Auburn & Grass Valley, CA
Our campsite at the Auburn Gold Country RV Park.
Near our campsite Tom was watching his girls.  They don't seem too interested in his preening.
Frank Piccolo was Susan's instructor for her motorhome driver's training.  Nice guy and easy going.
Mid-way through her first day of training Susan was having the time of her life... uh, not really.
Frank encourages Susan to miss the cones.  Susan says, what cones? I don't see no steenking cones!
After driver's training, we stayed at the Nevada County Fairgrounds campground.
It is a no frills camping area near Grass Valley.  It was pretty quiet except for the rooster.
Right next to the campground was this nice little fishing lake for the kids.
This guy crowed at every opportunity.  Although it was initially cute soon we wished he would move on.
The Fairgrounds is used for emergency operations.   A motorcyclist was being flown to a local hospital.
This is a picture of one of the main streets in Grass Valley.
And this is the main drag of Nevada City.
We saw a good play at the Foothill Theater.  It was called "Doubt, A Parable" by John Patrick Shanley.
This bridge in Bridgeport is the longest single span covered bridge in the country.  We hiked a trail nearby.
Lots of folks like to pan for gold and at the price of gold these days, it can pay off!
Along our hiking trail in the Bridgeport area we saw these large fish in the Yuba river.
But I was happy with my catch... guess I'm just a lucky guy.
Another view of the attractive Yuba River.
On one day we toured the Empire Mine State Historic Park with our friend Claire.
This is a model of all of the tunnels in the mine that extend under the city of Grass Valley.
Some of the old buildings at the mine.
At the left side of this picture is the ramp where the miners loaded up cars for the journey underground.
This is the view they saw starting down into the mine.  Recently it had filled up with water.
Another old building on site with a car from that era.
The grounds around the mine were beautiful and well-maintained.
This was the family house of the Bourn's who owned the mine.  Made entirely of waste rock from the mines.
One of two nice fountains outside of Bourn home.
Wisteria seems to be taking over these two pine trees on the Empire mine property.
This is the home (albeit remodeled) of Bill's family while living near Grass Valley.
We took our motorhome in for its free one-year checkup and wash to DeMartini RV.
While our home was in for cleaning and servicing, we toured the Northstar Mine Museum.
An attractive view of the creek that runs along side the museum (once the powerhouse for the Northstar Mine).
Inside we enjoyed looking at many artifacts saved from the mining days.
All of these unique pieces of machinery were important in the extraction of gold from ore.
This 30 ft. Pelton wheel produced 1000 HP and powered operations of the Northstar Mine.
We got a kick out of this old cash register that used balls dropped in slots to ring up a sale.
After the mine tour we ate lunch at Toffanelli's in Grass Valley.  The food was good and this cat was entertaining.
On the last day of our stay in area we joined our friends Toni, Dan, Kathy, Paul and Victor at Bullards Bar Res.
Toni and Dan love this reservoir and stay here on their houseboat every chance they get.
Toni gets a kick out of Kathy riding a broom.  These two are quite fun to be around.
Susan, Victor and Toni are hanging out in the shade.  It was a warm day so the shade was welcome.
Dan is seen here in his natural lakeside repose.  You can see why they like it here.
Paul and Bill went out for a short boat ride to catch fish.  Once again the fish were safe...
With the lupen in bloom, the sun, good friends and a beautiful lake the day was a great success.