Stoned......

 8:20 am - Tuesday - December 20th - GNHS - 48° F, 49% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the north.....dark, and forecast high for day of 63° F has come and gone. On this date in 2014 TLE and I were in Lone Pine, CA having dinner at Margie's Merry Go Round.....one of my father's favorite restaurants, and ours too.....been having dinner there since the 60's.  They only serve dinner, and there are just 8 tables, and one seating per night....a very unique restaurant, but the food has always been amazing.  They serve one of the best filet mignons I have ever had.......↴

Monday was the day we were to drive to Poway, CA (just north of San Diego off I-15) for my annual cardiology appointment, but before we left TLE and I drove the 4 UTVs we rented Sunday down to the fuel station in pairs to top off their tanks.  We managed to be on the road heading south to pick up I-8 west bound by 10 am, and were on I-8 a little after 11 am with two more hours of driving to do before we reached our destination.  This was our first time in either the VW, or Newell driving this section of I-8.  This part of the Interstate climbs to over 4,200' elevation before slowly, but surely descending into the San Diego eco system.

The 3+ hour drive was uneventful, and we arrived at Stone Brewing Company in Escondido (just north of Poway) for a late lunch a little after 1 pm.  Stone Brewing Company is one of our favorite SoCal breweries, which we first visited back in 2019 when we were living/working at Romona Oaks RV Resort, and we have longed to return ever since we left RORVR back in January of 2020.

We arrived safely at Stone a little after 1 pm, and snagged a table in their enormous alfresco dining area.....

.....there are probably 50 tables in the alfresco section, with an equal number inside, and another 10-15 upstairs.....this is a big place!  I ordered a 16 oz milk stout, and TLE a 10 oz Imperial Stout....both were as good as we remembered.  Our entrées consisted of their fish and chips for moi, and their duck pot pie....we both lingered over our entrées cherishing every single bite.  TLE and I always say the food at a micro brewery has got to live up to the quality of the brews, and it did in spades.

I made reservations at the local Best Western in Poway over a month ago for our overnight stay, and we were very, very pleased we chose this hotel.  It is not large, but very well kept, and very quiet at night.  On top of that they were the only hotel offering a nightly rate of under $100 in Poway....everything else was $140-240!  They also offer a free Continental Breakfast each morning from 6-9 am, which is a rarity since the Wuhan Flu paid our country a visit almost 3 years ago now.  We arrived there after our late lunch around 3:30 pm.  Surprisingly, the weather in Poway was decidedly cooler than GNHS....probably that extra humidity being just 20 miles from the Pacific.

Thank you for patiently waiting for me to get my act together this evening to make this post, and thank you as always for stopping by!