Act 3
17 August 2008 – 21 August 2008
17/08/08
Another cloudy and cooler day here in Cambria but it really is just
lovely. We enjoyed out breakfast
and then organised ourselves for our winery tour today. Originally I booked a trolley car winery tour with The Central
Coast Trolley Company but when I confirmed our booking yesterday they told me
they did not have enough numbers (only Reg & I) so they would be picking us
up in a van. Our pick up time was 10.30am and we went down the driveway to wait
for the van. It was not long and we
saw a limo coming down the road. We
didn’t think it would be for us until it stopped and the driver asked for me by
name. Wow our own stretch limo for
the day now this is really travelling in style We visited 5 wineries:
The first was The Donati Family Winery. We met two lovely young women, who
served us, and had a wonderful chat with them. Next
was Lone Madrone - the wines were ok, not totally to my liking. Reg found a Pinot Noir, which he really
enjoyed and we also had a great chat with Stephen the winemaker. Of course we bought a
bottle. From here we went to Castoro Cellars a lovely looking Spanish
Hacienda like building. I found a
white that I liked and a red for Reg as well as a magnificent port. I don’t think I have had anything so
smooth in a port in a long time. We
enjoyed our picnic lunch here chatting to Ron. It was delicious especially the desert
which was like a chocolate brownie cake.
Oh so yummie Ah now our next stop after lunch was Vina Robles. This is the first winery to actually
have a sparkling wine. A pity it
was too dry for me and the reds were not really to Reg’s liking but we did find
and inexpensive cork screw plus chocolate so Reg can pull the corks and enjoy
the reds he has already bought. Our last winery was the Rocky Creek Winery. Ron had never taken anyone there so
obviously we were going to be guinea pigs but it was good. They seem to only have red wines but
some very good ones. Reg was
impressed and we bought a Cab Sav 2001.
We had a lovely time there and they were so friendly and we had a great
chat. We are off to Moonstone Beach Bar and Grill for another great meal
tonight. Cheers all till our next update.
18/08/08 We left Cambria today for Groveland, not far from Yosemite, for our next 4 nights stay. Travelling along the coast road we had some wonderful views of the coast and the ocean. We passed through Big Sur and the outskirts of Monterey before heading inland through some farming communities.
We arrived in Groveland at the Hotel Charlotte a little after 5pm. It was a long day and I am bushed. Reg unpacked the car and lugged all the
suitcases up the stairs. He then
went over to the Iron Door Saloon for a couple of cold ales while I took a
breather and refreshed myself.
Off I went then and met Reg and enjoyed a couple of beers which
were lovely and cold and great.
We then went back to the Hotel for dinner. The meal was excellent and extremely
reasonable. I tried their Venison
and Reg had their pork. Both were
delicious and the sweets were to die
for........yummie.
Early to bed for me tonight the driving really does take its toll
especially when you are on the road for nearly 7
hours.
Footnote: We just love the road signs just a little different to home.
19/08/08
After breakfast at our hotel we headed off to do our laundry. Yes we know yuk. The hotel pointed us in the direction of
an RV park which they had an agreement with to allow their guest the use of
their laundry. Alas on arrival the
RV Park said sorry it is only for guests.
Oh well what the heck we just headed into Yosemite and thought we would
find something later on. It is quite a drive from where we are staying, about and hour, but
the scenery is glorious and we had all the time in the world. It costs $US20 to enter the park and
that gives you access for seven days which is quite reasonable. I asked the Park Ranger where would be
the nearest town with a Laundromat after we had finished in Yosemite. To our delight she told us there was one
in the Valley at Curry Village.
