Sacramento, CA

As I was sitting and enjoying a cup of Ginger Snappish tea this morning, it occurred to me that I never told anyone about the Gingerbread Houses that are currently on display at the Old Sacramento Schoolhouse Museum. Every December, people are invited to design their own glorious gingerbread creations to be displayed and judged at the Schoolhouse. Anyway, judging for this year is long past–it was on December 8th. However, the delectable creations are still on display through Sunday, December 23rd.

In any case, it’s the perfect opportunity to escape reality for a few moments when you start to get too stressed out. With only a scant few days left before Christmas, God knows we’re ALL feeling at least a little bit stressed out. There are presents still to be bought and wrapped, cleaning to be done, cookies to be baked, groceries to be bought, anxiety that Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary will get drunk and fight AGAIN…and well, you get the picture I’m sure! As for me, I’m STILL not done making my sister’s Christmas gift and she’s coming tonight so I’m not quite sure that I’ll be able to finish it without her knowing what it is. *ARGGGG!!!!!!*

The point is that we could all use a little bit of a break and I can’t think of anything better than to escape to a land where houses are made of candy and children’s innocence lives on unchecked. If you can’t manage to escape for even a couple minutes, then I reccommend you check out Mary MacIntyre’s page. She has a couple of other really brilliant ideas for how to relax amidst all of the stress this season inevitably brings with it.

And if that doesn’t work, you can always try getting a tad bit drunk

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I don’t know about the rest of you, but one of my all time favorite parts of Christmas is getting to share all of the classic stories with the next generation. The Polar Express has always been one of my favorites–the BOOK mind you and NOT the movie. Anyway, I’m pretty excited because the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento is hosting the very first West Coast appearance of the Polar Express Train Ride. On this special train ride, the classic tale will be told and brought to life anew as you travel to the North Pole to see Santa Claus. Santa will even be giving special gifts to all of the children on board the train. To completely surround you in the wonders of a child’s innocence, they will even be serving hot chocolate!

If you can’t get tickets–because they are rather hard to find right now–don’t fret too much. After all, they have recently announced that they will be continuing this new tradition next year as well. Tickets for 2008 will go on sale on October 1st, 2008 and are expected to sell just as quickly as these ones have. In any case, it is one of those things that you just shouldn’t miss out on during the holiday season…like driving around to look at Christmas lights or ice skating under a star filled sky so that even “though I’ve grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe.”

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As a pre-med major, I found a place of particular interest to me here in Sacramento–the Sierra Sacramento Valley Museum of Medical History. The museum was built in May 2001 after the city opted for the closure of the Paul Guttman Medical Library and Information Center. The city wanted to be sure that their rare texts would be preserved so they chose to build the SSVMS to take its place. They decided to keep medical journals dating from the late 1800’s to the 1950’s along with hundreds of medical texts from the 1700’s. In addition to the texts, they have sixteen different displays of medical artifacts that were donated to the society. The displays depict collections of Surgery, Clinical Diagnosis, Infectious Disease, Pharmacy, Radiology, Chinese Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Medical Quackery (which sounds the most interesting to me!). The museum is located at 5380 Elvas Avenue #100 and is open daily from 9:00AM-4:00PM. You can arrange for tours by calling 916-452-2671 or by e-mailing info@ssvms.org.

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The Aerospace Museum of California is currently showcasing a special exhibit comprising replicas of some of Leonardo Da Vinci’s greatest paintings and inventions. His original sketches will be on display next to the working models that haev been built from them. Some of the inventions on the display will include the air screw (a precursor to the modern helicopter), war wagon, a robot, and even a chamber of mirrors. They are even built from materials that would have been available to Da Vinci–helping to explain how he was able to even envision the prospect of such machines in Renaissance Europe! Sadly, technology did not allow him to actually construct any of them…it was not until many centuries later that the Artisans of Florence were able to craft his ideas into workable models. In addition to his incredible inventions, there will also be life-size reporductions of his greatest paintings including the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.

The museum is located in McClellan Park (formerly McClellan Air Force Base) at 3200 Freedom Park Drive, Sacramento CA 95652. Tickets can be purchased at 1-800-292-2334 or online at tickets.com. If purchased online, you can get a $3.00 off coupon by entering the the code word WINGS when asked for promo codes. I know it doesn’t sound l;ike much, but it is definately something to take into account considering that the tickets are a little bit on the pricey end (especially museum-wise!). Admission prices are as follows:

Adults–$17.95
Seniors–$11.95
Students (7-17)–$11.95
Families (2 Adults & 3 Kids)–$56.00
Active Military–$8.95

The exhibit will run until August 19th, 2007…though one site does say it will now run through the end of September as well. The museum itself is open from 10AM-5PM daily. I know it may sound like a lot of money (I’m poor so I totally know the feeling!!) but I still think it’s one of those things that you should just grin and bear it. After all, this is to be one of only a few stops in the Western U.S.–and the only one in Northern California–making it a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience the inner workings of Da Vinci’s genius.

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