A Walk Down Memory Lane

Dan and I took the long, windy, steep cliffs with no railing, drive to La Porte and Little Grass Valley Reservoir yesterday. I decided that even if I never drive the road and even if it is a huge tax, I will vote to pay whatever tax it takes to put railings on all those types of roads! Anyway, I camped at Little Grass Valley all the time when I was little. It was so much fun to go back and see the camp grounds, visit the beach and the lake. Stuff I hadn't thought about in years came flooding back.

We wanted to check out La Porte - population 35 or something ridiculous like that. We stopped and ate at a little "deli" where they barbecued us some hamburgers on the front porch. Three guys sat at the bar and found many uses for the term "soms of bitches" while they bashed all liberal democrats and described the freakishly enormous cat fish they caught. Even if they'd had banjos it couldn't have been more back woods cliche. The burgers were great though! We skedaddled out of there with my Obama sticker on the back of my car and decided to take a different route home.

While we wound our way through the hills, we drove past towns I hadn't heard about or thought of in years. Then we came around a curve and there was WOODLEAF! The place I spent 6th grade outdoor education camp, where I went as a high school counselor for 6th grades and where I won the "Mud Momma" award at Young Life camp. It was great to see it. It was teeming with Young lifers so we didn't stop but the comfort of the memories was nice.

We finally found Hwy 49 and weaved our way back to Portola. We stopped in Downiville and had a milkshake. What a cute town that is!

We got home and sat on our deck with cocktail in hand and just sighed the sighs of grateful and content people. It was a great day exploring and remembering. Then to come back to our little (emphasis on little) slice of heaven to watch birds, chipmunks and deer among the pine trees - it doesn't get any better than this!