Grand Design Rally Part II

 Saturday we took a trip to Amador City. The smallest (land mass) city in CA! It was darling - and did some great Christmas shopping there. They have an AWESOME small museum - all about women in the Old West - the typical wives and ranchers, teachers, but also prostitutes! Very interesting. They were just closing so we rushed through it - I definitely want to go back and go through it again

And I found out something new - the brothels (at least in this city) used TOKENS!

Then we went to a winery - I picked it only because I thought the name was ironic - Drytown Cellars in Drytown CA: "Drytown is the oldest community in Amador County, and the first in which gold was discovered. It took its name from Dry Creek, which runs dry during the summer. However, it was certainly not "dry", as stories tell of there being up to 26 saloons...". 

Drytown Cellars is lovely. Tasting are $5 - and you can get food - lovely charcuterie tray for one....and the bottle prices are SO REASONABLE! And we enjoyed several of their wines. And the people there are so nice and friendly

The best were the dogs. Many were old and just liked to sleep....but one was a true rock hound! We were so slow and it took awhile before we realized what he wanted to do when he kept coming to us and dropping rocks at our feet....yup. pick the rock up, throw it, and he would find that exact rock, bring it back, and drop it again and again and again....he was the youngest dog there!

It rained! From about 0200 - 0630 - nice and steady, not hard - but a sound we havent heard in awhile!

And Sunday got sunny but it was cooler ....mid 70's not mid 80's.....a perfect day to go drink more wine. At a winery that Drytown Cellars recommended because of its location - and what a beautiful location it was !

Iron Hub Winery and Vineyards (ironhubwines.com) - the winery is lovely - the people are so friendly - tastings are $10/person and you dont pay if you buy a bottle of wine. They too have food but we ate lunch before we went. We also did not know there was going to be music there - a gentleman who played guitar and sang - much better than the group at the campground the night before (the music was fine but the singer....well...). But we could just have sat there all day looking at the view:

We left Monday morning - surprisingly AHEAD OF SCHEDULE! So we went home a different way. Stopped at Bass and hubby found a vest to replace the one that has "disappeared" (AKA he left it somewhere and has no idea where). And then we stopped here to eat lunch:

Growing up I would HATE when we stopped there - because of course dad wanted all of us to order the soup because it was the quickest meal - but YUCK pea soup???? And as an adult I have grown to love it! But this was the first time in a long time and what was disappointing was they dont serve an assortment of bread and rolls now, just one type.

And that was our trip!