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2 0 1 5 T R A V E L G U I D E T O C A L I F O R N I A 165 MUST DO SEE, » » All Aboard Rail buffs will want to lay tracks for the California State Railroad Museum, one of the best of its kind in the nation. It's located in Old Sacramento, which preserves a district of the state capital pretty much as it looked in Gold Rush days. › csrmf.org » Going Underground Rappel into the dark- ness and explore a chamber large enough to hold the Statue of Liberty in Moaning Cavern. › caverntours.com/MoCavRt.htm » Historic Hotel In the picturesque old mining town of Murphys, the Murphys Historic Hotel has hosted everyone from Mark Twain and Ulysses S. Grant to Black Bart. Look for their sig- natures in the guest book on display in the lobby. › murphyshotel.com » Apples and More Apples Allow the aroma of freshly baked apple pies, fritters, turnovers and strudel to lure you off Highway 50 east of Placerville to a place called Apple Hill. More than 50 growers participate in a celebration of the apple harvest—and of autumn itself—with cider, hay rides, pumpkin patches, hay mazes and other family fun. It runs from Labor Day to Christmas. › applehill.com » Eureka! Start your own personal Gold Rush as you pan for nuggets at Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. › parks.ca.gov/?page_id=484 DRIVE TOUR » NAVIGATING A TOUR through the Gold Country couldn't be easier: HIGHWAY 49 —named for the original 49ers—traverses the entire region. It stretches nearly 300 miles through the Sierra foothills, from DOWNIEVILLE in the north to OAKHURST in the south, linking all the Gold Country's major towns and sights. Allow at least two days for the journey. Start with a mountain- biking excursion in DOWNIEVILLE , poke around the galleries and antique shops of NEVADA CITY and drop by the site where Marshall and Sutter found those first sparkling nuggets in COLOMA . SUTTER CREEK , with a bounty of inviting B&Bs and restaurants serving the local wine, is a good place to spend the night. On your second day, explore ANGELS CAMP —perhaps pausing to wager on a frog if it's jumping season (the third week in May)—try your hand at panning for gold at COLUMBIA STATE HISTORIC PARK and take a ride on the historic steam train in JAMESTOWN'S RAILTOWN 1897 STATE HISTORIC PARK . WINTER WAGON RIDE, above; SuXer Creek, below right; Sacramento State Capitol, opposite.