Davis or East Sac? (Sacramento: fit in, house, neighborhood)

[bll]

We are relocating to Sac. My husband will be working just outside downtown Sac. We looked at the East Sac neighborhood and really liked it, but now I'm looking online at Davis (didn't have a chance to check it out on our brief trip out) and it seems like a nice community as well. Perhaps it has more for kids to do? The swimming pool at McKinley Park is only open 3-5pm...not very much! My husband would like to bike to work. It would be longer from Davis, but seems doable. Also, it seems like the schools in Davis might be better. Our kids are 4 and 1 now, so we have a year, but we need to be thinking about this. Any thoughts between the two? We like walkable, bike-friendly areas.

[wburg]

Biking from Davis to Sacramento is about 15 miles--if he's a fairly hardcore cyclist he could do it in good weather, but in a winter storm it would be daunting. From East Sac it's about 3-4 miles from the farthest-out portions of East Sac, and if he wants to skip the weather it's pretty easy to take light rail or a city bus downtown instead. Schools in Davis are better than East Sac, so it depends on whether proximity is more important to you than schools. Both are walkable and bike-friendly, although Davis takes bicycling almost to the level of a citywide religion--their city symbol is a penny-farthing bicycle. That still doesn't make a 15-mile trip over the Causeway any easier, although there is also a Yolobus commuter line that goes to downtown Sacramento.

[Phil Minor]

The Yolo Causeway is between Davis and Sacramento. Its a large spillway area for when the Sacramento River is running too high. Generally for most of the year its either empty or place where rice is grown. The bike path that cuts across the Causeway is elevated, flat and doesn't have many stop signs. As a result once you get up to speed you don't lose a lot of energy starting and stopping across the causeway. Its probably the easiest 14.2 miles your husband will ever do.

Bicycle Path - Davis to Sacramento at Bikely.com

[angelbug]

Originally Posted by Phil Minor

Its probably the easiest 14.2 miles your husband will ever do.

Since moving to Davis in 2002, I'm not in as good of shape as I used to be when I lived in SF because it's so flat here. A 20 mile bike ride is no big deal here.

I like East Sac but have never lived there, so I can't comment on the schools. My son went to junior and senior high here and I can't commend the schools enough, particularly the high schools. There are TONS of things for kids to do here. I'm actually relocating out of state next summer when the house I'm having built is finished, and part of the reason I'm leaving Davis is that it's SO family-oriented I find as a single empty-nester I don't particularly fit in anymore. My neighbors are all wonderful - this is probably the tightest-knit community I've ever lived in - but they all still have younger kids and their lives revolve around them and their activities, as they should. I enjoy having all the kids around, but I just don't have enough people around in my situation to do non-kid things with. So I'm moving to a place that has a high proportion of early retirees and lots of outdoor activities including sailing, which I miss here; since I can telecommute and live anywhere, it should work better for me. But while raising my kid, Davis couldn't be beat.