The view outside my hotel window was of the Tower Bridge spanning the American River. It used to be painted silver, but people complained about the glare, so now it's painted gold. Still rather shiny.
Yup, that's the State Capitol as we approached it just before 9 am, ready to convince all legislators of the value of 6 bills that hardly any of them had ever heard of.
Getting closer.... Closer...
Finally inside, I strike the pose, prompting Christopher Columbus to fall to one knee, Queen Isabella to take a look at my rock hard cycling sculpted posterior, and that little blond girl to run away in fear. And yes, I am wearing the exact same clothes I wore last time I was in Sacramento, for those of you who noticed.
Turning the tables, I now check out Queen Isabella from the rear. Guess I showed her.
A view of the rotunda from the inside.
My eyes actually kinda look like this.
These are the lamps hanging above the Assembly floor in a vertical line.
I was trying to be artistic.
The Assembly floor. They use PC laptops. Silly legislators. Those are kids on a field trip. As I listened to tour guides, the lawmaking process was portrayed to students as being something like this: somebody has a great idea that will improve California, the lawmakers agree to it, the governor signs it, and California becomes a better place. Can you blame young people for having a low voter participation rate for becoming disenchanted when they find out the government works nothing like how they were told it does?
With flash.
And without.
Here I am just outside Governor Schwarzenegger's office. Seconds after this picture was taken, the governor burst through the doors, knocking myself and the CHP officer and the governor all to the ground, where we all had a good laugh together.
Okay, well, that was a lie. What really happened was that, seconds later, this picture was taken. No governor, no rolling around on the floor together, no wacky mayhem. We didn't get to see the governor.
"Darron Evans, Governor" would look pretty good above those doors, wouldn't it?
Even though I didn't get to see the governor, I did get to see a picture of him and his wife. Reminds me of the picture I took pointing at a picture of Bill Clinton when I was in Guatemala. Remember that one?
Here it is again, less in focus but sans flash glare. I swear, you give your camera to random people these days to take a pic and they have no idea what to do.
I returned to harass Queen Isabella some more. "Security, can you do something about this guy?" she said, gesturing towards me.
So I had to leave. Where's Darron?
Goodbye California lawmakers... I'll be back!