Things That Don't Suck About Sacramento: Walking on Sunshine

I can't believe it's almost 1 year since I moved to Northern California from Texas. Northern Cali is vastly different from Southern California in culture, dress code, weather, food, etc. so my adjustment period is taking bit longer than I would like.

However, advancing my goal of seeking out things that don't suck about Sacramento, I've joined a few hiking groups.  This past weekend's hike was HARD!  Calling it a tough intermediate is a bit of a stretch in my opinion.

We ventured to Stebbins Cold Canyon Nature Reserve for a steep 5-miler (this after completing a 4-mile run in the morning).  Although going up was killer, all 108 steps, the views of Lake Berryessa and the dam were well worth the trek up.

Sliding down the mountain on my ass

Yep...here's another installment of things that don't suck about the state capital of California (good thing we aren't talking about health insurance - cuz that sucks!!!).

My first real-live hike with boots, pack, plenty of water, plenty of snacks, camera fully charged was set for Sunday.  My hiking group, Sacramento TrailMix, headed up to Enchanted Pools in the El Dorado National Forest. Now, ya'll know I'm still a novice at this California thing and driving through the mountains scares the crap out of me. I asked several times if the roads wound up and around, if there were sheer drop-offs without guard rails and if the roads were narrow. I was assure no to all!  OOOOOO, those liars!  So I volunteered to drive 2 other ladies in my Altima Coupe up the side of the mountain.  We made it, even moving at an old lady's pace all the while honking around the curves of the one-lane narrow road. Whew!!!

Parked, sprayed bug spray, put on my hat and we're off.  The hike was beautiful (see pictures below if you don't believe that black folks hike, that's me in the center).

So now it's time to roll on back down the hill.  Holy Firecracker Batman.  I was ok as long as I had mountain on 1 side and tall trees on the other.  I got to this point and froze. It's much scarier in person.

I was in the middle of the road, with the car in park and the parking break on. I couldn't take my foot off the brake because it seemed to lurch forward each time. Finally, the woman on my left turned off the car. I climbed out of the driver's seat, into the backseat and into the fetal position.
Luckily, the woman on my right was able to drive us down the mountain to safety. Once we were down, I was able to get us back to Sacramento safely.

I know it will take some getting used to, but driving these narrow roads aren't what I call fun. Although, playing in these pools were.

Updates and such

It's been 5 months since moving to Sacramento. And it's been 2 weeks of taking a new set of "natural" drugs to lift me out of the doldrums of being homesick, lacking motivation, and declining sexiness. And from the readings of various blogs, I'm not alone in this blah-ish feeling: http://fitbottomedgirls.com/2011/07/fitness-and-depression-the-defining-moments/

Well, these past 2 weeks have been better. I am feeling more like my "old" self. I am looking forward to working out most days and I'm not beating myself up for the weight gain, for looking like a frumpy middle-aged woman, and making more of an effort to getting out to learn and enjoy Sacramento (big fun at the California State Fair) and reignite my girlfriend-side at home. And to add to the new found happiness, I am even down 1 lb. Woo hoo.

I am, however, still envious of women I see at the gym who claim to workout only about 30-45mins a day and change their eating habits from eating less junk to more fruits and veggies.  I have to constantly remind myself that we are all different and at different levels on our journey and to congratulate her on her hard won progress.

The nutritionist tells me that I need to stop talking in collective "yous". I need to start talking about myself/issues using the first pronoun - to own it. This is a hard one for me because I learned somewhere down the line that it's not always about "me" and therefore to not use the first person pronoun, I. Well, that's changing as well.

I am also working on shutting off negativity. Negative friends, negative thinking, negative events. At this point in my life, I may not look at life through rose-colored glasses, but it's not all gloom and doom.


I am thankful that My Fella and I can have rational conversations about the things we miss and need from each other. Our relationship wasn't conventional by any means but I have to say we've had less bumps along the road.

So because you're worth it, I am putting more effort into US and I know that you are too. As the lyrics played last night state, you're the finest I've ever known.

Things that don't suck about Sacramento

ooooh - Wolfman = Scary

Continuing my efforts to find things that don’t suck at about the cow town that is California’s capital as well as not go stir crazy since The Fella was on vacation and keep in line with the advice from the nutritionist to bring joy into my life, I made the effort to fill my weekend with “stuff” that I like to do: theatre, festivals, and food.   

