UKIAH AND THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!

Ukiah is a small town about 60 miles north of Santa Rosa and the destination for Monday’s drive. We pulled into the Elks Lodge, which had a number of sites available. This is Fran’s hometown, where she was born and raised, with a brief move to Fort Bragg on the Pacific Coast. With Fran’s birthday coming on Wednesday, July 14th, (Bastille Day) we were all preparing for her first birthday at home in over 40 years with a gathering of friends and relatives. That evening we were treated to dinner with Fran’s mom, Anna, and her husband John Paju, at their house on a hill with a magnificent view overlooking the city.


Tuesday we were able to have Brett and Diane Wolfe spend a couple of nights at the Elks campground as our guests and then we were all off to the Ruen Tong Thai Restaurant for an outstanding Thai dinner. Does that sound unusual for a small town like Ukiah?

Wednesday was the Big Birthday; and we all gathered at John and Anna’s house for lunch, topping it off with an ice cream cake emblazoned with “Happy Birthday Fran” in her favorite color; purple, and chatting around the pool while Rick and Lynda’s children cavorted in the water. Lynda’s dad Ken came up, too, and he, John and George had a good time, as they talked about the good ol’ days and solved the problems of the world. Gary and Gordon both called, as did Fran’s brother Fred from Maui, HI. We also called Kathy in Tucson, as both she and Fran share a birthday. The weather was generally getting warmer and was supposed to be in the high 90’s so the pool was a nice place to visit, chat and generally hang out.

Roseann and Gary sent a floral bouquet from Ohio that arrived just in time and the little nephews Andrew and Cameron brought up a beautiful purple orchid plant wrapped in purple tissue. Is there a theme here? We capped off the day with a delicious grilled steak and lamb chop dinner with all the fixins’, a tiny slice of leftover ice cream cake, and then it was time for goodbyes as Fran’s brother and his family departed back to Santa Rosa and we headed back to the motorhome.


Thursday we had mostly to ourselves with a very nice lunch at “Oco Time” Japanese Restaurant. This restaurant seems to be operated by leftover “hippies” from the 60’s which in a way describes much of Ukiah; former home of Jim Jones (remember him?) and Steven Staynor, the poor lad who spent 7 years of his youth here as a prisoner of a kidnapper before being rescued and finally came to a tragic end a few years later. Later we were off to (guess what) a dinner at the Ruen Tong Thai Restaurant again with Anna and John but with Jim Moriasu of Maui, HI, an old friend of the family.


Friday we are off to Ferndale, CA, where we will again meet up with the Wolfes.


So that is all for this leg of the journey, does it sound like eating is all we do?