Our first stop of the day was to visit the nearby Buchanan Hollow Nut Company which we had been to several times before. It's a great little company in the middle of all the almond/pistachio/walnut groves in that section of California. Sadly, we learned that the matriarch whom we had met before had passed away three weeks ago. Charlene was a fun lady and had told us much about the nut farm (no pun intended). She was the one who years ago explained that there was one male tree for every ten female trees. I had made the comment how lucky that tree was and both Charlene and Vi said I couldn't handle it (there's just no respect any more :-). We had a nice conversation with the Renee who explained that she had known the family for many years. Nice talking with her about the farm and the family. Buchanan Farms is hung up in an estate trust right now, but the family seems not to be in an acrimonius fight.
Heading further south, we stopped in Chowchilla, CA to check out Pheasant Run Golf Course. Nice course in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley. Unfortunately, it was very crowded because of the weather (terrific), so we decided to forego the pleasure and check out another golf course in Hollister (more on that later). Driving west from Chowchilla, it was great seeing all the fields in various stages of cultivation. The only field that a sign explaining the crop was one for cilantro - who knew they had huge fields of that spice?
Traveled across I-5 and over Pacheco Pass through the Coastal Mountains. San Luis Reservoir is in those mountains (actually just glorified hills) and because of the heavy rains the area has experienced this year, the reservoir was almost full. There was no big ring around the shoreline as there had been in years past. Bodes well for the water shortage in California - as does the snow pack in the Sierra Nevada.
In Hollister, we took a short detour off the highway to find San Juan Oaks Golf Course. After a long drive up the entrance road, we arrived at a beautiful clubhouse. After talking with the people at the desk, we decided to take the time to play. Loaded up the cart and started on #10. It was only then that we found a note on the cart that almost half the holes had cart restrictions. Didn't think much of that until we encountered some of the hilliest terrain and widest fairways we had played in a long time.
Skipped some holes because of the difficulty, but still enjoyed playing the course. Left to head over to Monterey to meet up with Paul at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. Although we have stayed here before, the rooms have been renovated and I'm sure we will enjoy the stay. Paul met us and helped with the luggage and we had a good time talking before dinner Sandy was due in later that evening, so we decided to go to Gusto's for dinner. Good thing Paul made reservations as it was very crowded. Good meal, but when we were almost finished, Paul got a phone call from Sandy that her plane had landed early. Totally unexpected because he had been on the same flight the day before and it was an hour late! Paid the bill and hurried over to the airport - thankfully it wasn't that far.
Unfortunately, Sandy's luggage had been almost destroyed in transit so she was tied up with United getting that squared away. After that was completed we came back to the NPS for some conversation and wine. Got the news that Duke had won, but UNR had lost.
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