Since Beatitude is out of the water undergoing repairs and upgrades, Cindy and I decided to head to California for a few days to visit our son, Jeremy, and his wife, Fran, who live in Berkeley. Today, we are returning from our five-day trip to the San Francisco Bay Area. We enjoyed hanging out, eating at some great restaurants, visiting the De Young Museum where we viewed a wonderful J.M.W. Turner exhibition, attending church, and doing some wine tasting in Napa. What follows are a few photos from our visit to beautiful California.

With the owners of Clove and Hoof, a wonderful restaurant in Oakland. John, the owner, is the son of Marcie, one of our cruising friends,

Holy Assumption Monastery, Calistoga, California. We attended the liturgy for the feast day of the Assumption of Mary (a.k.a. The Formation) at the monastery called by that name. Very cool.

The liturgy underway. Bishop to the left (partially covered by my finger while trying to be discreet in picture taking). Cindy and I thought the deacon was Russell Crowe.

Cindy in front of the Costello dí Amoroso Winery, an authentically built Tuscan Castle near Calistoga
Tomorrow morning, Beatitude is scheduled to splash into the water once again. If all goes well, we will leave the marina on Tuesday. We’ll see…
Beautiful photos of San Francisco area. Loved the grapes and the artists of the de Young museum. I saw an exhibit of Chahulli (I know that’s not the correct spelling)……the glass artist there a few years ago. Cindy….I loved your paintings of all the pets of your friends. Makes me wish I had a pet for you to paint !!!..not really ! I’ve been at my Sons home for most of the summer( northern PA.). I’m building a cabin on their property. The outside is done, as is the elec. & plumbing. Just picked out a slab of lumber for the counter top(very rough ! I’m going back to Florida this Friday. They will work on the inside this Winter when things get slow for the contractor. I plan on staying up here for some of the summers, starting next year. Keep on Sailing and Posting !!! !
Your cabin sounds lovely! Where in PA?