Hi. Let's skip the part where I try to explain why I haven't blogged in months (I have no idea - just no writing juices flowing through my veins) and just jump in to a recap of recent adventures.
Chip and I spent a lovely spring break in Sacramento California. We kind of pulled our destination out of a hat, trying somewhere neither of us had ever been before. Chip thought it would be fun to see some basketball instead of the typical baseball we have gone to in previous years. That narrowed it down to NBA cities and then it was further narrowed down by trying to see several games against different teams. Sacramento has lovely weather and there were three possible games during our week. Done. I was all in. I love watching basketball live and in person - which is weird because I can't hardly stomach watching a whole game on TV. We didn't do much planning besides getting the basketball tickets and a hotel and decided we would figure it out when we got there!
I was so fortunate that my work projects wrapped up a few days before we left and I was able to completely disconnect from work and didn't even take my computer with me. It was a much needed break and a good chance to rest and recharge and have some fun with Chip.
We flew out on Saturday afternoon and the weather was great! Look at this view out of the plane window. Can you even stand how amazing the earth is from the sky? Man alive, it is a wonder and a spectacle and I am in awe of it.
It was evening when we made it to Sacramento and after a short Uber ride to the hotel we crashed for the night. We slept in, had a lovely breakfast at the hotel and were looking forward to our first basketball game on Sunday afternoon. Kings vs Bulls.
We did not have a car and planned to walk everywhere, so we hit the streets after breakfast to check things out and see how far we were from the Golden One Center where the Kings play!
We stayed very close to the capital building and it was surrounded by the most beautiful gardens. Look at this blooming tree. It was like a pink cloud in the morning sun.
This selfie is from the first time we walked by the Capital building. We didn't realize it at the time, but we would pass this building 63 more times during our stay.
The Golden One Center was located about a mile from our hotel in this area called DOCO which stands for Downtown Commons. It was full of restaurants and movies and neat stores. We spent ALOT of time here. Chip took this picture and put some kind of filter on it. I think it looks like it came out of a magazine.
Our first basketball game was fun, but the Kings hammered the poor Bulls and it was a one sided blowout. Not particularly exciting. The Kings team is young and they were very fun to watch.
The next day we hit up Old Sacramento and went to the Railroad Museum. Old Sacramento is the historic downtown area by the river. It has the old architecture of a western town with big wide boardwalks to stroll on. Lots of shops with candy and coffee and touristy stuff.
They had tons of full size locomotives and a big set up of a model trains.
We hit up Danny's Donut shop for some delicious mini donuts!
We walked and talked and laughed and ate and did that over and over and over again. It was awesome.
Chip was adventurous and tried several new foods. Check out this soft shell crab taco he ordered! It was delicious, but the sauce was very spicy. But Chip ordering a soft shell crab taco almost made me fall out of my chair.
When we weren't walking and talking and laughing and eating - we were power watching Dexter on Netflix. It was the best!
Our Tuesday game was Kings vs Nets and it was EXCELLENT! We had terrific seats and the game was so, so, so, so good! At one point the Nets were down by 28 points and we thought it was going to be another blowout. But wait just a minute....before we knew it the Nets were only down by 10 points. Then they went on a run and it was a 2 point game. The Nets won with a buzzer beater at the end and me and Chip lost our minds. It was such a remarkable comeback and everything you want in a sporting event.
The Nets bench was so entertaining and had all kinds of celebrations they would do when good things were happening on the court for their teammates. I wanted this game to last seven hours. I would have stayed and watched and loved every second of it.
We went to the movies one afternoon and then back to Old Sacramento for some Fish and Chips. Yummy!
We visited the historic one room school that is an exact replica of the actual school in Sacramento.
We splurged on some desserts. It's vacation and were getting all of our steps in!
Our final night in Sacramento, we were seeing the Nets vs Mavericks. We had one final dinner at DOCO and it did not disappoint.
The final game was good - but not great! It was pretty even for most of the game, but the Kings blew it wide open in the fourth period and the Mavs did not have a miraculous comeback to entertain us.
I love this kid.
We were great travel partners. Laid back. No big schedule.
Truly one of the most relaxing vacations I have ever experienced.
Here's to hoping the rested and relaxed vibe can carry forward for a while!
