Category: States

Donner Memorial State Park

Truckee CA

The Donner Party

The Donner Party was a group of American pioneers led by George Donner—who became stranded en route to California in late 1846. The party was trapped by exceptionally heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada, and when food ran out, some members of the group reportedly resorted to cannibalism of those already dead. It was the worst disaster of the overland migration to California.
The following panels in the museum provide details to the Donner’s plight.

The Washoe natives

The Chinese

Chinese immigrant workers were crucial to the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Travelling to California

Old Town Sacramento CA

Old Town Sacramento harkens back to how it looked back in the late 1800s. The buildings look old, but the businesses are modern restaurants and shops.
Pony Express Monument. The plaque reads: This statue commemorates the glory of the Pony Express, which started here at 2:45 AM on April 4, 1860, when Sam Hamilton galloped into a blinding rainstorm on the first lap of the 1,966-mile trip to St. Joseph, Missouri. During its 18-month existence, its 121 riders and 500 ponies carried 35,000 pieces of mail with the loss of but one pouch. This venture, founded by Russell, Majors and Waddell, ended California’s isolation from the rest of the Union.
Sacramento River
Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge

California State Railroad Museum

Sacramento CA

This is a pretty cool museum in Sacramento that exhibits railroad history in California. Virginia & Truckee Railroad Locomotive No. 13 “Empire” served as a freight engine for more than 40 years. Engine crews considered 13 an unlucky number so the company changed to 15.
The Forgotten Railroad Workers Memorial Monument. Chinese artist Xuejun Yang created this monument in 2019, honoring the Chinese workers who played a heroic and important role building the Transcontinental Railroad. Between 1865 and 1869 Central Pacific Railroad employed more than 12,000 Chinese workers to build the western portion on the railroad. They cleared land, put down roadbed, shoveled snow, blasted tunnels through granite and laid track.
Great Northern Railway Post Office Car No. 42 operated as a complete post office between Chicago IL and Tacoma WA. Inside the moving car, armed postal clerks sorted mail and the train moved along at up to 80 mph.
Inside the mail car.
My grandfather worked for a time in the 1940s and 1950s on a mail car between Washington DC and Jacksonville FL.
Virginia & Truckee No. 18 “Dayton”.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Dining Car No. 1474 “Cochiti” was built for Santa Fe’s first streamlined stainless steel train, the Los Angeles to Chicago Super Chief.
Attentive waiters served meals on distinctive china. Railroad companies each had their own special designs.
Fine dining on the rails!
AT&SF railroad chins pattern.
New York Central
Comfortable seating
Sleeping berths
Produce car.
Baggage car (The people are real, not mannequins!)
This scene interprets the building of the Transcontinental Railroad 1865-1869. A really well done display.
Blasting through granite.
Surveyor.
Surveying and building equipment.
A proud achievement.

California State Capitol

Sacramento CA

The capitol of our largest state is a beautiful sight.
The rotunda.
Statue of President Ronald Reagan in the basement gallery.
Senate chamber
Senate chamber chandelier
Senate chamber ceiling
Assembly chamber
Assembly chamber ceiling
California state motto
Restored 1933 State Treasurer’s office
Restoration of the 1902 Secretary of State’s Main Office
1906 Governor’s office
This chandelier in the 1906 Governor’s office is all electric now, but originally it was part electric, and part gas.

Official Governors Portraits

Earl Warren was governor of California before he became Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.
Ronald Reagan was governor of California before he was elected 40th President of the US.
This is the actual official Governor Portrait of Governor Edmund “Jerry” Brown. Incredible. His nickname is “Moonbeam”.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger official portrait

Loa Angeles County Museum of Art

Los Angeles CA

Some highlights from this fairly large art museum.

Urban Light, Chris Burden 2008
Levitated Mass, Michael Heizer 1969-2012
Campbell Soup Can, Andy Warhol 1964
Cold Shoulder, Roy Lichtenstein 1963
The Treachery of Images (This is Not a Pipe), Rene Magritte 1929
Horse’s Skull with Pink Rose, Georgia O’Keeffe 1931
Flower Day, Diego Rivera 1925
Monuments: Revolutionary Slogans of Successive Dynasties, Qiu Zhijie 2007 (Translations below)

The museum displays a large collection of Pablo Picasso works. Here are a few.

Portrait of Sebastia Junyer Vidal, Pablo Picasso 1903
Bar-Table with Musical Instruments and Fruit Bowl, Pablo Picasso 1913
Still Life (with Mandolin), Pablo Picasso 1927
Young Woman in Striped Dress, Pablo Picasso 1949
Mulholland Drive: The Road to the Studio, David Hockney 1980
The Nahans (Arhats) Bolsarabuldara (Vajraputra) with a Dragon
and Kariga (Kalika) with a Tiger
Korea, Joseon dynasty 19th century
The Bodhisattva Amoghapasha Lokeshvara, Nepal 15th century or earlier