Frank (NIF and ME, 2003) and Sigrid Rainer emailed us from Mahe. They arrived at the airport on February 28th at 8:00 a.m. They were to board the sailing ship Le Ponant that evening and will be out of contact until March 11. Most of their fellow travelers who flew in from Paris were already being met by the Zegrahm Tours ground crew. However, they did not want to take the Rainer’s because they were not on their list. Finally good old Julie Christiansen came out to assure the locals that they were not terrorists and were ok to transport to the hotel. Then of course their room was not ready, but they ultimately got settled in. They had a buffet lunch and then took a tour to a spice garden and crafts center with nothing earthshaking to report. With drinks in hand they convened over the bar in the evening for a briefing before dinner. There are numerous Californians including ones from SF, Concord, Davis and the Peninsula. They were trying to mix in with most of them so the cruise (cancel that, expedition) should be warm but very tropical with lots of scuba diving.

Some of you may not be aware that the Rainer’s will be underway for another 10 weeks with a 3-week, East Africa gorilla safari and then a 5-week ship expedition up the west coast of Africa from Cape Town to Seville, Spain. They will play it by ear about future computer access.

Unfortunately, no other retirees have sent in any input. So you’ll have to settle for the brief one-day outing that Gus (Electronics Engineering, 1993) and Jane (Mechanical Engineering, 1993) Olson took on February 19th to the Woodbridge Winery outside the small, quaint town of Woodbridge, a few miles north of Lodi. It was a beautiful, sunshiny day between several rainy days. They took a wrong turn leaving highway 99, but finally got on the right road. They wondered how they were going to find the winery, but then look up across the fields and a mile or so in the distance saw a wall of approximately one hundred huge 200,000 gallon tanks, all filled with wine. In the tasting room, the representative said they are the largest wine producer in the United States. They tasted several kinds of wine, and were impressed enough to join their wine club. They then bought lunch at a deli case and ate at a picnic table outside in the sunshine. After lunch they wandered into the small town of Woodbridge and stopped at the Wine and Roses Spa Hotel and the adjoining Lodi Wine and Visitors Center. Everyone was so friendly and spent a lot of time talking as they were not very busy. All in all it was a great day.

The LLNL Retirees Travel Group meets the fourth Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. from January through June in the Community Room at the Livermore Library, 1188 South Livermore Avenue. The March 24th program is entitled “California Desert Tour” by Miles and Jackie Loyd.

The March Retirees luncheon will be held on Wednesday, March 18th, at 11:30 a.m. at the Elks Lodge, Springtown Livermore. The speaker is not known at this time. Reservations must be made at this web site by Friday, March 13th. The cost of the luncheon is $10.

Please send any input to Gus or Jane Olson (please include the date and department from which you retired). E-Mail: Jane@LLNLRetirees.org or Gus@LLNLRetirees.org.