California’s other “City of Angels'' is a place of legend in Gold Rush lore. Settled in 1848, Angel's Camp boomed with the discovery of gold-laden quartz veins on the outskirts of town, turning out some $20 million in bullion. The most famous prospector to try their luck here was a young writer by the name of Samuel Clemens, who at the Angels Hotel one night overheard the story that inspired "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," a breakout success under his newly adopted nom de plume: Mark Twain. The hotel still stands today, and you can even visit the nearby cabin where Twain penned the story, called Jackass Hill. History remains a major attraction in Angels Camp, with its downtown of remarkably preserved period buildings and the Angels Camp Museum, which hosts a collection of old mining equipment, the state’s oldest schoolhouse, and in true Calaveras County tradition, an annual frog-jumping contest.