Unexpected Perks of Visiting Friends on the Road

You know how we love to meet up with old friends who live near our route. Sometimes they come to the campsite, or we go to their house and hang out on their deck, or we meet them in town; once we even stayed in a friend’s driveway. Just seeing familiar faces is a pleasure. Add in the perk of receiving shipped packages and mail that we couldn’t otherwise get on the road, and it’s a win-win for us.

This time, an unexpected perk is learning about a new town, the quirky and lovely Grass Valley, California. We’re here in the center of the state, partly to avoid driving through San Francisco on our way north, partly to do some doctor’s appointments (done!), and mostly to see a couple of folks I knew a while back from another life. (I’ll post about hanging out later once I’ve done more of it.)

Fairgrounds Camping

We’ve stayed in fairgrounds campgrounds before: far-from-glamorous parking areas set aside for fairgrounds event staff parking and camping, leased out as a regular campground during non-peak season. So, basically parking lots. (Shana will correct me if the one she and Marcus are in right now is actually cool, which it might be.)

The majority of this one is a literal parking lot, with everyone packed into rows. Somehow, Tracy figured out that there’s a section of woods alongside also with camping, which is oh so much better.

We’ve been in the woods pretty much to ourselves, during High Vibe Fest (DJ dance music, I think), although now that a dirt bike event is coming up, we have a camping neighbor. He doesn’t have a bike though, so maybe he’s a spectator.

It’s wild to walk through the fair area with everything shut down. I’m first in line, though! Apparently, here you can drink beer while walking around, plus there’s lots of room for cattle, and standard fair food for California is rice bowls.

There are woods and fields all around us for walking Banjo, including a little pond with three families of geese. I have to make a lot of noise in the early mornings so we don’t sneak up on the babies; Banjo might make a grab for one. She does love daybreak walks when critters are just beginning to stir.

Downtown Grass Valley

Grass Valley and neighboring Nevada City were founded thanks to the country’s oldest, deepest, and richest gold ore mines, the original Motherlode. We walked through Empire Mine Historic State Park today and went from the remnants of one mine to another, over and over. Seems like that’s been a theme of our camping out West, which, duh, is a major part of the history of the West. I just didn’t realize I would be seeing it everywhere.

And like any town with a strong cultural contingent, there’s a counterculture here that makes Grass Valley majorly quirky and interesting. Lots of record stores, a knitting store, two pasty shops (mining!), four breweries, a farmer’s market, on and on with funky stores and services. And everything comes up on Google Maps as six minutes away, magically. What a treat after us being an hour from anything for the past few weeks!

Perks

So far we’ve met Conrad at a brewery for lunch during his break (he’s the technical director at the illustrious arts center), and we’ve hiked with Melissa (Renaissance gal and endorphin-chaser) and hung out on their back deck to mooch WiFi.

You Banjo fans might note that Banjo went on a long neighborhood walk with Melissa—after having just met her—while Tracy and I used the WiFi. I was a little insulted.

One pivotal item we had delivered to their house is a new tent. Yep, after more than a year and a half of almost continual use, our old tent bit the dust. Here we were able to take delivery of a new one; Melissa actually brought it our to the campground(!); and we deposited the old one in a dumpster. What convenience!

Now if only the weather would return to the normal sun and warmth they usually have here. I hate to complain, but it was snowing when we pulled in! Walking with Melissa through her neighborhood and surrounding woods has taught me a lot about California water conservation and fire prevention, so I won’t complain about rare snow and sleet. Seriously, though, the only other snow we’ve seen was when we picked up the trailer at the dealership in new Jersey and spent the night in it there.

I guess we’ve been lucky to avoid the cold this much so far, and Grass Valley and friends here have certainly been worth it. We’re going for another hike with them tomorrow and checking out another brewery, so bring on the sunshine!