Gold country living history, trains, and heading home

On 19 May (Friday) we went to Columbia State Park for a living history festival called “Columbia Diggins 1852”. It turns out the entire state park is a living history location. It was great fun. There were hotels, restaurants, homes, stores, etc. that were from the early gold rush days – blocks and blocks of them. There was even a stagecoach ride that I had to take, just because. The stage was “held up” by a masked bandit, causing the children on the stage enormous amounts of fun.

Me in front of the hotel
Stagecoach ride was fun
Lots of kids on school trips

The “Diggins” was a tent city with lots of costumed docents teaching (mostly children) how to do laundry in a wash tub, how to pan for gold, how to use a sluice and a rocker for gold, how to bake in a wood fired brick/stone oven, and other fun things.

We bought some food and some very small presents for the granddaughters.

On Saturday we went to Jamestown and their 1897 Railroad Park. This is another California State Historic Park. There is a working oil fueled steam train and cars that you can take on a short excursion. Of course we did it. The train only runs on Saturday’s and Sundays, and the entire trip took 45 minutes. It was well worth the $15 per person cost.

The only known woman steam engineer was running our train

Saturday night was pizza at the Pizza Factory in Groveland with the remaining rally attendees. The pizza was very good, and I highly recommend the place. No atmosphere but good food.

We decided to do most of the cleaning and packing on Saturday so we could get an easy start home on Sunday. It worked; we were out of the campground by 8:00. The original plan was to find a Forest Service campground somewhere near Lake Tahoe or Reno, but the Tahoe area was too crowded for us. It was a beautiful lake, but not worth the number of people. We decided to just head home in two days instead of our planned three, so we ended up in Winnemucca, NV again. This time we stayed at the KOA which is actually quite nice. Real cable TV so I can watch the news is very pleasant. The internet isn’t very good from the campground, but I am running great on my Verizon hot spot. Since we have a full hookup site we can get all the tanks dumped and cleaned before heading home. I really like being able to do that on the last night of a trip. There is some road noise from I-80, but I expect much of that to die down later tonight. We have the windows and doors open right now, cooling off in the lovely evening air. Home tomorrow!

Driving and biking in the Yosemite area

Yesterday we took a drive through some very scenic country. We headed to the park and first visited Hetch Hetchy valley. The lake is below its high water bathtub mark, but not by much.

We then continued on highway 120 to highway 140 to Mariposa then back to the RV park via highway 49. Highway 49 is a very narrow and windy road not recommended for motorhomes or trailers over 30′. Yup, it was great! We didn’t take any pictures, but the country was very nice. Lots of mining history there, and there were a number of old mines we could see pieces of.

Today we tried to bicycle in the park. We left at 7:00 to get there before the crowds, and we did get a good parking place. Turns out we didn’t do much biking though. The detours they had in place for road construction in the valley impacted the bike trails too, and we weren’t crazy enough to ride on the over crowded narrow roads. We only got in 5.7 miles, but we enjoyed what we had. We spent quite a bit of time at the museum by the Visitor’s Center. There was an interpretive ranger playing Native American flutes that set the environment for the wonderful display of baskets woven by the native Miwoks. There is also a recreated Miwok village just outside the museum with a very good set of interpretive signs. After the museum we just wandered around. I got some more nice waterfall shots.

After the ride, we came back to the campground. Kevin took a nice nap while I enjoyed just sitting outside and relaxing. It has finally warmed up, and the skies were very blue as you can see from the pictures. Nice change! I also cleaned up the sewing I did on the two quilts I am working on. All the initial sewing is done, but I need to press the strip sets before subcutting the blocks. I can’t seem to find an ironing mat to buy, so I will probably just finish them at home. We ended the evening with a “last night” dinner with the rally attendees. I put that in quotes because the rally continues through Saturday night, but people are starting to leave a bit early. Therefore the dinner was tonight. The little restaurant we ate at was so-so. Standard small town fare, not too bad but not too good either (my salmon was overcooked). Oh well, we go for the company not the food.

Tomorrow is a living history day at Columbia, CA. It is called Diggings 1852 and supposedly has >150 reenactors in a tent city from 1852, the height of the local gold rush. I think it will be fun.

Yosemite and housekeeping

We arrived Sunday at Yosemite Pines RV Resort in Groveland, just off Highway 120 near the west entrance to Yosemite. It is ok. Definitely nothing to write home about, but adequate for visiting Yosemite. We had a nice Happy Hour with the other RV Forum rally attendees. Monday was my first time at Yosemite, and all I can say is “Wow!” It is truly spectacular. Since the winter was so wet, the waterfalls are roaring. Even more than the waterfalls, I just loved the valley itself – green, broad, a river rolling with whitewater, and surrounded by granite cliffs. Here are some of the obligatory photos.

