Blog: Birthday Fun
Menu
Birthday Fun - Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Slight change of plans: rather than me and Priscilla going down to LA for Memorial Day, her parents came up.
For Priscilla's birthday, they came up on Thursday, May 23. They visited their friends in Petaluma on Friday, and the four of us made the drive up to Sacramento on Saturday. Priscilla's been meaning to make us visit Sacramento, and her parents' spontaneous decision to visit made for a convenient time to take that trip.
On the way, we had lunch at Denny's, where I played the crane game and won a duck! We stopped at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, where went on the free factory tour. Though the tour runs daily, factory operations don't happen on weekends, so our tour consisted of listening to our guide talk and watching videos of the manufacturing process. Still pretty cool. We also had free samples from the sample bar!
That evening, after checking into our room at the Fairfield Inn in Natomas, we walked around Old Sacramento and admired all the old western-style buildings and had dinner at Railroad Fish and Chips, somewhat of a hole-in-the-wall place. But the deep fried shrimp and fish were simply divine!
Sunday afternoon, we visited the Capitol Building and went on a free tour. It was interesting to learn that San Jose was the first capital of California after it became a state. Vallejo served as the next capital, then Benicia, then finally Sacramento. We visited the Assembly Chamber, modeled after the House of Commons in England, and the Senate Chamber, modeled after the House of Lords. After the tour, we posed for pictures outside of the governor's office in the Capitol annex. Too bad he wasn't there!
We tried to visit the Stanford Mansion for another free tour, but the building was unexpectedly closed. We had a late lunch at Shoki II Ramen House, where we each ordered a large ramen without knowing that "large" there would be HUGE by any other place's standards! Quite full after lunch, we somehow dragged ourselves over to the Sacramento County Fair, where we saw everything from a hypnotist show, variety show, an art, game and puzzle area, mechanical bull riding, and a huge building where livestock was being kept to be auctioned.
Finally on Monday, we visited Sutter's Fort and saw a live cannon firing, musket firing and blacksmith demonstration. It was cool learning more about the history of the area and about John Sutter, whom I did not know was from Switzerland! We were homeward bound after lunch at The Sandwich Spot, pretty tired after a full three-day weekend's worth of activities.
My birthday was slightly more low-key, and Priscilla and I celebrated it over two days. This past Saturday, we hiked at the Sawyer Camp Trail at the Crystal Springs Reservoir in San Mateo. That was followed by lunch at Espetus Churrascaria, where we finally got to use the $100 giftcard that Justin and Vicky gave us as a wedding gift!
Today I took the day off from work and used that time to go to the junkyard and get a parking brake release handle+cable to replace the one that broke on my car. It's nice to have an easily-releasable parking brake again. ;)
Priscilla and I had our buyer's agent submit an offer on a house that we're looking at in Santa Clara. Our agent expects up to 30 offers on the place, and without having made an extremely competitive offer, we probably won't get the place. It's just not a great time to buy right now.
Priscilla took a half-day and we used that time to get chores done and go to the gym. We had dinner at Ramen Seas, our new favorite place on Murphy Street that we've been to four times in the last two months.
We've definitely been keeping busy! And there's lots more lined up for the rest of June!
For Priscilla's birthday, they came up on Thursday, May 23. They visited their friends in Petaluma on Friday, and the four of us made the drive up to Sacramento on Saturday. Priscilla's been meaning to make us visit Sacramento, and her parents' spontaneous decision to visit made for a convenient time to take that trip.
On the way, we had lunch at Denny's, where I played the crane game and won a duck! We stopped at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, where went on the free factory tour. Though the tour runs daily, factory operations don't happen on weekends, so our tour consisted of listening to our guide talk and watching videos of the manufacturing process. Still pretty cool. We also had free samples from the sample bar!
That evening, after checking into our room at the Fairfield Inn in Natomas, we walked around Old Sacramento and admired all the old western-style buildings and had dinner at Railroad Fish and Chips, somewhat of a hole-in-the-wall place. But the deep fried shrimp and fish were simply divine!
Sunday afternoon, we visited the Capitol Building and went on a free tour. It was interesting to learn that San Jose was the first capital of California after it became a state. Vallejo served as the next capital, then Benicia, then finally Sacramento. We visited the Assembly Chamber, modeled after the House of Commons in England, and the Senate Chamber, modeled after the House of Lords. After the tour, we posed for pictures outside of the governor's office in the Capitol annex. Too bad he wasn't there!
We tried to visit the Stanford Mansion for another free tour, but the building was unexpectedly closed. We had a late lunch at Shoki II Ramen House, where we each ordered a large ramen without knowing that "large" there would be HUGE by any other place's standards! Quite full after lunch, we somehow dragged ourselves over to the Sacramento County Fair, where we saw everything from a hypnotist show, variety show, an art, game and puzzle area, mechanical bull riding, and a huge building where livestock was being kept to be auctioned.
Finally on Monday, we visited Sutter's Fort and saw a live cannon firing, musket firing and blacksmith demonstration. It was cool learning more about the history of the area and about John Sutter, whom I did not know was from Switzerland! We were homeward bound after lunch at The Sandwich Spot, pretty tired after a full three-day weekend's worth of activities.
My birthday was slightly more low-key, and Priscilla and I celebrated it over two days. This past Saturday, we hiked at the Sawyer Camp Trail at the Crystal Springs Reservoir in San Mateo. That was followed by lunch at Espetus Churrascaria, where we finally got to use the $100 giftcard that Justin and Vicky gave us as a wedding gift!
Today I took the day off from work and used that time to go to the junkyard and get a parking brake release handle+cable to replace the one that broke on my car. It's nice to have an easily-releasable parking brake again. ;)
Priscilla and I had our buyer's agent submit an offer on a house that we're looking at in Santa Clara. Our agent expects up to 30 offers on the place, and without having made an extremely competitive offer, we probably won't get the place. It's just not a great time to buy right now.
Priscilla took a half-day and we used that time to get chores done and go to the gym. We had dinner at Ramen Seas, our new favorite place on Murphy Street that we've been to four times in the last two months.
We've definitely been keeping busy! And there's lots more lined up for the rest of June!