We went back to Columbia State Historic Park, a gold town of the 1850’s in the Sierras. I was touched by two highlights from this trip.
The first is the original hand written Chinese letter from back in 1850’s. It was a letter from a son to his family back in China. From the writing, he shows full respect and devotion to his father, who is normally the head for a traditional Chinese family. Also he commented his sister left the family on her own at a very young age, for which he was deeply concerned. From his beautiful calligraphy, he must be an educated person, or at least wise and had a clear purpose to travel to the US. Filial Piety permeates throughout his letter. I was trying to picture what kind of man he was: in his blue outfit, long pigtail, big heart and quiet lips. As the bread winner, he abruptly went on a journey pursuing gold, looking for ways to shoulder the family and make their life better. He who knows why, will find out how to implement his wish.
I feel like I met him through time, with a piece of history, to know a little about his his family; I was able to visit a piece of time through his letter.
The second highlight is: I was able to experience Columbia after dark. We ate in the St. Charles Saloon, at the corner of Old Columbia and today’s Columbia. Many times we’ve seen people enjoying their food at the outside tables, inside was always a full house. It was originally built in1851, the property changed hands for $3000 in 1860. The inside décor is very rustic , mountain style, the rattle snake skin on the wall makes quite an impression. We sat at the outside table facing the main street of Columbia. This is the best seat in my opinion, where you can enjoy the street view of old Columbia while also feeling the vibes of a live bar without the noise. We sat down at the table, the attractive waitress dressed as if a 100 years ago, brought the menu. It’s a pizza restaurant, with beer and wine, only. So we picked a Columbian special pizza, house salad and a hard cider. That’s the best cider I’ve ever had, cool zest twist with a slight alcohol flavor for a hot Summer night. Their pizza is super cheesy, rich and meaty, I can understand why this is a local favorite. I love people watching, which is why I love this seat. The backside of the restaurant has two longer tables for bigger parties. I saw a big family, with many kids, the guy was dark skinned, skinny, long beard, but very fit, a classic image of a mountain man. The kids running around enjoying their weekend outing, like typical kids. The other side, which is the end of the main street, quieted down. When sun goes down, the street darkens down very quickly, and as the daylight fades away, so do the crowds. Maybe because it’s in the mountains. We are almost finished with our pizza, the waitress showed up, they close up pretty early. I just realized, the crowd inside the house is almost gone. I asked the waitress, “Is it safe to walk on the street at night? And any mountain lion sightings?” “No problem, if you just walk on the main street, but don’t go a couple blocks away. There has been mountain lion sightings there, it’s more active this year. I’ve seen it myself. You won’t miss hearing their cry, it sounds like a woman’s scream!” Off she goes to close up. I was still wondering what is like for a mountain lion screaming like a woman.
The dark street enticed me to walk further, it’s still somewhat lit up with those 1800’s style antique street lamps. We walked down with our flashlights, knowing, some parts of the street have no light. It’s interesting to walk on the total empty street with old buildings, you can just let your imagination fly free. Soon, we reached the dark corner where the road makes a hard turn, before it reaches street lights again. We started to shine the flash light around, front and back, farther into the dark. I wish my light can reach farther. I caught a cat running away from us, at least if a mountain lion is around, we wouldn’t be the cat’s biggest concern. With that thought in mind, I picked up my feet, marching forward. The not so long street seems much longer at night. I know there’s a rock path leading into back mountain on the side. I tried to zoom my vision to see if there’s any movement in the dark. I know my mind has run up and down the street several laps already. The thrill calls me to finish the street, to not turn back around, even just for my own sense of accomplishment. Finally we saw light, even people standing outside the theater at the end of the road chatting. I feel like back to civilization. We are safe. I made sure we reached the end of the main street, then turned around heading back. Having done it once makes it a little easier. Soon, we found our way back to the restaurant.
On our way out of mountains, I was still thinking of my day: the Chinese letter from a hundred years ago; the cool cider with the best view of Old Columbia; and the mountain lion screaming like a woman. What an amazing day! Life has so much to offer, you will never get the same menu twice.
