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Kids Korner |
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Did You Know?
- Yosemite Falls, one of the world’s tallest waterfalls at 2,425 feet is actually three separate falls. You can walk to Lower Yosemite Fall in just a few minutes but the hike to the top of Upper Yosemite Fall will take all day! Yosemite National Park is famous for all of its waterfalls. Visit www.nps.gov.
- You can slide down Jack’s giant Beanstalk, meet the Three Little Pigs, race through the Crooked Mile and slide down the Old Woman’s Shoe slide at Fairytale Town, where you can step into 23 fairytales. Visit www.fairytaletown.org to find out more about the special Halloween festivities and other events throughout the year just for kids.
- The Mexican government had no idea they were giving away gold when they gave John Sutter land in 1839. But that’s exactly what happened. Nine years later, gold was discovered at Sutter’s sawmill, just 30 miles east of Sacramento, drawing thousands from around the world to the gold fields in the hopes of striking it rich. Sacramento’s population jumped from 1,000 to 40,000 in just two years! Check out www.learncalifornia.org for more about the Gold Rush. You can also visit Marshall Gold State Historic Park where the gold was found and try your luck gold panning (See: www.parks.ca.gov).
- Sacramento is the Capital of California. You might see Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger around town. He lives at the Hyatt when he’s in Sacramento while his family–he has four kids–live in Los Angeles. You can visit the California State Capitol. Check out the Governor’s office on the first floor. This isn’t where Gov. Schwarzenegger works. This office is a museum and looks the same as it did right after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Check out the Governor’s desk; it’s stacked with newspapers and telegrams about the disaster! You can find out a lot more about the earthquake at a new exhibit here. Visit www.capitolmuseum.ca.gov/english/index.html.
- You can watch how laws get made if you visit the California State Capitol when the legislature is in session. Every state has a statehouse where proposed legislation is debated, including everything from making kids wear bike helmets to requiring seat belts in cars. In California, 80 State Assembly members and 40 Senators have been elected to represent Californians from all over the state. Do you know who your state representatives are?
- You can see 1,000 toy trains–locomotives, depots, bridges, tunnels, even tiny people–at the California State Railroad Museum, where you can also ride on an old-fashioned steam trains and travel back in time to see what life was like here in the years after the Gold Rush. Visit www.csrmf.org.
- The idea to build the country’s first transcontinental railroad was hatched in Sacramento in 1860 above a hardware store by four men who became known as the “Big Four:” Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, Collis P. Huntington, and Mark Hopkins. The railroad was completed on May 10, 1869. More than 10,000 Chinese had come to work on the railroad. You can visit the building where they came up with the idea in Old Sacramento.
- Tower Records started in Sacramento when Clayton Soloman and his son began selling used jukebox records for 10 cents each.
- The Pony Express began its 1,980-mile mail delivery service in 1860 in Sacramento. The journey to St. Joseph, Missouri, took ten days and required 200 relay stations, 500 horses, and 80 riders.
- The name California is attributed to a mythical black queen. Queen Califia was the central figure in a story written in 1510 and when the explorer Cortes landed in California, he announced to his soldiers they were in Queen Califia’s land. You can learn more about Africa and African Americans at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco. Visit www.moadsf.org.
What Other Kids Say You Should Do While In Sacramento, CA . . .
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Kids, Tell Your Parents . . .
There’s as much to do outside as inside in and around Sacramento. Visit www.discovergold.org to get a free Sacramento Gold Card, which offers discounts and upgrades on hotels, attractions, and restaurants. If you’re going to San Francisco, 90 miles east of Sacramento, visit www.sfvisitor.org and consider a CityPass which provides discounts on major attractions (See: www.citypass.com). Also check www.visitcalifornia.com for more ideas.
While in Sacramento, you can:
- See California’s largest gold collection at The Discovery Museum Science Center (www.thediscovery.org).
- Go for a long bike ride on the 26-mile American River bike trails (www.saccycle.com).
- Go whitewater rafting on the American River (www.arta.org or www.earthtrekexpeditions.com).
- Learn all about the amazing lives and contributions of California women at the California Museum (www.californiamuseum.org).
- Explore Old Sacramento on foursome bikes (www.oldsacramento.com).
- Get up close and personal to the animals at the Sacramento Zoo (www.saczoo.com).
- Experience early pioneer life with a visit to Sutter's Fort, Sacramento's earliest settlement established in 1839 (www.parks.ca.gov).
- Take a walk led by “prospectors and “riverboat gamblers” who promise they’ll keep you in stitches (www.hystericalwalks.com).
- Visit the Crocker Art Museum on the second Saturday of the month for special family workshops (www.crockerartmuseum.org).
- Ride the Sacramento River Train 28 miles through the Yolo Wildlife refuge and across an 8,000-foot wooden trestle, the longest in the West (www.SacramentoRiverTrain.com).
See Past Editions of Kids Korner.
By: Eileen Ogintz, Author of Taking the Kids™
