Steve Timko wrote:
> I think Amador County and El Dorado counties are both doable because I
> did it myself one time driving from Reno, which is a lot further away
> than South Lake Tahoe. YOu can't do every winery, but you can do
> several.

Whether it's doable depends on how willing the person is to drive a fair
distance after having visited several wineries. I've given enough
advice to visitors to NoCal about visiting wine country to know that
many people quail at even driving 50 mi on 101 back from the Sonoma
valley after a day of wine tasting. Driving 49 at night is another
kettle of fish altogether, hence my warning. I'd do it (but I spit) and
you'd do it, but many people -- especially visitors to CA -- won't.

> I ran the mileage from South Lake Tahoe to Plymouth, which is on the
> southwestern side of most Amador county wineries, in both Expedia and
> Yahoo map and the stimated driving time varied from 2 hours and 12
> minutes in Yahoo to 95 minutes in Expedia. I suspect Yahoo is probably
> closer to the actual driving time.

So much depends on weather and traffic that it's hard to estimate.
Under the best conditions, the Expedia time might be possible, but in
the real world, 2 hours is closer to the mark IMO. It also depends on
how comfortable the driver is with two lane "mountain" roads: I've seen
tourists creep along 49 almost as badly as they do on Hwy 1. And God
help you if you get stuck behind an RV from Kansas ;-)

Your advice is excellent, though, Steve, and I'll take note of it for my
next visit, too.

Mark Lipton