Leaving Humboldt has been difficult, but Amador county is a wonderful place. The more we explore the area the more we love it. Not even 50 mile from our house we have several historic town, at least two cavern systems, tons of hiking trails and everyone we met has been extremely friendly.
Also, did I mention that we live next door to this gem? This makes me worried for the friendly cows who live behind us. Not so much for #11, the queen of the cows, but for the little male calves that have been accompanying the ladies for the past couple of weeks. But who am I kidding? This place may have the best tri-tip I have ever tasted. We buy our meat exclusively from them now. I can't even remember what it was like when I was a vegetarian so many years ago.
We have a Walmart not even 1/2 a mile from our house. And a Petco, Lowes, Jamba Juice, Starbucks, K-Mart, Blockbuster and McDonalds. This has been the most difficult thing to get used to because when we were Humboldtians we made it point NEVER to shop at these places, (Petco excluded when the local shops were closed) Now these are the only places we can shop since there is almost no local businesses in Jackson/Martell. Luckily we found a pet store in Ione, 9 miles away, owned by a woman and staffed by her various children. We've been shopping there since. Walmart has been the biggest culture shock of these various corporate stores. They sell EVERYTHING there and after a conversation with some locals, it seems that there used to be a great deal of local stores, until WALmart moved in. Very scary, I try to avoid it as much as possible, but have accompanied the H-man there several times, sort of a morbid curiosity. At least that's my story.
