Before we headed to family in the San Fran area we took a side trip to Jackson, CA. This cute little town in the foothills of the Sierras was a booming gold mining town in the 1800s. Argonaut Mine was opened in the 1850’s as one of the deepest mines in the world at a depth of 6300 ft and produced over $17,000,000 during it’s time. In 1922, 47 men were trapped below the surface by fire. Rescue operations lasted for three weeks but all died. The town was like a lot of other gold mining towns we have visited except for the unique cemetery. We spent over an hour wondering through this huge cemetery with so many grave sites from the 1800s. We have never seen a cemetery like this one where all the graves were raised. Some were surrounded by bricks and gravel in the center, some were raised marble vaults that were beautiful and many marble buildings with several vaults inside. It was the most unusual cemetery we have seen. By the names on the graves you could tell that gold mining drew people from all over the world and that people must have made a fortune in order to have these beautiful sites to mark their lives. It was one of those places we were glad we had stopped at.
On to Pleasanton, CA which will be our home base until the middle of January and close to my dad and sister in Walnut Creek and my other sister in Alamo. We arrived just a few days before Thanksgiving and were able to spend a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with my sister Nancy and her family and my dad. My sister Sheri had gone back to MN to spend time with her family. John, my brother-in-law, cooked up a fabulous meal as always. Food was outstanding but the company was even better. It is always hard to be away from our kids and grandkids over a major holiday but it was nice to be with my dad after not seeing him for a year and of course I love spending time with my sister and her family.
The weather has been ok with it being in the 20’s or 30’s at night and 50’s or 60’s during the day with a few 70 days. We can’t complain when we see what it has been like in Minnesota and even Ohio. We are trying to prepare ourselves for the cold of MN since we are flying back for Christmas for ten days. I think we can both accept the cold when we know we can spend time with all of our kids and grandkids and then come back to the warmer weather.
In preparation for our trip to MN we have been taking Lily to doggy daycare. She is staying in the warmer weather of CA. My sister gave us the name of the place she takes her two dogs, Danville Paw Spa, and we love it. The owner, Michelle, had us bring Lily in four days, starting with just two hours the first day and increasing the hours each day to help Lily get use to her and the other staff. Lily will go home with Michelle every night and spend the days the shop isn’t open at Michelle’s house as part of her family. We have seen a wonderful change in Lily. Michelle is a miracle worker. Of course, coming from what Lily came from she has a ways to go but we don’t worry so much about leaving her now.
Oh and if you haven’t heard we have a new home. We are approaching the three year mark since we moved into our Sunnybrook 5th wheel. We loved that home but always wanted a little more (doesn’t everyone). So for about the same amount of time we have been looking at new 5th wheels. We had a list of things we wanted that we thought would make our lives a little nicer or easier like a little more room (three slides), a double refrigerator, automatic leveling system, washer/dryer hook-up and Joe’s second AC in the bedroom but not going over a certain length so we could still go into state parks. As we travelled we would look at RVs and find some we liked but there was always something missing or maybe it was too long or maybe just too much money and we had made up our minds when the time was right we would find the RV of our dreams and everything would be what we wanted. Well that time came in of all places Sacramento.
A few weeks before Thanksgiving we found our new home, a 2013 Lifestyle 38ft 5th wheel. It had everything we had been looking for, three slides, the double refrigerator, automatic leveling system, washer/dryer hook-up plus so much more. We now have a living area with a fireplace, kitchen with an island and lots of cabinets, a separate bathroom, Joe’s AC in the bedroom and storage, storage, storage inside and out. We took ownership on Dec 5th and have loved every minute of setting up our new home.
I say all the time how blessed we are but I’ll have to say it again, Joe and I are so blessed. We love travelling to see new places and meet new people and we count our blessings every day. This is just another blessing to be thankful for.
So in a few days we leave our new home, our dog, Lily, in California and fly back to the best part of our lives, our grandkids and kids to spend the holidays with them. We are truly blessed!
Happy Holidays to all! Stay safe and love to all!