Bob's Yellow Bird

Page Eleven: Angel's Camp

January 31, 2004

7 hours 28 minutes

189 miles

When we awoke on Saturday morning it was a beautiful day, a rare commodity of late. I had been wanting to get out in the Thunderbird so we decided to take a ride up to Angel's Camp. I had ridden my motorcycle up there a couple of months ago and it was so nice I wanted to go again and take my wife along. We had not been there together for over 20 years. The first thing we did was have a burger at Rodz Grille. It was a nice place with a nostalgic '50s-'60s theme. I don't know what I was thinking but I forgot to take a picture of it. Then we went to the historic part of Angel's Camp and walked up and down the main street, which is Highway 49, "The Gold Route", browsing the antique shops and whatever else we fancied.


Angels Hotel and its Historical Landmark Marker. When you are traveling this part of the country you get the feeling that Mark Twain must have been everywhere. That's something I'd like to do but I'm afraid I would run out of time before places to go.


These shots were taken from the south end of the historic downtown section of Angel's Camp. We are looking north along Highway 49 which is a main thoroughfare through The Gold Country and thus, unfortunately, a little too busy and noisy. I tried to time my pictures to avoid getting passing cars in them, but they were certainly in abundance. And it isn't even tourist season.

Intersection of Highway 4 and Highway 49

This is the intersection of Route 4 and Route 49. It is at the south end of town right near where the above pictures were taken from. If you go left Route 4 takes you up to the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada Mountains where you will surely need to carry chains this time of year. To the right Route 49 takes you to Sonora and points south. This picture has no real significance, I just thought it was a pretty scene.

The window of the Thrift Store had this nice Valentine's Day display. It's very well done. Maybe the creator should be working for Macy's. The Thrift Store was quite large. My wife bought a brand new broiler pan for only $2.00, so she felt like she got quite a bargain. I told her that thrift stores are antique shops with lower prices.

The Utica Hotel must have been quite the place in its day. It's all closed down now except for a couple of businesses on the ground floor. Looking in through the front doors at the lobby is like looking back in time. It looks just like it must have been when it was still operating. You might expect a movie star or some other famous person to come down the stairs on their way out to dinner. I wonder if Mark Twain lived here, too.

Angel's Camp is known for the Jumping Frog Jubilee held every year at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds. It was inspired by Mark Twain's story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County". It's quite an attraction and people come from far and wide to enter their frogs in the contest. They have these plaques in the sidewalk up and down the main street. It's like Hollywood's Walk Of Fame where they have stars in the sidewalk, only here they have frogs. It's fun to read the distances and where the entrants came from. We found this one to be interesting in that the distance of 0' 0" was a world record for 1865. Also it was a local entrant. Maybe it was the first contest they held and the frog just didn't feel like jumping.
To the right is The Gold Frog Cafe. As you may have guessed, big jumping frogs are in evidence everywhere.


	Browsing antique stores is a lot like browsing book stores. You can lose track of time and spend hours just taking in all the interesting things to see. This shop had some beautiful old cash registers that most people today wouldn't know how to operate. The building has a beautiful ornate ceiling the likes of which you just don't see very often anymore.

I don't know how old The Angels Theatre is but I doubt if Mark Twain saw a movie there. I was surprised to see that it has three screens. It may be the only theatre in the immediate area and doing a lot of business.


My wife and I found some new friends in Angel's Camp. We're still trying to decide who moves faster, me or Prospector Pete. My wife is voting for Pete.

A year ago I would not have taken this picture but since I got my motorcycle and got into riding I pay more attention to these things. This is a really old Harley Davidson that apparently runs well enough to ride into town. If you could see it up close you may find that hard to believe. From the looks of the flame job on the gas tank it looks as though someone is in the process of restoring it, although I think I would have let that go until later. There is still a lot of work to be done, but it may look like a million bucks someday.


We have walked up and down both sides of the street, browsed several shops, and had a very nice afternoon. So it's time for one last picture of Angel's Camp, this one taken from the north end of town, then we head across the street to the visitor center parking lot where the T-Bird waits to take us home. I hate to leave but we have about a 2 hour drive home and it's not getting any earlier.