Day 2 - Saturday

We all slept in, hard not to with the soothing sounds of the rain outside. Ate breakfast, and sat around for a bit in the morning. Around 11am, we decided to go for a drive up Hwy 4 to Big Trees State Park. Sequoias, hiking trails and about 2500 feet higher up the mountain. (Angel's Camp is around 1700 feet). That drive was simply beautiful! Quaint little towns, cows, horses, vineyards, and about half way there, we noticed snow on the ground from the night before. Had to have been a cold storm that came through for the snowline to be so low. As we were driving through, the colors on the trees again made me long to hike around. Fall is simply my favorite time of year!
Well the trees started throwing snowballs at us. :-) That's how the boys were decribing how the snow was falling off the trees. They wowed, and oooohhhhhed as more cars were coming down the mountain with snow packed on top of their cars. Will's response was simply "Dang, this is cool!" I couldn't have said it better myself!
We pulled up to Big Trees, and as we pulled in, it began to snow. There went our big plan to drive around and maybe hike. We got out of the car, and took a few pictures. They boys grabbed some big chunks of fresh powder and through it over the railing. All too quick, it was "I'm cold mom, my shoes are wet." (That by the way, was why I told them not to step in the soft snow!) The trees at the begining of the park were huge. I forgot just how massive Sequoias are! Maybe by the end of the week, the weather will be good enough to go back.
We turned around, not wanting to get stuck, (no chains) and headed back down the mountain. We went to Angel's Camp Museum. It's a lot bigger then we thought when we pulled up. We started at the lower level, (there are 3) and went into the big wherehouse. There we met Bill, the docent for the Gold Rush/Mining area. He explained all about the history of Angel's Camp, talked about the Mother Lode vein, tools the miners used, conditions, and showed us the different ways that folks got gold out of the earth. There were rows and rows of old machinery, photos, and examples of blacksmith tools, branding irons, and miners tools. We then panned for gold. :-)
Tier two was the carriage house and water wheel. If you can imagine a wherehouse full of horse drawn carriages, that's what we saw. It reminded me of Little House on the Priarie. We saw Charles' Buckboard wagon, Dr. Baker's buggy, Miss Beetle's quaint little buggy, there was even a dairy wagon. William got to draw one. The docents little dog kept the attention of the boys.
Back up at the top, was the small roomed museum. An apothacary shop, a postoffice replica, and a memorial garden. Inside the last section, was a Mark Twain exibit. This was another reason to come to Angel's Camp. The boys school is named after Mark Twain, and their mascot, the frogs, is named after here in Angel's Camp. Mark Twain's first published story was about the jumping frogs here. That image is depicted everywhere (as you'll see when I'm able to post some pictures when we return)