Day trips from Sacramento

On our trip to California, we stayed in Sacramento. Hal's brother lives there. They were so accommodating, and seriously decked out their house just for our stay. It was wonderful.

While we were there, we did quite a few day trips outside of Sacramento.

On one of the days we went to see Hal's grandmother's grave. I believe it's just outside of Dixon, in their veteran's cemetery. I've never seen a veteran's cemetery before, so it was really cool to see all of the wars that the different people fought in. His grandmother was a nurse in WWII.

I only met his grandmother once before she passed away. It was only a few months before she died, and she had very advanced Alzheimers, as well as diabetes, but it was so nice that she told me she loved my name and always wished she could name one of her daughters Samantha Jane. Kind of crazy that Hal just happened to marry a Samantha Jane. It's been 3 years since she died, and it's so sweet to see how much his grandfather still misses her.

After visiting the cemetery, we headed to Fairfield to visit the Jelly Belly Factory!

It was interesting to see all of the machines they use and how they make it. And they give you Jelly Bellys as you watch the little videos about their history and how things are made. The best part? The little shop that you can go to after the tour. The Jelly Bellys are really cheap, AND you can buy a huge bag of "belly flops" for I think it was $9...but if you buy 3 bags you get 3 free...Hal and I were buying one, and his brother Beck was already buying one, so we ended 12 pounds of Jelly Bellys. Can you believe that? By the time we left California we had gone through almost 2 bags and were so sick of them! Hal and Beck would get angry every time they saw a big chunk of tutti fruity. Apparently that is the worst flavor, and apparently as belly flops, they are always stuck together.

On Sunday Hal and I took a little trip by ourselves. We drove Beck's partner's car: a mini cooper. That thing was like a space ship! We took a little trip to Muir Woods. Once we got there though, it was crazy crowded. There was no where to park anywhere near the entrance, so we skipped Muir Woods and headed for Muir Beach.

via

It seemed like it was the first really warm Sunday of the spring, and there were a lot of people out. Hal and I sat up against a log, ate our lunch that we had bought at the farmer's market that morning (Sacramento has amazing farmer's markets) and people watched. I love people watching, and this was a really good place to do just that! It was so nice to soak up the sun in sunny warm California while it was snowing here in Utah. 

One more thing: check out Beck's cat, this thing is hilarious.

His name is Dexter Wheezington and he is a flat faced cat! He woke us up one morning, by coming in the room and just sniffing, because his sniffing is so loud. If you want entertainment just from looking at a cat, get yourself one of these flat faced, tiny nosed cats.