Hometown Gems: Elk Grove, California

Happy Monday! Today I am going to take you on a tour of my hometown: Elk Grove, California! Steph and I were approached by this awesome company called RelayRides to highlight the gems in our hometowns. RelayRides is a ride share program. So if you wanted to fly into Sacramento International Airport and drive to Elk Grove for the weekend, because after this post you will, you can rent a car from individuals who list their cars to rent. It’s a really awesome travel tool and one that I will definitely be using in the future! For more information on RelayRides, check out their website here!

Elk Grove is located just south of Sacramento, the Capitol of California. Sidenote, just like Boise (check out Steph’s hometown gems here!), Sacramento is also the City of Trees. Anyway, Elk Grove, in the beginning, was a rural community and elements of that are still present. For one, my high school mascot is the Thundering Herd and we had cows and pigs. I loved growing up in Elk Grove and I always loved coming back home, as evidence by the fact that I am currently back home! It’s very comforting to know that wherever I go next, Elk Grove will always be home and I’m excited to share with you some of my favorite gems of my hometown 🙂

Baguettes Deli
Baguettes is hands down my favorite lunch spot in Elk Grove! It’s even been voted as one of Sacramento’s Best so apparently a lot of other people agree too! They make the most delicious chicken salad sandwich. I seriously crave it, it’s that good! And their bread… Oh. My. Gosh. I could literally eat an entire baguette from Baguettes. I am a bread/carb lover and this is the best bread I’ve had by far! The picture below on the left shows their Warriorz salad- a bed of greens topped with chopped bacon and tri-tip and a drizzle of bbq sauce with an apple cider dressing. The picture on the right is their tri-tip sandwich with homemade flour tortilla chips and salsa. Everything they make there is so good that writing this right now is making me staving thinking about it!

Tiger’s Yogurt
I am a frozen yogurt fiend. I’m not kidding, I absolutely love frozen yogurt. I even created a Facebook group (many years ago!) called Fro-yo eaters unite! Yes, I am slightly embarrassed by that but hey, I love frozen yogurt! My all-time favorite yogurt place is Tiger’s Yogurt. It’s nothing fancy and it’s not self-serve like all the new yogurt places popping up but it’s truly the best and creamiest frozen yogurt. We used to go there all the time when I was younger and eat yogurt and play at a tiny table that was also a pac-man game. I started going again a lot in high school and have never stopped since. I go there so often that the sweet old man who owns the place questions when I don’t get my usual of a child’s size Oreo yogurt with rainbow sprinkles!

Nugget Market
The Nugget is Elk Grove’s version of Whole Foods. Just walking into the store makes me feel healthier and that I know what I am doing with my life. It’s the only place in Elk Grove to get the frozen Acai that I use for my favorite smoothie and their desserts are out of this world! Yes, I have gone to the Nugget just for dessert. I have also gone just for lunch. They have a great sandwich counter, delicious pizza by the slice, a salad bar and so much more. Their produce is always fresh and honestly, the inside is so trendy that I feel cool when I shop there. You would too, trust me!

Elk Grove Park
Elk Grove is home to Elk Grove Regional Park and it holds a special place in my heart. Elk Grove park backs up to Elk Grove High School, my Alma Mater, and I used to run everyday in the park during cross county season. They have since put in a path around the park and running around the entire perimeter is 2 miles. Not to brag, but that was our warm-up. Not to embarrass myself, but sometimes that was all I could manage. Elk Grove park is full of trees, baseball diamonds and a giant pond. The park hosts the annual Western Festival and the Harvest Festival. Both are as awesome as they sound, although I have only been to each once. This sounds weird, but I even love the smell of the park. When I think of Fall, I think of the smell of Elk Grove park and it makes me smile 🙂

Thanks for letting me share a piece of  my hometown with you today! Check out more RelayRides hometown gems on their Pinterest board.

-Kelly

Disclaimer: RelayRides is sponsoring the Hometown Hidden Gems series and approached Long Distance Baking to write this post. However, all content and opinions are our own.