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When deciding where to stay during our last week in California, I wanted an RV park not too far from the home of our daughter, son-in-law and grandkids and also in a place with some atmosphere. I decided on a week in Plymouth in the Sierra foothills. For years I have been intrigued, entranced with the historic mining towns along the area of Highway 49 in the Sierra Foothills. Driving the length of 49 takes you to many of these small towns which have interesting historic buildings and streets to explore as well as pretty hill country scenery.  I have explored pretty much all of them through the years and have my favorites such as Sutter Creek where I love to attend the yearly Ragtime Piano Festival.

Today after a substantial breakfast at a local diner we decided to have a day of exploring an area we hadn’t been to in many years – the Shenandoah Valley right outside of Plymouth.  We did some wine tasting during our first trip here way back when but today we mostly drove all the back roads admiring the beautiful wineries and miles of vineyards covering oak studded hills burnished gold with late summer grass. We stopped at one winery for a visit and I couldn’t help wandering into the vineyards to look at the clusters of ripe purple grapes hanging from the grape vines.  Yes, I couldn’t resist sneaking a few (only two) grapes to taste as I wandered – ripe and sweet.

My favorite stop though was Fiddletown which I think gets the award for the most clever and fun name in the gold country.   A historical plaque noted that Fiddletown was settled by Missourians and the name was suggested because the residents were always “fiddling.”  The town has a fiddle festival each year and this year will be the 65th festival!  It will be held September 16 and I am disappointed with myself that I have never attended this festival.  I have known about it in the past, but since I haven’t made a point to remember the festival when the time comes and make plans to attend, I have missed it every year.  During our visit today the town was eerily quiet along the one Main Street – nobody was out and about and only a few cars passed along the street.  We had the place to ourselves and I really enjoyed looking at the historic buildings, soaking up the atmosphere and taking pictures.  The town had a Chinatown and several buildings remain from the 1850’s including the Chew Kee Store which is now a museum.  It was locked up tight today with a sign noting Saturday hours and another sign on the door, “Sorry, too hot.”  This Chinese herb store was built of rammed earth adobe in 1851 and has the iron shuttered windows which I love in these old mining towns.

The community center boasts a giant fiddle on the roof, perfect for this little town!

My favorite building though is the Schallhorne Blacksmith and Wagon shop built in 1870 and surrounded by lots of junk and wagon wheels propped on the porch.  I would love to have walked around and looked more closely at all the junk, but the yard area looked off limits.

I love seeing historic churches and schools and Fiddletown has a historic one room school house on a side street which was built in 1862.  Grade 1st through 8th were taught here for one hundred years before it closed and children in the town began attending a modern school elsewhere.  Efforts have been made to renovate the school building but I am not sure where they are in the process.  In the back of the school the old outhouse still stands.

We had a quiet day in the gold country and it was nice to explore this beautiful area for several hours.

After breakfast today (about noon!) we decided to take a drive up Amador County’s Shenandoah Valley, wine country.  Wow! There are miles and miles of vines covering the valley and hillsides.  I think we must have passed 35 to 40 different little wineries.  We stopped at one on the way out to get a drink and snack and Beth headed off into the vines to take a look and a few pictures.  Inside they were selling cases of wine for around $100 to $250 and more.  To a guy who balks at $5.99 for a 12 pack of Diet Coke I felt a little out of my league.

This is gold rush country and we passed through a couple of gold rush towns.  We stopped to look around a little in one called Fiddletown.  It is pretty small and not developed much but the kind of place explorers love.  This is one of the old buildings on the main street.

Beth loves old school houses so we hunted this one down up the hill a little.  Across the road was the graveyard and we wandered a little there also.

The town dates back to 1850 and many of the graves go back to soon after that, the 1860’s and 70’s.  One of the things a visit like this reminds you is that life was hard back then.  A lot of the people died young.  Many died in infancy and many women died in child bearing years.  One plot held 3 wives of the same man.  One died in November of 1871 at the age of 38 and the next died in February of 1873 at 25!  Luckily the third lived to be 77.  Another held a husband and wife. The husband died at the age of 49 and the wife died about a month later at 42.  It’s hard to imagine what life would have been like back then.

There was a little museum in a building built by a Chinese doctor and here is the sign they had in the door.  Wise people the Chinese.

This last picture is from the RV park last night.  A very nice sunset.  Enjoy and thanks for reading.

