On a Friday afternoon, we traveled south to Chico. It is a University of California town in the agricultural Central Valley, and has a great reputation for lower housing costs, biking, the ability to walk many places, a “reasonable” downtown (right next to the university), a great farmer’s market, lots of arts and cultural activities, and is close to the mountains and coast. As an almost-teenage boy and future salesman/real estate agent told us in the farmer’s market, you can surf in the morning and ski in the afternoon!
We went to Friday night services at a local synagogue because this adventure is not only about weather, but also about finding community. My Temple Sinai community in Rochester was an important place for me. Temple Beth Israel in Chico is a small temple (Beth Israel – 80 family units, 75% time rabbi), was founded in 1915, disbanded in the 30’s, then began again sometime in the 1950’s. The service brought about 20-25 people of all ages, and was led by the rabbi, a student cantor, and a teenage boy practicing for his bar mitzvah. We were warmly welcomed by at least 10 individuals who came over to greet us. They all shared their thoughts and facts about temple and Chico, and answered our questions about the community. We met a terrific woman who went out of her way to spend extra time with us as we grilled her about neighborhoods and what it was like to live there. Another small world moment was that she had grown up on the south side of Chicago, while I was on the north side, and had lived there for several years as an adult as well. Her husband was a dedicated bicyclist, so he and Chris had a ton to talk about. We even met Steve who told us he would run into us at the farmer’s market on Saturday morning, and we did. We did not know that he is a local music producer, bringing national and international acts to the Paradise Performing Arts Center, a 750 seat venue close to Chico, and would be handing out flyers all morning for his next production – Dion Warwick..
Saturday morning we went to the fabulous farmer’s market. High points were the tamale stand, beautiful and (often) organic produce and nuts for sale, the fresh bread stands, the tamale stand, the kindness and friendliness of strangers, and did I mention the tamale stand? I love tamales and these were amazingly fresh. You could get chicken, chicken with cheese, pork or pineapple. Any guesses on mine – of course, pineapple mixed with raisins. It was the first time ever I have had a sweet tamale, and for breakfast, it was the best. We were at a stand that sold herbs and nuts, attracted to it by the sign that said “Herbs grown in Paradise” (which makes me grin each time I think of it.) The woman who ran the stand and farmed the nuts found out we were visiting, and handed us a clamshell of special red walnuts as a gift. Then she and her friend told us all about Chico and Paradise and invited us to hear music out at a local venue. (By the way, these are the best walnuts I have ever tasted!)
After the market, we headed to Bidwell Park and rode our bikes about 10 miles through this very large city park, and through the California Park neighborhood. We had already driven through the Avenues, Amber Grove, Downtown, West Side, the Barber, and continued our neighborhood car survey in Doe Mill.
Then it was time for lunch, so we went to the Sierra Nevada taproom and restaurant. Sierra Nevada started in Chico in the garage of Ken Grossman, who still owns the company. They do all different kind of tours (which we did not take), but looked through their gallery and self-guided tour area. And then as we often do, took seats at the bar in order to avoid a 30 minute wait for a table. That always works for us because with just 2, you can still have a conversation. We had a lot of conversations that day but not much with each other! The man on my right worked for Sierra Nevada and was there on his day off with his wife. The guy on Chris’ left was a regular. They both helped me pick out beers for my flight, told us about Chico, and told us great stories about the company. I loved best a Gose style beer (Otra Vez) because it only had a 5% International Bitter Units (IBU), lowest on the menu. My learnings of the day were that Sierra Nevada makes very hoppy beers, and what I like and call “girly” beers are the ones that are low in the IBUs (and to be frank, what an IBU is). And as we paid for our lunch, we found that my neighbor that worked at Sierra Nevada picked up the tab for my flight!
Our bar neighbors also told us about Hooker Oaks rum distillery. So I started with beer and then went on to taste pineapple rum, apple pie rum (visualize sipping on a cold night in front of the fire), and plain rum. The distillery owners are contractors who now distill rum as well. In addition to the tasting, I had a very good peach fizz cocktail with pineapple rum, peach nectar and a little bit of 7Up. The distillery tour, where we saw the process of making rum, was very interesting and fun as well. (And thanks as always to my partner in crime, and always designated driver Chris!)
After this action packed and fun filled 24 hours in Chico, we visited a bakery café again (The Upper Crust Bakery) where we both had cookies to fortify us for our drive back to Redding.