Anything worth seeing/doing?
I know about:
Old Sacramento
Railroad Museum
Hard to stretch those into a week.
Tahoe is a maybe distance; Bay Area would be tough (old folks) except for exit.
Nevada City, California , mining town in the gold country. Nice little town.
No.
See, wasn’t that easy? 
Seriously, Sacramento is an armpit. If at all possible, be somewhere else.
You could easily take the train to San Francisco.
and take the train to Lake Tahoe. and I thought the Railroad Museum was very interesting. The grandparents would probably have some good stories to tell
Keeping with the train theme, there’s the Napa Valley Wine Train where you pretty much eat and drink while on a train. I don’t know how far it is from Sac, but a couple of friends of mine did it for their anniversary one evening, so it can’t be that far out of your way.
The Aerospace Museum of California is not too far from downtown Sacto.
A little further away, the Heidrick Ag History Center/Hays Truck Museum complex in Woodland is definitely worth a stop if you’re into that kind of thing. If you make the trip to Woodland, there’s also the fantastic Reiff’s Gas Station Museum (make sure to call ahead).
On the way, you can check out Toad Hollow in Davis.
If you’re a bike rider, the Sacramento River trail is pretty nice. You can rent a bike at various spots nearby the trail.
Well, writing from somewhere else, I’d disagree. There are a number of things worth seeing if you have a few days to see them. That said, I don’t know that I’d recommend Sac as a vacation destination, exactly. But if you’re looking for things to make a visit interesting, there are plenty.
The state capitol is absolutely beautiful; it was completely restored (stupid Columbus statue and all) to ca. 1900 looks about 30 years ago. The surrounding park has an hour’s worth of interesting monuments.
Good for ten stupid seconds. Davis. :rolleyes:
Evangeline’s (novelty store) in Old Sac is pretty nifty. Also, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.
Pretty sure there is no train to Tahoe, bus yes, train to Oakland and Reno from Sacremento yes. ( not a bad ride)
No train to Tahoe. But its a short drive and lots to do and see there.
As a bonus, you get Carson City (Nevada State Museum, Train Museum, V&T Train ride), Virginia City (tourist trap) and Reno (train trench and Auto Museum).
How the hell did this turn into a train thread?
Sacramento has the distinction of being a nice place to live, but you wouldn’t want to visit there. I concede the area is not on the main tourist trail, but if you have anywhere from a few hours to a few days, you can make a go of it. There are a lot of historical sites such as Sutter’s Fort, Folsom Powerhouse, etc., Crocker Art Gallery, Midtown eats and drinks, the Capitol and mall, the aformentioned American River Bike trail. Old town and the RR museum are good. There is the California Auto museum downtown, and McClellan AFB has the Aerospace museum.
About 45 min east is the Amador county wine country.
Napa Valley, SF, Tahoe are all about 90 min to 2 hours away by car. You can take a train to SF and to Truckee in the mountains just north of Tahoe.
There are a number of historical mining towns 45 min to an hour away (Grass Valley/Nevada City, Placerville, Auburn, Sutter Creek). Again with the history, tho, and how many antique shops can you visit.
There are a number of online resources to see what events are happening during your visit, depending on what you are looking to do.
No love for Sac Zoo? I know some wonderful folks there, it’s not the biggest, but well run. New baby tiger cub on exhibit starting in June!
When is the trip, and what are your (their?) interests?
Raley Field, home of the AAA Sacramento Rivercats (Oakland A’s affiliate) is probably the finest Minor League ballpark there is…if you’re a baseball fan it would be a great way to spend an afternoon/evening.
There’s some beautiful scenery south of town heading into the Sacramento River Delta, with a number of small towns with their own history to stop and visit. Or, heading east, Placerville (once known as Hangtown) is 45-60 minutes away, as is Coloma (location of the discovery that started the Gold Rush).
Lodi (made infamous by the Creedence song), 45 minutes south, is the “Zinfandel Capital of the World”…and is a lot closer than the Napa Valley. Similarly, there are a lot of wineries in the aforementioned Placerville area as well. Also in the same area, if you’re visiting in the fall, is Apple Hill, where there are dozens of orchards with arts, crafts, and apples.
My grandfather used to live right next to that trail. Literally, next to it; there was his backyard fence, then a levee with the trail on top, then the river. One year he borrowed some bikes from a neighbor and my brother and I rode to the end and back. I don’t think it was nearly as long at the time; I remember the eastern end being only a quarter-mile from his place.
I don’t know if that helps the OP any, but if you ride the trail give a thought to my grandpa; a cat lover, and bought me my first Legos.
We start on June 7. don’t know the schedule as to end time.
I’ll confess - I actually live (if the word can be applied) in Sacto - I’ve been here since 2008. A combination of pain and poverty has kept me from exploring. The biggest reason I haven’t ventured out is the absolute dearth of credible civic pride and enthusiasm. This town seems to be actively hostile to its residents - ever see a double speed bump? I’m told that originally, they didn’t even mark them - put up signs reading (yes, really) “Undulations Ahead” and let you find exactly where they were. At least they took out the low riders - abandoned cars with fuzzy dice became common.
A year or si ago, the paper (sacbee.com) ran a front page - yes, front page - story of a man in his 70’s buying a stack of 45’s (OK - how many know what a “45” is? Wrong - it is NOT a bullet. Wrong - it is not a beverage), got them home and discovered they boer hand-typed and applied labels with the owner’s name and address on them. The name was his mother’s; the address his childhood home. Awwww… That was THE most read story in whatever period they named. The fact that it was the most read ALSO made the front page.
“Minor league” pretty well sums up the town…
Keep the ideas coming! We don’t want to HAVE to drive an hour to see/be any place of interest.
I’m almost tempted to drive them to Monterey This is my kid (just turned 60) sister and her hubby. He is diabetic, so sumptuous food would be ignored, even if available. They were out here briefly in 1999 - I gave them a day off with the choice of Avenue of the Giants or Monterey (I was in SF at the time). They took the trees. I haven’t been to Monterey since the early 80’s.
Lodi as a wine Mecca is something of a giggle. Besides, as CCR said at the time - they were talking about Lodi New Jersey!. Actually, they had a standing gig to play the Lodi Prom. The fine citizens of Lodi CA cancelled that. I’m sure John Fogarty, to this day, rues ever offending the folks at the Lodi High School.
Oh well, at least there is an In-n-Out here - they may not be able to eat a double double animal, but they can watch me.
And nearby Grass Valley has the Empire Mine State Historic Park. My wife and I took the interesting tour 20 years ago.
If you’re interested in food or wine you should visit Corti Brothers.
kaylas_late_great_uncle was a principal in this endeavor; his son, kaylas-second-cousin is now running the show. They’re mounting Les Misérables through the ninth of June.
They could be dark from the tenth through the thirteenth, so no help for that part of the week.
Spend a day (or several) in Monterey and Carmel. Don’t miss Carmel. There is so much to do and see there, you could easily spend a week and not get bored. I go down there every chance I get, which ends up being about twice a month.