Until I met Eddie I always thought that I grew up in a small town. I now know that that isn't the case. Maybe it was the fact that I spent every free moment by the river. Maybe it was because there was NOTHING to do. I think a part of it was the fact that there was so much evidence of the history of the town. I grew up just minutes from Coloma. That's right...the place where gold was discovered. Some people can brag about a famous celebrity growing up in their small town and I got gold. Not quite the same, but special all the same. When I was little my father would take me down to the river to pan for a nugget of a life time. Instead we would pick through the microscopic shiny pieces that clung to our frozen hands. I loved it. I have always been a digger and treasure seeker so this was perfect.
This time I was searching the clear chilly water with Eddie. He lost interest quickly and as I bent over to continue to keep searching I looked down the river and saw my father still panning as well. Just like old times we were obsessed. I don't think it was about finding gold, but more about just finding something cool and exciting.
We had a blast on this leg of our trip. We went from San Francisco, then to visit my parents and then out to Lake Tahoe.





This was an old prison during the gold rush.



My little girl is starting to get gray. A lot of good times in that aging face.



We poked around in Coloma for a bit to see what we could see. We found a cemetary from 1847 and Eddie took hundreds of shots as the sun started to set.





I love this shot Eddie took.



Tahoe was gorgeous. Here is another example of the turns that made me want to rip the handle grips out of the car.