Wonderful Williams!

Oct. 13th was the designated day for Jerry, Sandy, Don and I to meet up with the rest of the group in Williams, Arizona.  This is what our rigs looked like, all lined up at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park.  Don and Sandy's sister, Doris was already in her spot when we got there.  So was Jerry's son, Jeff and his fiance, Erica.  We were ready to take on Williams, but was it ready for us??

 That's what us ladies like to see: the guys cooking breakfast!  Jerry and Jeff are working hard at the dueling grills.  Works for me.

Looks like Erica and Sandy are checking on the guys to see where they are in the cooking process.

 Another day, and it seems like we are eating a big breakfast again.  Now we are over at Doris' trailer, enjoying the eggs, sausage, bacon, toast and fried hashbrowns.  I'm surprised that we aren't all overweight.  To our credit, we did get a lot of exercise while we were there.

Since the RV park is so close to downtown Williams, we have done a lot of walking....and shopping!  First, we checked out the steam engine by the train depot that was all dressed up with cobwebs for Halloween.

 Then it was on to the main street, the old Route 66 which ran right through Williams before being bypassed by the Interstate.  Of course, there are a lot of souvenir shops and cool looking cars along the main drag.  I'd gladly trade my PT Cruiser for this red hot Pontiac. Talk about nostalgia!

Don turned around , probably to check on where I was.  Doris just kept on heading to the next shop.  If you are into the 50's and 60's era, this is the place to visit.  

Some of the group are wine connoisseurs.  And wouldn't you know it, in between the restaurants and other shops was the Grand Canyon Winery.  I took pictures while the other 6 people sipped and tasted the different wines.

 Don and Doris perused the menu with all the various wines and beers.

 While the bunch imbibed, I wandered around and busied myself with taking pictures of the buildings.  The Red Garter with the cute lady hanging out the window was built as a saloon and bordello by a German tailor in 1897. He also had a Chinese restaurant and opium den in the same building.  I guess that is what you could call a "full entertainment package"....

 I wonder if Elvis could smell the wine on Don and Doris' breath?  If he did, he sure didn't complain about it.

Day two (or was it 3 or 4...when you're retired, they all seem the same) of strolling the streets.  We made a beeline to Cruisers to meet up with friends from high school.  In fact, Sandy and Doris went to grade school with Phyllis and Dave. We won't even think of how LONG ago that was!

 We had a wonderful time visiting with Dave and Phyllis Green, who have lived in Williams for about 15 years now.  I'm glad they were able to meet up with us so we could visit for awhile.  I don't think Don was trying to hide behind the pole, but you never know.  He was happy to be here....there was food involved!

Williams was indeed our "last hurrah" for the summer.  We had eaten lots of good food, seen new things, learned a thing or two from all the museum visits, enjoyed the ocean air and had played a lot of card games. The icing on the cake was the beautiful sunset during one of our last evenings.  Like they say about wine, "It was a good year".

In "Plane" Sight

Our friends, Gary and Sherry, suggested that we all go to the Planes of Fame Museum, which was about an hour's drive north of Williams.  The day was overcast and cool, so it was a good day to be inside. 

There are 3 planes outside, but most of them are inside a large hanger in the very teeny, tiny town of Valle that had 832 occupants in 2010.  One thing for sure, there isn't much there, but it is the home of Grand Canyon Valle Airport, the museum, a hotel and a few other businesses.

For the price of $6 each, we got admission plus a free cup of coffee!  Can't beat that for value.

 Gary was checking out one of the planes

while Doris, Sandy and Sherry gazed at another one.  The one below had the nickname of "The Grasshopper" and was first flown in 1945.  They were used for observation and air ambulances.

This odd looking contraption (nicknamed the sweat box) was actually developed in 1934 as a training device.  It taught pilots to fly blind or by instruments only. The instructor sat at the desk who talked to the student through headphones.  The instructor had the ability to induce cross winds, turbulence and make the trainer yaw, pitch and roll, making the student sweat. The student's progress was recorded by the "spider" on the desk, which made a red line on the map.   I thought this was amazing for that time and age.

I had a take a closer look at this plane, since it was covered in heavy canvas and not metal.  It is a British fighter plane used by the Royal Flying Corps during WWI. Anyone in that plane would surely see the action up close.  Those pilots had to be some brave and daring guys.

In addition to the air museum, there was a small group of cars on display at the Grand Canyon Valle Airport.  As the seven of us read about the history of this completely restored 1939 Pontiac Woodie, we realized it belonged at one time to the Walter Douglas Jr. family. It was THE Grand Canyon Airlines Woodie. Walter Douglas had a lot of ties to Flowing Wells, There is a grade school named after him, right across the street from the house I lived in during high school.  His children went to high school with Sherry, Doris, Sandy and me.  None of us ever expected to come across something like this in a relatively obscure location.

Best of the Wurst

After touring Sutter's Fort, we were hungry.  Time to find a restaurant.  Our German heritage was lurking around in our DNA, pushing us toward a beer and brats place. We found it here:

Decisions, decisions. What should we order??  We were doing our best to find the wurst......

