Being a tourist in my own town, WWYD? (Sacramento, Stanford: for rent, hotels)

[CityGirl72]

My anniversary is coming up. I'm thinking we could do a one of those days like "Be a tourist in your own town/city!"

We'd stay Midtown, I'm thinking we'd go to Sutter's Fort (never been) and maybe the new under ground tour in Old Sac? (if it's worth it, anyone been?)

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

[Aquaboy]

Crocker Art Museum, Old Sac, The Railroad Museum. The tour of underground Sac, with below-ground sidewalks is cool Im told. The California Auto Museum. And the McClellan Air Museum if you like old aircraft..a movie at the Crest Theater??
Riverboat ride out of Old Sac?

[wburg]

My advice: Stay at the Delta King Hotel or the Citizen Hotel. The Citizen has discounts for locals on weekend nights (most of their business is mid-week business travel) and the Delta King is very romantic and charming. There aren't really any hotels in Midtown, although there are a couple of bed and breakfast places.

The new Crocker Art Museum will be open by then--admission is free on Sunday morning, a nice stop on your walk back from the Southside Park farmer's market.

Details on the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation and the Sacramento History Museum, including reservations for Underground Sidewalks tours and other above-ground tours, here:

City of Sacramento | CC&L | Sacramento History Museum | Center for Sacramento History

Note that the tour is not all underground--it combines some parts on the surface, ducking down into alleys, basements, and underground sidewalk areas. Tours end for the year on October 31 and start again in April of next year.

California Auto Museum is great, especially if your hubby is a gearhead.

You've never been to Sutter's Fort? Oh yes, you must fix that. The Governor's Mansion and Stanford Mansion are also worth a visit.

Once you get closer to the date, post again and I can point you towards some of the specific events happening in town on those dates, as well as more detailed restaurant suggestions (within a few months, some new restaurants will have opened while others will almost certainly have closed.)

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by wburg

Once you get closer to the date, post again and I can point you towards some of the specific events happening in town on those dates, as well as more detailed restaurant suggestions (within a few months, some new restaurants will have opened while others will almost certainly have closed.)

Does that offer extend to me too? Next year at about this time we're taking a car trip up north and across the top of the country then coming down the west coast from Seattle to CA, ending up in Sacramento to visit family. It was my wife's home most of her life and my adult home for almost 20 years. She's flying back for a visit in two weeks (her daughters and grandchildren) but I'm house and cat sitting here this time.

Will I feel like a tourist by then.

[wburg]

curmudgeon: Gladly...as you may have noticed, I seldom turn down an opportunity to share my opinions about what Midtown has to offer.

One attraction that is coming up starting in the spring of 2011: two private companies are offering history-themed Sacramento bike tours, both offer bikes for rent--the main difference is that one also offers a gourmet picnic lunch as part of the tour.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by wburg

curmudgeon: Gladly...as you may have noticed, I seldom turn down an opportunity to share my opinions about what Midtown has to offer.

One attraction that is coming up starting in the spring of 2011: two private companies are offering history-themed Sacramento bike tours, both offer bikes for rent--the main difference is that one also offers a gourmet picnic lunch as part of the tour.

Thanks you. And I'm very much in favor of gourmet picnics.

One of our pleasurable "adventures" during the many years we lived downtown was walking most of the length of J Street and returning via K or L Street every couple of months to see what businesses had disappeared and what new ones had replaced them.

[popalina]

I love reading these! Great ideas. I, too, like being a tourist in my own town.

Other ideas:

-Get a nice room at the Residence Inn Capitol (in midtown) on a high up floor overlooking the capitol building. We did that one for New Years and it was lots of fun. They have a pool and hot tub and good breakfast and a restaurant/bar in the lobby area, etc., and the view was awesome. Hint: On Thursday nights they have wine and cheese tasting.

-The cemetery on Broadway has a lot of historic stuff, if you are in to cemeteries... I think since it is near Halloween they might be doing tours.

-Zoo. eh, the zoo...

-The underground tour sounds interesting

-We did a sunset riverboat dinner once and that was nice. The food was just okay, but the experience was a fun one.

-Get an old timey photo taken in Old Sac! Those are always fun.

-Tour of the capitol building. Better yet, try to schedule it so that you can sit in on a session. I think that would be fun, but I'm a nerd.

[wburg]

The Old City Cemetery Halloween tours are already sold out. But they do tours throughout most of the year that are free:

Old City Cemetery Committee, Inc., Sacramento, California

There is a new river tour operator, Hornblower Tours, that does riverboat runs. The Delta King doesn't actually move but is a beautiful boat and the restaurant is pretty good.