We escaped the triple-digit heat for the second weekend in a row, we’re on a roll.  On seeing it was going to be another hot weekend, we made the last-minute call to take the 1.5 hour drive up to Tahoe for a few nights.  Since we couldn’t find a pup-sitter on such short notice, we loaded her up and took her with us too.  It all worked out just fine!  We ended up in a resort we hadn’t stayed at before, and it was not quite as nice as others we’ve stayed at, but it was all good.

We got there Friday night and were sort of worn out from the last-minute packing, the drive, and the work week.  We didn’t really have any desire to go anywhere, and that was a good thing because Teagan made it known she did not want to be left alone in the strange room.  That sort of caught us off-guard, as she doesn’t usually seem to care where she is.  As long as there is a couch and a chew toy, she’s pretty laid back.  Oh well, we adjusted our plans accordingly and just hung out in the room with her and played cards.

Saturday we had a full itinerary.  We kicked things off with a shopping trip to set Teagan up with some hiking boots.  We’ve always wanted to take her out hiking with us, but the trails up there are usually covered with sharp rocks.  It might have been a bit over the top, who knows.  I’ll grant you, there are plenty of dogs out there without boots, but I know I wouldn’t want to walk over those rocks barefoot.  We already knew the store that carried them, so we headed straight there.  They did a great job fitting her, it was pretty amazing how much of a difference the right size made.  We actually already have boots she wears sometimes, but they’re too big and you can tell she doesn’t like them.  When they found the right size for her, she walked around in them like they weren’t there at all.  After that we made the long, slow drive to the trailhead.  It was over by Emerald Bay, and the drive there is always stop-and-go the whole way.  Parking is no treat either, we had to circle around a few times before we got lucky and a spot opened up.  It was definitely worth it though, the hike was great and Teagan loved it.  As an added bonus, she was absolutely wiped out for the rest of the day.  We headed down to the casinos for the evening, and I don’t think she even raised her head when we left.  Doni had a big night at the games, I think she paid for our entire weekend!  (Granted, we weren’t out much but few pints and a tank of gas.  The room was paid for long ago and we brought our own food.)

Sunday we got up early and tried to beat the traffic back down the hill.  Apparently everyone else had the same idea, it didn’t work out so hot.  Oh well, we made it eventually.  We spent the day over at our friend Harper’s house celebrating her 3rd birthday.  It was quite the party;  Cake, ice cream, and nacho cheese, pretty much all the things a good party are made of.

Yup, still hot here.  Better, but still well into the roasting range.  It’s starting to wear on us a little bit, so when we got the chance to escape the heat for the weekend we jumped on it.  A group was heading down to the coast for a little camping trip, and we got the added bonus of seeing an area we hadn’t been to before.  The area was called Duncans Mills, which at a 3 hour drive was a bit further than we usually care to travel.  I’d say it was well worth it though.  The trip got us some fantastic scenery, and it was a good 30 degrees cooler.  As a matter of fact, sleeping in the tent at night was downright chilly, but I’ll take that over being hot any time.  While we were there, we explored a few new wineries, and made the short trip to nearby Bodega Bay to see the ocean.

We got back Saturday evening, pretty well worn out.  Sunday was spent on the couch, but at least it was the back yard couch.  We brought a little cooler weather back with us!  I’ve got a lot of pics to post this week, so I’ll go with those instead of actual content.  Bonus.

It’s still a bit on the warm side here.  By warm, I mean punishingly, brutally hot.  Yeah it’s nice that the humidity runs about 20%, but the sun will still wear you down.  Mostly I miss hanging out on my back patio.  Oh well, in all fairness it is the middle of summer, it’s supposed to be hot.

We didn’t have any big plans this weekend, sort of just hung out and relaxed.  I met up with a buddy Friday afternoon for some post-work-week celebration, then scurried home to watch the Royals drop another game in my moderately comfortable air conditioned living room.  I think I fell asleep about 7:30.  Another wild Friday in the books.

Saturday I got up on the early side to enjoy the cool morning air.  Hey, if I can’t have my evenings on the patio, I make it a morning hangout.  After a few cups of coffee and plenty of morning news on the TV, I was ready to get out and exercise before it heated up too much.  Never happened though.  At least I thought about it, that has to be good for a few calories.  We ended up do nothing all morning, then later in the afternoon met some friends at the newer Sentivo winery up in Fairplay.  At least I think it’s newer…  I might be making that up.  It was a very nice place at any rate, and the 45 minute drive up in elevation bought us about 10 degrees of cooler temperature.  We brought a little picnic with us and spent quite a while enjoying their grounds, I definitely wasn’t in any hurry to get back to the heat.  After that we headed to Placerville for a bit, then on back to the house.

Sunday, mostly just to keep from totally wasting another weekend day, we met up with a friend and her little ‘uns at nearby Lake Natoma for some recreation.  Seemed like a popular option, the parking lot was pretty full.  I took my inflatable kayak and we rented another there at the park, and proceeded to paddle and splash around for a few hours.  After that we headed over to a nearby restaurant and enjoyed a tasty lunch on their patio.  Somewhere between the heat of the day, all the paddling, and the heavy lunch we got knocked out for the rest of the day though.  We limped back home and spent the rest of the evening on the couch.  Again.

