Road Trip: South - Capitals Tour
Day 6: Monday, May 22, 2017 - Baton Rouge, LA
Weather: 84, partly cloudy
Steps: 17,847 (Steve); 15,373 (Linda)
Drove: 195 miles
Today's breakfast was another continental style, though this one we consider "light". While there was a make your own waffle station, there was only cereal, what looked like store bought cinnimon buns and some toast. No eggs in any fashion.
When planning the trip, we knew that there wasn't much to do. For some reason, almost all of the attractions in the city - Old state capitol, Arsenal museum, the Art & Science museum and the Museum of Art - ARE CLOSED on Mondays.
On the way to the capitol, we came across these unusual looking ducks.
We arrived in the center of the city. After reviewing the GPS, our current location, where we wanted to go and what the weather was (very light drizzle rain), we decided to get a little closer to the capitol. We wound up moving about three blocks closer. I paid the meter ($10 for six hours) and off we went.
For some reason, we checked our photos and could not locate an image of the outside of the capital.
The best we can guess was that because it was overcast, we didn't try. So here is one from the internet...
We got our book stamped (didn't notice until YEARS later that the date is actually wrong - it is off by one day 😒):
Here are the book pages:
We then made our way to the 24th story observation deck. Due to the light rain and clouds, we didn't spend too
much time out there - enough to get some pictures. Interesting gardens too.
We saw the state senate too (this started becoming our secondary mission too, to view the house and or senate of each state).
The light is about eight feet tall and is very heavy.
The state seal in the main lobby.
And some building architecture, including the doors to the senate.
The governor was assasination many years ago, but a bullet hole from the event was left in a column on the first floor.
After the capital, we made or way to the U.S.S. Kidd via the River
Walk.. Right outside the capitol building, we passed some parking meters right in front of the building that were
merely $0.25 per half hour. Oh well. We continued to walk along the river walk and saw a couple interesting
sites, including the old state capitol and a steam boat.
The lettering of Baton Rouge is on a levee at the river. Due to the overwhelming amount of rain, the river was high.
So high it covered nearly half of the letters.
We visited the Louisiana Memorial Museum (part of the Memorial Park) before the Kidd. Outside the museum was a
plane on a stand. Also notice the statues. They were all along the river walk.
Another plane inside the museum.
There were a number of models on display in the museum. The first is the USS Somers.
This is relevant because it was the high school I attended.
In the second panoramic picture above, the USS Kidd is visible just below the bridge in the upper right corner.
The USS Kidd is a destroyer that held 330 crew. There was a lot packed onto a relatively small ship.
These images include sleeping quarters, kitchen, radio room, pilot house, mess hall, captain's and officer's quaters.
After the Kidd, it was time for lunch. We planned on going to the
Epic Buffet at the Hollywood Casino. Unfortuantely, when looking
on the map - and at it from the capital, it appeared a little closer than it was. The rain was letting up so the walk wasn't so bad, it was
just far. Really far. Turned out to be a little more than a mile. Doesn't seem like much, but after walking to the capitol, in and around the
captiol, and then to the Kidd... Our view at the restaurant was on the Mississippi. And the steamboat is actually the Hollywood Casino.
Anyway, the lunch was pretty good. I had hoped they had gumbo and or jambalaya and or other southern foods available,
and they did. Plus fried chicken and roasted pork (which tasted more like smoked pork than roasted).
Linda had beans, smothered green, yams, jalapeno poppers and some gumbo, while I started with the jambalaya and gumbo.
My second plate was more gumbo, more jambalaya, some sausage and a piece of fried chicken.
Linda had a little more and I had three more plates and even a dessert, but I didn't take pictures of them all. You're welcome.
Also, I walked so many more steps than Linda this day because I made so many trips to the buffet...
As we walked back to the car, we came across a church.
Continuing our walk to the car, we stopped to get a bottle of wine at a mart that seemed to be more of an office than a
supermarket. Probably beause it seemed this was an old bank. Didn't think to get a
picture of the eight foot tall safe door that was being used for a wall in the middle of the market.
Since the capitol building gift shop didn't have a shot glass, we stopped at a Wal Mart to get one (a lot of Wal Marts -
especially the Super Centers - have a souvenier section). We also decided to get
some cheese and Triscuits for a light snack since we had the buffet lunch.
On the way to Jackson, we crossed another state line and found some
really inexpensive gas (this was straight at the pump with no discounts).
We eventually made our way to the hotel in Jackson, a Days Inn. We had some wine, cheese and Triscuts and went to sleep.
FUN FACT: The Baton Rouge capitol is the tallest capitol in the nation.