Mon.-Sun., December 5-11, 2022
What a GREAT week . . .
It all started with a Wildcats
basketball practice at Monte Vista
Middle School on Tuesday night
Jacob is in the green t-shirt closest to us.
Jacob will start the fast break
by passing the ball
The 1960s era Boston Celtics
comes quickly to mind, right?
A walk in Ventura to get me
in the Christmas mood
Friday afternoon drive on the
Grapevine with no fog this week
We were headed to Modesto, about a five hour drive from Camarillo, for our friend Jack Brucker's California Division 4-AA State Championship Game on Saturday night.
Jack plays for the Southern California 4-AA Champion Northwood H.S. Timberwolves who were traveling far north to take on the Northern California 4-AA Champion Escalon Cougars for state supremacy of the 4-AA division.
We stopped in Bakersfield for dinner
at the Firestone Grill
We ate here last weekend before the SoCal 4-AA Championship game between Northwood H.S. and Delano's Roosevelt H.S.
Good food and sports on multiple large TV screens is always a good choice.
Happy Campers
Last week Michael and I each had "The Pig," a delicious pulled pork sandwich. This time we both tried their tri-tip sandwich while Jacob stuck with his favorite, a simple cheeseburger.
DAMN GOOD PLACE TO EAT!
When we finally got to our hotel
in Modesto, Jacob opted to burn off
some calories from that cheeseburger
On Saturday morning, we drove about an hour farther north in order to take Jacob on his first ever tour of Old Town Sacramento and the fabulous California State Railroad Museum.
After driving in intense rain,
we finally made it to our state's
capital city
We arrived in Old Town Sacramento at about 9:00 a.m. only to find out that everything was closed for another hour including the Railroad Museum.
Umbrellas at the ready, we proceeded to survey the still sleepy tourist area.
If you advertise serving
"Sacramento's Best Bloody Mary,"
shouldn't you be open before 10:00 a.m.?
Watch out Jacob,
that guy looks creepy!
Old Town Sacramento was the
western terminus of the famed
Pony Express back in the early 1860s
Jacob countered that the Pony Express was the SMU backfield with Eric Dickerson and Craig James from the 1980s.
And I did
Floating Head
Promising . . .
. . . but not open
DONUTS!
They were both open and . . .
DELICIOUS!
Finally, it was 10:00 a.m.,
time to visit the Railroad Museum
A man-eating shark sculpture
made out of train parts
The museum had its dangerous elements to be sure.
A happy little boy
Listening to Robin, a museum
docent, tell us some much needed
background information
The Governor Stanford locomotive
See California INDEED!
Lots of signage all
over the museum
Of course there were lots
of random train cars
Politically correct?
Again with the signs
Trains obviously hauled agricultural
products from the fertile San Joaquin Valley
to spots all over the USA
I especially liked the Laurel brand of oranges.
Railroad journalists are
THE BEST!
Heading to a Dining Car
What the . . .
They weren't actually taking any food orders.
We headed to what Jacob really wanted to see, the Model Train exhibit.
Same locomotive in all of
the various model train scales
Jacob opted for the N Scale as his scale of choice.
That is the second smallest seen here with a ratio of two millimeters to the foot.
All sorts of model trains on display
How fierce is the
railroad magazine business?
Jacob working a model train
in a natural setting
How strong is that bridge work?
Thomas the Train has . . .
. . . a slide!
Locomotives and train cars
everywhere you looked
Hobos and trains are
an inseparable combination
I think I know what he
wants for Christmas
"Ives Toys Make Happy Boys"
Time for Jacob and Michael
to get creative
Getting close to a working machine
SUCCESS!!!
Trains hauled oil around for
so many years
You had to be there
I was and am still not sure what happened.
Christmas time in
Old Town Sacramento
We just HAD to go in here
Mary would have loved
this pink tree
The State Capital Building
as we drove back to Modesto
The drive was a non-stop down pour
for over an hour!
We were all hungry and opted for the San Joaquin Valley maxim for the situation, find a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant for lunch.
