Category Archives: Travel

Vermont State Capitol

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Today while on a New England trip, I continued on my quest to see all the state capitols and visited Vermont’s state capitol in Montpelier. The Vermont state capitol reminded me of the Alaska state capitol solely on its somewhat casualness and friendliness of people there. However, the Vermont state capitol is much prettier and ornate. Our tour guide was a now-retired state representative (because he didn’t run for reelection). I don’t know why I find it so funny that a state representative would be a tour guide when not representing, but I do. He was a wonderful tour guide though. The capitol is small really, but the rooms are lovely. The current capitol is the third state house. Probably by coincidence, the senate chamber is predominately green, and the house chamber is predominantly red. I noticed this because this is the exact opposite of a couple of state capitols such as California and Colorado, where the house is green based on the UK House of Commons, and the senate is red based on the UK House of Lords.

There are some neat details in the building. For example, the law dictates that the Vermont coat of arms must have five elements: a deer head, a cow, haystacks, pine tree, and mountains. However, the rest of the details are evidently up to interpretation, so our guide pointed out at least five different versions on the tour. A “bonus” detail we got to see because it not part of a the tour was a gorgeous fireplace in a lounge area that has all these different stones mined in Vermont. We got to see it simply because he was leading us to the elevator as a member of the group needed to use it. Something that I also found amusing is that the capitol does have a dome, but you can’t look into the interior as it is unfinished wood. Our guide pointed to the part of the ceiling that is below the dome at my request because I am weird.

Vermont State Capitol

Vermont House Chambers

Vermont Senate Chambers

Vermont Governor’s formal office

Ceiling in Vermont Governor’s formal office

Cedar Creek Reception Room

Vermont coat of arms on wall of House Chambers

Stairwell

Ceiling on first floor which blocks view of dome (also I think second floor also blocks view)

Hartford, Connecticut

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I was in Hartford to see the Connecticut State Capitol, so while there I did a little wandering around. Hartford is like many older cities with a mix of old and new buildings. I rather like old cities that keep many of their older buildings. Not too long ago, Hartford reclaimed its connection to the Connecticut River, and now there is a nice riverwalk in some spots.

Old State House

Elevated walk near riverfront

Bulkeley Bridge over the Connecticut River

Hartford City Hall

Bushnell Park

Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch

Goodwin Square Tower

Connecticut State Capitol

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I am once again traveling on my quest to see all the state capitols. Today I visited Connecticut’s state capitol. The visit was somewhat disappointing because they would not let visitors see the Senate chamber. I understand some people may find my disappointment silly, and some woman on the tour did. However I traveled all this way to see the capitol, and the chambers are the most important parts of the capitol in my opinion. I have seen enough capitols to say confidently that seeing one chamber does not mean you have seen them both, as they are always different in rather interesting and important ways. So there is my criticism of the tour. If the website said you couldn’t visit that chamber, it was not clear because I certainly did not see that warning on the website. This adds to my annoyance.

With that gripe out of the way, the Connecticut state capitol is quite beautiful. It looks like a capitol. It has intricate decorations, and the design clearly has symbolism. There is a reoccurring theme of compasses and flowers that resemble compasses to represent that what happens in the capitol affects the entire state. Dark red, black, and browns are used throughout, which gives the building a very cohesive look. There are not that many statues, but the ones present are rather meaningful. There is also a whole lot of stenciling, which is gorgeous, but I can only imagine the time it took.

Connecticut state capitol

Connecticut state capitol

Connecticut state capitol dome

The Genius of Connecticut

Rotunda

Looking up the rotunda into the dome

Nathan Hale statue in atrium

Stenciling on balcony

Fountain that used to provide water for people to fill in buckets for their horses outside

House chambers

House chamber viewing gallery

House well and speaker’s desk

Ceiling of House chamber

Grandview at New River Gorge National Park

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Yesterday I went quite the hike within New River Gorge National park, and it was more of a hike that I thought it would be. I went to the Grandview area, and I hiked along the Grandview Rim trail. The trail is one way, so for the leg of the hike walking towards Turkey Spur, the end of the trail, I took the Castle Rock trail, which parallels the Rim trail for the first half mile. Castle Rock trail is gorgeous, and it takes you just below a wall of rock. At one portion of the trail, the wall of rock has a visible coal seam, which is extra interesting. However the footing on the Castle Rock trail is not even, and there is lots of ascents and descents, so it is a good workout. The rest of the trail, once back on the Rim trail is fairly easy going, especially compared to the Castle Rock trail. The start of the trail is the main overlook, which overlooks a bend in the New River, so you are viewing it from the base of a U shape. The end of the trail is Turkey Spur, which also overlooks the river, but at a location where in the foreground you see the river headed to the west, where it curves, then behind a hill, you can see the river looping around again and headed east.

