4TH OF JULY PARADE AND HAVING FUN GETTING LOST

This past Sunday I went to meet a few people from my photography club up in Nevada City, CA for lunch and to watch a small town parade. So with the help of my GPS, which I will now name Genie, because she transports me from place to place magically.

I dreaded the thought of having to drive this two lane, curvy Highway 49, because the last time I drove to Auburn, CA on that road, I white knuckled it all the way and it took me over an hour. This time, however, the road seemed wider and not so curvy.

Before going to Nevada City, I made a stop in Grass Valley. I had seen a bike path there on the city’s web site. So I packed up my bike and thought I’d investigate the area before continuing on to Nevada City. I punched in Genie to the County Fairgrounds and Genie took me there with no problems. When I was parking at the fairgrounds I was looking for my little map I had drawn from the internet as to where the bike loop stared, but it had fallen out of my front pocket of my little purse, evidently and so now, what I did is ask for help. There were some firefighters bringing in equipment to the fairground and one was very nice to try to help, but unfortunately, he knew nothing of a bike path and said the city wasn’t very bike friendly. With no bike path signs and maybe a little help from my Thomas map, which I for some reason brought with me (probably fearing Genie wouldn’t be able to help me) I made my way to what I thought was the beginning of the bike path. It went through forested land and I drove a couple of miles until I realized I wasn’t on the road I should have been. At the beginning of the road, was a sign saying that that was the road, but again, not being on the right road. I had Genie placed on top of my bike bag and tried to get a bearing of where I was, but the last bearing was where I parked in the fairgrounds. I didn’t know exactly what I should do, so after having fun going down, down, down and around, around and around these curvy roads, I decided I should head back to my van because now, I had to climb back up these same roads on my bike. It was also starting to get hot, so back to my van, with a few stops in between to rest and back on my way to Nevada City.

Genie had brought me safely to the restaurant where we were gong to have lunch. I found a parking space and walked through Main Street to investigate the various shops. One, in particular, brought me into a shop with flavors of different cultures. There were unusual things from the Sahara Desert region, India and places the owner had traveled. I took a few photos of some of the curios in there, went outside, and took more photos of this quaint, old, gold mining town. The buildings there were very nicely restored. Living in Placerville, however, I thought, was prettier, better restored and had a much larger Main Street. Nevada City is a bit higher up in elevation and gets snow. This made everything look a bit more rugged than Placerville. Placerville has a more delicate atmosphere to it, even though it too is located amongst pine trees at a high elevation. I guess I’ve found my place in Placerville and it’s going to be hard for me to find a better place to live.

It was getting close to the time I was to meet my friends, so back I walked to the restaurant where we had a wonderful lunch at a little café my friend knew about since she was born and raised in Nevada City.

We continued on to watch the parade. It was hot, and luckily, I found a place in a doorway stoop of an old, small house on Broad Street, where the parade was to go by, standing on a step, which made it a good vantage point for me and my camera. The owner of the home was standing in her doorway. She looked like she was in her 60s and was wearing a wig that made her look like Elizabeth Taylor. We started talking and she’s from Hollywood, CA. Her mother was in the movies and her father was a camera operator for Cecil D. DeMill. Wow, now that’s going back in time. The small home she lived in was her grandmothers, which apparently left it to her upon her death. We talked throughout the parade and her telling me how lonely she was there in Nevada City and wished she could be in Hollywood once again. Apparently, she didn’t know about the drastic changes that have gone on since the 1950s when she lived there and was surprised to learn of this very distressing news. After a while, she proceeded to go inside. She had seen this parade many times, but before going inside, she asked me if I would like something to drink. I thought that was a very kind gesture on her part, considering how hot it was, even in the shade of her door stoop.

The parade had all of the accruitiments of a small town parade, including the gymnastic school, car dealerships and people running for office. Many Uncle Sam’s, a unicycler, marching bands, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

At the end of the parade, there was a band my friend was sure to point out to me had the name of Ophir Prison Band. I asked if the band was from a prison. She didn’t know. As I was looking at my parade photos when I got home, I noticed some men from the band were wearing ankle bracelets. So I suspect they, or at least some, were from a prison. The ankle bracelets could have been part of their costume, but who knows?

It was really hot by that time. The Ophir Prison Band was the last of the parade and we followed behind them, as if we were part of the parade. What fun it was. The band was playing all kinds of older upbeat songs and we along with many other hundreds of people following behind were having a ball. It was kind of like Mardi Gras. People on balconies and on the curbs waving at us, laughter all around, people jumping, dancing and a good time was had by all.

So after all of the festivities it was time to go back home, returned to my van and turned Genie on. She asked where I wanted to go. I said home. She quickly calculated where I was and gave me directions. My first turn was a very hairpined turn down a steep, dirt road. I couldn’t believe or didn’t see it in time and there was someone close behind me, so I drove on to where, again, Genie had recalculated. I again missed a very small street Genie had told me to turn on; again, someone following so close. There was a lot of traffic after the parade and I was trying to follow Genie’s directions, but with small streets, with parking on both sides and people following very closely, I went to a larger street with less traffic to get back on track. This larger road led me further up into the foothills where I got a look at the outskirts of this quaint, old town. Genie had directed me on to another dirt road. It was a good road, and I left my faith in Genie that she would get me back on the correct road, which would lead me out of this small town, back on to the freeway. She knew all of the smallest streets in the city, which actually were alleys that I was laughing at how cool Genie really was. I was impressed by Genie’s knowledge and knew I could trust her in bringing me safely home, which she did. It was actually a lot fun getting lost knowing I had no stress and Genie would be there for me. How stressful it would have been, and not to mention scary, not knowing where I was in this new area. I would have looked on a map, asked people for directions and wasted a lot of gas.

My trip home wasn’t filled with stress not knowing if I was on the right road, which road, and where this road led me; looking at a map in my lap, and stopping to see if I was on the right road every two seconds. What a relief. Genie sure is worth what I paid for her, even in just this one trip. It was fun getting lost knowing, what the heck, I’ll just sit back, drive and enjoy the scenery along the way and let Genie do all of the grunt work.

The estimated time of arrival was given, which I really couldn’t believe, but unbelievably, Genie was right on the dot. How great, how wonderful an invention this is for the common, everyday person.

I'll be posting some photos of this small town and parade later.