Gold Rush

Yesterday evening a wedding was hosted at our hotel, in the garden below our room. The garden setting is fabulous and fortunately for us, the noise level was fine. After a great night's sleep we went to breakfast and discovered that we were the only guests. We passed on waffles, but Michele insisted that she'd cook something for us and we settled fore some great scrambled egg and an interesting discussion. She kindly suggested that if we had no other plans for our day, it might be interesting to take Highway 49N and drive alongside  the Yuba River. This turned out o be good advice. We cruised along through thirty miles of forested mountains and river,  valley, before hitting upon Downieville, an historic gold mining town founded in the 1800s. Now its a beautifully quint place to explore. Most of its historic buildings have been renovated and plaques outlining the town's notorious past are everywhere.

It is said that one housewife, sweeping the earthen floor of her house, found gold worth $500! Apparently, back in the day, a number of settlers came from Cornwall because of the gold mining activity. Around midday, we headed for Grass Valley, another town founded on gold mining. The Historic District boasts California's first hotel, a classic cinema, and lots of restored shops that are now predominantly wine bars and antique shops.

Before leaving here, we ventured into a neat local coffee shop which roasts its own coffee and employs and serves a lot of Iron Maiden fans! All in all a great adventure.

Lots of golden oldies on the radio today, including The Doors' "Don't you love her madly'