Berkeley Parents Network: Visiting Sacramento

Berkeley Parents Network

Visiting Sacramento

Berkeley Parents Network > Reviews > Places to Go > Visiting Sacramento

Sacramento Train Museum / Train Trip

Re: Winter birthday party for outdoorsy 5-year-old (Nov 2003)
While my idea won't work with 10 kids you might consider for another year. Two of my sons have winter birthdays so I have been in your shoes. A couple of years ago for the 6th birthday of one of them, all of us (family only) took the train from Emeryville to Sacramento. Once then, we walked the block and a half to the train museum. It was a great trip for all us and the train was so fun and easy - take your own snacks though. He wants to do it again this year! If you consider it, check with Amtrak as they often have specials, kids free, etc. Have fun! Birthday mom

November 1999

We are taking a train trip to Sacramento over Thanksgiving weekend to visit the Train Museum. Can anyone recommend good kid-friendly places for lunch and dinner, as well as a nice park for buring off some energy? All would need to be within walking distance of the museum. Thanks

We did this a few years ago, so my memory is somewhat foggy, but the museum borders on something -- I think it's the river -- and all along the river is a long strip of park to run in. Part of it is a boardwalk. Are you taking the train (Amtrak) there? If you are, it's a short walk from the station to the museum, also useful for burning off steam. Also, the museum is full of lots of trains to go through, which can wear one out. (Particularly adults, I suppose.) You can walk around old town. You can take a horse-drawn buggy around old town. There are little sandwich/ice cream shops in old-town, too. Don't know where you'd eat dinner. If you're feeling very energetic, you can walk to the capital which has a very lovely park all around it. Seems to me we did all those things. We took the train there, ran around all day and took the train back. It was very fun -- the train ride itself is a lot of fun and very scenic. It feels like a big adventure.

The Train Museum is in Sacramento Old Town which has lots of fun stores and restaurants. Also, there's a pedestrian walkway under Hiway 5 to the Downtown Mall, which is pretty for a mall, and has shops and restaurants. Just walk around and you'll find what you need. A nearby park is Discovery Park, which sits on the junction of the Sacramento and American Rivers. Walk over to the Sacramento River from the Museum (there are paddle wheel riverboats there), as you face the river turn right, and there's a walk/bike path to the Park, not a long walk which includes a bridge across the American River to the park. Or, go to the park in front of the Museum, which is a few blocks south of Old Town, across the Capitol Mall. Have fun!

Regarding the Sacramento Trip... the train ride to and from Sacramento is usually over too soon...it is really fun.The train museum is a great destination and Old Town Sacramento has many restaurants which can suffice for lunch. There is plenty of running room outside along the river promenade in Old Town. It has more train cars and some boats to look at. The Sacramento Discovery Museum is right next door and worth a visit. Also worth visiting (perhaps on another trip) are Sutter's Fort and the capitol building (open weekdays only). Sutter's Fort can be reached by taking a local bus and the capital can be reached by bus or by walking, especially if your kids are a little older. Sutter's Fort is really interesting for the kids

We went to the Rail Fair at the train museum with two 3 year olds and a 6 year old this summer. We found that it was enjoyable to spend some time at one of the patio areas overlooking the river just watching boats. There are several very casual restaurants/ice cream parlors right there. We stopped at one which had hot dogs and ice cream.

The Train Museum is great for kids! My two year loved it and she burned plenty of energy in the museum itself. Within walking distance is Old Sac. No parks exactly but lots of walking and running ops. We usually eat dinner at Fat City. There are lots of fast lunch places on every block. The best park in Sacramento is McKinley Park on G St near 34th. It's huge and has a wonderful play structure and a large pond, too

The area called "Old Sacramento" is very close to the Train Museum and has family-friendly places to eat and attractions. Plenty of room for kids to run around in, as well as more trains to look at. It's also right on the river and a good place to take in the view and tell your kids about the history of Sacramento as a deep water port and shipping area (Sacto Valley River drainage-->Delta (agriculture, levies)-->SF Bay-->Pacific Ocean

Also try the Crocker Art Gallery, located south of Old Town at 211 O St. Wonderful Victorian mansion with good permanent and rotating exhibits. http://www.sacto.org/crocker/ is Crocker webpage, http://ci.sacramento.ca.us/ is the Sacto webpage, http://ci.sacramento.ca.us/npdsd/parks/parkmap.htm is the parks map. And Capitol Park is a wonderful place to run around, see century old trees, etc.

July 1996

More on train rides: Recently we took our 2 year old son to Sacramento via the Amtrak train. He rode free, we paid $17.50 each, RT. We boarded at the Berkeley stop at the end of University. My son loves trains and was delighted to be on the trains that we hear go by all the time. He ran non-stop up and down the bi-level cars. While we didn't get to rest, it was a comfortable trip. You can get train schedules (but not fares) on the web http://superior.berkeley.edu/Transit/Carriers/Amtrak/Scheds/wc_caps.html or http://www.dfw.net/felsware/trakrouter.html

With some friends who met us at the train station, we first strolled around old town Sacramento. It's similar to a beachside boardwalk - the shops contain much useless, but fun (for some) stuff. There is an old steam train which goes down the river about 3 miles. That ride takes about 40 minutes. Costs $5 for adults, little kids are free. The big draw was the train musuem, which is very close to the Amtrak station. I think it costs about $6 for adults; again, the little kids are free. There are lots of exhibits for all different ages. The kids had a great time running around.

If you like shopping, there is a relatively new mall with all the stores one could want nearby. There's a walkway under the freeway with murals and piped in music. There are also huge parking garages there.

It was definitely an exciting trip for my son. I thought he would nap on the way home, but he too charged and continued to run around the cars. Now he constantly talks about going to Sacramento.

Martha

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