California Dazzling: A Roadtrip Vacation Spectacular - Last Update and Final Thoughts 11/8

Sounds like a good compromise!

One of the foundations of our relationship is that none of us is shy about their opinion, but both of us are willing to work for a compromise. I had very different experiences in the past...

I can't imagine trying to start a hike around noon. That's when you should be on your way back!

I like long day hikes actually where you have a lovely lunch break around noon - either on a mountain summit with the stuff you brought or in a Bavarian guest house where they serve you roast pork and potato dumplings and a hiking beer (this is a family invention, my father mainly hiked for the "hiking beer"). But, you definitely want to have more than half of your day's hike done before lunch!

Very nice location!

It was so wonderful, I wish I was back there.

I would have done the same. Why get up when you will eventually get to your destination by doing nothing.

I am a very impatient person! And just sitting somewhere is not really my cup of tea. That's why I love cruising so much because on sea days, I feel like I have the freedom to just sit.
:lmao:

Except I see Olives on there. :crazy2:

Ah - that's why you drink your Martini with ugly onions... those get a :crazy2: from me! Which reminds me - that Martini that you love so much, do they have it at WDW anywhere? Was it the Diamond Martini?

That looks awesome!

It was good! The food at Yosemite was overall far better than I thought it would be after all the comments I read online.

I love the conflicting memories! :laughing:

It also tells you who the intellectual in this couple is... :rolleyes1

I had fun enjoying a beverage with you!

But you would have had much more fun, if I had been there, too!!! :cool2:

It is a beautiful ornament!

And it looks great on the Christmas tree, too!

What an interesting little stop. Looks neat!

Are you familiar with an author called Gwen Bristol? She was very popular in Germany when my mother was younger and she gave me those books to read when I was a teenager. She wrote historic novels and two of them take place in California, one called "Calico Palace" takes place in a mine town and it really felt like stepping back in time into that book.

Anything to do with dentistry in the 19th century is scary!

Yes!! I wonder if the people at the next turn of the century will think the same about our dentistry today?

I'm going to give Michael the win on this one. Too much green stuff on top of the pizza. :laughing:

Well, those greens happen to be my favorite pizza topping!! A different type of pizza that might be more to your liking will appear soon!
 
First I want to extend my condolences to Michael and his family. So sorry to hear of your loss. I hope the pain will eae and the good memories will comfort you. :hug:

Thanks, I know that Michael will appreciate this!

A lazy day can be a good thing.

Yes, I think we needed it by now.

Good that you can always do what you wish even if it not together.

We definitely are not a couple that needs to do everything together all the time - otherwise we would not be able to do that long distance thing!

Nice that it is so organized.

Yes, I was really impressed with how well everything was run in Yosemite!

What a way to spend the day - such beautiful scenery.

I think for Michael this is the best day of that whole trip!

:confused: I guess be glad you didn't see more than him just sliding around. :eek:

I was kind of afraid that we would witness an accident... I am very glad that we did not!

Nice when a meal makes a "mark". Sorry you didn't have a repeat of the first time there but glad it was a nice meal.

Sometimes I am afraid of revisiting restaurants that I loved on the first visit because I am afraid that they will fall short. Flying Fish did that only on the third visit and then redeemed itself on the fourth visit and I think this is why I love it so much.

On the move again. :car:

Yes, lots of moving! But I should go and find one of those road trip packaged trips that you can book with German travel agencies. There they pack in about double the stuff that we did in just two weeks.

At least it was just a US thing. :scared:

Yes, very glad about this! Currently I am so tempted to buy the new IPhone SE as I love the size of my IPhone 5, but it is starting to get a little old. But not old enough to really justify spending so much money...

Good choice :thumbsup2

I have started to get Christmas ornaments on vacations and they make great souvenirs. This one fits right in!

Stunning view.

There are so many of them in Yosemite...

WEll then you HAD to explore.

Of course!!


Yes, I guess next time we need to vacation in plague-free Delaware, just as @Captain_Oblivious suggested.

