It has been a couple of pretty busy days lately so there hasn't been much time to sit down and write very much. It really started on Friday night when I went over to my cousins place and had a very pleasant dinner with her and her husband. Willie, Gray and I ate way to much of Willie's home made chili, and consumed more wine than we should. But I had a wonderful time catching up on family information and gossip and it was so much fun that we decided to do it all again last night... which we did.
   There was more to yesterday than just dinner however. I started out over at the California Railroad Museum just before noon. It is located just down hill from the state capital building, in an area known as 'Old' Sacramento. I don't actually know if that area was the site of the original town, but my guess is that it was probably part of it, just based on the location there on the banks of the Sacramento and Feather Rivers. Now though, the buildings are all being used as small specialty stores as well as various styles of restaurants. Kind of a neat little area if you like shopping, but I didn't spend much time there.
  But getting back to the RR Museum; I ended up spending nearly 4 hours wandering around the exhibits, climbing on loco's and cars, reading all the placards. I could of spent more time there, except that my feet were wearing out and my stomach was starting to growl in hunger. I am still of the opinion that not only is this the best RR Museum that I have ever spent time in, but it is also one of the best Museums over all that I have ever visited. Anyone who gets a chance should go and visit.
   I took lots of pictures and hope to have some of them ready to post within a day or two. In this case there are lots of pictures of these stunning full sized locomotives and cars, all of them beautifully redone to show them off as they would of been while still working.... but much, much cleaner. I will wait and let the photos tell the story later on though.
    Once done with the museum it was off to find some much needed lunch. What I found was a Chipoltle restaurant over in a strip mall. It may not be real Mexican food, but it was close enough for me at that moment. I sat and read my book and took my time eating a nice chicken bowl.
    Finishing up there I walked over to the Home Depot next door and picked up a new hose fitting to replace the male end on the hose I use for the trailer. It has been leaking for the last couple of months no matter what fix I tried to do. In other words... duct tape wasn't going to fix it good enough. I'll get the new fitting installed at some point in the future when I actually have a little bit of time to actually do the work.
    Dinner last night was roasted chicken and root veggies and salad. Willie and Grays daughter, son in law and grand daughter also made it over for the meal, so it was another fun filled family affair. The food was excellent and there was more wine to consume with it of course. It's fun to spend time with them and get a chance to talk.
    I was up and on the road to San Fransisco by 11:00 this morning. I was going into the city to have a late lunch with my niece/god daughter, Erin, and possibly a couple of her friends. I drove in to the Pleasant Hill BART station and grabbed a train into the city from there. I use to take the train from that station nearly every day when I lived out here between 1988 and 92. The trains seem to be pretty much the same, but I certainly didn't recognize much of the area around the station. Where there once was a large open parking lot is now a series of 4-6 story condo's, and the rest of the parking lot is now a 6 story parking garage with thousands of spaces. I had no problem finding a place to park at least, and for good measure, parking is free on the weekends.
    The train into town only took 30-40 minutes, and it was fun to look out the window as it passed familier and not so familier places along the way. Erin had told me to meet her at the Union Station when I got there, so I figured she meant the one that was named Civic Center/U.N. Plaza since there was nothing that had a name with Union in it. Turns out that what she meant was to meet her at the station closest to Union Park, a nice inner city park about 8 blocks off the train route. So we didn't meet up perfectly, but the stations are only about 4 blocks apart, so it was easy enough for them to walk down and meet me. I got there a little early anyway so I spent the extra time wandering around the farmers market that sets up there in the U.N. Plaza park every Wednesday and Sunday afternoon. So much beautiful produce and fruit, fresh eggs and fish, flowers, honey, dates and nuts of all kinds. What surprised me was that a lot of it was  priced pretty low I thought. If there had been some way to keep it, and then use it, I would of been buying a whole bunch of stuff today.... starting off with a couple veggies and fruit that I hadn't even seen before.
   I finally got a text from Erin and we worked out so that they would walk up to where I was instead of trying to meet somewhere in the middle. When I say they, that means that not only Erin came, but also her collage roommate Lily and another good friend of theirs Alyssa. Once we connected up we all wandered back down towards the Powell Street station and turned into the city and walked up the hill to O'Farrel street. They all knew of a little hole-in-the-wall Thai place near the corner there, and we all went in to have some dinner. I was starved by that time having had nothing since breakfast so it sounded like a great idea to me.
    We had a fun time sitting there for better than an hour chowing down and talking. The food was good but mostly I just sat there and let the conversation from 3 young, active and excited women just wash over me. They were polite enough to actually let me join into their conversation any time I felt like it, but it was just a real kick to sit back and listen to their excited chatter. It makes me think there is still hope for this planet after all.
    It was a nice drive back to the trailer afterwards. Tomorrow I will be pulling up stakes once again and heading on down the highway. Had thought about stopping somewhere down south and driving in to see some more family along the way, but I am starting to feel a bit pressed for time now, and I really just want to be on the road and heading east. There will be a few stops along the way of course, but I am hoping to be into Florida again by late next week, or early in the week after. Right now though it's time to go drink some tea and read a few chapters in my book.


brk*