No trip to Gold Country would be complete without a trip to the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma.

Poor James Marshall. He finds gold (where his statue points), announces it to the world, gets nothing for it and dies in poverty. Yikes. A cautionary tale, for certain and one we loved learning about.

After learning the history at the museum, and touring the sites, we grabbed our gold panning supplies and headed for fortune-seeking.

While we all gave it a good try, our search didn't 'pan' out but we had fun, none-the-less, and delighted in the coolness of the American River.


The kids turned to fishing and again, we were left without much success.
Our day concluded back at camp with BananaGrams, a barbecue, wine and a weekend recap. It was an idyllic way to end our exploration.