Did you every experience watching
a movie where the story happens in a place you are familiar with and love? Did
it make you connect with the story on a deeper level, as if it was your own personal
travel journal? I experienced this
feeling a few years ago, around this holiday time, when I watched the Hallmark
movie The Christmas Card, which takes place in Nevada City, California. I
thought the movie did a great job catching on camera the atmosphere of this
adorable small town and its people. While watching the movie I felt as if I was
there again and it was so much fun to recognize familiar places, such as the
diner where we stopped for breakfast.
Nevada City is located on the
Western Slope of the Sierra Nevada, 70mi/113km northeast from Sacramento, CA
and 65mi/105km northwest from Tahoe City. The town is considered to be
California’s best-preserved Gold Rush town where you can find cute Wild West
architecture in the middle of a beautiful geographic area. It is so serene and
welcoming there that it is no wonder it was a perfect site for Hallmark’s
romantic Christmas movie. We used to visit the place when we lived in
Sacramento and were on our way to or from Lake Tahoe. On my first visit there I
had a woman give me a tarot reading. She was very accurate. I could not find her on my next visit
to Nevada City, since the building where I met her was destroyed in a fire.
Besides the historic down town,
Nevada City is the home of the Ananda Village, a spiritual vegetarian community that
offers Yoga classes. Ananda yoga lessons are the best yoga lessons I have ever
experienced. From my personal experience, if all the people in the world would
start their day with this yoga there will be no violence on this planet. The
community also has a vegetarian restaurant, a big plus when visiting a small
town in rural America. For those of you who like nature, the Yuba River in Nevada City offers a variety of
outdoor activities. It is a steep ride to get to the river (and pray that you
are not following a very slow old oil burning bus), an effort well rewarded when
you get there.
On our last visit to Nevada City
the local old theatre had a show for children. The small streets of the downtown
were filled with yellow buses and groups of young students. When the show was
over children had some time to roam around town before heading back home. We were walking behind a small group of
children, about 6 years old, and their teacher. One of the girls raised her
voice, so everyone could hear, and declared: “When I grow old I want to live in
a big city – like this.”
Nevada City is not big nor a
city, it is a great place to stir up your imagination, whether you are looking
for a romantic movie sight, Wild West architecture, nature, or doing yoga. If
you watch the movie The Christmas Card you might have an idea of what you
would like to do there.
Happy Holidays from Nevada City, thanks for the nice shout out. You can follow my local blog to keep tabs on us, http://outsideinn.com/blog
ReplyDeleteYou have beautiful photos of Nevada City in your blog. I wish I had such nice photos for this post. Thanks for the link.
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