We celebrated the end of a wonderful year in 2017 and welcomed the new year quietly at home. Katya and Matthew headed back to their universities in early January, and Peter's brother Rob visited us for a few days in the middle of the month. While he was here, we visited the California Automobile Museum and Old Sac.
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| Peter and Rob in Old Sac |
Just after his departure, we began remodeling the kitchen, putting in a new sink, new lighting and granite counter tops. Peter redesigned the corner where the sink is and designed and did all the electrical and lighting work himself. (Of course, it is attactive and flawless.) We extended the island so that we could sit at one end of it, and now this is one of my favorite spots for using my computer.
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| Kitchen remodel in progress |
All the work was not complete when we left on Valentine's Day for St. Lucia in the southern Caribbean to look at a yacht that we were quite interested in buying. Now, we are the proud owners! While meeting the previous owners, having the boat surveyed and working out the details of purchase, we found time to visit various parts of the island. On the north side of Rodney Bay, where we stayed most of the two weeks, we explored the Pigeon Island National Trust property, which has lovely beaches, a nice restaurant (with great live music one evening), hiking trails and the remains of a British fort.
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| Peter and Sherri at Fort Rodney on the top of Pigeon Island |
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| Live folk music at the Jambe de Bois restaurant on Pigeon Island |
We also visited and took tours of rain forests, where we observed beautiful flora and birds. We went to Marigot Bay, watched kitesurfing on the Atlantic coast, explored backroads and coastal villages, and spent a few quiet days in Soufriere on the southwest side of the island, with views of the Pitons from our oceanside suite. In that area, we visited Diamond Falls Botanical Gardens and the sulpher springs, wandered around the small town, and took a guided hike on the Tet Paul Nature Trail. On our last morning in Soufriere, the owner of the bed and breakfast inn took us and a family of four who were also guests to his plantation home, Ruby Estate, for a traditional breakfast, which included chocolate tea. After breakfast, a staff member took us on a walk around the plantation, explaining the vegetation to us and showing us the old sugar mill.
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| Kitesurfer along the northeastern coast of St. Lucia |
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| Female Antilles Bullfinch at Diamond Falls |
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| Common Yellowthroat at Diamond Falls |
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| Soufriere waterfront |
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| Sulpher Springs |
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| Restored three-room cottage on the Tet Paul Nature Trail |
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| Gros Piton and Petit Piton from the trail |
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| Dining room at Ruby Estate |
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| Sugar mill ruins at Ruby Estate |
We were in St. Lucia for Independence Day, and throughout the island there were banners and bunting in the national colors of blue, yellow, black and white. The big event of the day is a motorcycle ride from the north to the south. People come from other islands to participate, and virtually everyone comes out to watch and party. We were heading north on the winding coastal road as the motorcyclists were heading south. Sometimes, we had to stop to wait, but we just talked with the locals and joined in the festive spirit. No one was hurrying, not even the riders. They stopped and chatted all along the way. That night at our hotel in Rodney Bay, there was live music and a a special dinner in the large courtyard for all the guests.
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| St. Lucia national colors |
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| Motorcycle riders and locals stopping to chat along the road |
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| Just before sunset at Reduit Beach by Rodney Bay |
Matthew came home for spring break in early March and helped to celebrate Peter's birthday. Peter and the contractors finished up the remodeling of the kitchen.
On March 28, we flew back to St. Lucia to claim our new boat,
Mantra of Glasgow. After just two days of settling on board, without any shakedown sails, we set off one fine morning from Rodney Bay, heading toward Martinique. Conditions seemed good as we put up the sails and turned north, so we decided to just blow past Martinique and go as far north as we could.
Mantra did just fine, and so did Peter, but as soon as we encountered confused waves after passing the northern point of St. Lucia, I did not fare so well. Despite my seasickness, we kept going and a day and a half later (It seemed much longer to me!) anchored on the lee shore of Culebra in the Spanish Virgin Islands as the sun set in a brilliant array of colors. From there it was only a short hop to the mainland of Puerto Rico, where we docked the boat at Marina del Rey in Fajardo.
