10/07/10: Day 14: Weed to Coarsegold, Califahneeah
We woke in Weed, California in a smoking room. Smoking? Weed? No, not us. At dusk we were tired, the view was good, and they had internet (unlike our first stop). But they were out of non-smoking rooms. It helps to be reminded why we usually find non-smoking.
View from our motel room door in Weed, CA. That is Mount Shasta after a morning rain.
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It was mostly a day of driving. I had processed pictures for yesterday in the motel room while Karen got up and about and packed. So we got on the road at 9. We stopped at 11 or so for a Starbuck's break, where I uploaded and captioned pictures, and posted the Day 13 report.
We got to Sacramento after 2, and spent a tense quarter hour looking for parking near the capitol. We looked around the Capitol and park for the maximum hour allotted by the meter.
Now THAT's a speed limit. Okay, the 75 in Montana was nice. But after Oregon, we're making miles.I'm also contrasting the design of the sign with the one I posted yesterday.
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Sacramento, another state capitol.
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Eureka seems to be the theme, inlaid in the floors in all the original hallways.
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Karen chats up a guard and his companion at the office of the Governator. Note the name in gold over the door. The news vans are clustered outside on this day 99 of the current budget crisis.
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California's official seal on our persons. I feel validated.
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I think this is the first state capitol we've visited with palm trees. I didn't expect to see palm trees here in northern Cali, but they are everywhere in this nearly sea-level valley between the mountains.
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Yes, we remember to do this as we zip around the country.
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Up the capitol dome. Karen accused me of shooting up Isabella's skirt. Her face is hidden by her dangling the jeweled necklace. That is Christopher the C hiding his face behind the round model of the Earth on her left. Don't ask me who the pretty boy on her right is; we didn't take the tour.
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I was admiring the bears on the newel posts. Lots of nice architectural details. You can probably find better pictures than mine at the California Capitol Virtual Tours \(http://capitolmuseum.ca.gov/VirtualTour.aspx?content1=1370&Content2=1368&Content3=218&ekmensel=15074e5e_22_0_218_2\).
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After Sacramento, we drove down to Madera, across and up to Coarsegold (just south of Yosemite. So we basically drove halfway around Yosemite, completely missing it.
But that's okay: We are staying with Karen's mom, Jade. Her home is currently parked in an RV park outside of Coarsegold. Tomorrow we will tour part of Yosemite with Jade and John.