I’m sure you’ve heard the song about how it never rains in Southern California. Well, the same could be said for Northern California as well. Yes, it does rain—occasionally, but in the summer, rain could be listed as an endangered species or MIA.
I remember a few years ago when a weather announcer on the radio said…”The weather for the past week has been 103 to 107 degrees with less than 3 mph occasional breeze. The weather for today? Ditto.”
This kind of continued heat, coupled with very little rain soon leads to water shortage and rationing and instead of lawns and fields being green and lush, they’re yellow and dying.
But I’m painting a drab picture when California is actually a great place to visit. So, come along with me to Sacramento and let me tell you about a city where I worked for a couple decades.

I lived thirty-five miles outside of the capitol, but commuted in every day to work for the State of California. The State is the second largest employer, behind the Federal government, partially due to the numerous bases positioned in the Golden State. Before two of the bases were closed, Mather AFB, Beale AFB, Travis AFB and McClellan AFB surrounded the Sacramento area.
Since Sacramento is the capitol, it’s a hub for State and Federal employment, not to mention the county and city employees.
Without a subway system, mass commuting must rely on trains and buses that come from several directions and dump thousands of workers into the city each day.

Sacramento is also an ethnic hub which means the choices of restaurants is varied and delicious. Whatever you crave, you’ll find it within a few miles of the gold-domed capital building. From hot dogs to Korean, Thai, Russian, or Greek food, if you love to try different types of restaurants, you will love this city.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Delta King Restaurant
(On the Delta King Paddlewheel…elegant)

http://www.deltaking.com/

Lunch $10 – $20
Dinner $38

Firehouse
(Fine dining in Old Sacramento)

http://www.firehouseoldsac.com/

Lunch $12 – $17
Dinner $15 – $45

Gyro Supreme
(quick lunch – Greek)
Lunch $8 – $12

Sightseeing & Attractions:
You can hop aboard a horse-drawn carriage and tour the city to be told how Second Street, which now fronts the American River, used to repeatedly flood, so eventually rows of shops were built on top of the former city. In fact, a large part of the “older” buildings surrounding capitol square are also built over former stores.

I frequented a used record store two blocks from the capitol building where the owner told me about being downstairs, (in what had been the original store that had fronted onto the former main street, but was now covered over with the present-day street and storefront) and how he saw a lady standing on the far side of the room in a long dress with a bonnet. When he spoke to her, she disappeared…into thin air. He claims to have seen her several times and “felt” her presence on numerous occasions. He eventually affectionately started calling her Florence, but after an exhaustive search, he could find no history of a connection to a woman ever dying in or near that location.

The city of Sacramento and the surrounding areas…say within an hour or two drive…has something for just about everyone.

Rafting, hiking, camping? The Sacramento, American and Yuba Rivers have all of these activities available.

Fitness
· Downtown has the Sacramento Pipeworks Climbing and Fitness –Rock climbing at it’s best.
History
· Sutter’s Fort Historic Park. Built during the gold rush and…well, the gold rush is what put Sacramento on the map.
· State Railroad Museum
· Old Sacramento w/ Cobblestone streets and wood-front shops along the American River.
Skiing
· Squaw Valley is only a couple hours drive up Highway 50
Wine tasting
· Napa Valley is a couple hours away to the south and not far from San Francisco, China Town and the Golden Gate.
Pacific Ocean
· If you love the beach, it’s only a two-hour drive to the west.
Culture
· Ballet
· Opera
Sports Fans
· Arco Arena is home to the Sacramento Kings basketball team and also is used for concerts
Unique Hotel Experience
· The Delta King is docked on the American River at 2nd Street. You can dine while the refurbished paddle-wheel steamboat glides along the river, and then, if you choose, you can spend the might in one of the staterooms. (see restaurant listed above)

All-in-all, I’d say that you could easily spend a week in the Sacramento area just seeing all the sight and another week if you ventured north to the Redwoods National Park, or Yosemite, San Francisco or Napa Valley to the wine country. If you go to Napa Valley, plan to ride the Wine Train and/or take a hot air balloon ride over the valley and they’ll land in a field and serve you a champagne lunch. Very nice and wow, what a view.

So, my suggestion is to Go West, young man, Go West!

Tags: CA, restaurants, Sacramento, Sandra Elzie, travel, Travel the World, Vacations

About the author

Sandra Elzie | http://SandraElzie.com Sandy moved to Georgia four years ago and within two years she had sold her first book to Avalon Books. She has since sold two books and has recently started e-pubbing her list of books under the name of Sandra McGregor. She is married and enjoys traveling, reading and spending time watching movies with her husband.

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