Hi wonderful Mamapedia mamas,
I live in Southern California and I am looking for ideas on places to take my kids this summer. My son is finishing fourth grade, which as many of you know, focuses on California history. I would love to find a place that will make the Gold Rush era come alive for him. Any other ideas of living history sites, or amazing museums would be appreciated. I am open to ideas all over the state. Thanks in advance.
Thank you all so much! I got so excited about the answers that I decided to head out last week, for Spring Break (we seem to be earlier than most CA schools), rather than wait til summer. After snowboarding near Huntington Lake (already planned), we headed north to Sonora/Columbia/goldpanning, then straight across to the coast to Monterey for the Aquarium and Carmel Mission (my son was assigned to make a model of this mission later this year). It was a fantastic trip - crowds were sparse, it was not hot (my kids melt), and the kids even found some gold! And I think was cool to do the trip while school is still going.
We have been to Sacramento and the amazing State Railroad Museum, but it was years ago when my son was a train enthusiast. I'd like to get up there again sometime this year.
Last, we also went to the Spirit of Steinbeck wax museum in Monterey. I was quite tickled by the 20 minute history of Monterey and I think it helped my son string together the out-of-order CA history he is getting in 4th grade. It was completely cheesy, pulled no punches with treatment of Native Americans, had a few nightmare- inducing scenes, and addressed alcoholism and prostitution (but over kids' heads). Afterward I checked the reviews - absolutely awful. Maybe it was something only the parent of a CA 4th grader could appreciate!
I really cracked up at the suggestion for Disneyland, because that was the trip that I canceled in order to do this one.
http://www.sandiego.gov/park-and-recreation/parks/regiona...
The San Diego area has spectacular parks, over looking the Naval base, lots of history, wildlife, mostly free, incredible landscape.
Wish I lived there. Lucky you!
:)
Coloma, CA. Just outside of Sacramento. Great little Gold Rush town.
How about Disneyland. Disney has a museum inside Disneyland. It also has The steamship and clipper that go around Tom Sawyer's island. It has indian canoes. There is the train that goes around the park and the worlds first monorail. Then there is the presidents history theater and main street with horse drawn carriages and old cars and old movie theaters. The Golden Horseshoe Review is real old time entertainment like when the gold rush was still going on.
There is a ride that shows history of California in California Park.
Lots of choices at Disneyland.
Good luck to you and yours. Hope you have a wonderful summer.
So much to choose from! Missions, of course, all over the state. Sacramento has the State Capitol, an amazing Railroad Museum and old town area on the river. I took my Girl Scouts there on an overnight at the end of 4th grade, we took the train and stayed in a hostel, one of the best trips our troop ever did.
You can get on the state park website too. Many, many sites to choose from. Near Sonora and Mariposa, there are some places you can pan for gold. Mercer Caverns is in that general area, and is really, really cool.
Of course there is Yosemite too, which is spectacular, and rich with history.
And if you want to do some urban exploring you can't get much more history than in San Francisco, the waterfront, theaters, classic houses and buildings, cable cars, world class museums, my favorite city has it all!
I can't believe some people are suggesting theme parks!!! I love Disney as much as the next person but that's like being in Rome and suggesting The Olive Garden for an authentic Italian meal.
Have fun, I miss my kids being that age :-)
up near Coloma (Sierra Foothills) they have a gold mine you can take a tour of and all up and around that area, other gold rush things.. check out Calaveras County and Sonora... there should be things there ...
I think there is the Sutter Museum...
We've spent a ton of time in the gold country of CA. Bodie is cool but on the east side of Yosemite. I can't imagine driving all the way from Southern CA just to go there.
We love Columbia State Park. It's an actual town with stores and restaurants but it's like it never left the 1800's. There are museum displays set up in lots of the buildings, a jailhouse, old hotel you can actually stay in, a stage coach, old schoolhouse, graveyard and panning for gold. We've been a few times and stayed the night in a vacation cottage there once, super fun at night when most tourists leave!
This area is also close to Yosemite which is not only stunningly beautiful but has a lot of natural history as well as human history to explore. If you've never been it's a must see for sure.
My home, Monterey/Carmel was the state's first capitol, we have lots of original buildings and museums, Cooper Molera House, Custom House Plaza and the Carmel Mission to name a few. Natural history you can't do any better than the Monterey Bay Aquarium. You won't find a prettier place on earth than our coast.
Check out tripadvisor.com and yelp.com for ideas on lodging, restaurants and activities. You could spend years exploring California and never see it all, have fun!
Try to see a few of the missions, since he'll have learned a lot about those. Consider riding the train for a new experience. The historic district around Mission San Juan Capistrano is great. If you take the train, the station is right there.
In addition to the Gold Rush, take the opportunity to learn about all the different cultures in CA. Visit Olvera Street, Little Tokyo and Koreatown in LA. See Chinatown in San Francisco. LA has areas for dozens of cultures, including Ethiopian, Persian, Jewish and many, many more. I think the only big one we don't have is a Little Italy.
Bodie and Coloma seem to be the big Ghost Towns that are still active, though I haven't visited either.
Here is another: http://www.wunderground.com/news/californias-folsom-lake-...
Hearst Castle in San Luis Obispo is a neat place to go, too.
Take him to the Six Flags and put him on the Gold Rusher...every 4th grader would love that.
Really, I googled and found this cool state park. http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=499
The map looks like it is SE of Sacramento. The map also shows a Nevada County Airport Goo near there. I never heard of this airport and it may be for small planes, in which case, I would drive.
We live in the Sacramento area and the 4th graders at our school go to Coloma for their big Gold Rush history field trip. You could also go to the California Museum, state capitol building tour, Railroad Museum and Sutter's Fort, all in Sacramento, for more state history. There are missions all the way up to our area, depending on the freeway you take.
I would recommend Sutter's Fort, which is in downtown Sacramento. It has been perfectly maintained, and they have tons of interesting things to see and do there. On the same city block is the California State Indian Museum (I know, it's weird that they still call it "Indian," but there you have it - it's a wonderful museum). For further gold rush fun, there's always Sutter's Mill, which is up toward Lake Tahoe. Or, if you don't want to drive all the way out to Sutter's Mill, the town of Placerville (which is about 45 minutes east of Sacramento) has several well-maintained gold mines, such as the Gold Bug Mine. My kids have been to that mine for field trips, and they have really great tours (the mines were hand-dug by Welsh masons - really fascinating). The kids can even pan for gold there (they probably won't find gold, but they will find other semi-precious stones ;).
You can stay in Old Town Sacramento, which has been restored to the gold rush era (complete with a big paddlewheel boat in the river, wood sidewalks, and cobblestone roads). Not to be missed in Old Town is the California Railroad Museum - it is absolutely wonderful, with many restored locomotives that you can climb into, and great historical information about how the expansion of the railroads impacted California. And, as long as you're in Sacramento, don't forget to tour the state capitol. It has beautiful gardens.
There is a historic town called Bodie near Yosemite park. It's an old Gold rush town that is very well preserved. Check it out at http://www.bodie.com/. I think I'll take my kids there this summer.
Bodie is not too far from Yosemite park and the SF Bay area. There is a lot of cool stuff in that area.
San Juan capastrono (spelling) mission is amazing I was in 3rd or 4th grade when I first saw it. The gardens are amazing the mission itself is so rich in history it's amazing. The whole historical section of San Juan is full of amazing history.
