We were exploring Grass Valley and decided to try North Star Mining Museum. It was too bad that it…read morelooked so small on the outside because we did not allow enough time to really enjoy all the exhibits. We started in the parking lot learning about the larger mining machines. It was a warm day and, at our advanced age, it took time for us to work our way down the driveway to the museum entrance. The docents were very knowledgeable and brought the exhibits to life. We were able to get about half way through the museum before we needed to get to our next appointment. Go see the North Star Mining Museum.

This place is awesome! Please make sure you've got at least an hour or 3. There's old tools on the…read moreoutside on display, a gorgeous river running along side to admire, inside the building there two rooms. The first room with displays and smaller parts they'd use to mine and the second room is where the big tools are! Steve and his volunteer were so kind turning on the big machines, showing how each tool worked and how they would mine the mountains. So much history, so many fascinating tools, interesting old time accessories, and so much information! If you're wondering how they started mining a mountain side to how they made the gold and what powered it all go check out North Star mining museum! This place makes you never want to leave, there's so much information here please take an hour to look around at least. You will have a great time whether you're 5 or 85, male/female or space creature the history of mining will fascinate your socks off. Check them out.

Brought my daughter here and we both loved it. The staff were super friendly and really into what…read morethey do -- u can tell they care about keeping history alive. The train ride was calm, scenic, and honestly just fun to experience together. The museum itself has some amazing old cars and engines, all restored beautifully. It's got that perfect nostalgic vibe but still feels fresh and hands-on for kids. Such a great spot to spend an afternoon -- highly recommend it for families or anyone who just loves classic trains.

We had such an amazing time here! While we didn't come on the weekend, so the shop was closed, that…read moredidn't ruin our time in the slightest. The worker Brian, showed us around the museum and was truly excellent. He was so helpful and kind and obviously very knowledgeable about the railroad. He engaged the kids by asking lots of questions and kept us all entertained. This museum teaches you a lot and isn't boring like a lot of others are. I'd definently recommend!

Kid's spring break in So Cal. We did a road trip. The weather wasn't the best, so we tried finding…read moreindoor things to do for the kid. Kid likes all things science and Legos so we took him here. Great experience. They have this climbing thing that's explaining the water cycle. It was really cool! The price wasn't bad, it's cheaper if you're members. There were employees everywhere happy to ask questions if you had any. It's a neat place. Lots of rooms to explore. Very interactive. We enjoyed ourselves.

KidZone is located in a medium/large sized yurt with an outdoor area for sand play. Place is…read moresuitable for kids up to 4 but not much more than that. Also, it is a little pricey for what it is. 3.5 stars (would be 4+ for smaller kids).

I dropped in this afternoon to visit our museum in Sutter County. First off, I must commend the…read morestaff and their volunteers on all their efforts and dedication. The museum is absolutely stunning. We are so fortunate to have people in our community that are supportive of our towns diversity by proudly displaying our heritage that for centuries have held a place in Sutter County and beyond. I want to thank Daisy for walking me through, also being so inviting and welcoming me with a smile. Her knowledge and enthusiasm enhanced the experience which I appreciate. There were so many highlights today; I enjoyed the unique items from many talented crafters in the gift shop. I took some photos but I strongly encourage you to experience this yourself or with family and friends. The featured award winning talented Artist, Sarabjit Singh. Her displays are vibrant, she literally engages with her audience by telling a story of the history of Sikh's, their customs and contributions throughout history. It was very profound experience. You must come and experience it yourself. Everyone is welcomed and it's free to visit. I also encourage you to checkout their scheduled events coming up. They can be found on their yelp. @Suttercountymuseum.org

A hidden treasure in Yuba City! When you first walked in, there is a nice little gift shop with…read moreadorable hand puppets for pretty decent prices. Admission is donation only. They regularly change the main exhibit and the rest is filled with interesting things about Sutter County in our area that I didn't know before and my kids and I really enjoyed it. It was very educational and we intend to go back again.

