Chalk It Up!

We spent this Labor Day admiring some unique art-- chalk art drawn all over the sidewalk squares of a Sacramento park.  The "Chalk It Up" Festival was truly something to see.  We walked a long stretch of paved path around the park watching artists in action creating everything from advertisements for their businesses to portraits to abstract designs in vibrant chalk colors. (Not feeling so artsy myself as I realize the camera lens had a big smudge on it!)

We each picked our favorites.  Squares that featured cute animals, fairies, butterflies and movie characters won.

Some of the artwork was really amazing!  This artist was working off a real photograph of a child playing in the surf.  Isn't it cool how real you can make a sidewalk chalk drawing look?

You know that scene in Mary Poppins where they jump into Bert's sidewalk drawing?  This is the one we picked to jump in to.  Isn't it lovely?  Too bad it didn't work.

We ended our time at the festival by claiming our own little corner of pavement.  Ella was our lead artist and decided our artwork would display a picture of each member of our family holding hands.  We all got busy bringing her vision to life on the concrete.

A picnic lunch at the park and an hour of play on the super-cool, spaceship-themed playground equipment came next.

Then, since we were so close and the parking was free for the holiday and the place was virtually deserted, we had to stop in at the Capitol Building.  The girls got a simple lesson in democracy as we explained how no one person owned the fancy building or ran things alone.  Ella left proud to be an owner of her piece of California government. 

The rotunda (above) and the "pretty room where they make laws" (below) were a few of the stops on our self-guided tour.

We made one final stop at the famous bear statue outside Gov. Schwarzenegger's office.  Next to his office, we also saw his other famous (and scary!) "Deficit Counter" ticking the numbers UP by the second.  Maybe I should rethink the satisfied feeling I have about spending a really interesting day in Sacramento, but not spending a penny! :)