At the station in Sacramento, too early for rational thought.
In order to take the California Zephyr Amtrak line, we had to take a side trip. It didn’t make much sense, but the California Zephyr originates in Emeryville, CA and ends in Chicago. We weren’t planning to go east (yet), but you could take the train from Emeryville to Sacramento, and then head north, and so we did.
The train, much to my disappointment, didn’t even have Zephyr written on the side of the car. We had to leave early Sunday morning, and then got to Sacramento at around noon. The northbound Coastal Starlight didn’t leave until midnight.
Since 1863 people had been in the same boat we were in.
Twelve hours to kill in Sacramento. What does one do? Walk. Just start walking.
Zac had arranged with the Downtown Partnership for a busker permit, so we were all clear to find the downtown and get playing some tunes. We head downtown, and there isn’t much going on except a bunch of societal loose ends asking for money, or giving out chips (?) to the kids.
We walked a few blocks, and noticed a beautiful theater marquee and headed towards it. Here we find out it happens to be (drumroll please) FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL weekend!!! Talk about people who love some obscure art! We’d found our peeps, all in one place. We set up outside the beautiful theater, and played a bit. The mediterranean cafe next door was closed for a private party, turns out to be a muslim wedding. Some women and children were hanging out outside, and after hearing a few songs, a young girl let us know that we were boring. Then she let us know that we should play music of the younger generation, and then Zac pointed out that it is the older generation that actually tips. Then she pointed out that my clothes were old, and that being a musician isn’t really a job. Jeez, if i had wanted a verbal tongue lashing about my lifestyle choices, I would have called my ex-boyfriend and asked him what he thought.
We found the art dorks in Sacramento!!!
Well, the bratty child was soon carried away in a passenger van with the rest of her family, and we were left with the obscure art lovers. We played some tunes as people came in and out of the theatre, and then the guy John, whose very french wife founded this event, came out and dropped four passes in our tip jar. We sold a couple of CD’s, and then took a break.
When we arrived in Sacramento, a guy at the Amtrak station said he had taken his kids to see Toy Story 3 at the IMAX theatre. The kids thought that sounded just great. Then I got online and realized the tickets were $16.50 for adults and $13.50 for children. Krikey! That is almost $50 before you even get popcorn! What the heck! Well, unfortunately for the kids, or maybe fortunately, we ended up with four free passes to obscure french films with subtitles. We played the next movie break, then packed up and went in. This theatre was absolutely decadent, and perfectly renovated. Or maybe it never fell into disrepair, but it was truly beautiful. John came over and gave the kids popcorn and soda, and we went on into the movie.
Before the movie started, Cecile’ came out and gave away a few door prizes, and talked about the film. When they called the raffle number, could you believe we had the ticket? Ok, what a liability we turned out to be?!!! Unfortunately, the raffle was for things we couldn’t use, so we gave the prize to another guy who had bought a CD from us. The movie started, and within the first 5 minutes a guy impaled himself through a dark comedy move on some unknown thing, and fake blood ensued, and it was about all we needed from that movie. We went outside and had our popcorn in the beautiful lobby.
Downtown Sacramento!
We packed up and headed to Old Sacramento, where busking is not allowed. And it was amazing, as soon as we left the district we were allowed to play in, the stores were empty for a block, and then the “nice” part of town started. The corporations, the neat and tidy mall, the human density, wouldn’t it just figure that is where all the people are. I’ll take the obscure french film watchers any day. I guess that they don’t really need street musicians in that area. Old Sacramento is right on the American River, and it is all historic, and people dress in costumes, and it has the “historic downtown” magnets, like hat shops, and costume photographers, and candy stores…We walked to the river, and then ate fish and chips at a little shop, and by that time, we were good and tired. It was also a great place to cruise around in your antique car, so we enjoyed watching the hot rodders show off their rides.
Why no one sits next to us in restaurants anymore.
We headed back to the Amtrak station, got the kids ready for bed, and sat for a few hours. A student of music sat down behind us and played his classical guitar, so it was nice and peaceful. Zephyr fell asleep, Zac fell asleep, and then eventually, Eureka fell asleep. By the time the train arrived, the station was quite full, and having to wake up the kids to take them outside was a little hard. In the middle of the night, the kids just don’t wake up. They kind of stand up and then fall over. Outside there were four amtrak trains waiting to go, so the horns were blowing, and the big diesel engines were churning, it was loud. Those moments feel like a panic, with your stuff everywhere, feeling like you need to be pushy to get your four seats together, but to Amtrak’s credit, they put you with your family, and there is nothing to worry about.
This is what Zephyr thinks of late nights.
We rode the train through the night, getting to Klamath Falls, Oregon at 7:30 A.M. I woke up at some point in the early morning to realize that the landscape had changed entirely, and we were far, far above a raging river, and the mountains were steep and jagged. Then I fell back asleep, and woke up to see a giant volcanic snow covered mountain. Then I dozed again, and it was time to get off. This all makes for very weird dreams.