GOLD COUNTRY GETAWAY

A couple weeks ago we decided to join a Christmas gift with an early Valentine’s Day celebration. Lou’s sister had given us a gift certificate for a cave tour & zipline ride at Moaning Cavern up near Columbia which we combined with an overnight stay in the gold country .

We had ridden a zipline in Costa Rica about a decade ago that consisted of 10 separate lines through the jungle! This was much tamer but it was still a wild ride since I’m a decade older as well. J Thanks, Judy!

After suiting up in our lovely ziplining attire we crossed a suspension bridge to the launch tower.

Lou being attached to the zipline & briefed for our adventure.

I'd say these next two pictures are pretty damn good considering we took them of each other from side by side ziplines as we were careening down the hill at speeds up to 45 miles per hour!

Not only did I manage to get Lou in the photo but I also caught the landing point on the far left. That's the line I was zipping down in the upper left.

Lou captured this shot of me about to be caught at the end of the 1500 foot ride. I was coming in really fast & just shut my eyes.

I found a great bed & breakfast just two blocks from downtown Columbia. This is the off season so we checked the weather for a couple weeks & made a last minute reservation when it turned sunny. Since it was our Valentine’s Day present to each other, we splurged & stayed in the Wine Cellar Suite – with rock walls, a living room, two bedrooms & a huge bathroom complete with Jacuzzi hot tub!



The large parlor of our Wine Cellar Suite at the Harlan House Bed & Breakfast.

The entire downtown of Columbia is a restored California State Historic Park. We had the town almost to ourselves since it was midweek in the winter – much more fun than being packed with people.
  

The Columbia Hotel is a highlight of Main Street.



The interior of a restored historic building in Columbia.

The two story school house on a hill across from our bed & breakfast.



A street corner in the gold rush town of Columbia.

On the way home we stopped at all the little gold country towns along Highway 49. It’s a detour we had been planning to take for years & finally did it.

Angel's Camp of Mark Twain's frog jumping fame.

Some old buildings in Mokelumne Hill.

The recently restored National Hotel in Jackson was beautiful inside, too.