Second Saturday on the train (continued)

For the second month, the wife and I drove to the Watt/I-80 light rail station and boarded the train at the Roseville Road station to go to Second Saturday festivities in midtown Sacramento.

Yes, it would be better if Sacramento Regional Transit ran its buses late enough to allow us to leave the car at home, but riding the train is certainly far better than trying to find a parking space. (And it gives me an excuse to blog about the trip.)

The wife and I walked from the 8th and I light rail station to J Street and then spent the evening walking the length of J Street with the occasional detour or two to K and I.

We had a wonderful dinner at Chicago Fire. The thin crust "traditional" pizza was great. The Greek fries and the baked artichoke appetizers were excellent.

Second Saturday may officially be an art walk -- and we do enjoy the galleries -- but what's really great are the bands. We particularly enjoyed these two:



Project Hideout



XMR, the Xavier Altimiras Blues Band

I'm taking these videos with a Nikon Coolpix camera. The sound sucks. Both bands deserve better.

Second Saturday on the train

So the wife and I took the train downtown this time. Last month, we rode the bus from home. But taking the bus means leaving midtown for home by 8 p.m. to catch the last bus home. By driving to the Watt and I-80 park-and-ride lot (about four miles from our house) and taking the train, we were able to stay much later. In fact, the last train leaves downtown after midnight.

I love the art on the side of the Convention Center at 13th and K streets. The late afternoon sun provided some dramatic lighting.


The Convention Center was hosting the 7th Annual All American Tattoo Festival. And, of course, that means a lot of bikes. I loved this bike.

The Second Saturday Free Shuttle was a neat idea. The shuttles ran in a circle around J and L Streets between 29th and 16th streets. Suggestion: RT should offer "free" rides in its "Downtown" service area.


Now you can't have an art walk without art that walks.

And, of course, Second Saturday isn't complete without live music. Here's a band playing next to the News and Review building on 20th Street.

Imagine that -- Hare Krishna without the saffron robes and shaved heads.

And right next to the Hare Krishna band were several Obama supporters registering voters. I found the juxtaposition amusing.


On the way to the train home, we walked past the Memorial Auditorium. This photo nicely captures the recent renovation work.

The wife and I had amazing good fortune with the train. We drove to the Longview Road exit on Interstate 80 without knowing when the next train would arrive. We parked our car and walked to the station and sat down. I got out my schedule and discovered the train would arrive in two minutes. The same thing happened on the way home. We walked to the Cathedral Square stop and sat down. Again, the next train was due in just two minutes.


When the wife and I were in midtown, we ran into a friend of the kid. He and his date had driven down. He said it took 45 minutes to find a parking spot. Even with the extra walk to get to and from the train, light rail certainly beats trying to park in midtown during the Second Saturday Art Walk.

Second Saturday on the bus

Today was National Train Day and Second Saturday, the perfect storm for things to do in downtown Sacramento. Unfortunately, I completely forgot that the train festivities only ran until 2 p.m. The wife and I didn't board the No. 82 bus for downtown until 1:30. By the time we arrived on light rail at the Amtrak Station there was no sign of National Train Day.

So we were too late for National Train Day and early for the Second Saturday festivities, which run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Nevertheless, we wandered around and the wife found all together too many excuses to buy things. By the time we headed out of town on the No. 30 bus heading for Sac State we had two full bags of stuff.

We had an interesting experience on that ride to Sac State. The No. 30 was running late, and I asked the driver if he expected to get to Sac State by 8:18, when the No. 82 was scheduled to depart.

"Not a chance," he said. And then he picked up his radio and called dispatch and asked to have the No. 82 wait for us. I've heard drivers do this before, but I've never requested it myself.

After checking with dispatch, the driver let us know the No. 82 would wait for us. We were very happy with that news. If we missed the connection, we would be sitting at Sac Sate for an hour until the next No. 82.

As it turned out, the driver was able catch up with his schedule enough to get us to Sac State before the No. 82.

Here are some pictures from the day:

We've come to consider the No. 82 as our personal bus, taking us from our front door to points across the great suburban wasteland of unincorporated Sacramento.

The wife waiting for the train.

You know you are old when you go into a "vintage" store and keep saying, "I remember that . . ."

I was fascinated by the wedding party I saw walking across L Street to take pictures on the Capitol steps.

...

Once we reached Midtown, we ran into a parade with floats . . .

And marchers . . .

And mayoral candidates . . .

And even group of drummers from Sacramento High

The wife and I are going to do this again. The weekend bus schedule requires that we leave before 8:30, but that still leaves lots of time to see some art, hear some music and have dinner. And, of course, the ride down and back on RT is "free," courtesy of our monthly passes. Not a bad deal.