June 24, 2006: Woodland & Sacramento
After a leisurely morning at Jim and Cindy's place in Woodland, we left for an afternoon in Sacramento. It was another toasty day - the weatherman forecast 107 degrees, but it never got over 101. No sweat! Well - some sweat, but we didn't melt.
Sacramento has a picturesque Old Town situated along the Sacramento River. This river is the longest in the Golden State, running 382 miles from the Cascade Mountains near Mt. Shasta all the way to San Francisco Bay. Old Sacramento is actually a state historic park. It includes several blocks of brick buildings, covered boardwalks, cobblestone streets, horse-drawn buggies - you get the picture (but just in case you don't, I'll attach a photo).
We visited the California State Railroad Museum, one of America's great railroad displays. (My favorite is the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore.) The Sacramento museum features 21 restored locomotives and railroad cars, including complete dining and sleeper cars, together with historical exhibits on the Transcontinental Railroad and other topics. My favorite was an enormous 125-foot-long articulated locomotive built for pulling mine trains in the mountains.
Many informative docents were eager to share their knowledge and enthusiasm for trains. Upstairs was a model train gallery with thousands of items - quite the nostalgia trip for my brother and me, since we had electric O-gauge Lionel trains when we were boys. Tommy was unenthusiastic about the idea of a train museum at first, having decided that trains were of interest only to little kids, but we persuaded him to give it a look, and he warmed to the subject. His mood only really improved at lunch, when he clowned with his brother and cousin.
After lunch, we took a steam train ride among the cottonwood trees along the levee that parallels the river. It was a short ride on a short train, pulled by a 1942 US Army locomotive originally built for the invasion of Europe. After a 15-minute journey, it reversed direction. I took this picture as the locomotive repositioned itself to pull us back to the depot.
We were interested to learn that Sacramento's waterfront, like Seattle's, was regraded to raise its level a full floor back in the 19th century. Both were prone to flooding - and Sacramento still is, since its levees are by all accounts even less adequate than New Orleans' levees were. Jim pointed out a couple of sunken courtyards that were once at street-level.
We drove by the Capitol building on our way back to Jim and Cindy's home. No Arnold sightings, but considering his loss of popularity in the past year, he was probably inside taking refuge both from his disgruntled constituents and from the heat.
I should mention that gas thus far has been cheaper than we had been expecting: $2.85 a gallon for regular unleaded in Vancouver, $2.99 in Ashland, and $2.93 in Woodland. We haven't paid more than $3 since we left Seattle.
Sacramento has a picturesque Old Town situated along the Sacramento River. This river is the longest in the Golden State, running 382 miles from the Cascade Mountains near Mt. Shasta all the way to San Francisco Bay. Old Sacramento is actually a state historic park. It includes several blocks of brick buildings, covered boardwalks, cobblestone streets, horse-drawn buggies - you get the picture (but just in case you don't, I'll attach a photo).
We visited the California State Railroad Museum, one of America's great railroad displays. (My favorite is the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore.) The Sacramento museum features 21 restored locomotives and railroad cars, including complete dining and sleeper cars, together with historical exhibits on the Transcontinental Railroad and other topics. My favorite was an enormous 125-foot-long articulated locomotive built for pulling mine trains in the mountains.
Many informative docents were eager to share their knowledge and enthusiasm for trains. Upstairs was a model train gallery with thousands of items - quite the nostalgia trip for my brother and me, since we had electric O-gauge Lionel trains when we were boys. Tommy was unenthusiastic about the idea of a train museum at first, having decided that trains were of interest only to little kids, but we persuaded him to give it a look, and he warmed to the subject. His mood only really improved at lunch, when he clowned with his brother and cousin.
After lunch, we took a steam train ride among the cottonwood trees along the levee that parallels the river. It was a short ride on a short train, pulled by a 1942 US Army locomotive originally built for the invasion of Europe. After a 15-minute journey, it reversed direction. I took this picture as the locomotive repositioned itself to pull us back to the depot.
We were interested to learn that Sacramento's waterfront, like Seattle's, was regraded to raise its level a full floor back in the 19th century. Both were prone to flooding - and Sacramento still is, since its levees are by all accounts even less adequate than New Orleans' levees were. Jim pointed out a couple of sunken courtyards that were once at street-level.
We drove by the Capitol building on our way back to Jim and Cindy's home. No Arnold sightings, but considering his loss of popularity in the past year, he was probably inside taking refuge both from his disgruntled constituents and from the heat.I should mention that gas thus far has been cheaper than we had been expecting: $2.85 a gallon for regular unleaded in Vancouver, $2.99 in Ashland, and $2.93 in Woodland. We haven't paid more than $3 since we left Seattle.
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12:12 AM
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