California is a state with many thrilling cities: San Francisco’s hills, San Diego’s sailing and Hollywood! Alas, Sacramento is not thrilling unless you’re a politician, Sacramento being California’s capital. But if you come for a visit without overwhelming expectations, the city has much to offer.
For one thing, it is ideally suited as a base for wine tasting. It’s pretty much in the middle of Amador County, Lodi and Napa Valley. If you don’t mind driving a bit, they’re each about an hour away from downtown Sacramento. Because of work requirements we had the opportunity to live there for several months. It gave us the chance to see the city as a bit of a throwback to the California of yesteryear.
Old Town Sacramento. Photo courtesy of CBS Sacramento.
The Old Town section is a very deliberate recollection of those times. It’s a state historic park, where they have carefully preserved commercial buildings from the mid-19th century. That date is important because of the great Gold Rush of 1849 that turned Sacramento from a sleepy Spanish mission town to a bustling metropolis. Today, Old Town is a bit (well, more than a bit) touristy, but the buildings are real and you can try to imagine what it must have been like when the miners came into town.
Sacramento is located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers. It has badly flooded many times. It seems that California either has a drought or way too much rain. If you hit a rainy period, you can walk along Old Town’s riverfront and see the Sacramento threaten to spill over its banks. It happened often enough that the city leaders raised up the Old Town section in its entirety, so you probably won’t have water lapping at your ankles (or higher) when you’re there.
One real attraction there is the Railroad Museum, with several old steam engines to gawk at. You can event take a ride on an old train, up the Sacramento River.
The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest museum west of the Mississippi River, founded in 1885. It has a rather nice permanent collection, many paintings from artists in the bay area and often hosts interesting exhibitions. For a tourist, it’s good to know that you can easily take in the whole museum in an afternoon.
Sacramento is in an interesting place for eating out. It is at the north end of California’s Central Valley, known as America’s Salad Bowl. Thus there are many restaurants that feature “farm to fork” dining. And if you have a bite or a drink near the Capitol, you’re very likely to be able to listen in as some politicos talk over the affairs of the day.
The crows come in at sunset.
We loved a particularly unique Sacramento experience. Right at sundown every day, thousands of crows fly in from the fields surrounding the city. They have predators outside the city but a lot less in town, so they congregate in the area around the Cathedral at 12th Street and K, not far from the Capitol. For about five minutes each evening, a thick cloud of birds, cawing like mad, settle in on the roofs, trees and lampposts. Then they shut up and go to sleep.