Trains & Jazz in Sacramento

For the three-day weekend we decided it might be fun to take the boys back to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Sacramento is always a great getaway, even on a Holiday weekend. You can get a nice hotel fairly cheap, and it never seems to book up.

Jonathan and I were perplexed when our favorite hotel in Sacramento was $200 a night, and the Embassy Suites was sold out. But we did a little research, and stayed at the Governor's Inn which was well priced, clean, nice and near all our favorite places.

Some fun places to eat in Sacramento with kids

I had to volunteer at the Little League Snack Shack, so we couldn't start our adventure until 4 pm on Saturday. Which is okay, we could still make it to Sacramento by 6:30 pm for dinner at our favorite sit-down Mexican restaurant in Northern California Tres Hermanas. The food is yummy, and you don't feel sick later. The boys love the restaurant too. When in Sacramento, we like to eat, and there are lots of great places to discover.

The next day we tried the Tower Cafe for breakfast. It is in an old Tower Records. With lush flowers and world arts and artifacts decorations, the boys liked playing eye-spy in the restaurant. And the breakfast lived up the Yelp reviews ... it was wonderful. Xander, my breakfast connoisseur, loved the bacon, eggs, hashbrowns and french toast. Caleb ate a pancake ... this is a pretty big deal for him. One note, our kids are early risers. We were up and at breakfast at 7:30 am (the restaurant opens at 7 am). When we left at 8:30 am there was already a line forming. We are not alone in thinking this place is pretty great, so either get there early, or be prepared to wait a little.

Trains and ... Jazz

After breakfast we headed to the the California State Railroad Museum. We knew it didn't open until 10 am, but thought we would walk around Old Town Sacramento beforehand. When we got to Sacramento on Saturday we found out why everything was booked. It was the annual Sacramento Jazz Festival. But, what we didn't know was that Old Town was the destination for the festivities.

Since we were early for both the museum and the festival, we found parking - no problem. We had plenty of people watching to see before the museum opened, as the musicians did their soundchecks before the 10 am show.  Once we went in the museum there were musicians set-up near one of the exhibits, and on the train as well. After our train ride, as we were leaving for the day, we stopped to watch some jazz in the family tent, as well as enjoy some traveling troops throughout Old Town.

The Sacramento Jazz Festival also had a street fair like quality. We ended our morning with some kettle corn and fresh lemonade for the boys (their favorite).

We had a wonderful time, and the coincidence of a museum visit during Jazz Festival was great luck, instead of a nuisance. We've been to the museum multiple times. It is immense.  This time we even went for a family membership (we can bring the grandparents, or friends for that matter under our membership), so we'll be back again soon.

The California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento

The word "trains" is in the title of the blog, and I can't overstate how much my boys love trains.  Trains seem to be universally appealing to boys under five. For example my oldest had the Thomas Playbook (a book of all of the trains and accessories for Thomas the Tank Engine) at the park on Sunday, and a group of about six boys gathered in a circle to look at the book. The pack broke up before anyone got a good picture.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving we decided to reward our boys with a visit to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. The boys had a wonderful time, and we will definitely be going back before the new year. The California State Railroad Museum is set in the heart of old town Sacramento on the eastern bank of the Sacramento River.

For the Holidays, tables were set-up in the roundhouse with model train displays. For our youngest Caleb this was the highlight of the day. He spent most of his visit watching intently as the little trains circled the track. There was also a lego train display that was really special.

The big trains were beautiful, and the volunteers brought everything to life. Everyone who worked there loves trains as much as our little boys do, and will bend your ear about the mail car, the big engine that was flipped around so it could go through Donner Pass, and more.

There is also a children's play area with a train table and Thomas engines. The boys played there briefly, but the wonderful exhibits were far more interesting.

We were also able to take an hour ride on a classic train. The train was decked for the Holidays, and had caroling, and a surprise visit from Santa. We sat in the front car, to our dismay was the back car on the first half of the ride ... but then something wonderful happened. For the return ride the engine was hitched to our car, and our boys were up front to see it all happen. For the under five set this is like winning the jack pot.

Now, the California State Railroad Museum is no B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore. The B&O Museum is larger, and its collection is more comprehensive. But the California State Railroad Museum has a lot to offer, is in a much more appealing location, and is also less expensive to visit.