Carmel Mission: San Carlos Borromeo De Carmelo – Outside the Bay

In our continued exploration of California History for 4^th grade, we recently visited Mission San Carlos Borromeo De Carmelo, also known as Mission Carmel near Monterrey.

The mission is currently undergoing restoration, so some parts were unavailable for us to view. Still, our 4^th grader really liked looking at one of the places she has been reading so much about. I was disappointed by how many beautiful and interesting looking artifacts were completely unlabeled or marked in any way to explain what we were seeing. It's possible that this might also be partially due to the restoration going on, if things have been moved around, but I'm just speculating.

One area that had good signage and better descriptions was a series of reproductions of small rooms that various people would have lived in during the early days of the mission.

We happened to visit on a day when they were not charging admission. While we all enjoyed ourselves, and are happy we went, I think I would have not been happy spending the usual admission price for the short time we spent looking around. Still, we made a purchase from the gift shop to support the restoration efforts, and if you find yourself in the area, and are interested in California history, it is easy to get to, and pretty to view.

Our kiddo is working on building her own model mission. She chose to build Mission San Rafael Archangel and we hope to take her to visit that mission as well. If you would like to find a historical California Mission closer to you to visit, you can find a list of California Missions here.

Sutter's Fort – Outside the Bay

Sutter's Fort – Outside the Bay

Another great spot to visit for kids interested in California history is Sutter's Fort in Sacramento. Many of the rooms of the fort have been restored to demonstrate their original purpose. The fort isn't large, and we took our time exploring and reading signs, even revisiting spots that the kids wanted to go back and see again, and still finished in les than two hours.

Our kids liked being in charge of the map and looking up the purpose of various areas of the fort. There is also a lot of open space in the center of the fort for little legs that need to let out some energy in running around before they can pay attention to the history again.

Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children, and kids under 5 are free. The State Indian Museum is on the same grounds as Sutter's Fort, just outside the fort gates, and I believe a discount pass can be purchased if you plan to visit both places. We did not go into the State Indian Museum, but would like to go back to do so.

In addition to Sutter's Fort, our kids wanted to spend some time at the walkway and pod next to the fort. The pond is home to ducks (there were baby ducklings when we visited) and turtles and squirrels, and the kids did not seem to tire of watching the animals.

Sutter’s Mill in Coloma – Outside the Bay

Sutter’s Mill in Coloma – Outside the Bay

We have a 4^th grader in our family this year, and in our adventures to explore the traditional 4^th grade topic of California History we have wandered to areas that extend beyond the Bay Area. Still I wanted to share the places we visited for anyone who may want to make similar trips.

A big part of California history is the Gold Rush. We visited the site of Sutter’s Mill, in Marshall Gold Discovery Park, where gold was first discovered in California. Many of the buildings are reproductions, but I think the kids got more out of that than they would have by looking at ruins or something they couldn’t tell what it once was.

They have a small museum that didn’t take us more than 20 to 30 minutes to walk through, and that was at a dawdling pace, but the kids enjoyed much more than I expected them to. We went into the museum right after we finished panning for gold at the shack just across the road from the museum. The gold panning was more difficult than the kids had expected, although the instructor was very helpful and patient in helping everyone perfect their technique. Perhaps their own gold panning experience helped them appreciate the replicas of some of the gold nuggets retrieved from the river in the early days of the gold rush.

Beyond the museum and reconstructed mill and surrounding buildings, Marshall Gold Discovery Park also has hiking trails. We happened to visit on an unusually hot day, so we didn’t wander far from the historical displays, but it is an option during your trip. There were also many picnic tables available for a nice picnic lunch.

The Marshall Gold Discovery Park website mentions there being folks dressed up in period outfits there as well. We didn’t see anything like that on our visit, so perhaps they aren’t there every day. The volunteers and rangers we met were all a wealth of information and friendly, but were all dressed in uniforms or regular modern clothes.

4th of July Events in Vallejo

Vallejo has some of the best Fourth of July Day Events in the North Bay. Beyond the usual fireworks displays, we have a huge parade, the rubber ducky derby, and a festival on the waterfront.

There is a lot for kids and families to enjoy together. The Ducky Derby is especially a huge local favorite.

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