Maybe America\u2019s best kept secret is northern California. I confess to the \u201cCalifornia stereotype\u201d: California = sunny, beachy, hang loose, Beach Boys Southern California. Up here in the north, though, the weather is cool, the people are looking for peace and comfort, and the appeal is to the past rather than to the \u201cnext thing beyond the next.\u201d It would be unfair for me to create a new set of stereotypes, but we really are finding it to our liking. It doesn\u2019t hurt to be in the foothills \u2014 and light snow cascading down.
\nWe spent the day yesterday in Sacramento, most in Old Sacramento. I find Mark Twain everywhere \u2014 everyone claims him. For me, he\u2019s a Mississippi River Missourian (but just across the river from Quincy, so we Illinoisians have taken a shine to him). But, his couple of years out West leads Sacramento to claim him. And we ate lunch at a New Orleans diner that had a Mark Twain lounge. We really enjoyed the old village. Seems like Sacramento is fixed on the years around 1850.
\nThen we had to see where the Governator works, and found the trees around the capitol building beautiful.
\nLast night was fantastic: we spent the evening with the ministry team at Cold Springs Community Church at David and Pam Cooke\u2019s home (next to a golf course). He played a few holes during the afternoon \u2014 in the snow. Met many good folk, and we are looking forward to our time this evening and tomorrow morning.
\nWe are at the gelato shop in historic downtown Placerville, and we have fallen into the hands of a genuine local \u2014 fifth generation. And he\u2019s got plenty of chat in him, and Kris has the gift of listening and getting him to tell one story after another. He just told us about the bird habitat of the area, and I\u2019ve seen all kinds of new birds:
\nAcorn woodpecker
\nCrisallis Thrasher
\nSome little black-headed bird (size of a warbler; looks like a chickadee of some sort)
\nWestern bluebird
\nBlue jay (not like ours in the midwest)
\nPlacerville might be the friendliest place on earth.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maybe America\u2019s best kept secret is northern California. I confess to the \u201cCalifornia stereotype\u201d: California = sunny, beachy, hang loose, Beach Boys Southern California. Up here in the north, though, the weather is cool, the people are looking for peace and comfort, and the appeal is to the past rather than to the \u201cnext thing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n