'House' Guest, Gold Country, Lake Tahoe

We were able to work out a visit by one of Cory's friends, Sean. He flew from Texas into Oakland and we drove over to pick him up for a two week visit. We spent the first week touring around the California Gold Country from a campground outside of Jackson.

The campground was terrific! Definitely one of our favorites so far. It's a large park, but we found everything to be quiet, even when the park was very full on weekends. Forested hills surround the campground and low level lighting keeps light pollution at bay for fantastic star gazing. A Miwuk Indian tribe owns the campground and the surrounding area. A casino supports the tribal community, including a good sized police and fire department, schools, hotel and the RV park. Everything is built to high standards and beautifully done. The swimming pool was heavily used by the boys, but too cold for Craig and I. We all enjoyed the two spas and the trail circling the RV park. Two adjacent fenced areas to run off-leash met with Ginger and Pepper's approval. Several rallies met at the park while we were there, mostly RV clubs but one was an Austin-Healey car club. We loved spying the vintage British sports cars around the park and touring the area.

We also were able to contact a driving school, located in Jackson. A trainer came out to the campground to meet Craig where they hooked up to the RV and rode with him to an abandoned grocery parking lot for tutoring in backing. The school offers an all day class, but was willing to customize training for this one specific area in which Craig could use some pointers on backing our 40 foot long behemoth. The website is http://www.goldcountrydrivingschool.com/ and we'd highly recommend them if you're in the area.

Our first trip out was to explore a gold mine in Sutter Creek. Not in operation since 1992 due to competition from Australia, gold prices are now approaching a level to open the mine into operation again at a profit. Currently it is only open for tours and makes for an interesting and educational adventure. The tour takes groups in a tractor pulled trailer down 700' into the mine. A guide then discusses the history of mining practices and highlighted the vein of quartz rock that contains the gold. Once the quartz is pulled out of the mine, the gold can be extracted via chemicals or crushing the rock into pebbles and dust. The Sutter Creek mine, when operational, sent the extracted quartz and gold to Nevada where regulations allow the much more cost effective chemical extraction.

Sutter Creek is a very charming town with a traditional main street atmosphere, lined with unique shops and restaurants. We stopped at the Ice Cream Emporium and chowed down on yummy sandwiches and soup, and of course ice cream floats and sodas (the real old-fashioned kind). The owner of the Emporium is a rag time piano performer and will entertain customers when there. He wasn't at the shop for our visit, but we listened to his recordings online later - very talented! We spied several of the aforementioned Austin-Healeys passing through and parking along the main street (Hwy. 49). They were toodling around on some sort of scavenger hunt that paralleled our touring for the day.

Black Chasm Cavern is a privately owned cave that has been registered as a National Natural Landmark. Nomered as 'the outstanding helictite cave in the far West', the cave is relatively primitive with steep stair access and limited lighting. The boys love it when access has more of an exploratory feel and provides a little challenge! We were able to observe the speleothem (formation) diversity at very close range - sometimes easily within arms length. The helictite crystals were unique and the guide explained that these are extruded as earth pressures compress the calcite from crevices in the harder surrounding rock.

The next stop was a state park that exhibited several preserved and reproduction structures of the Miwuk indians. The visitor center closed early in the afternoon, so we didn't learn as much as we might have with more information. We walked along a mile or so around the park, observing the buildings and reading the information published on nearby signs. One of the structures, the round house, still functions as a meeting place for the Miwuk tribe. Visitors may tour outside the structure, but cannot enter in order to respect the spiritual nature of some of the current gatherings.

Linda and the kids rested and played at the RV park the next day while Craig took the driving tutorial. We've started making a practice of taking at least a day or so between day long busy treks. The temperatures during our stay were perfect - highs in the mid 70s to low 80s and lows in the 50s. Perfect for riding bikes and taking frequent walks!

Yosemite was our next destination. We didn't have time on our previous visit to actually hike, so we returned for a closer look at Yosemite Falls. The drive took us through Calaveras County and we were amused at the various advertisements for frog jumping events. Although the published information about the route mentioned it as the most popular, we found the trail to be much less crowded than anything at the Grand Canyon. The trail was less improved as well, but was thankfully free of mule droppings like we found along the Bright Angel trail! We climbed over 1000 feet to reach some amazing vantage points of the valley and to get close enough to feel the mist on our faces and hear the roar of the falls. It was great to hike a trail that has the uphill direction first. We clambered down the trail, spotting a snake and a bobcat along the way. Reaching the base of the trail head, we caught the next shuttle bus to the village and quickly put away a pizza - YUM!

Another day 'off' to relax, swim, read and catch up laundry and we were ready to go see Lake Tahoe. The drive along Hwy 88 was gorgeous with a good share of mountains and crystal blue lakes at seemingly every turn. We rented a bike at Camp Richardson for our guest and took off to catch the first glimpse of the famously spectacular lake. After taking in the view from Camp Richardson's pier for a few minutes, we took off along the trail of Gatsby era summer estates of wealthy families bordering the lake. Publicly owned now, the homes provide a glimpse into the leisure time of the very rich in the 1920s and 30s. Each of the homes displays a unique style and character. We continued biking to a walking trail featuring the natural settings of the area, including marshes, meadows and river streams. The highlight was going into a special underground exhibit that allowed aquarium-like viewing of a natural stream and it's inhabitants. During this season, it's full of trout but during the fall, spawning salmon migrate through the exhibit.

After returning the rented bike, we headed for the Heavenly Ski Resort gondola. Open year-round, this transports visitors to over 9000' altitude. Another lift was available at the top of the gondola run, but was closing on this day due to threat of lightning. YIKES! Definitely not a place you'd want to be exposed on an open chair lift! We looked around quickly as the temperature and wind chill convinced us to take quick photos and move inside the gondola before we all turned blue! A little souvenir shopping and then it was time to return to the RV park.

Another day of rest and relaxation, then off to Petaluma!