Loved this 3D like art.

In front of the hotel

Walked down to the Railyard for lunch and a beer at Niccols Brewery-somewhere new.

At Gruet - bought a bottle called Do epic shit to share with the girls.

Awww - downtown vibes.

Ended our evening at SantaFe brewery which was a 5 minute walk from our hotel.

Inside our room

Bunny- saw a few.

Woke up the next morning and had a nice breakfast at our hotel, a walk around the square again and then loaded up for our trip to Pagosa Springs.

Light and dark beers of course.

Meandered our way to downtown and Gruet for a sparkling flight followed by another snack

Peaceful and great temperature!

We were given free passes to come back the next day to soak in the hot tubs. Of course, being the early bird that we are we practically had the place to ourselves.

This town is known for its hot springs so we booked a couples massage followed by an hour in a private tub. They have a few “bath houses” - we enjoyed this one because it was a little quieter, they cleaned the tubs every night, and it was in the middle of downtown. It was called Overlook.

Downtown

We had lunch at Riff Raff on the Rio. Aperol spritz for me.

Nice River view

Cute planter boxes

Soco Motel

Our private tub.

A little shopping - found two pairs of pants and called the town done - ready to get away from their construction mess.

We have two full days here so we had breakfast at a cute family run restaurant called Patria - I had a very yummy beet latte.

This was followed by a hike here. Close to town but hilly!

Our girl loves her pillows.

Emerald Bay

Shopping girls.

That girl could climb! \240Ashley - it is all her fault!

Hats required due to the hot sun

Weather turned out to be warmer than expected!

Stopped for some staples at a place called WinCo - a discount supermarket. In awe of the amount of bins you could pick stuff from.

Sharon got some awesome pictures on the way to the townhouse. After settling in, we went to the water and to CBs followed by a night in.

Waiting on the free bus - sunshine and 70sh…

Started with lunch at National Brewery - beers and Aperols :-).

Our final night at Garwoods.

Count them!

At Stateside Brewery and Whisky - 500 kinds they say.

The little beer is for the driver :-).

Captain Bob

Sharon’s motto.

And just like that it was the last day for Traci and Sharon. We had breakfast at the old post office Café, relaxed, and then went on a catamaran tour, followed by dinner at Garwood’s. Me and Diane split an excellent halibut!

They do have a nice view - lucky to get a spot in the shade.

Our musician and historian.

Love some sunflowers!

I couldn’t jump high enough to sit in it 🤣

Cute!

She does enjoy her music and dancing.

Pier at night - pretty site.

Dropped the girls off Thursday morning and then we went to the Truckee Winery. We were the only people there, but enjoyed our tasting. Of course, they source all their grapes from somewhere else.

Friday was meant to settle in, do laundry and visit CBs for pizza and beer. Up and at em Saturday morning to pick up Traci and Sharon at the Reno airport at 9 am.

Everyone was hungry so we stopped for an awesome brunch in Reno that we found on the fly - Stonehouse Cafe. Great patio with beautiful flowers and our first mimosa together.

One final bottle of wine shared before heading back home to our Missy.

Monday was Truckee day - laid back. Shopping for me and Traci, beers for Sharon and Diane.

Kept smelling pot today:-).

Of course the next morning we did a hike around the woods followed by a ride on the Tart system to Tahoe City for the day.

Cheers!

Me and Traci did some shopping and Sharon and Diane wandered around to see the sites in Tahoe city. They have live music on the beach on Sunday afternoon so we stopped in for a bit before going to dinner at Jake’s on the lake.

My - what a great looking group.

Beachside Cafe

Big ass pine cone

After leaving there, we stopped at rally’s to buy dinner and had to stop at the Truckee brewery and had pizza. Best pizza we have had so far and our dinner will have to wait till the next night.

On our next to last day, we took the tart down to Kings Beach since we have not been there before. We just wandered around putting in some steps - visited a few \240 shops and stopped and had a little snack and a beer before grabbing the tart and heading back.

On our final day, we relaxed around the townhouse, finished up our laundry and packed and of course we had to go to CB’s for one last time so we could see the lake.

Time just flew by and before we knew it we’re getting ready to head to Paso Robles.

Ended up down at the lake for munchies and wind down time followed by a stupid movie 🤣

Tuesday was meant for South Lake and Stateside - none of us had been there. Compared to North Lake Tahoe it is very crowded and touristy. But of course we had a good time. Stopped for a view of Emerald Bay on the way and had lunch at a beach side Café.wandered around the shops and did \240a brewery tour - think Diane and Sharon hit up 4. Tee was the driver so no beer 🍺

Nice picture spot

Took Missy back to the room and had some BBQ and chocolate cake for dinner.

