After the Sonoma Tour-de-Vino, we headed over to Lake Tahoe.  This was the longest drive of the trip, roughly three hours.  We actually drove right by our house at the mid-point, but we kept rolling so as to not disturb the pets.  We did take a break early in the trip though, with a stop at B.R. Cohn winery.  This place had the added bonus of making olive oil & vinegar, which was interesting.  The whole place was nice actually, we’ll have to put that one on the “return trip” list.  We were there a while, then continued the trek east.  We got to Tahoe right at check-in time, but other than going to dinner with the group we didn’t really do anything.  I think everybody was running out of steam.  We all hit the hay early to rest up for the next day.

We all got up well-rested on Thursday, ready for the day.  (Don’t quote me on the actual day…  They all kind of ran together.)  The Martins took off for a hike, while we joined the Aushermans on what was to be a light bit of shopping.  Specifically, I wanted to get the kiddos (Kane & Teagan) a few toys, as all kids expect presents when returning from a trip.  We pulled into the shopping center where the pet store was, and the first thing that caught Jill’s eye was an art gallery.  Hey, we like looking at art, let’s check it out.  We walk in the front door and boom, both Doni & I say “oh I like that painting.”  Man, Ms. Snooty The Sales Lady was on us like a used car salesman.  I don’t know how long we were there, I think I may have blacked out for a bit.  At the end of the visit though, we were the proud owners of our very first painting, which I am oddly pleased about.  I figure after 38 years of marriage, if we stumble across something we both actually like, we darn well better get it.  We didn’t actually take it home though, I’m too scared to put it in the car.  We’ll save that for another trip.  After that, our shopping trip was over;  Sorry kids, no money left for your presents.  We grabbed a light lunch on a nearby patio and enjoyed the sun for a while.  (David & Jill had some tasty sandwiches, while the wife & I scavenged some nearby dumpsters for scraps.)  After that we circled up with the Martins and went for a cruise on the Bleu Wave yacht.  Two thumbs up on that excursion, I’d do it again.  It was a little chilly, but we finally actually got out on the water, which we hadn’t gotten around to on any of our previous trips.