Road Trip: Ohio. Again...
Day 2: Wednesday, April 12, 2023 - Des Moines, IA
Day's statistics:
- Weather: upper 70s, windy
- Steps: Steve 15,589; Linda 13,549
- Travel: 279 miles
Breakfast was light continental, and Linda had PB&J on whole wheat bread, and I had a bowl and a half of cereal.
We packed the car and headed out to our first capital of the trip - Des Moines.
The capital on approach.
We found a parking spot, and headed toward the capital.
Near the capital was Iowa's replica of the Liberty Bell.
And the capital (yes, another with some restoration going on) on approach from the parking lot, and a closer-up of the dome and topper.
We were inside the capital by 8:50. First things first, our stamp.
The next guided tour wasn't until 9:30, so we did our own self-guided one for a half hour, and then joined a tour already in progress.
We like listening to the docent because we can usually get information about the capital that we wouldn't be able to get otherwise.
A couple of these facts include that there is more gold IN the capital than ON the capital; the dome is 80 feet in diameter and is the
largest of the ten gold domes in the US; and the clocks are pneumatic and controlled from the Governor's office.
And speaking of the dome, here is a shot and a close-up looking up from the center of the rotunda.
Around the first floor rotunda were some older Iowa state flags. The first was flown in Vietnam by an Iowan in 1972, and the others
were from the 1-168th Infantry.
In a wing off the main rotunda was this model of the USS Iowa.
In order to reach the Senate and House galleries, one has to walk up this oval-spiral staircase. Here are shots looking up
from below, and down from above (after ascending).
The House of Representatives, with 100 representatives serving 2 year terms; and the Speakers seat (from our return to the
chamber with the tour group).
The ceiling of the chamber.
The chandelier.
The gallery.
The docent told us a story of a fire in the 1904. The construction of the building has steel fire doors in the main air ducts
tied up with ropes so if the fire gets hot / intense enough, the rope burns and the doors close to help snuff the fires. Early
when the fire started, an engineer working on converting the building from gas to electric, knew of the doors - so he went into
the ceiling and cut the ropes to help seal off the fire. It helped keep the fire damage to a minimum, and there was no loss of
life. The next day the engineer was in the space inspecting for damage, stepped on a damaged beam that gave way, and fell two
tall stories to his death. So the only fatality of the fire wasn't during the fire.
We left the house chamber, and proceeded down the hallway along the sides, on the same floor, toward the senate.
A mosaic along the wall on the way, with a close-up of the lower right corner (not visible in the full picture).
This is the view toward the center from the end.
The Senate chamber with 50 Senators serving 4 year terms. They were in session, though they only voted on
adjourning and that took all of 8 minutes - with a portraits of Abraham Lincoln, Joe Biden (the current president),
and the "famous" unfinished George Washington; and the president of the Senate.
The ceiling of the chamber.
The chandelier, weighing 500 pounds, holds more than 5,500 Czechslovakian crystals.
This Senator's desk shows: the voting and other buttons they use, a typical desk, and Iowa State mascots.
We were done in both chambers, and headed to the rotunda. There were statues and paintings around the lowest level of the dome.
A wider-angle shot than above, of the dome.
Our next stop was at the library. And what a fantastic library it was. Here are some shots of the staircases, floor, and skylight.
A couple other items of interest included a card catalog; and an early volume of the Laws of Pennsylvania, printed in 1742 by Benjamin
Franklin on his own hand printing press (darkened to reduce glare).
We finished our self-guided tour and joined a school trip tour in progress. The primary reason for joining this group was
because the school students get to go higher up in the dome - something people can't do on their own. So we heard visited
some duplicate locations, but that was OK because we got additional details like dates, and representative counts.
The school group went into the library, and we just waited outside because there was not going to be any more information given
while the group was inside the library.
Outside of the library and above the door was this old clock.
On the wall above the staircase landing is this mural.
And the skylight in the area above the mural.
We were back at the rotunda. There was some sort of college recruitment sort of thing being set up. However, the glass floor
is still visible from above, even with the table on it. The advantage of this sort of construction is that it allows some
natural light to brighten the floor below.
Our "regular" tour was over and it was time to ascend to the next level of the dome. Linda stayed behind due to the many
stairs. When I got to the top, the docent suggested a picture looking down (which I was planning on doing anyway...)
