Some of the best times together are the ones that are last-minute out of town trips. This was the case when the husband got the call to go to Sacramento for work after just arriving back in country a day or two prior. We weren’t going to pass up the opportunity to spend time with him, even if it was after he got off every night.

So that’s what the boys and I did. We packed up and drove up to SacTown for 5 days. We had been to Sacramento one time before but it was only for one night and a very short trip so we were super excited to get to explore some more!

Our accommodations were at our fave Embassy Suites by Hilton Sacramento Riverfront Promenade. We love the Suite life because of the larger rooms, great breakfast they offer every morning, and their Happy Hour Reception they have every evening where they serve snacks, drinks, and limited adult beverages complimentary.

Kannyn really loves the elevators at this property and we love anything that makes him smile. It’s also right at the river and the beautiful vertical lift Tower Bridge. Little did we know we were in for a treat because it being around Christmas time we got to see the Polar Express go by our hotel every couple hours. Boys and trains, am I right?

We walked to the Yard House for dinner which was a little over a mile away. Food was great as well as service.

Despite our hotel room having these super cool culinary information booklets, we ate at the Yard House everyday! haha!

Thursday: Old Town Sacramento

The next day we knew we wanted to bundle up and go walking around Old Town Sac which started directly across the street from our hotel. It’s super neat, older buildings, stone roads, and raised wooden walk ways that butt up against the store fronts. The business signs hang from the overhangs like they did in the old days. Such cool scenery really. We walked all through old town and checked out all of the shops. The boys especially loved Candy Heaven where they got a candy sample.

In old town they have the train museum, which even though we didn’t go inside, the boys explored the cars they had outside. They climbed, pretended and laughed together.

Friday: Sacramento Zoo

Friday we were stoked to go and check out the Sacramento Zoo! This was an exceptionally cold morning (for us) so although we had a great time, when we first walked up in the 46 degree weather, we were immediately skeptical. Onward!

We started off in the reptile house, mainly because we knew it would be warm!

Where we saw some great slithery, slimy, scaley and crawly things like snakes…

And colorful frogs…

And lizards on logs…

When we were finally thawed out we headed outside to check out the other animals. We talked to birds and ant eaters. Hoo Hoo ah ah-ed at monkeys and an orangutan.

We had great conversation with a giraffe, although we couldn’t hear a thing way down here.

By the end of our zoo adventure we had imitated more animals than we knew we could, stared at flamingos, and watched lions in awe. Love these moments with my boys.

Saturday: Rock Garden and Sutter’s Fort

While we were at the Zoo yesterday we saw a place called Fairytale Land right across the way that would have been so much fun for Kannyn and the boys wanted to take him. Due to their holiday lights and hours they didn’t open early when we arrived so instead we walked down to the WPA Rock Garden,  in the William Land Park. It was just that. A cool little area with paths lined with rocks, pretty foliage and a stone gazebo in the middle. We ran around that for about an hour through bush paths and in and out of trees.

As you come out of the Rock Garden area, there are ducks. Kannyn loves ducks. He ran.

Later, we headed to Sutter’s Fort, which we thought was going to be a park but it is a legit historical fort/state historical park. Upon finding this out, we were even more excited to check it out!

This fort has motion-sensored door ways that activate and tell you all about the history of the swiss migrant John Sutter who received a land grant from the Mexican government and established the first non-Indian settlement in Sacramento.

We learned about their lives, jobs, ways of life inside the fort and saw rooms like the distillery, carpentry shop and their jail.

It was a fun experience and the boys actually retained the information which is even better!

If you have kids that love old history, this is definitely a must see. And just so much fun running around a FORT, people!

Lastly, we checked out the parks most the afternoons in Sac and let all the boys run off some energy. I do have to say the parks in Downtown Sacramento are pretty awesome. Lots of toys and way different than our parks at home.

All in all, our spontaneous road trip up the 5 was one of the best, most fun and surprisingly relaxing times we have had in a while.

Sacramento has a lot to offer for all ideas of fun.

Raisin’ hell and gentlemen,
xoxo Last minute Mama