Adj: Impressive, Informational, Innovative, and Incredibly Interesting!…read more Another visit to the RUEC, which is the Roseville Utility Exploration Center. It is located next to Martha Riley Library, one of 3 City of Roseville libraries and the newest one. The RUEC is pretty cool and admission is free. We like to come by every once in awhile because they have changing exhibits, but their permanent displays are informative and interesting too. As an environmentally minded person, I try to conserve, but how do you know what to do and what is worth your effort and what doesn't make much of a difference? The RUEC has quite a few exhibits on how to conserve energy, water, and how to minimize our impact on the planet including garbage disposal (that often end up in landfill more than anywhere else), recycling, being conscientious in our resource usage by setting our thermostats properly, cycling our ACs, replace or clean air filters regularly, install a programmable thermostat, and properly insulating and weatherizing your house down to HVAC ducts! There's even information on where our stormwater and runoffs go (which affect our fish and other wildlife), how much energy different specific kitchen appliances use, not putting grease/oil down the drain, vacuum the coils on our fridge 2x's a year to keep our fridges efficient, thinking about the temp and weather when considering what to cook (don't run your oven on hot days), installing energy efficient fixtures/bulbs, and only doing laundry and dishes with full loads so as to maximize efficient when washers and dishwashers. These are things many people don't know or haven't thought about. Overall, the RUEC does a great job at educating the community and especially kids on environmental and resource conservation and also provides info about how we can practically make a difference just by being more aware of how we use energy and other natural resources.

Located next to the Martha Riley Library, the Roseville Utility Exploration Center is a community…read moreeducation center that's free to visit anytime it's open. I think that's pretty cool. We took our kids here since we like fun educational activities and free is always the right price. We went on a Saturday and it was not too busy. The staff is friendly who greeted us, then we just wandered around a bit. They have interactive utility exhibits about how the City of Roseville provides utility services to their residents. They have their own power plants and substations, etc. to generate their own energy, so their residents pay less than even SMUD customers, I was kind of jealous about that. At least I'm not paying PG&E electricity, but maybe I should've looked into living in Roseville. Anyhow, they also have their own sewage and water facilities of course, and their services are focused on saving water and sustainability and being resource conscious and eco-friendly, which all make sense. My kids enjoyed the interactive activities about using less electricity and water, but what they really liked was the Utility Truck Experience where they got to go on a Recycling truck and pretend play. It was pretty cool. There are also tons of education displays on shopping smart to get things that last and not disposable items that end up in the landfill. In addition to permanent exhibits, they also offer kids educational classes. My kids took a few over the years, one of them was on urban planning and it was quite interesting for them to learn how to design and layout infrastructure for a pretend city that makes sense for where to put the power plant, the landfill, the sewage system, etc. relative to locations of homes, roads, nature places like rivers and lakes, and public places like parks, schools, and fire stations, etc. All in all, RUEC (as they call it) is a really nice little museum that kids and adults alike where we can learn a lot about utilities and resource conservation, it's great that it's open 6 days a week and it's free and everyone's welcome, not just Roseville residents, and they even offer free educational classes (w/advance RSVP) for kids. Worth checking out if you've not been.

Located inside The Placer County Courthouse building, this museum houses some of the historic…read moreartifacts from the early Nisenan inhabitants. It also includes the Pate Collection of American Indian artifacts and the original Thomas Kinkade painting "Auburn Centennial". The Placer County Gold Collection is also on exhibit here. Free admission and located on the first floor. Second floor is an active superior courthouse. We had a great time exploring this museum.

Gone day tripping to check this out. Found myself confused as we went thru metal detector and…read moresecurity entrance. It was a small room museum and a part of the lobby you can look into inside a courthouse. It is rich in local history. There were artifacts on judges clothings, native Americans history, jail cell and reward system. Medicine and Nursing related technology evolution. There were lots of information to read on along each possible spot. Good museum if you are killing time, not much enjoyable for small kids other than the pretend jail prisoner props you can use for picture taking and the phone code transmission you can try. Free museum.