Near our Modesto hotel in the
City of Salida, we found
Aguililla Mexican Food
The absolute perfect spot for Michoacán style Mexican food, we were all satisfied.
The Brucker family arrived at our hotel late Saturday having been held up for nearly three hours due to an accident on the Grapevine.
We all headed about 20 minutes due north to the city of Escalon, population 7,523 souls for the Big Game.
The host Escalon Cougars have a
rich football tradition that also includes
seven C.I.F. Section Championships
C.I.F. Division 4-AA
California State Championship Game
Saturday, December 10, 2022
6:00 p.m.
Northwood H.S. Timberwolves (14-1)
Irvine, California
Southern California
C.I.F. Division 4-AA Champions
C.I.F.-Southern Section
Division VIII Champions
Pacific Hills League Champions
at
Escalon H.S. Cougars (12-3)
Escalon, California
Northern California
C.I.F. Division 4-AA Champions
C.I.F.-Sac-Joaquin Section
Division V Champions
Third Place Trans Valley League
As I said earlier, it poured rain
ALL DAY LONG!
It was still raining hard when
we arrived at the stadium
The natural grass field was not in
too bad a shape given the rain
Amazingly, at 6:00 p.m. when the game
kicked-off, the rain magically stopped
The rain, thankfully and miraculously, didn't start again until the game was over.
No complaints from these two fans
What a BEAUTIFUL night for
American football!
The first two Quarters were good ones,
at Halftime it was 7-7
Loren Brucker on my left
as we discussed what had
transpired in the first 24 minutes
The Jack Brucker Fan Club
was in attendance
Laney Brucker and Jacob
To review, Jack is Laney's brother and a Sophomore on the Northwood H.S. team who plays on the Timberwolves' Special Teams.
Jack Brucker, #40, sliding during
kickoff on a wet field
The hometown Cougars took control of the game in the second half due mostly to a punishing ground game.
Escalon's running back Ryker Peters,
6-0, 210 lbs., was the definition
of a workhorse in the Second Half
In the decisive nine minute drive that sealed the championship for the Cougars, Peters carried the ball on all 17 plays of the drive.
SEVENTEEN
STRAIGHT CARRIES!!!
Is this a possible case of child abuse?
Reflections
On the torn up turf after
Escalon's 28-7 victory
Jack Brucker with his Mom, Dad,
sisters and both sets of Grandparents
A tough night for Jack and his Timberwolves but what an amazing year with 14 wins, a Pacific Hills League championship, a Southern Section Division VIII championship and a Southern California Division 4-AA championship.
On Sunday morning, we started the long trek home.
We stopped in Tulare to see . . .
. . . a couple of vintage airplanes
parked next to Highway 99
A WWII B-17 Bomber
Imposing
John Garfield was a B-17
tail gunner in the WWII movie
"Air Force"
Love my grandkids!
A Vietnam War era
Phantom Jet
Thank you for your service,
Paul Sabolic!
A typical service available
in any San Joaquin Valley
gas station food mart
Three hours into our drive home,
we reconnected with the Bruckers
Kids of ALL ages love a stop at
Dewar's Candy Shop in Bakersfield
News from the net . . .
Hope for some . . .
. . . reality for most
AWESOME!
Roger Rosengarten is the University of Washington's Offensive Tackle who graciously met with us in the Husky Weight Room a few weeks ago.
More than likely, this will be
the one and only bowl game
that we'll attend this year
San Diego, here we come!
Well, this transaction certainly
paid off against the Raiders
Thursday night!
Desperate but funny
Decidedly TRUE!
Reading Is FUNDAMENTAL!
A classic!
I bought my copy at Shakespeare and Company in Paris on our trip their in October.
Victor Hugo's love of Paris translates again just as it did in his other great tome, Les Misérable, into endless, tedious pages of minutiae about the City of Light.
Still, it was a good yarn that taught me more about late 15th-century Paris than any person has the right to know in the 21st-century.
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