Sacramento Visit!
This past week I was in Sacramento, visiting my oldest sister, Summer, for her birthday on the 23rd!
Sis & her husband picked me up from the airport Friday night. They only live like 10 mins from the airport, which is really nice.
On Saturday, we went to see the Melissa McCarthy flick, Spy. I adored it, & Summer liked it, too. In the evening, we went to a Sacramento River Cats game. They're the AAA farm team for the San Francisco Giants. It was apparently a popular night, so the parking lot filled up very fast! We ended up having to drive completely around the stadium to park in a private lot just across the street (which was actually closer to the gate than the stadium parking would've been, lol), so we joked that we scored a run for the team. And when we finally got to our seats in the 2nd inning, we saw that the River Cats had a run on the board! We do good work. ;)
There were also fireworks after the game, and, to our delight, the show had a spy theme! The music included songs like the James Bond theme, the Pink Panther theme, and Secret Agent Man.
A couple interesting things happened that I have never seen at a major league stadium, and will never see in a major league stadium: baby. races., and a player thoroughly tore his pants sliding into base as a runner, and then had to go directly out to field in the next inning not realizing just how torn up his pants really were.
On Sunday, we did a walking tour of Old Town Sacramento that focuses on the weird historical nugget that the Sacramento street level was raised 15 feet in the 1860's, so about 1,000 buildings were lifted onto jacks and literally cranked up 15 feet. Part of the area has been excavated and preserved so that you can see where the original buildings and sidewalks were, but we weren't allowed to take photos underground for me to show you! After that, we walked around the more touristy buildings and shops of Old Town for a while. I bought my favorite kind of taffy, and then shopped for a couple hours in the area close to her house. She got a dress for the cruise she's taking in July, & I found a silver arrow necklace (like I've been wanting since Cap 2!) on clearance. And I made a pasta dish for dinner.
On Monday, we went to breakfast at a place I love in Sacramento: a pub called the Fox and Goose. They make a delicious corn beef hash. I also had walnut sourdough french toast. MMMMMMMM! Then Summer took me to the zoo so I could feed some animals! And also visit them, lol. After that, we went back to the movies and saw San Andreas. NEGL, my favorite part of the movie was Hugo Johnstone-Burt's character. We also met up with our cousin ladyjendifi, who was in town for a work training session, and had Thai food for dinner & played Cards Against Humanity (with some imbibing!) until late in the evening.
On Tuesday, Summer's birthday, we drove out to Tahoe so they could show me the area a bit. We'd hoped to do a ropes/zipline course, but they were all sold out for the day. It's been a really popular activity this year, since one of the usual tourist pulls, rafting, is not an option.
We got sandwiches from a local deli and went on a hike at my sister's favorite spot in the Tahoe area, Emerald Bay. We did a short little hike up to Eagle Falls, but it was kind of the worst because it was at a high altitude to begin with, and then the trail was almost entirely a series of these rough, uneven stone steps. THE. WORST. Emerald Bay has the only island in Lake Tahoe, a tiny little thing called Fanette Island. A woman built a castle sort of at the base of Eagle falls, and then put a "tea home" on top of the island. I can't imagine what the hike up there is like. (You can kiiiinda see it in the first picture, at the very top left of the island.)
We also stopped at a casino so that Sis could drop $20 on roulette, lol. And get a mai tai. She wanted to play slots for a few minutes too, so I gave in and played the Wolf Run slot machine and lost a dollar. We stopped and shopped at some outlets on the way back to Sacramento, but they bought more than I did! The only thing I got for myself was a couple of nail polishes from Hot Topic.
Wednesday was Summer's last day off work (Tues-Wed is her normal weekend at the zoo, and she'd gotten time off for Sat-Mon), so she wanted to take it pretty easy. We went to IHOP in the morning so she could get her free birthday pancakes, then went to the Farmers' Market with the dog. We watched a few episodes of Roswell on Netflix, lol. Then ladyjendifi came over again, and we went to a vegan restaurant. We played Disney Scene It?, and then Jenn left and remaining 3 of us played an one interminable game of 80's Scene It?.
Thursday, Summer went back to work, so I lazed about the house eating hummus & pita I'd bought at the farmers' market and fucked around online. :D When she got home, we went out to get some pupusas and then sat around watching Roswell for a few more hours!
Friday was almost the same; I've been meaning to watch The 100, so I gave it my best shot -- I made it halfway through episode 12, and I don't think I will be continuing. Then we went out to BJ's for dinner, had a pizookie trio, and Summer & her husband Alex dropped me off at the airport. T___T
Here is a picture of her cat Rascal being a rascal and winking at me when he realized I was taking his close-up:
I also read two brain candy supernatural books: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins and A Little Night Magic by Lucy Marsh. The easiest way to review them is that I read the first half of Hex Hall on my flight to Sacramento when I got bored of looking out the window, and didn't feel the need to pick it up again until my return flight. I read the first chunk of A Little Night Magic on my flight yesterday, and sat down to finish it first thing this morning. Hex Hall was just okay, a pretty average teen witch deal. The only thing worth remarking on is that it does have a canonically queer character. A Little Night Magic was a pretty typical adult witch romance, as well -- aggressively QuIrKy! at times -- but the prose was a lot more engaging, especially in terms of how the lead describes her love interest, who's not the typical square-jawed, perfectly coiffed, coolly mysterious handsome stranger.
