There are dozens of businesses serving the steady stream of people traveling between the Sacramento Valley and Tahoe every day, including families headed to sports tournaments, Bay Area transplants with second homes in the mountains, skiers, weekend visitors and commuters making the daily climb up and down Interstate 80. Many travelers settle for whatever fast-food chain shows up just off an exit. My son Luke and I have learned there are better alternatives to McDonald’s or Burger King. 

For the past four years, my tween-turned-teen son and I have made that drive over and over so he can play hockey. Did you know that the Sacramento Valley is home to two major youth hockey programs serving Northern California? Are we crazy for driving two hours each way — sometimes three times a week — for a youth sport? That’s a story for another time. What I can tell you is that after four years, we’ve become pretty great at knowing where to stop along the way. 

The drive down the hill is typically uneventful, except on nights when practice starts late and we catch a glowing Sierra sunset through the windshield. It’s the drive home where decisions get made, though, after four years, they’re not really decisions anymore; we have our places. 

A required stop at Ikeda’s

Ikeda’s California Country Market is a required stop at least once a week on our way back through Auburn, where we order burgers, fries and pie for dessert. Tucked in the fridge behind the fries is an Ikeda’s marionberry pie we brought home as a sweet little reward after another week spent traveling back and forth along the I-80 corridor between Vacaville, Roseville and Truckee. 

The most reliable of them is Ikeda’s, a family business that’s been pulling people off the highway for over 50 years. Ikeda’s sits right off the Lincoln Way exit, conveniently close to an EV charging station. What looks like a roadside stop turns out to be a restaurant, market, bakery and fruit stand, all in one. As soon as we pull up, Luke dashes out of the car to order his burger and fries, while I make a lap through the market, collecting fresh seasonal fruit, prepared meats, tortilla chips, Ikeda’s hot salsa, a few muffins for the morning and, of course, a fresh-baked marionberry pie (because you can’t not grab a pie from Ikeda’s). We’re back on the road in 20 minutes, fed and stocked.

We always get too many fries, but somehow they stay a little crisp even when cold the next morning, eaten while standing at the kitchen counter. 

Detours into Auburn and Davis

When we’re in the Bay for a game and passing through Davis, we have regulars there, too. Guad’s Tacos & Beer lives up to its name. We pull over for the tacos but skip the beer since someone still has to drive home, though pale lagers gleam in the cooler. Luke loves the chicken street tacos, and I typically go for the burrito bowl; the complimentary chips-and-salsa bar is impossible to resist, and the portions are generous enough that Luke isn’t asking for another “stop” an hour later. 

On an early Saturday heading home, we sometimes swing through the Davis Farmers Market instead — a chance to stretch our legs, shake off the rink and grab whatever looks good from the vendors. If for some reason we’re craving dumplings, the nearby Dumpling House is a quick stop with fast service and enormous portions. Get the Thai tea and the pork-and-chives potstickers, and plan on leftovers. 

Fresh fruit and fresh air

Some stops aren’t even really stops. Sometimes it’s just pulling into Newcastle Produce for cherries in the summer or mandarins in winter. Sometimes it’s just standing outside at a gas station near Colfax, breathing mountain air after two hours inside a freezing rink and more inside the car. 

An interesting byproduct of this drive is that we no longer feel like visitors when we stop into our favorite places. Auburn, Roseville and Davis have begun to feel like odd extensions of home, familiar enough that we relax a little when we see the exits. 

What I didn’t expect when we first started making these drives was how much of our lives would be spent in transit. I dreaded the drives at first, but after a while, the driving became second nature, and the stops along the way became comforting. Burgers in Auburn, farmers market peaches in Davis, and sometimes, cold fries at the kitchen counter the next morning.

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