Even if the driver did not I am glad you did. :)

:thumbsup2

Looks like Old Town in San Diego. We visited there last year before my annual conference.

Yup - Old Town had something like this is from Wells Fargo.

I guess I better put Old Town on my to do list for California then! I love places like this!

Cool but yes I would want a modern bathroom. :rolleyes:

:thumbsup2

How nice and dinner looks good too. Nice that you could spend some time with your aunt.

It was a lovely evening all around!
 
It was late May. In comparison, there was a lot of water.

Oh, yes, I could imagine that! I am strongly considering another visit to Yosemite in May...

Great updates. I loved the look of the burger and that gold mine town was very interesting.
I love Yosemite...so I could have stayed there as well. Great decision to stay in-park.

I hope we will be back sooner or later in Yosemite and if it is later I will try my best to stay inside the park again. To me this really added a lot to the vacation!
 
I keep thinking that water has to be freezing. Good thing it was so hot out there.

Yes, the water was freezing. But also refreshing in the heat.

::yes:: Can you believe people actually spend their precious vacation time sleeping in? You can do that at home! :rolleyes1

Not everyone is as smart as those Delawareans...

I don't think I would have lasted long, either!

One you got used to it, you were numbed enough to tolerate it for some time...

On the contrary, I'm often mistaken for a manatee when swimming. It's because of all of those cheese steaks.

But wouldn't that have to be an albino manatee?? :duck:

Wow. Keep it classy, folks!

Yes, that was a strange appearance!

I may have one one or two or a dozen people like this. If they're famous, they'll scold you for using fossil fuels while flying private jets to conferences on reducing fossil fuel use.

:rotfl2:Yes, exactly!!

Pretty cool. I go back and forth on digital enhancements. I don't typically do them on my vacation photos because then I feel like I'm not really being honest in depicting what we saw. But some that I've seen look amazing!

To me photography can have different uses: to document something that happened and to be art that is interesting to look at. For the documentation purpose I prefer less enhancements. However, there are things that you were able to do with film as well: adjust the brightness, cut out certain undesirable parts etc. My favorite is to actually adjust the horizon. I am very good at taking pictures with the horizon at a very noticeable angle and I regularly adjust this.

I would expect a German SIM card to be more efficient than a US SIM card.:rotfl2:

Well, or the Germans just put in some software to make it look like they were more efficient in a test environment... :rotfl:

I'm so sorry to hear the news about your father. Very sorry for your loss.

Please, continue to make fun of Delaware if it helps. Or, you could even visit Delaware, which people call "Paradise on Earth".

Ok, no one calls it that. But somebody might, someday.

Thank you, I know Michael appreciates your permission to make fun of Delaware! :thumbsup2

We get a lot of ornaments from our travels too.

I have found that those make really good souvenirs. I am not into those that have a picture of the sight I am visiting on it, but if it is a Christmas ornament that was handmade in the area or something like this, then I am all for it!

It looks amazing! I need to get there someday.

Yes, you kind of blew your California National Park visits in your quest to all 50 states on Joshua Tree! Not the most inspired decision. :sad2:

:scared1: But maybe not in the summer.

:thumbsup2

I hate to leave EPCOT. How can you not enjoy it? They even have manatees!

I think Michael's problem is that he fell in love with EPCOT Center when he visited the preview center for it in his youth. And the current Epcot is just a shadow of its former glorious self in his opinion.

You know, there is no plague problem in Delaware. Just sayin'.

It has been noted!

At least they have their priorities straight.

I also think that this might be dictated by supply and demand. I would assume that the demand for 1870s dentistry is extremely low nowadays!


Exactly!
 


