Sacramento Area?

[Darin Boville]

I'll be in Vacaville for a week (my wife is attending a training seminar)...and I'd like to spend a day or two photographing landscapes or other interesting sites with my two kids, ages 11 and 13. The kids will be making images, too.

We can drive an hour or so in any direction but want to stay away from San Francisco and the coast areas.

Any ideas, suggestions?

--Darin

[Vaughn]

I enjoyed photographing in the Delta area. Just south and west of Sac -- driving along the levies (Road 84 for example) down to Rio Vista. At one point 84 crosses the levy by a free ferry.

[David Michael Bigeleisen]

There are lots of thIngs to do and see. There is an abandoned stainless steel tomato paste plant in Woodland, the old Chinese town in Locke, the Rio Vista cafe with hundreds of stuffed game animals. Visit Isleton and photograph the corn stalks on the farms in the delta. You can also visit the railroad museum in Sacramento and the the abandoned battleship graveyard in Suisun bay.

[BradS]

.....but want to stay away from San Francisco and the coast areas.

--Darin

[Bill_1856]

There's nothing left in California worth photographing. If there were, somebody else would have already tried to do it. Sorry.

[John Kasaian]

Lots of stuff! The Gold Rush country, Lake Tahoe, River Delta-all are easy day trips out of Sacramento.
I like the Hope Valley/Markleeville/Luther Pass/Hwy 88 areas South of Tahoe, and North of Tahoe you'll find a lovely stretch of the Truckee River running from the dam all the way to Reno. Both Heavanly Valey and Squaw Valley ski resorts keep lifts running in the of season so you can easily access some remote classic Sierra granite terrain.
If you happen to be going through Kirkwood, try the Zak's Fries at the Kirkwood Inn

[Roger Thoms]

If you have a chance check out Viewpoint Photographic Art Center in Sacramento. Viewpoint has a nice gallery and is a great organization.

http://www.viewpointgallery.org/

Roger

[dsphotog]

You and the kids might like the Capitol building, Sutters Fort, Old Sac, railroad museum, Sac Rivercats baseball,
some great historic theaters and buildings downtown.

Stay cool!

[Darin Boville]

Great ideas--stuff i would never have known about or thought of. Thanks!

I'm heading up there now and will have internet all week--more ideas are welcome

--Darin

[Jim Graves]

I agree with the Locke suggestion ... interesting old places.

Probably the best bet with two adolescents in tow is Old Sacramento ... it's on the old riverfront, has some interesting gold rush era buildings and two 30's era iron bridges, mixed in with ice cream parlors & t-shirt stores, and a number of restaurants with outdoor seating on the river ... and they can roam the decks and some of the interior of a LARGE paddle wheeler permanently docked there that functions as a hotel, restaurant and bar (The Delta King ... it's sister ship, the Delta Queen plies the Mississippi now ... both used to go from SF to Sacto in the 19th and early 20th centuries ... the woodwork is amazing on the inside.

If you're in Sacto on the weekend, The Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento runs old trains that take passengers on open cars. They run from Old Sacramento out along the river levee and then back to the museum in Old Sacramento (about a 30 minute ride, I think.)