If you’ve ever wanted to try surfing, but fears sharks and sunburns or just don’t have the time to drive to Santa Cruz , you can head to Elk Grove to try out the Flowrider, the indoor surfing wave at new business called Surf Xtreme. Darla Parvizyar and her husband, Chris, opened Surf Xtreme at 3443 Laguna Blvd. May 1. In addition to the Flowrider, the complex also houses a 2,400-square-foot trampoline room, an outdoor paintball arena and a beer and wine bar. “We wanted something that was fun for all ages,” Darla Parvizyar said. “We love kids, and we love making people happy.” She said that the business was previously open and run by another owner, but issues with the humidity generated

The economy is finally showing signs of dragging itself out of the quicksand.  This slow but steady comeback has sparked some pleasant surprises throughout downtown over the last few months. Like a chain reaction, specialty businesses are popping up in some rather unexpected places, encouraging more to follow suit, as rents are becoming more affordable and creative spaces more available. Sugar and Spice Specialty Desserts, 1201 F St., is a valuable oxygen source to the span of 12th from D through H streets. For the last six months, that area had stretches of blocks with no tenants as “for lease” signs littered the windows. Now, change has come. I pass by that location every night on my wa

Have you ever wanted to be like Indiana Jones, the treasure hunter from the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie? A similar life of adventure can be yours without having to venture far from home, through the sport of geocaching. Geocaching involves hiding or searching for hidden treasures planted by you or other cachers. Armed with a GPS unit (or a downloaded Global Positioning System application on your phone) and a list of treasure sites (www.geocaching.com), you can quickly be on your way to uncovering hidden gems in your own neighborhood. There are more than one million geocaches worldwide and 3,500 of them are in the Sacramento region. Chances are that you drive past the hidden container

While on a scouting mission for an adventure race I was planning, I discovered a lovely Sacramento gem. Just north of downtown, I found myself walking the gangplank of what I’ve named the “USS Sacramento Dragonfly”. The “ship”, better known by its very ordinary name, the “Sacramento River Water Intake Facility” offers some of the area’s best river views, nature-inspired art and architecture all in one place and all for free. Longtime area resident, Merry Walle, said she knew there was an intake facility, but “had no idea that was so beautiful!” She also noted being “amazed at the wide and impressive causeway connecting it to the land”. Completed in 2004, the facility is moored by 300 st

Teams of family and friends will race through parks, around landmarks and even inside local businesses deciphering clues to secret locations in Hunt the Grid, an urban adventure presented June 12 by Mastermind Treasure Hunts and Downtown Grid. Partial proceeds from this fun and challenging event will benefit Hands on Sacramento, the Valley’s full-service volunteer action center. With the success of films like National Treasure, and reality shows like The Amazing Race, treasure hunting—solving puzzles to find “secret” locations—is more popular than ever. Hunt the Grid, an information-based urban treasure hunt, challenges players to discover answers that can only be found at specific Sacram

Some think of curling as only a game, akin to shuffleboard on ice. Late Night host David Letterman quips that it is “consistently ranked the world’s number one broom-related sport”. This ancient Scottish sport is often underestimated and misunderstood but I found that it is a wonderfully complex and compelling activity. After getting hooked on TV coverage of curling during the 2010 Winter Olympics, I had to try it for myself. As it turns out, nearby Vacaville is home of the thriving Wine Country Curling Club so off went my friend and I to a free Learn-to-Curl night. After the introduction, we were still intrigued enough to continue in a 6-week league. After our first league night, I’m he

Sara and Mike Barlow are one outdoorsy couple. They carved out their own trail to the fledgling store they opened in Old Sacramento, Trailmix.Net. After falling in love in a small Idaho college town, they honeymooned in a remote cabin reached by water-taxi in Washington's North Cascades National Park. Both were into hiking and camping in the Pacific Northwest. But they actually had to relocate to San Francisco to get more hardcore. "It wasn't until we moved to California that we kind of went crazy with it," said Mike Barlow, 37. "We went though this shock of people congestion. So we would escape up into the Sierra. That was how we got our fix." She took up backpacking with him and they

Contributed by Jenn Walker At age 19 and 20, Sacramento City College students Diana Byrd and Elena Gallegos are discovering the business world firsthand with the growth of their online business Meshugga Chic. Meshugga Chic, casually referred to as just Meshugga (not to be confused with the Swedish death metal band Meshuggah), is the duo's online vintage clothing store, catering to men and women with a unique fashion sense around the world. Their merchandise is an array of color, fun and the unusual. Items like high-waist purple parachute pants, a billowy bright pink and purple windbreaker or an acid wash jumper scream '80s. Anything funky goes. The two launched their site around a year

Here in Sacramento, we are fortunate enough to have access to many, many parks, lakes and rivers. We are minutes from the Sierras and a couple of hours from the Pacific Ocean. Living and playing in this area affords us the unique opportunity to discover and play locally in our aquatic environment. To date, there are more than 17 Parks and Recreation centers that have a pool for our neighborhoods. Activities that are often overlooked in these environments are snorkeling and scuba diving. For me, scuba diving and snorkeling uniquely offers the ability to transform a person in four ways: immersion, active participation, environmental relationships and emotional well-being. Immersion is a th

On Friday of last week, Nick and I went out for a tour of Sacramento, trying to discover new forms of advertising and new hot spots for our advertising. We began at Caesar Chavez Park thinking that there would be a farmers market. There wasn't, but that did not stop us from leaving Sac Press cardboard computers in a couple of random places. We then headed on down to Centro, on J and 28th for some delicious grub. We had a couple margaritas, and dropped a few buttons out front. They are sure to be noticed by some bar hoppers on Friday night. The genius with this marketing ploy is, that whomever finds this button may think that it was dropped by mistake, and will therefore be more eager to