Place to see: Columbia State Park, Columbia, California, United States

About this place:

Columbia State Historic Park is a very well preserved brick gold rush town in California's Sierra foothills. There are many great buildings to see in various states of repair, most in excellent shape. Throughout the day there is a stage coach ride that takes you around the town, and there are a number of folksy but fun diversions like candle making and gold panning to keep the kids busy. The town has several bed and breakfasts as well as a good number of saloons and a few period looking hotels as well. There are no cars allowed in most of the town so you get a better sense of what the town was like in it's heyday.

Columbia is just about 2 hours from the Bay Area, so it makes a great day trip to just hop in the car and see a great piece of california history.