PrincessInOz
Thanks for my avatar, Mary Jo!
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2010
Sacramento is roughly 2 hours drive east of San Francisco.
We went there in 2007 as part of a music colloquium and stayed in one of the dorms of the California State University Sacramento, right along the river.
Prior to this stay, we had driven through on the way to Lake Tahoe.
I also saw a little bit of Sacramento, with most of my time taken up with attending the colloquium. So, keep this in mind when you read this post about things to do in Sacramento.
Sacramento city center is very easy to get around. It is all laid out in a perfect square with incremental numbered streets in one direction and increasing lettered streets in the pependicular direction. I thought it had a reasonable bus system which takes you all round the downtown area.
As the state capital, it has a rather impressive state capitol building and a historic governor's mansion. No, Arnie does not live in the governor's mansion.
Attractions that I enjoyed:
California State Railway Museum. I decided to go visit because the entry fee was reasonable and I had about an hour to kill. For the $7 or $8 entry fee, this museum just blew me away. There were so many trains and so many displays to look at and you can get really close up and personal with all the steam and diesel engines you can dream of.
There's even an old dining cart complete with the original fine china used for first class passengers!
I ended up coming back again later in the evening so that I could spend more time exploring the museum (same ticket valid all day). If you were driving past, I highly recommend that you stop by the Old Sacramento site and visit this museum.
Old Sacramento. Buildings in this area are all wooden and as near original as they could maintain. Old Sacramento is right along the riverfront and there are restaurants and souvenier shops here. It's rather "wild west/cowboy" and takes you back to what it would have been like to be in California during the Gold Rush era.
Sutter's Fort. John Sutter was about 150 years ahead of his time. This place is the equivalent of a shopping mall! When the pioneers went west, Sutter's Fort was one of those places they stopped at to rest up and get provisions.
There's the Baker's delight, the Bunnings shop, the House shop, the restaurant, the bed and breakfast, the smithy....
A little bit out of Sacramento, on the way to Lake Tahoe, you'll find a pretty little town called Placerville (the "Plac" is pronounced the same way you would pronounce it in "Placid").
This place used to be called "Hangtown". The town used to be the place where law breakers were convicted and hung. The main street of town is about 1/2 mile in length (it's a very small town) and I spent about 1 - 1.5 hours hanging out here (pun intended), including coffee time.
At the Lake Tahoe end of Placerville, I counted at least 15 law offices. I'm not sure whether this is a hangover of the olden days, but there is still a court in this little town; hence the lawyers. Down the Sacramento end of the town, there is a bar that claims to have the hanging post where the deed was done.
If you're chasing the historic California experience, then this is one town worth stopping at.
Of the restaurants I ate at in Sacramento, the one worth recommending was Tapa the World - you guessed it - Spanish food and I thought the food was pretty good here. We went as a group of about 30 people and everyone's meals looked great. I had stuffed peppers and it was delicious.
Retail Malls
There are the standard range of shops in the Downtown Plaza Shopping Mall. I also shopped at the Arden Fair Mall, which is near CSUS.
Outlet Malls
Folsom Mall - http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=27
Vacaville Premium Outlets - http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=50
Did I enjoy my time in Sacramento? Yes, I did...and a lot of it had to do with the fact that we were part of a group of about 75 people and we had a great time hanging out with them.
Would I recommend that you go to Sacramento? Well, that depends. It depends on whether it is part of an overall driving trip around NorCal and it depends on how much time you have.
The experience that I got out of Sacramento was one of historic gold rush California. If this is what you are looking for, then yes - it is worth the trip.
We went there in 2007 as part of a music colloquium and stayed in one of the dorms of the California State University Sacramento, right along the river.
Prior to this stay, we had driven through on the way to Lake Tahoe.
I also saw a little bit of Sacramento, with most of my time taken up with attending the colloquium. So, keep this in mind when you read this post about things to do in Sacramento.
Sacramento city center is very easy to get around. It is all laid out in a perfect square with incremental numbered streets in one direction and increasing lettered streets in the pependicular direction. I thought it had a reasonable bus system which takes you all round the downtown area.
As the state capital, it has a rather impressive state capitol building and a historic governor's mansion. No, Arnie does not live in the governor's mansion.
Attractions that I enjoyed:
California State Railway Museum. I decided to go visit because the entry fee was reasonable and I had about an hour to kill. For the $7 or $8 entry fee, this museum just blew me away. There were so many trains and so many displays to look at and you can get really close up and personal with all the steam and diesel engines you can dream of.
There's even an old dining cart complete with the original fine china used for first class passengers!
I ended up coming back again later in the evening so that I could spend more time exploring the museum (same ticket valid all day). If you were driving past, I highly recommend that you stop by the Old Sacramento site and visit this museum.
Old Sacramento. Buildings in this area are all wooden and as near original as they could maintain. Old Sacramento is right along the riverfront and there are restaurants and souvenier shops here. It's rather "wild west/cowboy" and takes you back to what it would have been like to be in California during the Gold Rush era.
Sutter's Fort. John Sutter was about 150 years ahead of his time. This place is the equivalent of a shopping mall! When the pioneers went west, Sutter's Fort was one of those places they stopped at to rest up and get provisions.
There's the Baker's delight, the Bunnings shop, the House shop, the restaurant, the bed and breakfast, the smithy....
A little bit out of Sacramento, on the way to Lake Tahoe, you'll find a pretty little town called Placerville (the "Plac" is pronounced the same way you would pronounce it in "Placid").
This place used to be called "Hangtown". The town used to be the place where law breakers were convicted and hung. The main street of town is about 1/2 mile in length (it's a very small town) and I spent about 1 - 1.5 hours hanging out here (pun intended), including coffee time.
At the Lake Tahoe end of Placerville, I counted at least 15 law offices. I'm not sure whether this is a hangover of the olden days, but there is still a court in this little town; hence the lawyers. Down the Sacramento end of the town, there is a bar that claims to have the hanging post where the deed was done.
If you're chasing the historic California experience, then this is one town worth stopping at.
Of the restaurants I ate at in Sacramento, the one worth recommending was Tapa the World - you guessed it - Spanish food and I thought the food was pretty good here. We went as a group of about 30 people and everyone's meals looked great. I had stuffed peppers and it was delicious.
Retail Malls
There are the standard range of shops in the Downtown Plaza Shopping Mall. I also shopped at the Arden Fair Mall, which is near CSUS.
Outlet Malls
Folsom Mall - http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=27
Vacaville Premium Outlets - http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=50
Did I enjoy my time in Sacramento? Yes, I did...and a lot of it had to do with the fact that we were part of a group of about 75 people and we had a great time hanging out with them.
Would I recommend that you go to Sacramento? Well, that depends. It depends on whether it is part of an overall driving trip around NorCal and it depends on how much time you have.
The experience that I got out of Sacramento was one of historic gold rush California. If this is what you are looking for, then yes - it is worth the trip.
and you get a free sample bag 
