Road Trip: Ohio
Day 1: Friday, April 05, 2019 - Harrisburg, PA
Day's statistics:
Weather: Light rain
Steps: Steve 7,990; Linda 7,547
Drove: 374 miles
This trip's first capitol. After working a half-day and eating lunch, we left to go to Harrisburg. The car was packed and we were on the road at 12:45. Fifteen minutes later than our target departure, but we should still be OK. Our capitol tour was scheduled for 3:00.
We were in Newark, DE, following 896 toward Lancaster. Not having been on it in a while, we didn't exactly remember
how the road went, so we stayed on 896 (for those familiar with 896 around UD, you may know where I'm going with this).
We turned left at the Bob Carpenter Center to continue on 896, rather than going straight on S. College Ave. Eventually,
896 turns right, goes for a bit, turns right again... and joins S. College Ave. Why does this matter?
It certainly seemed like going around was longer. And if it was, it meant we could have missed having to wait for the 128
car freight train. The entire train. We turned the corner at the tracks right when the gates were coming down.
Eventually we were on our way and after meandering through Amish country, and Lancaster, a couple hours later we were in Harrsiburg. Time for the phone's map to get to the capitol. Turn here, down there, go here, and - seeing that gold domed building on the the right - you are at your destination. Uh, no we're not. That's a church. Where are we? Seneca Street. Well, Seneca Street is nearly two miles from where we needed to be, as it turned out. Our device didn't quite get the GPS (perhaps it was the way the address was entered into the phone) right and it sent us out of the way.
First things first: get the stamp.
Here are the book pages:
We wound up being about 15 minutes late for our scheduled tour. It had just started anyway, so we joined right in. The
floor is deemed the largest piece of folk art in the country. It is all original tile. Here are a couple particular ones:
William Penn (for whom the state is named after) - notice the vivid red in the tile, William Penn and a stagecoach.
Here is the inside of the dome, looking straight up; an angle shot of the dome from the third floor;
and two of some of the artwork near the top; .
The center looking down from the third floor.
Looking down a hallway, and at some of the architecture of the building.
We saw the House.
This the best shot I could "legally" get of the painting on the ceiling. It is 24 feet wide - one foot for each hour of the day.
The painting above the speaker's chair
This was one of the stained glass windows, this particular one was in the public seating gallery area.
The marble is from a quary in France that we were told is the only example of it in the United States.
The Senate.
The painting above the President of the Senate seat.
And some stained glass in the Senate.
And the Supreme Court.
Can you see the woman's face in the picture? How about the words?
The dome was origianlly open glass. But it cracked - big enough for birds to fly in.
So they enclosed it with a roof with windows to let some of the natural light in to illuminate the dome.
The design of the spheres around the bulbs was intended to disipate more light than was available.
We were told to visit the Governor's Reception. So we did.
This is one of two wooden pieces above the fireplaces at either end of the room.
We visited the gift shop, but they did not have any shot glasses.
UPDATE 05/30/2023: Since we couldn't get a shot glass anywhere in PA, rather than fret trying to locate one, we ordered one on-line.
While we prefer to get them at the capital, or at a shop in or near the capital, or at least in the state, we sometimes can't.
We spent a little more than an hour in the capitol and by 5:00, it was off to Pittsburgh.
But not before capturing a shot of the front of the building.
We realized that Harrisburg, not that there was anything wrong with it, was the ONLY major city (yes, a capital counts as a major city) we've visited (so far) that we did not spend a night in. It was more due to the timing and what we were trying to accomplish on this trip than anything else. Again, not that there is anything wrong with Harrisburg. Plus it is close enough to home that if we wanted to make a day trip out of it, we certainly could.
Our intent was to see the Flight 93 9/11 Memorial in Stoystown before sunset. We hopped on 15, to take it to 30 - because Stoystown is off 30. We wound up going right through Gettysburg, which is significantly out of the way South of the direction we wanted to be heading. We also hit a round about in, we think it was, Fayetteville. But unlike normal roundabounds, all the traffic didn't go counterclockwise. The right lane went counterclockwise, while the left lane went clockwise. The two met on the other side, and continued straight. Anyway, we took a leisurely drive and as we approached 7:00, we realized that especially with the rain, we weren't going to be stopping at the memorial tonight. So we decided to hop on 76 and go straight to Pittsburg.
Perhaps the train at the beginning of the trip, or the GPS goof-up should have been our omen, but... we had a road closure on 76 due to a tractor trailer accident. Both of the two lanes were closed. Nowhere to go. Turn the car off and sit. Took about an hour and fifteen minutes. And we were eventually underway again. We arrived at the Main Stay Inn and Suites, checked in, and went to bed.
Fun fact: there are over 200 grandfather clocks in the capitol, and it takes someone two days to wind them. Each week.