Querencia is the story of finding, building and running an elegant inn. Starting with raw land, Mike and Mary Jo built the iconic small inn Querencia over a fourteen year adventure. After a year-long search, Mike and Mary Jo acquired forty acres near the town of Murphys in Calaveras County, California. There was no road, no power, no water, and no communications on site. The project was entirely built from scratch. It was a long, cripplingly costly slog. Querencia is now one of the highest rated (Yelp and Trip Advisor) inns in Gold Country. This book details the care, commitment, and consideration that goes into building and running the inn. Also included are some of the adventures and misadventures encountered along the way, including appearances and intrusions by smelly goats, crazy people, dancing squirrels, evangelical wasps and rattlesnakes. Also, by popular request, recipes and descriptions of some of the dishes and treats we make regularly are included in each chapter. For most readers, Querencia is fundamentally a cautionary tale; what might happen when you catch a dream and make it real. Be careful what you wish for.