Groveland Walking Tour | Visit merchants on your walking tour

by Writers Workshop

The Groveland merchants on Highway 120, with the help of Echo Adventures Corporation, have developed and host an event throughout the summer in the historic Yosemite gateway town. This event stimulates and engages visitors and local residents to explore what Groveland has to offer to the congestion in Yosemite during the summer.

Open House Groveland is an opportunity for locals and visitors alike to spend some time during the summer season to explore Grovelands' bustling downtown with friendly merchants and local talent. In addition to a wild west shoot out at Yosemite Adventure Supplies, Open House Groveland will feature refreshments or food & drink specials at a variety of businesses including Hotel Charlotte, Groveland Hotel, and Mountain Sage Coffee. There will also be street performers, musicians, sidewalk sales, and discounts available at Mar-Val, Breezeway Gifts, and Ranch Revived Decor and more. This event is free and open to the public.

Echo Adventure Cooperative member guides will also be offering a half-mile guided Historic Groveland Happy Hour Walking Tour on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 4:30-6:00 pm from Memorial Day to Labor Day. This fun and informative wild west adventure costs $10.00 per person and children under 12 are free! The walk meets at the Mountain Sage Coffee House for a bit of history and a quick nibble of freshly baked nosh! During the half-mile walk through town, visitors will meet Ranch Revived Decor, The Hotel Charlotte and the Iron Door Saloon to see how they have transformed Groveland's wild west era merchants, brothels, and saloons. The journey ends at the 170-year- old Groveland Hotel with a quick nip at their Bourbon Bar & Taproom before an exploration of their historic wine cellar! Advanced tickets are available online at echocoop.com or at Yosemite Adventure Supplies.

Echo Adventure Cooperative is a Certified B Corporation that was formed in 2016 with the hope of creating positive change throughout the guiding industry through its socially and environmentally sustainable worker-owned cooperative. Echo’s unique mission to focus on stakeholders like members, guests, the environment and the community continuously leads to incredible cooperative projects like Open House Groveland and the Historic Groveland Happy Hour Walking Tour.

For more information on these community-driven events or Echo Adventure Cooperative, Inc.

Open House Groveland Events

Fall Schedule

September 21st | Libations
Featuring local breweries, distilleries, wineries, fomenters, cider works, and barrel rooms

October 19th | Buskers
Featuring local street performers, entertainers, musicians, jugglers, fire dancers, and performances art.

November 16th | History
Featuring local history including a Wild West Shoot Out, Historical Tours, Photographs, Ghosts, and costumes.

December 21st | Holiday Cheer
Featuring local traditions, carolers, decorations, gifts, and a visit from Santa.

Winederlust | A renegade wine, art, & music festival in Placerville

by Writers Workshop

El Dorado Winery Association

WINEderLust
Renegade Wine, Art, and Music Festival
September 7, 2019, from 4:00 to 9:30 PM

The El Dorado Winery Association is having a wine bazaar, festival and concert featuring the best in El Dorado Wines in downtown Placerville, California. Local wineries and brewpubs will be present along with art, music, live performances, food trucks, artisan vendors, historic re-enactors and more.

The main street will be transformed into a location for the WINEderLust Festival. Wine from participating wineries will be featured. Food will be provided by food trucks and live entertainment with be performing on stage.

For more information, contact the El Dorado Winery Association

Rush Creek Lodge | A Great Restaurant & Tavern

by Writers Workshop

Rush Creek Lodge Restaurant

Rush Creek Lodge, Restaurant & Traven
Great food and drinks served up with a warm welcome!

In addition to the lodge, a restaurant & traven fulfill your robust appetite from Yosemite activities. The culinary team at Rush Creek Lodge is eager to satisfy your hunger and tempt your taste buds with fresh and hearty California mountain lodge cuisine.

Food Tourism takes center stage here and gives them cues from their surroundings. You can look forward to American dishes with a California approach – sensibilities and ingredients that are fresh, thoughtful, delicious and environmentally sound.

Both the Restaurant and the Tavern are ready to welcome you with warm and friendly service throughout breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The kitchen is buzzing with energy, putting their amazing dishes and having a fantastic time trying out all sorts of new items in their new wood burning oven.

