Calaveras became a State Park in 1931 to preserve the North Grove of giant sequoias. This grove includes the “Discovery Tree”, the first Sierra redwood noted by Augustus T. Dowd in 1852. This area has been a major tourist attraction ever since, and is considered the longest continuously operated tourist facility in California. Open year-round, 129 campsites are available – some by reservation and...

California’s gold country is rich in  history. If you are looking to experience a little of what made California known as the “golden state”, why not tour an old gold mine or two. Two of them are relatively near each other and make for a great day trip. Gold Bug Mine 2635 Gold Bug Lane, Placerville A self-guided walking tour takes you from station to station using a pre-recorded hand-held...

If you are up for going underground, there are plenty of large caves worth exploring in the gold country. Murphys can be a great central location for exploring one or all of them. Here is a little about the differences between them, in order of furthest from Murphys to closest. Most tours begin at 10am in the summer and the last tour leaves at 5pm. Tours generally last about an hour.           Black Chasm...

In the Sierra Nevada foothills, eight miles east of Jackson, rests evidence of the peaceful life of the Miwok Indians. It is a valley with large open meadows and tall valley oaks that once provided the native Americans of this area with ample supplies of acorns. The attraction of this state park, the grinding rock, is an outcropping of marbleized limestone with some 1,185 mortar holes — the largest collection...

If California knows how to do something well, it is how to go big. Big state, big deficit, (oh wait, did I say that out loud?) and really big trees. You may say, “don’t most trees look big?” But we are talking Jack-and-the-beanstalk-could-have-lived-here type of big. If anything could touch the sky, it would be these redwoods. Visiting Calaveras Big Trees was a day trip during our trek through...

In the Sierra Nevada foothills, eight miles east of Jackson, rests evidence of the peaceful life of the Miwok Indians. It is a valley with large open meadows and tall valley oaks that once provided the native Americans of this area with ample supplies of acorns. The attraction of this state park, the grinding rock, is an outcropping of marbleized limestone with some 1,185 mortar holes — the largest collection...

For our stay in the Gold Country area of California, I picked the town of Murphys somewhat randomly as our central home-base location. Now after traveling around the area a bit, I am even more pleased with our choice. This is a small town. Its downtown retains the flavor of the olden days, as this area is known for. There are enough restaurants for a modest length stay, as well as a large playground for the...

I planned to visit at least one cave this week, despite the advice that bringing a 3-year-old into a dark, wet, cold cavern may  not be his idea of fun. I did the prudent thing; checked out caving books from the library to prime my kids’ curiosity,  called the website number in advance to learn which cave would be the best bet, built it into my week’s itinerary for a morning, the time when...