The drive out there was really pretty and it brought us through the Golden Lakes region, a very beautiful area with numerous lakeside campgrounds. Note for the future! We drove up a pretty long and bumpy dirt road to the trailhead.
The hike up was vigorous and steep at times, but not too long. As we ascended I noticed that there were areas with a ton of small branches and pine needles on the ground, basically this area is a tinderbox. Combined with the steep hillside, the tall pine trees, the total absence of any surface water, dry hot temperatures and strong gusty winds, it was sobering to think that one improperly disposed cigarette could create a major forest fire in a short time.
As we hiked, we already knew that there was smoke in the air from the forest fire to our south. At the summit, we were greeted with really heavy smoke.
The Buttes were barely visible.
So that was sad, but it was still really pretty up there and we had a great lunch of ripe avocado and Brie with fresh lemon juice and seasoning salt on flatbread crackers, snow peas and plenty of water. Yum!
That evening, Chris and Laura had invited their band over for a jam session. It was fun learning some new tunes and trying to lead a few tunes with them.
Thursday (today) was my final day up here and originally I had planned to drive down to Lake Tahoe, but I decided instead to drive to Quincy to spend the day at the County Fair with Benna and Emma's family. I had looked up the information about the fair and discover that admission was free between noon and 2pm so I left a message for Karen that I would be at the fair and that she should call me on my cell phone to arrange a meeting time and place. I drove to the fair and started checking it out. It was very much like the Tri-county fair back home, but a bit smaller and with a few little local twists.
There was "fair" food:
Entertainment:
And even a tractor pull....
There were racing pigs, pie and quilt competitions, craft displays and a beer garden. The main event was the animals, though. It was kind of weird to see the kids taking such good care of these animals, showing them and primping them up, and at the same time creating informational displays explaining how to cook them!
After I took this picture, I realized that just outside the fence was Quincy's largest industry, the big sawmill. There were gigantic piles of really huge logs at one end, and giant stacks of processed lumber at the other end.
These photos only show the edges of the place. On a later drive through town I could see that the piles went on for several hundred yards.
Of course there was also a carnival section with rides, but I still had not seen Benna and Emma, and to my great dismay I found that there was absolutely no signal on my cell phone. I consoled myself by returning to the fudge vendor and purchasing a quarter pound of the only thing on his display that I didn't actually recognize. It turned out to be lumps of crystallized honey dipped in chocolate. I had a few lumps and then decided I had to get it of there before I ate anything else! So I drove to Emma's grandparents' house and was not surprised to find everyone there, enjoying the air conditioning! They had decided to go to the fair in the evening and invited me to stick around until then. (Of course Karen had left me a voicemail...)
After giving away the remaining chocolate covered honey, I made a plan to go into town to work at the library, returning for dinner and then accompanying everyone back to the fair. Benna and Emma wanted to come along, so the three of us drove into downtown Quincy.
At that point I remembered that the guitar player from last night was playing at a farmer's market so I decided to look for that before the library. Now, Quincy is bigger than Portola; there is not one but two traffic lights in Quincy. I parked across from the bank.
The farmer's market was right across the street.
The library was one street over. Compared to these towns, Amherst feels like a city.
The rides were all lit up, it was a classic scene and the kids seemed to have a really good time.
Having spent many hours at the fair, I was ready to leave before they were, so I said goodbye and headed back to Portola.
Tomorrow I will pack up my bags and pick up Benna, then drive through the scenic Feather River Canyon down to Sacramento, then on to San Francisco for the final three nights of this wonderful vacation.
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