I spent most of July at home, which gave us time to take some time get over to the Legion of Honor for an exhibit I was looking forward to, and to another Giants game this season.
The exhibit I wanted to see was Wild West: Plains to the Pacific. There are absolutely heartbreaking things about the west story, but I grew up on westerns and stories of wagon trains. I have a visceral connection to the west story. People from the east building their new life out west, braving hardship and heartbreak. Even my own move west was a re-invention of myself. So I was definitely drawn to this exhibit.
The exhibit takes you through various periods of time, from the frontier to present day. Journeys by the first artists who captured the beauty of the western territories, wild west shows, farmers and beyond. Some of the most striking images were those advertising fruit boxes from California, each drawing distinction for their brand with bright colors and clever names.
While we were there, we decided to also go to a lecture that happened to be presented that day on “Mummies! The Medicine, Myths, and Marvels of Ancient Egyptian Mummification” by Charlotte Read which accompanied another exhibit they had, The Future of the Past: Mummies and Medicine. It was a great talk to see prior to seeing the exhibit, since she described many of the things we’d later see, including details about amulets, which played a prominent role and gave us a glimpse into the technologies they’re using today to peer under the wrapping of mummies, non-destructively.
The exhibit itself was quite small, only taking up one room, but it was worth seeing. You get to see the pair mummies themselves, along with facial reconstructions and the high resolution CT scans preformed on them. The exhibit also presented several of the artifacts that are often buried alongside mummies.
More photos from the Legion of Honor here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pleia2/albums/72157667790231333
Later in the month we went to see the San Francisco Giants play over at the beautiful AT&T Park.
It was the second game we saw this season, and sadly they did not triumph this time. It was a good game to watch though, and the weather was beautiful. Plus, we had great company as a friend of ours joined us.
