Welcome to the Casa de Walkers

Chef Chuck and Susie welcome us to Cambria with a Santa Maria Style
BBQ...yum

Yummy BBQ and California Red

Good company snd good food

Mickey Dog

Sue and Chuck's good boy.

Cambria Beads

If you are a beader, you need to go up to Cambria Beads and see Sue!
She will have what you have been looking for...

Susie leads the way upstairs

Staircase to Cambria Beads

The Bead Woman

Susie at the register...

Beads, Findings, Tools

Susie has it all...

Cambria Beads

Hearst Castle Tour on a beautiful day

Our brother in law, Chuck, Susie's wonderful husband, is a Docent at
The Hearst Castle. He treated Michael and I to a complimentary
afternoon tour of this Unbelievable property. Lucky Us!

Chuck answers questions

The captivating Casa Grande

Hearst's main house at the castle

One lovely belltower of Casa Grande

The other belltower of Casa Grande

With the silhouette of our fabulous guide, Chuck.

The unbelievably gorgeous indoor pool

Really hard to not jump in...!

The indoor pool explained

Chuck elaborating for our group on the history of the indoor pool at
the castle: entire pool is 10 feet deep, made of over one million one
inch handmade Murano glass tiles from Italy, interspersed with glass
tiles made with 18 karat gold. The cost of the pool was 400K, built
during the height of the Depression in the 30s.

Another shot of the indoor pool

The stunning Neptune Pool of the Hearst castle

Chuck gets invite 3 friends each year to join him in it! Oh please
please please pick me Chuck!! ;-)

Another view of the Neptune Pool

Caryn's wishful longing for a pool

One of the guest cottages of Hearst's castle

Hearst Fire Engine

Steinbeck Country

Driving along for miles through the rolling green oak covered hills
and wide blue skies of Steinbeck Country, where we lived nearly 20
years ago. We had forgotten how beautiful, wide open, and warm this
area is.

Mission San Miguel Area

The Touareg and Burritow are dwarfed by the walls of the mission and
mountains of the coastal range, separating the area from the central
valley. My Miguel likes to make a regular pilgrimage here. This
Mission is still recovering from the 2003 earthquake.

Mission San Miguel

A cool shot Mike took through the Adobe walls surrounding the Mission

Adobe walls of Mission San Miguel

Mission San Miguel

The color of Dia de Los Muertos

Dia de Los Muertos

More Colorful displays to honor the dead

Wednesday the 4th. Arrived in one of our favorite California towns

There to greet us was namesake John the Baptist at the entrance to the
200+ year old mission.

Mission San Juan Bautista in the town by the same name.

Sad to report: The favorite for many on their visits to San Juan Bautista was a stop at the Bakery. No more!

It is now an empty shell of a structure and no longer offers spirit-
reviving donuts to the weary pilgrim.

Where do Missionaries head to when hungry?

You got it. Third Street in downtown San Juan Bautista.

Walking the Gardens at Mission San Juan Bautista I stopped in my tracks as I came across this sculpture.

It is a bronze of Father Fermín Lasuén. What stopped me? Checkout
the closeup in the next posting.

Father Lasuen closeup, plus arsty sunburst thing

Nose and face very much like my father and grandfather's nose. Wow!

Father Serra sculpture in Mission Gardens.

Walking the Gardens at Mission San Juan Bautista.

Not Walking the Gardens at Mission San Juan Bautista.

San Juan Bautista Mission

Madonna in San Juan Bautista Mission Gardens

San Juan Bautista Mission Gardens

Such variety and so peaceful

More of the variety in San Juan Bautista Mission's garden

The variety of plants in California is unparallelled!

Cactus and Roses ??

Only in California-San Juan Bautista

Giant Cactus in San Juan Bautista

Fun times with Matt and Jamie

Enjoyed time with Matt and Jamie at Norden at 7300 feet and also in
Reno and Truckee.

The Lovebirds

Matt and Jamie-Downtown Reno at the Truckee River

Two Good Dogs

Maggie and her Ol' pal Parker

A hard day's night.

Parker and Maggs on the Dog Sofa.

Maggie admires the pedicures

Jamie and Caryn got a bit of pampering...

Not everyone can point to the source of their drinking water.

A wee bit of this flowed thru the faucet this afternoon as I filled my
glass at Jamie & Matt's condo. This reservoir is a half mile hike up
the mountain above the condo.

Parker has his own couch... Ahhh...

Truckee River Contemplation