State Capitols - Saint Paul

Saint Paul, Minnesota Capitol Building

August is the perfect time for a visit to the 14th State Capitol on my capitol quest.  And, it just so happens the perfect time to visit Minnesota (I went again in February and it was NOT as awesome as August).  The city is surprisingly serene, lots of green grass, trees, petunias in hanging baskets - and super walkable.  A quick stroll from my hotel and there stood the the Capitol!

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Just Kidding.

Perhaps the prettiest Capitol so far...
look at the stone work.  

After walking to the capitol, I continued my pedestrian journey to some amazing Thai tiger salad before turning in for the evening.  

And now, in honor of the 14th Capitol on my quest, here's 14 Minnesota facts from 50States.com

1. Minnesota Inventions: Masking and Scotch tape, Wheaties cereal, Bisquick, HMOs, the bundt pan, Aveda beauty products, and Green Giant vegetables
2. The original name of the settlement that became St. Paul was Pig's Eye. Named for the French-Canadian whiskey trader, Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant, who had led squatters to the settlement.
3. The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is the largest urban sculpture garden in the country. 
4. Minnesota has 90,000 miles of shoreline, more than California, Florida and Hawaii combined, and  has one recreational boat per every six people, more than any other state.
5. Minnesotan baseball commentator Halsey Hal was the first to say 'Holy Cow' during a baseball broadcast.
6. Madison is the "Lutefisk capital of the United States".
7. The stapler was invented in Spring Valley.
8. Hormel Company of Austin marketed the first canned ham in 1926. Hormel introduced Spam in 1937.
9. A Jehovah's Witness was the first patient to receive a transfusion of artificial blood in 1979 at the University of Minnesota Hospital. He had refused a transfusion of real blood because of his religious beliefs.
10. The Hull-Rust mine in Hibbing became the largest open-pit mine in the world. What about Butte?
11. Minnesota's waters flow outward in three directions: north to Hudson Bay in Canada, east to the Atlantic Ocean, and south to the Gulf of Mexico.
12. Author Laura Ingalls Wilder lived on Plum Creek near Walnut Grove.
13. Akeley is birthplace and home of world's largest Paul Bunyan Statue. The kneeling Paul Bunyan is 20 feet tall. He might be the claimed 33 feet tall, if he were standing.
14. Polaris Industries of Roseau invented the snowmobile.