Goodbye again, Sacramento

Our stay in Sacramento for this time around is wrapping up. February 28th, we hit the road. By March 1st, we'll be in Yuma, Arizona for a month, and then we start some serious trekking east, eventually ending up in New England for a summer visit. Our original plans only had us in Sacramento for about 5 weeks, arriving in Yuma by December 1st. But as fate would have it, a series of events intervened, prolonging our stay to from 5 weeks, to four months. Happily, being retired and living the lifestyle we do, adjustments like this are possible, and in this case came with some happy outcomes: Dan's brother and sister-in-law are now well on their way to full recovery from their serious motorcycle accident of last August; Mindy & Milan have welcomed a second son (and my 7th grandchild) into their family; Dan and I were able to spend lots of time visiting with the kids and grandkids and were lucky enough to attend school plays, soccer tournaments, Christmas programs, rugby matches, and share Thanksgiving Day with family. No matter how long or how short we stay when coming to this area, its hard to leave, hard to say goodbye. As always, we take away awesome memories from our visit this time around. In no particular order, below are some snapshots of our interlude from the road!

Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park

Still able to take advantage of the unseasonably warm January weather this year, Dan and I, along with our hiking friends, took a drive to the Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, located 26 miles north-east of Nevada City, California, along Highway 49. In most Januaries, it wouldn't be unusual for this area to be blanketed in snow, but on the day we were there, it was warm enough to peel down to one layer during our hike. Malakoff Diggins preserves the largest hydraulic mining site in California, and visitors can see huge cliffs carved out by mighty streams of water, results of the mining technique of washing away entire mountains of gravel to wash out the gold. While beautiful in its own way, the Malakoff mine pit on the San Juan Ridge is a testimony to the greed and avarice that was part of the California Gold Rush, and to one of the nation's first environmental protection measures. In 1884, this method of mining was declared illegal by the courts, but not before irreversible damage had been done. Today, visitors like us can hike on miles of trails including ducking into some of the tunnels where the water used to flow. The town of North Bloomfield, preserved to depict life in this mid-1800's mining town, includes a visitor center, museum, church, school, general store, and a furnished home. It was fascinating to see how 130 years of natural restoration has started reshaping this ravaged landscape.

Folsom Lake - The Drought of 2014

On just about everyone's mind in California nowadays is the drought. Here in Sacramento, with 50 days and counting of no rain, with record highs in January being broken almost daily, with Folsom Lake at historically low levels, with the Sierra snow pack only 20% of normal for this time of year, and Governor Jerry Brown officially declaring these conditions The Drought, it's easy to understand the high level of concern in the region. Growing up in Orangevale, Folsom's next-door neighbor, and living in the Sacramento area most of my life, I've spent countless hours at Folsom Lake and the surrounding waterways and recreational areas, camping, swimming, hiking, and biking. On a recent sunny January day Dan and I decided to drive out to Brown's Ravine in Folsom to see the changes for ourselves. Distressingly, the lake looked more like a pond, the low levels quite alarming. We saw a parking lot filled with dry-docked boats, the remnants of Mormon Island normally under water, boat launch ramps that were yards and yards from the water, and people swarming around where they would be swimming normally. Conditions are quite worrisome, to say the least. Here are some snapshots that we may not, hopefully not, have access to again.