 

 

Having lived in our house for approximately 23 years, moving out with the plan to put things into storage and live in a small trailer was quite an adventure. There was so much we had accumulated during those years that decluttering and minimizing was a challenge. I believe it was a necessary challenge as a number of those things we just didn’t need or weren’t using much if ever. It is so easy to “collect” in a home and let things pile up. Some things were easy to get rid of and others took more thought. Those things with sentimental value or would be hard to replace I found difficult to discard.  Some things were a big question as to whether to keep or let go. As I started to make frequent trips to the Hope Chest to donate or gave things to neighbors and friends, Mark and I noticed a peculiar phenomena. Although it seemed we were doing a good job minimizing, we had the same amount of stuff in the house as before! Mark  made the comment that he believed at night when we were asleep the Hope Chest was bringing back some of the things we had donated!

As we cleaned out one room, the pile in the other rooms seemed to grow. The process of minimizing was slow, constant and toward the end desperate. At first we thought we would sell some furniture but then decided it would be better to donate it. We discovered that some things might be difficult to find a home, including our oak entertainment cabinet that was probably no longer in favor with most people.   It was large and unwieldy and we needed someone strong to come get it. Donating it to Habitat for Humanity proved unsuccessful when two people from that organization came out with a small truck and stated they were unable to enter the house and pick up furniture. Eventually our neighbor’s friend came and took this cabinet and it was a happy day when it was finally out of the house.

Although minimizing and getting rid of things was the hardest part of the move, I found it was also the most rewarding.  I read something once that if you no longer need or use something you own, you should give it to someone who will appreciate and value it more than you do.  It was great to give things away to people who would enjoy them.

For example, we had an old windmill in the backyard garden that was rusted, in some disrepair and needed a little TLC.  When we found out our daughter-in-law’s father was interested in having this windmill I felt a little embarrassed giving it to him in the shape it was in.  When Ron came to get the windmill I apologized for the rust and missing screws and he said that he loved the old “patina” on the windmill blades.  I realized than that yes, the windmill was much more interesting with rust and wear than when it was shiny new.  It had character and he had wanted a windmill in his yard for some time.  This was just one example of someone who was happy to get something of ours that we were able to part with.  Although it can be comforting to have our possessions around us like a security blanket, the ability to let go was freeing  for me and allowed me to see a new beginning.

When I first saw our small storage unit I was dismayed and felt there was no way we would get everything in there we planned to save.   It is amazing though how much you can fit in a small space if you organize and pack efficiently.  I have my husband to thank for that.  He came up with a great way to stack all of our boxes against one wall.  Most of the rest of our furniture and belongings were able to fit in as well.  Our challenge now is how to organize and manage the belongings we brought in the trailer.  It looks like we have brought too much and minimizing will continue as we become more proficient living full time as nomads.

What a difference!  When we headed out this morning to see the grand kids people were packing up and when we got home, WOW, the place is nearly empty.  We have no one around us for several spaces.

We drove about 35 miles to spend some time with our daughter, son in law and two grand kids.  We started off with the Hot Wheels and then some board games.  They had made a list of the over 100 cars they had.  They pretty much know every car by name.

After cars we played some board games.  Here is Beth and Luke playing Junior Scrabble.  We had a burrito bar lunch and then headed back for the trailer.  We also played a matching game and a National Parks game.

On the way back we hit  (surprise surprise) a farmer’s market, Davis Ranch in Slough House.  This area is famous for it’s corn and you can see in the background where they dump loads out of the carts.  We also got some other produce that will probably wind up as dinner tomorrow.

Tomorrow and Wednesday we have some unusual plans, nothing.  In all my exploring with Beth I don’t think we have ever had a day, much less two days with no plans.  It will be interesting!

Hope all of you had a great holiday weekend and thanks for reading.

It took about 5 hours to get from Moss Landing to Chico and what a world of difference it made.  Going from 60 coastal degrees to 106 in the valley was a shocker.  Beth’s folks live in Chico and we took a few days to stop by and visit.  Above is a shot of Beth, Bob and Judy at the Sierra Nevada Brewery,  We had a great dinner there one evening.

It was really nice getting to visit several days as past visits have often been around holidays which means shorter stays with lots of other family around.  This time seemed more relaxed. We had some fun conversations and watched a couple of Giants games in the process.

