Berkeley, California

The fabulous Pacific Ocean on our way from the Avenue of the Giants to the Bay Area.

Eating at Crepevine in Berkeley. Everyone got too hungry. We made eggs at midnight the night before due to poor planning of food that day.

A fun building near our friend's house.

Colorful Telegraph Avenue.

A bunch of street vendors on Telegraph Avenue.

We had a great time visiting the Bay Area. A good friend of mine who we would have normally stayed with, had family visiting her and some other things going on that made it complicated for us to stay with her. Thanks to her amazing resourcefulness, and the incredible kindness of her neighbor, we had a whole house to ourselves, right next door to her! These amazing friends of hers, whom we had never even met, let us stay in their home. It was a real treat to spread out like that, after such continuous close quarters in a car and tent. Not only did we all have more space, there was a piano, two cats for Eli to play with and a huge trampoline as well. We have been the recipients of such beautiful generosity on this journey. I look forward to meeting these lovely people, who we have already gotten to know on some level, through living in their house.

Our friend next door is a gourmet chef, and while we were in Berkeley, she treated us to two nights of her fabulous cooking. After all the road food we had been eating (pizza, pasta, sandwiches, pancakes) having home cooked meals of professional quality gave us lots of pleasure and energy. At the dinner table Eli said, "I feel like it is Thanksgiving!" I know what he means.