State Capitols - Austin

Ta-DA!!!  State Capitol number 15!!  In February I spent an especially cold week in San Antonio, but it ended with the greatest thing ever: spending a long weekend with my sorority sister and one of my favorite people, Courtney M!  I haven't seen her since we lived in North Nashville and I got to be god-mommy to her precious kitties Penny and Pearl.

Inside the rotunda

Courtney and her husband Eric met me in San Antonio, and we woke up early Saturday morning (after surviving a *severe* South Texas blizzard the morning before) and hit the trail north to conquer the Great Capitol #15.    

Stars on the fence

So what's so great about Texas?  It was my home for a year, but I never made it very far outside Waco.  I regret not getting the chance to explore much of the state, because the energy in Austin was great, and I could see it being a really wonderful town to be in.   The robust history, next to protests for change in the world.  And the bike paths and kayak launches adjacent to streets packed with huge pick-ups.  Austin made for a fun dichotomy.  

Gorgeous Courtney and her sweet husband

I was kind of excited to see the Texas State Capitol additionally because I'd heard that it was pink.  I'm not sure I'd call it pink... more of a rosy beige.  

So just for funsies - and in honor of the 15th Capitol on my quest, here's 15 Texas facts from 50States.com

1. Texas is popularly known as The Lone Star State.
2. The lightning whelk is the official state shell.
3. Texas is the only state to have the flags of 6 different nations fly over it. They are: Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederate States, and the United States.
4. More wool comes from the state of Texas than any other state in the United States.
5. Texas is the only state to enter the United States by treaty instead of territorial annexation.
6. A coastal live oak located near Fulton is the oldest tree in the state. The tree has an estimated age of more than 1,500 years.
7. Sam Houston, arguably the most famous Texan, was actually born in Virginia. Houston served as governor of Tennessee before coming to Texas.
8. The capital city of Austin is located on the Colorado River in south-central Texas. The capitol building is made from Texas pink granite. It served as the capital of the Republic of Texas in 1840-1842.
9. Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. The Dublin Dr Pepper, 85 miles west of Waco, still uses pure imperial cane sugar in its product. There is no period after the Dr in Dr Pepper.
10. The first suspension bridge in the United States was the Waco Bridge. Built in 1870 and still in use today as a pedestrian crossing of the Brazos River.
11. The armadillo is the official state mammal
12. Texas possesses three of the top ten most populous cities in the United States. These towns are Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio.
13. Texas includes 267,339 square miles, or 7.4% of the nation's total area.
14. The state's cattle population is estimated to be near 16 million.
15. More species of bats live in Texas than in any other part of the United States.

I loved getting to see Court again too!  So much fun to be gone for so long and be able to pick up right where we left off.

We might have made a stop in San Marcos en route...

And our chauffeur Eric even got rewarded for putting up with us with some AMAZING Austin BBQ!  Texas may just have wormed its way back into my heard a tiny bit... just a smidge

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.

State Capitols - Concord

Concord, New Hampshire - Lucky 13th

I was driving to Hanover last June and hopped out of my rental Kia to snap a couple quick pictures of the State Capitol building in Concord and then went on my merry way, happy to have another capitol crossed off the list...

In honor of the great state of New Hampshire, here's 13 fun facts from 50States:

1. Of the thirteen original colonies, New Hampshire was the first to declare its independence from Mother England -- a full six months before the Declaration of Independence was signed.
2. The first potato planted in the United States was at Londonderry Common Field in 1719.
3. In 1833 the first free public library in the United States was established in Peterborough.
4. Levi Hutchins of Concord invented the first alarm clock in 1787.
5. Dover was settled in 1623. It is the oldest permanent settlement in New Hampshire.
6. The Memorial Bell Tower at Cathedral of the Pines in Rindge has four bronze bas-reliefs designed by Norman Rockwell. The bell tower is specifically dedicated to women — military and civilian — who died serving their country.
7. In Holderness Captain Pierre Havre and his canine first mate, Bogie, have built a sailing tour around the locations from the Katherine Hepburn/Henry Fonda movie On Golden Pond.
8. New Hampshire did not officially adopt a state flag until 1909. Prior to that, New Hampshire had numerous regimental flags to represent the state. The present flag has only been changed once, in 1931 when the state's seal was modified.
9. The USS Albacore was a prototype submarine built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and commissioned in 1953. At the time she was the fastest submarine ever designed.
10. The first capital city of New Hampshire was in Exeter. (side note, I spent a summer in Exeter in high school)
11. The granite profile "Old Man of the Mountain" is one of the most famous natural landmarks in the state. The Old Man's head measures 40 feet from chin to forehead and is made up of five ledges. Nature carved this profile thousands of years ago. The natural sculpture is 1,200 feet above Echo Lake.
12. It takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to make approximately 1 gallon of maple syrup.
13. Captain John Smith named New Hampshire after the town of Hampshire, England.

