Nevada City Craft Fair Weekend

I had been looking forward to spending the weekend in Nevada City, CA for some time now. The Nevada City Craft Fair was my purpose for heading up north, but exploring the area was what I was most excited by. I love Gold Country towns: Jamestown, Columbia, Grass Valley, Shingle Springs and more. I've never been to this area in the winter, with the exception of being on a train a couple years ago, passing by the picturesque, snow-covered towns. This was my first time doing an art or craft fair out of the Bay Area. It was an interesting new experience, but I must say the fair was 8 hours long and took a whole day away from adventure. That being said, I had a great time in this historic area. It looked like a movie set with the elaborate Christmas decorations and remnants of snow still in town.

We arrived at night, which worked out perfectly since it was all lit up with Christmas lights. It was really cold, but definitely invigorating since the air is so much better up here.

One of the many beautiful homes in Nevada City.

We made ourselves at home at the Outside Inn for the weekend. Each room is themed and we were in the River Room.
 

Seriously, it was like the North Pole here. This was the scene behind our hotel. A creek ran behind it and everything was decked out in lights.

Houses along the walk to downtown Nevada City
 

The National Hotel is said to be haunted. Of course we had to stop in.

The Mine Shaft, a very cool looking bar. We didn't stop in, but I'm sure it's great. We ventured around downtown and stopped at Matteo's for a glass of wine.

The morning was totally promising, crystal clear and just perfect out.

I was almost late to the craft fair because I had to have a waffle piled with strawberries, bananas and agave syrup from Cafe Mekka. On the second morning, we went to the South Pine Cafe, which I highly recommend.

Here's my booth setup at the Nevada City Craft Fair.

The day after the fair, we drove out to South Yuba State Park. Near the entrance, is the Bridgeport Bridge, the longest freestanding covered bridge.

Another view of the Bridgeport Bridge

A view of the visitor's center at the South Yuba River State Park. This area reminded me of the East Coast. I can't wait to come back in the summer.

Alamere Falls

I've noticed a strange phenomena. When I leave San Jose, good things happen. Okay so maybe that's not that strange. When I'm on the road, I'll check my phone and inevitably, I sold some art. This seems to happen when I go to San Francisco and the North Bay. I am getting the feeling that I eventually need to live somewhere else. I also get plenty of new ideas and feel super relaxed when I get back. Although I haven't traveled too far this year, I've managed to get to LA, Gold Country, Mendocino and camped a bit. Luckily in California, you can just travel for the day and feel like you took a vacation. 

In my book, it really doesn't get any better than the Northern California coastline. Ferns, the ocean, fields, creeks, lakes, dense hallways and more peepholes made up the Alamere Falls hike we did this weekend. Although I love Big Sur, the California coast from north of San Francisco to the Oregon border is surreal. I've driven up and down Highway 1 many times and it gets me every time. From Bolinas to Bodega Bay, Salt Point to Gold Bluffs, it's just one grand beach after another.

On Sunday, we did the Alamere Falls trail. Although last week's hike was a stunner, this one had even more variety in terrain. It was incredible, to say the least.

The hike starts in a Eucalyptus grove.  Although these trees seem right at home here, they are not native to California, but Australia.

Just out of the Eucalyptus, a grand view of the sea. 

We stumbled upon a lily pond. 

One of a few hallways on the hike. 

Bryan hiking ahead. 

The first of two lakes we found on the trail. We found a family finishing up swimming. We're going to come back and use that rope swing... or maybe return with thicker rope.

I kept referencing Labyrinth as we walked through walls of ferns, poison oak and more. A little finch was leading us through here and I definitely expected a secret door to open.

We made it to the the falls. This is the first of three tiers.  

Alamere Falls leads right into the sea. You have to scramble down rock wall to get to it. There were hardly any people here, just a nudist and a few couples.  

We'll be back soon.