Lansing, Michigan

Our next stop after Indianapolis was Lansing Michigan, our last capitol tour for several months. (After Lansing we head to Hillman, Michigan where we will be for 4 ½ months if all goes according to plan.) We definitely felt the weather cool down as we headed north. It’s nice in a way, because the more northerly we travel, the more we are able to experience an extended Spring season, as we come upon the new wildflower blooms and the greening of trees all over again. We arrived in Lansing on Sunday, May 10th, toured on the 11th, and left for Hillman on the 12th.

The Lansing metropolitan area includes three medical schools, two nursing schools, two law schools, including the nation’s largest law school, and a Big Ten Conference university (Michigan State), in addition to being the state capital. The exterior of the capitol building itself wasn’t all that impressive, but inside it was very beautiful. There were not many exhibits nor artifacts for viewing, but the architecture was prominent and detailed, hard for the eye to take it all in at a casual glance. Like so many capitol buildings, in order to really appreciate the level of detail in the various architectures, you must stand in one place for a while and slowly scan your surroundings. Although not all capitol buildings have rotundas and interior domes, I am always glad when they do, because the interior domes are usually the highlight of the structure and architectural design. I was not disappointed this time! The rotunda rose 160 feet to an opening at the top of the inner dome called the oculus, or eye of the dome, which provided a glimpse into the vastness of the universe, represented by a starry sky. Directly beneath the dome is the glass floor of the rotunda made of 976 blocks of glass. The higher into the dome you get, the more the floor appears to fall in an optical illusion creating an upside down dome effect. It was fun to look at this and see the changing perspective from each floor.

The pictures are of the exterior of the capitol; the starry dome (interior); the glass floor; and a beautiful church across the street from the capitol.

Our touring will more localized as we spend our summer in Hillman. I’m looking forward to settling down for a while and exploring this part of the state and country.

Indianapolis, Indiana

We left Springfield on May 7 and drove to Indianapolis, Indiana, the next stop on our State Capitol tour! Since we planned to visit a friend who lives in nearby Martinsville, we checked in to the Indy Lakes RV Park for three nights - one day for visiting and one day for touring.

Downtown Indianapolis is very metropolitan, but not all that big. Everything seemed to be squeezed into a few square blocks. The architecture is a mix of old and new with quaint historic churches nestled between modern glass and steel high rises.

The capitol building is called the Indiana Statehouse. I’ve not heard capitols referred to as a Statehouse before. It was built in 1888 and is the fifth building to house the state government. This capitol, more so than others, had a warm feeling to the interior. Dozens of chandeliers hung from the ceiling reflecting a soft golden glow from the wood and stone surfaces throughout the vast halls. The stained glass dome was among the prettiest I’ve seen – be sure to click on the picture above to enlarge and get the full impact.

Down the street from the state capitol building is the very impressive Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument which surrounds the Colonel Eli Lilly Civil War Museum. (This is the same Eli Lilly associated with the drug company, which is headquartered in Indianapolis). Although I have a philosophical objection to all the memorials to war everywhere we go (why can’t we see more memorials to peace?), I can still appreciate the beautiful works of art.

We enjoyed our stay in Indianapolis, and had mixed feelings about being here so close to the Indy 500 and not staying to be a part of it! It would have been a unique experience, but we are off to Michigan, maybe next time around!!

Springfield, Illinois

Abraham Lincoln. If I had to sum up our Springfield, Illinois experience with two words, those would be it. This experience may have been intensified by the fact that 2009 is the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth, and the entire city of Springfield went all out to celebrate. Ordinarily when we visit a capitol city we may tour the actual capitol and maybe one other nearby attraction. But Springfield had so many historical sites and Lincoln related exhibits to visit that we extended our stay and allocated three full days to touring. This was a very intense experience, resulting in a sort of Lincoln immersion. Over the course of the three days we visited the following locations:

1. The State Capitols (current and “Old”). The current capitol building was majestic and stately, but devoid of very many artifacts, which were to be found in nearby museums, monuments, and libraries. It was a beautiful building, though, and worthy of our time. The Old Capitol was much smaller, but more historic (Lincoln had his presidential campaign headquarters here, for example) and has been turned into a museum.