On Wednesday we went by the local food locker were Bob and Judy have volunteered their time for many years.  We have heard about it before and it was great to see the place in operation.  It was also very nice to get to meet some of their fellow volunteers, one of whom was 94 years old!  I can’t believe I didn’t get any pictures!

We have several days now here in Plymouth.  We are planning to work on trailer organization and continue with family visits.  Our daughter and her family live in Elk Grove and we are headed that way tomorrow and Thursday.  I’ll try and put up a picture or two.

The park we are staying at is nice.  We have stayed here before.  Wow is it full and busy!  I love looking down the street at the line of trucks.  There are lots of people but it has a friendly, family, celebration kind of atmosphere.  It is really hot but it has been a good test of the trailer.  It has stayed cool inside and was 69 inside this morning.  It is also kind of novel having the place as cool as we want and not thinking about the electric bill!  Our last one from Modesto was about $450.

Another fun thing we did today was to start some trip planning.  Once we finish up our family time we are headed to Rapid City, South Dakota.  Early plans put us there in about two weeks.

Well, this is probably more than enough for now.  As always, thanks for reading.

Beth and I headed off to Monterey/Pacific Grove today.  It was overcast pretty much all day, but that is what it is usually like.  It is a neat place to start off our exploring because it was here that Beth and I met over 40 years ago!  We were both 19 years old and had just set out on our life adventures.  The little church where we got married is just a couple of blocks from this picture.  We were here twice and the second time we had an apartment near this spot.  Beth used to ride her bike along this road after work.  The spot in the middle of the picture is called “Lovers Point.”

As fate would have it one of Beth’s favorite events was happening while we were here.  A farmer’s market.  It wasn’t a huge one but there was some pretty good stuff.  We got mostly fruit and a loaf of cinnamon bread for breakfast tomorrow.  Oh, and some cookies.

Tomorrow we are traveling to Chico to visit Beth’s father and stepmom.  We are looking forward to the visit but are going from 60 degree temperatures to 104 or more.  We will get to see how we do in heat.

It was a little easier getting the pictures off the camera and phone and in to a post.  I hope to get Beth posting very soon so you can hear from her.  Please let us know if you have any ideas we could use to make the blog fun to follow!

Thanks for reading!

Well, a few days rest sounded pretty good last night, but when we got up this morning the explorer struck.  We thought about getting some local produce and Beth found an apple farm that sounded pretty good.  It was called Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville, CA.  We drove over and got some fresh apples, a slice of Dutch Apple Pie and an apple dumpling.

I figured out how to get our new wifi hotspot going and how to load a picture up from the iPhone so here is a pic of our new home.  This is a small park right on the water in Moss Landing, CA. it is probably our favorite so far and this is our third stay so far.  We thought it a good place to start.

Tomorrow we are planning to head over to Monterey for the day.  Thanks for reading!

We finally made it and are on the road! We were clearing and cleaning the house until the last moment and stuffing everything in to the trailer. We headed out and spent the night in Santa Nella then on today to the coast.  The 60 degrees here suits us a lot better than the 100+ of the valley.

We are both pretty tired and looking forward to a few days of rest.  Bear with us as we make the transition to exploration mode. I’m winging this post with my cell phone and can’t get pictures to load.

We are excited about this wonderful opportunity we have to travel and will do our best to share what we can!

My first bit to share is that downsizing, selling a house and getting everything ready to go on the road is a lot of work! Give yourself plenty of time and more if you are thinking about it. But…it is doable!

So thanks for reading and we hope to start posting and sharing on a somewhat regular basis. We will try and build some skill and make the posts fun as fast as we can.

The shot above is one I was not sure I’d ever see!  The house up for sale.  In fact, now, it needs the little sign that says “Pending” as we have accepted an offer and escrow is under way.

It has been a couple of months since our last post and boy have they been busy.  There are so many things that go in to a change like this.  I wouldn’t know where to start.  The last couple of months has focused on getting the house and all our stuff in it ready to go.  I’ll touch on a few things and then hopefully spend a little more time after we get on the road and things settle down some.

We started off with lots of painting on the inside of the house.  Bedrooms, bathroom, closets, entry way…all got a new coat (or 3) of paint.  Painting over that old Forest Green was a challenge!  There was also a lot of touch up on baseboards and trim.  I think it turned out pretty good though.

After (and some during) the painting came packing and cleaning.  We have gathered lots of stuff over the years and getting into sorting and packing (and discarding) took lots of time.  Our handy carpet cleaner got a good workout also.  We rented a storage space locally and what we are holding on to while traveling is headed there.

