Denver, August 12, 2008

So, back to Denver and to the capitol the next morning. We had a delicious breakfast downtown at the "Delectable Egg" diner, and rushed to make the 9am dome tour. The Denver capitol is in downtown Denver, so very urban atmosphere, but still beautiful grounds, well kept greenery and flowers. The exterior very stately, reminiscent of the DC capitol, as they boast.

The dome is made of gold leaf, as they say, a reminder of their "Gold Rush" early days. Though we made the dome tour, the capitol was under a lot of construction, and for some reason, we weren't able to go up to the very top, or even go outside once we were at our highest point. But it was fun, still to be up to the high area and see some sites. Also up on the top floor was a nice little pictorial and informational about the capitol, with some artistic renderings of the capitol, like this architerual one below, and also one made of soup cans.

Once we got into the capitol to explore, we found it was pretty grand - marble walls, brass adornments and stair case fixtures. Also, a fair amount of art - pictures of all of the US presidents to date, a lot of stained glass portraits of Colorado pineers, and murals (by the same artist of the WY capitol murals ) telling the "Colorado story."

All in all, it was an impressive capitol; however, there were no public bathrooms except on the bottom floor, where you had to go outside of security, and back through security! That was frustrating when we had to go after the dome tour...Also there were many, lets say, retiree tours, going on, so the capitol was quite tourist-crazy, a little hard to get around and take pictures, but, I guess that is a good thing for them.

Sidenote: we also went to the Budweiser Brewery in Fort Collins, which was a blast! (Possibly blashemy to Coors, but hey, it was on the interstate, and it was free!)

Cheyenne, August 11, 2008

It is my birthday, and we visited the capitol of Wyoming! Fabulousness...

We took the 100 mile drive from Denver in our Hyundai (rented from Advantage - do NOT recommend!), scenery was beautiful - clear skies, flat lands but mountains in the far background.

Cheyenne was a very quiet town, some cowboy hats (and mustaches!) reminiscent of the old West.

The capitol fairly big and nice from the outside, also very simple. Some statues of animals - a calf, a bison, and an unidentified cowboy riding a bucking horse - decorated the front lawn. Also inside were various stuffed animals like a buffalo, otters, birds...but little art or representation of humans. They had some nice murals in their Legislature rooms (about prioneer life, industry, and transportation in Wyoming), but besides that, none of any governors or famous Wyomans, except some photos of old Legislatures. The interior, too, was very simple, and, seemingly out of date! Green carpeting and the like. Just seemed like an out-of-date quasi mansion. There is one oil painting in the rotunda depicting various ethnic groups that settled in Wyoming.

But - the best news - they seemed very pro-female. Outside also boasted a statue of Esther Morris, who played a role in Wyoming being the first government to grant women equal suffrage. She also became the first woman Justice of Peace in 1870. In the photos of the old governors, there was a woman in 1925, very rare, and impressive indeed.