A Golden Birthday Field Trip!

Sophia's school is studying the Cherokee Indians

and how they were impacted by the Gold Rush.

So, a field trip was scheduled (on her big day) to
a Gold Rush museum and a gold mine.

Birthday field trip?

Yes, please!

So, off we headed on a brisk fall day to
a beautiful, historic town in the mountains. 

 
We took in some history and some treats too. 

Oh, my. 

We didn't take the blessing of a day in the mountains together lightly. 

After the museum,

field trip stop #2 was a gold mine.   

Lucky for us,

our panning was fruitful. 

We found gold I tell ya!
As much as 3-5 microscopic flecks
in two test tubes for each eager panner.
But, hey, it was shiny and thrilling!

After striking it rich,

we learned about what came next in the history of gold.  

It was time to descend deep into bat territory!

And when our brains overdosed on gold rush facts,
the official field trip ended. 

Birthdays don't end at 3 though, so the adventure kept rolling. 
Following a darn good tip,

we headed out to hike to a local waterfall

on the private property of a camp. 

To our surprise, it was A to the AWESOME! 

It required trespassing shimmying ourselves over a mini-cliff,

so shimmy we did. 

How many littles can say that they walked out onto a waterfall

on the day they turned 5? 

All that shimmying forced us to seek out some eats. 

Scarfing down delicious Cajun eats on a porch overlooking the town
was a day topper. 
(Playing with the new Merida doll while we waited was a big plus too! Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!)

Our bellies were full, but with it being the birthday and all,
ice cream was pretty much a given. 

Day one of being five was way fun!