I just noticed the “Dirt” on one box.  Beth has a collection of clay figures and insisted that they had a distinctive label on the box.  I don’t think she appreciated my humor.  We have packed probably about 10-15 boxes and may have that many more to go.  Now that the house is sold it can all go over to the storage room.

A few areas in the house are starting to look pretty empty.  This bookshelf now holds only the Blue Ray player for the screen in front of the treadmill.  Beth loves to watch old TV shows while walking.  She had done all of MASH, Frasier, Seinfeld and is frantically trying to finish up the entire set of Lucy that I got for her last Christmas. Personally, I like to listen to audio books while walking.  I just finished up the entire 14 book series of “The Wheel of Time.”  Google says the audio series is about 416 hours.

Escrow is set to close August 25 so we have less than a month to go and still lots to do.  We will try and put up a thing or two as we go, but can’t say for sure.  It has been about 2 years since we started this with plans for me to go ahead and retire.  In a way it seems like a long time, and in a way it seems like just yesterday.

But…for better or worse we should be on the road in less than a month!  We will keep you posted as we can.

I am still soooo much a beginner at this blogging thing and have much to learn.  I hope you all will bear with me as I go.  I believe more than ever that “Exploring with Beth” is going to be worth whatever it takes for me to share it.

I will leave with a recent travel shot.  We took a trip up the coast to Crescent City, Patrick’s Point, Eureka and Weaverville.  It was a fun trip.  We spent the first night in Red Bluff and it was 106 degrees!  From there we went over to the coast and it was 60 degrees.  We spent some time on the coast then back to Red Bluff and 106.  We saw some really neat things and I hope Beth will have time soon to write a little bit about it.  One night we went out to the coast at Patrick’s Point to watch the sun go down.  The shot is of Beth sitting on the tailgate of the truck.

Thanks for reading!  Keep an eye out for more to come.

During my Costa Rica Road Scholar group tour in February 2016, we stayed at this lodge for two nights.  After arriving here, I quickly began to see that this would be a magical stay.  A reoccurring thought was that this was a place I could stay at for days and days without wanting to leave.  Located in a rainforest reserve in the northern part of Costa Rica, this is a place for nature lovers!  If I could return to just one lodge from all my travels, this would probably be my first choice.  There was so much to explore and enjoy!  We stayed in lovely bungalows next to the rushing Sarapiqui River and amongst the rainforest with elevated walkways connecting the bungalows.  In the picture above, I have ventured over the river on a hanging bridge, although rather timidly due to my fear of heights!

This is a true place to relax and rejuvenate.  Outside our rooms were comfy chairs and even hammocks to lay in.  The sounds of the forest are a delight.  From our rooms we could hear howler monkeys, a variety of birds, Coqui frogs, a roaring river and a tropical down pour.

I am not one though to sit, relax and listen for long.  The lodge grounds and rainforest beckoned and I wandered for hours checking out all the wildlife.  As a birder, I was especially pleased to see the wildlife feeding station set up near the dining area.  A large variety of colorful, tropical birds regularly visit here.  The bird I was most hoping to see was a Toucan and I saw two different varieties on several occasions as well in the trees around the lodge grounds.  What a thrill to see these magnificent birds!  Below is a picture of the Black-mandibled Toucan and another picture of Blue-gray tanagers with their beautiful light blue coloring.

The lodge grounds and reserve features other interesting wildlife including Howler monkeys which put up quite a racket and can be heard all over.  I made a search for them and was able to  see a number of monkeys in the trees including adults and young.  This was my first opportunity to see monkeys in the wild!  The reserve also has Cotati, who appeared near the feeding station; Iguanas high in the trees; a variety of colorful frogs (unfortunately I only saw one or two); butterflies and one of my most interesting discoveries, leaf-cutter ants.  The ants were hurrying along single file carrying pieces of leaves that were bigger than themselves!  The hummingbirds were numerous and fun to watch as well amongst the tropical flowers.  Even the spiders and their webs were more gigantic and interesting.

The lodge features nature trails and I loved walking through the forest.  Our group took a white water rafting trip on the Sarapiqui River, but I opted to stay behind and explore independently.  I am a wanderer at heart.  When I was tired of walking I swam in the very nice pool.  This is an intriguing place to visit and I would love to return if ever in Costa Rica again.