I recently moved to the Sacramento area, and my best friend is coming down to visit me. I think we have some stuff to do locally, but the Saturday, my boyfriend and I were thinking we would take her a bit further out. We were hoping for a full day trip of 3 hours or less driving one way. We're fairly active, in our twenties, and up for a lot of different types of things, and my friend hasn't been in the area since she was a little girl. Budget isn't a huge deal, but we can't afford to be too extravagant.

It would be a great help if anyone has any good suggestions, particularly considering it will be an August Saturday, and we have just the one day to see it.

Thanks in advance!

How about San Francisco? That's only about and hour and a half from Sacramento.

Napa Valley and/or the Avenue of the Giants more north.
Large Seuioa trees, very impressive.

Sacramento is in a great location for day trips.

The highway 4 corridor in Calaveras County. Calaveras Big Trees is a beautiful park, full of redwood trees. The town of Muphys is along the way and is a fun stop. You could also drive all the way across the mountains on Highway 4, loop around through Markleeville, and come back on Highway 88. It is a beautiful drive, but makes for a very long day.

Columbia State Park is off highway 49 and is an old gold rush town. Take a picnic or eat in town.

Donner Lake, Donner State Park on I-80. Site of the Donner Party's last encampment. There is a museum there.

There is also the Grass Valley area (highway 49 to the north) where you can visit charming towns and old mines, including the Empire Mine.

Lake Tahoe, of course - biking, hiking, swimming, beautiful scenery, and casinos if you like that sort of thing.

Stinson Beach or Bodega Bay.

Monterey Aquarium -- not just for kids (but may be pretty crowded in August).

Vicketty,
My daughter just moved to Sac in Nov and we have done several day trips from there.
The trip to San Fran is very easy and if you dont want to drive in the city you can take the ferry from several places- or you could ride bikes over the Golden Gate Bridge ( havent done it yet but sounds fun )
Trip to Tahoe is easy to do in a day also
lots of options for sure

Welcome to Sacramento. You've got some great suggestions so far - especially the list from nevermind.

By Sat it is supposed to be getting warm (hot) again so you might want altitude (tahoe/hwy 88 is a great choice) or water (SF/the Marin coast)

On a Fri I would never recommend driving to Tahoe, but on a Sat the traffic up isn't so bad. I would take hwy 88 up through really glorious scenery, and the comeback down on hwy 50 after touring around Lake Tahoe for a while.

OR - another option if it doesn't heat up too much on the weekend-- take a shorter trip into Amador county and tour some of the wineries. Neat countryside,little gold rush towns, and about 40 wineries -- mostly centered around Plymouth.

Thank you all for the suggestions! They all look like a lot of fun. I'll suggest them to my friend and see what she would like to.