WIDE OPEN WALLS

This past Sunday, Lou & I spent about three hours driving around downtown Sacramento with a not-to-scale, not detailed map of Wide Open Walls searching for new murals on the walls of various buildings throughout the city. It was almost like a treasure hunt of sorts as we found many of this years new murals to view & photograph.

This California mural is actually ten different murals created by ten different artists. Lou took this photo with his panoramic setting since it was too large to include in one normal picture.

Here is some detail in the "C" which was probably at least ten feet tall.

Each of the letters in California depicted an artist's rendition of our beautiful city & state.

This is the third year of Wide Open Walls, also called the Sacramento Mural Festival. I believe it is a city sponsored event which now showcases over 100 murals around the city. Wide Open Walls promotes diversity through artistic expression and believes that art should be part of daily life. The festival brings local, national and international artists together to transform our region with amazing street art.

These three were my favorites. They were all along the same wall by the same artist.

The artist's use of roses on the faces & backgrounds especially intrigued me. Who knew studying the walls of warehouses would be as fascinating as exploring art museums.

I loved the color scheme using all my favorites - pinks, purples & blues.

Wide Open Walls ran from August 8 to 18 featuring 44 artists & 30 new murals in the greater Sacramento region. This year’s lineup included internationally renowned & returning local artists. These artists are given 10 days to create their masterpieces which showcase the talents of a diverse group of painters.

These are just some of the creations for Wide Open Walls. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any explanations of what the artists were attempting to convey so we were on our own to decide.

The river, canoe & trees that made up this woman's hair was quite interesting. Maybe that is what she was thinking about?

Most didn't even have titles but this is some detail of a really long mural called, "Mars 1".

Trying to capture photos without cars, dumpsters, lights, wires & signs in them was a real challenge but I did my best.

Lou thought this looked like the inside of an otter. At first I thought it might be a dinosaur of some sort but he may be right.

I liked the colorful decoration that adorned the sides of buildings. Employees will see this everyday as they walk into the office.

The side of a parking garage across the street from Golden 1 Center, our downtown arena, where the Sacramento Kings play.

This appeared to be a large warehouse building that now houses a cafe & some shops.

Your guess is as good as mine. Looks like a cross between a bumble bee & an airplane with a radial engine that appears to be on fire!?!?!

SIGHTS & SOUNDS OF ORACLE PARK

Okay, I can't actually convey the sounds of the ball park in a written & photo blog but suffice it to say there was lots of cheering, yelling, singing, thwacking & some booing which I'll explain later. Lou & I took off for a Giants-Phillies game at Oracle Park in San Francisco early last Saturday. It only took 11-1/2 hours of our time to drive to Alameda, take the ferry, watch the game, take the ferry back & drive home with a dinner stop.

A view of San Francisco & the Bay Bridge as our ferry boat crossed the bay from Alameda.

As we passed Yerba Buena Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay, Lou took this photo of Yerba Buena Lighthouse on the southeast corner of the island. The Bay Bridge passes through the island in a tunnel. Man made Treasure Island is on the other side.

More detail of the city of San Francisco skyline as we approached the ball park. Notice the Salesforce Tower at 1070 feet near the center that is now the tallest building in the city.

Oracle Park from San Francisco Bay. The ferry docks literally steps from the entrance. You can see the kayakers who patrol McCovey Cove for home run & foul balls that make it to the water.

Oracle Park opened in April 2000 with the name Pacific Bell Park (PacBell Park). It received country-wide rave reviews with its classic features & breathtaking views. It was later known as SBC Park & AT&T Park before becoming Oracle Park when the software company purchased the naming rights prior to this season.

There is a new high tech scoreboard in center field this year. Both Lou & I thought there were too many things cluttering it up that changed frequently. It wasn't easy to see the balls & strikes or pitch count. 

The iconic Coke bottle & baseball glove have been fixtures at the park since it opened in 2000.

A new Oracle Park sign at one of the park entrances. The statue of Giants pitcher Juan Marichal with his high leg kick is at this corner. Willie Mays Plaza down the block has a statue of the superstar outfielder. And across McCovey Cove is a statue of the beloved first baseman who recently passed away.

Life long Giants fans, Lou & I cheered on our team through three World Series Championships - 2010, 2012 & 2014! But lately our cherished Giants have fallen on hard times. I believe we have had an amazing run & maybe, just maybe, it will happen again in my lifetime.

Our players lined up for the National Anthem sung by a teenage girl who really belted it out! We had gulped down our Doggie Diner hot dogs & sodas (for a cool $26) just making it to our seats in time for the Star Spangled Banner.

First baseman Brandon Belt leading off. He has been slumping lately but hopefully he will get hot soon. Didn't happen yesterday.

Jeff "The Shark" Samardzija pitched a great 8 innings giving up only 1 run & 2 hits.

Our third baseman, Evan Longoria, just before he hit a home run early in the game.

One of my favorite players, shortstop Brandon Crawford, who is from Pleasanton, California. 

With McCovey Cove (named for Giants great Willie McCovey) just beyond the right field wall, there have been 79 "Splash Hits" (home runs hit into the cove on the fly). Most of those are owned by Giants outfielder Barry Bonds who holds the all time home run record of 755.

Right field in Oracle Park. Levi's Landing is about 4 rows of seats in front of McCovey Cove. There is a walkway before the water of the cove starts. On TV Friday night, two balls were hit into McCovey Cove. The first was by our backup catcher, Stephen Vogt & the second by Phillies star Bryce Harper. Our fans, me included, boo Harper mercilessly when he comes up to bat. He was a free agent last year & the Giants tried hard to get him but he chose the Phillies over us. I never really liked him anyway & was glad he didn't come here. As he rounded the bases on Friday night, he put his finger to his lips shushing the fans who just booed louder.

The view from our seats.

Local boaters always enjoy coming to McCovey Cove for games in various boats, rafts, kayaks & assorted floating devices. A couple weeks ago some guys had a giant white inflatable swan that held four of them & an ice chest full of beer.

More boats in McCovey Cove.

We were fortunate to see two of our Giants, Evan Longoria & Kevin Pillar, hit home runs. The weather was beautiful.  And we won the game 3-1 behind some great pitching & power hitting - always makes for a nice day!

Our closer, relief pitcher Will Smith, has been doing great this year including a trip to the All Star Game. We saw him record his 28th save of the year.

The last out of the ball game as the Giants beat the Phillies 3-1 &
Bryce Harper went 0 for 4. Woo Hoo!

The high five line after the victory. It will take some doing but they are still in contention for a wild card if they can win more than they lose the rest of the season. Go Giants!