When Off the Beaten Track debuted in early 2021, the Capital Region was tenuously crawling back from the worst pandemic in more than a hundred years. As we poked our heads outside, we wondered which businesses made it out OK, and how did they do it? Their compelling tales were the overriding storylines of those early post-pandemic days, while impacts from COVID-19 stretched throughout OTBT’s run.

Pokémon has earned an estimated $147 billion in revenue, making it the highest-grossing media franchise of all time. There’s money to be made in Pokémon cards even on the local level across the Capital Region, but profits aren’t guaranteed.

Not quite two years old, the Amador line of Rail Explorers in Ione is a unique, self-motorized way to experience the countryside of Amador County’s historic Mother Lode region.

Quietly, a robust live music scene has emerged in the foothills, with several venues able to draw in well-known acts. And if the changes in Grass Valley are emblematic of another thing, it’s that this sector is growing.

Beautiful natural resources like this make Northern California a popular destination for recreation lovers. In fact, in California in 2023, some $81.5 billion was generated from outdoor recreation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Let’s head outdoors.

The former Roseville High School standout long-distance runner is preparing for his sixth participation in the event, beginning July 5. The race stretches across the sunflower-packed flatlands of France, ascends into the snow-covered Alps and Pyrenees and often crosses country borders as if visiting nearby neighborhoods.

Baseball had become part of my life — not like a boy growing up playing the game (because there were few female sports back then). But baseball became a constant thread for me in other ways.

PODCAST EPISODE: Editor Judy Farah, Managing Editor Dakota Morlan and contributor Steve Martarano discuss April’s cover story on the A’s, the gray wolf’s California comeback and whether or not dire wolves are a good idea. 

As I covered the craziness of the first Major League Baseball game in Sacramento area history on March 31 and the national interest in the challenges the former Oakland Athletics will face playing an entire season at our own Sutter Health Park, a minor league stadium, there came a moment for me when I realized, “They’re playing Major League Baseball in Sacramento!”

When the team formerly known as the Oakland Athletics took on the Chicago Cubs March 31 at West Sacramento’s refurbished Sutter Health Park, it became official: Sacramento, at least temporarily, has hit the big leagues.