Behind the school, across a parking place and down the dirt road…

Sunday, August 23: Lasseter Family Winery

After the Gold Country today, it was Wine Country today. Originally we had planned to meet up with our friend Thing 2 from earlier in the trip during this portion of the vacation again. He is a member of the Wine Club for the Lasseter Family Winery. Lasseter as in John Lasseter, the guy who is chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios. The winery was founded by John and his wife Nancy in 2000 because of their common love of French wines. It is in Glen Ellen in Sonoma County. This is kind of the neighboring valley to Napa Valley. It is a little less known, therefore wines there are generally a little less commercial and expensive, but it is still considered a region that produces excellent wines. My guide book very much suggested to go on tastings in Sonoma Valley because of that instead of the mass market tastings in Napa Valley. However, with Thing 2’s connection it was quite obvious that we wanted to go to the Lasseter Family Winery. Tastings there are available for everyone, but only with prior appointment. Thing 2 had made an appointment for him, Michael and me and my aunt and uncle. But since a last minute work thing prevented him from joining us, he had to give all the instructions of how to get there and when to be there to Michael.

This included a long telephone conversation with very specific directions being given. Glen Ellen is a tiny town and we were instructed to drive through the school parking lot past some garages and then down a dirt lane. It all sounded very ominous…

We had arranged for my aunt and uncle to come to our hotel and then they would leave their car there and we would drive. When my aunt got there, she was alone as my uncle had gotten some kind of cold and did not feel like he would enjoy a wine tasting. In the end my aunt thought that this turned out well as the wines would not have been to his taste anyway… So now our group had reduced from five to three.

We got started a bit later than we had planned for and so instead of trying to find a parking spot in the downtown of Sonoma to have lunch there, we chose an easier lunch and ended up at Taco Bell. This was actually one of my requests as I had never in my life eaten at a Taco Bell and I wanted to try it. My aunt and Michael were fine with it, too. I can’t tell you what I had, but I thought it was very tasty! And it definitely worked for the purpose of getting some lunch before starting to taste the wine!

I would have loved a leisurely weekend brunch in Sonoma. That is like a dream thing for someone who loves CA, but is stuck in the FL swamps (or frigid Bavaria!) But it was obvious we had no time for that type of experience. I would have rather had something else, like a west coast chain, but both M and her Aunt wanted Taco Hell, so I gutted it out.

Somewhere along the drive, I tried to get a landscape shot:

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We followed Thing 2’s instructions and I kept looking at Google Maps on my phone and we found the winery without any problem. Well, we found a gate with the name of the winery on it and really nothing very visible beyond the gate besides vineyards. We had to ring a bell and then were let in. The lady said that she was still finishing with the previous group, but we should park and sit on the patio and she would come and get us when she was done.

We parked and I started to take some pictures as it was really pretty out there.

Here you can see the umbrella on the patio where we waited:

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There was a nicely landscaped garden in front of the building and then vinyards all around.



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Michael took a really nice picture of me and my aunt there:

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After some time, people left the building and our lovely guide appeared and invited us into the entrance hallway of the building.

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It then turned out that the tour was just for our little group of three, no other people around!

I was hoping that John and Nancy would be around as it seemed like a time when they might, but they were not. I have met John and talked with him one on one a handful of times and he really is fascinating and humble and the thought of talking business with him at the winery would have been awesome. Their home is right up the road, but I don't stalk celebs.

Since Michael is doing some name dropping there, I think I should also add that I actually met someone working at the winery on my Norway cruise. One afternoon I decided to go and hang out in the hot tub and the only two other people there was a couple from Sonoma and he worked in a winery there. Turned out that he was the cellar master at the Lasseter Family Winery.

She poured us a taste of the rose wine they are producing and this was very nice and refreshing. We then went outside where show showed some of the different grapes to us. This was really interesting and we even got to try some of the grapes. She said that they were just about to start harvesting in the next few weeks. I think some vineyards were already harvesting right then.

Trying an artsy picture:

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On the glass you can see the logo for the Winery that is supposed to be a symbol of the Lasseter Family: the bee is John, the rose is Nancy and the grapes are their kids. I guess when you are an animator your Winery needs a neat little logo, too. I actually really liked the logo – and you will see that this lead to some purchases later on!

