Tuesday January 14 - into the gold country with a couple of chatter/lurkers

Well, what a wonderful day to blog about!!! I was given a fabulous day out by two chatter/lurkers, sisters-in-law Donna and Cheryl. They picked me up at 10.30 and and dropped me off at about 6.15 pm and I would like to thank them so much for the sightseeing, the good company and the fun!!

Sculpture

We drove on the back roads for much of the day and I love getting away from the freeways. We drove past Thunder Valley Casino, in the middle of nowhere would you believe, well at least it looked like that to me! We also passed a huge granite quarry, that being the common rock around part of this area. 

Fire engine

We were heading for a place called Auburn a historic town and a railroad centre from way back when and gold was also found in the area. Most of the stores have retained their original facades or have been modernised but with the original look about them. It is a quaint little town with lots of eating places and small stores.

Court house overlooks the town

One of the original fire engines has been well preserved as has the original Court House. The original Post Office is still in operation and letters/cards are still had postmarked. After a good wander round we had a delicious lunch in a bakery/cafe, just to the right of a 24 minute Parking sign!!!!! 

Lunch spot

We then drove on through Cool towards the Marshall Gold Discovery Historic Park near the town of Coloma. On our way we drove over a bridge crossing the North Fork American River and I was able to take some photos of some great scenery. The Park was a fascinating place and many of the original buildings and much of the machinery has been preserved there. There was also a museum and one of the guides showed us some samples of rocks bearing gold amongst others. He also showed us some fairly valuable coins/nuggets he had acquired.


The weather was beautiful again and it was noticeable that as the sun moved off the temperature was starting to drop. While the weather is great, rain is desperately needed, everywhere you look the grass is brown and parched looking! We finally left the Park and headed back towards Sacramento via Placerville and Green Valley Road. As we drove nearer we passed Folsom Lake, at its lowest ebb ever I believe, as well as behind some of the places I passed on the light train yesterday.

Cheryl asked me if I was ready for dinner and as I said I was asked me what food I liked. Talk got round to seafood and I happened to mention a very pleasant experience at a Red Lobster in Fort Wayne. Lo and behold we were not far from one so I had yet another wonderful gastronomic experience!! I also have my tea for tomorrow night!!

(Please note the Wi Fi at this hotel is not very good so I have had to leave posting any more pictures, hope it improves!!)