Main overlook of New River

Castle Rock trail

Castle Rock trail

Rhododendron growing in coal seam along Castle Rock trail

Coal seam along Castle Rock trail

Grandview Rim trail

Turkey Spur overlook with Thomas Burford Pugh Memorial Bridge over New River in foreground and New River also in mid-ground

Turkey Spur overlook of New River

Rhododendron

Sandstone Falls

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I left West Virginia today, but before leaving, I stopped at Sandstone Falls in New River Gorge National Park to do a little hiking. I also drove to a couple of overlooks of New River and Sandstone Falls.

Sandstone Falls

Sandstone Falls

Sandstone Falls loop trail

Sandstone Falls loop trail

Sandstone Falls loop trail view of New River

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly

New River overlook

Sandstone Falls overlook

New River Gorge National Park

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I have been sightseeing and hiking in New River Gorge National Park and surrounding area for several days now. I will be posting the photos in a few different posts. I have taken quite a few photos in the area around the New River Gorge Bridge, so those are what I am posting now.

New River Gorge Bridge

View of New River from Canyon Rim Visitors Center outlook

New River Gorge Bridge

New River Gorge Bridge, view from Tunney Hunsaker Bridge

View from Tunney Hunsaker Bridge of New River

On Tunney Hunsaker Bridge with New River Gorge Bridge in background

New River between Tunney Hunsaker Bridge and New River Gorge Bridge

Exhibition Coal Mine

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While visiting New River Gorge National Park, I am in the Beckley area, so I decided to visit the Exhibition Coal Mine. It is a museum dedicated to coal mining including structures that show how people used to live. The main attraction though is an actual coal mine that shut down decades ago that you can tour while on a mine car. It was quite interesting. Our guide was a retired coal miner, and he was able to explain how things worked. You cannot stand up straight in the coal mine. We were seated on a car the whole time, but our guide got out several times, and he had to stoop over. He further explained that with most area, they did not remove the rock above the coal seam. The coal seam was generally only 24 inches high, so miners worked on the ground in a 24 inch high area. The work was obviously grueling.

Entrance to mine

Signs near entrance to mine. They still have a fire boss check the mine everyday even though they are not mining.

Rock bolts were in all the walls and ceiling to strength them

View from the car down the mine

Example of a car that held one ton of coal that a miner would fill. A 24 inch high or so coal seam can be seen in wall.

Wall of mine with coal seam at the bottom

Bridge Walk

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I spent today doing more exploring of New River Gorge National Park, but I started the day by walking across a bridge. The walk across the bridge was under the road deck, which is not something a person normally gets to do. Bridge Walk lets you do just that. The New River Gorge Bridge is beautiful with a wonderful design, and walking under the bridge allowed me better appreciate and to take photos of the structure. Walking on the catwalk also allows for photos of the stunning scenery. It was a nice, leisurely walk that just happens to be, at the highest point, 876 feet above the ground, by walking on a two feet wide catwalk while attached the longest continuous safety line in the world.

Looking up to Bridge Walk from Fayette Station Road

View to the west

Looking down at the piers

View to the east

Looking down at the arch

Looking down at the arch

View to the west

Looking down at the arch

At apex of arch

Looking down at the arch

View to the west

Looking down the catwalk

Nuttallburg

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I started exploring New River Gorge National Park today. It is second on my list of things to see in West Virginia after the capitol. The park is really spread out, and there are lots of areas to explore. I did some hiking in the Nuttallburg area today because it features the remains of a coal mining operation, and I love ruins. I hiked from the top to the headhouse. I was originally going to hike down along the trail that somewhat follows the conveyor, but I met some people at the headhouse, who had just hiked up the that trail, and they said do not do it. It is a really difficult trail, and while the park material said as much, somehow their exhausted faces persuaded me more. I then drove to area near the river where the lower part of the mining operation was and hiked around there a little. The area trails are really neat because you can essentially follow the mining operation from the mine entrance to where the coal would have been loaded onto trains.

