14th and 15th October Visit to Betty and Gene Oakdale California

We woke on morning of 14th to a very wet San Francisco and the first challenge after breakfast was how to get our cases and luggage over the road at O'Farrell from the Hilton.  But the bellman came to our rescue and assisted us over the road to National Car Rental where we hired a Nissan Altima, plugged in our GPS and made ur way into it of San Francisco.  It was still pouring rain and the wind could be described as cyclonic crossing the Oakland bridge.  The next hour was just a hard slog in heavy traffic speeding along at 70 plus miles per hour. Yet after crossing the Bay and the lower foothills the weather suddenly had improved. By about 11.15 after about an hour we were driving in broken sunshine with clouds clearing and entering agricultural land predominantly almonds and dairy cattle and some crops.  We drove for another 50 minutes and eventually came to Oakdale a small semi agricultural township, where we stopped for a muffin and coffee, to make up for the early breakfast.  We relaxed and for the first time saw several cowboys with boots and spurs.

Following this break we drove 15 minutes through the township and arrived in a small court, where Gene and Betty reside in a very attractive home with superb gardens dominated by her 100 rose bushes.  We were greeted like long lost friends and then sat and chatted before a sandwich lunch. Betty and Gene are in good health and still very much active as we remember them from our cruise.  Gene shows Ken the beautiful garden , Betty has the house festooned with bouquets of roses and they are just stunning.

During lunch we talk as to our families and travels, Jeanette shows Betty photos of our new home and we are advised that dinner will be at "House of Beef " restaurants a local eatery adjoining a whole beef farm and meat works.  We are joined by David, Robin, together with their daughters Sidney and Allison and we enjoy a most enjoyable evening before returning home for desserts and coffee.  David also commits to purchasing cinnamon rolls the following morning for Jeanette.

This has been an enjoyable day in many ways, rekindling our association and meeting their family as well as seeing some real farming country. 

Bed comes quickly, we are relaxed and sleep well through until 7.30am the following morning, David does indeed bring the delectable cinnamon rolls for Jeanette for breakfast.  We talk for the morning and then depart at 1.20pm for ur return journey to San Francisco.  Weather is sunny but there is a storm warning in the forecasts. It is an easy drive of approximately 2 hours and we come back in via the San Mattel bridge to come in close to the airport and our accommodations at Homewood Suites by Hilton at Brisbane some 5 minutes drive from the airport.  Ken arranges to check in then Jeanette stays at the hotel with all of the luggage in our suite #235, whilst Ken fills the car with gas / petrol and returns the rental car to the airport Car Rental return and then catches the shuttle back to the Hotel. By this time there are s a severe storm threatening and fortunately Ken returns just ahead of the weather arriving. 

A severe electrical storm then lashes the area for the next. 90 minutes with a lashing of rain and hail and regular lightning. 

We are both hungry and decide to eat at the adjacent Doubletree Hotel where there is a bar and restaurant called Whitecaps.  But we need to ge across from Homewood to Doubletree and we are given umbrella, but it is still frightfully wet. 

Dinner at Whitecaps is enjoyable with a starter of calamari followed by a delicious burger and salad and fries and a couple of beers.  Just what we needed.  We are tired but also sense we are over the jet lag associated with the flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Jeanette comments that she is very pleased that we made the decision and effort to travel to see Betty and Gene.  We had a great day and thoroughly enjoyed the meal with David's family.  Gene met the cost of Dinner and we sensed he was pleased to see us and for us to meet the family who live locally. 

Tomorrow we fly to Vancouver, Canada and stay at Club Intrawest / Embarc for the next 3 nights and 4 days during with our friends from Vancouver Island , Linda and Alec are coming across to show us Vancouver from a locals viewpoint. 

Homewood suites has been a comfortable stay in spacious suites.  The location with shuttle access to the San Francisco International airport makes our transit very easy. 

Jeanette enjoying our afternoon with Betty and Gene in Oakdale.

A beautiful bouquet of roses from Betty's superb ga den of over 100 roses.