Concord, New Hampshire

Our next New England stop was New Hampshire, with the primary purpose of visiting the Capitol in Concord, while using the rest of the week to tour other parts of the state. I don't remember most of the state mottos, but somehow "Live Free or Die", New Hampshire's famous maxim, seems to stick with me. No, Bruce Willis didn't coin the phrase in Live Free or Die Hard, but I can see how using this would appeal to movie makers, it's catchy! (The motto comes from a statement written by the Revolutionary General John Stark.) I didn't find much about the State House itself to give it standout ranking. The building houses all the regular offices such as the Senate Chambers, the Representatives Hall, The Office of The Governor, the Secretary of the State's Office, and so forth. What I did find interesting was their claim of "oldest continuously used legislative chambers in America". There are a lot of "firsts" and "oldest" designations on this side of the country, I've noticed. Some fun facts about New Hampshire include: The first potato planted in the United States was at Londonderry Common Field in 1719; Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr., the first American to travel in space is from East Derry, New Hampshire; in 1833 the first free public library in the United States was established in Peterborough.

Augusta, Maine

After leaving Vermont, we headed to Cushing, Maine for a one week stay. First on our list of places to go was a trip to the LL Bean store in Freemont, something I've wanted to do for decades! J The second day we made it to Augusta for our Capitol visit. Maybe not quite as fun as shopping in person at LL Bean, but it does mark our 43rd Capitol, kind of amazing to me that we've actually been to so many Capital Cities, and Capitol Buildings during our seven years on the road. We're zeroing in on 50! Occasionally we wind up at a capitol during times of restoration or repair. Such was our luck in Augusta. The Capitol Dome was undergoing restoration to replace the copper roofing, paint the cupola, and regild Minerva, the "Lady of Wisdom", who sits atop of the dome. The Maine State House was built using Maine granite, based on the design of the Massachusetts State House, since Maine was formerly a part of Massachusetts until separating in 1820. The park surrounding the capitol was quite green and lush, making for an enjoyable walk on the grounds after our tour of the building itself. Fun facts about Maine: Maine is the only state in the US with just one syllable; Augusta, Maine, and Juneau, Alaska are the only two state capitals with the names of months in them. Stephen King paid for a professional Little League baseball stadium behind his house in Bangor, Maine. The locals call it Field of Screams; People from Maine are known as Mainers, Down Easters, or Maniacs.

 

Salt Lake City, Utah

As we continued our trek westward, we stopped in Salt Lake City, Utah, towards the end of August 2011. Unfortunately we only stayed a couple of days, and had to squeeze in a visit to the Capitol, the Copper Mine, and Mormon Square all in the same day. First stop in the Beehive State was the State Capitol. (Most of the nicknames associated with Utah are related to the Mormons that first settled in this territory. Deseret, in The Book of Mormon is actually a honeybee. Early Mormon settlers have been described as having carried "swarms of bees" with them. This nickname commemorates the industry of the people of Utah.) Utah's Capitol building, constructed along the same lines as our nation's Capitol, has an interior dome reaching 165 feet above the rotunda floor, with a luxurious chandelier hanging down off of a 95-foot chain. The beautiful pathway circling the Capitol Hill Complex is lined with 100's of Yoshino cherry trees and connect major monuments around the complex. The inside of the capitol is beautifully adorned with murals, Corinthian columns, stain glass, and marble.

Denver, Colorado

Mid-August 2011 brought us to the mile-high city of Denver where we spent four days in nearby Golden, Colorado. Our first order of business was to visit the State Capitol located in the heart of Denver's Civic Center area. The building was constructed in the 1890's from Colorado white granite, and was intentionally built to resemble the United States Capitol. The distinctive gold dome consists of real gold plate to commemorate the Colorado Gold Rush. The official elevation of Denver is measured outside the west entrance to the building, where the fifteenth step is engraved with the words "One Mile Above Sea Level." From this step, at 5,280 feet, the sun can be seen setting behind the Rocky Mountains. An impressive quilt display hung throughout the Capitol on the day we visited, adding beautiful splashes of color throughout.