The LHSCG trip to Big Springs Gardens is on Friday August 22nd, 2008.
Buffet Luncheon cost is $33. Admission to the grounds, tax and tip are included.
Highway 49 is a great sports car road, Big Springs Gardens is a beautiful location in the Sierra Nevada and their outdoor luncheon was great last year. We got a lot of positive feedback from attendees.
Please notify Dick Brewster as soon as you can via email at dbrewste@yahoo.com if you plan to go on this trip. They are holding 40 places for us. If we have over 40 people that want to go, they should be able to accomodate us as long as another large groups hasn't taken the remainder of the seats. That's the reason for making our reservations as early as we can. Your email message will get you on the attendee's list.
Payment should be to Dick Brewster, $33 per person payable by check to Dick Brewster. Please hold your payments until 22 June 2008. You will get a reminder shortly before June 22nd.
We will meet at the Orchard Creek Lodge Parking lot at 8:15 AM for an 8:30AM departure. We will split into groups of 6 to 7 cars, one led by Dick Brewster (black Corvette) and one by Virgil Berry (copper colored Corvette). More leaders will be recruited as needed. Dick's group will leave a couple of minutes before Virgil's and go at a bit higher, but still legal and sane speed. Other groups will leave about 2 minutes apart.
We will use FRS and GMRS radios on channel 6 to coordinate the groups. You are welcome to bring your own radios. Turn off any privacy codes, selective calling or subchannels or you won't be able to hear us.
Dick will bring paper copies of the route instructions, but you are on your own for overall maps. The combination of AAA's "Gold Country" and "Sierra Nevada-Lake Tahoe Area" maps do a good job of covering the roads we will be driving on.
We will travel from Orchard Creek Lodge to the north side of Auburn via backroads where we will get on Highway 49 at Dry Creek Road.
Our coffee/rest stop be for 30 minutes inn Grass Valley at about 9:30 AM.
From Grass Valley, it is about one hour 30 minutes to Big Springs Gardens. It's Highway 49 all the way to Big Springs Road. About an hour after Starbucks there will be an opportunity to make an unplanned pit stop in Downieville, but we will not stop as a scheduled group stop. Parking is typically too limited in Downieville in the summer for large groups of cars and it's less than 30 minutes from Downieville to Big Springs Gardens, our destination. The route instructions are clear enough that you should have no problem finding us at Big Springs. Lunch is at Noon.
After lunch, the main group will continue on east on Highway 49 to Highway 89 which we aill take south the the Truckee area where we have been invited to Lynn and Pat Heesch's Tahoe Donner home for a visit.
After visiting with Pat and Lynn, there will be an opportunity for retail therapy in Truckee and/or a trip to the Emmigrant Trail Museum in Donner State Park
After the museum, we will procede along the shore od Donner Lake on old Highay 40 and go over the old Donner Summit, stopping an a beautifdul overlook of Donner Lake. From there it's short drive on old 40 to Soda Springs and the quick drive home on Interstate 80
If you choose to return home they way you came instead of going to Truckee, there are other choices
Next Fall, Downieville is a great place for a sports car day trip on your own or with friends after school is back in session and the crowds are down . Just be sure to go before or after the snow season. Try the Grubstake Saloon and Grill for a casual but good lunch with friendly service.