After Leaving San Francisco We Traveled Through Sacramento, Stopped For Lunch & Groceries at Wal-Mart, Then...

... Into...

... And Through The Eldorado National Forest.

We Stopped a Few Times Along the Way to Enjoy the View.

This Road Was Not Busy And It Was Nice to Listen to the Silence.

We Could Imagine The 49ers Coming Through in Wagons and on Mules.

A Rough Journey, But The Alternative Was a 6 Month Sea Journey Around the Tip of South America.

Neither Trip Was What You'd Call Fun.

More Like an Endurance Test for Reaching California.

As It Was Told to Us, The Gold Rush Was Really Over Before It Started.

All the "Easy" Gold Was Picked Up And Panned Before Word Ever Got Out.

The Miners Who Came After The First Year, Ended Up As Employees Working For Large Mining Operations.

Most Never Found Their Fortunes And Remained Because They Were Ashamed to Return Home.

We Entered Sutter Creek, CA, Where...

... We Took a Tour of a Working Gold Mine.

Well, It's Not Actually Working (Yet).

It's Taken DECADES to Get the Proper Permits.

They Don't Expect to Have Them All Until Some Time in 2012!

We Had Some Time to Kill, So...

... We Explored the Area.

Dad Even (Wait, That's Not Dad)...

... Tried His Hand at Panning for Gold.

It'd Take Some Pretty Big Nuggets To...

... Retire Us for Life.

I Discovered an Old Winery Across the Street, But Had to Hurry Back, And...

... Put on a Hard Hat Because It's Time For The...

... Mine Tour!

Hmmm, I Don't Recall Our Guide's Name.

Caution - Mine Shaft!

This One Was...

... Dark!

Look an Ass!

A Pictorial View of Gold Country.

A Canary in a Gold Mine? Absolutely!

Some Tools of the 49ers Trade.

The Safety Room Where We Had Our Briefing.

A Vein of Quartz Where the Gold is Found.

There's Gold in Them Thar' Veins! An Ounce and a Half Per Ton of Quartz.

The "Widowmaker." Miners Died Daily From "White" Lung From the Quartz Dust. It Took Years Before They Used Water to Reduce the Dust.

Miners Operating the Drill Were Paid $7/Day, While Others Were Paid $1/Day.

How Much is Your Life Worth?

Many of the Original Hard Rock Miners Came From South Africa.

An Upgrade to the "Widowmaker".

End of the Line - This Tells a Miner to Stop Digging.

The Safest Place You Can Be During a Earthquake.

Explaning The Use of Nitro Glycerin.

Gotta Recall That Dynamite Was a "New" Invention.

When The Mine Opens They'll Dig for a Year Before They Begin Processing the Ore.

The Light at the End of Our Tunnel!

I Hope It's Safe!

Back Into the Eldorado National Forest.

The Gold Rush Attracted People From All Over The World.

We Stopped by Kirkwood Ski Resort Looking for Dinner But Ended Up Eating in Carson City, NV.

Peaceful...

... Very Peaceful!

Into Carson City for Dinner And Accomodations, Then...

... Off to Lake Tahoe, to Celebrate Independence Day.

This is the Same Rest Stop Anita and I Visited a Few Years Earlier.

People Were Camped Out to View The Fireworks.

Fortunately, We Were Able to Make Other Arrangements.

The Water Looks Sooooo Inviting, But...

... Is Quite Cool. We Did See People at the Beaches in the Water.

I See You.

Most of the Timber in This Area Was Clearcut to Support the Gold Rush.

I Found Someone to Take My Picture.

Actually I Offered to Take Their Picture and They Returned the Favor.

Dad's Trying Out The Camera on His New iPad - GREAT Photos!

Time to Load Up Dolly And...

... Head For Our Appointment on the Other Side of the Lake.

Here We Are, Waiting For...

... Our July 4th Adventure Aboard The...

... Tahoe Gal!

We Booked a Dinner And Fireworks Cruise, to...

... Celebrate The 4th of July.

I Think Papa Bear is Hungry.

The Cruise Was Full.

The Fireworks Barge is Ready.

It Was a Beautiful Evening.

Off We Go.

Incoming!

Nice View.

Hello Captain.

Hello Top Deck Passengers.

Dad Enjoying Some Time Away.

Buzzed by a Jet Ski.

We Had Lots of Company.

The 1st Mate Looks a Bit Hairy.

Go Golden Bears!

Sailing Into Position, For...

... The Fireworks.

We Could See Fireworks on the North, South and West Shores of Lake Tahoe. The Following Day We...

... Toured Virginia City.

We Discussed Staying Here vs. Carson City - We're Glad We Stayed in Town.

Like Most of the "Boom" Towns of the Era It Had a Colorful Past.

Vampire's Paradise!

We Headed Into the Delta Saloon...

... to See The Suicide Table (No Incidents).

Then To See...

... The Silver Queen.

It's a Working Saloon And Even Had a Marriage Chapel.

Not Sure It Got Used Very Often. Let's Pack Up and Head to Yosemite!