2. The Illinois State Museum. The Illinois State Museum promotes discovery, learning, and an appreciation of Illinois’ natural, cultural, and artistic heritage. The Museum’s extensive collections and research activities provide the foundation for exhibitions and public programs that tell the story of the land, life, people, and art of Illinois. (No photography allowed)

3. Abraham Lincoln’s Springfield Home & Neighborhood. Here we were able to walk in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln in the historic neighborhood surrounding his home of seventeen years. Restored to its 1860 appearance, the four-block area contains eleven historic structures dating back to Lincoln's time.

4. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum. This was an awesome experience! The exhibits were top notch, high tech, interactive, and very intense. We spent hours in here and still didn’t see everything. It was telling to (re)learn how turbulent Lincoln’s presidency was, as well as his personal life. The issues he faced and the high emotions of public sentiment around slavery and the Civil War had to be an impossible task. I’m thankful I had the opportunity to experience this museum. (No photography allowed)

5. The Lincoln Tomb. Dedicated in 1874, The Lincoln Tomb is the final resting place of Abraham Lincoln, his wife Mary, and three of their four sons, Edward, William, and Thomas. The eldest son, Robert T. Lincoln, is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

6. Lincoln’s New Salem. Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site, about 2 miles South of Petersburg and about 20 miles Northwest of Springfield, is a reconstruction of the village where Abraham Lincoln spent his early adulthood. The six years Lincoln spent in New Salem formed a turning point in his career. Although he never owned a home here, Lincoln was engaged in a variety of activities while he was at New Salem. He clerked in a store, split rails, enlisted in the Black Hawk War, served as postmaster and deputy surveyor, failed in business, and was elected to the Illinois General Assembly in 1834 and 1836 after an unsuccessful try in 1832.

Jefferson City, Missouri

We left Fort Smith on Thursday, April 30 and traveled to Chanute, Kansas for a scheduled appointment with the Nu Wa factory to have our 5th wheel evaluated for repairs and maintenance. We found out what needs to be done, and how much it will cost (gasp!), and will probably swing back by in October to get the actual work done. We drove from Chanute to Jefferson City, Missouri on May 1st, and we were in rain, sometimes torrential, the entire day, along with much thunder and lightening. It was a beautiful drive none-the-less, off the interstate, through miles and miles of green rural countryside. We saw a lot of roadside flooding, but luckily nothing that threatened our progress. Getting settled in at the RV Park in the rain and mud was quite an adventure, but we managed, and much to our delight, today the rain was gone, and the sun was even out for part of the day for our tour of the capitol. (Most of you probably know by now that one of our goals is to visit all the state capitols.)

Jefferson City is on the northern edge of theOzark Plateau on the southern side of Missouri River near the geographic center of the state. The city is dominated by the domed Capitol, rising from a bluff overlooking the Missouri River to the north. Lewis and Clark passed beneath that bluff on their historic expedition upriver before Europeans established any settlement there. As of 2006, the population was 39,274. Jefferson City was named after Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States of America.

The capitol building is very grand, with the exterior walls and all the indoor floors and corridors, constructed of white crystalline limestone marble from Carthage, MO. It is a symmetrical building of the Roman renaissance style and is situated high atop a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. The Capitol dome towers 262 feet above ground level (and 400 feet above the river), and is topped with a bronze statue of Ceres. (Ceres is the Roman goddess of grain and agricultural and was selected as the patron goddess of Missouri, a strong agricultural state.) The exterior construction boasts towering columns, grand staircases, and bronze front doors – each 13 by 18 feet, the largest cast since the Roman era. A 13-foot statue of Thomas Jefferson is the centerpiece of the southern steps. Inside there are beautiful murals, stain glass, paintings, friezes, and bronze statues of prominent Missourians. High within the dome is a small viewing platform on the dome’s roof beneath the statue of Ceres, and a whispering gallery (a gallery beneath the dome enclosed in a circular area in which whispers can be hear clearly in other parts of the building).

We have visited twelve state capitols so far, and I would put Jefferson City’s capitol building high on the list of the most beautiful we’ve seen so far.