Cornish Christmas in Grass Valley, CA

We need to finish up the repairs on the motorhome on Monday, so we are staying in Grass Valley at DeMartini RV for the weekend.

This area is known as the "Gold Country", and is a very nice place to spend a few days.  During this Christmas season, there are lots of activities to choose from.  I blogged about attending "Victorian Christmas" in Nevada City on Wednesday night. 

Friday night we attended "Cornish Christmas" in Grass Valley.  A few streets were blocked off, vendors set up booths, and there were lots of craft booths and food booths to choose from.  Musicians entertained the crowd.  It was a mild night, so we didn't even get cold. 

Cornish Choir performing at the Union Steps

The Cornish Choir was established in 1876

Among the activities for children were pony rides and go-cart rides.

For dinner, we stopped in at Marshall's Pasties so that I could order a traditional pastie, food brought to the mining area of Grass Valley by early Cornish settlers from Cornwall, England.  My small beef pastie was a "flakey baked delicacy, rolled and crimped by hand, and filled with fresh vegetables, including potatoes, onions, and parsley. "  Very tasty!

My partially eaten Cornish pastie

To get a little more exercise, we also walked on some of the streets that weren't blocked off for the festival.  The Christmas lights were festive!

DeMartini, Rice Paddies, and Victorian Christmas

We arrived in Grass Valley around noon after an easy, pleasant drive from Corning.  We checked in with the service area and got situated in site #3 at DeMartini RV.

Checking into DeMartini

From I-5, we took Highways 99, 149, 70, and then Highway 20 to Grass Valley.  Just before we got to Highway 20, we saw several rice paddies.  I've seen them in the Sacramento area, but didn't notice them the last year when we we drove this same route.  This time they were filled with water.

Rice paddies

This afternoon we went searching for a car wash, and explored historic downtown Nevada City.  Then we drove to Auburn to meet our niece, Keri, for an early dinner.  She works as an uncertified vet tech/receptionist at at a veterinary hospital in Auburn, so at her suggestion we met at Mel's Diner since it's near her workplace.  We had a short, but nice meal and visit. 

Keri went back to work and we drove back to Grass Valley and then back to Nevada City to attend their Victorian Christmas Fair.  Every December, on Wednesday evenings, the downtown streets are closed off and vendors and musicians come in to sell their wares and to entertain the crowd.  Santa was there, as were pony rides and carriage rides, along with a living Nativity scene.  The stores are all open, and the streets are festive with lights.  We stopped in at the historic Methodist church and participate in a Christmas carol sing-along.

An interesting character enjoying the Victorian Fair

The Methodist Church during daylight hours 

Downtown Nevada City earlier in the day

Tomorrow we will get up early and prepare the motorhome for its short trip across the lot to one of the DeMartini service bays.  We won't be able to stay inside the motorhome while they are working on the slide, so I am putting together a survival kit containing my crossword puzzles, book, crocheting, and of course, my computer.  That ought to be more than enough to keep me occupied all day!