Vacation part 2 - Gold Country cont.

There were so many things to do and places to see around Angels Camp.
We gave the kids some options and these are the places we ended up...

Jamestown - Railtown 1897 State Historic Park

I wish we had been here on a weekend so we could've ridden the train.
It would have made the visit more exciting for the kids.
There are definitely some historic trains in Jamestown, but not historic for Gold Rush reasons.
They're historic because of how many movies and TV shows have been filmed here.
This is where the Petticoat Junction was.
This is where the Ingalls family caught the train when they left their little house on the prairie and went to the big city.
Movies such as Unforgiven and Back to the Future III were filmed here.
It was fun to see some of the sets and props that are used.
All that being said, I wish we had gone to Columbia first so we could have spent more time there and less time here.

Columbia
The same day we visited Jamestown, we went to Columbia to pan for gold.
(Something Merritt REALLY wanted to do.)

What a fun experience that was, but by the time we were done panning for gold, the city was shutting down for the evening. This is a place we will definitely come back to explore more of.
(Hopefully the summer before Mason studies CA history.)
This little city has not burned down or shut down since the gold rush days AND they've worked very hard to preserve it. We missed getting a stagecoach ride but that is something we will definitely do the next time around.

Mercer Caverns
The Gold country is full of different caverns. The Mercer Caverns came highly recommended so we decided to check them out. This was definitely a highlight for the whole family. I was surprised at how well the kids did with listening to the guide (who was GREAT) and not touching (a VERY stressed rule.)

We were all pretty amazed at how they toured these caverns in the late 1800's by candlelight and rope - 16 stories underground.

Tomorrow we'll head to Oregon and Bellingham, WA