165: day 5..the gold rush!

 I always have to stop for a temple!! Sacramento Temple

 James Marshall statue..founder of the gold rush!

 Today we set our sights on Sutter's Mill and Marshall's Gold Discovery State Park. Again, bringing to life Jayden's school year and his studies of the gold rush. I can totally understand why the gold rush started in January..it's hot out there! The area looked very familiar..I think we may have passed it on our way to white water rafting a couple years ago with the youth from church. I even remember saying, "this would be cool to bring the kids to". Fast forward 2 years, and here we are. We walked around  and the boys panned for gold. I don't think the Geddie family would have made it through the gold rush..we are not patient panners.  Ryder just about chucked his pan because he wasn't finding anything quick enough! We saw enough to get the general idea. Luckily a store was smart enough to sell ICEE's, because it was a saving grace! 

Our last adventure was going deep into the ground in some pretty awesome caverns/caves. It was about an hour out of our way, but it was so worth it.  I guess there are several different caves in the area, we chose the Moaning Caverns. They had rappelling, ziplining, and a walking tour. We did the walking tour as 2 of our 4 were too young for the other adventures. We climbed down about 260 ft and it was pure awesomeness. Unlike anything I had ever seen before. The formations were so cool and had been there for millions of years. I asked what would happen if there was an earthquake..being in california that was a big concern of mine. Her answer was simple, these caves have been there for millions of years and there have been earthquakes for just as long. In fact, when the big earthquake of 1989 happened, they had a tour down in the cave and didn't even know what happened until they got to the top. The only sign was the ropes were swinging a bit. So it may jut be one of the safest places to be..go figure!

One of the coolest thing they did in the tour was turn out all the lights. We had a complete blackout..not a smidgen of light anywhere. I can only imagine what it must have been like for those Chilean miners, stuck in that black darkness for so long!