The next stop was the wine cellar itself. This was really more like a warehouse with lots of vats of wine:

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The winery only produces blended wines to follow the French tradition. But for maturing the wine is still separated by grapes. Once it is ready, the different types get blended. Our guide war really knowledgeable and since it was only us, we got to ask questions as much as we wanted. I learned a lot about the blending process and what they go for. For example, the same type of blend will still have a different taste year after year, but the characteristics of the wine should be the same all the time. I found this fascinating and I cannot imagine what a difficult job this is!

The wine cellar was not only very tidy, it even had an impressive piece of art!

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And then we were lead to the tasting room where everything was nicely set out for us:

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All the Lasseter Family Winery bottles have very distinctive labels that all have different pictures that go with the name of the wines. They were all painted by a local artist and they all depict something that can be seen at the winery itself. In the tasting room they had the original artworks on display:

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For example the picture in the lower row in the middle is this:

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It is just in front of the tasting building.

They had set out a row of glasses for us and something to be paired with each wine.

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These were all artisanal cheeses, some local, and something else to go with it as well as you can see. For the last wine we could a special chocolate truffle that was made at a local chocolate shop with the wine that we were tasting with it.

Our guide told us something about each wine while we were tasting it. We enjoyed all of the wines and the nibbles we had with them, however, in our group we definitely had two favourites: Paysage and Chemin De Fer. After the tasting we had of course the opportunity to buy any of the wines, but with all the travel we still had planned and considering that those were not the type of wines you would drink out of a hotel room plastic cup, we did not buy any of the wines. However, they had a wide selection of souvenirs to buy as well! So, I got quite a few of those.

I got a set of wine charms with the pictures from the labels, a jar with a delicious herb rub that they had used on the almonds we had with the tasting (which was made with herbs grown there at the winery) and a little thing to close open wine bottles with the winery logo (and one of those for Katharina as well):

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I was quite pleasantly surprised that all the merchandise was very fairly priced. Obviously Mr. Lasseter does not follow his employer in merchandise pricing… And then we got a surprise in that they even applied the Wine Club Member discount of Thing 2 who had set up the tasting to my purchases! And they packed all my stuff in a lovely reusable shopping bag:

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We left after a wonderful experience and were very happy! I took some more pictures outside:

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It was an absolutely wonderful afternoon and experience. And would have been even had it been an 'ordinary' winery!

Yes, Michael is right. I never felt that they played the "celebrity" status in any way, the focus was really on the wines, and to some degree on the family - outside of Pixar. I also want to add that we ended up getting the tour for free as it was covered by Thing 2's wine club membership. But we were not sure if that would be the case since he was not there and I thought that while this was not a cheap tasting, it would have been worth the price.

After this we stopped for coffee at a coffee place in Sonoma called Barking Dog. They were roasting their own coffee and it looked like a place that took its coffee very serious. For that the coffee was not as good as I would have thought, but it still was quite good and it was nice to chat some more with my aunt.

One of the topics that I really wanted to ask her about was how it was to come to the USA in the 1960s from Germany. She had met her husband while he was stationed in Germany and got married there. Once they were married and he left the military they moved to the USA. Her stories about how difficult it was to find a job and how she ended up with a job that she really loved were all really fascinating.

She is wonderful and while you absolutely can tell she is from Germany, you can also tell she is been in the USA longer than we have been alive!

We then headed back to our hotel where we said goodbye to my aunt. And I finally got to do some laundry. This was really annoying as the laundry room was always filled with people and it was tiny! Sunday afternoon finally seemed a good time for it and I had clean clothes again!

We had a very boring dinner at Burger King and then spent the rest of the evening just hanging out at the hotel, planning our next few days in San Francisco, watching TV and reading. It was really nice to have a quiet evening without anything big to do.

