My father, and my husband, will both heartily agree that I’m not much of a competitor. Card games? I shut down. Swim meets as a kid? Terrifying.  The person I do enjoy competing against, more than anyone else, is myself (especially when the competition is completely, 100% unnecessary.)

As of this weekend, I’ve embarked on very difficult task known as The East Sac Summer Challenge. From now through end of September, I’m setting out to try 10 of the area’s eateries that I’ve never tried before. Difficult, right? So far, I’ve had no problem convincing Jonathan, Sam and Sharon to join me. If you’re in the area, consider yourself invited. The best part of this little challenge is that everyone’s a winner. Exactly how I like it.

The reason I’m itching to do something like this is because I’m in a mode where I’m  very much wanting to travel, but don’t have the money to take a huge trip. There’s so many great things right in my backyard-from restaurants, to hikes, to concerts in the park-there’s really no reason to leave. This summer, we’ll soak up all the fun by biking from restaurant to restaurant. Occasionally, I might leave a review here.

If you want to join us, here’s a list of places we’re going to try. A few have received stellar reviews, and others are hole-in-the-wall bars or late night spots:

Formoli’s Bistro, Selland’s, Lyon’s, SoCals’s Tavern, Cafe Rolle, Evan’s Kitchen, Espanol, Nopalitos, Cafe Morocco, Island Tacos.

cafe image credit: dreamofdata