California Here I Come - Part 10

[Guest]

The Cast:

Me, Catherine (42) - Chief (only) planner
DH, Stuart (46) - goes with the flow
DS, Alex (12)
DD, Hannah (7)

Day 13, Tuesday 6 June, There’s Gold in them ther’ hills

Weather: Sunny and Hot

Today we were going to see what made the area we were staying in prosper – the discovery of gold in 1849. The gold route, Highway 49, was the main north/south route through the area and many towns grew up rapidly in the 1850s as prospectors came in search of gold. Many were now ghost towns but Columbia had survived and was now designated a State Park.

We drove south from Angel’s Camp on Highway 49 over New Melones Lake and arrived in Columbia State Park after a 20 minute drive.



Amazingly the parking was free and cost nothing to enter the historic area of town. Successive fires had burnt down several of the original buildings but later brick built buildings from the 1850s had survived and been preserved. As you might expect you could pan for gold, have a drink in the saloon bar, visit the Wells Fargo bank, and the Courthouse. There was a theatre, newspaper office, jail, firehouse, undertakers, blacksmiths, dentists and several shops. There was plenty for the kids to spend money one here especially in the sweet shop where DD bought a huge lolly-pop and DS a jaw-breaker and I brought some fruit and nut brittle. DD made a candle.






For the afternoon we decided to visit one of the several caverns that were open to the public. As the nearest was Moaning Cavern we travelled the few miles to here. The tour of the cavern went hourly and lasted about 45 minutes. As part of the descent involved a 240 step spiral-staircase (165 ft) and I suffer vertigo, I decided to give it a miss but DH and the kids booked in for the next tour. For those really adventurous there was also the option of rapelling (abseiling) down. Whilst the family was away I sat in the shade eating an Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich. The kids and DH gave the tour a thumb’s up and said the guide was very interesting and informative including telling them about the several skeletons found of people who had fell into the cavern and perished.







We shopped again on the way back to the resort and I cooked Spaghetti Carbonara for dinner.

Kitty

[Guest]

Sounds like a great place to visit, your photos look great.

[Guest]

Sounds an interesting day.

[Strommie]

That looks really interesting

[Dizzy]

I would love a wonder round the old buildings...I enjoy anything like that.
Thanks for the report and photos.

[Guest]

Another great report with lovely photos.

[Pedro]

Good to read about some of the lesser known but still very impressive places to visit.

Peter

[Fairy+4]

Another great day xx