Sugar Pine Reservoir

Flash Slideshow

I recently spent a long weekend up in hot Grass Valley with friends. We went on mini adventures in old gold country. North of San Francisco rests this peaceful paradise. We made a brief halt at an old coffee shop/bar/diner/video parloer/with pool table and snake skins and dollar bills all over the ceiling along with deer antlers. Quaint and distant from modern day amenities except for the Budweiser, Frito Lay, Doritos and Mikes Hard Lemonade evrtything reminded me of a western movie and maybe to my friends a bygone era. To me it was an equivalent of an Indian village rest shop. People are content with VCRs and glued to a tiny 12inch TV. No electricity but generators and solar panels are the resources that keep life going.

They did mention the intermittent visit of a snake. A typical Indian village can be identified with most popular consumer brands along with a balring radio, a cassette player, maybe a VCR and small color TV (and snakes)with no electricity and yes bad roads. I guess entertainment, keeps the locals entertained or maybe while away the long days just like we city folks tune away out with our iPods.

Local adventures are so much fun, next time I plan to camp there and hike around. Gorgeous is an understatement and mingling with local folks and taking a break from alarm clocks is always a good thing. Picking wild berries, bumping into deers and admiring trees bearing fruit and sipping wine in a cave at the Sierra Knolls winery in the middle of nowhere was an experience I can never forget.

I recommend close to home adventures, there is so much to explore. So hit the road.