Finding America

We had a lengthy pro v.s. con debate this morning about whether to return to the coast or to continue up the center of the state and then hook back up with the 101 farther north. We decided that we would see the plenty of coastline as we drove the through Oregon and Seattle so we continued north along the levee.

The drive was really pleasant. Central California is the agricultural hub of the state and we passed mile after mile of pasture land. It was a great drive following the river on the less traveled Hwy 70 rather than the more direct route of Hwy 99.

We arrived in Chico around lunch time and stopped off at the Sierra Nevada Brewery. This is the only facility where Sierra Nevada’s wide range of beers are brewed and even from the outside the place looked like a world class operation.

We began our visit with lunch in their attractive restaurant and taproom. The restaurant has an open floor plan an almost every table was occupied. For the most part it appeared that the clientèles were local business men and woman, with a few tourists like us thrown in for good measure. We wasted no time in ordering a pint and took a look over their extensive and impressive menu. I ordered a Thai pizza and Kamrin the sausage sampler with sauerkraut. We shared our meals and were very pleased with our choices, both in our meal and in our decision to come through Chico.

After lunch we took a spin through the gift shop and I picked up a cycling jersey and a mug…oh yeah and a mouse pad….oh yeah and Kamrin got a shirt 

Anyhow a young man came to give us a complimentary tour of the brewing facilities along with about 10 other folks. You can see some of the video below. We also, as we are prone to do, struck up a conversation with a lovely older couple from Switzerland who were US citizens but still retained the thick accent of their homeland. They were so sweet and we talked long after the tour let out. We had found some kindred spirits and it was good to imagine ourselves so lively and full of adventure at their age.

After the tour we returned to the taproom to taste the fruits of the brewer’s labor. With every beer they produce poured in a shot glass and each with its own description we had a final tasty tour of the beers.

We got back on the road then and drove north to Redding. We found a nice park with cable tv and internet and we lucked into a spot that was long enough that we didn’t need to unhook Kodi and could just get a jump on the day tomorrow for our drive to Eureka.