Ellen Byron

The Perks of “Research”

Ah, the upside of writing series set in beautiful location. I thought that today, I’d share a little backstory on what inspired my Golden Motel Mysteries and how it led to two glorious vacations, I mean research trips, to Cali’s Gold Rush Country.

If you drive 4-5 hours west from this spectacular view, you’re at the Pacific Ocean. I love this state!

In the late 1940s, my great-aunt Molly and great-uncle Howard moved from Brooklyn, New York to Modesto, California when Howard got a job managing a tomato packing plant, On my first trip to California in 1975, Molly took me to Columbia State Historic Park in the southern end of Gold Rush Country. The park is a historic miner’s village comprised of at least thirty extant buildings dating back to the town’s founding in the 1850s. It’s both picturesque and entertaining, offering a combination of history, shops, and eateries served up by docents and employees dressed in period garb. You can even ride a stagecoach and pan for gold.

The visit made a deep impression on me – so much so that it inspired my Golden Motel Mystery series, contemporary humorous mysteries set in California’s Gold Rush Country.

Since I hadn’t been to Columbia and its environs in decades, I felt a refresher trip was in order. I mapped out a route that would allow my husband and me to explore the mining villages at the south end of the Golden Chain Highway, aka Route 49, which runs through the heart of Gold Rush Country. The sights we saw were so spectacular that one trip turned into two and hopefully a third is in our future.

We began both visits at the southernmost tip of Highway 49 in Oakhurst, California, which is also sixteen miles from the southern entry to Yosemite National Park, the inspiration for Majestic National Park in my series. (I cheat geography more than a little bit in the Golden Motel Mysteries. Columbia and Yosemite are separated by a drive of a couple of hours and several thousand feet in elevation in reality, while in the series one is but a few miles down the road from the other.) Before leaving town for Gold Rush Country, we enjoyed a trip on the Sugar Pine Narrow Gauge Railroad in Fish Camp, on the road to Yosemite. A conversation with Randy, the prospector manning their panning sluice, helped me come up with the plot for SOLID GOLD MURDER. A subsequent ride in October on their Halloween Limited tour inspired a storyline for the series’ third book ALL ABOARD FOR MURDER, which will be out in 2026.

Here’s a view from our train ride…

On our first “research trip,” we witnessed heart stopping views as we followed the Golden Chain’s two-lane road full of hairpin turns high above the Merced River. (See the first picture I shared. They don’t call it Devil’s Hollow for nothing!)

On our second trip, we circumvented Route 49 and stuck to a flatter path. Both routes took us past fascinating former Gold Rush villages like Angels Camp and Hornitos, home to the ruins of the original Ghirardelli chocolate shop.

On each trip, we spent a few nights in the historic town of Sonora, where we enjoyed fantastic Mexican food. Columbia Historic State Park proved to be as wonderful as I remembered it. I even did a late-night paranormal tour on the second trip when we visited the week before Halloween. It took place at night and we were allowed into buildings that are generally closed to the public. Here we’re watching a device utilized by one of our tour guides to gauge paranormal activity in the old Fallon Hotel, which is no longer open to guests. According to the lights, however, a ghostly guest was currently in residence.

During our dual visits, we visited the California Mineral and Mining Museum, Railtown 1897 Historic State Park, and the spectacular Giant Sequoias that call Calaveras Big Trees State Park home, which I know I shared about before but those trees have taken up permanent residence in my brain bank of images.

We spent a night at Dunbar House, an absolutely lovely bed and breakfast in the picturesque village of Murphys. On route 4 just outside of town,  we discovered the best apple strudel I think I’ve ever had at The Red Apple Country Store and Bakery.

Immersing myself in the stunning beauty and fascinating history of California’s Gold Rush Country has been a perk of writing the Golden Motel Mysteries. But I’m not the only person who thinks Gold Rush Country makes for a fantastic road trip. Look at what popped up in my inbox just the other day: Gold Country | Visit California

Readers, to what part of the world would you love to take a “research trip?” Or have you taken a memorable one already?

54 thoughts on “The Perks of “Research””

  3. “the original Ghirardelli chocolate shop”!!! I love that area and have visited more than once, but missed that. Lucky you, “doing research” in that part of the world! Good luck with the series!!

