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Things To Do in Sacramento, California

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Sacramento Places of Interest

California State Capitol Museum

California State Capitol Museum
Housed in Sacramento's Capitol complex, the California State Capitol Museum showcases hundreds of paintings, statues, murals and antique furniture pieces that portray various phases of California's history. The museum's main draw is its collection of 50 historic flags carried by California units in the Civil War, Spanish American War and World War I. The complex's 40-acre Capitol Park, home to lush lawns, flower gardens and California history monuments, is also visitor favorite. The California State Capitol Museum is available for private rentals upon permit approval.

The museum is open Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM and Saturday and Sunday from 9 AM to 5 PM. Guided tours run daily on the hour from 9 AM to 4 PM. Admission is free. For more information: 916-324-0333

Crocker Art Museum

Crocker Art Museum
Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum is known for its impressive permanent collection of more than 14,000 works, including a premier assortment of California art and international ceramics, while its collection of more than 1,400 master drawings is one of the finest early collections in the United States. Founded in 1885, making it the longest continuously operating art museum in the west United States, the Crocker Art Museum hosts more than 160,000 visitors per year. These guests look forward to even more to see when in 2010 the museum is set to make a 125,000-square-foot expansion, tripling it in size. The Crocker Art Museum is available for private rentals.

Crocker Art Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 AM to 5 PM and Thursday from 10 AM to 9 PM. Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for students. Admission for children under 6 is free. The museum features free admission Sunday from 10 AM to 1 PM. On-street metered parking is available and a nearby parking lot offers spaces for $3 per two hours. For more information: 916-808-7000

Old Sacramento

Old Sacramento
The California Gold Rush began in 1849 on the banks of the Sacramento River, which is now known as Old Sacramento, a 28-acre state historic park that takes visitors back to the Gold Rush era. As the top visitor draw in the Sacramento region, Old Sacramento is home to more than 125 shops and restaurants housed in Gold Rush era structures among cobblestone streets and wooden sidewalks. Old Sacramento features such points of interest as the Pony Express Statue and Eagle Theatre, a reconstruction of the first theater built in California, as well as the Sacramento Engine Company No. 3, the oldest remaining firehouse in Sacramento. All-day visitor parking is available at the Old Sacramento public garage. For more information: 916-442-7644

Sutter's Fort State Historic Park

Sutter's Fort State Historic Park
Located in midtown Sacramento, Sutter's Fort State Historic Park is home to the oldest restored fort in the United States. The fort and park are named after John Sutter, a Swiss immigrant who received a land grant in the Sacramento Valley from the Mexican Government in 1839. Sutter used the land for agricultural purposes, and it slowly evolved into Sacramento's earliest settlement, named New Helvetia. Less than a decade after its naming, New Helvetia was overrun by gold seekers, and today the fort is all that remains. Guests can tour Sutter Fort, which has been restored based on an 1847 map to its former state. The park is available for private events.

Sutter Fort State Historic Park is open daily from 10 AM to 5 PM. Admission is free. Parking meters are located throughout the park. For more information: 916-445-4422

Sacramento Restaurants

Chanterelle
Housed in the Sterling Hotel, a former carriage house of a late 19th century Queen Anne-style mansion, Chanterelle is an intimate, historic restaurant that seats 35 people at full capacity. Chanterelle specializes in Northern California regional cuisine, including such favorites as seafood linguini with sauteed lobster, scallop, shrimp, tomato and lemon linguini, strawberry salad with arugula, bleu cheese and white balsamic vinaigrette, and the veal Chanterelle of porcini-crusted veal medallions with mushroom ragout, mashed potatoes and a veal demi-glaze. Chanterelle's warm interior is enhanced with rich colors and historic stonework. The restaurant offers facility rentals and can accommodate private parties of up to 25 guests.

Chanterelle serves lunch Tuesday through Friday from 11 AM to 2 PM and dinner Sunday and Tuesday through Thursday from 5:30 to 9 PM and Friday and Saturday from 5:30 to 9:30 PM. Brunch is served Sunday from 10 AM to 2 PM. Lunch entrees average $10 and dinner entrees range from $16 to $26. The Sunday Champagne brunch is $31.95 per person. For more information: 916-442-0451

The Firehouse Restaurant
The Firehouse Restaurant, located in historic Old Sacramento, is housed in the building that originally served as the Sacramento No. 3 firehouse, built in 1853. The restaurant features several period rooms, including the Golden Eagle Room with elegant Gold Rush décor of gilded mirrors and antique furnishings that seats 100 to 150 guests; the Golden Eagle Salon with a carved wood bar that seats 30 to 50 guests; the 50- to 125-seat Courtyard Grill with a large fireplace, dark wood bar and skylight; and the outdoor Courtyard that seats 50 to 250 guests amongst bricks, ivy walls and a leafy canopy. The Firehouse Restaurant also features two private wine cellars, both complete with stained glass and period artwork; one cellar seats up to 16 guests, while the other seats up to 40 guests. The Firehouse Restaurant specializes in fine contemporary American dining, with menu favorites of limoncello pepper prawns and achiote-apricot duck.

