We were up early and walked with our luggage the 4 or so blocks to the hostel. Much much nicer - clean, airy - an old victorian villa. It was fantastic and only $23 a night. While we are not exactly 'youth' we could still stay there. Our room wasn't quite ready - so we placed our luggage in storage and hit the streets of Sacramento. First up was breakfast. We found an amazing place called Jim's Denny's, a little outpost a few blocks away and a very historic landmark. Breakfast consisted of a pancake - bigger than the dinner plate it came on, and some hash browns. NOt very healthy I know but we were hungry. People there were really friendly, and I finally got a cup of tea I could call 'tea'. We couldn't eat all our breakfast so got a 'doggy bag' to feed the squirrels down in the park.
Walked to the State Capitol building and tried to feed the squirrels, but they weren't interested. Didn't even want to be photographed, so dumped the doggy bag in the trash and carried on. Wandered through the State Capitol building, home of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Very impressive. Then wandered back up the other way to Enterprise Rentals and booked a mid size car for tomorrow.
Back down past Capitol Building and wandered through a mall that took us to Old Sacramento. Very interesting - old buildings, fantastically historic place. Very hot - about 37C by 2.00pm. Mike wanted to walk through a museum. I had had enough though - the heat had sapped all energy and we had been walking since 8.00am. We headed back to the mall and air-conditioning. I wandered through Macy's but couldn't find anything I liked, but I did find the shop for those nice body lotions and got a few presents. Wandered around the mall until about 5.00pm. Walked back to the hostel. I was too tired for dinner so just made up some porridge. Mike went out with another hosteller, and hit the sack - was asleep by 9pm!!!
The bargain of the trip was a pair of Guess Sunglasses. They were $40.00. But they had a sale sticker on them so I asked their price. They scanned them and they were $8.57. I took them!!!!
Showing posts with label sacramento. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sacramento. Show all posts
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Day 9 - 16th July - New Jersey - Philadelphia - Houston - Sacramento
Got up early - zipped u luggage and sat talking to Jazzy for a while. We then packed up the car and took us to a nearby town called MontClair (Upper). We walked around the town taking photos of the historic buildings then had a cold drink in a diner before heading off to Newark - Penn Station to catch our train back to PHiladelphia.
For some reason catching the train is the hardest thing for me to do, and I was very nervous. When asked why - I narrowed it down to not hearing where the train was, missing my station, and ending up in Alaska somewhere. My fears were unfounded. We sat next to a guy also travelling around USA who was getting off at the same station. He just happened to live in San Luis
Obispo where we were heading on the 20th.
The train was 20 minutes late, and when we got to the station, we had to catch another train to the airport. Because of construction the trains were going every hour, instead of every half hour. This cut our airport check in time very close, but we managed to arrive at the airport at 4.10pm before our 5.40 flight. Queues for security were long though. Mike got stung with a $50 fee for overweight baggage - 12 pounds overweight. I was also slightly overweight by about 4 pounds, but was allowed to take 2 pounds out of my luggage to put in my backpack and thus didn't have to pay the fee. Weird - it's weight still being carried on the plane!!!
Arrived in Houston - had dinner at Wendy's as it was the only thing open that was 'okay' as far as food was concerned. Caught another plane to Sacramento. When we arrived we 'lost' our luggage, but found we were standing at the wrong carousel!!! Once we had the luggage, we caught a super shuttle to the Hostel we were staying at. On the way our shuttle had a crash on the freeway. Trying to merge into a lane while someone else was merging and had a side on crash. We had to wait for the cops to come, then give statements - we our now registered with CHIPS!
By the time that was sorted out (about 2 hours) we arrived at the hostel to find it CLOSED. No one there to open up at all. So the shuttle driver drove us around and found a dive of a place for us not far from the hostel. However, it was 3am and we were stuffed and a bed is a bed. Our alternative was to sleep in the park!!! It cost us $72 usd for this dive - not bad I guess!!!
For some reason catching the train is the hardest thing for me to do, and I was very nervous. When asked why - I narrowed it down to not hearing where the train was, missing my station, and ending up in Alaska somewhere. My fears were unfounded. We sat next to a guy also travelling around USA who was getting off at the same station. He just happened to live in San Luis
Obispo where we were heading on the 20th.
The train was 20 minutes late, and when we got to the station, we had to catch another train to the airport. Because of construction the trains were going every hour, instead of every half hour. This cut our airport check in time very close, but we managed to arrive at the airport at 4.10pm before our 5.40 flight. Queues for security were long though. Mike got stung with a $50 fee for overweight baggage - 12 pounds overweight. I was also slightly overweight by about 4 pounds, but was allowed to take 2 pounds out of my luggage to put in my backpack and thus didn't have to pay the fee. Weird - it's weight still being carried on the plane!!!
Arrived in Houston - had dinner at Wendy's as it was the only thing open that was 'okay' as far as food was concerned. Caught another plane to Sacramento. When we arrived we 'lost' our luggage, but found we were standing at the wrong carousel!!! Once we had the luggage, we caught a super shuttle to the Hostel we were staying at. On the way our shuttle had a crash on the freeway. Trying to merge into a lane while someone else was merging and had a side on crash. We had to wait for the cops to come, then give statements - we our now registered with CHIPS!
By the time that was sorted out (about 2 hours) we arrived at the hostel to find it CLOSED. No one there to open up at all. So the shuttle driver drove us around and found a dive of a place for us not far from the hostel. However, it was 3am and we were stuffed and a bed is a bed. Our alternative was to sleep in the park!!! It cost us $72 usd for this dive - not bad I guess!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)