13 June 2016 – We spent the traveling from Redding, through Sacremento, and into the Gold Country.
We stopped first at Gold Bug Park in Placerville, CA. The location of some mining activity and now a state park with several activity – panning, two gold mine tours, a blacksmith, and a stamp mill.
For $2 each of us got a pan and an hour at the sluices searching for our treasure. We had a great time, and at 82 degrees happy that the sluices were shaded and the water cool. All of the kids loved it and found interesting gems and stones. It was a great hour playing in some water after a long drive 🙂
Panning in Gold Bug Park
Panning Results from Gold Bug Park
After panning we took a self-guided tour of the gold bug mine. A great tour for the kids with about 45 minutes long taking us about 1/8 mile into the mine 110 below the surface with exposed quartz veins, mining cars, dripping water, and dynamite holes.
Gold Bug Mine
From Placerville we traveled 8 miles north to Coloma and Sutter’s Mill – the site of the first California gold discovery by James Marshall on the American River in 1847 starting the famous gold rush.
The kids felt compelled to dig in the river sand to look for gold – but luck was not with us and it looks like we’ll be going back to Seattle instead of traveling the world.
On our way towards San Andreas for our B&B we had dinner in Placerville at Pizza Bene. The restaurant was unremarkable but while we were eating some folks rode their horses into town and tied them up to a post outside during their own dinner. The kids were quite amused.
Horses In Placerville
Passports and Poppets 