Day Trip

I think it was Friday morning, or perhaps the evening before, when Hubby and I decided to "do something" on Saturday. We've been kind of house bound on the weekend as of late...on Monday we had managed to take a nice little hike/walk that got us to feeling like we should do that more often...so my suggestion for the weekend: "Let's hike/walk on Saturday!" thinking we'd come to the same place. His suggestion: "Let's fly to Columbia, have breakfast and hike/walk around there all day!" The winner: His suggestion.

We've also been woefully neglecting the coolness of having a small plane to day trip in. It's not something everyone gets to do, and once the kid gets here we won't be able to pop in and zip around for a day. I don't think they make baby-sized headphones...and who knows if the baby seat will fit in the back of the plane. In any case, the last time I went up in the plane was for a camping trip right before we conceived. So, it's been about six months since I've been flying, and baby never has. ;) Well, at least not with Dad at the controls.

The day dawned beautifully. We were both worried that the Central Valley might be fogged over, and then it would have been a no-go for us. Columbia is a 49'er gold rush town that has a neat historical park with the old buildings and costumed folks and gold panning and all that jazz. The park is a short walk from the airport. Geographically, it's nestled into the Sierra Foothills, a short (less than one hour) flight from San Jose. John checked the weather from home while I cleaned myself up...all clear. He then called around looking for a breakfast spot. The recommendation he received was for a local place called Billy Whisker's. I was feeling skeptical about the name, but decided to look the place over before nixing it. After all...breakfast was the treat, and not the entire reason to go.

Off to the airport we went to get the plane ready. Well, that's John's job; I stand and try to help by untying stuff: like the wings and tail of the plane and putting other stuff away. Once we took off, we could see the air was very hazy below us. Kind of yucky and we weren't able to see much on the ground which is one of the neatest things about small plane flying. You're closer than when flying commercial and the ground looks, well...it's a bird's eye view...I really enjoy looking at the map and picking points out. I like to follow our course and see what's beneath us. The hazy conditions made that much harder.

The flight was really smooth and pleasant, despite the haze. Once we touched down in Columbia, one of four small planes jostling for landing strip space, we were ready for breakfast. It was around 10:30 or 11:00 when we started the short walk into town. Billy Whisker's turned out to be a charming, small, family run breakfast and lunch spot with a bakery. There were about 6 tables, all full, when we got there. One cleared out quickly, the lady speaking to the owner..."I'm leaving now, they can have my table"...as a regular would. Small menu, but when my omelett came out I was in heaven. Everything was fresh and tasty!

Then on to the historic old town. We walked down main street, drooled in the candy store, and then looked for a more hike kind of walk. John pointed out the "trail" to the old schoolhouse and away we went. Columbia is not the place for a serious day hiker. The "trail" was a nice wide dirt path adjacent to the road and running past people's homes. Not wild at all. But still, a nice walk. The schoolhouse has been beautifully restored to it's 1860 glory. It was the first two-story brick schoolhouse in the state. It was also attached to some seamy local politics. Graft and waste are not new to school board trustees, apparently. The building was closed in 1937 because it did not meet the new earthquake standards for school buildings in the state. Children went to school in tents for two years while a more modern school was built across town. Things really don't change much in local politics, do they?

Right next to the schoolhouse was the local cemetery. And I mean right next to. We could see the grave markers from the window behind the teacher's desk. I love old cemeteries and haven't been to one in a long while. I was sorry we didn't get to poke around any while we were in New Orleans...but the state of the city left much to be wondered about, and I didn't want to poke into old bones in a literal way...Columbia's cemetery was begun as a Mason and Odd Fellow plot, then opened to the public as the need for a larger cemetery grew. That happened right as gold prospecting and mining grew in the area. The sheer number of men aged 25-32 in the cemetery is sobering. Many came out to the the Mother Lode to make a fortune and ended up giving their lives in purist of a dream. It was a hard life, no matter how romantic it may sound now. In later years, you'll find the graves of wives who died, in child labor, most likely, and the small graves of children caught by disease. Pioneering is never easy; a fact that the old stones bear witness to.

Columbia is a source of beautiful, almost pure white, marble. That's part of its history. This cemetery has some impressively carved stone, because of the local source. Everyone has a nice marble headstone...either a simple slab or a small monument. I commented how much I loved the old stones, and if I were to have a plot, that's what I'd want to mark it. John was intrigued by the iron fences some chose to mark their resting plots with. He liked the feeling of "this space is mine" the fencing invoked. We also checked out names to see if one would jump out at us. Hearing different combinations of first-middle-last is always fun. Nothing changed our minds concerning baby names, but looking was fun.

We decided to head back into town for one last stroll and a Sarsaparilla soda. MMM...pregnancy has rekindled my love for exotic soda flavors. The Sarsaparilla was a local brew, and we felt good about that. We people watched and drank soda and chatted. It was just very nice to be out in the sunshine and enjoying each other's company. We also popped into the candy store-again-and bought horehound, clove, and sassafras flavored hard candies. Then I drooled over the production area in back. More large copper pots than I've ever seen in one place. If we moved there, I'd have to get a job in the candy store. Sugar work is so much fun!

The flight back was as smooth as the one there, but the haze was made worse by the setting sun. Oh well, it could have been a prettier day to fly, but it couldn't have been nicer. I love the mini-adventures we manage to have. Nothing beats spending time together outside of our "normal" schedules. My goal is to instill a love of mini-adventures into our kids and have loads of fun family time in the not so distant future. It shouldn't take much to have a good day.