the train ride in Old Sacramento

The last day of John’s conference and we are able to secure two

 more nights at our hotel.  Is it more than I want to spend, yes, but when you add in the idea of not moving again and not knowing what you’re getting next, it’s worth it.  We drop off John in Davis and Oscar and I head to Old Sacramento because you get to ride on the weekends in the summer.  So, we park in a garage and head to the Railroad Museum, but the train is somewhere else, so Oscar’s tired of walking by the time we get to the ticket window.  We’re able to get our ticket for free because one of the docents asks if I want to be a member and I mention that we’re

only visiting from Michigan.  They think that this is amazing and give me a free pass to ride.  Pretty awesome that and there’s no admission to Old Sacramento, so we have a great day of riding a vintage train for $8 parking.  We enjoy a great train ride past a truly “golden” bridge in California, although Sacramento calls this “tower bridge”.  We have Sacramento “snow”

in the cars which is the cottonwood fluff that is drifting everywhere and we get to hear the whistle blow, watch the engine unhitch and come around to hook up to the other side and pull us back to the station.  Oscar has the best of both worlds as he chooses a coach car to ride out in and a “gondola” car for the ride back.  He wants to go back on as soon as

we get off.  We head next door for some fried foods that I enjoy a fair like corn dog at and Oscar’s popcorn chicken and fries gets given to a homeless man.  We leave Old Sacramento because it is getting ungodly hot and we are having record highs here right now.  104 degrees today and Oscar keeps touching the seat of the car before climbing in and saying “hot,

hot”.  I don’t blame the kid, he’s getting a diaper rash from the heat, the shorts that I brought him are not lasting long enough through this trip and we’re all a little out of sorts from the heat.  Oscar fights a nap, but then sleeps like the dead to the point where I have to drag him awake in time to go get John from the conference.  We’re so totally off east coast time

at this point that we might as well be in Europe.  We have dinner in Dixon at Bud's Pub and find that it's more high end restaurant than pub.  The beers on tap are not what we were expecting (we've grown accustomed to Brew City USA) but the food made up for the lack of good draft beer.  I highly recommend the chicken and mushroom there if you ever find yourself in this small town and need food.