Days 341 and 342: Oroville Brewery...

During this unusually long, early rainy spell, our generator's rip cord died. Had to go to Oroville to the Honda dealer to get it fixed. Which, of course, meant a five hour wait.

So I walked around this town which has hints of greatness to it. "Never marry a potential" a wise person once told me (I did it anyway---yet another personal disaster!). Oroville is much like that: full of potential. If I had enough money, I'd buy the entire downtown and wait for Bioregionalism and New Urbanism to win the day.

Walking around the town, I enjoyed the wonderful turn-of-the-last-century architecture that just calls out for restoration. Instead the buildings either sit empty or have tattoo parlors in them. Such a waste!

Time for a beer.

The new brewery sits in the old depot building that was built in 1910. Unfortunately, it was turned into a restaurant in 1979---meaning that the restoration of this building was done during a time when American architecture was starting to go into its dark period (and still hasn't emerged). Stucco on the outside. The inside has hints of greatness--but the restoration 70's style does its very best to hide it.

The beer is uncannily good. Much better than Chico's famous Sierra Nevada, which is much too hoppy for my tastes. I had an adequate sandwich and sat next to the railroad tracks and watched a freight train ramble through. Ten feet from the tracks with a beer in hand is a good way to watch a freight train.

Passenger service to Oroville stopped in the early 70's. I look forward to the day this starts again. You could catch a train through the Feather River canyon and the Sierra, all the way to Salt Lake City. It will happen again.