Gillespie's Store

Pony Express
Gillespie's Store
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"Gillespie's Store" stood at this spot. This was also a Wells Fargo & Co office. E.F. Gillespie was their first agent in Vacaville.

There would only be 2 trips overland by horse to San Francisco from Sacramento in 1860. In 1861 this would be repeated another 18 times. On the first trip the pony express rider Sam Hamilton took the Yolo Plank Turnpike across the tule swampland cross Putah Creek and made his first stop for another horse at the Solano House.

His next destination was the "Halfway House" where a red lantern would hang high as a beacon at Silveyville. Then with another relay change he rode off to Vacaville and "Gillespie's Store." When he arrived here it was around 4:00 a.m. and he left within a few minutes on another fresh horse.

Back from San Francisco

We had a lazy morning finally getting organized and meeting the Larkin's in the lobby about 9:00 a.m. After some discussion, we decided to go out to Fort Point and walk back along the promenade. Unfortunately, when we got out there, it was too windy and cold to walk along the shore. We wandered through Fort Point and then drove around the Presido and through the Marina District neighborhoods.

The group stopped for lunch at Scoma's

The Larkin's are in the market for another horse. After lunch, we headed east to 580 and up into the hills above Livermore to look at a horse. The house was at the top of a hill with some gorgeous views! By the time we got back to Elk Grove, it was after 4:30 p.m.

Picasso and American Art

After his game, I dropped Jack at his cousin's and met the Larkin's. We had made plans to spend a couple of days in San Francisco. Sharon and Liz had gone to the city Friday night so that Sharon could see Marianne Williamson at a conference.

Joe, Cindy and I met Sharon at the Serrano Hotel and checked in. Afterwards, we walked to the San Francisco MOMA to see Picasso and American Art. The exhibit was designed to show how a number of American artists had directly and openly interpreted Picasso's style, appropriated his palette, or used his work as a point of departure. In addition to a number of works by Picasso, the show included works by Stuart Davis, Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, John Graham, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock, David Smith, and Max Weber. I was amazed how some of these artists had so blatantly copied Pisacco. Afterwards, we explored some of the rest of the Museum.

Wandering back to the hotel, we cleaned up for dinner. We made a stop at Cityscape on the 46th floor of the Hilton to enjoy views of the city. From there, we went to dinner at Firenze by Night. We finished the night with stops at the crowded Redwood Room in the Clift Hotel and at Ponzu in the Serrano Hotel.

Moblog San Francisco

2007 Baseball Game #7

Jack played in his seventh baseball game of the 2007 season against the Cardinals. Jack played three innings at shortstop. He made a number of nice plays in the field.

At the plate, he was 0 for 2. Jack struck out the first time at-bat. In his second at-bat, he hit the ball sharply on the ground to the left side, but was out at a very close play at first to end the game.

His team lost 18 to 6. Their record is now 2 wins and 5 losses. Jack is getting more than a little frustrated with losing.

Moblog Baseball Game #7

2007 Indoor Soccer Game 9

Jack played in his ninth soccer game of the 2007 winter indoor season. This was the championship game for second indoor season. Before the game, they had all of the kids line up and they introduced all of the players by name. The Cobras played the only team that has beat them in the last four months; they lost to this team two months ago for the championship of the first indoor season.

Jack played halfback for more than 10 minutes of the first half and then played goalie for about 15 minutes of second half.

The other team scored within the first minute of the game, but Jack's team battled back to lead by the score of 2 to 1 at half-time. His team ended up winning the game by a score of 5 to 3.

After the game was over, all of the boys keep asking where their t-shirts were. They thought that they would get a t-shirt for winning the league like they got for winning an indoor tournament at Christmas!

April 2007 Pack Meeting

While I went to an evening meeting, Sharon and Jack went to the April meeting of his Cub Scout Pack.

3rd Grade: Art Lesson F

Sharon spent the afternoon as the art docent for Jack's class. The lesson examined how artists use fantasy as a form of abstract art. They talked about the lives and art of Paul Klee and Marc Chagall. The lesson used three paintings as examples of different styles: Head of Man by Paul Klee; and Feathers in Bloom and I and the Village by Marc Chagall.




For their art project, the kids made their own fantasy picture out of a collage of different materials.

2007 Baseball Game #6

Jack played in his sixth baseball game of the 2007 season against the Cardinals. He played shortstop for two innings, first base for one inning and pitched one inning. He made a nice play at first; he fielded the ball far to his right and raced the runner to first base. Jack had a rough inning pitching. He had trouble getting the ball over the plate.

At the plate, Jack was 2 for 2. He drove one through the left side in his first at bat. With two strikes in his second at bat, he fouled off four pitches before hitting an infield single. Jack scored twice.

His team lost by a score of 11 to 9. Their record is 2 wins and 4 losses. Jack is not happy about losing.

AR50 Pace by Mile

click on the chart for a larger, more readable copy!

Weblog's 4th Birthday

I started this weblog four years ago with this post about evaluating colleges and kindergardens. Drew will be graduating from UCI in June!

2007 American River 50 Pictures

I have put together a photo album of a few pictures from the run!

2007 American River 50

Song for 1995

Sharon and I started dating in early 1995. When Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album was released in June of 1995, Sharon identified with the emotional tone of the album. She found in the lyrics of You Oughta Know an echo of her own feelings about a past relationship. Sharon played the album a lot...

The song for 1995 is You Oughta Know.

2007 Baseball Game #5

Jack played in his fifth baseball game of the 2007 season against the White Sox. He played shortstop for three innings and pitched two innings. At the plate, he was 1 for 3. He struck out in his first at bat, lined one to the right side and was just barely out as he and the first baseman raced to the base and singled on a soft pop-up in front of the third baseman.

His team lost by a score of 9 to 5. Their record is 2 wins and 3 losses.

La Provence

With Jack at an overnight birthday party, Sharon and I went to dinner with the Cunningham's at La Provence. Sharon has been to this restaurant three times since last September and every time she has had rack of lamb. I had a steak.

Rovegno House

Rovegno House
National Register of Historic Places #1991001384
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This historic place is located at 6711 Washington Street in the city of Yountville, the county of Napa, California.

 

Built from local field stone and river rock in the early 1890's as a brandy distillery, this distinct French country stone structure is now the Burgundy House Inn, a bed and breakfast. It features 20-inch thick walls and wooden beams with the impressions of ax marks left by the craftsmen who built the building.

Will Ferrell in "The Landlord"

Will Ferrell + Foul-Mouthed Two-Year-Old = Viral Hit

AR50 News Stories

The Auburn Journal had two stories on Saturday's American River 50 run:

500 take on wind, rain for 50-mile run

A finish line, a first step completed

2007 Baseball Game #4

After two straight rain-outs, Jack's baseball team played its fourth game of the season against the Angels. Jack was 1 for 1 with two walks at the plate and scored twice.

In the field, he played left field one inning, shortstop two innings and first base one inning. Jack made a couple of nice plays at shortstop including a diving stop to his left where he plowed into the runner coming off second and a hard grounder that he fielded and threw the runner out at first. He also made one diving catch on a sinking line drive while he was playing first.

His team lost by the score of 17 to 12. Their record is now 2 wins and 2 losses.