Each summer, my daughter’s Sea Scouts crew goes on a summer cruise for 10 days. They sail their ship (that they’ve worked so hard to maintain) around the local waterways and make stops along the way for some good old fashioned fun. Last summer my daughter was still pretty new to Sea Scouts and she wasn’t quite ready to go on the cruise. This year she was ready, but a few things prevented her from going for the whole 10 days (BlogHer, my dad’s service, etc.). She was able to go for 3 days, and the day after we returned from BlogHer, I took her to meet her ship in Old Town Sacramento.
Though I have been there several times, it has been a few years. It is a charming place that takes you back to the good old days – cobblestone streets, wood plank sidewalks, police on horses, etc.
The only thing that was not-so-old fashioned were the parking meters. Of course I had to really search to find quarters to feed them. I found two and gave them to my daughter to buy us some time while I dug around in my purse for more. She returned to the car and announced that our meter still had money on it, but she added the quarters for more time. Ummm didn’t I just see our meter flashing that it was expired? Yep – you guessed it. She fed our neighbors meter. We had a good laugh and continued on.
The streets are lined with darling shops, restaurants and other fun little things to discover. There was a game and puzzle store that was very entertaining and we spent a good amount of time in there. We had a milkshake at Steamers (yum), and wandered some more.
Docked in Old Town Sacramento is the 285-foot Delta King Riverboat, which is a hotel and also a restaurant. The history on the Delta King (and it’s sister paddle boat – the Delta queen) is fascinating. Both ships sailed between San Francisco and Sacramento, where guests would enjoy drinking, gambling, jazz bands and fine dining. At the time, a stateroom cost only $3.50. That was back in the 1920’s – what a blast! The Delta King was restored and thus turned into a hotel. I have never stayed on the Delta King, but what a fun weekend escape it would be!
Old Town Sacramento is really a neat little place – there is so much to do and see. For a family day trip, there is something for everyone (even a railroad museum!).
We explored a little more, picked up some goodies and then we got word that her ship was arriving. It was fun to watch her ship come in (pun intended?) – we walked down to meet them:
A few tired crew mates looked pretty thirsty, so I treated them to drinks and retro candy from a really fun candy store. I hugged my daughter good-bye and off she went.
It was a beautiful day.
