On the River . . .

Who knew that just a short drive south of Sacramento would land us in Delta country in the small town of Clarksburg? Well, there are probably PLENTY of people who knew, but I didn't. What a discovery!

Gran, with her interest in embroidery and quilting, had heard from a couple of different people about a quilt that was temporarily hanging in the Clarksburg library and she wanted to see it. Today seemed like a good day for an adventure, so off we went.

We traveled west on I-80 from my house and picked up I-5 south. Before we'd really even left the city, it was time to exit the freeway. A quick left turn and a fast right turn dumped us down along the river; after crossing a metal bridge and turning left again, we arrived in Clarksburg a few minutes later.

To me, Clarksburg brought back memories of Mayberry RFD. The library is situated in a small house across from a municipal building which is kitty corner from the old school. While we were in "town," Gran and I drove up and down some of the older residential streets, where many of the homes retain their small town charm.

This is the Clarksburg branch of the Yolo County library, our primary destination.

Before we even entered the door, we spotted the quilt. Each block represents a children's book, and the blocks were designed and executed by members of the Sacramento County Embroidery Guild. The following photos are close ups of two of the blocks:

Always willing to spend a little time eating, Gran and I asked the librarian to recommend a restaurant for lunch; preferably one with a river view. She sent us off to the Dinky Diner. We were a little skeptical about the recommendation which is pictured at the beginning of this post, but she was right! After all, you can always count on a librarian to know what she's talking about.

I took this photo from the shade of our picnic table overlooking the river. The shade and a lovely breeze kept us cool while we enjoyed the views and listened to the "locals" and "tourists" who stopped in for lunch--people watching is always an entertaining sport! And when people watching lagged, we talked about getting ahold of a very fast boat, donning our bikinis, and speeding up and down the river. I'm pretty sure the restaurants would go out of business, though, if the patrons were forced to view that sight!

Gran and I both ordered burgers and fries and chocolate shakes--the shakes had also been recommended, which is always a very good excuse for having something you probably shouldn't, in my opinion. Frankly, although the fries were quite good, both of us would have been more than satisfied with the ginormous and tasty burger (and shake!). Because the Dinky Diner only holds three people preparing all of the food and we had arrived in the middle of the lunch hour rush, the wait was a little long, but we didn't mind. There are certainly worse things than sitting in the shade on a summer day and watching the river flow by. But the wait DID mean that by the time our food was ready, I was so hungry I totally forgot to take a photo, so I snagged this one off another website that reviewed the diner--and really, except for the chocolate shake, our meal looked pretty much the same!

Clarksburg, we learned, has many vineyards, and the old Sugar Mill nearby has been restored and converted to wine tasting rooms, offering wines from four or five local wineries. Gran and I passed up that opportunity in favor of the chocolate shakes we already had in hand, but it's something to keep in mind for another trip. (Maybe right before we get a fast boat and some bikinis.)

After Clarksburg, we returned to "civilization" and headed through a "not-so-nice" part of Sacramento over to Elk Grove and a quilt shop there, Country Sewing Center. Yep, no road trip would be complete without a little fabric! Ditto Starbucks and an iced latte--our last stop of the day.

We DID think at one point that we might be involved in some kind of gangland shooting (based solely on the area we were driving through), which would have made for a great blogging adventure story, but we emerged unscathed. And I DID think a few photos of the "projects" would have jazzed up the old blog, but we elected not to slow down enough for that. So today's "adventure" is a little bit tame, but we had a great time anyway! Wish you could have been there with us--the postcard is in the mail.