Christopher Arns - Moon Sacramento & the Gold Country

HANDBOOKS

CHRISTOPHER ARNS

Who would believe that Californias state capital is still an undiscovered gem? Long bypassed by motorists bound for greener pastures, Sacramento deserves a second look. The capital city is home to a colorful legacy of politics, modern art, music, fine dining, and countercultural movements.

Sacramento is a town always caught in the crucible of clashing styles and personalitieswhere politicians in tailored suits pedal beach cruisers alongside hipsters in pegged jeans and where movie stars discover a second life as governors. An urban renaissance has remade the historic Midtown, East Sacramento, and downtown neighborhoods into a vibrant, multicultural metropolis packed with bistros and cutting-edge museums.

With some of the best weather in the countrySacramento is sunny nearly 80 percent of the timeyou can walk, bike, hike, or stroll to the citys gleaming State Capitol Building and 40-acre Capitol Park. Just 45 minutes outside of Sacramento, the Auburn State Recreation Area waits on the banks of the mighty American River with horseback riding, swimming, rafting, and hiking on more than 100 miles of trails. You can catch a world-renowned jazz festival in the morning and ride white-water rapids by the afternoon. Or simply take cover under an endless green canopy of valley oaks, elms, and maples; Sacramento claims to have more trees per capita than any city in the world.

Prospectors first discovered gold here in 1848, and the Gold Rush pioneers who poured in left behind dozens of boomtowns with rugged brick storefronts and gabled Victorian mansions. Gas lamps and saloons were as common as the waves of forty-niners searching for the next mother lode. This rough and storied past lives on in Sacramentos Gold Country, a gorgeous 130-mile-long belt of award-winning wineries, world-class bistros, and historic museums deep in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Today, modern-day prospectors search for antiques, explore underground caves, raft tumbling white water, luxuriate at private inns in renovated farmhouses, and discover a secluded yet booming wine region.

Join the regions ambitious foodies, visionary vintners, and outdoor adrenaline-seekers in embracing Californias rejuvenated capital: Sacramento, the gateway to adventure.

Sacramento is the political heart of California and home of the State Capitol. Old Sacramento encourages visitors to ride steamboats and admire the historic brick buildings by day, and cruise the bars and restaurants by night. Midtowns nightlife offers a thriving live music scene as well as packed bars and clubs that inject a vibrant energy into the citys soul. Urban adventures continue in the American River Parkway, a vast playground for hiking, boating, and fishing. Not bad for an old railroad town built on steel and gold.

Gold!	Apple Hill	California State Capitol

This beautiful high country is a rugged Shangri-la for outdoor recreation. The neighboring Gold Rush towns of Nevada City and Grass Valley both offer quaint downtowns rife with mining museums and quirky shops. Cool off in the clear and cold Yuba River at South Yuba River State Park or venture to the other side of I-80 and the Auburn State Recreation Area, where mountain biking, horseback riding, and numerous hiking trails await. Placerville is your base for exploring the orchards and wineries of delightful Apple Hill or the churning white-water river canyons that plunge through Coloma. History buffs can stand on the very spot where James W. Marshall found gold nuggets at Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park.

Justice has been served at the Placer County courthouse since 1898.

ONE WEEKEND: Visit Sacramento, exploring the Midtown and Old Town neighborhoods.

FIVE DAYS: Add Grass Valley and Nevada City in the Northern Gold Country.

ONE WEEK: Add Placerville and Apple Hill and continue exploring the Northern Gold Country.

TWO WEEKS: Add the Southern Gold Country, starting in Amador County and heading south to Jamestown in Tuolumne County.

The Mediterranean landscape that lies between Amador and Calaveras Counties is the Napa Valley of the Gold Country. Beautiful, bucolic hillsides softly roll south from the Shenandoah Valley through Sutter Creek,