{the view along the way}

The other day I was walking my usual route

This is the old highway 40

http://www.aaroads.com/california/us-040_ca.html

it looks as though it is the original pavement.

When you walk on it you don't feel the lumps and bumps

like when you drive on it in your car

It was part of the first transcontinental highway that ran east to west

(or, as I would say, west to east)

connecting San Francisco to New York City.

Normally, I have two other ladies that walk with me.

That day, however, other plans interfered with them walking with me.

The winding rural road ahead

Spectators along the way to cheer me on

A row of colorful mailboxes

A house that is probably nearly 100 years old

Our little town gets its name from a stone quarry in Penrhyn, Wales.

When Griffith Griffith came here in the 1800's,

he found a large deposit of granite and bought up the land

that it stood on.

He 'mined' the granite stone and sold it for buildings

(among the San Francisco mint building)

This is a building in our "downtown" (that is no downtown)

it has the post office and library in the downstairs

and the mysterious masonic temple doings overhead.

Right across the street is the railroad tract that intersects our state.

This line hauls freight and passenger cars at all hours of the day and night.

(Just ask the guests that stay at my daughter's home if they get woken up during the night)

We don't seem to even hear the train whistles any more... well after 30 + years...

Their home is one of the buildings that was part of the "town" 100 years ago.

Here is a little building that was the office for the quarry during the booming years.

I am told that a rail line ran from here ran down into Sacramento.

Cars holding the granite cut from the quarry in the background 

only needed the downhill action to get them into the city.

They were then shipped all over for foundations and buildings.

For more information:

http://www.placer.ca.gov/Departments/Facility/Museums/LocalMuseums/quarry.aspx

On another note, these palm trees were planted in the 1800's

as property boundaries. Land around here was granted to English emigrants as

incentives to plant citrus trees. Citrus Colony was born. A lot of the palm trees still stand

and are protected. Sadly, most of the original citrus trees did not survive the

frosts that come through. We do have Mandarin Orange orchards

throughout the area and those oranges are famous for their sweetness.