What to do in Sacramento

[SShep71]

I am FINALLY going to be sent home, but I have to spend about a week in Sacramento. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to burn some time the First week in March?

[Ron Sutton]

The great thing about Sacramento is it's within 1-2 hours you can be at ocean, mountains, snow, skiing, lakes, beach, gambling, etc. The bad thing about Sacramento is the ocean, mountains, snow, skiing, lakes, beach, gambling, etc. are all 1-2 hours away. :lol:

Seriously ... (click on links for more info)
Sacramento is known as "River City" with two rivers running through it & converging (the American River is blue water & the Sacramento River is red water.) Old Sacramento (http://oldsacramento.com/) is a quaint walk around town on the Sacramento River with stores, restaurants, bars, shopping ... plus you can see the river, gold bridge, river boat called the Delta King (http://deltaking.com/) & the train museum (http://http://www.csrmf.org/) is there. A walk way/tunnel takes you under the freeway to Sacramento Downtown Plaza (http://sacdowntownplaza.com/) mall. Great brewery/restaurant there called River City Brewing (http://www.rivercitybrewing.net/).

On I-5 between Old Sacramento & the Airport there is an exit "Garden Highway" with several cool bar/restaurants on the river. Crawdads (http://saccrawdads.com/) is always hoppin' & Chevy's (http://sac.napkinnights.com/vd/chevys_on_the_river) is a good Tex-Mex chain.

Going East on Highway 50, out in Rancho Cordova, is a place called Vintage Ford (http://www.vintageford.com/). It is like a hot rodders museum & heaven. No racing going on then ... wrong time of year. But there is a big indoor karting center, also in Rancho Cordova called K1 Speed (http://www.k1speed.com/).

There are two Pro-Touring shops in town. Marquez Design (http://www.marquezdesign.com/) is out near Old Sacramento. Gearhead Garage (http://www.gearheadgarage.net/) is towards Roseville. If you need to do some shopping for gifts, the Roseville Galleria (http://www.westfield.com/galleriaatroseville/) mall is best. Lots of restaurants nearby too.

A cool West Coast NASCAR race team shop is also in Roseville, Bill McAnally Racing (http://www.bmrnapa.com/). If you want a quick tour, I can arrange it for you. In the building is a racing souvenoir shop called Hunt's Race World (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hunts-Race-World/338969061045). Tell Jeanie I said "Hi."

Since the Kings Basketball team was purchased by a new group, the quality of players & games went up significantly. You can check out their schedule here (http://www.concertticketcenter.com/ResultsVenue.aspx?venid=6&vname=Sleep+Train+Arena+Sacramento+CA). They play Minnesota on 3/1 & New Orleans on 3/3. We have a minor league baseball team, that plays at Raley Field. Their season doesn't start until April, but there may a college game playing. Get details & tickets here (http://www.raleyfield.com/event-calendar.php).

Several bars/clubs have nightlife, dancing, music, bands, etc. If you're interested in that, let me know what specifically.

Reno Casinos, Lake Tahoe Casinos, the Sierra Mountains for snow & skiing ... and we FINALLY got some rain here & snow in the mountains. San Francisco, Fisher's Wharf, Pacific Ocean beaches & Napa Valley Wine Country are all within 1-2 hours. Let me know if you have an interest in specific ones & I'll plug you in.

[HarleyR]

That's funny you mentioned Bill McAnally.. I started working for him when his race shop was at his house in the garage... I have since moved on to
Bigger and better things but we Still have remained great friends.. I owe him a lot..
I lived up in the area for a little while back in 98/99 I always enjoyed the train museum

[struck by Lightning]

Drag Racing at Sacramento Raceway http://www.sacramentoraceway.com/ or autocross http://www.baautox.com/forum/index.php?t=thread&frm_id=2&rid=0 or California Automobile Museum http://www.calautomuseum.org/

[Ron Sutton]

That's funny you mentioned Bill McAnally.. I started working for him when his race shop was at his house in the garage... I have since moved on to
Bigger and better things but we Still have remained great friends.. I owe him a lot..
I lived up in the area for a little while back in 98/99 I always enjoyed the train museum

Cool. Bill is a good guy. He's done a lot for me too. Still does in fact.

It's funny, but "train museum" sounds boring, but it's pretty cool.

.

[Ron Sutton]

Drag Racing at Sacramento Raceway http://www.sacramentoraceway.com/ or autocross http://www.baautox.com/forum/index.php?t=thread&frm_id=2&rid=0 or California Automobile Museum http://www.calautomuseum.org/

Nice additions George.

[Space Dynamics]

Thunder Hill Raceway has a open track day hosted by NCRC later in the month. They are doing a Driving School with it if you never had your car on the track before. Even uf you don't plan to run it is a fun place to check out. They also have a shop that will dyno your car for $60 If you wanna find out how much it puts out! Fun stuff.

[rustomatic]

Ron is admittedly a good tour guide, but you can't miss the following: Get in your rental car, find either Pilot Hill or Coloma on a map, and get there via I-80 or US 50. This is of course if you're into a good road, for about 30 miles, on which you can dream of using your pro-touring car's tricks as they were made to perform (or just get passed by a maniac on a bike or in a Ferrari)...

If you want to make your passenger sick, if you have one, just connect US 50 to I-80 via El Dorado Hills, or vice versa, via Auburn.

[rustomatic]

Hey Ron,

I'm related to Eric Holmes (Bill's winning driver) by marriage; I guess he's like a cousin-in-law or something... It's a small world...


Cool. Bill is a good guy. He's done a lot for me too. Still does in fact.

It's funny, but "train museum" sounds boring, but it's pretty cool.

.

[Ron Sutton]

Hey Ron,

I'm related to Eric Holmes (Bill's winning driver) by marriage; I guess he's like a cousin-in-law or something... It's a small world...


That's cool.

I just saw Eric at the Autorama car show. He was helping Alan Beebe in their display booth & we talked for awhile. Eric was one of the 12 driver coaches I used in my driver development program. He is so good at teaching little "feel" things in the car.

Back in 2009, when I needed an experienced driver to give me feedback on my high travel/low roll/bump stop set-up in my new Modifieds, Eric drove for me & we had the dominant car before the race weekend was over. His feedback is unreal. He actually said, "I think we need to move the roll center 3-4" farther to the left."

Unfortunately, it sheared off a drive plate cruising in second in the main. Holmes is one cool customer.