Travelogue: Oct. 25-Nov.1, 2022

California's Gold Country is a region of California that includes the foothills of the western Sierra Nevada mountains and many historic towns that date to the 1849 California Gold Rush. Thank you Wikipedia. The area is a fairly easy reach from our neck-of-the -woods, depending on where you're heading. Roughly 3-4 hours. The Sacramento Delta is even closer at 2 hrs and change. Carol and I hit the road with the camper to revisit a few familiar stops and find some new ones. We definitely wanted to slip into the higher elevations before the Sierra foothill's colder weather and snow begin to set in. Our timing was near spot on, as it snowed in a couple places we visited the day after we arrived home. Not that some light snow was going to stop us...but may have initiated a partial retreat of some kind ; )

Travel notes

• The Empire Gold Mine in Grass Valley CA, one of the richest gold mines in the US is a prestine and emaculately retstored 'don't miss'. It's a classic 'Upstairs/Downstairs' class comparison with the owner's opulent grounds, mansion, lavish pool, etc. all situated right next to the actual gold mine shaft and operations center.
• A return visit to Mokelumne Hill (known to locals as 'Mok Hill') is still my favorite Gold Country small town. Unlike most of the neighboring mining towns, It's a laid-back, thriving community with impecably restored structures and a definite artistic vibe. The Halloween decorations in town were exclusivley skeleton-based - a nice design touch. Some humorous, some realistically scary and others, just delightfully odd.
• Our first-ever walkabout around Nevada City was a surprise. For starters, who knew about all the art-deco architecture? And pretty sure we've never hoofed it around a 'hillier town'. Bring your hiking shoes!
• The Black Butte Lake Recreation Area was a per chance stop on our last day while traveling with neice Terri who drove out to connect up with us. It was such a find we both immediately forfeited our night's reservations at another location to stay there. A dramatic landscape that hopefully a couple photos I included below do justice to.
• Lodging wise, two nights in a cabin (The Buttes Resort) in Sierra City was sandwiched in-between camping for four nights. It split 'the run' up nicely.

Photography notes

• For quite awhle my photography goals have focused around 'found abstractions' and Gold Country is an endless gold mine (pun intended) for that genre. This time around however, the Sacramento Delta ended up delivering my favorite shots.
• At this point, my two favs are 1) 'Window Artifacts'. On the outside looking in, this grungy window seemed to have sheets of paper taped to it on the inside. A semi-abstraction that also reveals a sense of place. It's screaming at me to be painted. Errr....easier said than done. And 2) 'Pine Needles & Window Screen'. Just a slightly crumpled rusted window screen, dusted with a few random pine needles sitting on top of a pile of deconstruction debris. Cropped some, it became an interesting, minimal still life that continues to grow on me.