Things to do in Sacramento, CA
About Sacramento, CA
Directly in-between Lake Tahoe and San Francisco is the underrated Sacramento - California's capital - which is often ignored by tourists. However, this location presents many exciting activities, like visiting a historic or educational museum, free tours, art galleries, and many more. If Sacramento is your next destination, we will use this brief article will provide you with the best places to visit.
1. Visit Funderland Park
Funderland Park is ideal for families with children as the place is designed exclusively for kids. The park has beautiful child-sized rides, options for birthday parties, refreshing concessions, and many more. Keep in mind that you'll have to pay a ticket per ride, so spend wisely.
2. Visit the Sacramento Museum Day
Sacramento Museum Day occurs on the first Saturday of February every year, and it's the time where visitors are permitted to explore the museums for free. This means you'll be able to visit buildings like the Aerospace Museum of California, California Automobile Museum, Crocker Art Museum, and many more without paying.
3. Visit the American River Parkway
American River Parkway, also known as Discovery Park, is where the American River meets the Sacramento River. The spot has a 302-acre park suitable for picnics, photographs, kite-flying, and many more.
4. Visit the Sacramento Farmers Markets
The stalls of Sacramento Farmers Markets display the agricultural heritage of this city in a rainbow of colors. Some of the fruits grown in this land are too delicate to be transported across the country, so you will most likely taste a fruit you've never eaten before.
5. Visit the American River Bike Trail
Also known as the Jedediah Smith Bike Trail, this bike path is 32 miles long and designed to be gentle for riders. You can get your bicycle or rent one locally to ride along this trail and create new memories. Note that while riding is free, you'll have to pay for parking.
6. Visit the Crocker Art Museum
Amongst all the museums in Sacramento, the Crocker Art Museum is the most popular. This building possesses a collection of various arts, including some from California and within Europe. It's also worth noting that the Crocker Art Museum hosts multiple family events yearly, making it a suitable place for your kids.
7. Visit the McKinley Rose Garden
If you wish to interact with the best parts of nature, consider visiting the McKinley Rose Garden as this building is home to over 1,200 rose plants. The McKinley Rose Garden is one of America's 130 public rose gardens and is the perfect spot to interact with flora that you've only seen in the movies.
8. Visit the Capitol Park
Consider visiting Capitol Park, which has a section that contains 22 black panels. These panels have the names of 5,822 California soldiers who lost their lives during the war. Afterward, you can take a stroll to the International World Peace Rose Gardens, which houses over 800 roses with various fragrances and colors.
9. Visit the California State Capitol Museum
Learn more about the history of the city by exploring the state capitol building of California. This location was erected in the 1800s and now provides insight into the previous dwellers' daily lives. There's also a Kids Zone to keep your children entertained while you tour the museum.
10. Visit the Jelly Belly Factory
You can see the Jelly Belly Factor in Fairfield, a few hour's drive outside Sacramento. This location possesses various sweet things alongside an ice cream and café shop and a mountain of jelly beans. You can get a free tour of the factory, enabling you to watch the workers create America's favorite candy.
Places of Interest in Sacramento, CA
Despite being underrated by tourists, Sacramento presents a lot of opportunities to make your visit worthwhile. If you're looking for fun activities to make your kids enjoy the trip, check out the brief list below; it's got all the tips you need.
1. Visit the Nimbus Fish Hatchery
Along the Sacramento River is the famous Nimbus Fish Hatchery, which produces up to 4,000,000 Chinook salmon and 430,000 Steelhead trout yearly. The location is unique to children as they can learn about fishes' internal workings, Hatchery operations, and River conservation.
2. Visit the Sacramento Children’s Museum
The Children's Museum in Sacramento aims to awaken the explorers, discoverers, scientists within children through immersive play. The museum sits on 7,000 Square feet of Sacramento real estate and offers a variety like exploring gravity with balls, playing with a pressurized tube, arts and craft, and many more.
3. Visit Fairytale Town
Fairytale Town is a park designed particularly for children and offers outdoor play with a storybook theme that includes an Anima petting area, a casual café, and a beautiful garden. It's fundamentally a safe spot for parents and their children to play, imagine, and learn.
4. Visit Shasta Park
Shasta Park is a massive 21.2-acre Park that's specially designed to appeal to children of all ages. It's got a skate park, picnic area, tennis court, play area, Peter Rabbit Art Reading Area, and many more. While you can't rent the entire park for a birthday party, you can use any of its numerous halls for the occasion.
5. Visit Discovery Park
Do your kids dream of drifting on a calm body of water? If that's the case, consider taking them to Discovery Park. This area is where the Sacramento River meets the American River, and it has one of the country's best boat launches, allowing recreational boaters to explore its surface.
