Today's Ride 4/12/2008...

...in case anyone was interested (click here for map).

With gold fever in full tilt (currently around $1000 per ounce), what better place to ride than up to the foothills -- the gold country where it all began. Part of my ride was along Hwy49, which roughly follows the route of the gold seekers back in 1849. I bought a gold pan kit years ago, but did not bring it along. Yup. Darlin' Clementine's miner was a 49'er.

Of Frogs and Going to the Sun

It was interesting to see today's Sacramento Bee newspaper post two articles (of two destinations) to which I can relate. One was concerning the "Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", which essentially launched Mark Twain's career. Seems this year there was a rift between the founders of the jubilee and the Calaveras County Fair where it has been traditionally held. Regardless of the two parties' differences, they had a record attendance not seen in quite a number of years (and it's also my first trip to Angel's Camp during this event on the 3rd weekend in May). I often motorcycle through Angel's Camp on my impromptu rides. Click here for the article.

The other article was in the Bee's Travel Section, providing a bit of background about Glacier National Park in Montana, and the famous Going-to-the-Sun Road which snakes its way through it (for about 50 miles). The road is currently under reconstruction, and the extra time and expense that is going into this project is to maintain its originality: the Going-to-the-Sun Road is registered as a historical landmark.

The last time I visited Montana was in the summer of 2003 (and Glacier Nat'l Park in 2002, I believe); I had a friend who used to live about 1.5 hours WNW of the park. Although she no longer lives in Montana, reading about Glacier and Going-to-the-Sun Road got me thinking about possibly revisiting again soon, especially after they finish the road construction. Wish I could offer a link to the Bee article, but since I could not find one, I recommend surfing the web for information on this interesting destination.