Alaska

We went to Alaska with Arlene and David.  

Alls the details on theAlaska Vacation Blog

Summer of Least Terns

Finally, a productive summer of least terns. Mike spotted them on morning walks when Chris was in Georgia helping Lynn move.

The males bring fish back to the females who wait on the beach.

The courtship ritual involves the transfer of fish.

A few weeks later, Chris spotted a tern cleaning a shell from the rest.

Then, the daily walks  featured  hanging out by the preserve in hopes of spotting a baby tern. Mike dragged out the tripod for videos.

We named the baby Lint at first, since it looks like dryer lint.  We also started calling it Junior.  Eventually, Junior Lint was added as another name.

The biologists built a plastic fence around part of the preserve to keep the babies inside. They banded on a renamed Junior Lint to be Marvin.

We spotted  another nest and followed it for a while (until the mean biologists moved the chicks inside the plastic fence).

A week or two later, we spotted fledglings on the beach and flying.

We are hooked

Six months ago, we went out to Hooked,  a coffee shop that got good reviews  Its a seafood restaurant in the evening and a coffee shop on the morning. However, although they open at 8:00, they weren’t really ready at 8:01 and it was going to take a 15 minutes or so for them to get their act together. So we went somewhere else for breakfast. 

When Chris was in Georgia, Mike went on beach walks to Venice, and eventually made it back to Hooked. They really know what they’re doing and make homemade syrups to flavor coffee drinks. It may be the best iced salted caramel latte ever, But we’ve branched out to more exotic drinks too. The Shuggie is really good, but so is the Cafe Rico.

Chris helped Lynn get prepared to move to the UK

Off to Borneo

We create a new blog for this trip.
Borneo blog

Finally, a noteworthy bird.

We walk every morning, but the birds have been a little ordinary. On the way home today, Chris spotted an unusual looking bird. Even more so once we got the binoculars and camera on it. This is the second time she has found a red-necked phalarope. The first was a couple of years ago swimming in the channel.  This was on the sandbar.

Happy 67th

We returned to Sonoma for Mike’s 67th birthday. It’s just an hour flight from LA and then 20 minutes from Sonoma airport to Healdsburg.

Our first stop was at Bella Vineyards, a beautiful winery with just average wine. It was one of our favorites in our first trip to Napa, but I think our tastes have matured.

We checked into the Single Thread Inn and had dinner at their three star Michelin restaurant.

They only have five rooms and we got the one suite - it was amazing.  We have stayed at many nice places over the last years, but this is a first -the iron was stored in an adorable felt bag that was like a custom purse for it.

Dinner was elegant, but nothing really jumped out as the most exciting dish we’ve had in a while. I think our Amsterdam dinners were better.

Overall the inn and suite were nicer than the actual dinner. They had a Toto toilet that after awhile we were both talking to. How could you not!? 😂 it takes care of everything - opens the lid when you pass by and does it all until closing the lid as you leave. They even had Chris’s favorite scent from PF Candle Company in the bathroom. We discovered that scent at Big Sky Lodge in Utah and have the reed diffusers all over our place so that was a nice homey and welcome touch.

The next day we had lunch at Lynmar winner. The location, wine, food, and service were all excellent.

Our first visit there was impressive and we wondered if our second experience would be as nice. We enjoyed it just as much or maybe more!

And they have a vineyard named Adam in addition to Quail Hill and Bliss, so naturally we had to purchase a bit of wine in honor of our grandson.

It was just two nights away but we ate and drank enough for three! 



Always nice to come back home and get a bird’s eye view of our neighborhood ❤️🌊