California Road Trip: Sacramento

Last summer, I graduated with a Master’s degree and took a road trip down through California with two of my best friends and my partner. I grew up in Northern California (Sacramento to be precise) and often miss it. There’s just a different culture and vibe than up north in Oregon. I’m kicking off my travel section with some reflections on the food we ate last summer. To give a timeline, we started in Portland and drove in one day down to Sacramento where we stayed with my parents. After a few days of Sacramento heat, we decided to take day trips to the Bay Area. We then drove down to Santa Cruz for a few days where my boyfriend stayed with our dogs. My friends and I continued south to LA and ended our trip in San Diego with one of my friend’s families. The whole trip was a whirlwind and a blast. We ate so much incredible food and even cooked some incredible food. In no particular order, I started off with our time in LA probably because I’m on a Vanderpump Rules kick. I’d now like to take you back to the start of our trip and of my adolescence to Sacramento.

I know you’re dying to know about my childhood. My sister and I were born in Baltimore, Maryland. We moved to Sacramento when I was about 6 years old and my sister was about 4 for our dad’s first job as a private practice physician. We moved around a bit in Sacramento, but mostly within the Arden-Arcade area. This part of town is one of those spots that has a Sacramento address, but it’s really part of the unincorporated county. It a lovely spot where my mom’s main complaint is that she wishes it was more walkable (a fair concern). The drive down from Portland is about 9 hours if you go straight through, but usually takes us about 10-11 hours with a few quick breaks for food and stretching. My significant other, Kevin, and I usually take our dogs as well, so we tend to stop at rest stops so they can get out for a bit. Our classic food stops are GJ’s Diner in Eugene (delicious diner food) and In-N-Out in Redding. The dogs, of course, get their own In-N-Out patty. My favorite order a the grilled cheese (a classic burger without the meat) and animal fries (fries covered with caramelized onions and melted American cheese). You really can’t go wrong though. Call me a Californian, but In-N-Out is the best fast-food burger hands down and if you disagree, I can’t argue with an incorrect opinion.

When we arrived to my parent's house, we got food from a Thai spot. I unfortunately can’t remember which one. Phaya Thai has always been a favorite, but for some reason I think it was closed that day and we ordered from somewhere else. If you do check out Phaya Thai be ready for a long wait. It usually takes around an hour, but the food is really good. I am pretty certain everyone promptly passed out after dinner. I stayed up a little later to catch up and chat with my parents, but went to bed pretty soon after.

Beyond being food-obsessed, we are also film-obsessed. I had to take my friends to one of the best brunch spot in the United States and maybe the world (in my personal opinion). Before you get defensive of your favorite brunch spot (which my friends did), visit Sacramento, try Orphan Breakfast House, and let me know what you think. If you still disagree, please let me know your favorite spot because I HAVE to go there. Anyway, the wait can be a bit long, but the food is so worth it. A trip to Sac without a visit to Orphan just does not hit the same. My go-to order is the breakfast tamales. They are sweet corn tamales served with two fried eggs and black beans. It usually comes with avocado, but I have to go without unfortunately. I love avocado, but developed a pretty nasty allergy in 2020 and have not worked up the courage to try it again since. I also don’t drink much coffee nowadays, but Orphan serves up delicious local coffee that I would highly recommend. Seriously, if you get nothing else from my long-winded writing, visit Ophan if you find yourself in Sacramento.

After breakfast, my friends wanted to stop for some film and take the Ladybird tour (a movie that makes me cry every time- Greta Gerwig captured Sacramento’s complexity so well). We started at the Ladybird mural at the American Market and Deli which is a pretty sweet corner store downtown. They wanted to go to the rose garden next. I got mixed up and took us to the Capitol Rose Garden, but it was actually the McKinley Park rose garden featured in the film. They got to see the capitol building though and we got back on track. We got to experience classic Sacramento summer weather, so after the rose gardens it was about time to get back into some air conditioning.

Was 100+ degree weather going to keep us down for long? Of course not, we rested enough to catch our breath and headed straight to the river for a Sacramento summer tradition— drinking by the river. In high school, my ex-boyfriend called people who hung around the river for hours drinking beer from cans “River People.” I couldn’t waste the opportunity to embrace the river people persona with some friends from out of town. We packed up our towels, stopped by Safeway for some drinks, and made our way to William B. Pond Park for a dip in the American River. Some quick, fun facts. Like Portland, Sacramento sits on the intersection of two rivers— the Sacramento and the American. My high school was even named after the American River (Rio Americano) since it sat basically on the river. We used to run on the levy in PE. Anyway, the river is always freezing because it is mostly mountain runoff which makes it perfect for toasty summer days. We set up camp and made our way in the freezing water. The river, of course, was packed, but we had such a good time.

To wrap up the day, we went to the Zinfandel Grille with my parents and some of their friends. I had the fagottini with mushrooms which was delicious. This of course inspired me to learn how to make my own fagottini, so stay tuned for the recipe or check out my TikTok. My friend had the chicken, which she didn’t love, but all of the other dishes were well enjoyed. We had some good wine and nice conversation and then went home to go straight to bed.

The next morning, one of my friends and I were the first up. They had heard about Temple Coffee and wanted to try it. Temple Coffee is a Sacramento staple and, growing up, I was lucky enough to have a location down the street from my high school. I’ll take this interlude just to share that Sacramento has an incredible coffee scene. There are so many good coffee shops from Temple to Tupelo to Tiferet Cafe to Pachamama to Naked. The list could seriously go on forever. Temple does have excellent non-coffee drinks as well. The Enlightenment tea (jasmine tea with honey steeped in soy milk) is one of my all-time favorites. The Temple Coffee in the Arden area is also just a classic gather space. I’ve caught up with so many old friends over the years when I visit home and have brought new friends there as well.

We headed back to my parents house to get everything together and start our day trips to the Bay Area. Sacramento is about an hour and a half from San Francisco, so to save money we decided to plan a few day trips instead of renting a spot. Stay tuned for that journey.