October Trip Installment 2
Saturday (10/18) -- the day of the Great Anniversary Surprise. But this was not to occur until the evening, which left Matt and me time to pursue other attractions in the mean time.
We visited with Grandma V for a bit over an hour. We then traveled to Grass Valley, CA, which is the town nearest Nevada City where the GrAnSu was to take place.
Matt and I spent three ('89-'92) of our formative years in Nevada City, an historic mining town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. I am very partial to this place -- would classify it as the best place I've lived so far. It's always fun and sadly nostalgic to revisit NC and GV, roam the streets, see the houses we used to live in, the schools we used to go to, the libraries we frequented. See also this posting regarding the area.
When we were young and Dad worked at Hennessy Elementary School, we used to pick up pasties for dinner and go meet him at his office. We always went to King Richards Pasties which was next door to the school. This shop now being out of business, we went to Marshall's Pasties in downtown Grass Valley for the true pasty experience.
It turns out that Marshall's Pasties is more authentic than King Richards was, having had the same owners for 40 years. There was a long-standing rivalry between the two businesses. We had a great time talking to the server and her brother (who stopped by for lunch during his work day), both members of the owning family. A very scintillating discussion was had about the Amish, Catholics, Christianity, pasties, and politics.
Brother and I then went to the Empire Mine State Historic Park (pictures to follow), which is next door to Calvary Bible Church. It seems I was there some time in the last 11 years, but my brother opines that he has not been there since 1992. Both potential facts may be true. If I haven't been there since 1992 then my memory serves me better than I woulda thought and it is possible that I have dreamt of the place which may have made my experiences there seem more recent. If I was there in 1997 then my memory is worse than perhaps it should be.
On this occasion, we took a look at the historic mining equipment; wandered into the mine itself (which extends almost a mile below the ground surface, making it over 2000 feet below sea level at the lowest part! obviously we didn't go very far inside); evaluated the reflecting pool (which is full of black moss but which reflects nonetheless), the "cottage" (a very nice stone structure where the owner of the mine lived on vacations from San Francisco or something; people should make more houses like it today) and the surrounding gardens; and took a walk near the cyanide-impregnated land. This land seems to contain a new shaft leading down to a branch off the main mine shaft. The new shaft was developed for a train car ride which is to bear people deep into the mine, but they have not yet opened this ride to the public. We conjecture this may be due to new opposition because of the cyanide soil. If we had been bad we would have entered the central construction zone and have found the tunnel... but we did not.
Part of the reason for visiting this park was to rack up steps on my brother's pedometer. He is in a competition at work, and aiming for some thousands of steps per day. Friday we fell far short of his desired amount, so we had to make up for it. We hiked the Osborne Hill trail, which led us to the back of Calvary Bible Church property, and then headed for the NCNGRR Museum where set-up was occuring for the GrAnSu.
We visited with Grandma V for a bit over an hour. We then traveled to Grass Valley, CA, which is the town nearest Nevada City where the GrAnSu was to take place.
Matt and I spent three ('89-'92) of our formative years in Nevada City, an historic mining town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. I am very partial to this place -- would classify it as the best place I've lived so far. It's always fun and sadly nostalgic to revisit NC and GV, roam the streets, see the houses we used to live in, the schools we used to go to, the libraries we frequented. See also this posting regarding the area.
When we were young and Dad worked at Hennessy Elementary School, we used to pick up pasties for dinner and go meet him at his office. We always went to King Richards Pasties which was next door to the school. This shop now being out of business, we went to Marshall's Pasties in downtown Grass Valley for the true pasty experience.
It turns out that Marshall's Pasties is more authentic than King Richards was, having had the same owners for 40 years. There was a long-standing rivalry between the two businesses. We had a great time talking to the server and her brother (who stopped by for lunch during his work day), both members of the owning family. A very scintillating discussion was had about the Amish, Catholics, Christianity, pasties, and politics.
Brother and I then went to the Empire Mine State Historic Park (pictures to follow), which is next door to Calvary Bible Church. It seems I was there some time in the last 11 years, but my brother opines that he has not been there since 1992. Both potential facts may be true. If I haven't been there since 1992 then my memory serves me better than I woulda thought and it is possible that I have dreamt of the place which may have made my experiences there seem more recent. If I was there in 1997 then my memory is worse than perhaps it should be.
On this occasion, we took a look at the historic mining equipment; wandered into the mine itself (which extends almost a mile below the ground surface, making it over 2000 feet below sea level at the lowest part! obviously we didn't go very far inside); evaluated the reflecting pool (which is full of black moss but which reflects nonetheless), the "cottage" (a very nice stone structure where the owner of the mine lived on vacations from San Francisco or something; people should make more houses like it today) and the surrounding gardens; and took a walk near the cyanide-impregnated land. This land seems to contain a new shaft leading down to a branch off the main mine shaft. The new shaft was developed for a train car ride which is to bear people deep into the mine, but they have not yet opened this ride to the public. We conjecture this may be due to new opposition because of the cyanide soil. If we had been bad we would have entered the central construction zone and have found the tunnel... but we did not.
Part of the reason for visiting this park was to rack up steps on my brother's pedometer. He is in a competition at work, and aiming for some thousands of steps per day. Friday we fell far short of his desired amount, so we had to make up for it. We hiked the Osborne Hill trail, which led us to the back of Calvary Bible Church property, and then headed for the NCNGRR Museum where set-up was occuring for the GrAnSu.
posted by Claire at 18:49
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