Almost the Final Leg

Its such fun to go on a road trip and visit places we've only seen on television or movies.  They become more real somehow.  We've talked about going overseas, and maybe someday we will, but in the meantime there's so much to do and see in the Americas.  We've been across Canada many times, having lived from the east to the west coast, and now we're seeing more of the US.  And there's just so much to see...such changes in climates, topography, scenery and people from one place to the next.

We stopped in Sacramento, CA, for two days to visit with Joyce's son and his family, and explored the historical "Old Sac" part of the city as well as the State Capital area, where Arnold Schwartznegger used to live when he was the State Governor.

Watching the rail transit go by in downtown Sacramento.

In the center of the city is the State Capitol complex...a beautiful peaceful parklike area  of town. There was some kind of activity going on down there...high school students were there performing in the large open area but we never did figure out what it was all about.

                               

Embedded in one of the walkways was a replica of the Great Seal of the State of California.

  Less than a block from the Capitol was this beautiful cathedral.  As we stood there taking pictures the doors opened and a bridal party came out and posed on the steps for pictures before getting into the black limo parked in front. What a lovely place to get married.

This huge structure in downtown Sacramento is a drawbridge called Tower Bridge.  It would have been interesting to see it in action.

Then we left the modern city and went to what the locals call "Old Sac", a renovation of the oldest part of the city with as much of the original structures as possible left intact.  It is very 'touristy' with lots of quaint shops locatd in the old buildings.

Interesting No Parking sign.

I could have watched this puppeteer for a long time.  His marionettes were
works of art.  This pianist sat playing the piano pounding out tunes from the
1920s and 1930s.  A wonderful performance.

Horse drawn carriages vied with the cars for room on the streets,
a nice way to tour the old city.

To finish our tour of the city, Lloyd and I found a quiet park by the
river and sat for an hour or so watching the boats of every size and
shape cruise, or race, by.  A lovely peaceful time.

Well, I was going to combine Sacramento and San Francisco into one blog, but that would have made it too long, so SF will have to be done all on its own.  It was my favorite stop of the trip so far.