We recently went up to Grass Valley to visit Grandma and Grandpa Riedel and get out of the city for a few days because springtime in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas is beautiful.

We went for a hike on the Buttermilk Trail along the Yuba River to see spring wildflowers.

Believe it or not, this is river was one of the rivers panned by gold miners during the Gold Rush.  In the 1850’s, there would have been rough and tumble gold camps and claimer’s cabins up and down it’s banks instead of the serene wildflowers and oaks trees seen here today.

We also visited the longest, oldest covered bridge of it’s kind in the country at Bridgeport.  During the Gold Rush, this bridge connected Grass Valley, a large city at the time, to many more isolated gold camps across the river.

In other news, Owen is standing up on his own (without holding onto anything) and using the furniture to help him walk.  He still prefers crawling, which he’s quite good at, but we can see that walking is looming in the future. Yikes!  More baby proofing!