BK, which I know is considered fine dining in Delaware, was my idea. We had really spent weeks eating lots of great food, some of it pricey and the idea of walking across the street and chowing down on fast food for under $10 for two people was appealing. M didn't think much of her original chicken sandwich (called the long chicken in Europe), but it was fine for me. We slummed it some more the next day before heading back to our higher caliber dining experiences.

Now I remember! I think there was some coupon thing involved, that is why I ended up with the chicken. That was not good. I think the only fast food chicken that really impressed me was Chick-Fil-A. Otherwise I have come to the conclusion that fast food chicken is not my thing.

Up Next: Golden Gate
 
So glad to see you have resumed your TR!

Michael, I am so sorry to hear of the loss of your Dad. :hug:

That Happy Isles area looked nice and refreshing. Glad you had a nice day there

The Gold Rush town looked really cute, lots of interesting things to see, I can see why you wished you had more time to spend there.

So nice you were able to spend some time with your Aunt and Uncle. The wine tasting sounded good. I am not a huge fan of a lot of wines but I think wine tastings are neat and have done a couple before.

I don't blame you for wanting just a simple fast food dinner at BK. They actually do make a pretty decent Grilled Chicken Sandwich there (Tender Grill?)

Funny thing is tha now, my MIL and her friend/cousin (actually my late FIL's Cousin -we all just call her Aunt Judy) are on a month long Cross Country Road trip as we speak. They left yesterday (Monday the 16th) from here in Western NY and are I believe in Indianapolis tonight. They plan to eventually go to some of the areas where you went on this trip, San Fran, Napa Valley, etc.
 


Very, very beautiful hiking to be done there for sure! I"m not used to waterfalls being so empty/so little water, but they are still pretty. Ours in Oregon are roaring all year long. Yes, I think it's a good strategy to split up so everyone can get out of the vacation what he or she wants. I plan on talking to the kids about this too- if they want to sleep, fine, but hey, I'll be in the parks if you need me.

Dinner looked delicious. Trout and steelhead are abundant here too, but I"ve never tasted the steel. Someday, I should. We do have a ton of sturgeon as well which we can catch off of our beach, but I don't really care for it. Do you have that there?

Oddly, we just had a cougar hit and killed on one of our local highways (148 pounds), so they are out there and around. But unless they are really hungry, I doubt they'd be hanging around such a highly populated place. Still good to be cautious though.

I love that they enforce a dress code at the Awahnee. There just needs to be a few places where the entire atmosphere is upscale.
 
WOW! What a vineyard. Looks like you had a ball there. If I'm lucky enough for another trip, I'll have to remember to put it on the visit list!
 
That sounds like a great way to spend a day! I would love to tour the Lasseter Winery and do a tasting there!

In the hierarchy of fast food, Taco Bell is one of the lesser evils, in my opinion.

Nice shot of you and your Aunt.

What a great tasting set up! Even cheese for noshing.

I love the reusable bags!

I like that chicken sandwich from Burger King, but I usually add cheese to it. I can never finish one though.
 
Hello!!

Your relaxing day at Happy Falls sounded very relaxing in deed. I think it's good you took a day of from touring, especially as you had the long drive ahead.

The wine tasting sounds like a great experience, especially, as it was only you on the tour. The bottle thing is in nearly constant use, it also fits French and Spanish wine bottles ;-)

I have to disagree with you on the Taco Bell thing. I'm very sure we had breakfast at one in Colorado in 1992... But then again, maybe breakfast doesn't count?
 
Glen Ellen is a tiny town and we were instructed to drive through the school parking lot past some garages and then down a dirt lane.

Is this a winery or a meth lab?:confused3

This was actually one of my requests as I had never in my life eaten at a Taco Bell and I wanted to try it. My aunt and Michael were fine with it, too. I can’t tell you what I had, but I thought it was very tasty!

:scared1:

Usually Taco Bell is ok during the meal...the problem is what it does to you afterwards...

I would have rather had something else, like a west coast chain, but both M and her Aunt wanted Taco Hell, so I gutted it out.