6. Visit William Land Park
Another spot to visit with your kids is William Land Park, which offers several picnic spots and three impressive attractions for children. While this spot isn't phenomenal in terms of entertainment, it is sufficient to put a smile on your child's face.
7. Visit Wells Fargo History Museum
The well Fargo History Museum aims to showcase some of America's rich and deep history to individuals of all ages. Therefore, you can take your kids to this spot and show them some
original stagecoaches, telegraphs, gold coins, banking documents, old money, and many more. It's technically a window to the past.
8. Visit Old Town Sacramento
Old Town Sacramento is a worthwhile sight to behold as the area contains historic buildings from the gold rush era, carriages drawn by a horse and cobblestones. There are also museums around the room, like the Sacramento history museum and railroad museum. Some of the nearby shops sell souvenirs that you can take home from the journey.
9. Visit the California Museum
Why not take a short trip to the State history museum - the California Museum. This building houses all the stories and has over 20,000 square feet of exhibits, museological archives, and event facilities. It's a worthwhile place to take the entire family.
10. Visit Seaquest
You can find SeaQuest at Folsom, Downtown Sacramento, and it is an area designed specifically for kids of all ages. It enables them to enjoy exhibits like oceans, rainforest, and deserts and view over 1,200 foreign animals. Your kids can have fun feeding birds, touching stingrays, and watching sharks swim.
Culture and History of Sacramento, CA
Are you tired of engaging in mediocre activities on your trips and would like a change of pace? Sacramento can grant your wish as it presents numerous activities that'll get your blood pumping. Pay attention as this list guides you in the best unique things to do in Sacramento.
1. Visit the Monkey Puzzle Tree
This notable plant species derives its name from the sharp, thorny branches that make it impossible for monkeys to climb it. While this tree isn't famous worldwide, it is common for tourists to admire them due to their unique defense technique.
2. Visit the Eagle Theatre
This Theatre was built during the 1849 gold rush and California's first permanent theater. While the title of permanence was short-lived due to the flood in 1850, it was rebuilt by the city, allowing you to admire the present architecture.
3. Visit the Old City Cemetery
The Old City Cemetery, also known as Cemetery Sacramento, is the city's oldest burial ground as it was established in 1849. This place is the final resting ground of previous figures like governors and mayors, including victims of the Cholera epidemic in 1850. The main attraction here is the Victorian garden and the site's lantern-led tour to experience its history.
4. Visit Safetyville
Consider visiting this miniature town, which resides in the suburbs of Rancho Cordova and is made to fit children's scale. The place has its tiny, fast food restaurants like Macdonald's, Taco Bell, and a police and fire department. Although this small town is relatively old - since 1984 - it has undergone very little change.
5. Admire Patty Reed's Doll
Experience the story of the defiant little girl who smuggled her little dollhouse to California by hiding it in her massive skirt. Her family aimed to travel light in order to reach California quickly before they got trapped by the winter. Unfortunately, the journey had an unhappy ending. Nevertheless, the doll is kept in the museum at Sutter's fort as a historical landmark and a look into the gold rush and pioneer life.
6. Visit Dragon House Sacramento
While this location isn't a popular tourist site, Dragon House is a sight for sore eyes in a drab suburban landscape. The building has a highly detailed tile work; the side is adorned with a massive dragon that weaves between the windows, alongside a white, staring tiger.
7. Visit Sacramento Locomotive Works
Sacramento Locomotive Works in California's famous railroad museum, which holds a treasure for you if you're into heavy engineering, 19th-century engines, and railroads. While you can go alone, it's best to go with an arranged tour group to have a more immersive experience of this somewhat ancient technology.
8. Visit The Spirit Of Sacramento
This three-story boat was initially an Army Corps of Engineer snag boat in 1942 until it was sold to the famous John Wayne, who used it in his movies. Wayne later handed it over to Mansion Belle, who used it for river tours. Unfortunately, time and the elements made this boat unusable, and it now lies on the Riego Road as a tourist attraction.
9. Admire Johnny Cash Mural
This 15-story tall piece of art in downtown Sacramento aims to raise awareness for prison reform in Folsom Prison. This Mural was inspired by Johnny Cash's concert in Folsom Prison, which focused on his views on prison reform. While this Mural has received some criticism, it's still a typical tourist attraction due to its historical relevance.
10. Visit The Cathedral Of The Blessed Sacrament
The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament can be considered the head of catholicism in Sacramento, and it encompasses 99 churches. The building is beautiful to behold as it has a 13-foot crucifix with a crown and an interior dome. You're bound to enjoy the holy aesthetics.
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