DR> We're heading
DR> for Mother Lode country, around Sacramento and into the Tahoe region. 
Yes, wonderful!!  We just spent some time in the Mother Lode during spring
break.  The Angel's Camp site isn't a hotel...or if there is one, let me 
now!
...you will have to leave Angel's Camp via the south road...  it forks and if
you go left you will be heading towards Calaveras Big Trees.  If you go right
instead of left when you leave the south end of Angel's Camp, you will come
across a historical marker for Jackass Hill and the Mark Twain Cabin that
sits on top of it.  Just drive on up the hill and you will find the cabin.  
e
combined that with a stop at the Angel's Camp city park where there is a big
statue of Mark Twain himself!
Also in Angel's Camp there is a wonderful museum that contains, among many 
other things, a building that houses carriages of all kinds and 
descriptions... those used by private households and those used by 
usinesses.
I recommed it.  It is at the bottom of the hill... you will find the museum 
easily if you look for a HUGE old steam traction engine called Old Beth.  It 
is right there on the main street in Angel's Camp.  Another place we 
especially liked in that town is the old Altaville one-room schoolhouse, also 
on the main street of town.  If you find anymore memorable stuff there, 
lease
let us know!! :)
Besides the Marshall Gold Discovery park, we stopped at Indian Grinding Rock 
state park which is just east of Jackson... it was very nice, if you are 
interested in Miwuk Indian culture.  Besides the museum and the huge grinding
rock there were two re-constructed Indian villages and a nice nature trail
that explained quite a lot about the plants the Indians used for food and
medicine.  Plant identification and herbology are special interests of mine,
so maybe not everyone would find it as fascinating as I did, but by the end
of the trail even my 5 year old dis-interested son was taking pride in being
able to identify some of the plants.  :)
At the Marshall Gold Discovery site you can get a good lecture on how the 
sawmill worked -- they have a replica set up there -- and then hike near the 
American River down to the big marker that sits on the site of the original 
mill and downstream to the tail race of that where the gold was actually 
spotted for the first time.  Also on the hill behind the town are Marshall's 
monument and I think his dwelling; we didn't see that part yet because it was 
near the end of the vacation for us and we were quite tired by that day.  Our
vacation was from Tuolumne City (where I used to live) all the way north to 
Downieville.  We also took a side-trip into the mountains so the kids could 
play in the snow for the first time ever.  At Coloma, the Marshall Gold Site, 
you can buy a gold pan very cheaply (about 6 or 7 dollars) and pan for gold.  
There's a video in the visitor's center that explains how.  Anyhow, if you 
an
right there in the American River you are sure to bring up a few bright 
pecks
of gold.
Down in Sacramento there is also a historic park at the original Sutter's 
Fort; I decided not to go there after I read about Sutter's treatment of the
Indians.  
Let's see.. other places.. just south of Angel's Camp over on the other 
side of Jackass Hill, not far from there, you will find Columbia, an old
gold-rush town that has been completely reinovated, and which is another 
tate
historic park worth visiting.  There is a museum in the middle of town that 
has samples of the different kinds of rocks in that region and of course 
numerous historical exhibits.  The town is not a ghost town... the stores are 
all occupied so be prepared to see this old town in action! :)  Don't miss 
the old jail; it is amazing how small the cells were, and how dark.  At one 
end of the jail you will see that there was a large hole apparently patched 
up at some time... made me wonder if there had been a jail break.  At one 
ime
I attended Columbia Community College, which is in the hills just south of
the town.  South of there is Sonora, and just west of Sonora, in Jamestown,
you will find the Railtown state historic park -- I'm not sure if that is the
name of it; we haven't been there yet though we did go to the railway museum
in Sacramento with which it is associated.  It was wonderful, as was Old
Sacramento, where it is located.
Well, if you do what we did and stop at virtually -every- historical marker 
you see, you will learn alot. :)  One of them is at the site of the -largest- 
gold nugget ever discovered in the MotherLode... sorry I can't recall the 
ame
of that now-deserted location.  
Well, I hope you have a wonderful vacation. :)  We really did; the worst part 
was coming back to the valley and Bay Area into our wild civilization here 
nd
knowing what peace and beauty are out there... and how much we would like to 
go back -- permanently. :)  The town of Mokulemne Hill has a nice downtown 
area in that all the buildings have signs on them explaining what they are 
nd
a tiny bit about the history.  Coloma does have this too, but it is more of a 
tourist trap than Mokulemne Hill (which is also right there on Highway 49).
There are lots of other historic parks and sites in the area -- almost any
back road will eventually net you a historic marker of some kind. :)  We went 
to Railroad Flat, a tiny town east of Jackson, just because my son likes 
trains so much.  The only trains that ever went through that town, we 
discovered, had been drawn by mules. :)
Have fun!  I want a full report on this one!! :)
Zaynab
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