​Daren and Tina took us up to the City for pupusas at a Salvodoran restaurant in the Mission Distict, followed by a visit to the Museum of Modern Art in the Yerba Buena neighborhood near Moscone Center. Pupusas are griddle cakes filled with cheese, beans and sometimes pork. Yum!

The Musuem was amazing with original works from Picasso, Monet, Dali, Picasso and Pollard, among others. They also had some really cool, interactive exhibits, including a light show synchronzied to a trap set played by visitors, a living outdoor plant wall and a suspended prism tunnel you can walk-through. 

We also stopped in at Restoration Hardware's amazing showroom, which was like visiting an open mansion.

Daren filled his gas tank on the way home. The price was $7.09 per gallon!

​It was raining when we packed up and hit the road, but we quickly escaped the clouds.We had a delightful drive up I-5 through the San Joaquin Valley, then through the Pacheco Valley and Gilroy, where we stopped for some cherries, strawberries and honey-cinnamon roasted almonds at a fruit stand. Yum! We arrived at the  home of Madeline's Aunt Tina (Lisa's sister) in time to see her youngest son perform at a concert at San Carlos' Home Days.

Tina's husband, Daren, besides being CEO of a 300-person company that produces a virtual reality social site, is a generous and gracious host. He made up our bedrooms and provided us with towelshile, while Tina readied the boys for their night's advenures. The younger son, Carter, was performing with the Middle School Jazz Band in a downtown park. He even had a saxophone solo!

We had a lovely dinner downtown afterwards. The kids jumped out of the car on the way home to hang with some of Logan's friends at the Park. Logan is a senior who will be matriculating to  University of Washington in the Fall. He plays a mean piano, too!

We watched Game 3 of the NBA's Western Conference Finals. Golden State pulled off an amazing comeback to go up 3-0. Then we wathched Dune - Madeline's first time, but Hank's third. Madeline is a big fan of Timothee Chalamet.

​Hank rose at 4:30 am to shower and pack for the airport. Angie rose at 5:00 to drive Hank to the airport. The dogs eagerly jumped in the truck to accompany us. They will NOT be left behind.

After a 30-minute delay on the plane at the departure gate while maintenance cleared an engine warning light, we took off for Orange. Madeline doesn't like to drive on the freeway, so Hank took an Uber to her apartment. The whole area was abloom with purple flowers on the trees. I later learned that these are called Jacaranda trees, which bloom each Spring and Fall.

​Madeline was already mostly packed, so it didn't take much for us to finish up together. We made a run to the storage locker that Mad had rented with her roommates for next year. Then we went out for dinner at a Middle Eastern restaurant. It was cool, so we sat inside. We had hard rain overnight.

​Attended a yoga class for only the second time in three weeks. It felt so good to stretch and flow and flex in Vinyasa. After a haircut and light lunch, we finished "Death on the Nile". Tracy arrived bearing baked goods and we enjoyed margaritas to prepare ourselves for a couple hours of karaoke at a private room at LaLa on Central Ave. 

The gang wasted no time filling up the queue with songs and diving right in to singing classic rock and country tunes. We had a blast singing and dancing - aided by three more rounds of drinks. Got some great photos and videos. The videos are closely guarded, however, protected by an NDA with severe penalties.  Two hours flew by. We could have easily carried on for another two hours! But we had to give up our room. Instead we ambled up Central Avenue to a sidewalk restaurant to enjoy a tasty meal while reviewing the pictures and basking in the afterglow of our revelry.

​A short 2-1/2 hour drive got us to the final stop in the first leg of our trip. Angie will lay over with the trailer and dogs in the company of a couple of her closest friends from her Navy days - Carri and Tracy. Carri is hosting us in her beautiful home there. After relaxing for a couple of nights, Hank will board a plane for LA to help Madeline pack up after final exams at Chapman and drive her Subaru station wagon to Seattle. 

We enjoyed pizza and beer with Carri and played with the dogs at the dog park. After a light dinner, we watched half of "Death on the Nile" - a slickly produced Agatha Christie tale, directed by Kenneth Branagh. Made it to the discovery of the body before turning in from exhaustion.

​Today's drive took us over two-lane country roads, past corn fields and pastures to a rural spot on the banks of the Suwanee River. We stayed at the home of retired Marine who is a superhost with Boondockers Welcome; the campsite featured full hook-ups and a private fenced yard adjacent to the hosts shop. The shop included a spacious and spotless three-quarter bath for our use. 

