Grass Valley shopping

Main Street in downtown Grass Valley.

Grass Valley is a place of many types of shops. Main Street is mostly for tourists but is fun to walk down. Browsing through the shops is interesting. Just off Main Street is Mill Street with more of the same.

Not far from downtown are several thrift stores a bookstore and toy store that we made a point to visit. Thrift stores are always top on our list of places to visit when we go somewhere new to us. Next in line are the used bookstores and hobby stores.

Several of the thrift stores had good selections of books on tape. We came away with about a dozen. They are great to listen to while driving the tractor in our orchard.

We also found several interesting books. Two books are by the editors of Prevention Magazine, one titled “Pain Free” and the other “Fighting Disease.” These offer more ways to cope with problems that the standard take a pill answer we usually get when visiting a doctors office. Pills seem to cause more problems and solve nothing.

The other book we found is “Westward to Promontory.” It is a pictorial documentary on building the Union Pacific railroad across the plains and mountains. The text is by Barry B. Combs.

The audio books were $3 and $4 each while the regular books were only $1 each. They were all a better bargain than even the used bookstore could offer. There books were at least half the original price and sometime more. We found only one book in the used bookstore we were willing to pay that much for.

Besides all the books we also found a few articles of clothing and a few other miscellaneous items to bring home. Shopping in thrift stores is like treasure hunting. We never know what we are going to find but we are rarely disappointed.

The toy store we visited also had plastic models and other hobby items. We found a set of 1/72 scale figures that we thought we needed. Figures add more life to a display when placed with other models.

The best store we found in downtown was a fabric store. They had a clearance sale that had a great selection of fabric for $2 a yard. Also on sale were a few craft items and patterns. We now have a larger fabric collection as well as a few more craft items.

In addition to all the shopping downtown there is a variety of restaurants. We tried two different ones during our stay. They were a nice change from the standard fare found in Red Bluff. We made the other meals during our stay in our hotel room. It had a kitchenette which made it possible to eat when and what we wanted.

On the last day of our stay we drove to Nevada City which is only a few miles away. Their downtown is similar to Grass Valleys. After driving up and down the streets a few times we decided there was nothing more we needed to shop for. We were ready to head for home.

It is always fun to visit a new place. But the best part is coming home again.