Tag Archives: Photography

Colorado State Capitol

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Amazingly I lived in Colorado for four years while in college and never once went inside the state capitol. I finally changed that today. Although while taking the tour, I learned that the capitol has been renovated and restored since I was in college, so I was able to see a much nicer looking building than I would have seen back then. The capitol is lovely, and if you are able to visit, take the tour because you can go up into the dome and onto an observation balcony but only on the tour. Similar to capitols, the House of Representatives is decorated in green like the UK House of Commons, while the Senate is decorated in red like the House of Lords. Much of the stone in the building is from quarries in the state, including a gorgeous red onyx. There is a lot of brass that appears to need constant polishing. My favorite feature of the building is Mr. Brown’s Attic, where there are windows to allow you to see much of the superstructure, including vaulted ceiling of the two chambers.

Colorado State Capitol

Interior space

Ground floor

The rotunda

Inside the rotunda looking up to the dome

Representatives chamber

Senate chamber

Brass elevator

Red onyx and brass decorate much of the building

Stairwell with brass decorations

Inside the dome

Window in Mr. Brown’s Attic of the exterior of one of the chamber’s vaulted ceiling

View from the dome’s balcony

Sacramento

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I spent part of my time in Sacramento just wandering around, which is what I like to do when I travel to a new city. Below are a few more photos from my time there wandering around.

State Capitol Park

Sacramento Convention Center

Crest Theatre

Wall mural

Tower Bridge

Old Sacramento

Old Sacramento

Sacramento River Cruise

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While exploring Sacramento, I decided a river cruise would be a great way to see the city, considering the city is on the banks of two rivers. A river cruise was definitely a lovely way to get a different perspective of the city. The cruise only went on the Sacramento River, as my guess is the American River is even more shallow than the Sacramento, which is only about 12 feet deep. The engineering highlights of the cruise were going under two different bridges, the I Street Bridge, which is a swing bridge, and the Tower Bridge, which is a vertical lift bridge. The cruise also went under a boring stationary bridge, the I-80 bridge. The cruise also passed by both the old and new water intake pumping stations, where river water is pumped to the water treatment plant.

I Street Bridge

Bridge over the American River

Docks and condominiums line parts of the river

Drainage outlets from nearby canal

Downtown Sacramento

Old water intake tower and pumping station

New water intake pumping station

Downtown Sacramento

Tower Bridge

California State Capitol

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I am continuing in my quest to visit all the state capitols, and I am in Sacramento this weekend, so I got to add California to my list. The history of the building is rather interesting in that they started building it in 1860, but mainly due to lack of funds, it was not finished for 14 years. In 1906, much modernization was done to the building including electricity and central heat and air. [I was unclear when the indoor plumbing came.] Additions and other renovations were done after that. Some of those renovations sounded like they were more “renovations” that probably sounded good to some at the time, but now most of us at least, and cringe at what was done. Then in 1975, they pretty much completely rebuilt the capitol. The shell of the building stayed, but the interior was completely torn down and built back up again. They did a lovely job of rebuilding. The building is gorgeous with wonderful wooden staircases, gilded and painted ceilings and walls, tile floors, and plenty of little touches you just have to explore to find. The state seal can be found in all sorts of places, and many other symbols are subtly placed around the building. There are bears everywhere, including coming out of staircase railing columns. They also restored several rooms on the first floor to their 1906 appearance, so parts of the capitol are a historical museum.

California State Capitol

Rotunda

Rotunda

Rotunda

The senate chamber is decorated with a lot of pink, which is supposed to reflect the color of the United Kingdom’s House of Lords.

Senate chamber

Senate chamber

The assembly chamber is decorated with a lot of green, which is supposed to reflect the color of the United Kingdom’s House of Commons.

Assembly chamber

Assembly chamber ceiling

In one of the panels of the assembly’s ceiling, is a grotesque of man’s head and his two hands. It is difficult to see unless you are looking for it, preferably with the help of a tour guide with a laser pointer. It is in a panel with a ring of (what I assume are) prickly pears with yellow flowers. Based on what my tour guide said and my internet searches, it doesn’t seem like the origins and true meaning of the grotesque are clear, but a chubby cheeked man with his hands up in a room where politicians work kind of gives me easy ideas.

Assembly chamber ceiling grotesque

Elevator

Wooden staircases with intricate metal lamps

Wooden staircase

Stained glass ceiling light

1906 Governor’s office

Bear guarding the governor’s office

Kennedy Space Center

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Today was my first visit to the Cape Canaveral area and to the Kennedy Space Center. The big exhibit here is the space shuttle Atlantis. They have it set up really nice, so you can see inside the payload and the damaged external heat shield tiles and blankets. There are plenty of other exhibits to see. Also, you can also take a bus ride to another site to see a Saturn V rocket. The rocket is impressive, and the bus ride is a very short tour of the center and worth the ride.