Aw, come on. That's fine dining in California.:rolleyes1

I was hoping that John and Nancy would be around as it seemed like a time when they might, but they were not.

Now that would be cool!

One afternoon I decided to go and hang out in the hot tub and the only two other people there was a couple from Sonoma and he worked in a winery there. Turned out that he was the cellar master at the Lasseter Family Winery.

You two have all the connections! Whereas I once stood near Tiger Woods.


Fancy-schmancy!

I was quite pleasantly surprised that all the merchandise was very fairly priced. Obviously Mr. Lasseter does not follow his employer in merchandise pricing…

:rotfl2:


I think this photo shows the artwork a little better. and it's great! I'm a sucker for "retro" type images like that.

One of the topics that I really wanted to ask her about was how it was to come to the USA in the 1960s from Germany. She had met her husband while he was stationed in Germany and got married there. Once they were married and he left the military they moved to the USA. Her stories about how difficult it was to find a job and how she ended up with a job that she really loved were all really fascinating.

That sounds like a fascinating conversation!

BK, which I know is considered fine dining in Delaware, was my idea.

Only when paired with wine in a plastic hotel cup.

Now I remember! I think there was some coupon thing involved, that is why I ended up with the chicken. That was not good. I think the only fast food chicken that really impressed me was Chick-Fil-A.

Fast food ratings:

1. Chick Fil-A.


(large gap)




10. Everything else.
 
Wow, that sounds like a scary run!! Do you do those runs often?
Only the once.........so far!

There was a little pool below the waterfall where I later saw some people swimming. I guess someone went skinny dipping and forgot to add all the layers of clothing again afterwards.
And of all the layers, they forgot THAT one??? I'm guessing maybe a practical joker came by and.............misplaced them! :rotfl:

I am sure Michael would not have been a great protection against lions and bears...
As long as you can outrun him...............;)

I guess you visited earlier in the season...
I think it was May or June???

I only added a tiny bit of prettiness of course as I already have loads!
Well of course........no reason to be excessive! :thumbsup2

At some point I threw Michael out of bed and we packed our stuff.
Well that's ONE way to do it...........

And this is where we ended up:

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A nice view upstream:

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And downstream:

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I thought you were going to a stream/river??? I didn't hear you say anything about a rock garden....... :confused3

Actually this was more like a demand. Whenever I take a summer or early fall visit to Yosemite or Sequoia, I always devote either one full afternoon or part of two to simply swimming and sunning in the cold mountain waters. It is one of my zen experiences. I am glad M chose to join me, but if she had wanted to do something else, then I would have told her to do so and enjoy and we'd meet back at the hotel. I likes my mountain swimming and soaking.
Sound like a candidate for that earlier picture of the lost clothing item along the trail Magdalene saw.:scared1:

I even got a decent picture of Half Dome from the bus window:

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Half Dome is such a gorgeous sight! :goodvibes

I loved my dinner. I just remember they made chicken sing -- and it doesn't normally do that unless you are drunk or high or watching an animated film
TMI! TMI! :eek:

When we left the restaurant we saw that they were showing a movie about Ansel Adams in the amphitheater at our hotel.
Oh, that would have definitely been high on my list! ::yes::

When I wanted to look at some of the pictures I had taken with my IPhone and tried to switch it on (I had switched it off overnight), the battery was empty.
Where is Laugh Floor when you need it??? :rotfl2:

Before I begin my pithy commentary, apologies if I am not my usual self. I likely will never be my usual self again. My father died from lung cancer and lousy medical care a month ago. While not unexpected, the timing was and his last five days were hellish as we fought to get him life extending care and failed miserably due to ... American healthcare.
Michael, so very sorry to hear this news! Thoughts and prayers for your loss and recovery!

