Kickin' Back

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted.  We've been busy running up and down "the hill" doing things with family and friends. 

We have a new great-niece Ella Margaret, born November 18th.  Brother-in-law Pat is a year older and so is great-niece Hadley.  We celebrated with a Little Mermaid party for one and went to see the new Hunger Games  movie on release day with the other.  I think you can figure out which celebration was for which person...LOL

What surprises me the most are the changes we see in this area where we lived for almost 20 years.  It is more congested and the traffic on Route 50 and I-80 can be horrendous at times.  We know this because we've been stuck in both.  There is no outer belt in Sacramento and they still really need one!!   CALDOT is doing repair work on Route 49 so there are sometimes 30 minutes wait times to get down into Auburn.  We have discovered Salmon Falls Road down to El Dorado Hills but it is almost as winding as Route 49 to Auburn or Placerville.  Note to self:  next time we will rent a cottage/apartment closer to town.

Speaking of Auburn, we drove down yesterday to walk antique shops and grab some lunch.  Lunch was at the Sierra Café.  It is a senior hang-out and most of the people who came thru the doors are regulars.  The waitresses knew everyone's name and what their standard orders are.  Our lunch was very good too.  All fresh, homemade ingredients for our sandwiches.  The broth for my French Dip sandwich was HEAVENLY - great flavor and very rich!!  Usually you get the canned Campbell's Soup type broth.  Wish we'd found this place a few weeks ago.  I'd have gone there more often than In-N-Out Burger and, just to say how much I liked Sierra Café,  I am obsessed with In-N-Out. 

We thought that with an Old Town and an Downtown area, there would be plenty of places to explore.  BIG DISAPPOINTMENT!!!  Fist note to self:  Don't go on Monday.   Old Town had only 3 stores open and the storefront total wasn't much higher.  There used to be 2 restaurants and maybe 20 shops there.  (If you need to picture the area, watch the movie Phenomenon with John Travolta and Kyra Sedgewick.  It was filmed in Old Town Auburn)   Most of the rest of the buildings have been converted into restaurants and bars over the past 13 years.  The only shops we stopped in were a mineral and gem shop and then a trashy gift shop.  Did not buy a thing.  So on to Downtown which had almost every shop closed with its own glut of restaurants.  No antique shops in site so very disappointing  The only reason to go into Auburn is for the fantastic Vintage Rose Salon & Spa.   It is owned and operated by our niece Crystal. Services include hair, nails, facials, make-up, massages, etc.  It is beautifully decorated and I have loved both of my trips there during this stay.  If you are ever in Auburn CA, go there!!!!!!!!!

Today we are waiting to see how low the snow levels come from the winter storm that just started.  Right now rain is pouring down.  We are at 1150 foot elevation and snow is supposed to only come down to 2000 to 2500 feet.  Fingers crossed because you know my retirement plan was to never experience snow again in this lifetime!  Seeing it from afar is fine as long as I'm in 70+ degrees. 

Guess I'll get back to my Kindle now and finish another book.  Life is good and we are looking forward to our next adventure.  That begins on November 30th when we head out to Galveston Texas for the winter.   Stay tuned.....

Auburn-Foresthill Bridge

We are enjoying ourselves these days.  It takes a while for it to sink in that we don't have to stick to a strict schedule and, if something isn't completed today, well maybe it will be tomorrow, or the day after, etc.  I am just so happy being  back surrounded by valley oaks and all the critters we have seen out in the country.  So far we have seen jack rabbits, a rafter of turkeys, drift of quail, two different herds of deer, one lonely fox and, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, a descent of woodpeckers some scrub jays and a few hummingbirds.  Those darn woodpeckers are trying to punch their way into the attic of the cottage so it can be fun to play with them.  They peck and we open the doors and scare them off.  They sit in the trees until we walk away from the doors and come right back.  This can go on for some time before they wear us out and we give up...they never do!!

OK, show of hands.  How many of you remember Vin Diesel driving off of this bridge at the beginning of the movie  XXX???  Why do I ask?  Because we drive by this almost every time we leave our cottage to go to town or to visit family and friends.  You come around a "kiss my butt" hairpin turn on Route 49 and there she is in all of her glory.  She really is awe inspiring.  She is the Auburn-Foresthill Bridge.

Auburn-Foresthill Bridge
Auburn, California, United States
730 feet high / 223 meters high
862 foot span / 263 meter span

The second highest bridge in the world upon its opening in 1973, the Auburn-Foresthill bridge is still among the 5 highest bridges in the United States.  She was built to cross a reservoir that never ended up being constructed.  The dam was permanently halted due to a series of unforeseen seismic studies, excessive cost overruns and other political and environmental concerns.  So now the folks up in the country around Foresthill have a great bridge to help them avoid all the twists and turns we experience when leaving the Cool/Pilot Hill area.

Day before yesterday with the latest rain storm, she was partially in the clouds with some ground fog  hanging up and down the hillsides.  It looked as if someone had taken cotton balls and stretched them out along the tree tops up the sides of the canyon (or holler as we West Virginians would call it!). 

We were very social this past weekend.  My ex-boss from CalFed had a party for a few folks at this home on Saturday and it was great to reconnect with my past co-workers and see what's been happening in their lives.  Then Sunday we had an early birthday dinner celebration with friends Jim and Jackie.  Jackie and Mike are both November babies.  Jim cooked a wonderful meal of lamb shanks with mashed potatoes and broccolini.  We provided the Ikeda apple pie for dessert.  It really is great to see our Northern California friends and family when we want to and take time to visit rather than the quick trips we've been taking to come here over the past 13 years.  But I miss our friends in Ohio and family in Kentucky and West Virginia.  Goes to show you can't have it all!