It was a pity the Mining Museum in Mariposa was closed. Mariposa is one of the goldmining cities, all strung together by the aptly named Route 49 ('the Goldchain Route'!) and we would have loved to see and learn more about this part of the Californian history.
You know the song Oh my darling Clementine? With the text 'dwelt a miner, fourtyniner, and his daughter Clementine'. That one. The miners were called fourtyniners, 1849 being the first year of the Californian goldrush.
A year before someone had found nuggets of gold in his newly bought meadow. In no time they found a Mother Lode full of gold that ran from Oakhurst, just south of Mariposa to the north; all the goldfields lay west along the Sierra Nevada.
Anyway, we had to start thinking what to after the closed mining museum.
We decided to go to the nearest town and that happened to be Merced. Merced was so nice that we stayed for the day, lunching outside and in the sun, strolling through Main Street, holidaying.
In the afternoon it was still near 30C and we were getting tired - and by now we know the perfect solution: a motel with a pool!
For us Merced is iconic for the small American town. We were happy to drive and walk around there, after visiting the must-sees in the past weeks this was a touch of normal, American daily life and, like in Paso Robles, we were enjoying it very much.
Merced is, like the rest of the area just under San Francisco, bilingual in its communication: the town feels very Spanish, up to the point that we were surprised we could still speak English (and be understood!). The warm temps. may have helped too!
Anyway, it was nice to just be happy on one of the last days of our holiday - tomorrow we have to move to the SF area, find a hotel near the airport and prepare for leaving. We have no idea yet what we're going to do exactly. That is of course utmost luxury as well!
You know the song Oh my darling Clementine? With the text 'dwelt a miner, fourtyniner, and his daughter Clementine'. That one. The miners were called fourtyniners, 1849 being the first year of the Californian goldrush.
A year before someone had found nuggets of gold in his newly bought meadow. In no time they found a Mother Lode full of gold that ran from Oakhurst, just south of Mariposa to the north; all the goldfields lay west along the Sierra Nevada.
Anyway, we had to start thinking what to after the closed mining museum.
We decided to go to the nearest town and that happened to be Merced. Merced was so nice that we stayed for the day, lunching outside and in the sun, strolling through Main Street, holidaying.
In the afternoon it was still near 30C and we were getting tired - and by now we know the perfect solution: a motel with a pool!
For us Merced is iconic for the small American town. We were happy to drive and walk around there, after visiting the must-sees in the past weeks this was a touch of normal, American daily life and, like in Paso Robles, we were enjoying it very much.
Merced is, like the rest of the area just under San Francisco, bilingual in its communication: the town feels very Spanish, up to the point that we were surprised we could still speak English (and be understood!). The warm temps. may have helped too!
Anyway, it was nice to just be happy on one of the last days of our holiday - tomorrow we have to move to the SF area, find a hotel near the airport and prepare for leaving. We have no idea yet what we're going to do exactly. That is of course utmost luxury as well!
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