the UW won their football game today.   Go Badgers!   We already have our Packer shirts out to wear tomorrow to hopefully give the Packers our good luck.  

We are California Dreamin'

Bob and Deb

Wine Tasting Day 1

 Well, we figured out our blog issue.   Apparently I hit "zoom 150%" without realizing it.   Seemed fine when it was online, but it was sure strange on the computer screen.  Anyway, all is good now.

At the right is the courtyard area of our lodging in Guerneville.   So charming and well-maintained.   We wished we could stay two nights.

But that was not to be.   By 10:30 we were swigging Korbel California champagne!    We figured it was 12:30 back home so we were ok.   This is such a historic place.   They Korbel brothers started their undertaking in 1886.   In fact, the building at the right was one of the first they built.   They had to clear acres of redwoods to create their vineyards and they had to leave those huge stumps until their was technology to clear them in the 1950's.    They just planted the vines around them.     They are most famous for their champagnes, but also make several wines (not that good by our standards) and of course, brandy.   Every step in the process takes place on their property here in the Sonoma Valley.

After a couple other winery stops, we headed for our lodging tonight in Santa Rosa, California.   Checked in, relaxed a bit, and then headed for the downtown.    At right, you can see me by a statue of Charlie Brown.   He is everywhere in Santa Rosa because this is the home of Charles Schultz and there is even a Charles Schultz museum here.   We strolled the streets of the old town and ended up having supper at a neat brew pub.   Who knew beer was big in wine country?!?.   Just fine with us.   We sampled six different beers and had some great fish and chips and sliders.

Back in our hotel room now.   Relaxing, reading, and planning our day tomorrow.   We are heading a bit west to the Napa Valley.   We will work our way south through that area and end up staying in Berkeley tomorrow night.   We will turn in our rental car on Sunday morning and head into San Francisco for part two of our California adventure.

Hope all is well with everyone.   We have been thinking about Scott and Sam and wondering if they are sleeping in their new house tonight.   Also thinking about our other two kids as their two families are together in Green Bay for a visit.   Hope brother John is recovering from his broken ankle and brother Ralph is doing well in his stroke recovery.   Great big shout out to everyone else as well.

Hugs,

Deb

More of Highway 1

As we worked our way north on highway 1 we next came to the Point Reyes National Lakeshore.   This is a huge area along the coast, but also extending inland.   Our hope was to drive to the westernmost point and view the lighthouse there.   Unfortunately, it was closed on Thursday, so we opted to hike to an area which has been restored to resemble what it looked like when the native Miwok people who lived there.   Bob is peeking into a replica of their dwellings.

 The next pic is just a representation of the wild and beautiful California coast.   We passed wild remote areas, areas that were obviously surfer haunts, and peaceful little bays.   The sun sparkling off the water was quite something and we were glad it actually even showed up on our photo.

We drove as far north as Jenner, CA and then headed inland along the famous Russian River.   Our destination was an eclectic little town called Guerneville.

The picture of Bob at the left is taken over an old bridge in Guerneville.   The Russian River is in the background.   Our short visit there was fun as they were having a farmer's market and live band in the town square.

Our lodging in Guerneville was a charming little place made up of individual cottages.   Karen and Kenn, and John and Rhonda will know what we mean when we say it reminded us of the place we stayed in Fredericksburg.
They even had a campfire for us in the evening.   We went to bed relaxed and anxious for our first day in the wine country of California.

Cheers,

Bob and Debbie

Traveling Highway 1

We began our day Thursday by heading to the John Muir National Monument.   This peaceful and beautiful park was dedicated to the famous naturalist.   It encompasses one of the few remaining old growth redwood forests on the California coast.   The trees are as old as 500 years and as tall as 200-300 feet.   They usually grow in clumps they call "families".   One unique thing about the redwood tree (also known as the sequoia) is that they are able to grow from seed or from what is called a burl ( sort of a lump on the trunk).

