Travelog for: Ranil

Hi everyone,

We said goodbye to Shir Khan and Pipps today.  I hope to see them in Chile some day. 

~Ranil

Cheerio was really excited today.  I was, too.  We were going to San Francisco, Cheerio's hometown!    And we were going there to meet someone very special.     

Here I am on the Bay Bridge.  We are going almost all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge ... see it in the photo? 




We were zipping along ....




At Fort Mason!  It was a beautiful cool/warm, foggy/sunny day.  Cheerio told us that's as good as it gets in San Francisco.   




Here was Greens!  And here was LittleCableCars waiting patiently for us! 




It was so good to meet Cheerio's mom and Robby the seal.

I was hungry.  I liked what we ate.  The grilled peach, the potato pesto pizza and the eggplant focaccia sandwich ... all so yummy.




I hope fam-united will see Robby's photo here.  Isn't this a nice view?


No, not the view of us!    Keep looking ......


Can you see the Golden Gate Bridge?  Yeah, a little too much fog. 

Robby, Cheerio, Henrik and I decided the toyvoy site needs more meetups!  Don't you think so?  So where's next?  Chile?  Finland?   

Love,

Ranil

Henrik and I are trying to stay cool.  We'll let Cheerio go to the state fair without us.    We'll just look at the photos and stay in the shade. 

Hey, pretty cool, Mama. I got a special trip today!  I went to San Francisco and Berkeley with Miss Kate.  It was another hot dry day in Sacramento, so I was pretty excited.   

Here you can see the fog line between the valley and the San Francisco Bay area. 



I was so excited I almost jumped through the window!



Oh, it was going to be all grey and cool just like I like it, and good for frog skin.



Here we were at the toll bridge.  No beautiful pictures on the bridge today!  fog, fog, fog



The appointment my host had in the city was rather dull, so afterwards we decided to stop in Berkeley for lunch.  Maybe we'd find a photo op.  It was still cool even though the fog had cleared.  Perfect weather ......



We went to Miss Kate's favorite New York style deli.

We ate a bagel with lox, tomato, cucumbers, cream cheese and little pickle-flavored things, can't remember what Miss Kate said they're called.  Oh, yeah, she just whispered to me capers.  We also bought a poppy seed rugelach for Henrik and Cheerio.  It'll take the edge off the envy!    Just kidding! 

And we mailed something to the mentor of one of my toyvoy buddies.  I won't tell you who! 



I asked if we could see U.C. Berkeley since it was closeby.

Here's Hoyt Hall, the co-op where Miss Kate lived when she was at the university.  She said she had lots of stories, but the ones that weren't boring I wasn't allowed to hear.  What's she talking about??  She did mention that people were always sneaky painting the front door different colors in the middle of the night.  Strange American custom. 



Here's a view of the campus looking west.  Can you see San Francisco in the background?  It's tiny.



Here are a couple photos of the Campanile.  It's a pretty tower.

Well, it's no Big Ben or Tower of Pisa, but it'll do for NOW. 

Don't you think I blend in there?  Just another green co-ed. 

Well, that was it!  Time to go home ... errr ... to go to Sacramento! 

Love,

Ranil

Mama,

Guess who showed up in a travelope!?  Aslan!  We had such a good time traveling around with RikeH last month.  He and I had lots to talk about.    We especially enjoyed the Canadian crisps and beverages.  We rocked the party Gwennie-style!    But we didn't rock it quite as much as Zoe, Veronica and Rendolph with their local Portuguese wine!   

By the way, rumor has it we might be seeing the ocean tomorrow!    Stay tuned! 

We DID go to the ocean! 

On our way, we drove along the Russian River west toward the ocean and stopped at Duncan Mills to do a little shopping.  It's a cute little town next to the river that looks old but isn't really old.    First to the new old general store and then to a little shop called Pig's Alley to do window shopping.  There were lots of frog things to choose from.  One is a clock and one here is something to hold open a cookbook.  But certain recipes are forbidden always ... for example, frogs' legs. 

Well, it was a lot of driving, but it was a beautiful day as you can see!  We were in a hurry but wanted you to have a peek at the Pacific.   

Great view. 

Hola Mama!

We took an invigorating hop around the neighborhood and along the ocean.  We had fog on one shoulder and sun on the other.  A little cool and a little warm. 



I was so excited about a plump little bumble bee we saw … you can see it in Cheerio’s photo … but not in mine.  It maybe sensed my intentions weren’t entirely nongastronomic. 



On our stroll, we came so close to two deer.  They were fantastic!  Amazing!  Yet, for some reason, Miss Kate managed to get a snap of just one single deer butt.  Nice work.   

RikeH did much better on my photo with the moose! 

I miss you but am having fun! 

Ranil

We visited The Sea Ranch Chapel.  It's very unusual.  And quite serene.  I hope you enjoy the photographs. 

Dear Henrik is on his way to join the European Toy Voyager Trail.  I think he's very lucky to get to be on the trail.  Miss Kate and I escorted him to the post office, wishing him a very bon voyage.

Hi Mama!

We had a great drive home.  Well, first we went to a cafe in Gualala and walked along the bluff with Miss Kate's cousin.  I got a photo there with some pretty flowers.  They told me they're California poppies.

On the way back to Sacramento, we saw some fluffy animals.  What a beautiful place for them to live!  I felt very happy here except the small black and white one was really giving us the evil eye.    And kept saying bababababa at me.  Right back atcha, buddy! 

We stopped at Candy & Kites in Bodega Bay for salt water taffy.  They had green pistachio taffy.  Muy interesante.    And when I say interesante, I mean yummy! 

Love you!

Ranil

P.S.  Candy & Kites ships their salt water taffy internationally. 

Mama!

We're back on the road again!  Heading toward Lake Tahoe which is just stock full of frogs like me! 



Ranil

The lake is beautiful!  Mark Twain described it as maybe "the fairest picture the whole earth affords."

Hello Mama!

We spent our first night on the lake.  But not in California … in Nevada!  It’s a deserty state in California … so why is it called snowfall?  Nevada is Spanish for snowfall.  Well, in the Sierra Nevada mountains there is a lot of nevada every winter … and here, too, at the lake.  Can you see the snow on the mountains across the lake?

Isn’t Lake Tahoe pretty?  It is really deep, 500 meters deep.  Miss Kate says it’s the 10th deepest lake in the whole world.  North-south it’s 19 kilometers or 12 miles long.  We were told that the water is 99.9% pure … and very clear.  A white dinner plate would be visible at 75 feet below the surface … though Miss Kate says that it would’ve been seen at 100 feet down 50 years ago. 

Lake Tahoe is up high … we were all winded walking around because its elevation is more than 6,000 feet.  Here’s a picture of us taking a break from our walk.



We spent a couple of hours in the afternoon at the casinos.  They’re not legal in California – except on Indian reservations – but legal in Nevada, so we went to Harrah’s in Stateline, Nevada. 

Lots of these people just strolled over from California into Nevada.

So … Time to play!  We decided the poker machines were a little more interesting than just the slots. 



Look!  We got the best hand possible!  Well, almost the best hand … we won $31, but if we got the royal flush without the wild deuce, it would’ve been $1,000! 

I wonder if Miss Kate would’ve sent you my share!    Green attracts green after all! 

Love,
Ranil

Sunday, our last day, was a bit more spiritual at our lakeside retreat.