Embarcadero

Around this time there was also a trip to San Francisco, to stroll along the Embarcadero and check out various points of interest, such as the relocated Burning Man sculpture "SOMA"  (above) and the Exploratorium, an interesting museum I had heard about for years and that we liked, but is a little bit like cheesecake or acorn woodpeckers - too much to digest at one time.

Solandra maxima

Solandra - it sounds like a solar power company, but is actually a genus in the Solanacae family. I found these amazing Solandra maxima flowers trellised along the side of California's First Theater in Monterey.

leaving Sacramento

We didn't leave Sacramento in any ordinary manner. We took a road that went south out of the city, into the countryside, along a river, atop a levee, and over a maze of sloughs.

River City

It was very hot in Sacramento and I'll never forget that at one Southern-themed restaurant we found called "The Porch" we satisfied our thirst with a memorable bottle of River City blueberry lemonade soda. It was some of the most memorable blue food I have ever had.

Old Sacramento, part 2

Old Sacramento

All weekend long we were hounded by comparisons between Sacramento and New Orleans, what with constant references to "the Delta" and "River City". Did I mention that both places get hot? Sacramento of course was a boom town during the Gold Rush with a Wild West character that is well preserved in Old Sacramento, an entire neighborhood perched along the Sacramento River, complete with paddle boats, a railroad museum, saloons and fine dining.

 

the capitol of California's capital

I cannot argue with the grandeur of the state capitol, or the beauty of the park that surrounds it. The park is filled primarily with native tree specimens representing the entire state, some of them enormous. There was even some brown grass, I guess to show that Governor Brown and the state government are mindful of the drought. What we like about Sacramento on the whole is that it is a city of trees - lots of them, and big ones.

Sacramento Hostel

I knew that there were exceptional youth hostels out there that my radar may have missed; the Sacramento Hostel was one of them. This place is amazing. Here we have a historic, Gold Rush-era mansion, former home of one Llewellyn Williams, moved several times and perfectly preserved. Today it is a great, inexpensive place to stay in Downtown Sacramento. The room we stayed in, below, was hotel quality. The only thing that reminded you that you were in a youth hostel were the shared bathrooms, which had some of that familiar youth hostel awkwardness. Otherwise, the historic interior rooms of the downstairs, all of which were available to recreate in, more than made up for that. For the price, I rank the whole experience as exceptional, and recommend it to all adventurous travelers.

tombolo

Point Sur, still the best example of a tombolo that I can think of.