Baton Rouge, LA - Capitol #35

Welcome to Louisiana!

 Baton Rouge means red stick. There was a reddish-barked tree that marked where two native American tribes land met. The red stick was the border.

 The final tower-style capitol! It is the tallest capitol in the U.S. at 450 feet. It was built during the great depression.

The steps leading up to the front doors are engraved with the states in the order they were admitted to the Union.

The entry floor is made of volcanic rock!

 The flags here represent all the governments that have ruled this area.

 The state seal is protected behind this railing. The House and Senate chambers are on either side of this huge entry lobby.

Huey Long, former governor, builder of this capitol, and U.S. senator, was shot here in the hallway in 1935. He died two days later. So, some call this building "Huey Long's monument".  

 

MS Old Capitol - 3/3

 This is the oldest building in Jackson and served as the Capitol from 1839-1903, (which makes calling the new capitol "new" a bit funny.)

The "Keeper of the Capitol" actually lived in a small room just inside the front door.

There is a simple, but elegant dome.

A movie told of the history of the state.

In this building, Mississippi voted to secede from the Union in 1861.

 Several rooms were set up with statues and an audio program to enhance our understanding of key moments in Mississippi's history.

The restoration created beautiful staircases.

 The large meeting rooms for the Senate and House (here) are actually on the 2nd floor and smaller rooms (now exhibits) are below.

Outside there is a large memorial.

Jackson, MS - Capitol #34

This is the "New Capitol". Like so many states we've been to lately, there is also an "Old Capitol" just down the street and we were able to visit both.

 

We had a personal tour guide for our family since nobody else showed for the 9am tour. This was the first time we'd toured while the legislators were in session and consequently, we could not take pictures in the house or senate chambers.

There was a lot of natural light throughout the capitol even though there were four floors.

We saw greek and roman architecture typical of many state capitols and scagliola (fake marble) that was frequently used as well.

The inner dome is separated from the outer dome and, for some reason, this will never cease to amaze me.

We used the stairs, but we also used the elevators. One is still run by an operator who opens the inner and outer doors separately. The others have been updated mechanically, but still look like they did when the capitol was first built.

Notice the skylights above. The black-looking tiles on the floor are actually a smoky glass that allows the same natural light down to the floor below.

 The old supreme court chamber is now used for Senate committee meetings.

 We took the short 1/2 mile walk to the Old Capitol and passed this old phone booth and cool building on the way.

NAS Pensacola - 3/2

 People told us there was a great naval air museum at Pensacola. We were not disappointed! It was amazing. We spent about 4 hours there, but we could have easily spent another four!

First person we met... Rosie the Riveter.

 Watching a movie of the NC-4, the first plane to cross the atlantic, by cranking a handle. The actual NC-4 was there behind me when I took this photo.

This was one of the first flight simulators.

 There were LOTS of planes to climb in and lots more to explore from the outside.

 The Apollo exhibit was more interesting to Scott and me because we just saw Hidden Figures last week.

 It was made more interesting for the kids after having watched the rocket launch at Canaveral as well.

 Ky found Apollo 11 and recalled events from our Classical Conversations history sentences and timeline.

The huge object above is what fits inside the piece of the model below that she is pointing at!

 The Blue Angels are currently exhibiting in California, but they left some planes here for us to take photos with.

 Jo has shown the most interest in planes and flying in the past. He truly enjoyed our day.

 Conclusion: the National Naval Aviation Museum is awesome!

And now... on through Alabama to Mississippi.

 Oops! We intentionally exited the 10 to avoid the tunnel at Mobile, AL and were trying to follow the directions for trucks with "hazardous materials" since we have a small bit of propane. BUT the first light off the freeway, this

is where we ended up. I think we get points for effort though.  (:

After such a long time in lovely night weather, we are back to the reality that it is actually winter and tonight we will sleep in COLD weather.