Fenton's Creamery and Nut Tree

We've gone back and forth to the Tahoe area twice over the past few weeks, dropping our daughter off at Walton's Grizzly Lodge for her first sleep-away camp (for two weeks! But that's another story...)

This weekend, we stopped at the new Nut Tree complex in Vacaville to check it out and grab a bite to eat. For those who've been in the Bay Area for a while, the Nut Tree was one of the few places to stop on the road to Tahoe (along with the Wooz maze in Vacaville!). I'm not quite sure when it was shuttered, but it's been upgraded and re-opened last year.

Aside from a standard strip mall, there are a couple of nice features that make it a good family stop. It was a little hot for the bocce ball courts, but the mini theme park was going strong. There are a bunch of rides available, including a little train and a pretty carousel. Admission was $4.95 per person, which included 4 ride tickets (which gives you one train ride). There was a little pond near the front, and you could rent a wooden sailboat and push it around with a stick. They were definitely going for an old time ambiance, appealing to nostalgia for the old Nut Tree. Overall a great stop to burn off some energy, especially if you have little kids (under 8, I'd say) in tow.

Next to the little park was an old time candy area - very little had opened besides a nice Jelly Belly shop where you could sample any of their flavors. Good if you didn't want to go all to the way to the factory in Fairfield.

And finally, a Fenton's Creamery was also right there - for those who aren't familiar with Fenton's, it's a soda fountain in Oakland that's very well known locally. Fenton's at Nut Tree was spacious and would probably have been very crowded had we stopped anywhere near a normal mealtime. We split a good club sandwich with excellent curly fries, and my daughter had mac & cheese, which she pronounced as "weird-tasting". Our waitress scooted right over and without our asking, promptly replaced it at no charge with chicken fingers (or whatever cute name they had for that dish on the menu). A nice old time soda selection was available on the way in with black cherry sodas, draft root beers and cream sodas. They also had a huge ice cream selection which we didn't end up trying because we were anxious to be on our way. Next time...

Overall, a great little stop on the way to Tahoe especially if you have little ones who need to take a break.