Finally following up with our trip report - Stayed on the Delta King in Sacramento (loved it - small, quaint riverside stateroom); great bar w/piano player and soloist; loved watching the ducks and geese taking a free ride on the brush and sticks flowing down the very swift river; ate at Fat City several times. Dinner Theater at the Delta King seemed very popular.
That was Friday. On Saturday drove down to Arnold and stayed at the Mountain Retreat Resort. GREAT condo and great surroundings. Ate at Tallahans (great steaks); Snowshoe (large servings); had Round Table Pizza delivered. On Sunday went to Big Trees State Park (fantastic); then drove up the road a short distance to Dorrington and visited the Lube Room (great Character!). Wonderful "deco" on the walls and ceiling; juke box; drinks; and cheeseburgers and onion rings. Started snowing while we were there. Left and drove up toward Bear Valley ski resort. The further we drove, the heavier the snow. Winter Wonderland! Next day, did the snowmobile tour. It was fantastic. On Tuesday, drove to Murphys and toured Ironstone Winery - fantastic! Visited the old Murphys Hotel and bar (neat!), and then had lunch at Grounds (pretty good).
On Wednesday, drove down to Yosemite (snowing inside Yosemite - beautiful!) Stayed outside the park at Yosemite View Lodge (loved the river outside our room, the jacuzzi, gas fireplace, etc.) - don't recommend their breakfast tho. Wednesday night we went to Cedar Lodge - great jukebox, cheeseburgers, etc. - would recommend going there for breakfast. Would also recommend possibly staying there, tho we did love the Yosemite View Lodge.
After touring Yosemite on Thursday (and visiting the Ahwahnee Hotel - Beautiful! Would like to have had breakfast or lunch there) we returned to Arnold (stopped in Columbia, but it was late and rainy and not much activity there). About 30 to 40 minutes outside of Arnold it started snowing. It was pretty heavy so we stopped and bought steaks to cook in the room that night - wonderful, especially with the huge fireplace going! Arnold received about a foot of snow that night! Beautiful that Friday morning! On Friday, made one last trip for a delicious hamburger and onion rings at the Dorrington Lube Room. Returned to Sacramento on Saturday and stayed at the Embassy Suites in Old Sacramento (I would highly recommend it!) and returned to Texas on Sunday. Wonderful trip!
I really want to thank everyone on this website who were such a great help to me in planning this trip! It was great! Thanks, eb from Texas

eb: What a great report! You were able to pack so much information into so little space!

Whets my curiosity to go and explore some of those places that you visited! Yosemite is a wonderful place. Hope you can have lunch or dinner at the Ahwahnee next time!

Thanks so much for posting! Great read!

Great Report!

We're going to be going to Mt. Retreat next weekend. We've been having such warm sunny weather that I'm worried there won't be enought snow to do the snowmobiling trip!

Utahtea

I'm so glad everything worked out so well for you. I know you were a little nervous about the forecast bad weather. Sounds like you didn't skip a beat.

(Today it was over 80F in Sacramento and over 75F in Arnold! Just goes to show you can't tell what the weather will be)

Thanks to all for the feedback!
After re-reading my report...thanks, too, for no one asking me if we ate at all those places on Saturday night! I was trying to cram as much as I could without getting too wordy, but I'm sure my old English teacher would have cringed! eb OH yes, forgot to mention the animals - saw two herds of deer (mostly bucks with huge racks) alongside the road in Yosemite; 3 deer and one coyote on the grounds at the Ahwahnee; and gorgeous birds and small squirrels everywhere! Again, great trip!

eb, Excellent.

Was the gal on the Delta King the lovely and always entertaining Gayiel Von and her piano player Jimmy "Fingerz" Jordan?

If so, she is a good singer and attracts a rather eclectic crowd to that ol' riverboat. We like her.
Glad you enjoyed the DK.

We have friends that moved to Arnold about 10yrs ago and have been trying to get us to come down for some golfing and carousing. After reading your report we just may give Mountain Resort a try and let the games begin.
Kal

eb, good to see people coming through Sacramento on their way to other places. It's a nice place to live even though it does not have all of the "traditional" tourist amenities of SF, LA, and SD. It does have some character and outdoors opportunities abound and there are good restaurants and shopping.

Come through again, but "Don't mess with Sac."

Kal, I'm not sure what the names of the singer and piano player were. We talked to both of them and I'm sure were told their names, but I can't remember... They were very nice and very good...and, yes, they seemed to be very popular and well-known with the crowd.
I HIGHLY recommend that you take your friends up on visiting Arnold!

Itravelsome, I loved Sacramento. Some friends and I flew into Sacramento about two years ago for a trek thru the Napa Valley. I didn't feel like I'd been there long enough, so that's why I opted for us to fly into there vs. San Francisco...plus the airport is a breeze to get in and out of! I loved San Francisco, but like the laid-back feeling you get in Sac...and it's very easy to get around. e

to eb:

We just got back from my FIL's timeshare at Mt. Retreat in Arnold. He has unit 11 and when I looked out the kitchen window, right across from that little creek was unit 14!

What a difference a month makes. It was so warm and sunny the three days we were there. I wore t-shirts. The days were in the high 60's and it might have even hit 70 degrees. We didn't get to do the snowmobile trip this year because the other party that was going to go with us cancelled at the last minute. BUMMMER.

It's been very warm the last few weeks and the snow is melting FAST!

Utahtea

utahtea, I don't know what made me check this message board today, but I'm glad I did. Glad to see your post. We could have been neighbors
I'm sure glad we went when we did and landed such great weather! Great trip. I'm glad we went to Yosemite, but I'd really like to go back to Arnold. It's great. Thanks for posting. eb