Old Sacramento

Old Sacramento is full of shops that sell a wide variety of interesting shops that sell such things as: funny t-shirts and hats; saltwater taffy and other kinds of candy; jewelry; kitschy paintings; toys and puzzles; disposable cameras; more t-shirts and hats...

Our weekend trip to the state capital was surprisingly fun. We limited our exploration to a mile-wide swath between Old Sacramento and Fort Sutter. This area included our hotel, the convention center (which we didn't go to), the state capitol building and surrounding park, the Stanford Mansion, the railroad museum, and numerous cafes, bars and restaurants.

Getting around by bike and on foot was remarkably easy. There is an extensive network of bike lanes to the east of the capitol building. West of that, there is an off-street bike path on N-street (okay, it's the sidewalk, but bikes are specifically allowed there).

Traffic on I-80 into Sacramento on a Saturday morning was annoyingly slow. Alternate route on I-5 worked fine on the way home. After two and a half hours on the road, the pale ale at Rubicon Brewing Company was more than welcome. The IPA wasn't bad either. Lots of bikes parked out front. We saw a lot of converted fixed-gear bikes over the weekend too, lots more than we see in the suburbs of the south bay.

Loved the tour of the capitol building. Beautiful structure full of history. You'd think the legislators would be a little more inspired working in such a grand environment. The tour is free, and the building is open to the public on weekends (well it should be open to the public -- we own it).

Fort Sutter closes at 5pm, and it's free after 4:30. Fun place to look around and realize how luxurious our lives are.

Stanford Mansion is worth the $8 tour. Nice piece of history. Go to the railroad museum first to get a better historical context.

Railroad Museum is great. $8 includes the 20-minute movie and the tour.

Residence Inn Capitol Park is okay. Good location. Ventilation was loud at night. Nice complementary breakfast.

Mulvaney's Restaurant was really good. Also really expensive.

Fat City Bar & Cafe had a great hamburger, but I was starving at the time...

Tuli Bistro had a great vegetarian pizza and a good selection of bottled beer. I was a little concerned when I saw all the other diners having wine, but I was happy to get an Old Rasputin imperial stout.