CALIFORNIA: TULE ELK RESERVE, THE CALIFORNIA STATE CAPITOL, AND SACRAMENTO MURALS

 August 7, 2020

Five months into The Great COVID-19 Epidemic of 2020, we were getting pretty tired of staying home, but we were hesitant to travel. However, when our son Sam proposed meeting up in Northern California to explore the Redwood and Sequoia National Parks and surrounding areas, we figured that was a trip we could make pretty safely at the time. The numbers of cases were down and we would be in a place where we could be outdoors almost all day.

The plan was to pick up Sam at the Redding Airport, so we got an early start and headed north. It is a 600-mile drive, and not always particularly interesting.

About the only excitement was this silo and mailbox painted with cherries. Yup, pretty boring.

Of course, Bob did have to take a side road when he saw a sign for the Tule Elk State Natural Reserve. It is located in the No-Man's Land 20 miles or so west of Bakersfield and three miles off the 5 freeway. Never heard of it? Neither had we.

I'd never even heard of tule elk, a species of elk that used to roam California in vast herds but then were reduced from 500,000 head to near-extinction in the 1800s by hunting and loss of habitat. It came down to a single breeding pair discovered in the southern San Joaquin Valley in 1874-1875. 

In 1932, Tule Elk Statue Natural Reserve gave permanent protection to a small herd, and since that time, elk from the reserve have been successfully transplanted to other parts of California. There are at least 4,000 roaming the state today.

The tule elk are the smallest of the American elk subspecies, but males still typically weigh between 450-550 pounds and females between 375-425 pounds. (The average male white-tail deer--the largest of the western deer species--weighs 150-300 pounds and females weigh 88-198 pounds.)

We were the only people at the reserve and were lucky to get some pretty good views of a large male.

The mass slaughter of these magnificent animals is reminiscent of what happened to the American bison.

That is impressive headgear, Mr. Tule, and no, I don't want to butt heads with you.

Back on the road, we saw field after field of these trees. 

I had Bob stop so I could get out to take a look. Almonds. Even though they are not native to the state, California produces 80% of the world's almonds and 100% of the U.S. commercial supply. They are California's #1 export crop. 

We were driving through the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, which comprises seven counties and has been called "the food basket of the world" because of the quantity and diversity of its products.

Graphic from here

We saw truck after truck loaded with various kinds of produce as we sped north towards Sacramento.

Our next stop was the California State Capitol in Sacramento. We parked in front of the Supreme Court building

Hmmm...looks just a bit like the U.S. Supreme Court building (below), doesn't it?

Just across the street is the beautiful capitol building, built between 1861 and 1874.

Again, can you tell the architecture was based on that of the U.S. Capitol (below)?

The California dome is 210 feet tall.

Beautiful Corinthian columns:

Unfortunately, the capitol was closed to visitors due to COVID-19 restrictions.

However, we enjoyed our walk around the building, which is ringed with beautiful trees, not the least of which are some massive coast redwood/sequoia trees.

The ginkgo is not native to California, but it is very popular here.

The courtyard in front of the capitol has several copper or bronze disks engraved with pictures and symbols relevant to California embedded in the concrete. 

On the way back to our car near the Supreme Court building, we stopped to look at the Monument to California's Fallen Peace Officers.

The relief includes a state motorcycle officer of the 1930s, a municipal police officer of the 1980s, and a county sheriff of the 1880s

This poem is on a bronze plaque on the base:

I never dreamed it would be me,

My name for all eternity,

Recorded here at this hallowed place,

Alas my name, no more my face.

"In the line of duty," I hear them say;

My family now the price will pay.

My folded flag stained with their tears;

We only had those few short years.

The badge no longer on my chest,

I sleep now in eternal rest

My sword I pass to those behind,

And pray they keep this thought in mind.

I never dreamed it would be me,

And with heavy heart and bended knee,

I ask for all here from the past,

Dear God, let my name be the last.

by Sgt. George Hahn, LAPD RET.

A few steps away is another bronze statue that represents a grieving wife and child of a slain officer.

The plaque on their bench reads "We honor those who also sacrificed."

One final statue honors the Latino veterans, men and women, who have served or are serving in the US armed forces. This was erected in 1951 by La Sociedad de Madres Mexicanas, or the Society of Mexican Mothers.

On our way to the capitol, I had noticed a beautiful mural that covered almost a full block of buildings. When we were done at the capitol, we drove back to get a better look at it.

I was unaware that Sacramento has an very active public art program, which means that many buildings are adorned with murals in a wide variety of painting styles. Had I known, I would have planned to see more of them. I love murals! 

We found quite a few just driving around the downtown area. This one, which is painted on the side of a Masonic Temple, is a reproduction of a real painting--Sunday Morning in the Mines (1872)--that is in Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum. It shows people escaping the painting and climbing down a ladder.

This mural honors the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad.

Another mural on a wall perpendicular to the railroad mural was painted by graffiti artist Tavar Zawacki.

And on a wall perpendicular to the right edge of Zawacki's mural is this beautiful painting entitled "Teach Peace" by Jorit Agoch. An eagle and a dragon are fighting for possession of a peace symbol.

A Residence Inn by Marriott seems an unlikely place for this piece by identical twins Raoul and Davide Perre, better known as How and Nosm, but here it is! The only way to get a good view is from the parking garage or with a drone.

Looking up from the bottom:

The same hotel boasts this brilliant landscape by Anthony Padilla that shows California poppies being pollinated by bees.

If we ever make it to Sacramento again, and my guess is that we will try so that we can go inside the capitol, I plan on taking a mural tour, or at least creating one of our own.