Main Street in Concord.  It reminds me of Stars Hollow

Richmond, Virginia... Number 12

While in Virginia, Zach took me to take down another State Capitol... Richmond, Virginia. The awesome thing: in addition to spending the adventure with Zach, my ROOMMATE Kelsie and her husband Luke drove all the way from Lynchburg, VA to get to see me. WOOHOO! I got to see two of my favorite things in one day: Capitols and Roommate.

Pretty, pretty capitol building.

The State Seal- Thus Always to Tyrants with the Roman goddess of Virtue standing over (dead) royalty

This is THE ONLY sculpture of George Washington fashioned from his person... like he was measured and everything. The sweet thing about this picture is that there's an orb in it... There's a ghost spirit captured in the upper left near Washington's head!

Hehe... there were tons of stairs. Queen Elizabeth walked in this very same place!

Cute! The Fraziers in front of Virginia's Capitol!

Here's the list now that Number 12 has been added.
Denver, CO
Raleigh, NC
Helena, MT
Cheyenne, WY
Salt Lake City, UT
Santa Fe, NM
Phoenix, AZ
Nashville, TN
Atlanta, GA
Charleston, WV
Frankfort, KY
Richmond, VA

Ok, here's a couple more from Richmond...

Another Star is made!

October 10th, 2009 Frankfort, Kentucky became the 11th state on my quest to see all 50 state capitol buildings!

Ok, here's the list so far:

1. Denver, CO
2. Raleigh, NC
3. Helena, MT
4. Cheyenne, WY
5. Salt Lake City, UT
6. Santa Fe, NM
7. Phoenix, AZ
8. Nashville, TN
9. Atlanta, GA
10. Charleston, WV
11. Frankfort, KY

It's still a short list, but that's all the motivation to keep it growing! Eleven Stars on the Map!

Rafting the New River - West Virginia

Winter in Tennessee was long and murky... the prospect of the first adventure of the summer was almost too exciting to handle! My friend Tasha is a great trip organizer and she'd planned a Memorial Day Weekend camping and rafting trip on the New River in West Virginia.


Day 1: I left Nashville on Friday morning and drove up to Somerset, KY to catch up with Tasha. From there we packed up her puppy and her car and hit the trail towards West Virginia!

Along the way we listened to the audio of the first Chelsea Handler book, My Horizontal Life. I am officially a fan - of Chelsea and of anyone named Thunder.

Our route took us through Charleston, WV and Tasha humored me with a stop at the State Capitol Building. West Virginia is the 10th state capitol building. I think that's the first 20% of the capitols checked off my list!

And back on the road again... finishing our journey towards dusk at Ames Heights, WV. I had no idea that West Virginia was so scenic. Looking at the terrain map, you can see how dramatic the topography is, and the New River sits deep in a valley surrounded by all these hills.

Day 2 was spent enjoying the area. Once everyone in our group finally convened at the campground, the crew decided to head down by the river - a very mellow part - to enjoy the sunshine.

The campground we stayed in was part of a gorgeous adventure resort with restaurants and vistas overlooking the valley. After supper our crew went to the lodge to listen to some music and see the region. The picture is of me and Tasha overlooking the New River Valley from the Class VI adventure resort.

Day 3: RAFT DAY!!!

Rise and shine and ready to hit the water. Luke, our raft guide, did a phenomenal job of navigating us through Class V rapids... I've heard that the New River is the best rafting east of the Mississippi. The pictures don't even begin to do the scenery justice. And I tried to get some video of the rapids we went through too, but it didn't turn out so hot. eh - next time maybe we'll figure out helmet cameras.




















In the earlier stretch of the trip, the boys got out to jump off some cliffs. This picture shows Ryan doing a flip off the rock.


Lunch was awesome mid-trip. Nothing better than being outside and having someone pack the delicious food for you. This foxy photo is Me and Tasha feeding our faces on the bank.

The last part of the day took us under the New River Bridge - the highest vehicle bridge in North America. Once a year the bridge is closed to traffic so base jumpers can take advantage of the launching point. I think this bridge is the picture on the back of West Virginia state quarter.

Suzanne and Tasha were great about taking the pictures of our trip! And the road trip was the perfect way to start the summer. Woohoo!