January 1 to 2, 2011 - Lotus (Coloma), CA

We started the new year staying in NACO Ponderosa in Lotus, California, right next to Coloma where gold was first discovered in 1848 in California.  Word did not get back east until December 1848 so the actually gold rush was in in 1849.   That is why it is called the 49 Gold Rush.

On New Years Day some of the group went to higher elevation to find snow to play in while the two of us drove up to Auburn for lunch at one of the better Denny's we have tried.  Then we drove to Cool to visit Luke and Judy at their house.  We had not seen Luke and Judy, or their nice dog Star, since the Escapade in September.  We had a great visit and we later learned the snow seekers were successful in their quest.

On the 2nd the group was going to learn about California history.

Gregg and Rosalie had a nice full hookup campsite on the American River.

The river was definitely running hard.

 

We visited the nearby Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma.

We toured the inside displays and watched some movies.

Lots of nice displays.

James Marshall might have discovered gold but he did not make much off of the discovery.

We went back to the campground for lunch and then came back to see the outside displays.  It was quite wet.

A fuzzy photo of a woodpecker during our visit.

There are many buildings to see.

During summer this park is very busy.  It is still very interesting in winter.

Nice map of the Gold Country.

In the late afternoon Dennis, Kimberly, Alex and Emily headed home.  We were going to miss them.  We were also going to miss the cabin for dinner since it worked so well for the eleven of us to gather and eat. 

Tomorrow we are all heading south towards Misty's house.

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