Mini-Road Trip: Sacramento

View from the fantail at sunset, The Delta King

On Monday, SMS and I each went to work.  We met up afterwards for some climbing and, seeing that we were both off for the week, we decided that the next day, we were going to take a mini road-trip.  I had to be roughly within 2 hours travel time due to work so with that constraint in mind, I planned out our trip that evening.

We started off in the mid-morning since my internal alarm clock has been cool with waking up around 8:30 (delightful!).  We drove towards Sacramento and SMS, in the navigator's seat, was hungry and decided he was in the mood for THE WAFFLE EXPERIENCE!  It is a restaurant a little outside of Sacramento proper but it is so delicious that it's worth the drive and strip mall ambiance.  Everyone there seemed very nice and really, how could you not be?  Waffles surroundings, just try to be unhappy there.  Well, SMS was a tiny bit unhappy since they were out of his #1 and #2 choices on the daily special menu.  But he overcame his disappointment and through salty, bitter tears, he ordered up another delicious sandwich.  Once that happened, the title of saddest person in the waffle restaurant was returned to its rightful owner, the woman who plaintively said while ordering, "I just don't feel like waffles!"

We both had slightly breakfast-y waffle sandwiches and it was awesome.  I was a little surprised that they didn't have a classic chicken 'n' waffles sandwich but whatever, what they had was great!

One of my favorites at the Museum

An engineer is very accurate!

After lunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the California State Railroad Museum.  It was pretty cool and we both enjoyed it.  First, we walked through an exhibit on the history of railroads and railways in California.  It's great to learn more about local/regional history.  Then we went into the main exhibit hall where there were so many beautifully maintained locomotives, rail cars and other exhibits.  My favorite was the private rail car for people who just want things their own way.  I also thought the Southern Pacific Cab Forward No 4294 was really cool and absolutely humongous.  Also, if you ever talk to a railroad connoisseur, don't call it a Mallet design unless you want people to laugh and laugh at you.

Old Town Sacramento

The Stateroom

A stowaway!

The museum is located in Old Town Sacramento so we walked through the area to our hotel, The Delta King!  It's a restored 285-foot river boat that is now a hotel, restaurant and event space.  I thought it would be a neat place to stay.  The stateroom was large and clean.  We really enjoyed our stay.

Nido

Next, we headed out to Nido, the bakery that supplies The Magpie, which is the restaurant we ate at last time we were in Sacramento.  We split a cheese plate and had a beer.  I made silent plans to come back in the morning to pick up some scones.

For dinner, we ate at Orchard Thai which was fine.  Nothing great and (spoiler alert) the green papaya salad did not really sit well with either SMS or I.  The drunken noodles were good but if a restaurant messed that up, they should just throw in the towel.

We wrapped up the night touring the light displays of the Fab 40s houses.  The neighborhood is completely beautiful.  I stayed there during my Kaiser observation days in September and was really taken with the area.  I figured that there were would be some beautiful Christmas decorations, but I was absolutely blown away.  Even though it was after Christmas, it was so nice to still feel the holiday spirit.

Then it was back to the riverboat for a great night's sleep.