Hi, Everyone!
Grandma and Grandpa and Joe-san and Nancy-san and I are in California for Grandpa’s birthday. Moose-san came along, too! Moose-san had never taken an airplane ride before, so I was a good helper and showed him how to get ready.
After we landed in San Francisco, we drove right to Sonoma. I showed Moose-san the Golden Gate Bridge on our way. Then we stopped for lunch at The Girl and the Fig restaurant and I showed Moose-san the fig tree growing in the back courtyard. Moose-san had never seen a fig tree before. After that, we checked into Vintners Inn in Santa Rosa and had dinner at Zin. I got to eat beer-battered green beans again! Yum! It was fun to show Moose-san some of my favorite restaurants here. He is very polite about sharing treats.
This morning, I showed Moose-san around the inn and then we all had breakfast. The omelets are yummy! It was misty at first, but then the sun came out. Vintners Inn is a very pretty place!
Next, I got to show Moose-san one of my very favorite places, the Charles Schulz Museum. Charles Schulz drew the Peanuts cartoon about Snoopy and Lucy and Charlie Brown. There is a new exhibit about the brothers and sisters in that cartoon getting along with each other. I guess Moose-san and I are a little like brothers! We practiced watching television together, just like Lucy and her brothers, and we made friends with lots of Peanuts character statues.
After that, we went to the Snoopy Gift Shop and made even more friends! I showed Moose-san the portrait of Mona Lucy and we watched Snoopy the World War I flying ace from a balcony. That reminded me of looking at planes at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia last month. I think we saw Snoopy’s kind of plane there, too!
Then Grandpa took us to California Carnivores, in Sebastopol, a place where they grow and sell insect-eating plants. Moose-san and I had to be very careful there! First, I had to protect Moose-san from a big spider and from falling into a big animal-eating plant. Then I made friends with a cobra plant. Joe-san wasn’t sure the cobra plants were as friendly as the King Cobras I met in Thailand, so he taught me how to protect myself with a sword. Then Joe-san and Moose-san had to save me when I got too close to a big mosquito!
After such a busy day, I decided to go to bed before Grandma and Grandpa and Joe-san and Nancy-san went out to dinner. We get cookies every night at the inn, so I didn’t worry about going hungry!
Love,
Lion-san