4 Day Getaway in Pioneer, CA

I touched down at San Fransisco Airport (SFO) around noon and my boyfriend picked me up, and we started our three hour (give our take) road trip to our airbnb in Pioneer, CA. We didn't originally pick Pioneer first, as we were having trouble choosing the right spot to go to so decided to base it off of which airbnb fit us best. We found a killer former storage container turned into sustainable tiny home, with a cool wooden sunroom attached with a view of the forested hills.

We got there at 4pm with groceries and made some Bruschetta and had some red wine in the sunroom. We watched the sunset and hunkered down with a few vinyls (lovely record player and vinyls provided in the airbnb) and settled in, planning our rendezvous for the next couple days.

The next morning we naturally woke up at 7am and cooked a beautiful breakfast, threw on our robes provided by the airbnb, and sat outside with cups of hot coffee. We decided on a hike about an hour drive away in Eldorado National Forest near Kirkwood, called Lake Winnemucca, from Carson Pass via Pacific Crest Trail. It was about 5 miles round trip with a little over 800ft of elevation gain, and the most beautiful and rewarding views of an alpine lake and snowy mountain peak.

On our way back we were both really craving a good sandwich, so we stopped on our way back at the Red Corral Mini-Market Deli, where an awesome local named Randy made us delicious sandwiches (checked every box).

That night we binge watched a show in our airbnb ("I Will Find You" highly recommend) and made chicken noodle soup.

On our third day and second morning, we woke up, made some coffee, and drove about 25 minutes to the historic down of Jackson where we ate the most filling, delicious breakfast at Rosebuds Cafe (recommended to us by our airbnb hosts Aisa & Josh). Afterwards, we explored the main street and the several antique shops they have.

Later, we explored the little trails in the woods outside our airbnb and soaked up golden hour. Then, expecting to go to an Italian Tavern type dinner place, it ended up being closed so we pivoted to it's extension restaurant, a diner-style take-out burger joint (definitely a different vibe but just as good), called Giant Burgers To-Go on Highway 88 in Pine Grove. It was so good, great burgers and chocolate malt.

That night we soaked up all our airbnb had to offer, including the sauna and hot tub for two outside, followed by stars and fairy lights.

We checked out early around 7am so we could make it to my boyfriend's family friends house in Copperopolis to do a day of remote work. It was a beautiful, picturesque 3 hour drive. For dinner, we ate at a local Mexican place called Mi Pueblo, it had pretty good tacos. We ended the evening with a jump in the lake during golden hour and he drove me 2 hours back to SFO for my red eye.