columbia state park

On Saturday, we went to a place near the cabin called Columbia State Park.

It's an old mining town that has been turned into a fun pioneer town, with panning for gold, stagecoach rides, candy shops, and little museums.

The place was packed--weekend after Thanksgiving--but it was fun to see it all decorated for Christmas.

They had an pioneer-style bowling alley with wooden pins you set up yourself.  Nicholas loves bowling, so he was pretty excited about it.

We ate lunch at the hotel restaurant there.  They were "out of" every single thing we tried to order off the menu....so we all got hamburgers, and the kids had noodles.
Ellie cried all through dinner.  
She wanted pink ice cream.  

Nicholas, Kent, and I learned how to pan for gold. 
We all had fun, but Nicholas loved it. He was so cute, listening closely to the instructions and answering the questions.  His tube ended up with more rocks than gold and gems, but he was proud of it.