Cabin Fever

Tootsie says...OK, so you want to play?
Give me your best shot.
Missed.
Wow. That was a sucker punch.

Paso Robles Wineries

Tasted my first desert wine at Tobin James. Oh my, with dark chocolate as a chaser what can I say. I bought two bottles.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and he sells box wine at Sylvester Winery!! The winery provides this wine to Princess Cruises (as their house wine)...probably in bigger boxes, tho. I only bought two boxes. I'm running out of room.
Me and my friend at Justin Winery. Made room for just a little more wine.
Was able to spend some time talking to the taste pourer at Justin. He told me there are 80 acres of vineyards here and they hand cut the grapes. Larger vineyards have machines that cut the grapes. Also, when vines get to be around 50-60 years old they produce so little fruit that it becomes too costly to make wine and they will tear the vines out and start over. It takes about 5 years for new vines to produce fruit and bottle wine. Very expensive startup costs.

Miscellaneous Pics

Picking blackberries.
More of those pink flowers with fog moving in the background.
San Rafael Bridge. It's a double decker bridge. We headed north on the top deck and now we're on the bottom deck heading to Petaluma. We took this bridge instead of the Golden Gate...less congestion.

Point Cabrillo Lighthouse/Mendocino

We were there early and I was able to get some great pictures without people milling about.
When I first saw these flowers (they are every where) I thought they were plastic. It is a pink flower - like a day lily - at the top of a brown stem and not a leaf in sight. It looked like someone had just stuck them in the ground.
I'd want a lighthouse with a coastline like this.
Fog moving in.

Dog pics

What???
Leave me alone.
Do you think they know where they're going?
I'm cold. I may have been born in Illinois...but I'm a desert dog now.

Yosemite

The first picture is of El Capitan. Big rock...or look what they can do with styrofoam! Lucy was a big hit with all the tourists. They couldn't resist her charm. Tootsie just put up with it all. The scenic pictures are hazy due to all the smoke in the air because of fires. We stayed for a couple of nights in Oakhurst which is about 16 miles from the park. Tim hadn't been here for 50+ years. His uncle owned land in the area and he used to come here as a kid. We scoured many back roads trying to find his uncle's former property. No such luck. He showed me the corner where Mr. Goatly sold soda pop, eggs, ice cream bars and goat meat. His real name was Mr. Whitely...but he said it wrong one day and forever more Mr. Whitely became Mr. Goatly. Ahhhh. Such memories. Tim's having a good time.

Cloverdale KOA

The first two pictures only can give you a taste of what the road to the campground was like. The one lane bridge should give you a hint along with the 10 mph turn. It was a steep, narrow, potholed road. If we had met another rig or truck someone was going to have to unhook the car in order to back up (can't back up with car in tow). Fortunately, no one was on the road except for us. When we got to the campground we had a decent place to park; however, couldn't level the moho without wheels being off the ground which we didn't do.

Hard to see in the picture but Tim ran over the metal fire ring and did some damage to the car. He was able to bang the fender back into place. When we left the next morning I followed him down the hill and hooked up there. Decided we didn't want to chance meeting
someone coming up the hill. Left Cloverdale and took the Hwy 128 exit to Ft. Bragg. Didn't get any pictures of that part of the trip...was too busy sucking air. Oh my God, if I had been
the one driving we still wouldn't be in Ft. Bragg cause I would be pushing it. Between meeting logging trucks that go 90mph and twisty, curvy roads I was ready for a double wine with lunch.

North of Ft. Bragg

Beautiful coastline north of Ft. Bragg

Mendocino coast

These were taken this morning (9/12) along the Mendocino coastline. Yes, it was (and still is) chilly.

Tim...the Tour Director

We pulled into Blake Ranch RV Park in Kingman AZ around 2pm. (Actually, it's about 15 miles east of Kingman.) Set up, got everything in working order...satellite TV, air conditioning, and satellite internet...yes, this is my idea of camping. 2 Bakers in the oven and 2nd glass of wine. Lucy has taken all her toys out of her bag and Tootise is sleeping in the corner. Tim has already changed our overnight stay for tomorrow. Now we're staying in Boron, CA - "World Famous Borax Visitor's Center" - Tim is wondering if we will see Reagon and his Borax Mule Team. You need to be old enough and a Republican to understand that statement.

Are we there yet?

I gotta pee.

Wake us when we're there.

What else is there to say?

Holbrook

Holbrook color!

California here we come!