Friday night was sushi (missed the happy hour) and community theatre of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”.  Oddly enough, it was performed in an old church and 2 of the Aggies were young (I think was actually 12 years old) and thin, another was older (over 40) and had a mullet. If you know anything about college football, thin isn’t an adjective anyone would ever use.  The star of the show was the sheriff. Wow could that man belt out a song. The only thing that was a true parody that drove me nuts was that the men stuffed their jeans into the boots. Ugh!!!! Unless you’re cleaning out a barn or stable, real Texans don’t do that.

Yummy Local Peaches

Owl education

Saturday found me at the gym busting through a 2 mile run and Body Pump. I’m almost afraid to say this, but I think this round is actually easier that the others. That may be a sign that I need to add more weight (which I did during the triceps track). Can we say skull crushers kill!  But I know I needed to get a workout in before heading up CA-70 to Marysville’s Peach Festival. This was an easy drive (no sheared off mountain cliffs) and only 30-mins from the apartment. Can we say yummy peaches!

mascot for the fair

To top of the weekend, I headed to the California State Fair. Corn dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, jerky, deep fried Twinkies, butter, Oreos, Captn Crunch….oh and how could I forget – FUNNEL CAKES!!!!  Um, I had a corn dog. I think I went into sensory overload and couldn’t commit to eating a ton of crap although I had it planned.  The fair is much smaller than the Dallas State Fair and actually reminds me of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (minus the rodeo, although there is horse racing).

600 lb pig, Six

topping off the day with some motocross

What fun did you get into this weekend?

Things that don't suck about Sacramento

Tower Bridge from bike trail

In taking the advice from the nutritionist, I branched out and actually showed up to a hiking event last night. I'm good for saying I will do something and find every excuse under the sun to not do it. But not doing things continues to feed the beast aptly named: "there's nothing to do here".

Steamboat in Old Town Sac

Pyramid Bldg

Skid Roses

 This "hike" was perfect: Meet at near local Mexican eatery downtown, departs at 6pm, and weaves from the edge of downtown, to the Marina/Miller Park, and across to West Sac to the Riverwalk to hear some live music and then back to our cars. We followed a railway/bike path so it was great avoiding car traffic, but the bike traffic was a little heavy. We did encounter a skunk (stinky) in the park and a "questionable" group of people at the end of the hike.


Couldn't have asked for better weather and a fun group of folks. And the nice thing, there's a fellow Texan in the group!

Oh yeah, that's sexy!!!

Fourth of July or Canada Day...

Wishing everyone a happy Independence Day or Canada Day (if I have any Canadian readers).

So for my plan of learning to enjoy Sacramento and finding places, events that don't truly suck...we are keeping it simple for the long weekend.

Transformers 3 is on deck for today! I wont lament to the fact that this city only has 2, yes I said 2,  IMAX theatres! Oh the horror!!! The local IMAX is only showing that kiddie movie and some nature scene, the other is 30mins from my apt. It does happen to be showing T3 on the IMAX screen but in 3D. I don't do 3D movies.

Tomorrow is date night...off to the comedy club to see D.L. Hughley.  Hi-lariously funny.

Sunday will be devoted to housework (ugh, such a chore) and carb-loading!!!

Why the carb-loading you ask...because, foolishly I plan to run the 4th of July Fun Run. I still haven't figured out why people insist on adding "fun" as an adjective when describing running. I wouldn't, well at least not for anything over 3 miles.  Monday's run will be my longest. No Kim, I still haven't been stung by that running bee (I did shoo a moth out of the apt this morning) but this is a freebie, so why not. I may just skip the entire way!

And to end the long holiday weekend on the right foot, fireworks at Cal Expo. 

So this has the potential to be a great weekend and I hope yours does too.

Things that don’t suck about Sacramento

Tree of Life, maybe?

La Belette Rouge did a series of lists relating to things that were “good” about living in LA.  So, I’m stealing borrowing from her and will attempt to highlight the good parts of living in Sacramento (this may be short-lived, but I will try to remain positive).

