Panning for Gold

They put real bits of gold in these troughs for the kids to find. And
you get to keep it!

This was from our trip to Oroville and Sacramento last in October last year.

Kitchen at Sutter's Mill

Where's the microwave?

Royal Republic?

Why there is a statue of Spanish royalty under the dome in the State
Capitol of a republic is beyond me.

Looms at Sutter's Fort

Sutter was a business man. One of the ways he made money was selling
textiles that were made by people staying in his fort.

Inside Sutter's Fort

The main building in the middle of Sutter's Fort in Sacramento.

CA Governor's Office

The entrance to the Governor's office is guarded by this bear.

CA Assembly Chambers

This is where all the hard "work" happens at our State Capitol.

Steam Locomotive

Old Locomotive at the Railroad Museum in Sacramento. The museum is at
the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River where
the city of Sacramento began.

Kids at Sutter's Mill

Sutter's Mill was a lumber mill on the south fork of the American
river where gold was discovered launching the California gold rush.

CA Treasurer's Office

Complete with a safe to keep the money in. The safe is open these
days because we don't have any money.

Jess in the Window

The buildings at Sutter's Fort are made of adobe. Adobe buildings
have thick walls and the window openings are bigger in the interior
than on the exterior to allow more light in.

Sutter's Fort

Sutter's Fort was an early outpost in California. It was a safe place
that settler's travelling to California could stop at after their
journey over the Sierra's, get their bearings and move on. It is
located in Sacramento at the northern end of the Central Valley of
California. The Central Valley is the agricultural heartland of
California and in a dry state like California it has been the center
of water rights controversies since the early 1900's. The Sierra
mountains form the eastern boundary of the valley and snowmelt from
the eastern and western slopes is channeled into aquaducts that must
supply both the farmland of the Central Valley and the population of
southern California. As we drove through the western side of the
valley on the way home there were dust storms the entire way as there
is not enough water for dust suppression.

Wallihan's at the CA State Capitol

We took a road trip to Oroville, Sacramento and San Francisco, combining a family vacation with a civics lesson.