There's Gold in Them Thar Hills!

So, a week ago Sunday, we decided to get out of the house and take a little hand-friendly road trip. We've built a list of things we want to do/see while we're in the Bay area. Checking out Gold Country is on that list. Most of you probably know that James Marshall found a gold nugget downstream from the sawmill on Sutter's creek in January of 1948. This was the start of the California Gold Rush, the reason San Francisco grew into a major US city, and the 49'ers football team.



Well, we decided to check it out for ouselves and see what all the hubub was about. It was a couple hour drive into the hills. Very pretty scenery surrounded us on all sides once we got out of the valley. Sun-dappled roads with "Windy & Steep" signs was the standard. We saw a few quaint small towns that had tried to preserve the "Gold Rush" feel, but the Wells Fargo banks were considerably more modern. We stopped in Columbia, where they just happened to be having a Harvest Festival going on. Everyone was wearing their best "Little House on the Prairie" outfits and we saw some cool stuff. We almost bought some beeswax candles and vanilla lotion, but I was more intrigued by the lumber recycler. He had Eric's shaving horse setup, which caught my eye. We stolled through his booth and saw some gorgeous quartersawn black oak. I will definitely be ordering some from him for dramatically figured picture frames with grain that really pops. We watched the kids panning for gold in a trough, which didn't seem to have a high chance of success.



Kim then took me to Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Yes, there were frogs everywhere around town, and a lot of Mark Twain references. They still do the races every year. Anyway, the park was truly majestic. You think you're seeing a bunch of really big trees, then you tun a corner and see a tree whose trunk is the size of a two car garage. A bunch of idiots in the 1850's cut one down. The stump is 24 feet in diameter and has 1200 growth rings (I didn't count them, the Park Ranger told us). For those of you keeping score at home, that means that tree sprouted when the Holy Roman Empire was founded, Charlemagne was running around, and King Arthur was supposedly commissioning a round table. It was pretty chilly at that time of the afternoon, at that elevation, and surrounded by all that vegetation, but we hiked one of the trails anyway. Once agian, the sun beaming through the trees was like a 3D Serenity Prayer. The air was fresh and brisk with a touch of pine. The wind in the heights made a white-noise soughing that sounded like we were approaching a waterfall. A wonderful experience, but really chilly camping. I know it sounds trite, but pics can't do the size of these trees justice. They're so much larger than we're used to, they look like props for an amusement park.



We headed back to civilization by driving into the sunset. Kim showed me her aunt & uncle's place in Copperopolis, a really small town. When we crested the last ridge and started down into the valley, we could see Woodward Reservoir reflecting the sun down below. I always get a kick about having been places I see from afar or on TV. That's one of the best things about travelling with Kim. We've been told firsthand that there is still gold in them thar hills, but it's probably on someone else's property.