I'm ba-ack! A highlight from the trip.

After an almost 2 week hiatus, I'm back. June 19th my family travelled up to Sutter Creek, a small town in the foothills 1 hour southeast of Sacramento. It is where I grew up after I moved from Washington and attended high school. It is also where my beloved Grandpa lives. He's 88 now. And he was past due for a visit. We stayed a week afterwhich I meekly put my tail between my legs and travelled home. I count my blessings for my husband! Let me just say that publicly. I am so NOT a single parent. With 5 children how can anyone be an effective single parent unless they have superman in their lineage? In fact, while I was there, on June 24th we celebrated our 14th anniversary. Boy did we get married young! But we make a great match. We complement each other nicely. He is still my best friend.

Back to the point of todays's blog entry. The rest of this week, I'll be making entries and posting some of the pictures from my trip. I'm doing it chronologically so I'll remember better later on.

The pictures above are from the first day there in Sutter Creek. June 20 was the Black Bart Hold Up Day. Evidently, June 23, 1883 this infamous outlaw held up the Wells Fargo Stage on Main St. The robbery gained him a total of $755 in express boxes and registered mail. It was also his last successful robbery. Black Bart was the alter ego Charles E. Bolton a successful San Francisco businessman with business interests in mining. When he needed more money to support his lifestyle he would travel to the foothills and rob a stagecoach. He's credited with 28 robberies. Stagecoach drivers lived in dread of the day when Bart, dressed in a long lined duster with a flour sack on his head, exposing just his eyes, would step into their path and politely demand, "Will you please throw down your treasure box, sir?" No harm ever came to the drivers or passengers. What is more surprising is that he never owned a single shell for his shotgun and didn't know how to fire it.

Enough about the history. I needed to go to the store and on my way through town I noticed it was blocked off and found out why - Black Bart Day. Quickly, I returned to the house and grabbed the oldest 4 kids, who were somewhat unwilling to come. They quickly changed their minds. At 3 pm they had a mock gun fight in the street. The kids were fascinated by that. And, we all were surprised at how loud all the pistols and shotguns were with their blanks being fired. Later at 4 pm they had a stage coach hold up. All 4 kids got to participate. It was a fun and memorable experience for them and for me. I also got to walk through some of the downtown shops and browse inside a few antique and gift shops. It was a fun few hours.