California Road Trip - Day Six

Saturday, April 17, 2016

Waking up at Oro Vista was like waking up in an incredible resort. While breakfast was cooking, Jim asked if I'd like to go work with him in his vineyards for a bit.  I raced upstairs, grabbed my camera, and joined him in the Merlot vineyards.  It was an experience I will treasure forever.  The sun was toasting the air to perfection, and I was working in a vineyard.  Wow!

Jim patiently explained how each section should have only two growths, thus he would remove any others, which he called "thumb pruning" as you could easily remove the unwanted growths with your thumb and fingers.  It was fascinating to see the tiny little grapes forming.

I began thumb pruning the unwanted growths below the cordon, the "t" of the vine, or the long part that runs perpendicular to the ground.

We worked together until Jim thought that it was time to return to the house for breakfast.  I'm truly grateful for this awesome experience.  Thanks, Jim.

Connie, once again, had prepared a fabulous meal.  Afterwards we drove over to the Gold Discovery Museum in Placerville where gold was originally discovered in California.  We were fortunate enough to have a museum dossent who was a decedent of one of the original 49ers!  He explained all about the covered wagons used by the pioneers.

We learned that the majority of the pioneers walked next to the covered wagon because the ride inside was AWFUL!  They covered about 20 miles each day, and it took approximately 5 - 6 months to travel from Missouri/Kansas to California.  One of the leading builders of the covered wagon was a freed slave.

Next, we went into the quaint little town of Placerville and had lunch at the Old Towne Grille where we truly enjoyed our elk burgers.

Afterwards, we returned to Jim and Connie's only to discover that the two deer were sniffing around our rental car, sort of like guard deer.  Sadly, we said farewell and began our trip down to the Yosemite area.  We rode on Highway 49 which felt like playing a video game with swerving left and right, up and down steep mountain roads with no guard rails.  The view was spectacular and we arrived at the Comfort Inn, Oakhurst with no problems.

We opted to go to Starbucks for coffee and oatmeal, rather than another big meal.  We're very excited about tomorrow's tour of Yosemite.