Day 10 - Sacramento

It’s nice to have a lie in and we get up late. We brew a coffee and then Aaron introduces us to the Tour De France while Laura, being more energetic than the three of us put together, is up and out to a yoga class.  When Laura is back we realise it’s lunch time and make a snack from the left over tacos, meat and guacamole. Laura and Aaron want to take us on a new experience for this holiday; wine tasting. We drive out of Sac and into the flat countryside, crossing the river a few times before we are soon in vine country. The rows upon rows are almost a geometric puzzle as we drive along. We go to the Bogle Vineyard and try a few of their whites and reds. Although the tasting is free, the thought of leaving without buying a bottle is strange. We all enjoy one of their whites and so buy some of this. We finish at about 4.45pm and decide to try and hit one more vineyard before they close at 5pm. We ask meekly at Todd Taylor and they agree to do a final tasting for us.

Heading back home, we promptly head out as downtown today is “Second Saturday”. Every month the art galleries in Sacramento open their doors late and so we planned to visit a few galleries which the local paper said had something interesting on. Scott and I aren’t sure what to expect, but when we get there we find that it is almost a mini-street festival with not only the art galleries open, but also local businesses having exhibitions on and live music spilling into the street - typically we didn't bring the new camera, but Alice had her pocket-sized one for a couple of quick snaps. We have a great time wandering around, pausing to listen to some of the music, going into a few galleries and then standing outside one gallery trying to work out why there is such a huge queue! We particularly enjoy one exhibition which is on at a recording studio, rather than an art gallery, this is a series of black and white photographs taken of rock musicians since the 70’s. What we maybe enjoy more about this place though is wandering around the recording studios and the old gig posters that they have adorning all available space on their walls.  This evening also coincides with a Sacramento attempt to break the world 'zombie walking' record by getting as many people as possible to dress up as zombies and, well, walk around town.

We drag ourselves away from the street celebration to have dinner. We could easily pass another hour hanging out and enjoying the arty vibe, but it’s already past 8pm and we haven’t eaten properly all day. We have a reservation outside at Lucca which is the restaurant where Laura and Aaron had their wedding reception. Dinner is a mix of tastes with us all trying different wines and Aaron and I trying a blue cheese panna cotta for dessert…interesting!