Two hundred and eighty-five optimistic, energetic young adults from across the nation arrived in Sacramento on Wednesday, October 10 to begin 10 months of service in the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) program. These 18- to 24-year-olds are training in Sacramento at the NCCC Pacific Region Campus at McClellan Park and will go on to complete a series of critical service projects in Sacramento, California, throughout the western region of the United States, and wherever disaster may strike. Sacramento will act as the home base to these service teams before and after service proejcts throughout the next 10 months. Including Team Leaders, over 300 people will be exploring S

There is almost nothing better than looking over the shelves of books on topics as far-ranging as a memoir about a former doctor who saved a cat by climbing atop a fire truck in the middle of a busy parking lot and nearly getting arrested to books on how to finish your deck, with or without the hot tub, to novels with shirtless guys on the front or those wonderful classic shorts that Murakami never writes. I love bookstores. I love small bookstores and large bookstores and those in-between. I look for bookstores in every city I visit. I’m not alone. There are people, and you know who you are, that plan their vacations around the opening of bookstores. Speaking of new bookstores, there’s

AugustineIdeas was awarded two ADDY’s® at the Sacramento Ad Club’s annual awards event held March 8, 2012, at the Woodlake Hotel in Sacramento. The agency earned the awards for the concept, design, development and launch of DoNapa.com, a website for its client: the Napa Tourism Improvement District and the Napa Downtown Association. The state-of-the-art, interactive website was part of a new branding campaign to encourage tourists and residents to “Do Napa.” DoNapa.com and AugustineIdeas received the Judges Award for the website and a Gold ADDY® in the “Interactive Media Campaign: Websites, Consumer HTML/Other” category. "This award not only recognizes the exceptional talent of our staff

Sacramento International Airport’s new Terminal B echoes with the sounds of local musicians this holiday season, with airport officials saying they want to add to the flying experience, especially since travelers are recommended to arrive earlier. “Under normal circumstances, we advise them to get here 90 minutes earlier,” said airport spokeswoman Laurie Slothower. “For the holidays, we’re saying two to two and a half hours early because there are so many little stresses that can be alleviated if you get here early.” Travelers who haven’t been to the new terminal – which opened in October – should check the airport website to be sure they know where their airline is located. Anyone trav

Travelers on Amtrak riding through the Capitol Corridor will now have Wi-Fi access on board the trains – and it’s free. Amtrak launched the new service Monday to coincide with “Cyber Monday,” the busiest Internet holiday shopping day of the year, according to a press release from Amtrak. The Capitol Corridor is an intercity passenger train system that provides rail service along a 170-mile rail corridor to 16 stations in eight counties, including Placer, Sacramento and Yolo. The route extends from Auburn to San Jose, and includes stops in Rocklin, Roseville, Davis, Richmond and Berkeley and other cities. Passengers can connect to the Wi-Fi service onboard the trains through any laptop

Art installations are largely complete as the Sacramento International Airport’s new Terminal B readies to open Oct. 6, and they include a range of pieces from technologically advanced works to traditional painting and mosaic pieces. While not the first thing arriving passengers will see, a giant red rabbit seemingly jumping from outside the building into a waiting suitcase opening up like a vortex on the floor is one of the most-talked-about of the 12 currently installed works. More than 1,600 aluminum triangles make up the rabbit’s exposed surface. The work, entitled “Leap,” is by Denver-based artist Lawrence Argent and is suspended above the ticket hall in the “land side” portion of t

Sacramento artist Karen O’Haire was inspired to paint by Claude Monet, father of the Impressionist movement. She recently returned from spending a week working in his former gardens in Giverny, France. “They let us in before and after the gardens were open for tourists,” O’Haire said. “I sketched in the morning when just me and the other artists and the garden workers were there. That was really fun.” O’Haire was one of nine American painters who, through a friendship with another artist, worked in the garden from May 26 - June 8. She produced a painting and a number of sketches each day. “It was my third time I got to do this. I feel very fortunate,” she said. “When you’re there you so

In Vietnam, even when you’re in a room with air conditioning, you’re soaked with sweat within five minutes. When the temperature’s in the ’90s every day, and even the Vietnamese are telling you that they can’t stand the heat, you know you’re in for it. So, imagine this intense heat and the equally intense accompanying sweat. Imagine unfamiliar sights and sounds all around you – the pandemonium of Saigon, the capital of Vietnam, a major city in Southeast Asia. Maybe you sweat a little bit more in this new unfamiliar territory. With all of this firmly planted in your mind, now imagine performing a surgery on one of the most delicate parts of the human body, the eye, to restore sight to a p

The California State Railroad Museum and Historic Park is calling all volunteers to enter its 50th volunteer academy – volunteers who, according to officials, are the museum’s backbone. “We couldn’t run the museum without our docents. They are everything,” said Theresa Gonsolis, a guide and volunteer coordinator. She added that the museum – founded in 1981 – is considered the premiere indoor railroad museum in the country. Applications for the volunteer docent class are online and are being accepted through May 31, though Gonsolis said there is some “wiggle room” in the deadline. “Our philosophy is: the more the merrier,” she said. Docents are only required to work seven hours per mon

With a string of dead-end jobs taking him nowhere despite having a master’s degree from Rutgers, Eric Clausen decided to ride his bicycle around the country, documenting what he sees and the people he meets through sketches. “New York is kind of a terrible place for young artists,” the 26-year-old Clausen said. “There’s plenty of art to look at, but there are almost no opportunities. I was kind of miserable and decided to just hit the road.” He sold almost everything he owned and started in Brooklyn on Sept. 5. He arrived in Sacramento this weekend. A run-in with a bicycle gang, a fall that cut his arm so badly he had to stitch himself up and a night spent in an improvised shack are a f

