I’ll Need My Easter Bonnet

Linda Burton posting from Sacramento, California — What’s the fun going on in Sacramento while I’m here? Austin was head over heels in music with SXSW, Phoenix was immersed in March-spring-training baseball time. Now it’s Sacramento, first weeks of April, my birthday and Easter too. Look to the Visitor’s Bureau first. http://www.discovergold.org/ I’ve only got one full weekend and that weekend I see is packed with Easter fests. Kids are invited to run around and search for colored plastic eggs; the City of Sacramento is staging Saturday hunts in many parks: Spring EGGstravaganza at Elk Grove Regional; Alkali Flat & Mansion Flat Egg Hunt at Zapata; 15,000 eggs at Southside Park, crafts and raffle drawings too.

For semi-sit-down kids, the Discovery Museum http://www.thediscovery.org  has prehistoric eggs; see the Blast From the Past dinosaur egg exhibit; make a paper Protoceratops egg; take home a plastic egg with a baby dinosaur inside. At Crocker Art Museum http://www.crockerartmuseum.org/ kids see ancient emu egg carvings, sparkly Faberge’s; then decorate papier mâché eggs with paint, or beads.

For outdoor eggs-citement, the Sacramento RiverTrain offers rides on the Easter Egg Express to a park for a hunt; along the way they’ll serve you cupcakes while entertainment strolls from car to car; at Haggin Oaks Golf free pancakes, free golf clubs, and a visit from the Easter Bunny; plus an egg hunt, sure.

Much older kids can weekend party after dark with Bunnies and Bottles or Whaskilly Whabbits; cocktail servers dress in Playboy bunny wear. And Easter Sunday brunches offer everything from bottomless mimosas to carving-table beef and omelets made to order just before your eyes (the most perfect use for eggs!).

I’ve made my choice. I’m heading for the 17th Annual Living History Easter Bonnet Promenade. Staged by the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation, visitors are invited to dress up in Easter finery or historic apparel, and celebrate by strolling through the boardwalks and cobblestone streets of Old Sacramento. I don’t have a parasol, but I’ll wear my hat. http://www.historicoldsac.org/shm.asp