Mission to Return Nevada City Mementos

Back in 2008 I bought my first house.  Richard, who owned the house before me, was older and had passed away, so his sister Gail was selling the house and handling the estate.  After closing escrow Gail left me a lot of Richard’s property that she didn’t want.  She told me I could keep what I wanted and donate the rest to charity.  Gail was very kind and this was a big break for me.  Since I was a first time homebuyer I didn’t have any furniture, washer, dryer or refrigerator, so it helped me out big time to inherit an almost completely furnished house.  Over the last few years I have gone through the items left with the estate, I kept some stuff and donated the rest to charity.

National Hotel

When going through everything I came upon a framed program and an article about Richard and his family and I could tell it was from a very important moment in his life.  Richard’s family used to own the National Hotel in Nevada City.  I could tell that the framed program and article were very important to Richard so I decided I needed to take them back to the National Hotel in Nevada City.  On Saturday my mother and I decided to take a road trip to Nevada City to finally return these mementos to the National Hotel.

When we got to Nevada City we checked in at the Chamber of Commerce visitor center.  The lady there was very nice and she told us to go to the National Hotel and ask for Tom.  We were on a mission so she pointed us in the right direction and we were on our way.  I didn’t expect anyone at the hotel to know Richard and I thought they may not want these mementos but I felt it was worth a shot.  I am so glad I went on this mission because it turned out that Tom at the hotel was great friends with Richard before he passed away.  He was thankful that I brought him the frames and he told me a few stories about Nevada City and Richard.  It was so surreal because Tom had actually been to my house when Richard owned it and Tom was listed on the framed program that honored Richard that I was returning to the hotel.   It was fun to meet someone that knew Richard since he was one of those people that I never met yet he has helped me a great deal.

Inside the National Hotel

It felt very rewarding to do a good deed by returning the National Hotel keepsakes to the rightful owner.  I felt like I was finally able to show my appreciation to Richard by returning the keepsakes to Nevada City. 

My mom and I had a great day trip.  The sun was out and it was very warm.  Nevada City is a beautiful place and all the flowers are starting to bloom so it finally feels like Spring has arrived.  This is a lovely town to visit with lots of nice friendly people.  The architecture is stunning and the buildings and homes have been well preserved.  Here are some pictures I took along the way…