Me being of Japanese decent, I felt the need to visit Wakamatsu Tea and Silkworm Colony Farm in…read morePlacerville, and to pay my respect to all the courageous men and women whom traveled thousands of miles to a foreign land (America) for a dream of a better life. There are no words that can express my heartfelt gratitude for the sacrifices and hardship the " Isei " (First Generation ) must have gone through ! They paved the way for people like both of my grandfathers whom came to the United States in 1906. On May 20th, 1869 a group of 22 samurais and one women arrived in San Francisco on board the SS China with 50,000 (Mulberry Trees) (Silk worm cocoons) (tea plants and seeds) ( cooking utensils) and (swords). Thus the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony Farm was established on 160 acres in Gold Hill Placerville on June 8th, 1869. The life of the colony was short lived (1869 -1871) due to inadequate funding and a severe drought in 1871. Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony was considered to be the first Japanese Settlement in North America. In 1969 Ronald Reagan (governor at the time) proclaimed the colony to be a California Historic Landmark No. 815. The land is currently owned and operated by the American River Conservancy. The farm is on private property, so visitations can only be made by arranging a private tours, attending certain festivals on the property or schdueled events. Next year (2019) marks its 150th anniversary celebration !!! See web site for more details. Thanks for reading !

Have been to a couple of American River Conservancy events at Wakamatsu Farm. Such an historic &…read moreinteresting place. The volunteers & teachers are impressive. It is always an interesting & enjoyable experience in a beautiful setting.

What a cool experience. Got there for the 10:00 am tour, and I was the only guest. The walk to…read morethe cave is only about five minutes, but there's no shade so the earlier the better as the temps heat up. Inside the cave is about 50°. I have no issues with claustrophobia, but if you do there is one tight squeeze that might be a problem. Cash, my tour guide, turned off the lights (after asking my permission) and we experienced total darkness for maybe thirty seconds. It felt like two hours, and I hated it , but still neat and recommend trying if offered. Use the hand rails. They are there for your safety.

The drive here is much more involved than Mercer Caverns with more windy and narrow roads. Once you…read moreget closer the space opens up to a large parking lot and shop you meet at. We were the only ones that signed up for the earliest tour that day and were lucky to have a private tour. The tour has informative history about the caverns with landmarks along the way. The most interesting thing we didn't know about is they have caving adventure tours where you shimny through holes and narrow spaces with a guide but our kids aren't old enough to partake. This was the first show cave in California and townspeople lived in them during harsh winters in the 1800s. There was a bar inside and a church and nails were even given to people to carve on the walls. Because of this there are signs of harm everywhere with soot, broken formations, and dirty coloration from human hand oils and even champagne poured on a rock formation. The caverns are huge and beautiful with some jaw-dropoing rooms. The walking tour is very safe though we loved the slight danger and claustrophobic feel of the Mercer Caverns. When you leave the shop has some cool historical items pulled from the caves on display like glass bottles, etc .. that are worth checking out.

I wanted to check this place out, it is their manufacturing plant. It is the food and lifeblood…read moreof my peeps but they only offer tours of 10 or more by appointment only. What I heard from the locals, the Folsom water is sought after, thus makes excellent soy sauce...who would have known Kikkoman Soy Sauce was all the way out here, near Folsom prison. I didn't.

Prior reviews indicate a factory tour, so I pulled up to the gate to ask about them. Apparently…read morethey stopped giving regular tours years ago due to increased food safety requirements. Fortunately, they said I could still come in for a goodie bag, which contained a small bottle of soy sauce, a pen, and tons of literature on both their products and Japanese cuisine. Inside, the receptionist explained the process for brewing the soy sauce, which is essentially the same process they have used for thousand years. Regarding their products, she mentioned they no longer make they pail tin of soy sauce, but I wasn't clear if that referred to Folsom or the whole company. She also explained their logo is in the shape of a tortoise and the word inside refers to 10,000 years, meaning they take their time to do things right.

Just did our ride with our guide Travis and it was amazing!!!! We had a wonderful time and a great…read moreexperience. He was patient, knowledgeable, and very helpful. Equipment worked well, worth every penny.

Got there and it said it's closed Wednesdays ! :( not from here and trying to have a good day but…read moreended up wasting an hour driving here for it to be closed and it says open ! Not deducting too much since I do want to come back and have a good time in the mountains like I used to with my dad. So bummed out man ! Will be back though !

RailBikes? More like SmileBikes!…read more We booked the 10:00 a.m. ride through the countryside to celebrate a 60th birthday, and it turned out to be one of the highlights of the weekend. The weather was absolutely perfect for July. Confession time: we were all wondering... Are we really going to pedal this thing the whole way? Thankfully, the answer is no! The battery-assisted motor is the real MVP. You decide how much you want to pedal (or not), so you can enjoy the ride without feeling like you're training for the Tour de France. Haha The scenery was beautiful, with the river running right alongside the tracks, and the staff was friendly. Would I do it again? Absolutely. Would I recommend it? Without a doubt. So, if you've ever wondered what it's like to ride a railbike through the countryside, stop wondering and hop on. The only reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is a couple of staff members were a bit stressed and it reflected on how they communicated with us.

