San Joaquins train

The impressively smooth, Siemens-built, Amtrak-operated San Joaquins train. A piece of modern Europe in California's hot, dusty Central Valley.

Central Valley train stations

 Stockton, Modesto and Fresno.

Sacramento Valley Station

I've passed through Sacramento quite a few times on the train, but this was my first time inside the big, beautiful Sacramento Valley Station. One highlight is the mural below, commemorating the breaking ground for the Transcontinental Railroad on January 8, 1863.

Mother revisited

I had been to the previous location of this healthy vegetarian restaurant, also on K Street, in May of 2015. I think I like this space more because it's so bright and colorful (although I have a good memory of sitting outdoors at the old one). The food is healthy and innovative the way we like. That this place is called Mother, and on K Street no less, is fraught with coincidental symbolism. But that mother liked Taste of Tuscany, which in some ways is very different. Life is interesting.

Tower Theater

It was amusing to see the movie "Sacramento" in Sacramento at the iconic Tower Theater. What I didn't realize, as someone who spent a lot of time at Tower Records in New York, was that the roots of that store are right here. The founder's father worked in this building (which is actually a block-long shopping complex), and when he opened his first record store in the Arden Arcade area, named it after the theater complex. So what's going on with Sacramento and towers? It probably began with the Tower Bridge, which was built in 1935.

Alara Craft Brewery

We applied the theory that craft breweries can have good food, and in the case of this Midtown Sacramento venue, it worked. In addition to some nice red gazpacho, we learned that gazpacho can come in other colors - among them yellow, green and white.

Taste of Tuscany

We never met her, but we did check out one of her favorite restaurants. The address says Sacramento, but the location was a strip mall in the outer suburb of Antelope. The pizza was delicious, but did its oiliness make me sick?