We are back at the Schulers in San Jose after a very fun time at the reunion in San Francisco. We stayed at the Marine Memorial Hotel on Sutter Street which put us within walking distance of most attractions such as Market Street, China Town and lots of good restaurants. Our reunion coordinator did a great job with everything.

We spent lots of time reminiscing with friends we had not seen in almost 40 years - Joe and Marilyn Gareffa, Winnie and Gary Larson, Ken and Ruth Larsen, and Dick and Ramona Lynch. Actually there were about 40 couples in all, and almost all were in the squadron at some time while Ken was there. The reunion reinforced my ongoing belief about the military being family and nothing changes that no matter the years. We discovered that at least a half dozen folks live in the greater Seattle area so we are looking at our own mini-reunion.

There was a wine tasting tour on Tuesday that took us to two wineries in the Napa Valley. The first was Robert Mondavi, but we were given a more exclusive tour of their latest facility that produces some of their more handcrafted upscale wines. And the second was in Carneros; a sparkling wine facility.

Gary and Winnie returned us to San Jose yesterday, but not before we attempted to visit Allied Arts in Palo Alto (closed for remodeling) and Sunset Magazine in Menlo Park (only the gardens available for touring). But the highlight was to visit the apartment complex (Moffett Manor) in Mt. View which is where the Larsons and we lived while with VP46 at Moffett Field. It looks pretty much the same, except there are now grass and shrubs where the swimming pool used to be.

Moffett Field is now a NASA facility, although there is still an exchange and commissary and a Navy Lodge. Hanger One has been painted white, but many of the buildings are in need of paint and repair. A bit sad to see it like that.

We are now waiting for Bev to arrive home from work to proceed with a day of play - whatever that may be. We will probably leave for home on Sunday with a drive toward Bodega Bay to check out RV sites, then on to Brookings-Harbor, Oregon just because we like it, and then head up the Oregon coast. Then we'll head northeast through Oregon wine country and home.

Ciao