We actually didn’t stay too long or do any walking. A light mist turned to a dreary cold rain, and we did not have adequate gear. We visited the park headquarters, had lunch in the lodge bar, and took the shuttle bus round trip through the stops. Back in camp we warmed up and dried off, then some of us went to the oldest saloon in California, the Iron Door. Fun local place, and they had a good local dark beer.

Tuesday we did housekeeping chores. After a week or so on the road we needed to do laundry. We also went to the little local museum in Groveland (quite nice) and had lunch at a local bakery. Happy Hour again with the rally folks, then off to the Iron Door saloon again for a beer and onion rings. I also did some sewing on a quilt for Quilts for Kids. It was a fairly productive day for just getting some things done.

Sonoma county excitement

After our fun trip to San Francisco we mostly relaxed on Friday. We did visit a couple of wineries (Rodney Strong and Kendall-Jackson). Rodney Strong was nice, but K-J was nothing to write home about. We just tried them to see how big wineries compared to smaller ones. Friday night was absolutely nuts at the campground. I have never seen so many children, most of them having a good time. Every site was filled including the numerous cabins, and the overflow parking was overflowing. We went for dinner with friends to Nick’s, a restaurant on Nick’s Cove southwest 20 minutes from Petaluma. It was a wonderful experience with good food, lovely wine, and good conversation.

It was still crazy at the campground on Saturday, but we got up fairly early to do some sightseeing. We first visited the Armstrong Redwoods, a spot recommended by friends. The weather was windy and damp discouraging walks. We did get to see redwoods though! There is no way I can take a picture that shows how big they are, but here are a couple of attempts.

We also went to the coast to drive part of highway 1. This is a road we could never do with the trailer since it is narrow and windy. We stopped at a number of beaches until we found real excitement at Duncan’s Cove (part of Sonoma State Beach). A pickup had driven over the edge of the cliff and fallen/rolled about 100′ to the shore. By the time we got there, the scene was fully in hand with multiple EMTs, sheriffs, park patrol, and two helicopters. One ended up lifting the injured driver out and the other did the airlift to the hospital. I was amazed the driver was alive, but the local paper said he was expected to survive. Lots of cool pictures watching the experts stabilize and then transport the driver to the cliff top.

Continue reading “Sonoma county excitement”

Petaluma KOA and San Francisco

We arrived at the Petaluma KOA yesterday evening at 5:30. It was a beautiful drive from Nevada, but I rediscovered how painful driving in California traffic is! The KOA is very nice with lots of trees, level pull-through sites, and it is remarkably quiet. I can’t believe how big the roses are; there are individual blooms as big as my outstretched hand. In general the place is nicely landscaped with lots of flowers in addition to the trees. The sites are quite spacious for a private campground too. It is expensive for us, though not unreasonable for a popular vacation area like this ($55 for Sunday through Thursday, $75 for Friday and Saturday for a water and electric site). We got a discount with our KOA card, and Saturday night was a special fee which made it less expensive. We also used some of our KOA points to reduce the cost.

Today we took a tour to San Francisco. There were 14 of us, a driver, and the tour guide. The guide was informative and the stops nice. We did all the standard stuff – Golden Gate Bridge, Presidio, cable car, Fisherman’s wharf, Golden Gate Park, Fort Point Historic Site, and Chinatown plus just driving some of the wonderful neighborhoods. They picked us up at 9:00 and we got back to the campground just after 6:00. This was worth every penny so we didn’t have to drive (and park) the truck in town. Here are some of the pictures.

Overlooking the city and the bay from the 9th floor of the De Young museum
Mandatory cable car photo
My husband on the cable car
Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Point National Historic Site

We were very lucky in the weather. It was cool and windy, but no fog or rain. I really like San Francisco, but it is still a big city with traffic, congestion, and no parking. I wish I could stay for a week sometime but I doubt it will ever happen. We just like open spaces too much. I always feel closed in when I am in a city. I guess I am just a western girl at heart.

Tomorrow is a wine country tour (driving ourselves), and dinner with an old high school friend.

 

Water Canyon BLM campground outside Winnemucca, Nevada

We left the house at 9:15 MDT in lovely weather. After taking our time with a stop for breakfast (McDonald’s Egg Mcmuffin for me in Magna, UT) and lunch (incredible chicken friend steak at Bella’s in Wells, NV – I highly recommend it), we arrived at this wonderful BLM campground around 3:30 PDT. We found a shady campsite next to a fast running creek. No neighbors anywhere within sight or sound, and the campground is free! The site is a huge pull through and we kept the truck connected so it will be easy leaving tomorrow. We sat outside in the recliners next to the water for a long time.

