Our first capitol visit together in August, 2006, inspired our lifelong capitol visits goal. John, my husband and I, aim to visit all 50 U.S. state capitol buildings, by the time I turn 50 (we're now 27 and 29, respectively; my birthday is 8/11/80). Unfortunately, I am writing now in retrospect of the capitols we have already visited, Salem, being our first.
I was born in Corvallis, Oregon, and lived in a little beach town called Lincoln City, for a little while in my teens. Needless to say, Oregon is a beautiful state, maybe the most beautiful. So, for a pre-honeymoon, my husband and I went off to Oregon for a brief visit from our home in Omaha. On our way back from the coast to Portland, we stopped in Salem to check out the capitol building, and we were hooked!
It was a random yet planned stop and turned out to be an adventure. We just happened to get there when the only tourguide there was giving a tour to the top of the building. But this wasn't like walking the steps of the Statue of Liberty where you get on the staircase and go up, up, up. This was taking a grand staircase to the fourth floor, then an odd, scary hallway to even stranger stairway with pipes and whatnot that we had to dodge, and then into an even steeper, creepier set of stairs up to the eleventh floor, where we got to squeeze our way around the top of the capitol building to take some shots through wires. It felt like we were on a "backstage" tour because of the seemingly secret pathways we had to go through to get there, and the small, quiet crowd we were with.
Very unfortunately, we only took a couple of pictures, as we were unaware of the importance that would lie ahead. But we took some in the blossoming flower garden, and the roundabout of state flags in the front yard. The exterior is very modern and simple, just a box of marble, it looks like. At the top is a golden man, I do not remember who he is. The interior, if my memory serves me, was likewise pretty simple and modern.
It was a random yet planned stop and turned out to be an adventure. We just happened to get there when the only tourguide there was giving a tour to the top of the building. But this wasn't like walking the steps of the Statue of Liberty where you get on the staircase and go up, up, up. This was taking a grand staircase to the fourth floor, then an odd, scary hallway to even stranger stairway with pipes and whatnot that we had to dodge, and then into an even steeper, creepier set of stairs up to the eleventh floor, where we got to squeeze our way around the top of the capitol building to take some shots through wires. It felt like we were on a "backstage" tour because of the seemingly secret pathways we had to go through to get there, and the small, quiet crowd we were with.
Very unfortunately, we only took a couple of pictures, as we were unaware of the importance that would lie ahead. But we took some in the blossoming flower garden, and the roundabout of state flags in the front yard. The exterior is very modern and simple, just a box of marble, it looks like. At the top is a golden man, I do not remember who he is. The interior, if my memory serves me, was likewise pretty simple and modern.
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