So, after walking about a mile to the Crocker--I got some cool pictures--I found out it was not free, but actually $8 (student discount FTW). Oh well. It worked out, because while I chose it at random for monetary purposes, it turns out that Crocker was one of the Big Four of the Transcontinental Railroad and the Central Pacific--one of the ones This is really bad, because I've been reading that section of my train book for the past three days, and they do nothing but talk about the Big Four, and I learned all about the Big Four yesterday. I just really suck at connections, I guess? It also occurred to me that the tram lines in the San Francisco MUNI system are named after famous railroad people--for example, the Judah line that I rode to get to the Presidio is probably named after Theodore Judah, the guy who pretty much forced the transcontinental railroad to be built. I just put that together yesterday during the really bad movie. I'm super dense. I'm going to chalk it up to the time change...
Anyway, the Crocker was really nice. It's tiny-ish in feel but I guess is pretty big in reality. The Crockers traveled Europe and, while doing so, got a lot of art. They brought it back, and turned half of their home into a museum for everyone else to see it, too. So, there's a little bit of everything, from some head-hunting African tribe's totem-eqsu poles to American Impressionist art of the 1800s and Modern Art from today. I decided I'd do a tour, since I had no idea what I was doing. All I knew about the museum was that it had some pottery, which I thought I'd check out eventually.
Our tour had 6 people in it, and the tour guide seemed very interested in the older family of 4 that was with us, so I just kind of hung out for a bit. She was very nice and very knowledgeable. The family peeled off when we got to the potter--the son was a potter, apparently--so that left just me and Tom. Tom apparently takes this tour regularly, because the tour guide (whose name I can't remember, sadly. I think it was Cathy. Or Cindy. I'm going to call her Cathy) knew him immediately and kept mentioning "Well, Tom knows this already, but..." before telling us information about the artifact we were looking at. Tom was older, maybe late 40s early 50s, and I found out later that he had an art background. Once it was just the two of us, the tour got really interesting. We went into a mural room with the Big 4 pictured, and that's when I made the connection to the Crocker museum and Crocker, the VP of the Central Pacific Railroad.
Cathy asked me why I was her, and I told her that I just had a general interest in art, and that I was really here for train history. That got all three of us talking, and I explained that my book made Crocker seem like kind of a jerk and a swindler, but this museum and the train museum was making the Big 4 out to be good guys who made a lot of money with a railroad. This Museum was supposed to be Crocker giving back to his community. We got into a fun discussion for a bit about the difference between a shyster (as Tom called General Sutter) and a good businessman, as Cindy called the Big 4. I'm sure Crocker was a combination of both, but it is really interesting to hear the way that people talk about him around here versus what I'm reading in my book.
I told them about The Painted Cabernet in Santa Barbara, which I'm really looking forward to, and we just had a good little hour walking and talking. There was a room of china and teapots, which I refrained from taking of because I figured there's only so many people can see before they get bored.
I ate lunch at the museum, figuring it was just as good a deal as any of the other places within walking distance, and it had the added bonus of being right there. I went back up to the museum to see just a few exhibits that we went through quickly, and then went back to Old Sacramento for one last jaunt. It was supposed to be rainy today, and yet it was beautiful and finally cool--somewhere around 73 degrees and sunny--so I wanted to walk a little more. I bought my hat and had a little too much fun at the bulk candy story. There were four in Old Sac, and I found the one that had the cheapest prices. Of course, they don't have scales up, so I thought I had a lot less than I really did. That's OK, though, because now my sweet tooth is going to be satisfied for at least the rest of the trip, if not through all of my Pittsburgh trip too!
I ended up taking almost a 3 hour nap this afternoon, entirely not intending to, but I guess I needed it. Tomorrow I do Roaring Camp Railroad, and Rachel and I are going to see Joss Whedon's Wiliiam Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing tomorrow night. Joss said if Much Ado doesn't do as well as Avengers this weekend, he'd kill Agent Colson again. So, go see the movie, people.
Pictures forthcoming! Crappy internet!
Bye!
Bethie
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