Travel with Me to Sacramento
Whenever I go on vacation it’s usually in the same places as New York or Florida but, for this post I wanted to focus on a trip, I took last summer. My best friend Sydney and I took a Californication to visit our friends Victoria and Sarah who are from Sacramento.
Sydney and I drove to Omaha to fly to Sacramento on July 10, 2018. Our stay was a week-long and such a blast. Because our friends lived there we had a free stay and it was also nice that they knew how to get around so they had every day planned out for us.
From Left to Right: Sarah, Sydney, Victoria, Me
Our flight got in pretty early that Tuesday and when we arrived at my friend’s house their mom made us a huge brunch which was so sweet of her. We took it pretty easy the first day exploring downtown Sacramento and that same night we went country line dancing at Stoney's Rockin Rodeo, which seemed to be the place to be in the summertime. It was poppin. Probably one of the best nights of my life because Sydney and I wore Chaco’s and danced more hip-hop than country I would say; very offbeat.
On the second day, we road tripped to see the Yuba River, which was surrounded by forests of natural beauty. It was one of those places where a picture could never do it justice. The gushing waters and deep emerald swimming holes were nonetheless beautiful, sprinkled with rocks so high they were fun to jump from. We spent almost the whole day there, in awe the whole time.
Yuba River
The next day we drove to Lake Tahoe, which was my favorite part of the whole trip. Victoria has a convertible Mustang so cruising through the mansions with the top down and music up was the epitome of Californication. We also hiked so high we could see across the Lake that almost looked like an ocean it was that big. We had time to stop to see where the 1960 Winter Olympics were held on our way up to Lake Tahoe which was one of the most surreal moments I’ve experienced.
The fourth day consisted of the California State Fair. Now, I have been to the county fair in Columbus, Neb. because it was the biggest event we had there growing up but it didn’t compare. This state fair was obviously way bigger, but I was surprised to see some of the same rides I rode when I was younger going to the county fair in Columbus. We went to the petting zoo, horse races, and got some famous fair food. It was a great way to spend our day, but it kind of drained us, so when we went back to Victoria and Sarah’s house we all took a nap so we were ready for that night. We decided to go to a block party they hold every year in downtown Sacramento. They have performers and shops open all day and for dinner, we ate at one of the best pizza places I’ve ever had. A night cemented in my memory.
The next day we decided to road trip down to San Francisco. I’ve always wanted to go there because my aunt always told me it was a hippie city which is kind of my style. The day we went, they had a whole street blocked off for people to look at shops and art which was right up my alley. We then went to the Giants game which was an experience I’ll always keep with me. We were a little late, but we still made it and it was really something to see, the stadium was massive! We shopped a little more after and then on our way down to Santa Cruz we went over the Golden Gate Bridge, which was covered in its famous fog.
We woke up in Santa Cruz, which was something to see as well. When I think of Santa Cruz I just always thought of surfer guys, sunny; beach kind of vibes, and I was right. It wasn’t the warmest day, but surfers seemed to love that. Walking across the boardwalk we decided to go on at least one ride which was the Giant Dipper. After, we walked around just soaking in every moment. It finally warmed up as the day went on so we walked along the beach and grabbed a piece of pizza. Wearing jeans and t-shirts, we lay on the beach for about a half hour until we were like “what are we doing?” “should we leave now?” We decided to drive back to Sacramento that same day right after we ate our ice cream for dessert. Side note- when we arrived back in Sacramento which was like 1 a.m. we had to stop by In-N-Out of course, because who goes to California without eating at In-N-Out. It was hella delicious.
The next morning Sydney left early, but Victoria and Sarah took me back down to downtown Sacramento to get something I probably shouldn’t say because if my dad is reading he would find out. We ended up getting some gelato and shopped at some thrift stores so it was already time for me to leave.
It was so much fun mainly because I was with my friends and we were always doing something. I can say I was never the slightest bit bored at any moment when I was there, I really loved every second. I loved it so much that I decided to document as much as I could through short videos on my phone, so I could put them all together to make a fun, memorable video I could have forever. If you want to see it click here.
