Please look at my photos on the video link below ⬇️
At the beginning of writing this (Sunday night) I’m laid on the bed in our hotel in Folsom. I’m absolutely stuffed with steak and whipped potatoes, and the air conditioning is as low as the settings will allow. It is soooo hot, being late 20s/early 30s for most of the day.
It’s been hot since leaving Sacramento this morning. It was only a short drive, 24 miles or so, until we got to Folsom. The roads weren’t too bad, perhaps it was because it was early ish Sunday morning.
We weren’t able to check in as we arrived at 1030am, so we made best use of the time that we had. Lake Natoma Inn was only a ten minute walk to a cycle rental place, Practical Cycle, on Natoma Station Drive. Renting our cycles was easy and before long we were on the Johnny Cash Trail.
https://www.folsomcasharttrail.com
This biking/walking/hiking trail is roughly 8 miles long, so ideal if you want a short bike ride, or even a good walk. The trail is all cycle path so we felt completely safe. There are also numerous start points, but we joined that trail on the end of Scott Street. The trail is fairly easy to navigate as there are plenty of signs pointing in the right direction. The trail isn’t flat so we had to make use of the gears quite a lot. Unfortunately the bikes weren’t the best so some parts were tough, even with gears.
At about 3.5 miles we wondered whether we could go down a road signposted towards the prison that was off the trail. We saw some walkers and they had asked the same question to someone else. Turns out that this was a part off the main trail where you could see the walls of Folsom Prison. So we went ahead for about half a mile before we passed by the walls. Going further along the path we actually arrived at the prison entrance checkpoint so could go no further. There were various warning posters about visitation and covid etc.
Once we’d taken a few photos we headed back to the regular cycle path and cycled along the trail towards Folsom Lake. This part of the trail was mainly downhill once we’d crossed the bridge with American flags flapping in the wind. Other points of interest on the trail were Robber’s Ravine Bridge, Folsom Lake, Folsom Dam, Rainbow Bridge and Lake Natoma. The trail signs seemed to stop at this point so we had to get out the map a few times to make sure we were going on the right cycle path.
It took just less that two hours to cycle the eight miles with lots of stops to take photos. The bikes were returned at a cost of $20 each. We then walked back to the hotel to shower and change.
It was nearly 2pm before we actually got something to eat at J Wild’s Livery and Feeds, a nice BBQ style restaurant that was a former stables. It was well earned and we were more then ready to wolf it all down.
Further down the road we could hear music coming from the Folsom Hotel on the opposite corner to Wild’s, on Sutter Street. This place looked like something straight out of the Wild West. There was a huge bison head hung on the wall and warnings too about fancy women, gamblers and guns. The duo playing were an acoustic blues set up, with one of them playing a slide guitar. We heard a few songs before they finished and then we headed off. You can see a short clip of the band here: https://youtu.be/3ZeiJCtfDXg
The town has a similar feel to Old Sacramento with wooden buildings still decorated in the traditional Wild West style. As we walked away from the main bar area we found many nice shops, traditional bookshops and quirky boutiques. There was also a place called Crystal Basin Station in the Historic Folsom District. This was a wine tasting shop offering flights for $15, which we thought was reasonable. It was sad to say that I didn’t enjoy any of the wines, even though there were well known wines such as Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. The wine wasn’t chilled enough either which didn’t help. The sales assistant knew she wasn’t going to get a sale.
We then wandered around the area where there used to be a railroad, built in 1856, but has since been closed and the buildings remain as historical landmarks. There is a reconstructed turning table and the original station house remains in situ.
Time was flying by so we went back to the hotel to freshen up and chill out for a bit. We then went to the bar of the hotel where we met a Chilean/USA bartender called Branco, who looked a little like Russell Brand. He lived in Chile until he was 3, then moved to USA with his family. He was sent back to Chile aged 14, because he’d been a bit of a “dickhead” and this was to sort him out. We chatted about his love of the English accent, travel, beers, music (The Beatles – his fave, The Smiths etc, we also introduced him to Placebo) . He said that he wanted to travel to Europe, particularly Croatia. He told us that his grandfather is Croatian and he wanted to travel to his ancestral home. We talked about the classic cars of Sacramento and we learned that this event happens once a month or so. He was a bit crazy and swore quite a bit. He’d only been working at the hotel bar for a week. A nice, funny and interesting guy.
With nowhere booked for tea we took a chance in trying the Sutter Street Steakhouse. It sells steak and fish and had a vast wine menu too. We managed to get a table even though it was very busy. We went straight for a main course of steak, garlic mash potato and asparagus. It was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. Even though we’d had more then enough food, we still opted to share a wild honey gelato which was lovely, but just a step too far.
http://www.sutterstreetsteakhouse.com/?y_source=1_MTU5MjAwMzctNzE1LWxvY2F0aW9uLndlYnNpdGU%3D
So back to the hotel, where this takes us back to the beginning of today’s blog, laid on the bed feeling very hot and very full. We’ve had another amazing day.
jctraveller 
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