Eureka!

After seeing the gold discovery site at Sutter's Mill from above, we went right down to the river to see if we could find some of the shiney stuff for ourselves. And we did!

Here's the American River, looking nothing like it did before gold was discovered.

 We had to leave our mechanical gold mining equipment in the van this time around.

 Hands and pans only, please. And we didn't even have pans.

 Many millions of dollars worth of gold was found here at Sutter's Mill. We found several flakes in the 1/2 hour we worked the river. I'm sure if Bruce and I put all of our kids to work panning for gold, we'd make a tidy profit!

 On the way back to Brian and Lindsey's place we stopped at the Placer Co. Courthouse, built in 1898. This place has seen a lot of history.

 It was a great way to spend Thanksgiving morning!