Sacramento

After Breakfast, we drove to Sacramento, still on Highway One, looking for somewhere to stop so that we could book our hotels for the rest of the trip. We passed three Starbucks on the left before we finally came across one on the right we could use. We stopped for a drink and booked the last two hotels in San Francisco.

After coffee we got back in the car and completed the drive to Sacramento, heading through Stockport, which gave us no real need to stop.

We had found this hotel when we were in the Miners Inn and I had insisted that we book a room aboard it. It was the converted Steamboat The Delta King. It is an amazing place, docked on the river permanently; it maintains the elegance and style of a high-end Mississippi steamboat. We got a room for two with semi-private separate rooms, which was overlooking the city and had a small shared veranda (otherwise known as the deck.

Our car was parked off somewhere by the Valet as it was such a busy area, which was a new experience for us.

After we’d checked in and soaked up the atmosphere, I’d complained bitterly that I’d not brought my tuxedo (it was that kind of place).

We walked into town. The main street was a recreation, much like Old Town in San Diego. Full of tourist trap stores, more Disney than anything else. Once we went through this area however and got into the centre everything changed. We went to City Hall, which is a huge old building. The main part is a museum from 1902, though it is still the functioning seat of government. We kept our eye out for the Govenator, but there was no sign of Mr. Schwarzenegger.

Deciding it was time for some food, we consulted our guide and found a local café that was highly recommended. We called in towards the end of the lunchtime rush and the French proprietor, on finding out we were English, ushered the last patron out, locked the door and sat down with us whilst we ate so that he could complain about living in Sacramento, living in America at all and Americans in general. You know a Frenchman is unhappy when he is looking for sympathy and solidarity from an Englishman! The food was good though.

After this, we went to Governor’s mansion. The Reagans were the last governors to stay there as it is now a museum and showpiece. The Tour guide was excellent, giving us a real coverage of the history of the building.

We walked back to the riverboat and showered and changed for the night out. I was done quickly and went down to the restaurant bar to do some photo-editing and have a glass of wine on the deck bar. My associate was due to come straight down, but got caught up on the internet, so I’d had a few glasses before he arrived and we decided to eat on deck.

After food, we decided to go and listen to some music as we’d heard about a local indie bar nearby. So, map in hand we walked to Old Ironsides. It was a good sized venue and we spent hours listening to amateur bands. Some were excellent, some were terrible, and one Rapper was worse than anything I have ever seen before ever. We had some beers and chatted to bands who had finished.

We’d both had enough to drink that when we were offered a lift home from two local kids, who were clearly not old enough to be drinking and had been, we decided “What could go wrong!” and accepted….

They took us back to the hotel, and we sat up on deck chatting for a while. I’d taken my shoes off and left them in the hotel room, and was just sat with my feet up on another chair when one of the boys grabbed my sock and hurled it into the Sacramento River.

And that is how I lost my sock in Sacramento.