Mom and I drove to my sister Michelle’s new place in the hills above Placerville. She and her husband, Tim, have 10 tree-filled acres with absolutely gorgeous views of the mountains. Without traffic they are about 2 1/4 hours from mom‘s house. Even though we left mid morning we still hit traffic because there are several areas on Highway 80 under construction, so it took us closer to three hours to get there. The 20 minute drive from Highway 80 to their house is beautiful – two lane roads filled with huge trees, much of them blazing bright yellow and deep red. We had been warned that the last mile and a half to their house was unpaved and bumpy so I was happy to be driving my Subaru Outback. Luckily there are very few houses in the area (most people have 10 or more acres) and we didn’t encounter any traffic on the narrow roads. The first thing we saw as we came down their driveway was a wood chipper and workers busily feeding it. We found out later that the county has a program where they will send people out twice a year to chip wood from your property, up to five hours each time. They were taking full advantage of this opportunity to get rid of the many branches that Tim has been clearing off trees in their property in order to have the necessary fire resistant area around their house. It’s a huge job, one that will keep him busy for quite a while.
Heading further down the driveway we parked next to Michelle‘s car and looked out over the valley below us. We could see an abandoned house and old barn, but otherwise the view was just a meadow, lots of trees and a little bit of the river. Wow! Michelle and Tim gave us a tour of their lovely open-plan house that has lots of natural light and views of trees from every window. It’s like living in a huge treehouse. After Mom and I got situated at the outdoor table they let the dogs, Strider and Amicus, out so they could greet us. They were both very excited to have visitors, giving us lots of licks and tail wags. Strider has some growths on two of his paws and his ear that will soon be taken off by the vet. Because one of the growths got infected Strider has to wear a cone, but it wasn’t tight enough to keep him from getting to his paw, so they fastened a towel around it to make it more secure. As a result, his face can barely peek out of the cone. All he wanted was affection though, so we gave them lots of rubs under the cone. He kind of looked like a little kid hiding under the blankets. Amicus was more interested in dog treats.
Most of their land slopes downhill, but there’s a good amount of flat area where Tim has created a ‘barn’ out of two shipping containers and a carport roof, that were left by the previous owner. This now serves as his shop, where he lots of room to work. One of the cats, Ruby, was happily hanging out inside. By painting the ugly gray containers red and adding a barn door as well as a ‘window’ he has transformed what would’ve been an eyesore into an adorable addition to their front entrance area.
Later in the afternoon, my brother-in-law, Toby, nephew Larkin and his girlfriend Noel, my son Kieran, and his girlfriend Kourtney all came over, and we had a delicious dinner of brisket, barbecue chicken, orzo salad, couscous, and homemade apple pie for dessert. It was wonderful to spend time with family and celebrate their new place. After dinner, we all went outside to watch the sunset. Michelle, Kieran and I went down to the bench in their ‘lower’ sunset viewing area. When they first moved to the property they knew that they had a beautiful place to watch the sunrise from their front porch, but didn’t realize until after Tim had cleared several trees and brush that they had a fantastic sunset view as well. It was quieter there than at most places I’ve gone camping.
The next morning, I was lucky enough to be awake when the sun came up in all its glory. Later mom relaxed at the house and Michelle and I went for a heart pumping hike up the road and along a path next to the canal. It was such a bucolic hike, we passed one of her neighbors houses with trees that were so red they looked fake, and others with horses and goats. During the entire hour and a half of our hike, seven cars passed us, she said it was more than she had ever seen on the road before!
One of her neighbors was having an art sale – she has a beautiful barn that she’s converted into an art studio and sells her own work as well as items by other local artists. It was set up so beautifully, I would have stayed the whole day. After that, we headed to downtown Placerville to have a look around. Being Saturday of a three day weekend it was a busy place. We had a little look around, then said goodbye to Michelle and Mom and I headed home. I can’t wait to go back and spend time at their beautiful place!
