Columbia or Bust!

Columbia or Bust! (September 7-8, 2002)
by Genny Paauwe
photos by Bob Paauwe

When I told my coworkers I was going to Columbia for the weekend with the Miata Club, I got funny looks.

"Hey! That's quite a drive!" one said.

I guess quite a few native Californians have never been to Columbia. Luckily, the drive is much shorter than people think and a passport is not required. Columbia is a town built in the 1850s gold rush era, just a few miles north of Sonora along Hwy. 49.

The entire town is a state park, so the old false-front buildings, rock and brickwork, along with a good dose of charm, have been preserved. Even the folks who run businesses inside the town are required to wear period clothing and sell the types of goods that were available in the 1850s.

What started us on the road to Columbia was an invitation from the San Joaquin Valley Miata Club to join them for a two-day fest of spelunking, wine tasting, shopping and top-down motoring. Tom (broken arm and all) and Denise Klisz lead the Sacramento group south to Sutter Creek, then on to Ironstone Winery in Murphys before meeting up with the north-bound group at Mercer Caverns.

The tour of the caverns was like entering the cool underworld of the old west. The caves were discovered in 1885 and have been welcoming tourists into its 55 degree rooms ever since. Visitors get around inside the cave via rail-like wooden stairs. Don't lose your footing!

The formations inside the cave range from spires to translucent angel wings. The cave is most famous for its extensive Aragonite formations, a delicate frost-like crystal that is very rare.

Our group enjoyed the tour, although it took some gymnastic skills to negotiate a few of the walkways and stairwells. But that was all part of the fun!

Our next stop took us to Stevenot Winery in the valley just below the caves. We had a picnic lunch (I think the bees ate more of our lunch than we did!) and many sampled the wine.

From the winery, we drove as a group to our night stop, Columbia. The group stayed in old hotels at either end of town, the Fallon Hotel and the City Hotel. Later in the evening, we took a ghost walk and were told that our room at the Fallon was haunted by a furniture mover ghost. Luckily we saw no signs of this ghost during our stay, as our furniture remained immobile!

We finished the day with a late dinner at the City Hotel dining room. We then headed back to our room, which looked like something straight out of a 1800s boarding house it was so small, with the exception of the fresh lime green paint.

Sunday most of the group continued on to Moaning Caverns where visitors can rappel into the cave. We, however, continued home, stopping to do some geocaching (GPS tresurehunt) along the way and have lunch.

We found the pace of the activities and driving to be very relaxed with this group and enjoyed the company of such nice people. We hope they'll do it again next year!