Gold & Charm

A map of Gold Country in the Toulumne County Museum in Sonora.
see all photos »

From Bodie we headed north to 108 where we headed west for about 2.5 hours over the 9,624-foot Sonora pass, traversing beautiful, high alpine scenery before descending into the Gold Country towns of Sonora and Jamestown. Mom has declared that she just can’t take roads like this anymore. We got a little lost in Sonora, but found our way again and made it to our hotel in Jamestown, the Jamestown Hotel. Our antique-filled room overlooking Main Street and a balcony was really cute. We had an excellent more than reasonably priced dinner at the Inn’s restaurant, Salomon’s Landing. I had a $24 Filet Mignon! Mom had an excellent $5 glass of chardonnay.

Downtown Sonora.
see all photos »

Friday, August 11

Before driving back to San Jose the next morning, we stopped off in Sonora, the capital of the southern Gold Rush region. We bought a $1 walking tour brochure at the Tuolumne County Museum on W. Bradford Avenue, the former home of an old prison. The nice lady, who reminded me of grandma, gave us a quick tour of the cells and a brief history of the gold rush.

From there, we drove back over the Altamont pass to San Jose.

And another family summer vacation came to a too-soon end.