Yes, these foothills are visible from the highway going to Sacramento. I don't remember whether or not it was on the western side or the eastern side of Sacramento. The reason why the bottom was cropped off was because the car was moving and there was some blurred grass in the foreground ;-)
Wow, your photos are just great. I was just wondering... Are these hills viewable from Highway One? These hills seem very familiar, I might have seen the exact same ones when I was in California a couple of months ago...