California gold country goes from Coarsegold to Auburn through Placerville and Coloma by way of Hwy 49. This highway is not conducive for large RV's so we took another route and stopped in Placerville and stayed at the fairgrounds for several nights. We visited with Allan's sister and brother-in-law and their son (Janice, Mike and Brian). They took us out to a nice Italian restaurant.
The next day Janice took us on a tour of Placerville, a booming gold town during the gold rush. There are many old buildings which still remain. This is the town that Janice previously showed some of her artwork. The bell tower in the center of town sounded the alarm in case of fire.
This is also known as Hangtown because of its reputation for dealing with the lawless by hanging. Thomas Kinkade, a famous artist, grew up here. This is a house Kinkade painted.
We toured the Placerville Hardware Store which has been in existence for over 150 years. It has the original wood floors, rolling ladders and bins.
We met Santa's brother who works at the hardware store in the summer.
Oops!
This was such an enjoyable day. Thanks Janice for all your advice with painting and ancestry, too. We will have plenty to email about.
Our next move was to Coloma Resort. We found ourselves on a windy, steep road with a 13% grade with no exhaust brakes. We made it down ok, but we were smokin'. To get to our campground we had to cross a one lane iron bridge. ( Jeanne was praying all the way across).
We enjoyed being on the American River which is used for white water rafting and kayaking in the summer.
About 200 yards from the bridge is the site where gold was discovered in 1848 at Sutters Mill. This triggered the 1849 California gold rush. This is the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. I was surprised to learn there were over 300,000 Native Indians living in the area at the time (from numerous tribes) and people not only came from all over the US to find gold but they also came from all over the world. Unfortunately this is one of the California Parks that is threatened with closure. Mike and Janice spent a good portion of the day with us touring the park.
For supper we met with Luke and Judy Rinehimer who are boomers from the Escapees Club.
We had a wonderful rib meal and good time visiting and getting to know them in the big city of Cool, California. It is a beautiful area. We were near the area where they hold the Tevis Cup Equestrian Ride.
We went for a walk in the campground and were invited over to a campsite with a larger group of family and friends camping. They were very friendly and had 4 Labs and 3 Dachshunds. Allan had met one of the guys earlier whose name was Allen. He introduced Allan as his other brother. On our walks around the campground we saw deer, Canadian geese and fox.
Today we drove to Santa Rosa and are staying at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. It is a nice area. We plan to visit San Francisco tomorrow.
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