Last Day at Apple Valley

Today is my last day at the Apple Valley Library - on Monday I start full-time in Fontana. It should be interesting getting used to a new library. Even though they're both branches of the same county library system, they have different ways of doing things. I'm looking forward to developing a new program for the bookmobile, which is right now getting a facelift. I'll post pictures of it when it's done.

Trip to Amador City

This is the first night I've had at home since we got back from our vacation. I tried to post while we were gone, but the wireless internet connection in our room was too weak.

Anyway, we had an uneventful drive up Hwy. 99 last Wednesday, stopping for lunch in Tulare, then took the scenic route up Hwy. 49 all the way to Amador City. We stopped in Angels Camp to stretch our legs - visited a few antique shops and the little music store there, and looked at all the jumping frog plaques on the sidewalk. We got to the Mine House Inn at about 6:15 and checked in - Rose, the proprietor, was very cordial and welcoming. She loaned Brian a book on the history of the local mines, which he devoured over the course of our stay. We put all our stuff in the room, then went to Jose's Mexican restaurant in Jackson and had a great dinner. I realized halfway up that we had forgotten our camera, so we stopped off at Wally World and picked up a 5-megapixel Vivitar for $100.

This is Amador City:


The Mine House Inn was cozy and beautifully decorated:


Here's the view from outside our room:

Thursday was spent sightseeing and shopping (mostly window-shopping) after a huge gourmet breakfast prepared for us by Rose. We were the only guests at the Mine House, so she was able to give us all her attention. We walked into Amador City and looked at the little railroad, which was very elaborate and detailed, then took a tour of the Sutter Mine. We had lunch at Burger King, then walked around Sutter Creek for a while. The library was closed, which was disappointing, but we saw all the antique stores and the cemetery. After our walk, we had dinner at Bellotti's, then headed back to our room.

On Friday, we walked around Amador City after another wonderful breakfast. Brian spent quite a bit of time in the little museum - I was done before he was, so I checked out a couple of stores that I didn't think he'd like. We had lunch at Andrae's bakery, then went shopping in Jackson. I bought a couple of old rolling pins to use as turning blanks - they're made of well-seasoned hard maple, and work up beautifully on the lathe. I showed Brian the little music store, and bought some yarn and beads at the yarn and bead store (go figure!). We went the the Kennedy mine tailing wheels park, and walked around for a while taking pictures. I caught a small tree frog there, which we put in a big plastic cup to take home for the pond. We had a hard time finding a place to eat, and ended up at Mel and Faye's diner, which was crowded and noisy. Brian bought a flashlight at K-Mart so he could look for more frogs, but he couldn't find any.


Saturday was our last day - Brian really wanted to see the Kennedy Mine, so we went there right after breakfast. We ended up being the only ones on the tour (was it our deodorant?), so we had the tour guide to ourselves. Brian had fun learning about the gold mining process and teaching the tour guide about assaying - we must have spent an hour in the assay office. There wasn't enough time to visit Daffodil Hill, so we got some lunch and headed for home.

Okay, just for Rachel

Here's the latest picture I have of Joseph. We were at Master Arts Chorale rehearsal on Tuesday, which Joseph attends with us. Usually, he behaves pretty well, but does tend to be a distraction, especially in the alto section. He loves all the attention from the ladies. This week, however, he fell asleep on the way to the college, and stayed asleep through the whole rehearsal. He ended up rolling under Doc's computer desk, where I got this cute picture of him in a classic pose, fingers in mouth and blankie wrapped around him.

I'll have to get Jacob to take more pictures of him - there are no really recent ones on the computer as far as I can tell.

Brian and I are getting ready to take a short vacation. We'll be staying at the Mine House Inn in Amador City, in the same area Rachel and I traveled to last spring. Hopefully, we'll be able to see the daffodils this year. I'm thinking of bringing my laptop so I can blog while I'm there - if not, I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

I worked two days at the Fontana library this week, Monday and today. On Monday, I spent some time in planning meetings with my new bosses and Eva, my new co-worker. The rest of the day was spent working at the downstairs reference desk. A lot of things are done differently at this library, some of which I like better and some not. I'll just have to get used to it, I guess.

Today the library held their spring carnival. Eva and I spent the morning turning a book cart into a puppet stage, with help from a volunteer and another staff member. The carnival started at 12 noon, and we wore our voices out trying to do a puppet show over the Fontana High School's jazz band, which had to perform inside because of the wind. Duh! It's always windy in Fontana! At least we had help from a guy from the district supervisor's office. The kids weren't interested in being read to by him, but he did a great job with the puppets. The carnival only lasted two hours, but we were glad when it ended.