Gold Country and High Sierra - Where You Can Have a Romantic Moonlit Night on the Town Every Night      

From cushy mountain cabins to family-sized vacation homes to enjoy your stay, there's an unforgettable California vacation waiting for you in the Gold Country or High Sierra region. This rural area will awaken your need to explore it's unique architectural prowess, discover it's cultural charisma and ride the white waters that flow down it's streams. The area boasts numerous art galleries, local museums and untainted, lush greens where you can tee off on a golf adventure. The region is also full of historic sites you can explore and state parks that will allow you to explore the abundance of the land's natural beauty.      

Calaveras Big Trees State Park is one of the many great sites that highlight the area's unique wilderness. The history of the park dates back to 1852, when Augustus T. Dowd made a find of what seemed to be giant pre-historic trees and in fact, they are the biggest trees on Earth. This breed of Giant Sequoias grows to well over 300 feet high, some of the most gargantuan have base diameters of 30 feet wide. After a nice hike through one of the two groves in the park you can sit back and have a picnic or fish on the Stanislaus River that cuts through the middle of the park.       

For wine lovers there is a town called Murphys. This gold rush town of the late 1800's has become a gathering place for fine wine enthusiasts because of over the more than 24 different wine tasting venues for every taste in wine. You are bound to be tipsy as you go on a pursuit to find your favorite vine. This small town doesn't require you to drive from venue to venue; the various spots are all within walking distance. Your romantic moonlit night on the town can happen night after night as you spend time in this relaxing town, where wine takes center stage.       

Make a note to stop at Empire Mine State Historic Park. It's the oldest, largest, deepest, and richest gold mine in all of California, and its history has built up over the 100 hundred years it has been in existence. Before the mine ceased operations in 1956, workers removed 5.6 million ounces of gold from the mountains veins. There is actually a scaled down model of the mines inner workings that takes up one whole room based in the hub of the underground trails; this helped miners to navigate their way through the network of 367 tunnels. All the 367 tunnels add up to a total of five square miles of an underground network. Staff and visitors only travel one inch of the model - anything past two inches is submerged in the actual mine now. The park is open all year long.      

From the Gold Country to the High Sierra there are over 16 state parks and astonishing historic towns to visit during your trip. Traveling in between the areas and seeing all the sites like Auburn State Recreation Area, where modern day gold miners still work the American River's two forks. The region will inevitably tempt your inner curiosity to blaze its sublime woods and trek its many impressive valleys. If you get tired of all that hiking, you can also embrace the beach life nearby on the southern end of Lake Tahoe. Indulge your senses in the Gold Country and High Sierra region.