June 7 - Visit with Drew and Erin and Winery

Our California trip is coming to a close. This is the last time we will see Drew and Erin. 

Shuff had to finish the barn door closet project he started earlier. Erin loves it and is a nice update to the Bo-fold doors. 

Lenny cooled off in Winnie’s pool. 

Erin’s garden is growing and already producing veggies. 

Eggplant flowers. 

Their apricot tree looks like they will have a good crop this year

Erin has wanted a yellow door for a long time e. Guess what … she got it. Looks so bright and springy. 

Off to the Skinner Winery to celebrate Drew’s birthday. 

Lorena, Boye, fina and Santi joined us as well as Meg and Rowan. We had a great celebration for Drew’s 16th, er 37th birthday. 
















If that wasn’t enough celebration, we continued on to Moonraker for a little more. Long but special day with special people. 

May 26 - A day of wineries

Up early and on the road to Chacewater Winery and Olive tasting. We are members and had some to pick up. We tasted about 12 olive oils and 7 different wines. There really wasn’t one we didn’t like. 

Chacewater’s olive trees. They are a Harvest Host. We stayed here a year ago and that’s when we became members. 

We sat outside overlooking the olive trees with a chaurterie board and a bottle of wine. 

Our next stop was at Six Sigma Winery. Although they are only a 2 hour drive from Sacramento, you think you’re in a different world. The winery sits on a 2 mile dirt road. This location used to be a stage coach stop in the 1800s. Very quiet and tranquil space. I can see what people from the city come here. They are also a Harvest Host so we hope to come back next year and stay. Maybe Carl and Shan will join us in their new van. 

May 24 - E—16 Winery

Shan belongs to E—16 Winery and had wine to pick up so we met Drew and Erin there. The drive is very windy so it takes about 2 hours 

They had a tasting and pairing of chocolates for us plus a little lunch. The wines they chose were delicious and the chocolate truffles enhanced the wine tasting. 

Vineyards all along the drive. 




On the way home, we stopped at Amador brewery to breakup the trip. 

A bike with a wine barrel side car. 

September 27 - Quilt Shop, Hike and Falls

We’ve stayed at Otter Creek  campground because it’s central to a lot of steering. Today we drove to Grand Marais, east of Munising and the end of Pictured Rock National Lakeshore. 

We hike through woods and down 168 steps to view Sable Falls, a 75’ cascade. 

Once back in Munising, I visited a quilt shop that had topper Fabric and they were having a shop hop so fabric was 25% off. Of course I had to buy some for the memories!

Then we stopped by By George brewery   IPAs were tasty. A winery was just down the street so of course we tried a flight of their wines. 

Back at the campground, we had some cheese and crackers by the lake. A relaxing end to our day. 

July 10 - Wooster OH - Lincoln Way Vineyards

Last Harvest Host for awhile. We’ve had our share of great wines on our trip to California and back. Unfortunately this one isn’t high on our list of want to return. The venue is nice though and their business is family-owned. Met the son and father and enjoyed talking with them. 

The most wonderful part of my day was spent talking or chatting with each of our kids and a friends as they wished me Happy Birthday. Arlo FaceTimed me. I need to get better at getting a picture when he does this and to get it when he first sees me and focuses!!  Haha. 

Thanks all for news and for thinking of me. 

June 4 - Drew’s Birthday and Wine

For Drew’s birthday, we went to Ashes and Diamonds, one of the wine clubs they belong to in Napa. Even though the temperature was over 100 degrees, we were able to sit outside under a shaded area. 

After a tasting and a charcuterie board, we made the hard choices of what to buy and headed to our next part of the celebration, an oyster bar. 

Momentous day for me, had my first raw oyster and it was yummy. 

The drive back to Sacramento during rush hour was slow so I took a photo of the flowers along the median. Drew says they bloom all spring and summer. They are stunning. 

They are oleander bushes. After looking them up, they are poisonous. Guess not too many people stop along the very busy highway to sniff them!

Back at Drew and Erin’s we had a lesson on eating with chopsticks. We may loose a lot of weight if this is the utensil we use.  

Happy Birthday, Drew. So glad we were able to celebrate with you. 

June 2 - More Curvy roads to our next Harvest Host

While still at Brashley Winery, we took a short walk around their property. Saw these beautiful blooming bushes … a California Buckeye. 

They grow large here. 


The winery has several games, corn hike and disc golf. We decided to play a couple games of cornhole. Not going to mention who won but it wasn’t the writer of this blog. 

It was time to move on to our next Harvest Host, Chacewater Winery and Olive Mill.  More twisty and windy roads with wineries on either side of the road. 

We tasted at least eight wines and eight olive oils. We liked several of both so decided to join their wine club and buy several bottles of wine and oil. Our shipment from the wine club will come in September. 

Olive trees

Our evening stroll was among the olive trees. 

As we drove south and east away from the coast, our view is of olive trees and mountains. Notice the cloudy skies. First ones we’ve seen for weeks.