Looking all the way down into the rotunda from the area where we were. While it was quite noisy while we were here, this
is called the Whisper something (don't remember and didn't note the exact name), called such because when it IS
quiet, someone can whisper on one side of the dome and it can be heard by someone on the other side.
When looking up at the dome from a lower level - and in the pictures above - you can see spot lights around the dome highlighting
the underside of the peak. One may wonder how those bulbs get changed. It is actually done from this level that we were now on.
Looking close, and then even closer at the statues in the dome.
A shot of the center of the dome, but from the upper level, and not just a zoom and or crop from much lower - this
will also skew the perspective a little since the angle is sharper.
Just before descending back to the lower level, we were told there were two narrow windows - about a foot each - to look out.
Which, of course, I did. The windows face SSW. There was wire mesh on the outside of the window but the images were lightened
in order to remove some of that effect / impact.
One last shot of some floor detail.
Our capital tours had come to an end.
We departed the capital and headed toward the memorial garden across the plaza.
We found a few leaf imprints in the sidwalk concrete on the way to the memorial garden.
And we got our selfie too.
We first came across a large memorial (pictures not shown in the order taken).
This one is dedicated to Senator William Boyd Allison.
There was an American Revolution War memorial, with 13 smaller upright stones around it, one for each of the original 13 colonies.
After viewing the Revolutionary War memory, we sat on a bench that overlooked downtown Des Moines.
After sitting for a couple minutes, we started our walk back to the parking lot.
Across a highway was the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.
We came across a Crocker Post memorial.
And a Korean War Memorial.
The Purple Heart Dedication.
As we walked across the parking lot, we passed the Health and Human Services building with this interesting seal.
On the other side of the lot, opposite the capital, was a Pearl Harbor memorial. There was a large stone with the names
of the Iowans that lost their lives - both sides had names.
There was also a World War II Memorial behind the Pearl Harbor memorial. There was a large torch, a memorial wall, and the
concrete had a pattern of the world in it.
The capital gift shop did not have any shot glasses, so we asked where we might be able to find one.
We were pointed in the direction of Rayguns a few blocks away, and Heart of Iowa further away.
Our first stop was at Rayguns. It is a quirky store with some humorous paraphanalia, as well as collectables
and t-shirts. This sign out front should give you an idea of some of their humor.
While they had some shot glasses in stock, they were out of Iowa glasses.
Even though it was a little early, we decided to stop for lunch because the next stop was further away, and
it didn't make sense to drive away and then back.
Lunch was at the High Life Lounge, a
pub dedicated to Miller High Life beer. There was some outdoor seating - within the green fencing - and the
entrance was on the other side of it. We sat inside because it was a little breezy.
Linda had a taco bowl.
I had the spicy diablo burger with what was supposed to be fries, but I was served tots instead.
The food was tasty, service was fairly quick, and the waitstaff was friendly.
There was a phone booth in the corner behind Linda that I wanted to get a full picture of, but forgot to - so this will have to do.
After lunch we headed to West Des Moines to try to get a glass at Heart of Iowa. And we did.
West Des Moines is a place. It's different than Des Moines. We were told West Des Moines has it's own name and
government - and Post Office.
It is a quaint town - at least this part.
We parked at one end of town, walked to the store across the street on the next block. After we got our shot glass,
we walked to the other end of town - to the PO to mail Linda's sister Maria's birthday card - and back.
We passed this sculpture in an alley.
We returned to the car and headed to our next desitnation, the Botanical Gardens.
On the way to the gardens, we passed this structure. It turns out it was the Robert D. Ray Asian Garden, part of the Botanical Gardens.
Not much further down the road, we arrived at the
gardens.
Because it was early in the season, a number of flowers weren't in bloom yet. But there were still some that were, so it wasn't all a loss.
Please there was a large indoor greenhouse. We passed this greenhouse dome on our way to the hotel. Here it is, close-up, and staionary.
We started our visit in the greenhouse - we didn't get too many flower names because we either didn't see the little
placard, or there was none.
There was a small eating area up one level that provided an overlook to the greenhouse.
Here are what we thought were the better, in bloom (where applicable) specimens.
There was a waterfall and a stream with some koi.
We were done inside, and headed outside. We first came across a bonzai garden.
Beyond the bonzai garden was, first, a pond with a boardwalk over the water that led to the outdoor garden area.