The dogs were able to swim in a back eddy of the river. A soft-shell turtle showed up to join the fun! Later we visited with the host and his sweetheart on their riverside floating dock below one of the few high-bank properties we saw. The river depth only days before had been too high to allow access to the dock The river is home to large (100-pound-plus) sturgeon and catfish. Boats and jet skis occassionally collide with the sturgeon, causing damage to boats and passengers. In addition to being large, the sturgeon have a very hard exoskeleton. We also learned how our hosts bait hooks with Ivory soap to catch catfish on static lines. Apparently, the poor-sighted catfish are attracted by the scent of the soap. 

​A pleasant drive eastbound on I-10 took us to a Navy base campground on a bay of Panama City Beach. Upon entering the base, we were greeted by a herd of black-tail deer.

​The dogs got to romp and play on grass and in the bay. We enjoyed a quick dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant before returning home to watch a good Christian film, "Miracles From Heaven", on our DVD player. We awoke to a beautiful sunrise. Had breakfast in town and took the dogs to  a sugary sand dog beach to play in the water before hitting the road again.

A rest day to enjoy the dog beach and catch up on our blog. After updating the blog, we were stymied by a web hosting outage, which delayed publication by several days. Enjoyed good food and drinks at Shaggy's bayside deck. The deck was dog friendly. Streak and Charlie were actually treated better than we humans. They even got served a chicken and rice platter. 
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Near our campground, at the end of the Park's peninsula, stood Fort Pickens built in 1834 - one of forts three forts that guarded the entrance to Pensacola Harbor. Fort Pickens was occupied by Union soldiers during the Civil War. There were many artillery battles between the three forts and between the forts and ships. We toured the massive complex's tunnels and ramparts while the dogs waited outside in the shade. We learned that Geronomo and many other Apaches were imprisoned at this site for many years before being transferred to Fort Sill, OK.

We enjoyed a beautiful drive across rolling hills, low plains and river deltas to arrive at Pensacola, where we camped in the National Seashore park. White, sugary sand! Turquoise Water!

We took the dogs to a beach and they wore themselves out. Charlie chased a frisbee through the surf while Streak herded a kite. They attracted a lot of attention and admiration, both at the beach, then later on the deck of the restaurant where we enjoyed a sunset meal and cocktails.

We had early cafe au lait and beignet at Cafe du Monde. Angie was fascinated by St. Peter's Cathedral and took a lot of great pictures. We strolled the Riverfront, which was quite hot in early morning direct sunlight. So we sought a shady refuge, WiFi and water for the dogs. We had a delicious Greek omelet at a sidewalk cafe and rehydrated the animals before returning to the RV Park, where we swam in the pool and worked on the blog while doing laundry.

The pool was small but at a perfect temperature to refresh ourselves. This was, by far, the best RV Resort we have stayed in. Great facilities, great location. We got a lot of steps in, walking back and forth from the French Quarter.

We had an early dinner at the rooftop restaurant at Mambos. Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, so we carried a doggie bag to the early show at Preservation Hall. What a unique experience! A five-piece band played for a crowd of 80 in a tiny unairconditioned room with bench seating and standing room. Twenty people had to stand during the 60-minute show. We heard great music and stories. The pianist was the best Hank had ever seen. All the solos were impressive.

Bourbon Street was quite a bit more crowded and the revelers were more wild. Quite a bit of Twerking going on. Many more buskers, too, offering $20 photos with large pythons, perfoming percussion performances and selling shots.

We saw a really good country band fronted by Tony Ray Thompson, a talented guitarist with a great, deep voice. They had a good fiddle player, too. The Bourbon O club had a unique jazz performance with a saxophone-playing front man who was so engaging and entertaining, he could have been a ring leader at a circus. They also featured an adorable middle-aged asian woman who occassionally danced solo on the stage, showing off flapper and ballet moves. At one point, the front man and the asian woman did some impressive West Coast Swing dancing together. Really fun. Angie loves the Pims Cup drinks they make there, too.

There was a dramatic lightning an thunderstorm last night. We got to enjoy the dramatic build-up on our walk home. We comfortable inside our trailer when the deluge hit.

Two nights on Bourbon Street was plenty for us. After a while, the smell of garbage, the commercialism and the signs of overindulgence get to be a bit much. The diversity of the people on the street was delightful and fitting with the Cajun and Creole past of this region. Today, we are off to the gulf coast of Florida. Angie is excited for the dogs to  be able to swim in the ocean for the first time on this trip.