Downtown Rio Vista, Rio Vista, CA

Downtown Rio Vista runs along Main Street and the Sacramento River, and the river is the reason the town is here at all. The first townsite near Cache Slough was lost to a winter flood in 1862, and the blocks around Main Street are what residents built after relocating to a safer spot. The waterfront promenade is the easy outdoor stop, and Sandy Beach Park, about half a mile away, adds a boat launch, campsites, picnic tables, volleyball courts and horseshoe pits. Drouin Drive Park and Bruna Vista Park add small patches of grass closer to town. Homes near the center skew older, and the town spreads into newer streets from there. It is a small place, and most of what you need is within a few minutes of a front door. Main Street is the eating street. Lucy's Cafe, at 95 Main, serves American, Italian and seafood plates from breakfast through dinner. Foster's Bighorn, at 143 Main, is the barbecue, steak and seafood house with more than 250 mounted big-game specimens on display. Raul's Striper Cafe, at 210 Main, is the diner, and Rio Vista Bakery and Cafe, at 150 Main, handles pastries and breakfast. Butteri Gelato, at 8 North Front Street, opens Wednesday through Sunday afternoons. The Rio Vista Museum, set in a converted blacksmith shop, and the RioVision Gallery, which hosts monthly receptions for Delta artists, give the middle of town a cultural pulse. The Rio Vista Library and Lira's Supermarkets are in the same stretch, so a single walk covers books and groceries. The farmers market sets up on the first and third Thursdays. Getting anywhere beyond Downtown Rio Vista means Highway 12 and the Helen Madere Memorial Bridge over the river. The bridge is the town's landmark, and the Delta feels close from every block. The promenade, the beach park and the bridge all keep the river in view, and it shapes nearly every outing.