Kevin took a bike ride up the road some. This is just a general area picture he took plus a closeup of a chukkar, one of my favorite birds.

 

The moon came up over the mountains just as the sun was setting.

 

Tomorrow we head to civilization, Petaluma KOA. It definitely won’t be quiet and dark like tonight. Urban California (or suburban California) is tough to drive in with the truck and trailer. The roads are much better for smaller cars than our 55′ combination. I can handle the traffic, but there just isn’t any parking even in shopping centers.

Oh, and we only forgot a few things – both sets of house shoes and my cotton kitchen towels. Both should be easy to replace somewhere tomorrow. Dinner was a one spot meal – Knorr’s Chicken Fettuccini plus frozen rotisssrie chicken from Costco. We didn’t need much with such a big dinner. Now if only I can stay awake until 10:00 pm PDT …

Antelope Island (again) plus the sewing show

I spent five hours at the Utah Quilting and Sewing Marketplace show yesterday.  Four of those I staffed the booth for American Sewing Guild, and one hour I had lunch and shopped. I didn’t get anything cool (just needles and bobbins for my quilting machine – 20% off!) so I didn’t take pictures. I then took a trip to Ikea to get some more storage containers for the trailer and headed home. Since nothing at Ikea is quick, it was a long day. I baked some nice salmon with a honey and mustard glaze that was tasty.

Kevin decided he wanted to try again to see the bison calves at Antelope Island so we took off about 6:30 for the 30 minute trip. What a good choice! We saw our first deer while still on the causeway; it was running along side us. I guess folks who say early dusk is the best time to see animals are right – we saw deer, pronghorn, coyotes, and lots and lots of bison. The nursery herd had finally gotten a bit closer to humans. Not too close as you can see from the picture (take with a zoom), but at least we could see them. Notice some low and some still high on the hills.

This picture was taken with my new camera. It is definitely better than my iPhone, and I have discovered how to transfer the pictures wirelessly. No more having to fire up the computer, pull out a memory card, transfer to computer, then transfer to the iPad! I love it.

The Wasatch Mountains still have their heads covered in snow. This is looking across Farmington Bay.

Again it was a zoom from the new camera. The next one was a lovely surprise. This is taken looking west from the Island. The best sunsets in the Salt Lake Valley are from Antelope Island.

Today we pack the trailer for the trip to California. Tomorrow we are having a natural gas line run into the kitchen and the new stove put in. Samsung, dual fuel (gas range, electric oven) with 5 burners all of varying BTU so you can simmer a sauce while boiling another big pot of water for pasta. I am pretty pumped! We have an old builder grade electric stove with a glass top that I just hate. I much prefer gas so I can judge the heat much easier.

I’ve got goodies

I had a fun two days. First I had a friend with a long arm quilting machine baste my Carpenter’s Square queen sized quilt. It is wonderful! See how even the backing lies? No puckers, no wrinkles even with the fluffy wool batting. 

Any little wrinkles that show on the picture are because I had it partially draped on my ironing board. She used water soluble thread, a basting stitch about 1/2″ long, and programmed 5″ squares. She said she cussed at the thread for a little while until she got it working, but she is more than willing to do this on additional quilts for me or others.

While we were chatting, she mentioned she has a company that makes assorted quilting “stuff.” In particular, she has a new model of bobbin wonder that is programmable for up to two different bobbin types. I just hate my old-style Handiquilter bobbin winder so I was intrigued. She and her husband showed me how it worked, and I was hooked; I bought one right there on the spot. I have since tried it at home on my Handiquilter and my Happy multineedle embroidery machine. It winds both types of bobbins (Class M and Class L) perfectly. She has also wound Featherweight bobbins on it. My FW bobbin winder is getting difficult to use; after all it is made out of rubber and is over 60 years old (1952 model).

I left the snippers on it for size. The copper wire guides the thread to the tension assembly. It is so neat and clean compared to my old bobbin winder. If anyone is interested in her stuff, either quilting or quilting accessories, she can be found at www.fancyquilt.com (I wish I could make that a hot link – sorry). I highly recommend her products.

I also got a combination cup holder and mini trash can at my Bernina dealer when I was at the embroidery software class. I am always worried about spilling a cup of coffee or tea in the sewing studio, and I never have a trash can close enough. This hits two birds with one stone. I figure it will really be wonderful to take to sewing get together or classes. It screws on the edge of a table, and the cup part is HUGE, over 4″ inside diameter. It should easily hold even an insulated water bottle.

