Please click on thx link below for all today’s pictures, thanks ⬇️
We left South Lake Tahoe bright and early this morning. The weather had changed for the better but we had done everything we needed to. Google worked out that I had a two hours drive but we knew we wanted to stop off at a couple of places en route.
I drove through some amazing scenery, taking in vistas at Luther Pass which is on the historical trail, the Pony Express. This trail was used by young men riding horses or mules to transport the nation’s priority mail cross-country from Missouri to California from 1860 to 1861.
https://sierramountainpasses.com/listings/luther-pass/
https://www.nps.gov/poex/index.htm
Further along we stopped roadside at Markleeville and captured some shots of the north of Caples Lake, which was beautiful. Looking away from the lake we saw burned out trees from a forest fire. There were a lot in this area so it must have been pretty widespread.
http://www.carsonpass.com/places/caples_lake.html
Stopping at Carson Spur was a bit of a wow moment for me, very similar to how I felt when I visited the Grand Canyon in 2015. We parked on some rough ground that was at an elevation of 7990 feet. The view was incredible. From there we could see for miles across the central Sierra Nevada, which is in the Eldorado National Forest and Alpine County.
Fifty minutes later we were at a gas station. This is the first one we found on our journey since leaving South Lake Tahoe.
We set off again, arriving around midday at our first organised stop, Jackson, in Amador County. We didn’t really know what to expect, just know that Johnny Cash sang about it. We parked up (parking was free for three hours) and headed off down Main Street. Jackson is a quaint town with lots of history from the Gold Rush days. The Argonaut and Kennedy Mines are situated there. In fact, in 1922, the Argonaut mine was the place of the worst mining disaster in the state of California. The Kennedy Mine was one of the deepest mines in the Mother Lode. This is a long alignment of hard-rock gold deposits that stretched northwest to southeast in the Sierra Nevada.
http://www.amadorgold.net/tours/jackson/jackson_page5.html
We found some great photo opportunities here, taking in some of the history of the buildings in the Main Street, as well as finding some wall murals. We were ready for lunch by now so we stopped at Brickhouse Brews, a pub that sells American food, as well as local wines and beers. Unfortunately as I was driving I could only sample lemonade.
Once we were fed and watered we picked up a couple of fridge magnets for souvenirs. We got talking to the owner of the shop and she thanked us for visiting the town. They rely on locals to support businesses so she was so happy that we had come to visit.
Our next stop was Sutter Creek, named after John Sutter who was a pioneer of the Gold Rush. This is only a few miles from Jackson. It was busier here so more difficult to find somewhere to park, but we found a space eventually.
It was very hot here so wandered down the shaded side of the street. It was similar to Jackson in that the buildings are wooden with balconies, and reminiscent of what you would see in a Wild West movie. There are quite a few antique shops and also a grocery store museum, that had lots of old memorabilia in it. We ended up at Sutter Creek visitor centre where we got chatting to an elderly gentleman who was working there. He was interested to know why we had come to Sutter Creek as they don’t get many overseas visitors. Another lady in the shop said it was great that we had come. We bought a couple more souvenirs and then our new friend says he had a gift for us, to thank us for visiting. He handed me a tiny bottle, about 2cm high that had “24 carat gold” in it. We thought it was a lovely and kind thing to do.
Our final stop, and where we were booked to stay for the night was in Lodi and a hotel and spa resort. This is called Wine and Roses and offers things like wine tasting and tours if you wanted. Lodi itself is known for its distinctive quality wine grape production since the 1850s. Lodi is best known for its full bodied Old Vine Zinfandel wines. It also leads all other California wine districts in the production of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Viognier.
Once we’d check in, we headed to the outdoor pool for a bit of a chill out. We had a dip in the pool..the water was lovely and cool. We lounged around for a couple of hours before heading back to shower and change.
We arrived at Towne Restaurant early and headed to the lounge for a nice glass of Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon. We then went to the table where our server, Tania, was lovely and looked after us very well. We had the most amazing food and wine and then went back to the hotel. Yet another busy day finally coming to an end.
jctraveller 
Leave a comment