On the one lane bridge.

Today, my son and I took a spring break day trip to Sutter’s Mill, otherwise known as the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, in Coloma. It’s only an hour’s car ride away, but it was his first time there. It is easy to feel a little pang of parental guilt over that. How is it that we had never visited, when it is relatively so close? There should not be any state parks within a one hour driving time that he has not seen, since we have lived here for oh, the last nine years or so, and state parks are one of the great gifts of this place.

I packed a picnic of sandwiches, oranges, and cold lime fizzy waters. Biscuit, the blanket stealing dog, rode along. Mainly, it seemed important to get out of the house, to do something that might set this day apart from all our other spring break days. We have a week for spring break, but we hadn’t done anything yet that felt special at all. Each day, it seemed, brought some kind of business that had to be taken care of. I had to drive to town for a little work (which I am always grateful for), or the dog had an appointment for his yearly checkup and vaccinations (you don’t want to let the rabies vaccine get too overdue), or we had to stay close to home in case my son’s new cell phone might finally arrive in the mail, which it did, late Monday morning, much to his joy.

It was a beautiful day. The American River rolls alongside the park. There is an historic one lane bridge that crosses it, so you can explore both sides. Continue Reading…