My Mom and I visited my brother, James, in California's Silicon Valley in August 2001.

Mom and I left Harrisbug on August 9 in the evening on a flight to San Francisco (via Philadelphia). The weather was so hot (102 degrees) that most flights were delayed. The airlines could not keep the cabins cool (most were 98 degrees or higher) so no passengers could board until the cabins were properly cooled. Our flights were not any different. Our flight from Philadelphia to San Francisco left one and one half hours late. Even so, we arrived in San Francisco just 30 minutes late.

James picked us up at the airport and we traveled to San Jose (about a 35 minute drive). Here are some pictures of James' house in San Jose:

This is a picture of James' kitchen. Note the pictures from Rochelle and Dacoda on the refrigerator. Rochelle and Dacoda colored some pictures for their Uncle James.	This is a picture of James' living room. The home is multi-level and the living room has cathederal ceilings.

On Friday, Mom and I relaxed while James went to work. Mom sat at the pool for about 3 hours and although she looked fine, she had received a little too much sun. Here is a picture of the pool where James lives.

On Friday night, James took us bowling with his friend Brian from Cambodia and his friend Tuyet and her family from VietNam. It was Friday night "Rock-n-Bowl" and we had a good time. Of course, James won. The kids were getting the bowling balls stuck in the alley and Mom even hit one of these stranded bowling balls at one point. After bowling we went to dinner (and ended up driving the wrong way on a one way street).

On Saturday, we went shopping at IKEA near the entrance to the Bay Bridge in Oakland. It was a huge store and they actually have a remote parking lot with shuttle parking to the store.

Sunday we left for Reno. We stopped at Lake Tahoe on the way there and at Boomtown on the way back. We had a good time. Mom and I mostly played the penny slots (yes, there are actually slot machines where all you bet is a penny). Mom won $20.00 at a penny slot once and I won $15.00 once.

Here are some pictures of Lake Tahoe:

We stopped at Lake Tahoe and walked from the Casinos at State Line to the Lake.	On the way to Lake Tahoe, as we decended the final mountain, we stopped to take a picture of the lake.

When James skiis at Lake Tahoe, he likes to go to the Heavenly Ski Resort. Years ago, when Heidi and I visited James, he took us to Heavenly. I spent more time in the snow than on the skiis. Heavenly is the highest ski slope at Lake Tahoe.

This is a picture of the Heavenly Ski Resort at Lake Tahoe.	Another picture of skiing at Heavenly.

Here are some pictures of Reno:

This is Virginia Street which is the main thoroughfare in downtown Reno.	This is the famous "Arch" in Reno.
This is a picture of the Truckee River that runs through Reno. There is a River Walk and several municipal parks along the river. We walked along the river for several blocks on Monday afternoon. It was a beautiful day.	This is a picture of our hotel room at Harrah's. Mom and I tended to get up a little earlier than James did.

On Tuesday we headed for home. However, the wildfires throughout northern California threatened the closure of Route 80 - our main route back from Reno to San Jose. We headed for home and got to the Sierra Nevadas near Donner Pass when we were re-routed on a detour which placed us on Route 29 and Route 40. These were two lane roads which were now accomodating all of the traffic from Route 80 (traffic from both directions on Route 80). At places, it was like a parking lot. We did get some nice pictures, though, of the Sierra Nevadas.

This is a scene from Route 29 of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in northern California.	This is a picture of James' Benz and Mom with a scene of the Sierra Nevadas in the background.

When we arrived back in San Jose (after a six hour drive that should have taken three and one half hours), we watched the local news and saw pictures of the fire as it approached Route 80. There is no way we could have driven through it.



Wednesday Mom and I walked about four miles on what we thought would be a half hour walk. The streets we walked on turned out to be long and winding. Finally, we found our way home. We were tired, but there was plenty of time to rest.

On Wednesday evening, James took us to visit his friend Tuyet. Tuyet and Brian made Chicken Rice Soup and Bar-B-Qued Chicken for us. It was very good, but neither Mom nor I were very hungry. We had a lot of fun visiting with James' friends.

This is a picture of Tuyet and her nieces, Marilyn and Christine. Tuyet works in Final Test (where James used to work) at Applied Materials in San Jose.	This is James and Brian on Tuyet's patio (having a cigarette break - bad boys!). Brian works at Applied Materials, but is leaving to return to Kansas where his family lives. He lives with Tuyet and is her house boy (LOL).

On Thursday Mom and I were off shopping to find curtains for James' front windows. James borrowed Tuyet's sewing machine and our mission was to create custom made sheer curtains to fit these windows. We found the curtains, but not the curtain rods. James went shopping on Thursday night and found all of the materials that we needed, so we completed the curtains on Friday.

These are the curtains that Mom and I made for James' front windows.

On Friday night, James treated Tuyet and her nieces, Brian, Mom, and I to dinner at Pho Hoa (a type of fast food Vietnamese Restaurant. Mom had pork chops and rice and I had grilled chicken (got to love that chicken...LOL) and rice. Mom and I had not been hungry all week, but we managed to eat some of our dinner and take the rest home.

James and Mom enjoying their dinner.	From left to right, this is Brian, Tuyet, Christine, and Marilyn at Pho Hoa.

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