Here’s another ride in GOLD Country. It’s to a small waterfall on Tyler Foote Crossing Road. The road was built in 1913 as a “fast way” to bring gold from the mine(s) in the Aleganey area to Nevada City, Ca… and goods back to the miners.
Before 1913 when the road was constructed, there was no way to/from Alleghaney in the winter and it took five days to get to Nevada City by wagon in the summer. After the road was built, the trip was shortened to 3 days year round. On this trip I cover about 20% of the road in less than an hour… and I was taking it easy.
Here’s another off road ride in California’s GOLD country near Nevada City. This was my first off-road ride an about two years. I rode from the “Western Headquarters” to Valentia Rd. Valentia Rd is a dirt road that goes down to Deer Creek.
Besides being a nice “first off-road ride back,” I wanted to check out the N. Fork of Deer Creek for GOLD!!! Dear Creek was the first place close to Nevada City, California where GOLD was discovered.
I didn’t check for GOLD on this ride, but you can be sure… my next time down there, I’ll have a gold pan with me.
Finally… I’ve recovered and caught up on all the things I should have been doing while I was “playing hooky.” Now that I’ve paid for my sins, I can get this review out to you… and then start dreamin’-n-schemin’ on my next adventure.
Before I get going, I want to tell you I had tons of fun on this cruise. The big reason… nights in the piano bar (PB). In particular… Ben Gentry in the PB. I booked this cruise only because he was the PB entertainer, and this was my last chance to cruise with him for several months. If he hadn’t been in the PB, I wouldn’t have booked this cruise.
So… it was a blast! I wish I could have this much nighttime fun on every cruise. But… rather than just giving you glowing reports on the Piano Bar, as I always promise you, my posts will tell you of the “good, the bad, and the ugly.”
Since I’m writing this as a review rather than my usual day-by-day “live from,” I wasn’t sure how to proceed. I decided to break it up into three segments. I’ll let you decide what you want to read. I’ll give you a quick synopsis here, and you can click into the part for the details you want to read. Or perhaps you’ll just click “goodbye.” (Goodbye takes you to a Ben Gentry Youtube Video.)
Each part, except goodbye, links will open in a new tab.
So there you have it. Of course I will cruise with Carnival again. I already have the Piano Barbarians cruise booked for next January. I don’t care where the cruise is going because I’ll be with friends and the great PB entertainers. AND… I’m already eyeing my next cruise with Ben Gentry… I may not get off the ship on that one.
Just in case you didn’t get here by clicking through the top-level “review,” I want to tell you how phenomenal the Piano Bar (PB) was.
The PB entertainer was Ben Gentry. He is recognized in the “Carnival PB world” as one of the premier entertainers. Sure, Carnival has many good entertainers, but most can’t do what Ben does. Somehow he makes friends with everyone who sits around his piano. It doesn’t matter how young or… ummmmm… not so young they are. A couple of songs after you sit down, you are his friend.
Oh the things Ben gets people to do… how does he do it? Standing room only.
Hummmm… I’m not sure there’s ever any ugly on a cruise. I mean… if your overall experience on a cruise, or any adventure, is good, then can anything really be ugly. And I did have a blast on this and all but one cruise I’ve ever been on. But, as always promised… here’s what I think is as close to ugly as it gets.
(Scroll to the bottom of the page for links to other parts of the review. )
