Auburn, California

Jill's Journal: It was a perfect morning, spent at a pancake breakfast with Rob’s high school friends from two decades ago, Bill and Jodie, at their amazing home in Fair Oaks. It was more of a compound, really, complete with pool, volleyball court, and more homeschoolers than we’ve ever seen in one place. Bill and Jodie are consummate hosts and the most delightful people around. The girls filled up on pancakes and then played their own version of “volleyball” while we got to pick homeschooling parents’ brains! We’re just starting our second year of this homeschooling business and many of the kids there have been homeschooled their whole lives. They were all polite, extroverted, and just the nicest kids you can imagine. It was so encouraging, not to mention truly a wonderful time. And Bill and Jodie were just the sort of people you’d like for neighbors and BFFs.

After the breakfast/brunch/almost lunch, we headed to the sweet little town of Auburn. Rob used to sell bread for a bakery each week at the Farmer’s Market in Auburn (and I even helped him one time!), but this is a cute town worth revisiting.

Established in 1849, Auburn is the oldest Gold Rush town in California and has beautifully preserved and restored its Old Town.

In 1848 Frenchman Claude Chana, shown in this massive sculpture, had visited the site of the Sutter/Marshall gold discovery and decided to try his own luck when camping in a ravine near what is now Old Town Auburn. He quickly found several “good-sized specimens.” By the next year, a major mining camp in this same area was established. Auburn was the farthest a wagon could travel from Sacramento into gold country; to go any farther, one had to use mules on the trails.

This four-story firehouse, home to the Auburn Volunteer Fire Department, was established in 1852 and is the oldest in the West.

This post office, established in 1853 and housed in this building since the 1870s (and still here!), is the oldest continuously-operated post office in the West.

Stepping into the lobby is like stepping back in time.

Even the P.O. boxes are ancient!

Fun little touches are everywhere in Old Town Auburn.

A walking tour of Old Town is well worthwhile.

Remember Sacagawea, the Indian woman who accompanied her husband, the French-Canadian interpreter, on Lewis and Clark’s expedition? Her son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, was born in 1805 in the midst of the legendary journey. She famously carried him on her back for the final 15 months of the expedition. Charbonneau had a fascinating life, including being raised by Clark as his own son in St. Louis from the age of four. He later spent six years traveling Europe, was fluent in at least four languages, and spent his later years as a gold prospector here in Auburn. By 1860, he worked at the Orleans Hotel on this spot.

A major draw for us in Auburn was the Placer County Courthouse. This 1894 courthouse is a landmark in the town and holds some special family history for us: it was here that Rob’s adoption became official in the early 1970s. I imagine how nervous his young parents must have been on that day, carrying their son over the threshold into this courthouse. We wanted the girls to see it, although they don’t quite grasp the meaning of it all yet.

While the upper floors are still a courthouse, the lower floor is now a museum. Here is housed Placer County’s gold collection, which shows 194 troy ounces of gold in its raw, unrefined state.

The original women’s jail cell is here…

…as is the original sheriff’s office, complete with old “wanted” posters.

And an actual noose, used to hang an actual bad guy!

Before we left Auburn, we stopped at Union Bank for my friend Jennifer, who worked here several years ago. Her great smile and cheery demeanor must have fit perfectly with this fun town. Unfortunately, the bank was closed on this Saturday afternoon, but she says there’s a noose in here too! This one was used to hang a bank robber. (I think the moral of the story is that crime doesn’t pay in Auburn!)

And another Auburn stop, this one for my friend Katie, who recommended the “Merlino’s fruit freezes” at Mr. Pickles. We had no idea what these were, but I’m so glad she clued us in. They’re fruit, ice, and sugar, otherwise known as absolute perfection on a hot day. I told Katie I’d like to have one of these on every single hot day for the rest of my life. :)