After we finished at the Muir Woods, we headed for the coast to have some views of the Pacific Ocean.   And what views we got!    This is just one.   It is actually quite near to the San Francisco Bay.   It is unique because it had these bunkers built into the hillsides behind us.   Apparently after the bombing of Pearl Harbor they dug the bunkers and posted men in them to watch for Japanese ships.

As you can see, the weather was spectacular!    From here we drove north on the famed California Highway 1.   Slow, scenic, breathtaking would be the descriptions we would give.

We are suddenly having issues with the look of the blog, so we are anxious to see how this looks online.   For some reason, the print is HUGE!    Undoubtedly, because as we were doing a post we hit some key and told it to do something.   The only problem is that we can't figure out how to undo it.   Any advice from you techies out there would be appreciated!

Bob and Deb

Sunset and Moonrise

 We had these two lovely views as we strolled around Sausalito.


The setting sun was so beautiful shining on the buildings of San Francisco.    As we snapped our picture a couple struck up a conversation.   They were actually "locals" who were wowed just like we were of these two views taken from nearly the same spot.   We could see the city, Alcatraz, Angel Island, and the new Bay bridge from where we were standing.   The Golden Gate was just around the corner, but blocked from our view.  


The full moon was so pretty as it rose up over the hills surrounding the area.   We are weary, but very anxious to have our first full day of exploring the area tomorrow.

Good night for now.

The Happy Wanderers

All Aboard!

We boarded our Amtrak train at 11:30 PM on Tuesday.   It was quite a comical surprise when we opened the curtain to our sleeper compartment.    To say it was small would be an understatement!   We were hoping to show it, but couldn't get far enough away to even get a picture.   We did some estimating as far as the measurements and it couldn't have been any more than 4 feet x 9 feet.   We got to giggling as we tried to undress in the 8" of space between the edge of the bed and the wall of the compartment. We probably weren't terribly popular with the neighbors who were already tucked in bed sleeping.   Once Bob got up into the upper bunk and Deb got set in the lower all was well.   Slept like babies being rocked in a cradle!

The top picture is taken in the dining car on the train.   At breakfast we were seated with a charming couple from Scotland.   We traded lots of travel stories.   Then we headed to the lounge car and chatted for most of the afternoon with a man who was on his way home from a 2 month long hiking outing in California.   Quite interesting.
At lunch we were seated with two men, not traveling together, but who both ended up being from Canada.  
The picture at the right is taken as we got off the train just outside San Francisco.  That is our car-which actually was the caboose!

Our train was an hour early getting into the Bay area, so we are headed out to Sausalito, which is supposed to be quite charming.   It is right across the Bay from Frisco and we are hoping for some nice sunset pictures.

Toodles,

B and D

Good Bye Utah-Hello California

Greetings Everyone.

Tuesday was our last day in Utah.  We spent it helping Scott and Sam work on some final preparations for their occupancy inspection.    We are pleased to report that they got that ok!!   It is a red-letter day for them.   Not sure when they will be able to actually sleep there, but certainly by the end of the week.   Lots left to do in the house, but at least they can begin to make it a HOME!

Below you can see some pictures I snapped of "school" at the ranch.   They have a charming little classroom in the lower level of the house.   

Sam is working so hard to make it a good and productive experience for the three kids.   They each have their own unique skills and likes.   Of course, when we asked Hunter and Ben what they liked best about school, they promptly said, "Lunch and Recess!"   Pretty darn normal.

  

We had a small, early birthday party for Sam before we left to drive back to Salt Lake City.   Our destination was the Amtrak station to catch our train going west.  

California here we come.

Bob and Deb

Our First Days in Utah

Greetings from Utah!    You are just never very far from a Noll Packer party.   Doesn't even matter that the tv is only about 10 inches square or that at the end of the 3rd quarter Fox decided that the Chiefs vs Eagles was more important out here than the Packers.   Go figure.   It was just a good thing the Packers had it well in hand.  

We have settled in here for our short visit before we head further west.  Enjoying time with everyone and also enjoying being able to help with a few jobs here on the ranch.

In fact, at the right, you can see Bob and Scott putting the final cedar shake siding on the back of the house.   They also finished mounting the rest of the solar panels on the large tracker system which will provide the bulk of their electricity.    This project has been so huge and basically Scott's baby.   It is quite amazing.