When The Fella initially said we were moving to Sacramento, I thought…WHY?  Why the heck couldn’t we go to Denver as I so hoped and prayed?  Well, cuz…so you can either do a long distance thang or move with me. He didn’t say that last part, I totally imagined it. Neither of us wanted a long distance relationship.  But really, when you tell people that you are moving to California, everyone oohs and ahhs over how great it is to live in sunny California. Well that’s because everyone thinks that there are only 3 cities here – San Diego, LA and San Francisco. And at times, Napa and Palm Springs are tossed in there…but those are the major 3 cities.  Honestly, I don’t think most people even realize Sacramento is the State Capitol.  Even after visiting, I could see why it’s forgotten…but again – remember – positivity.

So when you tell people you aren’t moving to 1 of the 3 biggies, that it’s actually Sacramento – the reaction is more along the lines of: Where?  Is that near LA? 

And I had to go into my short list of why it’s so great to move to Sacramento: (1) Low cost of living if you choose to live in California. (2) Proximity to San Francisco, Reno, Tahoe, Yellowstone, Mt. Shasta, Napa (notice, no mention of the great proximity of anything IN Sacramento). (3) The weather – no humidity (that’s a plus but I have to use TONS of lotion now that summer is actually here). (4) Outdoor activities such as rafting, biking, hiking.  This really isn’t a short list, it’s the only list.

And as I said in my previous post, I don’t really want to spend my Sundays driving hours away from town to have a good time.  Well, that’s what we did Saturday (at least it wasn’t Sunday).

I talked The Fella into heading to the Amador Flower Farm in the Shenandoah Valley (which also has a slew of vineyards in you’re interested in wine tastings) to see the daylilies in bloom. I know – a total girl trip, but hey – he was game to go!  So with map in hand and a tank full of gas (never go on a road trip, no matter how short, without a full tank of gas) we set off on an hour or so drive Northeast.

Even with buckets of rain this region has had this year, the country side wasn’t green, as I expected. But the drive was beautiful. We did take a wrong turn that sent us a little further east than we were supposed to go and I turned in a little old lady driving super slow up the side of a mountain. I guess I really need to get used to driving in the mountains if I plan to explore.  We did finally make it to the flower farm and had a great lunch under 150-year old oak trees surrounded by fabulous color. All the while, I was watching out for rattlesnakes as the many signs suggested! 

 So, while the list of things that do suck about this area is long, I can add this to the list of things that don’t: Amador Flower Farm.

*All photos taken by The Fella

We made the paper...

We trekked to a galaxy far far away aka Woodland, CA Friday night to the Gibson House to do one of my fav things - watch a freebie movie outside. Star Wars was the feature film. LOVE Star Wars. You can tell by my Wookie-like hairy arms. Wow - never thought about having those waxed but photos generally make you think of things you ordinarily wouldn't. I even had a Chewie Lego key-charm (that's a funny story I may tell you at another time).

Even Princess Leia made an appearance

Attempting to like this city

It's been a little over 3 months since I moved to Sacramento. I was able to secure employment, thankfully, within 30 days of moving here. Our apartment is fully furnished now (sofa was delivered 3 weeks early - yea no more flat bottoms from sitting on the futon). I still have some additional downsizing to do, get over my soap hoarding and I need to get the art hung on the walls.

But a girl can decorate only so much before going stir crazy indoors.

This isn't my first rodeo with moving to new cities/new adventures. However, Sacramento is proving to be a difficult transition because honestly there isn't much to do.

Yes, it's the gateway to San Francisco and the wine country.  Yes, it's very close to Lake Tahoe and Reno. But I don't want to spend my Sundays driving 2 hours for entertainment. I want something right in my backyard that won't cost a fortune, that I can enjoy in a few hours, that wont involve long bike rides or hikes each Sunday.

So I thought why not check out the various museums/art galleries in town. Let's face it - I won't trek Downtown/Midtown late afternoon on the 2nd Saturday of each month for the gallery open houses - I'm old and tired and usually by 6pm, I'm ready to have dinner, a glass of wine, sit back and relax with a good movie. Not tromp around Midtown/Downtown hunting for parking and getting lost looking for gallery.

So I decided to pick a museum each Sunday to explore, beginning with the Contemporary Art Museum (plus, I am looking for a piece to hang over the sofa). Hmmm, museum is used loosely in the title.  Wait, it's actually called the Center for Contemporary Arts. Essentially, it's a tiny-ish 2 room studio and the current exhibition consists of approximately 10 pieces - completely lacking depth.

