Gold Country Highway

We came home for a day to shoot a wedding and for Mom to rest up a bit. The next morning, we headed out on our way to Highway 49 in the Sierra foothills. It's beautiful country, lots of little gold rush towns, everything was blooming and the trees were that bright spring green. The first day we took our time, figuring we'd get up to Murphys in time for the last Mercer Caverns tour. We made it in time, but the tour was booked, so we found a hotel in Murphys and spent the night.



We went Saturday night and Sunday afternoon to Columbia State Park, which is a restored mining town with period shops and people dressed in costume. Meghan panned for gold and we ate a wonderful lunch in the old Columbia Hotel dining room. They were having a Birthday Ball on Saturday night, so there were lots more people dressed in period costumes then. We talked to a couple of interesting characters.



Sunday morning we went back to Mercer Caverns. They warned us that there were 230 steps up and about the same going down, but Mom said she was up to it. It was pretty cool, but they didn't tell you that those steps were more like climbing a ladder. We all made it, but I think Mom had some sore muscles. I was impressed though, she's tough!