Things to Do in Vacaville

To promote physical and emotional development, Aerials Academy of Gymnastics and Dance enriches its physical classes with imaginative play and music. Programs are designed for toddlers, adolescents, and teenagers, with a variety of class structures available. Aerials Academy staff leads ballet, tap dancing, and gymnastics while also combining disciplines to create acrobatic adaptations of formal ballet productions. Twice each month, the instructors host Friday-evening play sessions that keep children busy while parents reclaim their free time by going shopping for unexpected holidays.

Bicycle Plus’s staff, a group of avid cyclists, brings an acute awareness to bike sales and tune-ups, garnering the store a series of awards for excellent bicycle retailing. Veteran mechanics work their magic on ailing frames throughout basic tune-ups and complete overhauls in the service department while finding time to teach curious DIYers how to fix a flat tire with peanut butter during free weekly bike-maintenance classes. The sales team pairs up shoppers with glossy rides from Trek, Specialized, and Colnago using the doctor-devised Body Geometry bike-fitting system to ensure maximum riding comfort.

A lifelong hunter and former police offer and firefighter, Ed Tubbs named his range after center mass, otherwise known as the middle of the target. "It came from how I learned to shoot," he told Danny Bernardini of the Reporter. "I'm old school. I learned to aim for center mass."

Tubbs and his team of experienced hunters and public-safety personnel impart their marksmen expertise on pupils at Center Mass Shooting Range. The facility encompasses three ranges that span eight 17-yard lanes and four 25-yard lanes, each regulated by strict safety rules. In addition to giving shooters a place to refine their gunmanship and say words like gunmanship, the range also hosts pistol training. To better serve their clients and the larger public, Center Mass offers discounted range rates to policemen, firemen, and the military and supports several wildlife-management organizations, including the Mule Deer Foundation.

"Ornate" and "sweeping" only begin to describe the Crest Theatre, whose rich history extends back to 1912, when it was opened as a vaudeville house. Within its gargantuan auditorium, plush seats perch in subtly curved rows while elaborate lights and a sea-blue ceiling wash the space in ethereal hues. Moviegoers settle into the elegant confines to take in both new and classic films, reading the subtitles in a whisper to stuffed animals that forgot their glasses. Out in the lobby, a richly patterned carpet and bronzed floral motif cover the sprawling space as visitors belly up to the bar and snack on high-quality goodies.

First known as the Rochester Royals, the Sacramento Kings' lineage dates back to the NBA's first seasons in the 1940s. They claimed the league title in 1951 and have made more than two dozen postseason appearances since, including a stretch from 1999 to 2006 in which they reached the playoffs every year. As a franchise, the Kings had several homes until the '85–'86 season, when they finally moved from Kansas City to Sacramento after years of slipping all over the court in their wet snow boots

Fright Planet's outdoor theme park acts as a library of the world's most potent phobias. Every year, cast members reimagines its catalog of haunted environs, crafting new sets, props, and characters to prey on guests. Its dedication to genuine scares calls for only the best actors and the most grisly scenery, which is constructed with the help of a former Disneyland artist and a bulldozer possessed by the soul of a 1700s architect.

The 2012 lineup has expanded to include nine attractions—up from last year’s five—in addition to the ScreamMax 3-D movie theater. Though the houses all have distinct themes and decor, they share two factors: a richly painted backstory and a population of live, ghoulish denizens. Staring toys line the shelves at Höbart's Doll Factory, 3-D visuals bring corpses to life in Dead Man's Lagoon, and cornstalks bear bloodstains on Podunk Farms. Other experiences play on claustrophobic fears—Blackout! fills its ghostly halls with complete darkness, and Buried Alive: The Ride shuts patrons into a coffin where they endure a simulated hearse ride, burial, and the chilling sound of worms calling dibs on their body parts.