Travelogue: California Day 5

Sunday, June 9, 2019

I awoke before any of the crew (and never did shift to Pacific Standard Time) and enjoyed greatly opening the door to the crisp back yard--every evening cooled by Delta breezes--and reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" while drinking coffee in silence.

My paperback of this classic is so well-loved that it has fallen apart.

We attended the 8:00 Mass at St. Stephen's, grabbed a doughnut each, and departed to drive around for 45 minutes and let David nap.

Renovated parish hall has the Mass streaming live

At 10:00, we met Dad and Lynn at Sutter's Fort.

I drove for 10 minutes looking for parking place, found a metered spot, tried to pay, but discovered that the meter accepted no cash or credit card. I had to download the app to my phone, save the new password to LastPass, and enter my credit card information. Finally, the app informed me that this slot was free parking on Sundays and all I would pay was a 35-cent charge for using the app! Silly of me!

We took a self-guided tour and then caught a fantastic presentation by a living history docent.

As to be expected, there were numerous homeless people sleeping in the lovely and historic grassy surroundings around the fort.

During the movie we watched, we learned about the devastating Sacramento flood of 1862, just one of a series of several over ten years. The flood waters covered 250-300 miles long and 20 miles wide! Sacramento remained underwater for 3 months--can you imagine the disease, destruction, and death? Instead of leaving, Sacramentens invented a levee system, rerouted Sacramento river, and raised the streets downtown by 12 feet (one can take tours of the silent underground even today).

We returned to Lynn's home for lunch in the garden, playing with bubbles, a tournament of bocce ball, and detecting in the game of Clue.

Back at the rental house, we were greeted by a "neighbor," Babycakes the extremely friendly feline who wanted nothing more but to enter our house (which we did not allow!), and was secondarily satisfied by crawling up onto Mary's shoulder.

" I was thrilled to have this adorable kitty actually walk up to me and climb into my arms, staying there until we had to leave!" --Mary (10)

Our evening was spent backing suitcases and straightening the house.