The California capitol was the first capitol we visited which makes sense considering that we only live 1.5 hours away. We made plans back in March to visit the capitol and then go to the local Cycle Gear to pick up actual riding gear for me, since we had been riding in freezing weather without proper winter gear.
Back in March when we originally left, we ended up arriving after 6pm when the capitol closes, so we took pictures in front of the building and marveled at how amazing the building. Remember, at this time, we had never seen a state capitol before, so this was all amazing and grand, and we also didn’t know you could go inside. It wasn’t until we visited the Nevada capitol that we realized we could actually go in and get a proper capitol stamp and mug. So, at that point, we knew that we’d have to redo the California capitol trip.
We planned on visiting Sacramento on the way home from Phoenix but it was too late by the time we made it to Northern California. A few days after our 9,000+ mile journey we hopped back on the bike for the 1.5 hour drive to Sacramento. You would think after being on a bike for five week we would want a long break from the motorcycle, but no. A stop at Fastrip to fill Moty up and we were off.
We made it several miles down the road and hit road construction.
Fifteen minutes later, we were back on track to Sacramento.
We reached the capitol in no time at all. Parking was kind of dicey since it was June (Pride month), and Sacramento was having a big Pride event which made parking spaces scarce. We ended up finding a spot and a few interestingly dressed characters on the way over the building. The grounds were nicely manicured and taken care of, and the exterior of the building was clean and grand.
As we made our way into the capitol, our enchantment of the building fell fairly quickly. The interior was rather disappointing. It wasn’t as grand as the other capitols we had been to. It was unkept; dust had settled on the railings and windows and the carpeted stairs needed a good vacuum job. The House and Senate chambers were locked so we did not get to take a look at those areas. The building seemed to be more utilitarian than grand as seen in the other capitols that we visited. And considering all of the money California makes, I guess we were hoping/expecting some sort of grandeur.
After a quick tour of the building, we walked downstairs where they had dioramas displayed in the walls for each county in California. Each county’s diorama displayed something that the county was known for. The first hall of counties we saw were very detailed and took much skill and precision to create. Excitedly, we searched for Butte county to see what would be showcased. As we searched, we tried to guess what would be inside our display as we made our way down the hall past the other fifty-five counties (They were in alphabetical order. We started at the end.)
We turned the corner to find the world’s cheapest diorama display ever created. It was a map of Butte County and a simple tv monitor in the case that showed a slideshow of low-res pictures of Butte County. That was all. What a letdown! Who hired them anyway?!
Throughly disappointed, we made our way down the hall to exit the capitol as we overheard an older couple talking about how their county was such a disappointment. We got into a friendly argument over whose county was more disappointing. We settled at both counties were equally awful.
We discussed our disappointment on the way to our bike. Our state capitol was disenchanting to say the least, but it could definitely have been worse. We saddled up and headed to a dinner with my family and then back home to plan our next adventure.
Cheers!
em and rj