I took this picture in January of 2009 when I made a trip to northern California to visit my sister and her family. I’m headed out this way again and I can’t tell you how excited I am to leave snowy, below zero Colorado! (I’ll get to the prison part). The Sixth Grader and I will be meeting The Husband (who’s already in San Francisco for work) today then up to Windsor to see the fam. I am looking forward to getting my hands on my new niece who was born in October and spoiling her five-year-old sister. After a few relaxing days there, we head to Sacramento where my guys will fly back home and I’ll stay for another 9 days to finish up my research at the State Archives:

This will hopefully be my final trip to the archives as I aim to finish my book, Folsom’s 93, a nonfiction account of the men executed at Folsom prison. I know, real uplifting. 😉 This has been a two year process so far and I hope to be finished this summer with it. As a writer and history buff, I am so excited to get there and finish up.  Since it’s my second trip to Sacramento for this, I’m pretty familiar with the lay of the land, but plan on doing some more exploring. Luckily, most of what I need is in walking distance, including a church where one of my Folsom fellow’s crime took place. I also get to walk right by the Capitol building every day, which is quite beautiful.

However, the most exciting event on my schedule is a tour of the prison itself—still in operation, by the way. Folsom is located about 20 miles outside Sacramento and my mom will actually be meeting me in Sacramento and together, we’re headed to prison. She’s a little nervous. For me, after two years of Folsom on the brain, I’m thrilled.

Folsom has been in operation for 130 years and houses so much history, well, in addition to the roughly 3500 inmates. Part of the long list of instructions for taking the tour, is to not wear certain fabrics (denim), certain colors, and especially, no blue, orange, red or gold jumpsuits. Hmmm . . . so I told my Mom that her new catsuit might be inappropriate. 🙂

So needless to say, I’m anxious to head out there, for both vacation and work. There are lots of restaurant options, plus I will have a small fridge and microwave in the hotel room, so I’ll report back with my California Vegan Finds. If you know of any veg-friendly restaurants in downtown Sacramento, let me know! Until then, have a great couple of weeks!

Cheers!