Vacation!!

Okay, this post is full of links because I'm too lazy to rewrite what's already been written by lots of generous people. Rachel and I just took a short vacation to central California's gold country. We spent Wednesday night in the National Hotel in Jackson, which has been in continuous operation since 1862. It was definitely vintage. My first impression was, "Hmmm, a sleazy biker hangout," and I wasn't too sure about the place. The first floor lobby was basically a smoke-filled saloon with plenty of unsavory types hanging around.

Our room was cute, though, and since it was near the end of the hall on the third floor it was pretty far removed from the noise and smoke below.

On Thursday, after a hearty breakfast at Mel and Faye's Diner, we looked in all the antique stores in Amador City and Sutter Creek. We had lunch at Tea Eras and dinner at Bellotti's. After dinner, we drove to the tiny town of Volcano, where we checked in at the St. George Hotel. This was a much classier hotel than the National Hotel, so we decided to stay two nights. The rooms there have names instead of room numbers - ours was called Twain Hart.


Friday morning, we woke up and had breakfast in the parlor, then set off to check out Daffodil Hill. Unfortunately, it was closed for the season, so instead, we headed back into Jackson to spend the day shopping - more antique stores! We had lunch at Fat Freddie's and dinner at Jose's Mexican Restaurant.

After another night at the St. George Hotel, and another good breakfast in the parlor, we headed home Saturday morning. We spent a few hours antique shopping (no, really?) in Angels Camp and Jamestown on our way home. We also stopped briefly in Columbia. Rachel was disappointed that it had been turned into a tourist trap - she likes the more natural look. I had to agree with her.

All in all, it was a great trip. I'm thankful to have a daughter who likes antique stores as much as I do (or maybe even more!).