Our trip to California was a fun and varied trip. We arrived in time to celebrate my birthday, and it was extra nice to be with John, Terri and our two wonderful little girls. Terri made me a very special birthday bread pudding with lemon sauce. I can still taste it. The weather was chilly, but we were able to get out and one day John shot off rockets -- one was left in a tree.

We had a great weekend at Truckee/Donner in the Sierra Nevada Mountains -- seven feet of snow on the ground when we got there. The weather was perfect. John, Terri and girls had fun at a snow park -- Sandra and I sat and watched. The next day we drove to Lake Tahoo and then to Truckee for lunch with John, Terri and girls. While we were at Truckee the eastbound Amtrak came through -- quite a climb to cross the Sierra Nevadas. Another six inches of snow fell our last night. John and Terri snow shoed for several hours before we left. The journey home on I 80 was interesting -- but very slow -- sometimes 10 to 15 miles an hour.

The flights out and back were uneventful which was good, but flying is not a happy venture. One thing we did notice is that the security people at the Oakland Airport were much nicer and more helpful than the KCI group.