We decided to hire a driver for a day through a company called Toast - our driver was Madison. We had a sprinter van to ourselves and they let us bring Missy. They even had a bed in the back for her :-).

Enjoying the place to our self.

Spent about an hour here and then drove \240to the other side of the highway to a place called Parrish. Beautiful views and a patio where we enjoyed lunch with our tasting.

Nice touch :-)

We picked up three. Bottles here - the Pinot Gris, Kaia Lee and the Petite Cab.

Had the BLTA sandwich and a pasta salad. Good but messy.

We finished at McPrice Myers \240- they had really bold wines and a nice patio as well - we purchased 2 bottles of Earhbound and one blend.

She was really comfortable there

Madison picked us up at 10:30 and took us to our first stop at a small winery called Dresser. We were the only people there and the owner was our wine pourer. A small winery producing about 1500 cases. Kory and his wife and daughter who is eight are the only ones that really worked there.Kaia, his daughter designs one of the labels each year.

Usually, we see winery dogs, but this one had a winery cat

We ended our night at Aramath - like the town tasting room. Met some locals, chatted a lot and had a great time.

Paso Robles has a way different feel than Northern California. Much hotter and very dry and yellow. They have a lot of live oak trees and non fruit producing plum trees that are a beautiful purple color.

Was very surprised that most wines were not cabs as that is what we mostly get in San Antonio. Most were a blend and very few whites.

The downtown is quaint with shops and tasting rooms of course. They have painted wine barrels scattered around.

Since we were so close to the Pacific Ocean, we took a drive over to Morro Bay. We walked around there on our last morning. It was beautiful weather and the water was a beautiful color.

And that was it for Paso as they call it. Time to start the trek home stopping in Palm Springs with a temperature of 114 - ouch!

Four Chords was our favorite.

Grapes!

The patio

And not quite ready to call it done, we took an Uber to the downtown square. Stopped in for an unimpressive tasting at Justin. Their wines were ok but the place was very sterile and 20 for a chocolate pairing was a joke. But they did have this nice glass spot \240

Cara was our server - we had the entire place to ourselves.

Just a stop over visit on the way to Bisbee Arizona. A place Diane found-cute old copper mining town built into the mountainside.

Just like the sign, you feel like you stepped back in time.

Stayed here for two nights at a cute redone hotel. The Eldorado Suites Hotel - Originally apartments for the wealthy in the area - we had lots of space to spread out in including two porches.

Our room

Our back patio with space for Missy to be off leash.

Good call to stay for two nights. The first night we wandered around to get our bearings had a little dinner and a beer and drink at their beer/whiskey distillery.

The beer for Diane and the spritzer for me. One was enough - not very good.

Being in the mountains, the mornings and evenings were absolutely beautiful, but the afternoons were brutal.

The city is also known for its vibrant art scene - we walked around in the morning to see the sites and grab a quick breakfast

As advertised.

On one of two main streets - this is on the street that used to be Beer Gulch Alley where all the miners would hang out when not mining.

To get just about anywhere you had to walk up or down a hill or steps.

😊😂

That sign was in front of Gene’s place.

Part of a wall mural.

My favorite girls walking down steps

At the top of one of the hills looking back towards the city

Since we were in a mining town, we went on a tour of the copper mine. It stopped operating in 1975. Was a little claustrophobic, but we got to wear hard hats.😉

Art truck!

That same walk

On those same steps. That particular stretch of walkway had hundreds of paintings.

Mine toilets 🚽

On the mine train in all our gear.

Our guide

Mined out hole.

We ended the night with a bar hopping tour of our own making

Of course 😉

El Sueno - dark and gloomy

Gene’s place.

And that about wraps it up. Stopped in Van Horn to break up the 12 hour drive home. We took Hwy 9 that runs parallel to the Mexican border through New Mexico ending in El Paso. Got to see the ridiculous border wall that protects hundreds of miles of dessert. What a joke.

As the name says - 4 seats in the entire bar

That black line is the wall.

Arrived home on August 10 around 1/00.

23 days - temps ranged from 39 in Lake Tahoe to 118 driving through Phoenix.

Although we enjoy road trips, the heat driving is getting to be a bit much. It’s good to have Missy with us but that does cause us some challenges trying to find potty places and limits where we can stay. We will see if we do any more of these….

Interesting art work on our building

Graffiti park

Not at home - but our baby.