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| Sunset at Culebra |
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| Peter on the foredeck as we sail to Fajardo |
Leaving
Mantra in good hands, we flew back to Sacramento on April 5, and on April 6, I drove to San Francisco and picked up my dad, my sister Beth Ann and my niece Rachael the next morning. Beth Ann and Rachael stayed for a week, and we packed in as much as we could in that time. We headed south to the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose first and then spent two nights in San Francisco, where we visited Yuerba Buena Park, Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf, the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, the ruins of Sutro Baths, and--Mom's favorite SF place--the Buena Vista Cafe for Irish coffee. Peter joined us in San Francisco part of the time, and he attended an Oxford event also.
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| Winchester Mystery House |
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| Rachael, Sherri, Dad and Beth Ann and sea lion at Pier 39 |
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| Japanese Tea Garden |
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| Beth Ann at Sutro Baths |
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| Sherri, Dad, Beth Ann, Peter and Rachael at the Buena Vista |
Next, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge (stopping for photos on the Marin side) and drove to Mendocino County, where we visited the Pygmy Forest, the historic town of Mendocino, the gorgeous Mendocino Botanical Gardens (where the rhododendrons were in full bloom), Glass Beach in Fort Bragg and the Cabrillo Point Lighthouse. On the drive to Sacramento, we stopped at the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. The next day we drove up to Lake Tahoe, stopping at Donner Memorial State Park on the north shore and a casino on the south shore before returning by way of Placerville, also known as Hangtown because of its reputation for justice during the Gold Rush. The following day it was more of the Gold Country; we visited Coloma on the South Fork of the American River, where gold was first discovered in California and where Beth Ann and Rachael waded in the cold water to pan for gold; Angel's Camp, the setting for Mark Twain's "Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County"; and Placerville again to visit the Thomas Kinkaid Gallery. The last day of Beth Ann and Rachael's vacation, we went to the Sacramento Zoo, Sutter's Fort and Rick's Dessert Diner where we had pie and cake for lunch.
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| Lobby of the Mendocino Hotel, where we had lunch |
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| Rachael at the Mendocino Botanical Gardens |
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| Rachael and Beth Ann finding sea glass on Glass Beach |
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| Rachael, Beth Ann, Charlie Brown and Dad |
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| Placerville |
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| Beth Ann and Rachael panning for gold |
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| Dad feeding a giraffe at the Sacramento Zoo |
Dad stayed here with us for another three weeks, enjoying the lovely spring weather and relaxing after a week of non-stop activity. One day my friend Paula came to visit and the three of us had a nice time at the Crocker Art Museum and in Old Sac. He and I flew to Ohio the first weekend in May, where we celebrated some of my nieces and nephews birthdays and went to the preception (before the wedding reception) for my niece Kirsten and her fiancé Matt, who were married later in the summer. Then I flew to Washington, D.C. to spend a few days with my friend Lori and her family before heading home. We visited the National Arboretum, where the azaleas where in bloom, and watched her son Michael compete with his high school's crew on the Anacostia River. On my own, I visited the Museum of African American History, a huge place with emotionally moving exhibits where I spent hours and hours and still didn't see everything. I also went to the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and the Portrait Gallery, saw a couple of exhibits at the Air and Space Museum, stopped in the Museum of the American Indian (where I always enjoy lunch), was amazed by the Burning Man installations at the Renwick Gallery, viewed a couple of shows at the National Gallery, toured the gardens and the museum (containing fabulous Byzantine and Pre-Columbian art) at Dunbarton Oaks and spent time at the Smithsonian's Postal Museum while waiting for my train to leave beautiful Union Station for BWI on May 10. Of course, I never miss the performances on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center each evening of my stay.
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| Azaleas in the National Arboretum |
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| Original set from the final scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey in the Air and Space Museum |
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| Burning Man installation at the Renwick Gallery |
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| Dunbarton Oaks garden |
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| Union Station |
Katya and Matthew arrived home in early May, and Peter and I abandoned them on May 17 to return to Puerto Rico. On May 21, after Peter had done some work on the boat, we departed from Fajardo for a nearby island, Isla Los Palominos, where we anchored for the night. Stopping briefly in Marsh Harbour in the Abaco Islands of the Bahamas, we made our way north along the Eastern Seaboard to the Chesapeake Bay, arriving in Baltimore on June 6. We had escaped the hurricane zone for the 2018 season! After a couple of days, we jumped on a plane again and returned to Gold River. (For more details of all our sailing adventures since May, please go to: https://thebrownsmantra.blogspot.com.)
