This weekend we decided to break in Steven's new ride and embark on an epic off-roading adventure! Now I know what most of you are probably laughing to yourself and thinking - when the heck did she become so outdoorsy?
Well dear Blogland, I moved to a state that doesn't have 200,000% humidity and has stunningly breathtaking scenery to explore. Therefore, the outdoors and I now get along.
But I digress, back to the adventure!
We started our journey Friday evening and drove up to Nevada City. As we were waiting for a friend to get off work we hung out in historic downtown Nevada City, which turned out to be a really cool area. There were a ton of local street artists and bars featuring local bands, and seemed like it had a really awesome music scene. We also had some delicious kebabs at 'Stik It' and caught the Giants game at an awesome dive bar, The Mine Shaft.
Our friend met us at the bar, and after a couple beers, we headed to the South Yuba Campground for the night. Although the campground had 16 sites and was pretty standard, there wasn't a soul around us, so it turned out to be a pretty cool. Since we were car camping, we were able to roll down the windows and turn up the tunes, so it made for a very fun evening.
The next morning Steven found a hiking trail near our camp sight, and we decided to follow it after his brief exploration promised an awesome trail that got 'more and more scenic with every step.' His promise didn't disappoint, and we even found and explored some old mining caves!
The trail ended at the South Yuba River, which was really pretty, so I stopped to pose!
We decided to stay and play along the river for awhile, and I got to break in my new Keens. Look! They're completely submerged in the river, and it doesn't matter!
After hiking back, we started the real adventure and started on the off-road trail. It turned out to be a pretty technical trail, and I think Steven really enjoyed being able to use his Jeep for the reason it was built for.
Our off-roading trail led us to the quiet town of Alleghany. At first glance, we honestly thought we entered a post-apocalyptic world: there was no one around, the streets were lined with more non-functioning vehicles than functioning ones, and all of the playgrounds were overgrown with weeds and grass that looked to be about 3-4 ft tall. Seriously, we were waiting for the hordes of zombies to come attack our vehicle at any moment.
After driving around the town a bit and feeling what seemed like hateful, invisible eyes watching our every move, we were almost too scared to enter the local bar. But we decided to give it a go, and boy am I glad we did!
Sitting in the bar was a local by the name of 'One Arm Jack' - I kid you not. This gent only had one arm, apparently was originally from Australia, grows 4 ft tall tomato plants, and just rolled his truck off the side of a cliff about 30 minutes prior to our arriving.
No joke, we saw his truck as we were making our way to the town. It was balancing precariously by a couple of trees, nothing but a 100-ft drop to the river below it. We thought to ourselves, man it would suck to be that guy, and then we freakin' met him in the bar!
After enjoying a couple beers and listening to a few of One Arm Jack's stories, we had to hit the trail again to try and get to a camping spot before dark. Well, we didn't make that goal, and even got to do some off-roading in the dark! I was a little nervous, but Steven handled the situation like a pro and got us to a very nice campsite (which we discovered in the morning).
So that was my weekend adventure, I must say I'm rather excited about the Jeep. I've got some great stories to share from this trip, and look forward to more awesome stories in the future!
You're so rugged :) !! Glad the Jeep is turning into an ah-mah-zing purchase! Sounds like you kids had a fabulous time.
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