Are you starting to plan your summer vacation? Despite spring weather trying to take hold in the Sacramento area, it's not too early to think about summer-time travel. For many family history researchers, travel will involve going to their ancestor's place of origin, visiting with newly discovered relatives and delving into courthouses, libraries and other record repositories. What research documents and equipment should you take with you? What should you leave home? What should you wear? Get answers to these questions and more at Glenda Lloyd's presentation "Planning a Research Trip" at the next meeting of Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society. All meetings are free and open to th

Springtime comes suddenly to El Dorado, California’s most charming and mysterious wine-producing region. At the foothills of the still icy Sierras, the collection of 70 odd wineries perched over and under the winding roads and hilltops prepare their tasting season with a ‘Passport Weekend' festival. No matter if you are visiting as a veteran wine hound or taking your first insipid sips, El Dorado's 'first blush' season is recommended as a genuine California wine-tasting experience. The region offers an exceptionally candid taste of a local wine-making practice that is both old and new, and entirely not to be missed. The wineries of El Dorado make up a budding wine country that wins compet

    Twenty years ago, Haakon Lang-Ree’s sister encouraged him to volunteer for Disabled Sports USA Far West, the founding chapter of the nationwide organization that provides adaptive sports instruction and adventures. “I got hooked. I really liked the people I was working with and thought, ‘This is pretty cool’,” explains Lang-Ree, the Disabled Sports USA’s Program Director. “As humans we all strive to achieve, to meet a challenge and we all have distinct abilities to get there.” He talks about the “rush” of skiing and riding. Truckee resident Erin Freeman knows about this rush. Freeman is one of four students from Choices Transitional Services, a Truckee-based program for people with

Sacramento International Airport’s expansion – dubbed “The Big Build” – is on-track to be completed by the end of next year, providing 19 new gates and an all-new, two-building terminal. “We started this effort in May of 2000,” said G. Hardy Acree, director of the Sacramento County Airport System. “We started construction in June of 2008 and are 30 months into a 42-month construction cycle.” The new terminal, known as Terminal B, will be composed of two buildings connected by an above-ground people-moving train system. The “land-side” portion of the terminal will front a two-level roadway, with one level for arrivals and the other for departures. That section will also include ticket sa

Acclaimed travel writer Rick Steves made an appearance at St. John's Lutheran Church in Sacramento on Wednesday night. Brought in to raise funds to support the 'The Rwanda School Project' and 'Lutheran Social Services of Northern California,' Rick spoke about traveling as a spiritual act. The speech hi-lighted the nearly 30 years of Rick's life on the road and his desire to learn from each experience. Rick Steves, who is the author of more than 40 travel books, preaches about the transformative power of travel. His latest book 'Travel as a Political Act' was the basis for his speech Wednesday night. The speech, as well as the book, encourages the audience to travel abroad to experience h

Award-winning travel writer and TV host Rick Steves is coming to Sacramento next week to share his thoughts on travel at St. John’s Lutheran Church. “Americans can travel in one of two ways,” Steves said. “They can travel in a way that widens the gap between them and the rest of the world, or with the proper attitude, you can broaden your perspective and get empathy for other cultures.” Steves got his start in the travel industry as a tour guide, and he has since authored more than 50 guidebooks. He is also is the host of the PBS series “Rick Steves’ Europe.” He had a simple message for those who are nervous or afraid about setting foot on foreign shores: “Fear is for people who don’t

 Many Sacramento residents are unaware that they live just around the corner from a world-renown hotbed of whitewater rafting. Whether you are rafting the South Fork of the American River in El Dorado County, the Middle or North Forks, Cache Creek or one of the many other rivers flowing in the Sacramento area, here's a great article on how to go about planning your trip. As a first-time rafter, many questions are likely running through your mind if you are considering a trip. Maybe you’re nervous. Perhaps you can’t swim. Are you going off of waterfalls? Are you fit enough? Are you old enough? Are you young enough? What do you wear? How do you wear it? Do you need special shoes? Not to wo

A United Airlines passenger jet makes a landing yesterday just to the west of the new expansion project, The Big Build,  at Sacramento International Airport. According to a press release, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) awarded an $8.6 million Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grant to Sacramento International Airport the first week of April. It is the second installment in the seven year $59 million FAA Letter of Intent (LOI) funding program for the Big Build at Sacramento. AIP funds support construction of terminal aprons, taxiways and overnight aircraft parking for the Big Build project. “On a project as large as the Big Build, funding is a critical piece of the overall

"John Muir  exclaimed "This is the best tree-lovers monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world," declared conservationist John Muir when describing the majestic coast redwoods of Muir Woods." It's an easy drive from Sacramento for a day excursion. Bark has pulled away from this fallen tree. "The incredible diversity of flora and fauna at Muir Woods can be daunting sometimes, elusive at other times. The redwoods themselves dominate the scene, but the Steller's jay often steals the show. Ladybugs clustering by the thousands on ancient horsetail ferns boggle the imagination, while the slimy banana slug is able to disgust and fascinate all at once. Plants adapt to

  "You moved where?"    "Sacramento"  "Why?"         Sacramento is not thought of very highly by a lot of Bay Area-ites.  I'm not entirely sure why.  I suppose many cannot separate the town from the stink wafting up from the State Assembly and Capital.  Politics as a whole is repugnant to your average person, and California's is especially loathsome. It's an unfortunate metonymy, "Sacramento" for the sludge that leaks out of the State Assembly, but it is to be expected.  When one considers "Washington DC", its a rare soul who thinks of the Smithsonian first and the politics second.   I grew up in Menlo Park, decidedly Bay Area-centric.  In the circles I came of age in, Sacramento wasn't