After stepping off the boardwalk, to the right was a bench under a tree, and this view.
Some of these flower were already in bloom, and others will [likely] be later this year - after they grow up the trellis wall.
Dafadils.
Encore Magnolia.
A... daisy?
This sculpture was in an area where it was the only thing - so I got this picture from a little way away.
A couple last flowers before going back inside.
We returned inside, and walked across the greenhouse. On the other side was the Artists Studio. This was an area where
specific specimens that weren't part of the main exhibit.
Linda particularly liked this sample.
While there were a couple seats in the main greenhouse and the outdoors, this space had proportionately a lot more,
such as this area that had two, for study / drawing and or meditating / reflecting.
Before we left the area, we took another selfie.
Our visit was essentially over. I originally thought this sculpture was part of the gardens (and it may be), and
walked a path to get a good shot of it - but it was outside the fencing. Got the shot on the way to the car.
And we saw this interesting pedistrian bridge when we were getting into the car.
It was still early, so we headed to our next location: the Des Moines Art Center.
We had no idea what to expect - but have been pleasantly surprised by similar situations in the past. And we had
nothing to lose. Shortly after leaving the Gardens, we saw this pedestrian bridge.
On one of the roads toward the DMAC, we spotted this sculpture. It turned out to be a huge trowel, but we didn't
get another picture of it as we zoomed past about a minute later.
We arrived at the Art Center. From the outside, it looked more like an old elementary school than an art installation.
We stepped inside and were given a map and verbal layout of the facility. We started our tour.
Some of the pieces were not to our liking / preference. But there were some pieces that were.
Rocher du Lion, Rochers á Belle-Île (Lion Rock, Rocks At Belle-Île) by Claude Monet
Christ Learning to Read by Henry Ossawa Tanner
Dame Á La Robe Blanche (Woman in White) by Henri Matisse
From The Lake No. 1 by Georgia O'Keefe
I thought I got the placard for this, but it looks like I didn't. This was, shall we say, different. And it is as big as it looks.
The composition is most beads, and one interpretation of it is that the beads are so heavy that they spill out the bottom of the work
and onto the floor.
Man and Pegasus by Carl Milles
Tête De Femme (Head of a Woman) by Pablo Picasso
Some sculptures.
In The Spring by Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones
Édouard and Marie-Louise by John Singer Sargent
After a little more than an hour, we headed out and onto our next destination.
Back closer to the center of town was a park that had a number of sculptures.
We stopped by to see and capture as many of them that we thought were interesting for one reason or another. Most,
if not all, looked like they had lights and probably look great at night too. Presented in the order viewed.
We got a selfie in front of the Love statue (duh...).
It was almost 4:00 and we returned to the car, and headed to St. Paul. It was going to be a little more than a four hour
drive, so we go started a little earlier than we "normally" would have. We initially planned on leaving after dinner, like
most of the cities, but left a little earlier due to the lengthy drive we usually faced.
There were quite a few wind farms in this area. The pictures don't do them full justice - partially because the turbines are
far away and or there was nothing to compare them to for perspective.
I took quite a few pictures of the turbines, but because we were in a vehicle moving at 60-75 MPH, the phone focusing on a part of the
car rather than the field, and using a cell phone instead of the DSLR, most are just "meh-quality" - but the point is still made.
Some of the "posts" - the closer ones - are telephone polls, but the rest are large wind turbines. There are more than two
dozen in this shot.
And this shot has over FOUR dozen turnbines.
We stopped at a Love's rest stop in Ellsworth. We picked up a case of water for the trip, some coffee, and a shot glass - but
a glass for Minnesota as we already had Iowa's - and then we wouldn't have to worry about getting one in Minnesota either.
On the way to St. Paul is, of course, a state line - our first crossing while driving on
this trip (we don't count the DE / PA line on the way to the airport).
We weren't all that hungry for a meal, so we stopped at a Target - the only large store near the highway in these parts - to
pick up a snack at about 7:00. We sat in the parking lot to eat it because we didn't want to have our "dinner" too late.
Continuing on we came across the Three T-38 Jet Sculpture outside Owatonna, MN.
We arrived at the Microtel at 8:25, checked-in, made our way to our room.
The TV remote was in a baggie. The baggie was either cleaned or replaced for sanitary reasons. At least I
HOPE it was. We settled in for the night having ended our first complete day on our vacation.