For more information contact: Rush Creek Lodge

Mariposa County | The Southern Gateway to Yosemite National Park

by Writers Workshop

Mariposa County is located in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The county's eastern section is the central portion of Yosemite National Park. There are no incorporated cities in Mariposa County and have the distinction of having no permanent traffic lights anywhere in the county.

Mariposa County was one of the original counties of California, created at the time of statehood in 1850 and is known as the "Mother of Counties". Mariposa County's original seat was a now-nonexistent hamlet known as Agua Fria (Spanish for "cold water"), about 3 miles directly west of Mariposa proper on Agua Fria Road, which runs from Highway 140 to the south, to the community of Mt. Bullion to the northwest. Charles Fremont moved the county seat to Mariposa in 1854, resulting in the construction of the Mariposa County Courthouse, whose grounds occupy an entire block.

Mariposa County Court House

This historic structure is fronted by Bullion Street; Jones Street is to the rear, with 9th and 10th Streets on either side. This handsome, white judicial building erected with whip-sawed wood from nearby forests is the oldest courthouse still in use in California: cases are still tried there to this day. The courthouse is so recognizable that its likeness is on the Mariposa County Seal. Also particularly noteworthy is the courthouse's clock tower and bell, which chimes every hour, on the hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The county took its name from Mariposa Creek, which was so named by Spanish explorers in 1806, when they discovered a great cluster of butterflies, "mariposas" in Spanish and Portuguese, in the foothills of the Sierra. Each year, the first weekend in May, residents mark the annual arrival of migrating monarch butterflies with a "Butterfly Days" festival and parade.

Gold Rush Days

Mariposa County is located at the southern end of California's Mother Lode region. During the California Gold Rush, great quantities of the prized mineral were found and extracted, first in local streambeds and later in hard rock mines. One of the most notable beneficiaries of this wealth was the famed explorer and 1856 John Charles Frémont for whom the local hospital and Charles Street (more commonly known as "Highway 140") are named.

Many aspects of the area's mining history are depicted in exhibits at two local museums: the Mariposa History Museum, located in the town of Mariposa; and the California Mining and Mineral Museum, located at the Mariposa Fairgrounds (2 miles east of Mariposa on Highway 49).

Two small gold mines in Mariposa county, the Mockingbird and the Colorado Quartz, intermittently produce world-class (and very expensive) specimens of crystalline gold for mineral collectors. "Specimens from these occurrences commonly have a bright luster and rich color, with well-developed crystals in unusual and attractive arrangements

Lasting Adventures | A Yosemite guide service on a specific mission.

by Writers Workshop

Lasting Adventures

Lasting Adventures is a Yosemite guide service on a mission.

Lasting Adventures is one of Yosemite's top-rated guide services and youth summer camps. They are on a mission to get more people outdoors. This nonprofit Yosemite guide service has a specific mission to provide positive youth development and educational opportunities. They provide safe outdoor experiences and Yosemite adventures to disadvantaged youths.

The guide service is a public benefit non-profit with a mission to foster environmental stewardship, teach responsible recreation, and provide opportunity for personal growth through the facilitation of impactful wilderness experiences.

With an extensive and ever-evolving knowledge of the park, Lasting Adventures opened its guide service to provide day hikes and guided backpacking tours to adults and the general public. With all profits going toward their scholarship fund, their guide service provides much of the resources needed to support its scholarship program for underserved youth and families to attend their guided trips and summer camps.

Lasting Adventures shares their passion for Yosemite with thousands of guests each summer, providing the most-reputable and highly regarded guide service and youth summer camp experience in Yosemite and beyond!

Their trained guides and youth counselors share some basic values that shape a unique culture at Lasting Adventures that extends from the guide house to every foot of trail covered. Those values are adventure, connection, growth, respect, and stewardship. Be sure to use the code “SIERRAPUBLISHING15” when you book your Lasting Adventure for 15% off your booking!

Sutter Creek | An historic gold county town

by Writers Workshop

Downtown Sutter Creek

Historic Sutter Creek

Sutter Creek is a historic gold mining town with many shops, hotels, cozy bed & breakfast
inns, and restaurants. It is a California Historical Landmark. Many of the
original brick buildings still stand today. The mansions built by wealthier
residents still can be seen.

Sutter Creek became a destination for fortune hunters. A post office came in 1852, and Sutter Creek became a town in 1854. Today, it is a tourist town with many shops and restaurants. The town is a historical landmark.

