19.04.2012 – 19.04.2012  22 °C

We treated ourselves to a sleep-in this morning as we wanted to have a little look-see around Weaverville (gold mining town that we slept in last night). Weaverville has a great little museum and we wandered thru it’s outdoors exhibits (as the interior was closed) and checked out the technology that was used during the gold rush times.. Lots of pumps to wash the ore and this huge steam powered grinder to break down the gold laden ore.

We also had a squiz at Weaverville’s Joss House. A Joss House is a Taoist temple, and this one was built at the height of the gold rush times when thousands of Chinese immigrant workers moved to California in the hope of making it rich. The temple is in great condition and still has a working altar and is apparently still used by some people who come to pray in the temple! Unfortunately, there aren’t any descendants of those original Chinese workers left living in the area so the Joss House relies on donations to keep it in working order.

After wandering thru the village we decided it was time to hit the road and continue the journey towards Lake Tahoe. Our plan was to drive until we got sick of it so with this plan in mind we took off east towards Redding and then south towards Chico. First stop was in another gold mining town further down the road, Shasta. Shasta was the boom town that is now the ghost town in this part of California! It is now a historical park and the main street ruins are protected by the state. I can only imagine how the town must have looked in the late 1840s. Lunch today was in Chico and we were pleasantly surprised to find this huge parkland in the middle of the city to have our sandwiches.

The drive after lunch was very pretty as we were heading thru this valley that was dotted with walnut tree plantations! Just awesome to see so many nut trees in one place. M passed on another useless fact that California produces the world’s supply of Walnuts! So next time you eat some, its highly likely that they came from this valley!!

By this stage, we had turned east again and had decided to drive all the way to Tahoe with a plan to stay at the northern end of the lake at the first place we found. The first few places we ran into were all closed for the evening but we soon found this motel on the lake itself with a beautiful view! During our hunting for a sleeping place we had ran across this restaurant on the lake with a million dollar view so we made a call to splash out and go back to the restaurant for dinner. My clam chowder was average but D’s steak was apparently one of the best steaks he had ever had! Forget the food, the view was to die for!! Sun was setting over the mountains that ring the lake, no wind, mist forming… One of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen.. Breathtaking!

Song of the Day– Deep Purple, Smoke on the Water