But I figured I'd man up here, maybe make fun of people who live in Delaware and attempt to get my groove back by focusing on a happier time.
Way to buck up! :woohoo:

In a place as amazingly, awe-inspiring beautiful as Yosemite, there really are amazing views and vistas everywhere. You simply have to decide which ones to take in, to allow into your soul.
Well said! 8-)

you also left out the fact we ran into Ross in the shopping center to look for some shorts for me as I was in need of a new pair or two. And we didn't find any and left.
Come on Magdalene! It's not like you to leave critical details out of your TRs................ :sad2:

Country Bear Jamboree???

They had a very scary dentist office there as well:

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Yikes! I'm glad Dentistry has made modern advances! :scared:

Looks like Old Town in San Diego. We visited there last year before my annual conference.
Yes it does! Glad you finally got to enjoy it! :love2:

This included a long telephone conversation with very specific directions being given. Glen Ellen is a tiny town and we were instructed to drive through the school parking lot past some garages and then down a dirt lane. It all sounded very ominous…
You know, California has a more cavalier attitude towards certain transactions...........sounds more like one of those back alley experiences. :scratchin

Michael took a really nice picture of me and my aunt there:

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Very nice picture! :love:
 
One of the topics that I really wanted to ask her about was how it was to come to the USA in the 1960s from Germany. She had met her husband while he was stationed in Germany and got married there. Once they were married and he left the military they moved to the USA.

I wanted to say first that my mother has the same story...... I do believe they got married in the US but met my dad when he was stationed there. Funny thing - he spoke no German and she spoke no English. :rotfl2:

After the Gold Country today, it was Wine Country today. Originally we had planned to meet up with our friend Thing 2 from earlier in the trip during this portion of the vacation again. He is a member of the Wine Club for the Lasseter Family Winery. Lasseter as in John Lasseter, the guy who is chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Very nice !!!

We got started a bit later than we had planned for and so instead of trying to find a parking spot in the downtown of Sonoma to have lunch there, we chose an easier lunch and ended up at Taco Bell. This was actually one of my requests as I had never in my life eaten at a Taco Bell and I wanted to try it. My aunt and Michael were fine with it, too. I can’t tell you what I had, but I thought it was very tasty! And it definitely worked for the purpose of getting some lunch before starting to taste the wine!

Usually Taco Bell is after you have had your fill of liquor. Glad it all stayed while you tasted...

Michael took a really nice picture of me and my aunt there:

Yes A very nice picture.

On the glass you can see the logo for the Winery that is supposed to be a symbol of the Lasseter Family: the bee is John, the rose is Nancy and the grapes are their kids. I guess when you are an animator your Winery needs a neat little logo, too. I actually really liked the logo – and you will see that this lead to some purchases later on!

That is a beautiful Logo and nice that you got items with it to take home

I got a set of wine charms with the pictures from the labels, a jar with a delicious herb rub that they had used on the almonds we had with the tasting (which was made with herbs grown there at the winery) and a little thing to close open wine bottles with the winery logo (and one of those for Katharina as well):

Great choices!!!

We had a very boring dinner at Burger King and then spent the rest of the evening just hanging out at the hotel, planning our next few days in San Francisco, watching TV and reading. It was really nice to have a quiet evening without anything big to do.

Sometimes you just need to grab something after several big meals.
 
With temperatures in the high 90s still and knowing that tomorrow would be a day with a lot of driving, Michael requested that we don’t go out and explore, but instead go and swim in the river.

That sounded like a lovely plan.

The bus stop is quite scenic:

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That looks amazing.

And this is where we ended up:

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I would have thought that swimming was almost impossible there with all the boulders.

Somehow my phone had decided to just drain its battery so quickly. I nearly did not get through a single day with a fully charged battery.

That is is a pain.

When I got home and switched over to my German SIM card again, suddenly the phone was back to normal behavior.

I am glad that things are back to normal.

My father died from lung cancer and lousy medical care a month ago.

I am so sorry for your loss.

One thing had really caught my eye and these were parts of trees that were dipped in metal and then came with a ribbon so that you could use them as ornaments.

I have a lot of jewellery that is made from leaves dipped in metal.

