Because there isn't irrigation for the farm land it hasn't changed as much as the big agro-industrial complexes of the Central Valley. You still see things like the Salt Springs Valley one room school house. This one was in operation from 1861-1945.
The kids had fun with the equipment. There was a little John Deere gator, a cross between a 4-wheeler and a mini truck, that we took all over. The kids loved going for rides in the thing. Just remember to smile with your lips closed. (Obviously, this isn't the gator. A John Deere is green.)
As you might expect there were a lot of animals around. So many birds! I liked the blackbirds with the bright red shoulders and the meadowlarks with their little bits of yellow. I enjoyed watching the hawks. They were everywhere circling in the sky looking for prey. We also saw a surprising number of big buzzards with red heads. We saw a bunny, but only one. Earlier in the year they had nearly taken over the buildings. An owl has made some sort of claim to the property and regularly leaves "presents" on the front steps. I thought of picking up a few of the owl pellets to bring home to dissect but forgot as we were packing up to leave. We did get to see the owl hunting at night when we were out looking at the stars. At night you could hear the coyotes. We saw a dead one hanging on a fence post. I don't think it got there accidentally.
We walked out to the lone oak on the property. It's been around for awhile. The kids had fun playing spy with the walkie-talkies and made up their own spy code for the weekend.
We took a trip to Moaning Caverns. Buddy Boy is more than a little bit obsessed with a game called Mine Craft for a while now and has been interested in crystals and gold since even before that so we thought that the cave would be just up his alley. He had a great time seeing a real live cave.
I think these drapery formations are really pretty. There was one that was thin enough that a light could shine through, only 2 mm thick. It was far enough away that I couldn't get a good picture.
This formation was on the other side of the cavern. It is about 2 stories tall. Massive. It looks like it could be some creature out of a horror movie.
This is part of what they called the chocolate waterfall. You can also see part of the spiral staircase we walked down.
In the gift shop you can buy a geode and crack it right there. Buddy Boy picked a good one. He loves his crystals.
After the cave we went panning for gold. I didn't know quite what to expect. Dad found a guy online who owns a couple of gold claims and for a fee he will bring his dog and his equipment and teach you how to pan gold for an hour or two on his claim. They started with shoveling some dirt out of a likely spot on the bank and then took it into the stream to pan. My Girl slept through this first bit. It was a much needed nap. Dad took photos while I waited with her in the car.
Buddy Boy found the first gold, a speck just barely big enough to see. What a relief, we at least found something. He's been trying to find gold in our backyard for a while without any luck.
Our guide was quite a character. I think he liked our little group. He was laughing and joking by the end. He said he charges more if you make him mad.
Dad found a piece big enough to be called a picker, meaning it is big enough to pick up with your fingers. It is even big enough you can hear it clink in the little glass bottle. You can see it here in the top right part of the pan. I had low expectations so I'd call this a huge success. Miner John said it was worth about $10. You could see a bit of grey metal attached to it, mercury from old gold mining days.
2 comments:
Your pictures make our place look pretty!
Your pictures make our place look pretty... you'll have to come up again just to photo-document it.
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