Sacramento 12-22-2008

Monday was a great day! We woke up and the sun was shining and it was warmer here than it was at home. We picked up our rental car about 8:30 and drove over the Bay Bridge on our way to Sacramento. It was so clear we could see Alcatraz and the Golden Gate with no problems. After about a 45 minute drive we stopped into the Jelly Belly Factory for a tour.
Luckily when we got there, there was no line. It was really neat to see the jelly beans being made. The kids really enjoyed it and we picked up some free jelly beans, a few souvenirs and a box of bamboozled beans. These are basically the Harry Potter Bertie Botts beans. You get several colors and a lot of them look alike. So a blue will either be toothpaste or blueberry, a black is either skunk spray or licorice. The kids had a great time at lunch because Scott was tasting them. Apparently the skunk spray and pencil shavings are the worst so far. I don't really like jelly beans so I smelled the skunk spray and it really does have the exact same odor. Who was the poor taste tester for those??? Anyway, I have video from that.
Next we jumped back in the Explorer we rented and headed to Sacramento. The kids are making a song for the trip. Video of that too. We pulled right up to the state capitol which is second only to virginia's in beauty of the 5 we have seen so far. Of course NC is the ugliest, go figure. We took the tour and saw a little of the movie about the restoration done in the 1970's. We also went to the Govenor's office where the kids had their picture taken in front of the tree in his reception area. We also now have the Govenator's business card, although I am guessing that the number leads you to the Arnold fan club switch board and not to his actual office. But still pretty darn cool!
We left there and headed over to Olde Sacramento. The old buildings were pretty neat but basically this is a tourist money trap. We walked along the cobblestone streets lined with shops filled with junk that nobody wants unless you are a t-shirt collector (which we are not). There are also lots of candy shops but we had just been to the candy mecca and these pailed in comparison. We did visit the California Railroad Museum. The exhibits and train cars and engines in here were amazing. It puts the little NC Transportation museum in Spencer to shame although they are trying. We took our pictures with a lot of them and wondered what it would be like to ride a train across the country (maybe another vacation???).
The kids were getting tired and our parking meter was getting low on time so we checked in at the hotel around 4:00. I have to admit it felt really good just to lay on the bed and veg out for a little while. Scott and I both have noticed our legs are sore and tired from all of the walking and sometimes carrying the kids.
While we had a good weather day with temperatures in the 50's, the rain is supposed to move back in. We did buy tire chains yesterday so at least we are prepared. We head to Tenaya Lodge outside of Yosemite today. Looking forward to some snow!!!