Last night was like a visit to the top of one of those cocktail umbrellas! I couldn't believe where we were going to stay.....we drove all day from Arcata, through the redwood forests and down through the napa wine valley...with tons of other cars (thank goodness most of them were going the other way), I just rolled over and slept most of the way. With all the turns and twists and up and down hills....the little narrow roads...gee..Carol said I looked green. About an hour before we got to Calistoga I lost the little bit of breakfast I cared to eat-but I felt better.
The Shangrala cabin at the Hillcrest B & B was high on a hill and had a great view of the vineyard. The little cabin transformed you to a Polynesian island, complete with plastic palm tree lights! A rainbow parrot hung from the ceiling and I could of sworn I heard him screech , but Carol said he was made out of felt and was "disgusting". The TV didn't work and there was no cell phone service and of course no high speed internet, so after we ate sandwiches and fresh cherries we went to sleep earlier than usual. We woke early and Barney gave me a bath in the jacuzzi, he let me dry on the palm tree bedspread-we left pretty soon after that. This place had some big and curious pit bull dogs so we didn't want to linger.
The drive to Groveland was to be "the quickest ever" but again, the roads!!! so little and curvy and up the hills and down the hills. I had decided not to eat the chicken this morning and opted for a strip of chicken jerky (Carol says it is fortified with good stuff) so the drive didn't make me sick today. The traffic was constant but kind and before you knew it, we were driving into Groveland (at the mouth of Yosemite Park) to stay at the Groveland Hotel. It was another renovated older hotel, but really, really nice!! The bed was so high, Barney had to pick me up to get me to the top-WOW it was worth it-so very soft-I had to bury my head in all the way.
There is a really nice restaurant here and they let me sit at the table outside with Carol and Barney. They each got a salmon and chicken dinner and shared it with me. They splurged and bought a bottle of wine, because they forgot to buy any wine when they were coming through the valley!!
I think I am really going to like sleeping here tonight, and tomorrow we go through the Yosemite Park and see some pretty incredible sights I hear. We will bunk down in Lone Pine , a little town off of hwy, 349 just west of Death Valley (that sounds really warm!! I just don't get it).
I sure miss my home and nice back yard-mostly running in the yard I think. Well, time to crash out on this feather bed----ahhhh life is good-J-