Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
The Crocker Art Museum is huge, so we decided that just one day was not enough and came back Thursday. Most of our visit was in the two old 19th Century buildings, the family home and the extension built in the 1880s for a truly grand ballroom and enough gallery space to display much of the Crocker's personal collection. The architecture was artwork itself.
Just like on Wednesday, my Thursday camera rolls had far more shots than needed to tell the day's story. At the Crocker, here is a sample of what we saw:
Just one of the displays of African artifacts.
The collections of native American art was extensive,
with each piece unique, from large pots to the smallest seed container.
The multi-room Asian collection held hundreds of pieces,
but choosing what to show is impossible!
This 1,000-year old horseman is just a placeholder.
There were a pair of galleries focused on women's themes,
including several pieces by or about Frida Kahlo.
I was struck by the similarity of a 200 BCE figurine and
"Penelope", painted by David Ligare in 1980.
"Markings" by Koo Kyung Sook.
Mesmerizing.
The Crocker's ceramics collection is huge,
including this almost-impossible to imagine piece of "shards".
Much of the museum audience this day were school kids, from high school on down. Some were more interested than others, but all were polite and under proper teacher control. It was nice to see people of all ages enjoying themselves and we hope they all appreciate Crocker's gift to Sacramento.
By now we were hungry and we opted for "Camden Spit and Larder", mid-way on our walk back to the hotel. We noted that it was a "Bib Gourmand" restaurant, a Michelin award for restaurants that "serve exceptional food at great value". (Ella's, the day before, had also received a Bib award.) As for "great value", that is code for less-than-hundreds-of-dollars-per-person for a one-, two-, or three-star meal. Still, worth the price. We need to remember to check the Bib listings because we have not been disappointed when we run across one.
Not far from lunch, we stopped at Artbeat Gallery, a local artist co-op, and struck up a conversation with Larry Meeks, a metal artist who was manning the floor. We have developed a sense for the operation of such co-ops and being welcomed by a real artist is far more interesting than by just a seller. We wish all artist co-ops success. Look for one to visit in your own travel destinations.
Next up on our Sacramento walking tour was ice cream from a food truck and a rest on bench outside the brilliant white of the Capitol building. We passed on a visit to the museum inside, but maybe next time. For now, it was fun just to sit and watch folks walk by.
Back at the Marriott Residence Inn, we recovered from our walks. We had only made about 7,000 steps, but this was more than I have been able to do since my right knee started showing increased signs of age and wear. I do not like this aging thing.
Determined to keep going, I went out for a late-evening photo stroll through our hotel neighborhood. The area is not fancy, but it is active and interesting enough.
And , with that, our Sacramento tour was over. We drove home Friday morning, letting RedY's full self-driving handle much of the work. On the drive, we graded our three-day visit. We each felt it was three or four stars based on a great art museum, three good meals, a few pictures, and an OK business-style hotel. I'm afraid we compare trips with exceptional getaways in Europe or US National Parks, but Sacramento is close and doable with current health complications.
Next? Who knows?
Stay tuned,
John and Marianne.