Hello Friends and welcome to our Gold Rush Journey blog!
Trevor and I will set off Tuesday, 8/11/09, on our 6 day road trip from So. California to San Francisco, Sacramento, and returning home along Hwy 49 - The California Gold Rush Trail. Here is our plan as of now, but we are flexible and will adjust plans as needed. Sometimes we see things along the way that, well...just change everything (one recent road trip ended up including a quest for Flaming Hot Cheetos at every rest stop between San Jose and Orange County).
We'll spend 3 days driving north and 3 days driving south. On our way north, we plan to tour several factories, including:
Hilmar Cheese Factory (Hilmar, CA)
Mee Mee Bakery Fortune Cookie Making (San Francisco, CA)
Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Factory (Petaluma, CA)
Guide Dogs for the Blind (San Rafael, CA)
Jelly Belly Factory (Fairfield, CA)
The order may change a bit due to things like: when the fortune cookie making machines are running (we have to call the day prior to find out) the tour schedule for Mrs. Grossman's (they need a minimum of 10 people for their hourly tours to operate), and how many times our GPS sends us in the wrong direction. We also reserve the right to scrap the day's schedule in favor of the hotel's swimming pool. It is summer after all...
After the Jelly Belly tour (which we've taken once before but feel it's worth a return trip since we're driving right by) we'll visit a couple sites in Sacramento before heading on to Hwy 49.
In Sacramento:
Discovery History Museum Gold Rush History Center
Sutter's Fort Park
Then it's off to Historic Hwy 49 for several stops as we head south:
Empire Mine State Historical Park - Grass Valley
Mineyard tours 12noon, 2pm
Marshall Gold Discovery State Historical Park -Coloma
Sutter Creek Mine Tour - Sutter Creek
Columbia: Gold Rush Town
History Mysteries 10am
Town tour w/ Ranger "Mac" @ 3pm
Jamestown: Gold Rush Town
Gold Panning expedition
We'll try to update daily while events are fresh in our minds. Hope you enjoy our journey - and maybe even learn a few things along the way - while saving on gas $$!
:), Vicki
View Larger Map
A - Fresno
B - Hilmar Cheese Factory
C - Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Factory
D - Mee Mee Bakery (Fortune Cookies)
E - Guide Dogs for the Blind
F - Jelly Belly Factory
G - Discovery History Museum
H - Sutter's Fort
I - Empire Mine
J - Marshall Gold Discovery Park
K - Sutter Creek
L - Columbia
M - Jamestown
