Gold Country

My first stop of my Gold Country tour was this California Welcome Center in Auburn. They sell postcards, shirts, snacks, and other touristy items. They also have a lot of information about visiting any part of the state. They have a lot of free brochures and maps. I picked up some info so I can plan future trips.

This is a very nice sign welcoming people to the downtown area of Auburn.

An old time Gold Country building

I'm glad this lion didn't get me. Do lions eat bears?

All downtown areas, at least historical or touristy ones, have a candy store. This one was mostly chocolate but that is fine by me. I do like chocolate.

They had a variety of chocolate covered fruits and nuts, caramels, truffles, solid chocolates, and others.

I picked up a bag of cinnamon bears, gold chocolate coins, chocolate covered cherries, and a caramel.

I asked the nice lady working in The Chocolate Shoppe where I might find some coffee. She told me about Depoe Bay Coffee Company. Their coffee is really good! I find that specialty drinks are either too sweet or too dark. This place got it right. They had a lot of different beverages and a small menu of sandwiches and pastries.

I had an iced soy mocha and it was really good.

They have so many coffees! There are a lot of regular and decaf flavors for their customers. It's a great variety.

After I left Depoe, I strolled along High Street and I found this very cute garden shop, Avantgarden. That is a very clever name. They had some amazing little garden displays. I wanted to buy all of them but I didn't have a good way to transport them home.

I would love to have a water feature at home.

This little bear looks like it's either a form for a topiary, or maybe just a sort of statue made of moss. I loved it!

What a nice bench, this would be a nice place to rest and read a book.

There were statues around the area of significant figures from the development of the town.

I thought this bus station was cute.

This was parked in what looked to be an abandoned train station.

When I got back to the B&B, I snacked on some of the candy I bought in Auburn.

I looked through the maps and brochures I picked up from the California Welcome Center so I could get ideas for my next trip.

These are the postcards, pen, and teddy bear I bought from the Welcome Center.

After resting, it was time to make dinner plans. I wanted something simple like a burger so I thought about Red Robin.

This light fixture was really neat. It was made out of old bottles. I'd like to try something like this at home.

I ordered a veggie burger. The sauce was too spicy for some reason. Maybe next time I'll ask for no sauce.

These bikes were outside but they didn't move.

After dinner I stopped at a grocery store and bought a bottle of Califia iced coffee. Then I went back to the B&B so I could get some rest after the day.

Spring Break

Spring Break this year was a very low key stay in Gold Country. The first day was rainy but it cleared up later.

Buckled in my seat and ready to go!

I stopped for an iced mocha before the long drive.

About halfway to my destination, I stopped for lunch. It was overcast but dry most of the way. While I was in the restaurant, it started to hail!

Refreshing ice water

Vegetarian burrito

The hail came down and a lot of the grassy areas looked like it had snowed.

I arrived my the private Bed & Breakfast in Gold Country. This basket of goodies was on the bed.

A bottle of wine, a can of nuts, crackers, cookies, and chocolates filled the basket. Yum!

Are you a fan of delicious flavor?

After I settled into the room, I had a red wine spritzer with strawberries. I had a free evening so I decided to go to the local mall.

I found a Build-A-Bear Workshop. I bought a new pair of shoes and a new outfit for spring.

I found this cute cat there. They have new pets available.

Outside of the shop, I found this dog and hopped on for a ride.

This Amazon tree had some of their devices on display.

I didn't spend much time at the mall since I had a long drive that day, and I would be exploring the next day. So I had a Diet Coke and some of the cookies from the basket.

Happy Easter!

I got a basket full of chocolates from the Ester Bunny.

These candies, the Cadbury Mini Eggs and the M&Ms are both dark chocolate. I prefer dark because it is usually made without milk, and a small amount can be beneficial to my heart.

These peanut butter eggs are bigger than my head! Or maybe not bigger but pretty close in size. Mmm, peanut butter.

No holiday would be complete unless Disney was a part of it. I wanted these Frozen and Avengers eggs because, well, they are awesome! They have small candies inside. I'll probably share those with my friends.

Here is a close-up of the Avengers eggs. Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America!

These are the Frozen eggs. The blue ones had a colored Olaf image on them but the others had an embossed image of Anna and Elsa.

Here is a close-up of the Anna and Elsa eggs. They match my dress!

I didn't do an egg hunt today because it seemed to be on the verge of rain. I could do it later this week if I want. It doesn't have to be Easter Sunday to do an egg hunt. At least the ones I would use are plastic and not real like from chickens. I don't want rotten eggs hiding in my furniture.

And I am now officially on Spring Break. I have tentative travel plans because there is a major storm in the forecast. But I will do something fun!