Murphys, Bear Valley and on to Yosemite.....

From South Lake Tahoe we took the back road to go over Ebbetts Pass and passed by Mosquito lakes

 and down to Bear Valley, with a stop in the Gold Country.

This is not exactly the busiest road in California! This is the  main street going through Markleeville  the main and only town we went through!

We used to have a cabin in Bear Valley so were interested in checking it out to see if there had been any changes .......... and there weren't!

Then on to Murphys which is a very cute town in Gold country, which has become a wine centre of the Sierra.

We stayed in an absolutely fabulous place there and  definitely  hope to return...

 However the Victoria Inn  owners told us the owner of that particular apartment was interested in selling.  The Inn handles lots of different apartments around the town.

We then went on to Columbia

where we were happy to see that Wells Fargo had in those days been extremely efficient!!

  and afterwards to Yosemite....

and on to the Ahwanee for lunch...

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And on to Lake Tahoe...........

Our plan was to do a round trip through northern California, so our next stop was Lake Tahoe......via Reno to buy an iPad under the mistaken idea that there was no sales tax in Nevada!!  Not so! Its just 1% less than in California but we probably spent that much extra on gas!!
We had booked into a restaurant Christy Hill  for lunch.....  but they called and said they were closing for lunch because there was too much wind! It had very good reviews so we were a little put out! Particularly as we had arranged to meet some friends there!

So instead we ended up in a typical American cafe in Truckee.............

and had a great BLT!!

We also stopped at Virginia City...... where the Wild West theme is a tad over the top!

Then onto our hotel in  South Lake Tahoe.......

Where we had a nice evening view over the lake.......

and a view of a Paddle Steamer from our restaurant, the Riva Grill, terrace

and then a great sunset a little later on..........

The morning view from our balcony wasn't bad either.....

and the view we had later of Emerald Bay was splendid!

Sonoma and Napa Valley......

We were happy to have at least one warmish morning before leaving Sausalito!

and were able to check out the houseboats which are fun to see..... even though there wasn't too much water around them!

We decided to visit the Mission in Sonoma..... which is very interesting....

and then have lunch at a restaurant we have liked over the years... The Girl and the Fig.

where we had quite a light lunch....

 Starting, of course, with some local wines!

and ending with a nice cheese plate....

 
Happily the weather had improved dramatically and we were able to eat outdoors.

Then on to our next stop, Silverado Resort, just outside Napa. We rented a fantastic apartment overlooking the golf course.... and we would definitely return as it was very quiet and very comfortable!

nice living room.......

and two large bedrooms........

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We decided to eat in as we had lunched out.....
However we did not exactly feel deprived... after a trip to Whole Foods!

Next day we made it up as far as the Clos Pegase Vineyard, just outside Calistoga. This again was a re-visit for us.....we like their art!

Then back down to St Helena for lunch in the Farmstead.  Again we lunched outdoors.

 The food was good but not exceptional.....

Then on to another vineyard with art..................