We’re in the middle of the holidays, seeing friends and family – the perfect opportunity to discuss individual and family travel plans, as well as vacation plans for the coming year.
As you see old friends and family over the holidays at parties and around the dinner table, plan to get adults and kids talking about their favorite trip destinations as well as their hopes and dreams for travel in 2023. Don’t allow contributors to talk about just their exotic destinations (such as European river cruises, a trip to Greenland, or family exploration in England or Ireland). And don’t let yourself and your family/friends be among those folks that, if they someday relocate, will realize they never saw some of the top travel attractions in their own backyard. Hence, think holiday travel locally, as well as vacation planning for 2023, considering local, regional, nationwide, and worldwide destinations.
To focus interest on nearby travel thrills, today we will offer ideas within an hour of San Joaquin County, looking north, east, south and west. To our north, a combination of the city of Sacramento and its bisecting American River offers a wealth of sparkling travel destinations. Old Sacramento, with eight museums including the California Railroad Museum, Sacramento History Museum, SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity, California Auto Museum and the nearby Crocker Art Museum and plenty of shops and eateries make a special holiday destination.
Just north is the confluence of the American River and Sacramento River at Discovery Park and mile one of the 34 mile urban jewel, the American River Parkway system, with biking and hiking trails offering beautiful access to the American River. Depending upon the time of the year, the American River offers hiking, biking, birdwatching, fishing, swimming, tubing and river rafting experiences sure to excite young and old.
To the east, destinations are arranged like jewels on the Gold Rush Highway, Highway 49, from the site of gold discovered in 1848, Coloma, south to Sonora and Tuolumne city. I have always suggested, for those who want to get serious about exploring Gold Rush history, start in Coloma, the site of Sutters Mill where gold was discovered by James Marshall in January, 1848. The Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park is the place to start, with the recreated Sutters Mill, noteworthy displays of gold mining equipment, hydraulic water cannons that devoured hillsides for their gold content, all featured in a park offering a scenic introduction to Native American and Gold Rush history.
Then travel southeast down Highway 49, with historic stops in towns like Placerville, Plymouth, Amador City, Sutters Creek, Columbia, Sonora and Tuolumne City. Make Sutters Creek, with active and historically preserved Main Street bustling with shops, restaurants and wine tasting outlets, a stop (dine and nosh in the Hotel Sutter Creek, the oldest continually operated hotel in the state, or two blocks away, Gold Dust Pizza right on Sutter Creek). Columbia and Sonora also are favorites, with active shopping and historic districts.
Venturing south, plan a “back to nature” visit to Caswell Memorial State Park, just south of Ripon. The park features riparian oak woodland forest along the Stanislaus River. Within Caswell’s 258 acres is a lovely campground and hiking trails along the languid river. The park is home to several endangered species such as the riparian brush rabbit, and offers ancient woodland groves where Native Americans like the Yokuts would collect acorns, hunt and fish.
Look west to the vast expanse of the San Joaquin and Sacramento River Delta. The Delta has so much to offer, from the days when mighty steamboats connected San Francisco to Stockton and Sacramento. Suggested starting point is a trip west of Lodi on Highway 12, then following the river road up to Isleton, Walnut Grove and Locke.
Visitors to Locke are wise to stop first at the north end of Main Street, where the former boarding house is now the Locke Boarding House Visitors’ Center, offering historic overview and is free of charge. A host of museums include Locke Memorial Park and Monument (which honors the Chinese who labored in agriculture and helped build the levees and railroads early in the century) and the Dai Loy Museum (showcasing gambling paraphernalia). Stop at Al’s Place in Locke for food and libation, in the heart of the old Chinese town still functioning in a state of arrested decay.
The lovely Delta Meadows Trail starts on the border between Locke and Walnut Grove (use the smartphone app AllTrails for details on hikes like this one). The several mile hike starts along levees built by Chinese laborers more than 100 years ago, through riparian woodlands, marshes and meadows with a heady dose of quiet solitude. We discovered much to our surprise a large portion of the Delta virtually untouched by man.
Next week, we will offer ideas of a regional nature, where a road trip of two to three hours will take you to some of the world’s ultimate travel gems. In the meantime, share your favorite travel destination, offering a short paragraph with “what, where, when and why” and a photo if you have one. Send to tviall@msn.com; we’ll share many of your suggestions in late December, into January.
For more information: American River, regionalparks.saccounty.net; Caswell Memorial State Park, parks.ca.gov; Gold Rush Highway 49, visitcalifornia.com/experience/highway-49/; Locke, nps/gov/places/locke-historic-district.htm; Marshall Gold Discovery State Park, parks.ca.gov; Old Sacramento, oldsacramento.com; San Joaquin/Sacramento Delta, visitcadelta.com; Sutters Creek, suttercreek.org.
Contact Tim, tviall@msn.com. Happy holidays!