I finally settled on this one:

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This is stunning.


This is really pretty.

The interesting thing here that this is kind of a whole museum town. It was one of the Southern Mines and considered to be one of the best mining towns. Nearly every house there had a history of how it had been taken down at some point so that the ground underneath could be mined and then they put a house up again.

This sounds interesting and I loved all the photos.

I actually picked up a leaflet from the hotel they have there. With period furnished rooms (I think the bathrooms have gotten modern updates though). I would love to stay there on a future trip!

I think this is something I would love.

All in all this was definitely my least favourite accommodation during our trip. It was ok, but the whole hotel had a bit of an air of being slightly off. For example, while the room was nicely redone, it just seemed only clean on the surface. The hallways were quite rough, the breakfast room a little dirty etc. Nothing major, however it did not feel like a place that anyone took pride in and that was showing.

What a shame that this was not really up to standard.

However, with Thing 2’s connection it was quite obvious that we wanted to go to the Lasseter Family Winery. Tastings there are available for everyone, but only with prior appointment. Thing 2 had made an appointment for him, Michael and me and my aunt and uncle. But since a last minute work thing prevented him from joining us, he had to give all the instructions of how to get there and when to be there to Michael.

What a great thing to do. If we end up in that part of the world again, I would not mind booking a tasting there.

We had arranged for my aunt and uncle to come to our hotel and then they would leave their car there and we would drive. When my aunt got there, she was alone as my uncle had gotten some kind of cold and did not feel like he would enjoy a wine tasting. In the end my aunt thought that this turned out well as the wines would not have been to his taste anyway… So now our group had reduced from five to three.

What a shame that your group shrank somewhat.

his was actually one of my requests as I had never in my life eaten at a Taco Bell and I wanted to try it.

We have Taco Bell in Manchester now. I was really excited when this was first announced, but in the 2 years or so that it has been here, I have maybe been 3 or 4 times. For some reason it is just not the same as when I had this in the USA.

Here you can see the umbrella on the patio where we waited:

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The food looks really nice.

It then turned out that the tour was just for our little group of three, no other people around!

What a treat. The tour looked really interesting and I liked that they paired the wine with foods.

Corinna
 
and ended up at Taco Bell.

My favorite fast food joint.

Taco Hell, so I gutted it out.

So funny! I've been calling it that since 1975. Or longer. I dunno. Been eating it since I was a toddler. And still the place I nosh at after my swing shifts- 4th meal and all that.



Just gorgeous!!!


THOSE POSTERS!!!!!!

One afternoon I decided to go and hang out in the hot tub and the only two other people there was a couple from Sonoma and he worked in a winery there. Turned out that he was the cellar master at the Lasseter Family Winery.

And that's why striking up a conversation is always worth it!


More Arts and Crafts decor!! I'm in heaven!!

I got a set of wine charms with the pictures from the labels,

Just bought the Chemin de Fer poster and requested the wine charms which weren't on the website. I'm hoping I can make a special purchase. So classy!!
 
Michael, sorry to read about your Dad. My condolences.

I've spent the last couple of days getting caught up. I actually went back and read the D23 material more closely, thanks for posting all of that.

Regarding ceiling fans, I rented a room from a widow during my college years and she broke her arm in a ceiling fan mishap similar to yours. You're very lucky you didn't get seriously hurt!

Magdalene, I assume the aunt that you visited (and went on the wine tasting with) was the same aunt you hiked with back in the 80's?

Wow, that Ahwahnee Hotel looked beautiful. But even that couldn't compare to all of the scenery pictures you posted.
 
By the way, as I play catch up here... they were able to ship the wine charms and I am in love with them!! Just so beautiful. So glad I asked.
 
Just wanted to let you know that I still exist. Also in existence are several updates that await commentary from Michael. He is getting ready for summer in Germany and the trip report is not the highest thing on his long long to do list. BUT I hope that we get this going soon again and then finally finish it. Hopefully before the one year anniversary of the trip!
 

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