Where do I start for a horrible,waste of $100 a person brunch train ride,how about I start with I…read morepurchased 3 tickets ($100 each) for my wife and 2 daughters to have a special day on 7/26/26 on this nightmare experience.So 1st my wife tells me getting onto the train there is no directions or at least a"Hello welcome"the train just takes off everyone seem confused. 2nd they tried to seat my wife and 2 daughters on separate tables because tables are only seated for 2 ppl,ummmm so is my wife supposed to sit by herself???once again poor planning and horrible communication on this waste of money experience. 3rd it's time to serve the Brunch this is where it really becomes a joke how bad this experience on river fox brunch train is...it's 20 mins until the train ride is over "yes over" and my wife and daughters have not received their food,so the server comes out with 1 togo plate with half portion for my wife only ??? Ummmm ok so my 2 daughters are supposed to just starve.so my wife ask to speak to a manager.Soooo this is where "Leilani" the manager comes in and apologized that they ran out of food in the kitchen (unbelievable)at this point my wife and daughters are over it and just ready to get off this train,and Leilani PROMISED my full $320 refund 3-5 days LOL it's been 8 days. So my wife gets a number to call someone name (Charlene) for my refund and Charlene says upper management will reach out to us,so far no one has reached out and I'm out $320 still....that is a lot a money to spend on a nightmare train ride and a half eaten Togo brunch meal....bottom line I may not get my money back but it's worth letting others know how horrible and not worth this River fox brunch train is River fox brunch train management needs to steps it up because this is not acceptable and not fair to honest paying customers...vary disappointed Only gave star because I have to and I couldn't give them a negative sorry ‍

Beautiful! Lovely little slice of history! Highly suggest the historic downtown area in general,…read moreand then heading toward San Jose and taking a tour of the ever-elusive Sarah Winchester House!

Historic Murer House and Gardens is an Italian cultural museum in Historic Folsom. It is on the…read moreNational Register of Historic Places. Recently, they have begun offering free tours the first Saturday of every month (that's tomorrow!) from 10am to 2pm. Also this Saturday, May 7, from 10-2, Murer House is hosting an Italian cultural event, Italy on Wheels, featuring new and vintage Italian cars. Beer, Italian soda, and slices of pizza will be available for purchase, and admission is free. Murer House is the former residence of Giuseppe Murer, an Italian immigrant and businessman who played a major role in the development of Historic Folsom. He was responsible for the building of several local landmark buildings, including Folsom Hotel. Like Giuseppe's other buildings, Murer House is known for it's Italian architecture, as well as its beautiful outdoor gardens, which include lemon and chestnut trees. Being adjacent to historic gold dredging sites, the gardens also feature a multitude of rocks from the American River. Currently, the gardens are being partially renovated to accommodate bigger and better outdoor events in the future. There is a huge pile of rocks in the yard. Located in the garage of Murer House is a free museum about the life and work of Giuseppe Murer. As the museum explains, he immigrated from Crespano del Grappa, Italy, which is now Folsom's sister city. The museum is open on Saturdays from 10-2. Murer House Foundation offers cooking, bocce ball, and Italian language classes at the house to help raise money for preservation. Details about these classes, as well as the many other upcoming events at Murer House, are available on their website.

Oh. My. Gosh. What an absolute delight! After a beautiful drive up from Sacramento, my partner and…read moreI arrived at the sprawling, lovely grounds of Animal Place. We had booked a private tour for his birthday to meet the rescue animals who call this beautiful place home. Yasmin met us at the entrance and, after swapping shoes for some solid boots, gave us a very honest, very real, and very important rundown of industrial agriculture. Now, I have to add, neither of us are vegan or even vegetarian, but Yasmin proved to be an actively non judgmental, compassionate host. She walked us through the grounds, addressing each animal by name, and was full of knowledge and insight! After the initial meet and greet, we were off! We hiked across the beautiful grounds and met tons of sheep (Jet loved my partner!) goats, and pigs; all of the animals roam freely, coming and going as they please. It was actually delightful how so many of the animals came up to say hi and hang out out of their own volition! We brought some grapes for the chickens and they LOVED them! But oh my god, the turkeys. Wow, just, two little friendly, fluffy orbs that floated around our party showing off while Yasmin gave us an informed and empathetic story about them. She did that at every habitat; letting us in, introducing us (by name!) to the boldest of the bunch, and explaining how they ended up at Animal Place. It was an entirely wonderful, enlightening experience. Also, fyi, turkeys are so soft. I cannot recommend this organization enough. 10/10, please give Conrad an extra treat for me!

Unprofessional, unorganized, uneducated do not support. Do not go here. They do not know what they…read moreare doing! Horrible. Scared for the animals there. It's always convenient tucked away so nobody really knows what's going on until you go there firsthand. Behind the scenes.

What an amazing afternoon. Dawnie is an amazing host. She knows the local food industry, the ins…read moreand outs of the local restaurants, the art history and the wonderful 49'er history of Sacramento. I've lived in the area and didn't know half of what she knew. She is wonderful.

We do a lot of food tours when we travel but have never thought about doing one in our own city…read more Our friend who was visiting booked the Midtown tour it and it turned out to be a really wonderful afternoon! We tried five different places that she chose based on the group's preferences. We had a cocktail, a coffee drink, a dessert, and a few different dishes from midtown restaurants. I never felt full (the F word!) but I was happily satisfied at the end. I had never eaten at any of these places so now I know more great places to try. Dawnie has an amazing depth of knowledge about the area, the food scene, and the history of our Farm to Fork capital. She loves the city and it shows in how she highlights it in her tour. The biggest surprise for me was the street art. I had never noticed these murals nor did I realize we had a history of street art and unique festivals. I will definitely be checking those out more in the future! I hope to do more of their tours and explore other parts of the city in the future!