Space shuttle Atlantis front

Space shuttle Atlantis payload

Space shuttle Atlantis back

Space shuttle Atlantis engine area with damaged heat shield tiles

Saturn V rocket

Saturn V rocket engine

Saturn V rocket main engines

Saturn V rocket main engines, view of inside

Bus tour passes the rock path, with imprints of vehicle still visible, that the shuttle on its platform moved to the launch site

Vehicle Assembly Building

Rocket Garden at sunset

The Art of Burning Man

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The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery is currently showing only one exhibit, which is No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man. The exhibit is amazing. The art is fun and beautiful and huge and completely unique and so many other positive modifiers that would fill a page. The pieces are like nothing I have ever seen before. They are also set in the space in a perfect manner because so many of the pieces are about light, and they are placed to allow that interaction with light.

One of my favorites was Shrumen Lumen, which changes colors and also changes the shapes of the mushroom like figures. It is one of those things you have to see in person. The shadows of HYBYCOZO are relaxing and mesmerizing. I could have taken photos from different angles all day.

“Truth is Beauty” by Marco Cochrane

“Truth is Beauty” by Marco Cochrane

“Temple” by David Best

“Shrumen Lumen” by FoldHaus Art Collective

“Shrumen Lumen” by FoldHaus Art Collective

“Shrumen Lumen” by FoldHaus Art Collective

“Shrumen Lumen” by FoldHaus Art Collective

“HYBYCOZO” by Yelena Filipchuk and Serge Beaulieu

“HYBYCOZO” by Yelena Filipchuk and Serge Beaulieu

“HYBYCOZO” by Yelena Filipchuk and Serge Beaulieu

Maine State Capitol

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I’m continuing my quest to see all the state capitol buildings. I am in Maine, so I detoured through Augusta to add Maine to the list. Maine’s state house is one of the least opulent I have seen. The tour guide even mentioned that it was not gilded, as that is not Maine’s way, and they were also not given the budget for it. Thus, there is lovely architecture and some marble tile floors, but no gold leaf, marble columns, or bronze this or that everywhere. There is a complete lack of painted murals. The building has clearly been renovated, but in a respectful manner to the original architecture. My favorite feature of the building is the second floor balcony which looks out to a large park and has rocking chairs on it.

Exterior view of front of capitol

Stairwell from center of building

Fireplace

Capitol dome

House chamber

House chamber

Senate chamber

Senate chamber ceiling

View from front balcony

Rocking chairs on balcony

Elevator

Penobscot Narrows Bridge

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While traveling though Maine, we drove over the Penobscot Narrows Bridge, which is a lovely cable-stayed bridge. Cable-stayed bridges are my favorite kind of bridges. I love their simple elegance and functionality. The Penobscot Narrows Bridge is unique in that it has an observatory on top of one of the pylons. Who would have thought to put an observatory on top of a pylon? Next to the bridge, you can also walk onto a small portion of the old Waldo-Hancock Bridge. The Waldo-Hancock Bridge was suspension bridge built in 1931. It ultimately had to be taken down due to heavy corrosion of the main cables. The Waldo-Hancock Bridge was replaced with the Penobscot Narrows Bridge in 2006.

A thunderstorm passed by right before we entered the pylon, so in the below photos taken from the observatory, there are some of out of focus areas. I waited until the storm passed before taking the photos, but the windows still had raindrops on the glass, so the photos are not completely clear.

Penobscot Narrows Bridge

Small deck of the former Waldo-Hancock Bridge

Looking south from the base of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge pylon

Looking north from the base of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge pylon to an old pier of the Waldo-Hancock Bridge

Looking east from the Penobscot Narrows Bridge pylon observatory

Looking north from the Penobscot Narrows Bridge pylon observatory

Looking south from the Penobscot Narrows Bridge pylon observatory

Looking west from the Penobscot Narrows Bridge pylon observatory

Acadia National Park

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While visiting Maine, we took a whirlwind trip though Acadia National Park. The park is spectacular. There are wonderful views from Cadillac Mountain and along the coast. While we were there, a fog rolled in and provided mysterious and obscured views. Based on the views, I have come to the realization that Maine’s coast is just a series of rock outcroppings.

View from Cadillac Mountain

View from Cadillac Mountain, to the left is the sand bar of Bar Harbor.

View from Cadillac Mountain

View from Cadillac Mountain

Pink granite cliffs

Pink granite cliffs with river rock beach

Fog settling over boats in harbor

Beach Rose

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Scattered across Maine’s Blue Hill Peninsula and Deer Island is a pretty plant known as beach rose. A bit of internet searching leads me to understand that unfortunately this pretty plant is invasive. It is still pretty though, and I enjoyed photographing it.

Beach rose

Beach rose with beetle

Beach rosebud

Beach rose hips, immature

Beach rose hips, ripe