Discovering the Thrills of Sacramento and an Introduction to Lake Tahoe

Thursday, October 9, 2025

Napa Valley-Sacramento, California

Discovering the Thrills of Sacramento and an Introduction to Lake Tahoe

Today was another beautiful day—like all the others we’ve had on this trip. We left our Best Western Plus Hotel and motored northeast to begin our stay at the lovely Lake Tahoe about which we had heard so much but never been. But first we had to stop en route at the capital of California, Sacramento. En route, as we exited through Napa Valley, we passed by mile after mile of laden vineyards, ripe for the picking. Then, we left this idyllic part of the state behind and entered Silicon Valley where the high-tech nature of the state became evident. Clearly, it is from the revenue generated by this region that California prospers. I have a classmate from school who lives close by in Milpitas and as we passed by the exit signs on the highway for her town, I gave her a call to say hello. But that was all that we could manage as our schedule was tight.

Exploring California’s Capital, Sacramento:

We were all excited to be in Sacramento as it is the capital of California and, other than Chriselle, who had been there on work, the three of us had never even passed through the city. As it turned out, Chriselle had a good idea of where to take us and so we headed straight towards the waterfront. When we arrived there, we discovered that everything was still closed as it was about 9.30 am. Instead, we decided to drive towards the Capitol building. Its Dome was evident from a long distance because these structures are so distinctive—so it was easy to go over a bright yellow bridge towards the Dome.

As it turned out, there was an employment fair going on in the open patio area in front of the Capitol and we were among the earliest visitors. As a result, we ended up picking up a bunch of freebies in the form of lip chap stick, note pads, stress balls, ball point pens and pencils, magnifying glass and ruler combos, key rings and even a T-shirt for Llew. This was super fun for us although Chriselle and AJ chose to remain in the car.

The Capitol is an impressive building, of course, gleaming white in the early morning sun. It is surrounded by the skyscrapers of downtown Sacramento where the corporate offices of so many companies are based. The sun was bouncing off them as we drove around and received a sense of the most spiffy part of town.

But then, we were hungry as we hadn’t eaten breakfast and decided to find a place where we could buy brunch, As we had been talking about Carl Jr. for a few days (the fast food chain that seems to be very popular in California), we thought we would check it out. We ended up eating burgers there (I got a Chicken Southwestern Style grilled burger which actually turned out quite nice). With our bellies satisfied, we could turn out thoughts towards more sightseeing and this time we headed back to the Waterfront.

Exploring ‘Old Sac’, i.e. Vintage Sacramento:

It was while exploring vintage Sacramento that I picked up on a lot of historic aspects of this capital City. Sacramento was probably one of the terminating points of the long pioneering journey of those Californian predecessors who were part of the Gold Rush. It was they who set up the earliest settlement that developed into the great city it is today. To replicate the sense and ambience of this era, Old Town (or Old Sac) Sacramento has been created. It is a series of simply three or four streets that were constructed around the railroad station. The station itself can boast old steam trains that still run and give visitors rides for a fee while recreating the era of prospectors who tried their luck because they had nothing to lose. We did not take the train ride but we did hear the train enter the platform with its old-world whistles that proclaimed its presence.

Walking through the streets of the town gave us the opportunity to buy our magnet as well as gifts for a few people in Bombay who have been helping us keep an eye on our loved ones while we are on holiday as the shops had some interesting merchandize. There were wonderfully old-fashioned shops selling old-fashioned candy, ice-cream, T-shirts, souvenirs, distinctive clothing, footwear and the like. It really was a fun place to explore. We ended up buying some salt water taffy as well as ice-cream and getting a sense of the area and its offerings and after a very leisurely time spent in this quite fascinating space, we returned to our car.

Longish Drive to Lake Tahoe and Exploring Truckee:

All that was left then was for us to make the mileage that would take us further north to Lake Tahoe. It was not that long a drive before we started to enter Alpine Country. Indeed, the roads leading up to Lake Tahoe offer as much stirring visual interest as the Lake area itself. The tall coniferous forests mingled with the famous Sequoia (or California Redwoods) are plentiful in this area as are eucalyptus trees. We could actually smell the fragrance of these glorious pine-family trees as we inched closer.

Eventually, we arrived at a town called Truckee where we decided to take a break in order to explore it on foot. We parked out car and decided to explore the shops. Of course, we did see magnets, post cards and the usual souvenirs that one finds at every tour stop but we also saw a train station (for people can reach this spot by train) as well as eateries and ice-cream parlors. Yes, it was nice to get out and stretch our legs and, at the same time, to take in the mountain ambience of this place. I soon realized that, like Jackson, Wyoming, and many of the towns in the Montana region, the interior décor and design of the homes in this area are influenced by the Lake and the beautiful mountains that surround it. And so, it was fun it to take in the artistic motifs that bring class to this area.

Finding our Air B ad B At Kings Beach:

Leaving Truckee behind us, we continued along our route and found ourselves being treated to our first glimpses of the Lake—a lake that is so vast that it seemed like a sea ahead of us. The ring road that circles the periphery of the lake is visually interesting as it is punctuated by thick green, coniferous vegetation and a series of structures that form homes and, only occasionally, tiny, one-horse towns. Eventually, after receiving our first views of what the next couple of days would be like, we found our way to our Air B and B on Anderson Street in the town of Kings Beach in the north of Lake Tahoe where we would stay for the next three nights.

But, having found the place, we decided to stop at the Safeway supermarket which was fairly close to us to pick up some provisions for the next three days as we had been eating fast food and fancy meals in restaurants for so long that we had reached a point when we wanted something simpler.

And so, at the local Safeway, close at hand, just about five minutes’ drive away, we picked up staples such as bagels, cream cheese, bread, cheese, cold cuts and packaged salads—with these items, we’d have meals for the next few days.

Before we ended our day, as there was still somewhat pretty light emanating off the lake, Llew and I decided to go out for a walk down to the waterfront to enjoy the sound of lake waters lapping the shore. And so, off we went, into a really lovely twilight to take in our first real sights of the lake. It was quite lovely and we enjoyed sitting there amid the quiet serenity, as night fell quietly about us.

When we did return to our lovely cabin (which, by the way, was most charmingly furnished and decorated, we put together a dinner of our store-bought food and then made our way to bed.

It has been another lovely day—punctuated by a visit to a huge city (a capital, in fact) and ending with entry into the most bucolic area which promised us mountains, forest and lakes.

Until tomorrow, see ya’…