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  4. As they say, nice work if you can get it! I’m lucky enough to live in both places that I write about–places that others take vacations to. And I’m so glad you’ve finally adopted California as your new home, girl! (But don’t call it “Cali”….)

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      2. It’s usually me saying Cali, El and Leslie! (But I have to say, I’m not the only East Coaster who makes that mistake. None of us has any idea it’s not a thing. (We keep trying to make “Cali” happen, lol.)

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  5. I never made it out there when I lived in the Bay Area. It seems like a fascinating place. Thanks for letting us live vicariously through your travels — and research!

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  6. Those are stunning pictures, Ellen! My greatest research trip was for my very first novel, back in my romance writing days. The story involved the two main characters taking a train trip across the country together due to “circumstances.” My wife and I duplicated the trip, taking the train from Chicago to St. Louis then Kansas City and on to Vegas. While my characters’ trip went all the way to the Malibu Pier, Nancy and I had to return home after a few days in Sin City (by plane). It was an amazing trip and I am SO glad we took it.

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    1. J.C., you wrote romance? I had no idea. And that trip sounds fabulous. Jer and I are big train buffs. We once took an overnight from Portland to Denver. What a spectacular trip. I once took the trip from Oakland to L.A. you see so much you don’t see from the road.

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      1. Yeah, trains are such an underrated way to travel. And yes, I had 7 sweet, contemporary romances published when I made the move to mystery. I have the rights to them all and want to republish them someday.

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      2. I’m a train fan, too, El! My grandfather worked for the Erie Lackawanna, so I have a lot of old train stuff. I’ve taken Amtrak overnight from NY to FL and NY to Canada and I always take one from Boston to Washington for Malice. Each train has its own…quirks. Hopefully the FL one has running water now (that was fun). I’ve only taken a West Coast train once. From somewhere near the San Juan Islands to Seattle. I’d love to go cross country.

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  9. Okay, I’m not saying “research trips”, because of who I work for… but I have taken real vacations where I did some research.

    Vegas is a great vacation spot for research. I get info off the beaten path. And yes, I am renaming casinos, and I have a book about what was there back in the day. I need another trip to find out about the pawnshop industry, since N Carolina places refused to cooperate.

    I have visited Philly, but want to write about it in the 40s. Fortunately, the museum up there had a couple of map and tourist books from back then, so I have what I need to make stuff up!

    I never know when a vacation is gonna give me an idea! Like moving Boonsboro MD to southern Connecticut

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  10. Great pics, Ellen. The Hubby and I did a little 2-hour train trip out in Boyerstown, PA (closer to Philly) over the weekend. I could see writing a story based on that because we definitely went through some “great places to hide a body” locations.

    I wouldn’t mind taking a trip to the Grand Canyon or the Pacific Northwest. I can call it “research” now and write the story later, right?

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  11. That is fascinating about Ghirardelli. I wonder if they mention it at the flagship one in San Francisco? I love all the info that you have shared in the Golden Motel Mysteries. There are lots of places I would love to travel to. I would like to see Ireland since that is where my family is primarily from. My dad always wanted to go but never made it. At least one of my brothers and my sister have been able to visit.

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    1. Thanks! That tour was fun but also exhausting. A lot of sitting around dark, creepy spaces with the paranormal investigator going, “Sam (or whoever), are you there? Let us know. Send a sign. Sam?”

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  13. So wonderful! Thank you for sharing these. Totally I live vicariously through your vacation pics whenever you post them!

    Would have loved to go to that paranormal hotel (one of my research trips was to the Stanley where we took the ghost tour, woohoo, and that was so cool). And the picture out the train window is so gorgeous. xoxo

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  14. Ellen, what amazing photos–and I always love hearing more about the wonders of Cali(FORNIA, ha). I’ve made a lot of research trips over the years–ask me about all those battlefields I visited when I worked on a kids’ historical series. I guess right now I’d like to go back to Ireland, see Paris as a grownup, visit the Cotswolds and Italy–but there are so many other places I’d like to see, too, like Iceland. Of course, that means a lot of future research–and writing!

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  15. Beautifully written piece ! Thank you for taking us on this journey both by pictures and words ! The US is blessed with Natural Beauty, The “Research ” is worth it.

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