Whew we’ve been busy.  I haven’t forgotten about updating my website, I’ve just totally ignored it.  We’ve had two weeks of company, vacation, and fun.  Our friends Chris & Kelly came in on the 15th, and we headed down to the Napa & Sonoma area.  Donette and Kelly participated in the Napa to Sonoma 1/2 marathon, while Chris and I  did…  Other stuff.  We went to some great wineries while we were there of course, and enjoyed some fantastic meals.  That goes for Donette and I at least;  Coming from the food desert we’ve moved to, pretty much anything tastes fantastic.  After that we headed back up the hill to our house and kicked around a few days, then Chris had to go back home.  We traded him in for our friend Mary at the airport, and a “girls vacation” ensued from there.  I tried to avoid those outings for the most part, but I joined in a few trips.  Good times, if a bit warm!  I have to keep reminding myself that it’s even worse in KC, and whereas the heat index in KC is usually 15 degrees above the air temp, here it is generally about 5 degrees lower.  Doesn’t matter that much…  Even if the heat index IS a mere 98, that’s too hot for me.

I can’t remember every detail of the past two weeks, as usual.  I really need to start taking notes.  And as a matter of fact, I think I did take notes over this trip, I just can’t remember what I did with them.  Sigh.  Got a lot of pics though.  There are a ton more too, maybe I’ll throw another set up later in the week.

Ah, a fine holiday weekend.  Left me a bit battered but I’ll recover.  Said recovery tends to take a little longer than usual since I passed the 1/2-century mark, but I believe there are more factors at work there than just my advanced age.  My memory is sketchy these days too, but I’ll recount the weekend activities to the best of my ability.  Lately I’ve been given to mixing up the days during which an event occurred, much to Donette’s dismay.  Three-day weekends are particularly taxing on me.  I figure I’m doing good enough just to cover things, the time and/or day on which they occurred is secondary.

Friday, (or was that Saturday?) we kicked things off “up the hill” with our friends Michael & Alaina.  I’m not entirely clear who scheduled the events of the evening, but I don’t get too caught up in the planning phase.  I was, as they say, “along for the ride.”  The weather had cooled considerably, making for a pleasant happy hour of sorts at Chateau Davell winery.  They have a nice patio with a great view, if you can ignore the fact that you’re looking out over a highway.  We enjoyed a bottle of wine and a nice meat & cheese tray, then moved on to downtown Placerville to check the progress at Outbreak Brewing.  They’re not officially open yet, but they sell tasters one or two nights a week.  We dropped by a while back and liked the place.  It didn’t appear to me they’d made much progress on the building but they said it was coming along;  I’ll take their word for it.  After tasting a few of their new brews, we headed out for dinner at nearby Smith Flat House.  This was, we decided, our official “best dinner yet in CA.”  I’ve probably used that label a few times before, but I can assure you they’re few and far between.  This place also boasted the rare quality of an actual “atmosphere!”  It was a really cool historic building, it was a nice change to not enjoy dinner in a strip mall.

Saturday morning, Michael & Alaina joined us again for a brunch at our house.  We’ve been on something of a brunch run lately, trying the menu at several local places.  To date, we’ve been left with the general impression of “mediocre & overpriced” at all of them.  (The possible exception is The Purple Place, and it is perilously close to the latter of those two qualities…  But at least the food is good.)  So, I decided to work up a brunch menu of my own.  Honestly I was basing this entire idea on an urge to make eggs benedict using my new sous vide cooker.  I’ll admit a bit of disappointment at finding out nobody liked eggs benedict, and especially with soft-poached eggs.  The most popular menu requests were biscuits and gravy and canned corned beef hash.  Hmmm, didn’t see that one coming.  Well, I can do those I suppose.  I don’t think I’ve had canned hash since I was a kid, and I must say it was a sodium-laden delight.  (I don’t know in what alternate universe the contents of that can qualify as “corned beef hash,” but whatever it really is was pretty tasty.  I thought it best not to read the label.)

Sunday the highlight of the day was a pool party over at a friend’s house in Folsom.  We went to the same event last year and had a great time, it was definitely on our “not to be missed” list.  Matter of fact I was planning to come early and help with the pre-party bbq’ing this year, but that part didn’t work out.  It was a great party once again, if you could overlook the constant barrage of country music.  Hey, not everybody likes non-stop Dave Matthews Band I guess.  Matter of fact I don’t think anybody does, but that’s what you’re getting if you come to my house.  (Say, maybe that’s why nobody comes to my house…  I’ll take that into consideration.)  Anyway, we enjoyed the day, including the great bbq.

For the holiday, we headed up to our friends Michael & Alaina’s once again.  They are likely tiring of our company but our other friend was out of town so options were extremely limited.  They’ve got a nice neighborhood pool, and for whatever reason it is simply not used.  This was the second time we’ve been to it, and the second time we’ve had the whole pool to ourselves.  We set up a volleyball net, fired up a grill, and had a great day of it.  Both Donette & I managed to lose track of time and are now sporting some heinous sunburns, but other than that slip-up it was fine day.