TJTravels

The journey to get to this location is not for the faint of heart. After hours of driving (we thought leaving Sunday during Memorial Day Weekend would save us the traffic nightmare...it didn't),.....

Four women, five days and way too much stuff...it barely fit :)

Woo Hoo, time to hit the road!

First stop, Larry's place in Pismo (finally got to show them the place I vacation most summers).

Gorgeous day in Pismo (well Oceano to be exact), I would have loved to stay...can't wait for July.

Lunch at Brad's... time for photos.

They had clam chowder then we shared Halibut and Chips and Crab Louie Salad.

The Salad was pretty and good.

On our way to the car we got to pet the sweetest puppy...only 7 weeks old.

I wanted to take her home, sort of.

Lenny and I spent a few days between Christmas and New Year's Day in Palm Desert. A little golf, a little food with friends and glimpses of beauty and practice drawing the scenery.

I love girl-friend get-aways and so we try to incorporate them into our lives season by season. Bonnie's brothers both live in the Placerville area and were excited to give us ideas and literally maps so that we could see some of the fall colors. It was beautiful. The drive should have taken about 3 1/2 hours but we stopped for bagels and coffee on the way there and had frequent 'rest' breaks.

We started by checking into our historical hotel (The Cary House) right in the middle of downtown Placerville. Then we bought some gourmet cheese for our picnic. We drove to the other end of town for bread (and pumpkin roll and chocolate decadence) and then headed to a couple of wineries for a little tasting and to buy something to wash down our bread and cheese. We had also brought salami with us. First we stopped to see a yard with a beautiful French garden that Bonnie's other brother, Cary had landscaped. More beauty.

The we followed Brad to this little spot by the creek where there was just enough room to park and set up for lunch. The sound of the creek was mesmerizing, I wanted to take a nap. We didn't have time to do a lot of walking around but it was so beautiful. We want to go back and spend all day painting.

After that we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We ate across the street at Hey Day Cafe (or something like that). We split salads and Thai chicken pizza. Yummy!

The next morning we had our continental breakfast at the hotel and then drove to Sweetie Pies for a pecan cinnamon roll (we split it between the five of us but it was still too much sweet for one day). We saw the most adorable 11 week old Maltese puppy too.

From there we drove to Apple Hill for another picnic of course, we had some leftovers from the day before and added some fresh local apples.  Some of us took caramel apples back to family also (not me though...kind of wish I had). We got to taste wine at a winery that isn't open yet and enjoyed more beautiful fall views. We stumbled upon an amazing tree as we drove back through town on our way home.

It was a quick trip but the beauty of the season was breathtaking and we have another list of things to do because we ran out of time of course.

It all started with a small box of chocolates I bought as we were waiting for the cab to take us to the airport. This darling shop with high end pastries and chocolates was right across the street from our hotel but I didn't buy anything the whole time we were there, so I just had to get something for either on the flight or after we got home. The box of gourmet chocolates seemed perfect. The box was so cute all I could think about was how my girlfriends back home would love it (both the look and the taste).

I'm not a big shopper and I didn't want to waste a lot of time and/or suitcase weight/space with souvenirs but I started wishing I had something to give to those that had inspired me to take the plunge and make painting a higher priority in my life. These women (and many more not in the photos today) encouraged me to see myself as an artist and I wanted to thank them in some small way. Without that inspiration I might not have made painting a priority and then I wouldn't have even thought of going to an art retreat. That's when I got the idea to share a taste of France with them.

Of course I wanted to make home-made everything but if I wanted to have them this week I had to compromise and get some things already made. I had some canned duck products that we had left from our picnics along the Dordogne River so I included those as well. It was a wonderful day and we tacked on one of my friends late birthday celebrations as well.

I decided to collect all the food photos in a separate post. I'll try to remember what the dishes were and where they were served. As with every other aspect of the trip, I thoroughly enjoyed most of what I ate but I just didn't have enough time and space in my belly to taste everything I had hoped to experience. Plus the driving long distances made it hard to time the eating with our hunger and opportunity to eat.

One thing I learned that I will do differently next time is eat what looks good in front of you and don't save anything for another day/time because that beautiful pastry or steak that is on the menu now may not be at the next place.

'All good things must come to an end.' I wasn't ready for this good thing to end. It's not that I have a horrible life to come home to, it's just that there was still so much to see and do. I'm already thinking about what I want to do next time I come. I really hope there is a next time. But alas, there are no guarantees.

Our day traveling back home went pretty well. No major stressful mishaps. It was long and tiring but that cannot be avoided when you fly from Paris to San Francisco.

I'm hoping to edit each of my previous posts a little, add some details I don't want to forget and include some of my husband's amazing photos (he is a much better photographer than I am and he usually has a better camera, even his iphone takes better pictures than my actual camera).

As I talk with friends and family members about different aspects of the trip I'm processing the experience and making observations about what I liked best, what I would do differently, what I learned (about traveling, myself, others, and life in other countries).

I'm tempted to start planning another trip and I even started trying to think of ways I can make some extra money to use just for traveling. But this is the season to focus on my life here at home. The time difference coming this way makes it much easier to get up and get busy. I'm almost done with the laundry from the trip and thanks to my mom I came home to a clean house. Now I just need to restock the groceries and get back to my yoga class routine and I will be on course.

I hope to make a few changes after this trip. One new goal I have is to sketch every day and paint once a week. I'll be sharing some of what I learned and my attempt to practice them in my other blog at www.tjtalks.wordpress.com. Feel free to follow along there. I'll post new travel ideas and possibly previous trips on this blog. Thanks for joining me on this journey. It really made the whole experience better having you read and comment along the way. Thanks, TJ

There is too much to learn about HOW to view museums (especially extra large famous ones). More on this later, let's just say we got a taste of the Louvre and a quick stroll through Musee` D'Orsay, missed going inside the Notre Dame Cathedral and have the blisters to prove it. Amazing weather again...Lenny is taking a nap before our last dinner here.