Spanish-American War Memorial, Capitol Park, Sacramento

On our way to Lake Tahoe, our family stopped off at the State Capitol in Sacramento.  I've usually approached the building from the West but we came in from the East side this time and parked on 15th Street.  I was delighted to find Capitol Park, a large park about five blocks long by two blocks wide to the rear of the building.  It's a pretty park, a little unkempt (like most city parks in large metropolitan areas), but with requisite obligatory memorials found in every capital city.  My favorite, by a wide margin, was the Spanish-American War Memorial.  It is on a large rock in a center of a pond, surrounded by overgrown foliage, almost hidden from view even on the central path close to the capitol building.

The statue, a just slightly larger than life American soldier, is affectionately called "The Hiker."  The memorial was completed in 1949, when Cuba was still our friend and after the Philippines had been granted its independence and it contains plants transplanted from the battlefields of that conflict.  I enjoyed the tasteful grace and reflection of the memorial.  It reminded me of another memorial I enjoyed when I was in Washington, DC – the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial.

Like this one in California, it's tucked away on a tiny island in the Potomac River.  It's just an island full of trees and hiking paths and in the center is a slightly larger than life Teddy Roosevelt statute giving a speech to the trees.