This is out Ethan's window on the way home. Note about Southwest Airlines....their staff rocks!! Our flight attendants were hilarious!! They sang, they told jokes, they made fun of people, they served me rum and diets when it was really just sprite zero.....they were awesome and made our trip home remarkable! (Even with the huge amounts of turbulence!!!)
Our last stop on the trip was to Coloma where we helped an "old time" couple pack up all of their belongings for the move to California during the Gold Rush, and we got to pan for gold!
We also visited Sutter Mill there. That's the American River behind the sign.
This is Ethan and his friend Nicholas. Aren't they cute?! We had a picnic lunch by the American River just before heading down to Sutter's Mill and the gold mining area.
This is funny going in reverse order but anyway, just before heading to Coloma, we visited Placerville, CA. The town used to be called Hangtown because of the hangings that occurred there. When more settlers moved in, they thought it might be a good idea to change the name. Placer is the name of the type of gold mining which is done in water. The following picture is of the boys in our group watching a presentation by a volunteer (and WWII veteran) on the Joshua Hendy Stamp Mill. It is located up a big hill from the Gold Bug mines. Oxen would tow huge carts of ore to the stamp mill where it would be stamped into a fine powder before going through other processes to extract gold. TONS of ore would be stamped to come up with one 27 lb bar of gold. He mentioned that the folks who lived around the stamp mill during its years of operation (created at the turn of the 20th century) were so used to the noise from the mill that if asleep, they would wake up if it ever stopped running.
Down the hill are the Gold Bug Mine and the Priest Mine. We got to go inside both mines on a guided tour. Very cool. The kids are screaming "Eureka!" in this pic.
This is a pic of the boys playing a fake game of Uno in the hotel room on Day 2. On the night of Day 1 we were soooo pooped that we forgot to take a picture of the boys in the hotel room so we had them pose for this one! We were lucky enough to share a room with friends from baseball Angelica and her son Andrew (Garrett).
Our last stop on Day 1 was the Old City Cemetery in Sacramento. It is near the top of my favorite places we visited while in Sacramento. Here is a pic of a craaazy lookin grave. oooooooo.
With the following pic, you would think that Alexander Hamilton is buried here. Wouldn't you? Well he's not.
Instead, his son, William Stephen Hamilton is buried here. You wouldn't know that without looking at the side of the tombstone, however! Back in those days, the cemeteries would attempt to attract famous people to buy plots by advertising current residents, and even moving those current residents around to different areas of the cemetery!
This is a picture of the graves of the 6 children who all died before their parents. The lamb on top of their tombstones is representative of a child. They did not die at the same time, either. So sad...
The cemetery was so beautiful.
Before the cemetery, we visited the California Museum in Sacramento. This is a picture of the constitution wall. It has different words from the constitution carved in it while one giant word,"Rights," can be seen in the background. Depending on the lighting of the day, the words that stand out change. It is symbolic of the changing constitution. Very cool.
This isn't the best picture, but it is of me and Ethan standing next to a HUGE train at the Railroad Museum. This was a very neat museum, indeed!
The tour guide had the kids pose for this pic as if they were running from the train. :)
Before the Railroad Museum, we visited Sutter's Fort. Sutter's Fort is a big ol' fort in the middle of the city. It is so rad. Yes, I said rad!! They have each room of the fort set up as it was when John Sutter built it. Sutter was an immigrant from Switzerland who received a land grant from the Mexican government before California was a state. He came to the central valley, built his fort and pursued agriculture. He hired John Marshall to build a saw mill nearby (Sutter's Mill). There, John Marshall discovered gold and the rest is history! hehe
Our first stop in Sacramento was the Capitol Building and gardens surrounding the area! When we were leaving (remember, reverse order!), there was a large protest of pay cuts going on by union workers! Did anyone see us on the news!?
This building says something cool on it but now I can't read it, nor can I remember what it says. :(
This is a pic of us outside the Treasurer's Office. They have lots of bonds there. And a big giant vault!
This is the Senate room of the Capitol Building. We weren't allowed to go in the Assembly room because Governor Schwarzenegger was addressing the Assembly about the budget. Cool stuff!
This is a nifty pic of Ethan outside the Capitol Building.
Here is Ethan at the Vietnam War Memorial, our first official tourist pic.
And a few of the boys at the Sacramento airport upon arrival!
And us...on our way to Sacramento!
To anyone who read this entire blog, congratulations. :)