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| Katya, Peter and Matthew celebrating Father's Day in the back yard |
Our return home was necessitated by Peter's need to train for the Eppie's Great Race. His old team from Intel had resurrected itself for the last year of this epic event. He spent the next six weeks training in his kayak, and on July 20, with no family members to watch, he and his team finished fourth in their division (60+ team). Katya and I had already flown to Pittsburgh to get my dad and head to Ocean City for the annual beach vacation. Matthew had left a couple of weeks before for the UK, where he spent a week visiting family and having fun in London before heading north to Glasgow, where he took a four-week biology course at the university.
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| Peter finishing a training race |
Peter took a red-eye flight to Baltimore, arriving on July 21, the day of Kirsten and Matt's beach wedding. The day before had been stormy and the weather forecast was ominous, but the weather couldn't have been better for their late afternoon ceremony. The rest of the week-long vacation was filled with relaxing on the beach, playing pinochle and games, enjoying the six little ones (my great-nieces and nephews) cavorting in the sand and the water, swimming in the ocean, playing putt-putt golf, and eating way too much food. We were fortunate to have my friend Lori, her two teenage children and two of their friends join us at the beach again this year.
We stopped briefly in Baltimore on the way back to West Virginia so that Peter and I could show Dad and Katya
Mantra. Matthew returned from Scotland and left less than two days later for the fall semester at Arizona State in Mesa. A week later, Katya flew to Honolulu for her final semester of undergraduate work.
Peter and I had the whole month of August to relax at home--and have work done on the swimming pool! With new surfaces and equipment, it was ready for swimming just a few days before we left again!
The two of us flew to Baltimore on Aug. 29 and spent three months on
Mantra. From Baltimore, we went to Cape May, New Jersey; New York City; Long Island Sound; Mystic, Connecticut; Block Island and Newport, Rhode Island; Buzzard's Bay; and Plymouth and Boston, Massachusetts. No longer able to tolerate the cold, we went south, back to Newport, Long Island Sound, New York and Baltimore and then further south to Tangier Island, Virginia; Cape Lookout National Seashore, North Carolina; St. Augustine and Lake Worth Lagoon, Florida; and Lucaya in the Bahamas. If you are not tired of reading and looking at photos--and if you have not already read the boat's blog--you can get all the details of our autumn adventures on our
Mantra blog. One of the very special things about cruising was that we were able to make new friends and get together with old friends along the way.
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| New York Harbor |
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| Great Salt Pond, Block Island |
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| Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston |
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| Trinity Church in Newport, Rhode Island |
On Tuesday, Nov. 27, we returned to Gold River just in time to decorate for Christmas and shop, shop, shop for presents! The festivities are in full swing, and we have already attended many parties, with more to come. I have enjoyed spending time with my friends again, sharing meals and playing tennis. Also, I jumped right back into tutoring. I missed my students! Peter is busy with so many things at home, as usual, but finds time to play golf and paddle with his buddies. Matthew arrived home on Dec. 8, and Katya will be saying farewell to Hawai'i as she finishes her undergraduate degree in Russian and flies home on Dec. 15, just in time for our much-anticipated Christmas party on Dec. 16.
After that, all the shopping will be done, and the four of us can spend a few days relaxing together at home (and also seeing a play and going to a Christmas concert during the week), before we find ourselves at the airport once again, on Dec. 22, when we fly to Ohio to spend Christmas with most of my family at my sister Beth Ann's home. We will be back home in California to celebrate the end of a wonderful year and welcome what we hope will be another one of many blessings and adventures.
We hope that you have enjoyed the past year and wish you well in 2019!
With love,
Sherri, Peter, Katya and Matthew
11913 Sailor Creek Court, Gold River, CA 95670 USA
sherribro3@pacbell.net and peterbro3@pacbell.net
916-989-5184 (home); 916-205-5184 (Sherri); 916-207-5184 (Peter)
