North to Alaska: Campbell, California

Thursday, September 8 we finally made it to Campbell, CA. around 7PM. Campbell is a town of approximately 40 thousand people, not nearly as large as San Jose and some of the other cities in the area; however, it is plenty big enough. In fact, one of the problems we had was determining when we left one town and entered another. Matt, our son and his wife, Shannon live in a section of Campbell within walking distance of the old section of town with many interesting shops and plenty of fine restaurants. We really enjoyed walking to town and dining outside. In the evenings, it was nice to be outside eating and people watching. On Sundays, Campbell blocks off the main street in the old section of town and has a farmers/craft market. The fresh vegetables looked really tasty and the flowers were beautiful. In addition to all the vegetables, flowers and crafts; there were musicians playing throughout the market. You would not believe how many people were at the farmers market.

It reminded us of the Fourth of July parade in Southport, NC. On Monday after a leisurely morning we met Matt and Shannon at Google for lunch. This is always something we look forward to when we visit here. On Tuesday we enjoyed the morning and then a leisurely lunch in downtown Campbell before we left to meet Matt and Shannon at Google for our trip to San Francisco to see a baseball game between the Giants and San Diego Padres. Gypsy really liked Campbell for several reasons; one is that Shannon would play with her and take her on walks, another is that there is a large fenced in yard in back of Matt and Shannon's apartment where she could run wild. Also there was a large dog park very close that provided a great opportunity for her to play with other dogs. For us,probably one of the things we liked most about Campbell, at least the part close to Matt and Shannon's apartment, was how laid back it seemed to be. No one seemed to be in any big hurry like the other places in California we have been. Of course there is the food and we did not miss any opportunities to try what Campbell had to offer, from the sidewalk cafes downtown to the ever famous donut house, "Psycho Donuts". Our time with Matt and Shannon was only nine days and we must say it was a very fast nine days. Like we have always heard, when you are having fun time flies and it surely flew while we were in Campbell...

This was one of our favorite restaurants in Old Campbell. Sonoma Roasted Chicken... However, they had several super specials each day which seemed to lure us back several times.

Another one of our downfalls... Donuts and more donuts... Alaska and Canada was Gigantic cinnamon buns, then to Portland, Oregon to "Voo Doo" donuts and on to Campbell for more DONUTS...

Nothing here looks tempting???

The farmers market in Campbell has to be one of the most beautiful farm markets we have ever been too. The colors of all the different vegetables were so eye-catching we just wanted to sample all of them.