The Firehouse Restaurant serves lunch Monday through Friday from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM and dinner Sunday through Thursday from 5 to 9:30 PM and Friday and Saturday from 5 to 10 PM. Lunch entrees range from $16 to $22 and dinner entrees range from $26 to $45. For more information: 916-442-4772

Frank Fat's
The oldest restaurant in Sacramento, Frank Fat's has been serving delicious Chinese cuisine since 1939. Frank Fat's features food from the four provinces of China - Peking, Szechuan, Canton and Shanghai - with selections such as brandy-fried chicken with fresh ginger, garlic and soy, special fried rice in lotus leaves with shrimp, chicken, Chinese sausage, roast duck, shiitake mushrooms, lotus seeds and green onions, as well as Singapore noodles tossed with barbequed pork, shrimp, onions, bell peppers and spicy curry sauce. Diners can enjoy such sumptuous dishes among the restaurant's sleek interior, featuring plush, private booths, deep red and gold accents and striking Chinese murals. Frank Fat's elegant private dining room with unique circular windows seats 30 to 44 people and offers family-style meals.

Frank Fat's serves lunch Monday through Friday from 11 AM to 5 PM and dinner Monday through Saturday from 5 to 10 PM. Lunch entrees range from $13 to $37 and dinner entrees range from $14 to $34. For more information: 916-442-7092

Restaurant 55°
Named for the optimal temperature to store red wine, Restaurant 55° masters New American cuisine. The restaurant's chic, minimalist interior features muted oranges and a steel-and-glass wine locker, as well as elegant floor-to-ceiling windows. Menu favorites include the Hawaiian sushi grade ahi tuna tartar with wakame seaweed salad, crispy sesame tuile and micro shisho, and the risotto of seasonal wild mushrooms, mascarpone cheese and truffle oil. The Mussels 55° selection features fresh mussels with Belgian white beer, applewood bacon, goat cheese, carrots, celery and onions. Restaurant 55° specializes in a wide variety of international wines and specialty cocktails. It hosts beer tastings Wednesday for $10 per person and wine tastings Thursday for $10 per person.

Restaurant 55° serves lunch Monday through Friday from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM and dinner Monday through Thursday from 5 to 9 PM and Friday and Saturday from 5 to 10 PM. Lunch entrees range from $12 to $24 and dinner entrees range from $14 to $34. For more information: 916-553-4100

Other Sacramento Attractions and Activities

Gold Rush Whitewater Rafting
Gold Rush Whitewater Rafting offers several one-day and two-day whitewater rafting trips along the South Fork and Middle Fork of the American River and Kawean River. Trips, which leave from the Gold Rush River Resort located about 40 miles from Sacramento, are tailored to accommodate both beginner and advanced rafters. The most popular trip is the three-hour, 10-mile Gorge Run, which starts with a picnic lunch before getting out on the waters of the lower section of the American River. Those who opt for a two-day trip stay in a private riverside camping facility with modern bathhouses. Trip prices start at $65 for youths and $85 for adults; two-day tour prices include all meals. For more information: 800-900-7238

Fairytale Town
The 2.5-acre Fairytale Town brings fairytales and nursery rhymes to life among its more than 20 three-dimensional child-size play sets, interactive gardens and petting zoo. A nonprofit family park since 1959, Fairytale Town features such play sets as a Sherwood Forest play fort, Cinderella's carriage and Jack's beanstalk. Guests also delight in the petting zoo animals, which include Peter Rabbit and his sisters, Eeyore the donkey from the classic Winnie the Pooh stories, and Moo-Lawn, the cow that jumped over the moon. Fairytale Town offers after-hours "Enchanted Evenings," when its various facilities are available for private events of up to 150 guests.

Fairytale Town is open Thursday through Sunday, November to February, from 10 AM to 4 PM and daily, March to October, from 9 AM to 4 PM. Weekday admission is $3.75 and weekend admission is $4.50. Admission for children under 3 is free. Group rates are available. For more information: 916-264-5233

Sacramento RiverTrain
Launched in 2005, Sacramento RiverTrain is one of the nation's newest dinner trains. The blue and gold train boards in Woodland, located just 15 minutes from Sacramento, where it begins a 32-mile trip along the Woodland Branch lasting approximately three hours. The Sacramento RiverTrain features three open-air cars and three enclosed air-conditioned coaches, as well as plantation-style ceiling fans, rattan furniture, luxurious carpet and wood paneling. More than 200 daytime and evening excursions are offered each year, including weekend RiverTrain dinner parties, murder mystery dinners, Saturday Great Train Robberies and Sunday champagne brunches. Private car or train rentals are available. Ticket price varies based on excursion and seat choice, but typically starts around $50 per person. For more information: 800-866-1690

Sacramento Zoo
The 14.5-acre Sacramento Zoo is home to more than 500 animals of 140 different species, many of which are exotic and endangered. Operating since 1927, the Sacramento Zoo features such favorites as red kangaroos, two-toed sloths, Sumatran tigers, flamingos, toucans and Magellanic penguins. The zoo is available for private events, with facilities such as the 200-seat Kampala Center.

Sacramento Zoo is open daily from 9 AM to 4 PM. Weekday admission is $8.25 for children ages 3-12 and $9 for adults. Weekend admission is $7.75 for children ages 3-12 and $8.50 for adults. Free street parking is available on streets surrounding the zoo. For more information: 916-808-5885