Following our Spring custom of many years, we met with Val and Sandy Watson for a weekend in the Southern Gold Country. This year we stayed at the Rose Bud Inn in
Murphys. It was a nice place but not up to what we expected. We had reserved the Garden Suite months in advance, because it had two bedrooms, baths, and a kitchen/living room. When we arrived we found that the rooms had unexciting views and were poorly furnished with sagging beds and no cloths bureaus. The previous night Val and Sandy had come early and stayed at Dunbar House in a large cheery room with a balcony overlooking a beautiful garden and the town's park. On our final day we made reservations for the four of us to stay at Dunbar House, same time next year.
We arrived Friday afternoon, April 23rd, but at 4:30 were too late to join Val and Sandy, who were touring the Ironstone Winery about a mile east of town. We were a bit late because I had taken a "short cut" which started beautifully but ended being an unimproved dirt road (San Domingo) that wound through the beautiful countryside. I couldn't enjoy the views because I was too busy avoiding (well, trying to avoid) ruts and bumps as we bounced along at 5 to 10 mph. Mary was too worried we'd get stuck in this nowhere land to enjoy any views. I had fun at her expense, and vice versa in spades.
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