[Morgan Hill, CA - May 28, 2010] All journeys begin with a single step and a single thought (hmmm, wonder if I forgot anything). We left home at 8:05am on Friday, May 28th and headed for The Daily Bagel Cafe where John fortified himself with mocha and a creamated Everything But the Kitchen Sink bagel. Linda had vanilla and hazelnut coffee with cocoa sprinkles. She was already fortified with Raw Bits Twang Twang. After dropping John's absentee ballot at the Post Office we pulled out of Morgan Hill at approximately 8:53. We went through Manteca where there were lots of cherries on the trees and lots of fruit stands. Prices were $2 and $3 a pound - much more reasonable than back home where the cherry crop is mostly a loss this year because of the rain. We usually stop at a McDonalds in Manteca, but they have moved to another location in town. Oh well.
Around 11:26 we pulled into our favorite stop in Oakdale - Oakdale Cheese and Specialty Store. John got 2 packages of curds (yes, they look even weirder than the name sounds). Linda got some quark (a smooth spreadable dairy product) and a yogic frog windchime that says something about the importance in life of remaining flexible. The frog is in cobra position. With John's help Linda located a letterbox outside the cheese store. The clue Linda had downloaded at www.atlasquest.com said that a geranium wagon was near the pet petting area (llamas, sheep, goats) but it had been moved. John spotted it and Linda found a great stamp to enter into her logbook. In the video, there is a VERY long tutorial on letterboxing... just kidding, it isn't that long.
Next stop was the 50s Roadhouse Diner in Knight's Ferry. We always try to time our trips to be nearing close to a mealtime. It's fun to see the decor and the food is outstanding. Appropriately there were several fancy motorcycles parked outside. John had Red Skelton's Chef Salad and Chill Will's Chile Cheese Fries. Linda usually gets a Mr. Green Jeans Veggie Burger but got the soup 'o the day - Chicken Noodle. The Howdy Doody Chicken Strip Salad sounded pretty good too. Some other items on the nostalgia-laced menu were Bridgette Bardo French Dip, Beaver Cleaver Chile Dog and Hopalong Cassidy Corn Dog. Knight's Ferry was previously a community called Buena Vista. We left the diner in the neighborhood of 12:42. Several photos in the gallery of the 50's Roadhouse Diner and some video (once we get it posted)
The traffic was starting to pick up some. It being the start of a holiday weekend, after all. Some of the road was 2 lanes for a while but we soon arrived at Gables Cedar Creek Inn in Twain Harte. This is probably our 10th trip to Gold Country at least our 5th or 6th time to stay in Twain Harte at one of the Gables Cedar Creek Inn cabins. This one is called The Hideaway. It's faux log cabbin construction. The decor is bears, moose and more bears. There's even a bear rug on the floor in front of the cozy fire in the stove. It's really close to a swiftly running stream which sounds wonderful. From the bridge that's used to get to our cabin you can see rainbow trout. Gables Cedar Creek Inn is over 50 years old and the present owners (Tim and Jan Ewing) have had it since 1985, It and the 2 parcels of land west of here were the summer camp for the Mi Wuk Indians. There are Indian grain grinding rocks here. Years later the stagecoach stop was located on this property. After the flood of 1986 the owners found some horseshoes at the base of a buried tree trunk by the creek. There's your history lesson for today. This will be our home until late into next week and we will be taking you with us on some day trips. The weather is a little chilly so you might want to get a jacket.
As on our other post-retirement road trips, we are eschewing radio and TV. Amazing how peaceful the quiet is and it is especially nice to be free of political advertisements. It gives us more time for photography, blogging, reading, journaling and just listening to nature. Maggie Mae seems to approve of the new digs. She is up on the bed taking a nap. She hasn't tried out the bear rug yet so that is a Kodak moment just waiting to happen.
Speaking of journaling Linda (and John if he wants to) is going to list 3 things a day that she is thankful for, (or for you English Majors) for which she is thankful. On Friday Linda is thankful for her faithful gardening sun hat, quark and stretch jeans. On Friday, John is thankful for a safe journey, great chili cheese fries, and finally getting away! In closing, at the end of the day, we haven't thought of anything we forgot ... yet.
The photo gallery today is a bit sparse, but here it is. Click here to go to the photo gallery (it will be in a separate window)
Finally, the video is up. You can access it by clicking here.
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