Tuesday, May 2, 2006
Dutch Flat RV Resort, Gold Run, CA - April 28-May 2
"Resort" is used pretty loosely here. This is a work in progress -- an old cg that someone is trying to upgrade to a resort. They've built a nice new pool & poolhouse and a rec hall, but the cg itself is small, tight, and showing some age. The electricity is only passable, and the water & sewer both need to be redone. They seem to be adding another loop haphazardly out in the woods (for popups, maybe? I certainly wouldn't take my rig out there), money that would more wisely be spent on the current facilities.
This was supposed to be our "down time" after the Escapade, but the area turned out to be so nice that we were compelled to go out sightseeing. We drove to Auburn to meet with Shaw Matthews, a friend from Boulder who moved to the Bay area to work for a start-up company. We had an excellent lunch at a cute restaurant, said our good-byes, and then we two walked around the historic downtown, with Victorian houses and classic flat-faced stores straight out of a Western. This part of CA reminds us a lot of the South -- lots of humidity, lots of trees, lots of green, and lots of historic buildings. One thing that is not like the South is the very mountainous terrain.
Monday we drove to Grass Valley and Nevada City, two of the handful of mining communities that survived past the Gold Rush to the present. Grass Valley, in fact, seems to be booming. On the drive between the two towns we visited two covered bridges built in the mid-1800s. We walked around the historic part of lovely Nevada City and had an excellent late lunch at Katarina's Mexican restaurant. The side roads (even some of the state highways) are amazingly narrow & winding, with some very steep grades. Many were too narrow for a center stripe.
There were some exciting moments, even with just the truck. You quickly learn to keep to the very main roads with a trailer. The positive side effect of all the rain is that things are blooming everywhere. It is quite lovely, but we're not sure it was worth having all the rain. Coarsegold, Chico and the mountain areas around here all abundant with wildflowers and blossoming trees & shrubs.
Luckily, the cats don't seem to know that there is a 1200-mile trip ahead of them. They seem to take each day as it comes, never liking the travel days as much as the rest days, and liking the days in which we stay home most. They (& we) continue to be in good health, despite their advancing years.# posted by Doug and Willie @ 11:18 PM 