Sis & her husband picked me up from the airport Friday night. They only live like 10 mins from the airport, which is really nice.
On Saturday, we went to see the Melissa McCarthy flick, Spy. I adored it, & Summer liked it, too. In the evening, we went to a Sacramento River Cats game. They're the AAA farm team for the San Francisco Giants. It was apparently a popular night, so the parking lot filled up very fast! We ended up having to drive completely around the stadium to park in a private lot just across the street (which was actually closer to the gate than the stadium parking would've been, lol), so we joked that we scored a run for the team. And when we finally got to our seats in the 2nd inning, we saw that the River Cats had a run on the board! We do good work. ;)
There were also fireworks after the game, and, to our delight, the show had a spy theme! The music included songs like the James Bond theme, the Pink Panther theme, and Secret Agent Man.
A couple interesting things happened that I have never seen at a major league stadium, and will never see in a major league stadium: baby. races., and a player thoroughly tore his pants sliding into base as a runner, and then had to go directly out to field in the next inning not realizing just how torn up his pants really were.
On Sunday, we did a walking tour of Old Town Sacramento that focuses on the weird historical nugget that the Sacramento street level was raised 15 feet in the 1860's, so about 1,000 buildings were lifted onto jacks and literally cranked up 15 feet. Part of the area has been excavated and preserved so that you can see where the original buildings and sidewalks were, but we weren't allowed to take photos underground for me to show you! After that, we walked around the more touristy buildings and shops of Old Town for a while. I bought my favorite kind of taffy, and then shopped for a couple hours in the area close to her house. She got a dress for the cruise she's taking in July, & I found a silver arrow necklace (like I've been wanting since Cap 2!) on clearance. And I made a pasta dish for dinner.
On Monday, we went to breakfast at a place I love in Sacramento: a pub called the Fox and Goose. They make a delicious corn beef hash. I also had walnut sourdough french toast. MMMMMMMM! Then Summer took me to the zoo so I could feed some animals! And also visit them, lol. After that, we went back to the movies and saw San Andreas. NEGL, my favorite part of the movie was Hugo Johnstone-Burt's character. We also met up with our cousin ladyjendifi, who was in town for a work training session, and had Thai food for dinner & played Cards Against Humanity (with some imbibing!) until late in the evening.
On Tuesday, Summer's birthday, we drove out to Tahoe so they could show me the area a bit. We'd hoped to do a ropes/zipline course, but they were all sold out for the day. It's been a really popular activity this year, since one of the usual tourist pulls, rafting, is not an option.
We got sandwiches from a local deli and went on a hike at my sister's favorite spot in the Tahoe area, Emerald Bay. We did a short little hike up to Eagle Falls, but it was kind of the worst because it was at a high altitude to begin with, and then the trail was almost entirely a series of these rough, uneven stone steps. THE. WORST. Emerald Bay has the only island in Lake Tahoe, a tiny little thing called Fanette Island. A woman built a castle sort of at the base of Eagle falls, and then put a "tea home" on top of the island. I can't imagine what the hike up there is like. (You can kiiiinda see it in the first picture, at the very top left of the island.)
We also stopped at a casino so that Sis could drop $20 on roulette, lol. And get a mai tai. She wanted to play slots for a few minutes too, so I gave in and played the Wolf Run slot machine and lost a dollar. We stopped and shopped at some outlets on the way back to Sacramento, but they bought more than I did! The only thing I got for myself was a couple of nail polishes from Hot Topic.
Wednesday was Summer's last day off work (Tues-Wed is her normal weekend at the zoo, and she'd gotten time off for Sat-Mon), so she wanted to take it pretty easy. We went to IHOP in the morning so she could get her free birthday pancakes, then went to the Farmers' Market with the dog. We watched a few episodes of Roswell on Netflix, lol. Then ladyjendifi came over again, and we went to a vegan restaurant. We played Disney Scene It?, and then Jenn left and remaining 3 of us played an one interminable game of 80's Scene It?.
Thursday, Summer went back to work, so I lazed about the house eating hummus & pita I'd bought at the farmers' market and fucked around online. :D When she got home, we went out to get some pupusas and then sat around watching Roswell for a few more hours!
Friday was almost the same; I've been meaning to watch The 100, so I gave it my best shot -- I made it halfway through episode 12, and I don't think I will be continuing. Then we went out to BJ's for dinner, had a pizookie trio, and Summer & her husband Alex dropped me off at the airport. T___T
Here is a picture of her cat Rascal being a rascal and winking at me when he realized I was taking his close-up:
I also read two brain candy supernatural books: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins and A Little Night Magic by Lucy Marsh. The easiest way to review them is that I read the first half of Hex Hall on my flight to Sacramento when I got bored of looking out the window, and didn't feel the need to pick it up again until my return flight. I read the first chunk of A Little Night Magic on my flight yesterday, and sat down to finish it first thing this morning. Hex Hall was just okay, a pretty average teen witch deal. The only thing worth remarking on is that it does have a canonically queer character. A Little Night Magic was a pretty typical adult witch romance, as well -- aggressively QuIrKy! at times -- but the prose was a lot more engaging, especially in terms of how the lead describes her love interest, who's not the typical square-jawed, perfectly coiffed, coolly mysterious handsome stranger.