Things to Do in Sacramento

The many stigmas surrounding the sluggishness and spitball susceptibility of school buses and public transit are rendered inane by the sleek comforts of Blue Groundways' buses. Each Blue Groundways bus is an indulgence-vessel on six wheels, offering the musicality of Sirius satellite radio, the connection of on-board WiFi, five-star service from friendly attendants, beverages to hydrate your journey, and the most recent movie releases played on a slick video system. Scheduled routes include a Friday ride that starts in Santa Rosa and travels along Route 42 to Petaluma and Sacramento before arriving in Lake Tahoe and then later in Reno, returning back home on Sundays. The San Francisco to Reno route leaves on Fridays and Sundays with return trips on Saturdays and Sundays, making stops in both Lake Tahoe and Sacramento. Check out the route map for pick-up locations.

Operating under the mantra “experience the difference,” Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park rockets jumpers of any age, shape, or physical ability across 3-D trampoline courts, which were awarded a US patent for their uniqueness. Inside the air-conditioned facility, trampoline-covered walls absorb and ricochet bodies, demonstrating real-life instances of "bouncing off the walls" to both kids and puzzled ballistics students. Aerial amusement disguises calorie-burning fitness during open-jumping sessions and competitive games, such as 3-D dodge ball and Sky Zone the Sport with goals rotating 360 degrees. Bouncers renounce gravity and their fear of ceilings with trampoline shoes or while soaring toward the rim on the Sky Jam court. SkyRobics trampoline classes motivate visitors to whip into shape with calisthenics and core exercises as they joyously reach for the skies. To ensure bouncers stay safe and follow the rules, court monitors supervise the high-flying fun at all times.

Founded in 2001 by a group of enthusiastic thrill seekers, Recreational Rentals helps customers hug curves or crest waves behind the controls of Can-am Spyders or Sea-Doo personal watercrafts. When not riding themselves, staffers replace their old equipment every two years to keep their inventory current and their drag-racing alter egos secret. They also maintain, repair, and upgrade recreational vehicles in a 10,000-square-foot warehouse space.

A pilot sinks into her cockpit, buckles up, checks the controls, and gets ready for takeoff. The engine hums to life and soon the ground rolls beneath her, until she lifts away and the buildings nearby shrink to the size of dust motes. But there's something unusual with the scene: the pilot isn't old enough to see a PG-13 movie let alone pilot an aircraft. That's because the Aerospace Museum of California doesn't let age become a barrier to flight. Children of all sizes climb into airplanes, pilot virtual jets in simulators, and experiment with the physics of flight while adults do the same, exploring the history of aviation both on Earth and beyond.

More than 37,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor exhibits chronicle everything from the very first airplanes made of cloth and wood to futuristic Mars-destined craft made of space-wood. Some of the museum’s prize possessions include the McDonnell-Douglas A-4C Skyhawk I, better known as one of the Blue Angels’ stunt rides, and the Grumman F-14D Tomcat, just like the one co-starring in the 1986 film Top Gun. The Fun with Physics exhibit hammers home the idea of hands-on learning, letting young engineers play with simple machines, whereas the engine room dishes up eye-candy for motorheads, including specimens from 1910’s Le Rhone to the marvels that propelled the Titan rockets.

Largely self-taught, Shannon Jane Morgan has spent the last 19 years firing up her furnaces and creating delicate, one-of-a-kind works of glass art as the owner and founder of Girl Glass. Her pieces include gracefully curved vases; pigment-dappled paperweights; and whimsical, translucent pumpkins. In private classes, Morgan shares her years of carefully cultivated expertise with students, delving into the nuances of molten glass with tutorials on blowing, shaping, and creating goblets strong enough to survive an operatic high note.

The nonprofit Heidrick Ag History Center harvests the rich history of agricultural machinery and transportation through an extensive collection of vintage tractors and trucks. The 130,000-square-foot space houses both the Hays Antique Truck Museum—home to such artifacts as a one-of-a-kind Breeding steam-powered truck and broccoli steamer from 1916—and the Fred C. Heidrick Antique Ag Collection, an assemblage of olden-day iron horses and golden cows collected over a period of 60 years.

Using skills acquired from his childhood days building his own planes and combines from scraps of wire and wood, Mr. Heidrick himself restored most of the equipment—some of which was formerly little more than heaps of rust—to its original condition. Palettes of green, red, and yellow pop from John Deere tractors from the 1930s to the 1950s, a Deering reaper machine from 1891, and a 120-horsepower Holt built in 1917 to tow artillery during World War I.