California State Railroad Museum #4 -- July 23, 2012

Today we drove to Sacramento.  Traffic was good going up.  Coming back, we heard about disruptions because President Obama was visiting Oakland, so we took the Black Point Cutoff and the Golden Gate Bridge.  Traffic was good again.

On the way up, we stopped at the Vacaville outlets.  We parked in Old Sacramento, and took a walk to the K Street Mall, where we had lunch at Johnny Rocket's.  We walked over the Sacramento train station and I took some pictures.

We went to the California State Railroad Museum.  There was an exhibit about comfort in traveling.  The many examples of chairs and seats were interesting.  Downstairs there was an exhibit of toy trains.  In the reefer, there was an exhibit of fruit crate labels.  There was no exhibit upstairs.  We had a nice stroll through the museum, then walked around Old Sacramento.

On the way back, we stopped at the Nut Tree and had something to eat at Fenton's Creamery.  I didn't see the train.  The heat was furnace-like.

I took the photo today, showing an interesting image on the side wall of the museum.  

Train Station #45 -- April 4, 2012

The Nut Tree locomotive waits at the station. The station has a distinctive white roof. In its current configuration, the railroad runs around an oval.

Cherry Blossoms -- February 13, 2009

I neglected to mention that all the cherry trees in Pacifica and Yerba Buena Gardens blossomed on 30-January. The heavy weather over the last couple of days has knocked off most of the blossoms. I took the photo on 31-January-2009.

Nut Tree and CSRM -- September 29, 2007

We skipped the Fog Fest and took a nice drive up 80 today. First we visited the Nut Tree for the first time since it reopened last October. It was nice. We found a parking space and wandered past a Fenton's Creamery and a few other stores, then found the entrance to the Nut Tree Family Park between two sets of stores. Almost immediately, I saw the distinctive roof of the old ticket booth, and the train stopped at the depot behind it. It was the train I remember riding when I was a kid, and taking my daughter to ride when she was younger. When the engineer started the engine and started off, it sounded very familiar. We didn't get to ride, but I observed a nice route that wound around behind the merry-go-round and other rides. They had bumper cars, a roller coaster, the old hobby horses, and a nice garden. It was all centered around the Harbison House, which had been moved slightly from its old position. The whole area would be wonderful for kids up to 5 or 6 years old. I took photos and some videos which I will post on YouTube and put on my park trains site at the end of October. Tomorrow I roll out my writeup on the Labor Day Railfair at Ardenwood.

We continued up 80 to Sacramento. When we took the exit in West Sacramento, I was sad to learn that the Tower Bridge was closed for work. We took a long detour that led to 5.

Eventually we got to the California State Railroad Museum. The exhibits have been rearranged and augmented quite a bit since we had last gone. I liked the way the sleeping car and the diner are together. Visitors enter at one end of the sleeping car, then cross a platform at the other end to the diner. We went under the freeway to the K Street Mall for a late lunch, then went to the depot, where I was able to take photos and videos of the Sacramento Southern's Granite Rock locomotive taking water, switching, and leaving with the three o'clock train.

Traffic was very light and we were home in about 90 minutes. It was a nice, relaxing day.