Sometimes wrong turns are the best ones!

When decorating our space it can be filled with twists and turns, turn around's, dead end streets and sharp twists and turns , but often the wrong turn made leads you down another road and one you thought you would not take, but are so glad that you did .

I have taken those design journeys through the years in the homes we have lived in, and we have lived in a lot ! I think I have tried many , many, well maybe too many styles out there, and many were happy endings, a successful trip and some, well definitely dead end roads....but always worth the journey!

My current decor at a standstill because of our current money issues, and feeling rather stuck in the four walls, my husband and I decided to take another type of trip, that basically mirrors what I wrote above ( hey had to tie in decor and what I am about to share some how LOL) ...it was filled with wrong turns, missed turns, turn around's, hair pins, and S-curves....but in the end it turned out to be a lovely day and a successful trip.

The day started out like most that my husband has off, he is stir crazy. We go for a walk, come back and it is like "now what" ? When you do not own a home , and have no real chores, or something that needs fixing cause that is not your job anymore, and well let's face it, BROKE, this is what happens. So we were both at our lap tops killing time, but itching to do something else. ROAD TRIP!!!

We packed the ice chest with snacks and even a bottle of wine and two plastic wine glasses, stopped off at the market up the street and bought a small salad and roast beef wrap to share and we were off. We headed up the I80 East, towards Reno. My husband decided to pull off in Auburn CA....we looked for a park, but not knowing the town all that well, decided to head past it and perhaps towards the town of Cool ( click link for pics and history) off the 49....BUT he missed the turn and instead we continued on the road that we were on. The adventure began. We kept driving further and further up steep winding roads that had no one on it! We soon came to a sign that said Foresthill..well it also said Auburn the other way...having just obviously taken the round about way to this point , and having already made the commitment, we continued. The scenery was breath taking, snow capped mountains, Forest for as far as one could see...so wish I could show you pics, but he did not ever stop and we said , "well we will come back this way and catch the pull offs then" . We continued on , and after a bit of time we found* Foresthill....not much there, but there were places to eat, and they were all packed, and we did not see a park, so we did not stop...we kept on going up that road hoping we would find a place to stop and eat....my salad was getting soggy and my belly rumbled.(* click link for pics and history!)

We continued on this road , now named Foresthill , and thought, well might as well head to Colfax....it is not too far, not now, and the trip continued, always trying to keep an eye out for a place to pull over and eat our lunch. Time marched on, we drove on. Soon we saw signs for a Todd Valley ( click and see ) rec area....PARK! Must be ...so we turned down Todd Rd. and we drove, and the road dipped and turned and wiggled through the woods...no park...well unless you count a mobile home park at the end of the road! So dead end....turned around, went back....on we went ...after another while through the mountains, with nothing but trees as far as the eye could see. We saw a sign for Sugar Pine ( click for more info) Rec area and boat launch....MUST be a park RIGHT??? Well the road narrowed, and twisted and turned and we went higher and higher, but we finally found it ...and well there was no where to stop and eat, till we found this pull out , and were greeted with this sight....






FINALLY! We skipped the wine, thinking not the smartest with these roads, and well awkward to manage not being at a park, not having a table to sit at, or a place to lounge it off, and we balanced our foods, and ate while enjoying the vision that lay before us . There was a fishing boat trolling the lake, kids jumping off the rope swing over on the outer bank and Hawks diving in to grab fish...it was an amazing place to have lunch ! And my salad was not all that soggy. LOL After a time of enjoying the silence past the sounds of knoshing...we got out and looked around, and promised to wear the proper shoes next time to take the trail that beckoned us to follow.

We got in our car , and got the GPS going, yes it was picking up a signal, we were not lost! Only problem, it did not tell us which way to turn out of this parking area...so we tried one way for a bit, and then of course it said "route recalculation"...my husband proceeded on this lane and a half road to turn around! GOOD LORD! So now going what we guessed was the shorter route, we headed off to try to find Colfax .

This road, this one and a half lane road, that then became a one lane road was so filled with twists and sharp turns that the GPS system kept saying "right turn ahead....left turn ahead" It was very white knuckle at some points ...especially when a car would come at us! But the views were magical...we were very deep in the Forrest now and there was moss on the trees, and wild flowers and a variety of trees and ferns....I wish there had been room to pull over and get pics! We kept on this road, with the GPS keeping us company, and after awhile we started seeing mail boxes and homes and trailers here and there, even drove past some loggers in the act of taking down a tree! We were in Iowa Hill
( click for history) , and here was a wonderful hole the wall mini mart selling tri tip steak for lunch! HMMMM maybe next time!!! On we went...the road actually became more narrow if you can believe it!

Finally, the end, and we were back to I80 and and the GPS telling us to go "WEST", so off we went to finally find Colfax. We took the long way off course to do so, but it was so worth it ! White knuckles and all, and in tomorrow's post I will share with you what we found!

P.S. To bring it all back around to decor...and I promise there is some in tomorrows post, just in unexpected ways, and places...but then you have figured out that is where I like to get my inspiration.... ANYWAY, bringing it back...fellow blogger Decorchick is having a contest for a 50.00 Hobby Lobby card! Go to her blog, become a follower and enter....and yes, they have mail order!

Till tomorrow when the adventure continues!

********Note to readers, ever have one of those days....well it would seem that blogger is, and no matter what font size I use it wants to give me a mixed bag of sizes...hope that you can still read it ok.