We visited the Aerospace Museum and had such a great time! It's honestly a hidden gem. The museum…read morehas so many interesting airplanes to see up close, and it's really cool being able to walk around them and learn about the history behind them. One of my favorite parts was how interactive it was for kids. They have a scavenger hunt that keeps them engaged while exploring the museum, which makes it fun for the whole family. My kids loved searching for the clues while checking out all the different aircraft. There are planes both outside and inside the museum, and the exhibits are well laid out so you can take your time walking through everything. It's a great place if you enjoy aviation or just want something different and educational to do with the family. Definitely worth the visit. If you're in the area, I highly recommend checking it out!

The best part of this museum are the aircraft parked outside. There are no WW1 aircraft on…read moredisplay, the collection begins with WW2 airplanes. There are a couple of Russian MIGs, but the rest of the collection are American aircraft. There were a few aircraft I have not see in any other air museum on the west coast, like the F-100D and the F-86L. I also went to see the Snoopy and the Red Baron Exhibit. There were a lot of comic strips to view. I really like how they were blown up and not newspaper sized, because they were easier to read that way. I wish the screens would show all of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and What Have We Learned Charlie Brown instead of just the Red Baron excepts. It eventually got repetitive as I was reading the strips. I like how they have a cafe inside the museum. There was no food available within walking distance that I could see. I had the tuna melt. It was fresh and very good.

The ride itself was really fun, and the conductors were super knowledgeable about the local history…read moreof the railroad. They were easy to talk to, and really friendly. The price wasn't too bad, and they have many pricing options for both regular visitors (both adults and children) and members. My family chose the Coach option, and that wasn't too expensive for 4 people (all adults). Overall, we had a great experience.

This school year, my kids have been reading about the building of the railroad in the Sierra Nevada…read moremountains in this book called "Dragon's Gate" by Laurence Yep, which is a book that tells the story of Otter, a young boy in 1860s China who travels to America to work on the transcontinental railroad. Incidentally, Dragon's Gate won the 1994 Newbery Honor and the 1994 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. The wife and I read it along with them, and it was really eye-opening and historically educational, and it reminded me of our several visits to the California State Railroad Museum in the past and what a gem the RR museum is and how lucky we are to have it here in Sacramento. We've visited a few times before, most recently I think we came on a Free Museum Weekend. The RR museum has a lot to offer, there are many full sized locomotives, railroad trains, and cabooses. We saw the Union Pacific Railroad, the Southern Pacific, the Santa Fe, the Sacramento Northern, and then we walked through Dining Car No. 1474 with all the artifacts inside of what it would look like back in the day, with all the fancy china dishes and cups, plus fine silverware and all the upscale furniture since traveling by train was expensive in the old days (still kind of pricey nowadays). There was also a very cool and honorable display/exhibit about the history of the railroad in California and the contribution of Chinese-American railroad workers, many of whom gave their lives to build the transcontinental railroad. There was some Gold Rush history exhibits/displays also. So that's just the first floor. Upstairs there are more exhibits, but of model trains of all kinds and even several play areas for little kids to have all kinds of railroad related hands-on fun. All in all, this is still a cool museum and definitely a must-visit if you've not stopped by and it's still fun to come visit even if you've been here before as you'll surely discover something you missed last time, or learn something new that they've added.

A small museum focussed on gold mining in the Northern Sierra, open weekends in summer from 12-4…read more Part of the Placer County museum system. Dutch Flat would still be recognizable to its 19th century residents. Worth visiting if you have any interest in mining or California history.

this cute little museum is obviously the work of a dedicated historian. there are hundreds of…read morehistoric photographs and a story about each one of them. the little white gingerbread house-turned-museum is chock full of fun things to ponder and the all-volunteer staff is a delight. I think they close in winter though and have limited hours the rest of the year. definately worth the visit to Dutch Flat. Eat at the hotel if you go.