Cool, California, USA 2014

Created 2-Oct-14

251 photos, 1 videos

Tuesday the 16th September was the day we set off for San Francisco and ultimately Cool in California having stayed at the Sheraton Heathrow the night before . Cool is a 2-3 hour drive (without traffic) 126 miles North East of San Francisco. It is in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the best part of 2000 feet above sea level.
We were met by Al, (our friend since 2005), at the airport who bravely drove us through some massive traffic jams around the Bay area and across the Bay Bridge then on Interstates 680 and 80. We were exchanging homes with Al & Holly and the next day following a swift orientation tour of Cool and Auburn Al and Holly left us to travel to Canada and then a week later on to Dorchester.
California was suffering a 3rd year of drought so everywhere looked pretty parched. Not very far away California was also suffering the largest wildfire in its history but apart from slightly smoky mornings it wasn't a problem.
Our home for the next few weeks was on the Auburn Lake Trails Gated Community. Al & Holly introduced us to a wonderful couple, Karen and Art, who also lived in the Auburn Lake Trails Community. Karen and Art made our stay extra special. They invited us for meals several times and introduced us to some of their friends. Karen took us to the Saturday market in Auburn and to practice Qigong in one of the Lake Trails community centres.
We visited Coloma, where the Gold Rush started, Placerville and the Gold Bug Mine, Grass Valley and the Empire Mine, Nevada City, the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railway Museum and Shingle Springs Railway to name but a few places.