Recaps
Thursday: More wineries, and a really long drive up to Bear Valley. We got above 6000 feet and down to 79 degrees... niiiiiiiice. Was great just to drive with nowhere to go in the convertible... can you tell I love our rented convertible?
Friday: Yesterday was a really lazy day. We went to Mercer Caverns, and took some (hopefully) good pictures. After that we had lunch and just hung around the condo... chillin' and stuff. Made a CD for the drive home (no good radio stations out here in the middle of close to nowhere).
So it's Saturday morning, we're all packed, and I'm just waiting for time to wake Kris up and head back to San Francisco for our flight. Looking forward to being back in my own bed :)
Murphys
Yesterday Kris and I took the short drive to Murphys California. Murphys is even smaller than Angel's Camp, but there are several wineries based out of the area, with tasting rooms and galleries. We went to Ironstone Vineyards and I think we probably hit the best vineyard first. They have gorgeous grounds, a small museum/gift shop set up, and it was just overall picturesque. There were also free tastings :). I wasn't overly impressed with their red wines, but we bought two whites that Kris liked. After that we grabbed two sandwiches (we should have shared one, they were huge) and sat out on one of their decks and ate lunch. All in all very relaxing.
After that we drove back into Angel's Camp, took a short breather from the heat, and went to see Finding Nemo at the teeny little theater here in Angel's Camp. For it's size it was actually very nice. We sat about halfway up the theather, which means we were 7 rows from the front :). But they had DTS sound, comfy seats and only 2 previews before the movie, so I was happy. The movie kept us out of the hottest part of the day.
After the movie we just came back to Worldmark and cooked some steaks on the grill, and I crashed early (somewhere around 8), so here I am at 4:30 in the morning blogging :). Damn my internal clock.
Today we have plans to visit another winery or two in Murphys, and probably drive up to Big Trees State Park for some cooler weather and massive amounts of shade :). It hit 100 degrees today according to the temperature guage on the Sebring...
Sunday in Sunny Southern Cali
Yesterday was a bit more relaxed than Saturday :), we started the day with some room service breakfast (mmm mmm good), and then got cleaned up and drove to Oakland to visit a dentist Kris used to work with. Erik and Monica live in a posh neighborhood way up in the Oakland Hills, and their house backs up to a national park. There was a gorgeous view (I have some pictures) and had a great time visiting with them for a few hours. We got all caught up, met their 20 month old son Luc, and Monica is bursting at the seams with a new one on the way (due in 6 weeks she said). Hopefully we can keep in touch with them better in the future.
After that, we decided to take their advice on a restaurant recommendation. Instead of eating in dirty downtown San Fran, we shot over the Golden Gate (the temp drops by 10-15 degrees on top of the bridge brrrrr) and went into Tiburon. It's and fanshy as it sounds. Lots of huge houses on gorgeous hills. At the end of downtown Tiburon, there are a lot of touristy shops and nice restaurants. We ate at Guamay's, a shi shi foo foo Mexican restaurant, and sat out on the deck right on the bay (have some pics of the view from Tiburon to San Fran as well :). After that we browsed the shops a bit, but most were closed since it was past 5 on Sunday.
So we headed back to San Fran, this time with the top down, and you can really feel that 10 degree difference when you're going 45 with the top down :). And yes, Kris and I both want a Sebring now... damn nice car.
We came back to the hotel to a gift from one of my clients, chocolate covered strawberries, delicious oatmeal raisin cookies and a bottle of 1995 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne. A couple glasses of that stuff and you're out for the night :)
All in all, another enjoyable day in the life of Dan...