America the Beautiful

Bye Dad on Saturday night after a great week of wine tastings

Vancouver BC, on Sunday

Walk in Big Sky , Montana

Old Faithful Erupts at Yellowstone

Mount Rushmore

Back road mountain pass from Yellowstone to South Dakota





Thelma and Louise are in Mitchell, South Dakota tonight after 2 more wonderful days of travel. Sensory overload has been the key phrase the last few days. From Seattle to Vancouver. A visit with friends in Big Sky. Yellowstone park....Mountain passes....Mount Rushmore. We truly live in a beautiful country.

One week on the Road

Hard to believe it was one week ago that Steve and I landed in LA. It has been a fast, busy, fun week. So many things to see. I determined today as I crossed the state line into Washington that I have been in all of the continental United States. And actually I have been in 49 of the 50 states. So the Alaska cruise is still high on my list of future vacations to complete the entire list.

A quick update of the last couple of days. We arrived in Oregon Wednesday night and spend Thursday on the road stopping at 2 of the Pinot Noir wineries of southern Oregon. We drove into Portland in time for dinner and an overnight stay with a former fraternity brother of Steve's. We determined the last time the four of us were together was in 1986 while we were skiing at Lake Tahoe. A lifetime had elasped with not much more than the exchange of Christmas cards but we all seemed to pick up as if it were only last year. That is truly the definition of friendship. If you are reading Mike and Carol it will be a highlight of our trip to reconnect with the both of you. After a wonderful quick tour of the city on Friday we were off to Seattle. Arrived in the city and had a great meal overlooking some of the islands of Puget Sound. Into the city tomorrow for the downtown tour and then we must say goodbye to Steve and the real Thelma and Louise road trip will begin. We have tried to talk Steve into continuing with us but I think he is ready to escape the female influence for awhile.

Goodbye California

It took nearly 5 days but we crossed the California/Oregon border tonight. We started the day from our Napa base and headed over the mountain to Sonoma. Stopped in Healdsburg for a Sonoma wine tasting then headed out to the coast highway. The scenery along this northern coast is spectacular. It is reminiscent of what I presume the Scottish or Irish coastline to look like. We also drove through the giant redwood forests. The trees are amazing. We stopped for dinner in Crescent City which is about as far north as you can get in California, then finished the day with the drive across the state line. Lots of pictures but too tired tonight to load them up.

Tomorrow we see some of the Oregon grape growing regions and get to Portland to visit with friends.

Roadtrip/Wine Tasting with Steve and Jessica

The road trip began on Saturday morning with Jessica saying her final goodbyes to LA. We drove to Santa Ynez where Jessica has entertained us with winery tours on previous trips. We visited one of our favorites, Gainey Winery and had a great lunchtime picnic before heading on to Santa Maria for the night.

The entrance to Bridlewood Winery

Ok it tastes good and this is fun

Jessica and Steve at Bridlewood

The view from the picnic table at Gainey

Pictures for Framing

That was about it for Saturday. Sunday was another beautiful day travelling up the California coast to Paso Robles for a personal tour of the Tablas Creek Winery. We made a stop at the Hearthstone winery and another at Zin Alley, where the owner and Steve struck up a friendship. We drove the Big Sur and had dinner at Nepenthe Restaurant. We first visited Nepenthe in 1980 and have tried to make it a regular stop anytime we travel the Big Sur. After dinner we finished the drive up the Big Sur and walked around Carmel. Driving on up to Montery Jessica noticed a thumping sound and we discovered a flat tire. A sad ending to a great day. I am sitting in the motel now while Steve and Jessica get the tire repaired and we are off to Napa later today.

Lunch at Tablas Creek

The view from Hearthstone Winery

Steve and Mike, the owner and wine maker at Zin Alley

Phoenix rising Statue at Nepenthe

The end of the day in Monterey

Happy Independence Day

We started the holiday weekend with the RCO summer party in our backyard last night. Belmont put on a fabulous fireworks show to top the evening off. The weather Was probably the best it has ever been for this big party in the 10 years we have been celebrating from our backyard. Clear skies and no wind. The no wind makes today much easier because there was no fireworks debris to clean up. I am still awaiting the crew to take down the tent but other than that we are all ready to continue the holiday weekend with friends and golf.

I hope everyone is enjoying the weather, the holiday and friends.