Being a bit wobbly on a bike is no excuse not to try to enjoy yourself. I wanted to enjoy the last of the warm-ish weather, so last weekend I took a ride along the bike trail on the riverfront in Old Sacramento. You can access the bike trail from O Street, or hop on from Front Street between L and I streets in Old Sac. For those feeling ambitious, the northbound trail takes you toward Discovery Park and the 23-mile American River Parkway, while the southbound trail takes you to Miller Park. Maybe you can get out there on Thanksgiving, when everyone else is cozying up to a meal, or running to feed the hungry!

Run to Feed the Hungry is the biggest Thanksgiving Day run/walk in the US. And no, it's not a race with hungry people chasing the runners, as I had someone ask me recently... The run takes place on Thanksgiving Day morning, and benefits the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services. The race kicks off in East Sacramento at the J street entrance to Sac State, with a 10k start time of 8:45 a.m. and the 5k starting at 9:05 a.m. Registration fees are $35 for adults if you get to it early (register online here), or $40 on race day. Hope to see you all out there, running off the turkey and trimmings before you've even gotten to them. (Sac mag is a silver sponsor!)

This coming Tuesday, the Leonid meteor shower will peak at 1 a.m. Sacramento time (so that means staying up super late on Monday night), and 20 to 30 meteors are expected to shoot across the sky every hour.

I’m really not a space nerd--the last time I watched a meteor shower was back in college days, and it was amazing. My friend and I drove out to these desolate fields (or maybe it was just to Orland?), and we laid on the hood of her car and watched the sky.

For Sacramentans, it might be worth heading up Highway 50 to Pollock Pines to escape the city light. (You don't have to work on Tuesday, do you?)

One NASA official said one remarkable feature of this year's shower is that Leonids will appear to be shooting almost directly out of Mars. You don’t even have to be a space nerd to find that a pretty spectacular notion.

P.S. Leonids are bits of debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle. According to an article I read, “Every 33 years the comet visits the inner solar system and leaves a stream of dusty debris in its wake. Many of these streams have drifted across the November portion of Earth's orbit. Whenever we hit one, meteors come flying out of the constellation Leo.” How cool is that?!

 

Our annual Best of Sacramento party is a'comin. It's next week! Head to the Convention Center downtown on Thursday, Nov. 19th to celebrate the best restaurants, wineries, performers, service professionals and more (as voted by our readers). Thousands of Sacramentans flock to this event, so don't be left out. Purchase tickets online. All proceeds benefit the March of Dimes. Silent auction starts at 4:30 p.m., and the party takes off at 5:30 p.m. The only catch: you must be 21 to attend.

Larkspur Hotels & Restaurants wants to know why you need a vacation and if your story’s good enough, you could win a two-night stay at one of the following Northern California hotels: Casa Munras in Monterey, Villa Florence in San Francisco (one of their rooms is pictured at left) or The Lodge at Tiburon in—yep—Tiburon. Awesome properties, all of them, in gorgeous coastal spots. The vacation includes early check-in and late check-out, sparkling wine and dinner for two.

Anyone can enter. Just post 50 words to Larkspur’s Facebook page. Keep it honest, people!

Larkspur is giving away eight trips, so you actually have a chance. Winners will be chosen Nov. 17. Hurry it up now!
 

Moving from humble digs on Broadway, the Sacramento Comedy Spot opens Friday at a new location in the Marrs Building on 20th and J streets. (The Sac Comedy Spot features improv, sketch, and stand-up comedy.) This move is particularly important to me as I’ve been a performer with the Spot for more than 5 years.

If you’ve never seen improv or live sketch comedy before, then you’re really missing out! We sometimes base a whole 30 minute set on just one word from an audience member, or an hour-long improv on the contents of an audience member’s wallet.

Most shows cost less than $10, and none of that silly two-drink-minimum stuff.

Check the Sacramento Comedy Spot’s website for information on show times, tickets, and a schedule of classes where you can learn how perform improv, write sketches, and put together a stand-up act worthy of the club circuit.
 

I absolutely love living in East Sac, and I’ve actually lived around the corner from Cheaters Sports Bar at 3221 Folsom Blvd. for almost two years now. It wasn't until a few weekends, though, that I actually strolled in. I hate to admit it, but based on the exterior, I thought it would be a total dive. I was so wrong! My friend, my hubby and I walked over for some after-dinner drinks—we got there around 10 p.m.—and were pleasantly surprised by what we saw. The place was lit almost completely by TVs all tuned into the various basketball and football games, and we could tell the place was kept very clean … something I don’t typically expect from a dive. You know that sour booze smell a lot of bars have? Well, this one didn't have it. I was amazed. When we showed up, there weren’t too many people; it was busy, but comfortable, with enough room to move around. The drinks were good and reasonably priced, the bartender was friendly, and if you’re into sports, there are more than enough TVs showing different games. Cheaters definitely exceeded my expectations.

I’ve lived in California for 30 years and visited San Francisco countless times, but hadn’t toured Alcatraz until this year. What a trip! We took the walking tour (equivalent of 13 flights of stairs) and the 45-minute audio tour called “Doing Time: The Alcatraz Cellhouse Tour.” Real correctional officers and prisoners actually give this tour, and we got to see inmate cells, including Machine Gun Kelly’s. We could enter regular cells and solitary confinement cells, which were interesting—the most severe criminals actually got larger cells, which made no sense to us. The Agave Trail happened to be open during our trip (it’s only open from late September to Feb. 1), so we walked right along the island’s edge, and got a gorgeous, unobscured view of San Fran. Tickets sell out quick for ferry rides out, so it’s smart to book in advance! (The photo at left is a view of Alcatraz.)

We live in this "city of trees," but what do we know about these leafy behemoths except that we love their shade in the summer? I'll never forget the sound of a falling limb one hot summer night in midtown—the creak, the snap, the crash. Then the woodchipper. Worst of all: the sun that blazed in our side window, which was left exposed by the loss of that limb. We need our trees in Sacramento!

Anyone who wants to learn more about our trees can join the Sacramento Tree Foundation's "Get Out Under the Canopy" tours running this weekend and next. On Saturday, Nov. 7, meet on the east steps of the Capitol for a tour of Capitol Park's trees; On Saturday, Nov. 14, tour the Sac State campus. Tours run 10 a.m. to around noon and they're free, led by passionate tree-enthusiasts who know their stuff. Bring your kids, your dog and your curious mind. www.sactree.com

With Daylight Savings Time approaching, last week I took my two pugs to Glenbrook Dog Park (8500 La Riviera Dr., http://www.cityofsacramento.org/parksandrecreation/parks/ dogpark1.htm#glenbrook) for one last hurrah while we still had some post-work daylight hours. The newest dog park in Sacramento, Glenbrook sits on a narrow acre behind the baseball fields and offers plenty of room for your furry friends to romp and run. For us human folk, there is a shaded seating area and benches. The dog park is also a short walk (basically across the street) to the American River, if you want to make a day of it. A word of warning: Budget cuts mean you have to bring your own waste bags, so don’t leave home without them!