Crossing Nebraska, the flocks of birds overhead were amazing. It must be a major migration route. These are snow geese (I think).

One of the Union Pacific "Big Boys" that used to rule the rails, now on display in a Cheyenne park. That tiny little person is Fred.

We spent a good bit of time at the Union Pacific Railroad Museum at the old UP depot in Cheyenne Wyoming. Great little museum; beautiful old frontier town.

Fred was delighted to see streetcars in Salt Lake City. We managed to leave the city without riding on one. A rare event.

The Mormon Temple. Not quite as impressive as "our" Temple in DC, but considering what they had to work with at the time it was built, pretty amazing. It took 40 years to build.

Our tour around Temple Square was conducted by these two young women, one from Germany and one from Alabama. They did quite a bit of proselitizing.

After a tour of Temple Square, we went to an organ concert at the Convention Center--the Tabernacle was closed to be "earthquake proofed." The center holds 21,000 people, although there were only about 25 there for the half-hour concert.

Salt Lake City was a fascinating place. Here is the reflection of the Latter Day Saints headquarters.

We visited the Bonneville Salt Flats. Unfortunately, during the winter months, they are flooded, so we came to the end of the road. Good thing we weren't trying to break the MINI land speed record at the time, as there is no warning that the road disappears into a lake!

At the historic gold site, we found a quilt show! Antique quilts The quilt in the background used a banner supporting Grant for the backing--that's what is visible.

The site of Sutter's Mill

At Sutter's Mill, where Marshall discovered gold, Fred tried his hand at digging for gold. No luck, unfortunately.

Downtown Moke Hill.

After Monterey, we went to gold rush country. In the town of Angel Camp, we stayed at the haunted Hotel Leger. We had a lovely dinner there out on the balcony. The only ghost we encountered was a very polite one who opened the bathrood door for me.

We drove up a very steep hill called Jackass Hill to see the cabin where Mark Twain wrote the Jumping Frog of Caleveras County. The cabin has been reconstructed, although the chimney is original.

To our surprise, there was actually a jackass at the top of Jackass Hill!

We really enjoyed the great weather we had in Monterey!

Since it was Monterrey, we did have some spells of fog, but this year it didn't last long.

The weather in Monterey was great! The surf was higher than normal and the surfers were out in force.

From LeGrand, CA we went on to the rough life in Monterey. I took a class for a week and Fred found something to do.

Ron was nice enough to wash the MINI for us.

This great blue heron thought the fish pond was stocked just for him.

It's fun to visit the Dinsmores as they have quite a menagerie of wild and domestic critters hanging around. These guinea fowl, domestic, like to pick the bugs off the bumpers of the cars that arrive.

After we got down the mountain to the San Joaquin Valley, we were on our way to stay with Fred's cousin Ron when there was a head on collision in front of us at a stop sign. We stayed around to give our account before going to Ron and Patt's. Whew!

Sequioa National Park Ski Lodge. This banjo player was entertaining a youth group while we ate lunch. Great fun!

MINI at Sequioa National Park. Note the level of the plowed snow bank.

Sequioa National Park Visitor Center. Quite a change from Death Valley.

The General Sherman Tree at Sequioa National Park.

After Death Valley, we went to Sequioa National Park. It was quite a change, as you can see. This was at about 7000 ft.

We had dinner at the Furnace Creek Inn. Too expensive to stay there, but dinner is great. It is located in a palm oasis and is a wondeful place to watch the sunset.

As in the Anza Borrego Desert, the wildflowers were everywhere due the large amount of rain this year. Several roads in the park were closed, but the wildflower provided plenty of scenery.

Fred working on his tan in front of one of the wagons used to haul borax by those 20 mule teams. They were actually 1 mule and 19 horse teams, but 20 mule teams made better TV.

Fred and I walked about a mile and a half from the Visitor Center to the site of the old Harmony Borax works of 1881-1887. Borax was called the white gold of the desert. The famous 20 mule teams hauled borax to the railroad 186 miles away.

Palm trees and green grass in the desert; snow on the mountains. It's Death Valley.

Sunset as we were driving up and down the highway searching for a way into Death Valley. The main road was closed due to flood damage.

On the 28th we left San Diego for Death Valley. The road we were going to take into the National Park was closed, but we didn't see the detour sign and went 26 miles past the detour before we found out. We stopped at Shoshone for dinner at the Cafe Crowbar before heading into the park. Shoshone was founded in 1920s by a couple of colorful characters.

Belmont Park, Mission Beach, San Diego. The roller coaster "the Giant Dip" was built in 1925. We could hear the screams from the riders in the condo we rented last year (being torn down this year)

Red Sail Restaurant. Shelter Island, San Diego. We took full advantage of the absolutely beautiful morning and had breakfast outside. Peg needed to soak up all the sun she could before heading home to DC's 4-7 inches of snow.

Shelter Island. Blowing bubbles. Memorial.

Shelter Island pier, San Diego. These are not ornaments on the roof of the pier--they flew away later. You can also see them in the next picture, behind Peg.

Shelter Island, San Diego. The sun came out for the last morning of Peg's visit. We took full advantage before she headed home for the DC snow.

View from the Presidio, San Diego, CA--the site of the original fort establishing San Diego. The view up Mission Valley shows the result of San Diego's record rainfall. That's a baseball diamond in the foreground. Or it was.

Visitor Center, Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Hey! Is that Mickey Mouse?

Visitor Center, Anza Borrego Desert State Park. It rained and rained Monday morning. We opted for two talks at the visitor center--one on Ravens and one on the desert railway--the Corrizo Gorge railroad that runs through the desert.

Anza Borrego State Park. The wildflower pics that follow were taken on Sunday. That evening it began to rain. And rain. And rain. Monday, everything was pretty much saturated. But after the rain...

Anza Borrego State Park. Pictures do not give the sense of wonderment one feels when there. Butterflies, birds, rabbits (other tourists).

Anza Borrego Desert State Park. We were literally wading through wildflowers. Incredible.

Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Haven't identified this one yet.

Anza Borrego State Park. Sunflower with desert verbena in the background.

Anza Borrego State Desert Park. The rangers told us, that because of the rain, this was going to be the best year in a decade for flowers. We believed him.