Daisy's Sacramento: Coloma

This weekend Daisy, Mum, Dad, and I went on a little excursion to a small town in the foothills that has a large claim to fame: Coloma. You see, this one stop-light city was the place where, back in 1848, gold was first discovered, and the infamous California Gold Rush began.


Sutter's Mill, the exact spot where the shiny stuff was found. 

Despite its rather important place in California's history, the town and State Historic Park is somewhat low-key and lacking the dynamism of the event itself (probably due to chronic underfunding.) The three times I have been there, once in Spring, once in Fall, and now in the Summer, there have not been more than a handful of people milling around the dusty exhibits.


The sleepy atmosphere suited us, however, as it was scorching hot out and it meant that Daisy had the opportunity to dash around, unhindered.


Daisy, enjoying the miniature scenes in the museum.






Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. Impressive, huh?



"Oh, look, Daisy! It's an... um... wooden shack."



"So, let's see....What's this thing supposed to be?"



The view up the barrel of a gun.



Daisy, Mummy, and Nanny, gold-panning. Cheaper than a lottery ticket but a tad more hard work.


Despite being generally underwhelmed by the park itself, we had a great time milling around. The drive to Coloma, up historic California Highway 49, is lovely - all hills, trees, twists, and turns - and emerging from around the side of a cliff and under the Foresthill Bridge, and right at the confluence of the north and south forks of the American River, never fails to take my breath away.


We stopped for frozen yogurt in Auburn, where Hubby pretty much grew up, and then drove back home down Auburn-Folsom Road, enjoying the blazing sunshine from inside our air conditioned car.


You can see all the photos here.