Mining those deposits for gold became the local economy for many years. By 1932, the Central Eureka mine, begun in 1869, had reached the 2,300-foot (700 m) level. By 1939, it was the best-paying mine in Sutter Creek.

Today, the town is the gateway to the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. It has outdoor adventure, art & entertainment, historical hotels, cozy B&Bs, gourmet restaurants, and Sierra wineries & vineyards to explore. Visit Sutter Creek and experience the past.

Columbia State Park | Columbia, California

by Writers Workshop

Columbia State Park, Columbia, California

Travel back in time to California's most historic gold mine town!

This Gold Rush town of Columbia, California began on March 27, 1850, by a small party of prospectors. News of the discovery spread and they were soon joined by a flood of miners.

Unlike many settlements that have changed with the times, Columbia, California seems to be frozen in the 1850s. Today, Columbia State Historic Park is the best preserved of California gold rush towns. As a popular destination for school living-history programs, special family gatherings, or a year-round getaway, Columbia State Historic Park offers a unique blend of museums, displays, town tours, live theater plays, shops, restaurants, and attractions.

Visiting Columbia State Historic Park is also truly alive and well! Friends of Columbia and Columbia State Historic Park will once again surprise and delight participants with a celebration through the year.

Tour let by costumed docents promises to be fun and heartwarming as visitors travel through town and relive the happenings of the season in 1855 era.

A recent production was "All I Want for Christmas". The story was created by Ben Wright, a 14-year-old Sonora High student who grew up in Columbia. Ben is an active docent at the park and Friends of Columbia. Come and experience how Columbia celebrated holidays like is was in 1855 and be a part of history. Music will be provided and refreshments will be various vendors.

Murphys Irish Heritage Celebration | Come and celebrate with us

by Writers Workshop

Murphys Irish Heritage Celebration
Saturday, March 16th, 2024 - 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

On Saturday, March 16th, the town of Murphys celebrates its Irish heritage. This event is for the entire family. Weather permitting, this year they are planning for a parade at 11 am, live entertainment in 3 locations plus street entertainers, artisan & food vendors lining Main Street.

All the great restaurants, tasting rooms, and shops will be open. You can visit the many vendors, and hear live entertainment and all that small-town fun that Murphys has to offer.

The town is popular among tourists and is also known by its colloquial nickname "Queen of the Sierra" and is located in Calaveras County. Once a former gold mining settlement, the main street today is lined with over two dozen wine-tasting rooms, shops, and restaurants, and surrounded by local vineyards.

Contact the Murphys Business Association at [email protected] for more information.

Yosemite Conservancy | Outdoor Adventure in Yosemite National Park

by Writers Workshop

Twyla Olsen | Featured artist at Manzanita Art Emporium

by Writers Workshop

Manzanita Art Emporium - Artist Twyla Olsen

Twyla Olsen

Twyla Olsen is a local artist and is featured at the Manzanita Arts Emporium in Angles Camp, California. Olsen's style combines vivid colors and dramatic brushwork to evoke an intensity of expression in her work.

She describes her approach as "abstract expressionism" and her painting style depends more on rendering images in terms of color and tone rather than contour or lines. When speaking about her painting, Olsen said her creativity allows her to be surprised how the designs are created. Oftentimes when she gets in the "flow", she loves that sense of getting lost in her artwork. It may be a reflection of something going on in her she said.

Her favorite painting tools are big brushes and sharpened pieces of balsa wood that make amazing marks that add to her paintings. When asked when she knows she has finished painting, Olsen said that she is getting better at making that decision. She simply puts the canvas up where she can see it and then leaves it alone for a while. This puts a little distance between her and a new painting that allows her to see if it needs anything else.

Olsen said she finds great satisfaction working with acrylics because of their versatility and bold freshness of hues that match her abstract style and choice of subjects. She says her two favorite paintings are vivid examples of how she employs images from the physical work to embody her emotional response and she enjoys studying with local Sierra artists.

For more information, contact the Manzanita Arts Emporium.

Rush Creek Lodge, Restaurant & Traven Great food and drinks served up with a warm welcome!

Lasting Adventures is a Yosemite guide service on a mission.

Manzanita Art Emporium - Artist Twyla Olsen

Rush Creek Lodge, Restaurant & Traven
Great food and drinks served up with a warm welcome!