The Noll family now includes four dogs.   Bo and Suzie are being trained as cow dogs.  Utah has been the family pet for 5 years.   Betty is the "problem child".   But they are all going to be happy soon.   As you can see below, Bob and Scott built them their own kennels inside a machine shed.   They are pretty nifty and it will be so nice to have a secure place to keep them.....if you can every catch them.  

More to follow tomorrow.   It will be our last day here on the ranch.   We will be helping celebrate her birthday a little early and hopefully be celebrating an occupancy permit for the new house as the inspector comes at 5 tomorrow night.   After a dinner of chicken goulash (A Noll family dish that Katie asked to have since she is studying her family history in school) we will be heading back to Salt Lake City to catch the Amtrak train bound for San Francisco.   California here we come!

Hugs to Everyone.

Bob and Deb 

Heading West to San Francisco

Hi,
It's time to pack our bags and head west.  Everyone who has traveled to San Francisco seems to say that it is one of their favorite cities.  We are anxious to discover it for ourselves.  We will be flying on Saturday Sept. 14 out of Madison and heading to Utah for a short visit to Scott and Sam's new home.  We are excited for them to be finally in their house.  It has been a long building process, but they must be feeling a great deal of pride now that it's nearly completed.  On Tuesday Sept. 17 we will depart from Salt Lake City on the train and arrive in Oakland at 4 pm on Wednesday.  Trains, planes and automobiles it is all part of this trip.  After several train trips it is still a fascination for us.  This time we will be going through the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  After arriving in Oakland, we will spend 5 days touring the wine country north of San Francisco and then 5 days in San Francisco.  We hope you will follow along on our blog.

Goodbye for now.

Bob and Deb

Last Days

Greetings Family and Friends,

Well, here it is the last day of February and our St. George adventure is winding down.   In the picture at the right, you can see we just couldn't resist one last dip in the hot tub at the clubhouse in Sports Village.     It was a nice last night in our condo.   We did some last loads of wash and packed up the car this morning.   We sadly closed the door to our condo at about 11:00.



We decided to spend a couple hours strolling the streets of the historical center of St. George.
At the right is a picture of Bob in front of the old, one room jailhouse.   It still has the original bars on the windows!








The second picture is a statue of what they call the
"Watermaster".  In St. George, as in all of Utah, it's all about water.   This area is filled with neat statues of different sorts and that charming waterfall and stream meanders all through several square blocks.   Quite pretty and charming.








The third picture is taken in front of one of the best places to eat in St. George.   It is called the Painted Pony-hence the interesting horse sculpture!  Roger and Marsha-we have to investigate this place next year!    Looks very neat.










After we left the city of St. George we drove out to an area that we had explored a bit a week ago.   It is called the Red Cliffs Recreation Area.   It was such a gorgeous day!    We ate our picnic lunch, hiked to some Anasazi Indian ruins and even ran into some people from Richland Center!   They actually even knew
Deb's cousin Rod Perry very well!     And their daughter is an archaeologist and lives quite near Scott and Sam.   Small world.






This area is literally 10 miles outside the city limits of St. George.   We have been continually amazed at the wealth of places to go and things to do all within such a short drive from the city!    It certainly doesn't hurt that the weather has been wonderful to experience it all.


After we left the Red Cliffs area we headed into the small city of Hurricaine where we will stay tonight.   Checked into our hotel and immediately headed off to the nearby golf course for Bob to have his last round  on these beautiful courses.   At the left is a picture of him as he ends the round as the sun begins to set in red rock country.   Doesn't get much better than this.  

We are settled into our hotel room watching American Idol (which just happens to be at the Mirage in Las Vegas where we saw the Cirque du Soleil!).     Looking forward to tomorrow when Karen (Bob's sister) and her husband Kenn will drive up from Vegas.   We will spend a few hours with them going to Zion National Park.   Check out the blog tomorrow.   It is supposed to be a gorgeous day and Zion will be amazing.

Hugs to Everyone.

Bob and Debbie