West Sonoma Inn Guerneville

My dear sister April invited us to join her at the Calistoga Ranch. Even with threatening rain we hit the road and drive to through the beautiful wine country. St. Helena was decked out in Christmas decorations and was filled with people with shopping. Then we turn up the road to the ranch and encounter nature in all its glory. A turkey vulture enjoying his ...

Hello. recenly I have stayed at the heaven's edge ranch in jenner,ca. unfortunatly my stay was not comfortable. there was alot of mold and mildew in the house and when I was leaving I saw a mouse. just thought you would want to know before staying there. happy holidays and safe trips to all!

Well... Tonight is our last night at "the compound". I have to say.. I'm ready to get the hell out of here. Rob is still going to be working for a couple more days so we're heading over to my friend Claire's to stay until Wednesday.

Living here at the compound has really been amazing. And even though I'm definitley ready to get moving I'm pretty damn sad ...

... of our friends showed up and there were 112 Pabst Blue Ribbon's in the fridge. Unlike our last party everyone brought piles of beer and wine so at the end of the night with a pile of drunk people, we somehow still had two coolers and a fridge loaded with beer. Great!

Spent most of Saturday being absolutely worthless. Rented In Bruges, (probably my favorite movie ever) and had a relaxing quiet evening. Until.....
I suggested we ...

... apart from one song (the pretentiously titled Beat(en) Generation) they were rubbish and we are never going to refer to them; so there. So like I was saying I was listening to the Mac – Fleetwood Mac. Was good to work through their three post Peter Green albums – gentle pop-rock with some very memorable tunes. Best of all I got to listen to The Chain – and to think I used to have to watch that dire spectacle of F1 racing so I could hear that tune.

OK this will be a short one mostly cos I could, for the sake of brevity and conciseness write "same as yesterday" as in some ways it was (another wine tour) but in others it was quite different (a hosted tour on a limo fun bus to some less well known, invitation only wineries). I will, however, spare you any attempt at wine speak as I have given that up.

The day started as usual at somewhere after six that was still too early ...

... I know why. All up and down the coast is protected beaches, state parks and you know who gets to use them? COWS! No wonder they are happy spending their days grazing on the hill sides, listening to the ocean and bathing in the sun. I will never be able to watch those commercials again without thinking of the sunbathing cows in Sonoma County.

We stop along a roadside park with picnic tables and enjoy our lunch. Marshall and I have evolved over the ...

... the various birds coming through the center were so fascinating. Andrea is busy with various committee work, but is working hard to find the still and quiet place in her life as a path toward spiritual simplicity. We had a wonderful evening with them. We were looking forward to the next morning when they would walk part of our day's journey with us. We leave you now and will post again next week when we are in San Francisco. Many blessings are sent your way as we enter the last two months of our pilgrimage.

... bars, and famous S.F. landmarks. The Golden Gate Bridge, Fishermans Wharf, the gigantic park in the middle of the city, Chinatown, the hippies, the homos, the beach and the hobos, we saw it all. By the way, Tim and Lisa and everyone else we stayed with have an open invitation to crash at our place, wherever and whenever we end up.

I made it to my first layover, which was no easy feat! I woke up at 3:20am, 20min before my alarm was suppose to go off, feeling very sick to my stomach. I chalked it up to pre-flight gitters and started to get ready. I was feeling worse and worse but got in the car anyway and headed towards the airport. While waiting in the long line I started to feel faint and very sick. By the time I got to the front of the line I was sweating bullets and "pale as a ghost ...