Warning - long post. Go get your glass of tea or wine and get comfortable because you will be here for awhile. Relax and enjoy!
While Dad went to school on Saturday, Mom and Linnaea went to visit a couple of small towns in the foothills of California. They enjoyed the beautiful Fall weather, with the cooler temperatures and the various colors of the leaves.
Their first stop was the Columbia State Historic Park, the best preserved of California gold rush towns. They enjoyed walking the streets with the horses pulling a stagecoach and listening to the music played by various people dressed as if they were living in the mid 1800s.
Here's just a little history of this historic town, summarized from what Mom has told me. In 1850, someone found gold. By 1852, the town was booming with all of the miners coming to
strike it rich, consisting of about 150 buildings including stores, saloons, a bowling alley, theater, etc. Multiple fires destroyed most Columbia's business district. When the buildings were rebuilt, they primarily used brick instead of wood to protect the buildings from fires. In 1860, the gold ran out, decreasing the town's population of 6,000 to approximately 500 - hence the term ghost town.
History lesson is over!
Here is the stagecoach parked outside of the Wells Fargo building. This building served as today's version of a post office/bank.
Pictured above is the actual scale the miners used to measure the gold they found. Don't you know that there were a lot of prayers said in front of these scales as everyone was hoping to get rich QUICK.
A family lived in the second story of the Wells Fargo building. Due to various illnesses, this family experienced the tragedy of losing 3 children in one week and their fourth child years later. Mom and
Linnaea were able to go upstairs into their living quarters and this picture below was taken from the balcony of the children's room.
Here is where Columbia's newspaper was printed. I, personally, found this process fascinating as Mom was telling me about it.
To make a long story short, they would organize these little nails (pictured below) with raised letters on the end into words forming sentences and then paragraphs onto a metal slate. Then they would press it into this big
contraption, pictured in the middle of the picture above, onto paper, hanging the paper up to dry.
If that does not make you appreciate your computer (and the delete button), I do not know what will.
Linnaea and Mom also got the opportunity to enter this lovely home. Well, at least the outside was nice. The main objective of the miners' was to make money and go back home to their families. So, they spent little to no time or money on their homes at the mining camps. They usually built a house in a week, using whatever pieces of scraps they could find. Needless to say, there was no insulation.
Also, they usually just added onto the house over time. The picture above was one of the first rooms built and the picture below was the last room built.
What a difference! I think that I would just move my bed into the kitchen and hang out there all of the time.
This is what a store would have looked like in a mining town in the mid 1800's. Notice the lanterns, their only source of lighting. No wonder the town burned down multiple times. Also, the most of the miners were illiterate. Instead of labeling the boxes, they would tie a few of the items on the outside so that people would know what a particular box contains. Maybe Mom and Dad should use this method as they have been packing up and moving so frequently lately.
Mom and Linnaea went to the museum, where they learned about panning for gold. Also, parts of several movies and television shows, such as Little House on the Prairie, where filmed in Columbia.
They also were given the opportunity to climb down a ladder into the cellar beneath the museum. This is where the miners stored their canned vegatables.
Unfortunately, this is the only picture that they had taken together all day - in the cellar.
Their next stop was the quaint little town of Murphy.
(I warned you that this is a long post.)
Murphy consists of all kinds of little shops, where they enjoyed browsing at their merchandise.
Murphy is also known for their wine.
There were sitting areas outside where you could relax and enjoy leisurely sipping wine, watching people stroll by
or you could sit in a swing watching the stream pass by.
Overall, Mom and Linnaea had a great day together!
Hope I did not put you to sleep!
As we drove to the Sierra Nevada mountains, the temperature dropped tremendously.
When we reached Lake Tahoe, it was snowing so much that we were unable to enjoy the views of this "Lake of the Sky", named by the Native Americans. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America and the second-deepest lake in the United States. Its depth is 1,645 feet. Don't you know that the water is COLD. 
Mom endured the frigid weather while walking around trying to catch a glimpse of the lake through the thick clouds. Emerald Bay's Inspiration Point is one of the most photographed places in the world. And, of course, it was hazy that day.
These kids loved sledding in the snow. The cold temperatures did not even phase them. Now, their parents - different story.
The sun tried to peek out through the clouds but to no avail.
If the weather was permitting, Mom and Dad would have enjoyed sitting on this bench looking at Fannette Island, the only island in Lake Tahoe. Instead, Dad and I stayed in the car.
That night, we stayed in Tahoe City. It was a nice town with lots of shops overlooking the lake.
As it got darker, it got even cooler. 
And, I got a new sweater!