While the mining operation started in the mine, obviously, the first part you can see is the mine entrance. As I stood in front of the mine, I could feel the air coming out was probably 10 or 20 degrees colder.

Mine Entrance

The coal cars then went to the headhouse where the coal was dumped and loaded onto the conveyor, which brought the coal all the way down the slope to be transferred to trains.

Headhouse where coal was dumped out of the cars from the mine and onto the conveyor. In the lower right, you can see the start of the conveyor.

Inside the headhouse where the coal cars came in

The conveyor was essentially a really long conveyor belt, and it was kind of awesome to stand beneath it.

Conveyor that brought coal from headhouse to tipple

The conveyor ended at the tipple. The tall structure seen on the right was a storage silo for the coal.

Conveyor entering the tipple

Conveyor entering the tipple

The tipple sat on top of train tracks, and the coal was transferred to the trains there.

Tipple where coal was transferred to trains

Under the tipple, standing on the old train tracks where coal was transferred

There are also some remains of coke ovens. These are considered to be the earliest remains of coal operations. Originally the coal converted to coke there.

Coke Ovens

JQ Dickinson Salt-Works

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I visited JQ Dickinson Salt-Works, a small, salt-harvesting facility today, and it was fascinating. I love factory tours, but I don’t think the term factory applies to this place, and it would almost be derogatory to call the salt works a factory. In any event, the process was fascinating, and I am somewhat in awe of how low-tech it is, yet I am amazed how they can produce so much salt. My guide said they will produce about 16,000 pounds of salt this year. There used to be springs in the area that Native Americans knew about as they knew that animals liked to lick the salt from the springs. Salt was produced commercially from the springs when white settlers moved in to the area, but then production ended in the twentieth century. The operation was resumed more recently, and the current well was installed in 2013.

The start of the process is somewhat anticlimactic. The process starts with groundwater that is pumped from an aquifer that is 350 feet deep and contains water from an ancient ocean. The anticlimactic part is that the well is below ground (obviously), and so all you see from the surface is a tripod of sorts marking off the location.

Groundwater well that eventually produces salt

The groundwater is first pumped into storage tanks to allow the iron to settle out from the water.

Groundwater storage to separate iron from water

They have sample jars that show what the water looks like when mixed (right) and then once the iron has settled and comes out of solution (left). My guide said they try to keep the process as environmentally friendly as possible and allow little to nothing go to waste. The iron that settles out is eventually sold for wood staining or for pottery glazes.

Sample jars showing iron separating from groundwater

After the iron settles out, the water is pumped to one of three greenhouses to concentrate in shallow pools in black-lined tables.

Greenhouse for concentrating groundwater to brine

I forgot to ask my guide what the starting salinity of the groundwater is, but in these first greenhouses, it sits for about 24 hours until it reaches a salinity of 15%. In the shallow pools, I could see a few fine salt crystals settling out.

Greenhouse for concentrating groundwater to brine

The concentrated water or brine is then pumped to another storage tank and then into another greenhouse. In this greenhouse, the salinity is raised to 25%. This is where large salt crystals are formed. One thing I got confused about is that my guide said the salt was now 25% salinity, but they were clearly salt crystals. Visually it didn’t look like 75% water and 25% salt. I am not sure if I understood correctly what is meant by salinity or if I misunderstood her, or if I am just missing a detail. In any event, the salt was quite pretty.

Salt crystalizing

One of the tables had been cleared of the concentrating salt, and there were buckets of salt crystals ready for final processing.

Bucket of salt crystals ready to be dried

The salt is then moved to another room where it is dried. After that, a person inspects the salt and removes any impurities with tweezers. The women who were working admitted that it is a really tedious job. I would need a headlamp and magnifying glasses to do the task.

Cleaning salt by hand

The salt is then ready to be sold. They sell it in three crystal sizes (from finest to coarsest): popcorn, finishing, and grinding. They also mix it with spices, most or all of which are grown locally, to sell as spice salt mixes. The liquid that is left over once the salt settles out is also sold as nigari. Nigari is used to make tofu and cheese, and some people take it as supplement as it is full of minerals. This is part of what my guide said is their goal to not let anything go to waste. Until today, I had never even heard the word nigari, so yet another thing I learned today.

Samples of salt products sold. The red salt is not sold, but it is a very red in color salt that they have to show people what the salt would look like if they did not allow the iron to settle out first. At the bottom of the photo are three giant halite crystals to show how large the salt can grow.