Northern Mother Lode

	Parts of Northern California are rugged and the rivers that carried the gold have carved deep canyons into the Sierra Nevada Mountains. On this trip, we headed to Georgetown, for a quick visit with René and Pat at their home in Garden Valley, and brunch the following day with Rich and Jeanne in Citrus Heights.
	To get to Georgetown, you have to cross the American River, so you have to wind down the road into the canyon, and then back out again. Look closely and you can see the South Fork of the river deep in the canyon.
	Like a lot of gold mining towns, there isn't much left of Georgetown, of course there is a Main Street, and oddly enough they allow parking in the middle of the street! In this picture, the white truck is parked, the dark car is driving towards us. René told us that though most of the other Georgetowns in the U.S. are named for George Washington, this one is named for the leader of one of the mining groups.
	In a town that small, we only had to make one U-turn to find the American River Inn, our lodging for the night. Berlynn is waiting for me to finish with the camera so that we can have some dinner.
	A feather bed was a new experience for us, neither of us are sure we ever want to try that again.
	A quick stop in the gift shop the next morning before heading off to Rich and Jeanne!
	Of course once you drive into the canyon, you have to drive out of it again. Here, the South Fork and Middle Fork of the American River converge before continuing down to the Sacramento Valley. Earlier, I said that this is the I-80 bridge, but I was mistaken. Here is the correct information from René! Thanks! "This bridge is part of Auburn Ravine Road and carries traffic from Auburn to Forest Hill. This bridge was built when they were preparing to create the Auburn dam. Previously, the main road to Forest Hill started in the canyon, where the bridge at the confluence, crosses the American River. You crossed the bridge on the way to Auburn and the Forest Hill road is still there and is being used. Had the dam been built, that road would have been submerged and Forest Hill cut off from the rest of the world. That's why the high bridge was built. Because the Auburn dam was never constructed, Forest Hill now sports two major access roads."
	Soon we were on our way home again, though we still had some climbing to do to get there.

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