Woohoo our luck was in today. As we got closer to the valley floor the scenery became more
spectacular with high sheer mountain cliffs, pine forests, signs of recent rock
slides, running streams and magnificent trees all around
us. As we drove around the Valley we found Curry Village and their
Laundromat so off we went to get this wonderful task out of the way for another
few days. One of the drawbacks of
such a long trip you just have to do the washing. After getting the clothes on to wash we sat outside to enjoy the
surroundings and what wonderful surroundings they were. Washing has to be great when you are
surrounded by the beauty of Yosemite. Time passed fairly quickly and we were all done and ready to
explore more of the Valley. After a
quick bite to eat we were on our way stopping to see streams, magnificent trees
and large rock faces that tower over the valley. Reg says “Magnificent absolutely magnificent”. This from one who has lived in the Blue
Mountains (NSW) and that is also magnificent. Two very different areas but both
equally as magnificent and breathtaking. When we had finished out little tour around we headed back to our
hotel. The Hotel Charlotte was
built in 1921 and it really is a very quaint place. Although the rooms are small they are
well kept and clean and the staff is very friendly and
helpful. After dinner which was at a cafe just up the road we sat
downstairs, in the lounge room, for awhile with my pc trying to get and upload
to the website. We are not sure
what is wrong but we have been having some difficulties with uploading to the
site since we arrived. Something
for Reg to think about and hopefully come up with an answer. So if you don’t see a post for a couple
of days then you will know what the problem is. We have had another great day. Reg even drove the car for a short
distance as well. 20/08/08
We started our day with a good breakfast at the Hotel, which is all
inclusive in the cost of the room.
There is a choice of juice, cereal, toast, muffins, scrambled eggs,
pancakes, tea and coffee. It really
does start off the day well. The museum, at the winery, also had some great early American
artifacts, a suit of armour, large swords and chain mail from medieval
England. It was all very
interesting and we enjoyed looking around. They also had some beautiful pieces of jewellery. A piece that caught my eye was pink
sapphire and diamond butterfly earrings.
Now they were beautiful and NO I did not buy
them. The scenery was wonderful and after leaving Murphys we headed to
the Calaveros Big Trees State Park where we took a walk through some giant
redwoods (Sequoiadendron giganteum).
Many of these exceed 250ft (75m) in height with the tallest one being
325ft (100m). These trees are huge
not only in height but also in trunk size (see the
pics). After leaving the park we headed back the way we came and stopped
for lunch and then returned back to Groveland through
Sonora. We went over to the Iron Door Saloon for a cold beer and had
dinner. I tried their Buffalo
burger and it was delicious. We
walked back across the street to the hotel and decided we would go and sit on
the balcony and enjoy some port which we bought in Paso Robles. There were a four guests out there from
Iowa and a couple from Italy joined us a little later. We had a great chat and enjoyed the port
(yes we did share lol). It was all in all a very enjoyable day and
evening.
21/08/08
Today was spent very leisurely.
I had a nail appointment at 9am and when I asked at the desk where I
would find Ponderosa Lane they explained that it ran behind the hotel and that
if I went out the back I could cross over the bridge and then walk up a little
way. So off we went but the only bridge we saw was actually part of the
road down the end of the driveway into the hotel. Ok so we hopped into the car but then
“Alice” wouldn’t work but we took off anyway and a couple of doors up the road
we came to Ponderosa Lane and turned into it but there were all these little
buildings in there and we couldn’t see the salon. After ending back up on the highway we
went back into the lane and there were some storage sheds so we followed the
road into there and found the salon. Reg took the car and “Alice” back to the hotel and waited for me
to return. After my appointment
finished I walked down toward the back of the hotel. It wouldn’t have been more that several
metres away and well guess what I found the “little bridge”. It would have been staring us in the
eyes if we had them open. LOL. The bridge is actually about 4 feet in
front of where we park the car. We then went for a drive into the countryside and when we returned
I read for a little and had a nap. Dinner was in the hotel restaurant and it was excellent
again. Reg had a porterhouse with
blue cheese butter and I had the lamb shank both meal were
excellent. An early night tonight, as we head off on the next part of our
adventure tomorrow morning. We will
be travelling through Tioga Pass to Bishop for our overnight
stay.
We stopped at Bridalveil Falls and took some photos
but there was not much water coming over.
It would be spectacular after the snow has
defrosted.
Afterwards we headed towards Murphys and the
Ironstone Vineyard. We weren’t
going to the vineyard for their wine but to see the large gold nugget on
display. It is a 44lb (20kg) flakey
gold rock which was found in 1992 and it is stored in a true bank vault. It was huge and looked very
impressive. We asked the lady in
the museum/gift shop what sort of value was on it and she explained it was
assessed at $US3.5 million. Now
that would be a tidy retirement fund.