The bratwurst were served on pretzel rolls, and topped with caramelized onions and bier cheese. These juicy babies were indeed the best of the wurst. We were treated to a free sample of Dirty Duck Fries, which are covered with bier cheese sauce, onions, garlic and hot peppers. They had a definite kick to them!

Not only did we have a great meal, we had the chance to meet Michael, one of the owners.  He gave us a brief history of LowBrau, which opened in 2012.  He is an architect and when the bank asked him if he and his partner had experience in running a restaurant, he answered "No.  But we have some great ideas!"

The ideas worked.  All the meats in the restaurant are made in house, including the sausages. He expanded the kitchen and opened the Butcher Block Bar, where you can see people hard at work in the immaculate area.

The case of hanging sausages reminded me of the butcher shops in Germany. If we ever get back to Sacramento, we'll go back here in a heart beat!

Sutter's Fort

Friday was our day to explore the historic parts of Sacramento.  Sutter's Fort was the first on our list.

 Of course, it was named after John Sutter, who was actually named Johann August Sutter. He was born in Germany, but was considered a citizen of a Swiss village of Runenberg.  Guess that is how they did it back in those days.   It was his mill in Coloma where gold was discovered, he was the founder of Sacramento and a fierce businessman.  I would also call him a dirty rotten scoundrel.

Why? He emigrated to America in 1834, leaving behind his wife, 5 children and his debts.  He did take his clothes and books. When he built his fort, he used native people.  If they didn't want to work for him, his militia attacked their villages until they relented. There are some references of him giving village children to ranchers to be used as servants.   He wouldn't be called a good Samaritan by any stretch of the imagination.  Years later, 1850, he finally sent for his wife and children....what a guy!

The fort is located in the heart of downtown Sacramento. What changes it has seen!

This is what it looked like in 1894.....and what it looks like today.

Sutter used the lumber from his mill to make all the furniture for his fort.  He raised cattle for food and set up a tannery to make saddles, shoes and other leather goods.

He also raised different types of wheat and all the bread for the fort was made with his crops.  In addition, he shipped wheat to Russia for pay for his purchase of Ft. Ross. The bread was baked in an oven like this.

In the end, all the money that he made was mostly gone.  He lost a lot of money because of his drinking and gambling.  Somehow, I don't feel the least bit sorry for him.

There's Gold in Them Thar Hills!

Just imagine yourself being here, at Sutter's Mill, near Sacramento, in late 1847.  You would be among the handful of people who were here to work in the lumber mill.  Then, in January, 1848, James Marshall, the business partner of John Sutter, discovered gold flecks in the water. And you know the rest of the story....

A replica of the original Sutter's Mill is located in the Marshall Gold Discovery State Park, in the town of Coloma.  The first one was abandoned and torn down for its lumber in the 1850's.  Gold fever had taken over and lumber had taken a back seat to prospecting.

This state park was bustling with people, most of them children from schools in the surrounding area. I'm glad we got here before the weekend rush, when there will be an even bigger crowd.  Coloma will be hosting their annual Gold Rush Live Event, with dozens of people in period costumes.

We heard some unusual music, and it turned out that this man was playing a Hurdy Gurdy!  The fiddle like music sound is produced when the handle is turned, and the tangents (like keys) are pressed down.  None of us had ever seen one of these before.  Later on, he was playing "Yankee Doodle" to a group of school children.

Next stop was a tent that displayed wax candles.  But the really interesting part of this is that the man in the photo next to Jerry plays the part of James Marshall for these festivities.  He was a wealth of information about the gold rush; has been on the Discovery Channel and will be on the History Channel in a few months.

He dug into his small, leather bag and pulled out two nuggets, one of which was found on Mother's Day, 2009, right in this state park.  He contends that only 10-15% of the gold in California has been found so far.  Maybe we should have done some panning for gold while we were here.

There were a lot of tents all set up, with fur traders, blacksmiths, a seamstress, pharmacy, bakers and even a saloon!  All around were campfires with Dutch ovens filled with beans, bread, pies, chicken stew and other delectables.  Take a look at the monster coffee pot these two guys have brewing over the fire.  They either are expecting company or are HEAVY coffee drinkers!

 Jerry tried his luck at a children's game.  There were 5 wooden rings on a string, and you had to get them over the stick.  Guess it would have kept the younger children busy back in those days, and out of your hair.  Those were the "BB" days: before batteries!

He did manage to get one of the rings on the stick!

We passed by this women who had just filled up a large plate of chicken and biscuits for a man in costume period.  Then she topped it off with some good chicken gravy.  The huge spoon is useful when it comes to bending down over the pot.

What do women excel at? Shopping!  Our last stop was the mercantile, and Sandy picked out a new, old time dress.  She decided to pass on it....green is definitely not her color.  Come to think of it, the style doesn't seem to go with her flip flops either.  Wise decision, Sandy!