Reality Tour 2: Sacramento and the Delta King

Pony Express The trip from Railtown to Sacramento gives everyone a chance to relax. I think most of us are looking forward to unpacking just once for the next three days. We’ll be using the hotel in Sacramento as our base to visit Lake Tahoe, ride the River Train and to explore the California capital.

Our step-on guide for the Sacramento city tour was another local. Marylin met us in Old Sacramento, the 28-acre National Historic Landmark District and State Historic Park. It’s early afternoon and the area is buzzing – shopping, dining, entertainment and all with an old west feel.

Old Sac Our tour of Sacramento takes us to the State Capital building. Inside we are lucky enough to find the legislature in session. At this point we are more like a 4^th grade field trip than a tour group. The passengers are so thrilled by the experience (and the guide so great) that they have to be shushed by one of the building’s staff. We sheepishly quieted down. That was a highlight for me.

The building itself is beautiful.

California Capital Building

The tour passes Sutter’s Fort and the Governor’s Mansion before we head back towards Old Sacramento. Sacramento surprised me. What a wonderful city. It’s so clean and easy to get around.

Later, talking with the guy at the visitor center, once the headquarters of the Pony Express, Chad and I learn that “Old Sac” was saved from destruction and is now one of the nation’s best preserved historical districts. As an aside he explains how the Pony Express HQ became the home of the telegraph operators who replaced them. Horses to cell phones in 160 years!

We take some time to walk around Old Sacramento and we see the newspaper building (The Union for whom Mark Twain once wrote) and the Central Pacific Railroad Passenger Station.

Later, the group dined on board the Delta King, a refurbished riverboat. Drew, our driver, explained how the father of an old friend of his built this ship and its sister the Delta Queen. This friend, a link to another time when ships ran from San Francisco and back, was later recruited to help with the restoration.