I should have more fun things tomorrow to show off after I attend the Utah Quilting and Sewing Marketplace show. I will help staff the American Sewing Guild booth in the morning, then I get to shop and look at the show quilts. So far I just have boring things to buy (needles and bobbins), but I probably will find something fun to get in addition; I usually do.

On the Instant Pot front, we had a great stuffed pepper casserole last night. The night before we made pork chops in the Anova sous vide again. We have been eating quite well.

Getting ready

We have been at home for a very long time – since mid February! However a new trip is coming up, and we are getting things ready. Kevin is continuing to rehab, visiting the PT three times a week until we leave on Tuesday. It is helping, so we should be able to take a lot of nice bike rides in California. I bought a new camera to take along too!

Note this one is waterproof. I like the water, and I have lost two cameras to it. One was in the Great Salt Lake and one on a river. Sigh. I should have learned my lesson after the first one. The new camera has all kinds of bells and whistles my 4 year old camera doesn’t, so it will probably be my main one now. I am not a sophisticated photographer, so I like point and shoot cameras.

We did go out on Sunday to see the bison babies at Antelope Island State Park. The park had posted on Facebook the nursery herd had moved to the east side where the roads are, and we were hoping to see lots of the little “red dogs.” Sadly we saw nothing except 15 – 20 solitary males. We did get a nice lunch out of it (take out Chinese eaten in the car) and some good sightseeing. I also got bit by one of the nasty biting gnats out right now. Those things love me, and they generally bite my scalp. I only was out of the car for a minute putting trash in a can. Sigh. This the view from the east side of the island across Farmington Bay to the Wasatch Mountains. The snow line is probably about 8500′. The lake is about 4200′.

Taken with my iPhone camera so not as nice as the new camera will be (I hope).

This morning I am just enjoying a delicious spring day on my front porch. It has been rainy for weeks it seems! We have gotten almost half our annual rainfall in the last 3 months, so I am looking forward to forecasted dry weather. Kevin says he isn’t even going to try out the sprinklers until June. We have so much water in the soil he won’t need to.

Cleaning up the sewing room leads to distractions

I took my Carpenter’s Square quilt to my long arm friend yesterday and got a nice tour of her lovely, very clean sewing rooms (yes, she has two!). Sigh. My sewing room is a mess. I decided to at least sort a bunch of stuff before I start on my next project, and I did get a good start. However I also got distracted with sorting scraps. I decided to make some more rice bags for my hands since I had a piece of cute fabric just big enough. I have arthritis in my thumb and forefinger joints near my palm, and they get sore and achy on a regular basis. I had some other rice bags, but they somehow disappeared. I made two of them, one with a 3×5 finished size and the other 4×6 finished. I think I prefer the larger one. They are just two rectangles sewn together with some elastic on one side to keep them on my hand. I fill them with dried rice, then heat them in the microwave 20-30 seconds or so. The rice heats up and provides nice relief to my sore hands.

If you decide to make rice bags, be sure to use 100% cotton fabric, not something like polyester fleece. You also don’t want to heat the bags too long or they could burn since they use elastic. In fact, even 100% cotton and very dry rice can burn if left too long in the microwave so be careful.

After leaving my friend’s house I headed to a class on my Bernina V8 Embroidery Software. The dealer I use is 45 miles away from my house – a good hour drive. They are very knowledgeable though. I have been using this software for 12 or more years, and I really just need to learn the new features. It is still beneficial to go to a class for beginners since I pick up little tricks I hadn’t caught before. Last night was about variations on automatically digitizing a graphic, meaning converting a graphic into embroidery stitches. Wow, the software has improved significantly in this area since the previous version! The class doesn’t get out until 9:00 so it means a late night drive home. We won’t meet again until after we get back from our Yosemite trip. That reminds me that the NPS announced yesterday they enough road repair done to open up the road we need to take you Monday. Yeah! No change in travel plans needs to be made.

As for my continual experiments with Instant Pot meals, we had boneless country pork ribs two nights ago. I cooked them in high pressure for 40 minutes, and I should have added another 5 minutes. We live above 4000′ elevation, and I am still learning how to adjust the standard recipes for the altitude. I had added about 10% additional time, but I could have used 20%. They were still good. I can’t say the same for the “boiled” eggs I tried! I loved making hard boiled eggs in my old pressure cooker, but the Instant Pot is a slightly lower pressure system. My first two tries resulted in very soft eggs, but I finally discovered that 14 minutes at low pressure makes a nice hard egg like I enjoy for breakfast. I finished the last one I made for lunch, so I need some more.