I refused to let this location be the defining factor of what Sacramento has to offer. I did decide to take in the neighborhood and walk a few blocks. The architecture on many of the homes and apartment buildings on the tree-lined streets of Midtown Sac are beautiful - ranging from early 1900s to art deco. 

So this coming Sunday I plan to venture to the State Capital Museum and promise to bring along my camera.

There's bound to more to this town that 3 malls, strip centers and chain restaurants.

Giving Up

And that's just how I feel some days. Like just giving up and eating whatever and lots of whatever and not working out at all. The scale just pisses me off lately - going in the wrong direction.

I can't blame the scale for being the honest "friend" (term used lightly). I would blame myself for eating bags of chips and drinking soda while watching Top Gear all Memorial Weekend. I should blame myself for the boredom and not getting out to explore this new city.

But I'm over the blame game altogether. I can't go back and edit out the weekend. I can just push forward. I've been trying to watch what I eat but when I get bored I want junk (chips) and lately, I've been all kinds of bored. I surely don't feel like working out and I think putting my gym membership on hold wasn't the brightest idea. Hey, I bought TurboFire, Shred it with weights, and I'm waiting for Zumba to come in the mail (yeah, I'm a video junkie). And while having these items wont make the pounds melt off all by themselves, I have been motivated to put Chalene in the DVD player. I've even had 2 free training sessions last week.

So what's the deal?  Bottom Line - BORED!

Being bored on the weekends for me completely sabotages everything I've done well during the week. How do you combat this?  A good question that I am still trying to work out. Gas is high so tooling around this tiny town hunting out Home Goods and TJ Maxx isn't really smart - plus that puts me in the realm of spending money which I don't need to do. The weather here isn't so great so just when I think I could go for a bike ride, it starts to hail or is freezing cold. Um, hello.  Memo to Mother Nature - it's June. Please send warm, summery weather to Sacramento.

Yes, I'm bitching and moaning...forgive me. Just feeling in a funk and trying to work it out.

On the bright side - my 1st 5K is Sunday. To add to my pity party, it's scheduled to be cold and rainy.  Oh yeah...dontcha just love this California weather?

Where ya from is where ya at

Well, in my case...where I'm from is where I just left.

It's now 3 weeks of Sacramento living and I have to say I'm so tired of the bad fashion and especially the Ugg-like boots and puffy coats with the faux fur collars. Blech!

As I was wandering into my 4th supermarket (when avocados are $2 each you know food prices are sky-high here) behind some woman in pink stretch pants, white faux-fur topped snow boots and a too-short puffy coat, I patted myself on the back thinking: Thank goodness my license plate says Texas.

I've never been one to say I'm from this place or that. I don't claim any city as my "Hometown". I spent my 1st 13 years in Southern Cali, spent Jr High and High School in the PacNW, 2 years of college in AL, some of my adulthood in NYC and Houston. But after being here for 3 weeks and reading the March issue of Texas Monthly (did you know this the Terquasquicentennial or the 175th Anniversary of the start of a great nation = Texas?) I am really leaning towards claiming Houston as my hometown or at least Texas as my home state (but I will always be a wannabe NYer in my heart).

It's not so much that the fashion is in dire straights here, that the drivers rarely hit 75 mph on the highway, the speaking cadence hurts my ears, that the thrift stores suck, or that this place is super suburban. It just doesn't have that home-like feeling.

But what makes Houston, TX that much better than Sacramento, CA?  It's easy to learn - if you can find the malls, then you can find your way around town. I can get my eyebrows threaded for under $10 bucks (here, it's $12). The museums are centrally located and free EVERY Thursday. Discovery Green and Hermann Parks - need I say more? Montrose is within 10-15mins. Titos vodka.

Don't get me wrong. There are some pluses to Sacramento such as 2nd Saturday (akin to 19th on 19th in The Heights or 1st Saturday in the Heights), the outlet mall is only 32 miles away, decent Cuban and Indian food. San Francisco is about an hour drive.  The mountain ranges and being close to Yosemite or Reno (when it's not snowing).

So I guess I'm trying to ward off the blues.  I didn't think I would miss Houston as much as I do. But being here with The Fella is a the best plus and hopefully we can discover the weird, cultural and fun events  that Sacramento has to offer.