It's already Wednesday. How did that happen?

We have been having so much fun that I have forgotten to sit and write a blog.

Sunday we spent the day in San Rafael with my high school girlfriend and her husband.  On Monday while Evey and Eric were both at work, we exchanged our rental car because it had no front tag and the registration was expired.  Now we have a Nissan Versa, much easier to drive than a Dodge Charger and all legal.  We also tried to get a battery for my iPhone, but it had to be ordered.  We shopped and made dinner.  A busy and productive day.  Yesterday we hung out with Evey all day, took a walk with Kiwi, watched some TV, and had a delicious dinner that Mark and Evey prepared together.

Today we are hanging out at home until after lunch.  Then we plan to drive to the art museum on the campus of Stanford University then meet up with Eric in Mountain View for dinner before going to see the new Spiderman movie.  Every day is a blast here!

More pictures from the train plus some of Laverne and some of Kiwi on a walk.

Denver is also a Union Station.  We had a two hour wait here because they had to replace the engine.  We made up that time somehow and still arrived in Emeryville exactly on time.

A Trails and Rails volunteer guide from the National Park Service boarded in Denver and spoke for the next eight hours until Grand Junction, CO.  It was very interesting.

Wonderful observation car with one of many curves where we could see the front of our train.

We followed the Fraser river for awhile and then it merged with the Colorado River.  We followed the Colorado for 237 miles.

Lunch in the dining car.

We loved watching the topography change from swamps and palm trees in Florida through farmland in the heartland to mountains in the west.

We went through 27 tunnels on Thursday.  This is a car tunnel next to the railroad one.

We passed many, many white water rafters today.

Ron was our sleeping car attendant.  

Hoodoo pillars, a geologic formation most often seen in Bryce  Canyon, Utah.  We are not in that canyon, but we are seeing them along the train ride!

On our last day we had different speakers on the train from Reno through Sacramento as we went over the Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Donner Lake

Finally in the Golden State of CA.

Safe and sound five days later in Emeryville where we rented a car and drove down to San Jose.

On Saturday Evey became the Curly Baker.

Eric took Kiwi out for a bike ride.

The Curly Baker made four pans of brownies and two chocolate chip banana breads for an Apple meeting next week.

Mother and daughter enjoying some Reisling and brownies.

Evey and Eric made dinner for everyone Saturday night.

Mark and Kiwi enjoying some bonding time.

Sunday at the restaurant in San Rafael.

Laverne and me, friends since seventh grade.

After lunch we went to see the Dominican University campus where she used to work.

Mark is trying to get the dog statue to speak.  Hm.....

We drove back to San Jose via the Golden Gate Bridge, fun and scenic but full of traffic on a Sunday afternoon.

View of San Francisco from the bridge.

Watching TV with us on the couch at night.

Mark relaxing in Evey's kitchen.

Tuesday we walked to a nearby park with Kiwi.

Back in front of Evey and Eric's beautiful home that they refer to as The Gaertner Estate.