The scenic route

Since we got our plane tickets with frequent flier miles, our options were limited and a little strange - no problem getting round trip tickets from LA to Johannesburg via Doha, Qatar, on Qatar Airlines, but we couldn’t get the connection to and from either Portland or Eugene.  What we could get was a cheap car rental from Corvallis to LAX, so we began our vacation with a West Coast road trip.  

First stop was Napa, where we met our friends Anne-Louise and Mike Bennett from Reno and enjoyed Napa Valley champagne tasting (Mumms) and catching up.  We also visited historical sites in the Sonoma, including the Petaluma Adobe -


And the Sonoma mission (what remains) -


The old military barracks -


And a few other buildings around the town square.

Our journey also took us to San Luis Obispo, and then to Calabasas for a great visit with my cousin Tom and his wife Reeny and son Jeff.  From there we headed for the airport, dropped off the rental car, and boarded the plane for a long flight (17 hours to Doha, then 9 to Johannesburg) - but a boatload of miles got us very spacious seats - 








And we’re off!

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