Waterways Walk and Inside the Iowa State Capitol - Mon., Sep. 22

Another picture-perfect day greeted us as we started our 11K (6.8 mile) Waterways Volksmarch at 8 a.m. The walk followed along the Des Moines River, then across it on the Caboose Red Pedestrian Bridge.

Bob on pedestrian bridge over Des Moines River

Principal Park where the Iowa Cubs farm team plays

A pretty fountain outside Principal Park

We walked to the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers at which point we turned to follow the Raccoon River. You could tell that there had been flooding upstream by the amount of debris (i.e., trees and branches) that was against bridge pilings.

Trees piled up against bridge supports

As we turned away from Raccoon River, we enter Gray's Lake Park. The recreational trail took us on a bridge over part of Gray's Lake.

Recreational trail bridge over Gray's Lake

View of downtown with lake in the foreground

Gray's Lake

Did I mention the weather was perfect? Not a cloud in the sky, about 65 degrees. After we walked around half the lake, we continued along the Raccoon River into downtown. This seemed like the longest portion of the walk along ML King, Jr., Parkway. But there were excellent views of downtown so we couldn't complain too much.

Downtown from ML King, Jr. Parkway bridge

Downtown Des Moines, IA

The most interesting building on the waterways Volksmarch was the Polk Co. Courthouse. Unfortunately the whole top was scaffolded along with parts of the sides. The building was built in 1906 in the Beaux-Arts style. This building has lots of ornamentation. In the keystones of the second floor are 28 "grotesques." Grotesques differ from gargoyles  because gargoyles were designed to divert water away from the building and grotesques are faces. (It is said the architect included his own face among the grotesques.)

Polk County Courthouse

One of 28 grotesques...Is it the architect?

More building detail

In the next photo, you can see a horizontal platform near the top of the vertical metal lift. The platform is a big elevator that is used to transport people and work materials up to the work area.

We then headed back to the car along the recreational trail. Our next destination: the Iowa Capitol. We plan to take a tour. Because our feet were tired from the 11K walk, we drove to the Visitor Center parking for the capital. As we walked in the door of the Capitol, a tour was just starting. We had a gentleman from Toronto, a lady from Cedar Rapids, WI and the two of us.

Here are pictures from our tour along with commentary:

The second photo of the Rotunda dome below is a close-up showing the emblem of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.). The emblem, painted on canvas and suspended on wire, was placed there as a reminder of Iowa's efforts to preserve the Union during the Civil War. A painted sky with clouds was added to the interior during recent Capitol renovations.

The Rotunda dome.

Emblem of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.)

Just off the Rotunda is a model of the battleship U.S.S. Iowa on loan from the U.S. Navy. In the foreground of the first photo below is one of the two bells from the U.S.S. Iowa. It weighs 1,000 pounds.

Dolls depicting Iowa's first ladies in their inaugural gowns
are on display near the Governor's Office.

Next we toured the Governor's Reception Room:

Chandelier in Governor's Reception Room

The walls of the Reception Room - marble and wallpaper

Because the Governor had no official business today, we were able to tour the Governor's Private Office.

Governor's office

At the base of the dome, statues covered in gold leaf,
and eight half-moon-shaped paintings called lunettes
tell the story of "The Progress of Civilization."

Below is one of the statues gracing the marble and granite Grand Stairway. Our guide told us an interesting story about the two statues at the base of the stairway. Originally, the statues were made for the Illinois Capitol. Illinois took one look at the statues, decided they were "too naked" and rejected them. The architect asked Iowa if they'd like to put them in  their Capitol and Iowa was happy to. Fast forward 100 years...Illinois came knocking on Iowa's door asking for the statues back. Iowa said no. So Illinois sent designers to the Iowa Capitol with 3-D imaging cameras, took lots of photos, and commissioned another set of statues just like the first. So if you go to the Illinois Capitol you will see statues just like these.

Above the Grand Stairway, you will see Westward, a mural painting covering the entire wall by Edwin H. Blashfield of New York. The mural symbolizes the pioneers' arrival in Iowa.

Above Westward in arched panels, are six mosaics made of small pieces of glass tile. Bob thinks he remembers that there are 400,000 pieces of tile in the mosaics, each one hand-pressed into place.

The six mosaics symbolize Defense, Charities, the
Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branches of Iowa,
and Education.

One of the six mosaics up close.

Next our guide took us into The State Library of Iowa--Law Library. It is awesome and contains over 100,000 volumes. There is no elevator, so the books are moved up and down on a dumbwaiter. There are two circular staircases of iron grillwork in the library.

Law Library

Here we are on a circular staircase.

From the bottom looking up.

Impressive and ornate - notice lunettes and statues

House of Representatives

Again, notice lunettes and statues above columns.

Marble and granite Grand Stairway and tile floors.

The building is massively built with five towers. Normally tours go up into The Rotunda tower, but today it was closed because contractors need to go up to provide quotes for work. Oh well.

After our Volksmarch, then tour of the Capitol, we went to the 5er, showered, packed and headed to Wisconsin. U.S. Hwy. 151 is a great road, but we had a major misconception about the two states...we thought they were flat. NOT!! We went up and down rolling hills all day. We are so thrilled to be where it's green again.

Iowa farmland

Bucolic

Pastoral

John Deere country

Halcyon

Agricultural

Tidy farms

Beautiful green rolling hills

Rolling downhill to Dubuque, Iowa

Cross the mighty Mississippi and, voila!, we're in Wisconsin.

It was getting late and we thought it best to call it a night. In our AAA Campground Book we found Joy Lake Campground just outside Belton, WI, 55 miles south of Madison. He was just getting ready to close when we called, but we were close enough that he waited for us to get there.

The campground is on a beautiful lake. Most of the sites are seasonal residents who have added permanent additions onto their trailers. We told him we wanted to do laundry and he put us in a site way back over yonder in the campground close to the laundry facility. It was unlevel but not bad enough to unhook and level.

The laundry room had three washers and four dryers. One of the washers had coins jammed in it, so we could only use two. We had four loads of laundry to do. All went well until it was time to dry the clothes. One of the dryers was full of dog hair. Scratch that one. The dryers I used didn't get hot, so I ended up running the dryers through two cycles (1-1/2 hours) to get the clothes dry. After that I wrote my blogs and headed for bed.

Travel Bug out.

From Copper to Gold - Sun., Sept. 21, 2014

The start point for today's Capitol Volksmarch is the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden which is just a few miles down the road from the Iowa fairgrounds. Since the gardens didn't open until 10 a.m., we were able to sleep in and cook a pancake breakfast.

Me signing in for Volksmarch in front of living wall
at Greater Des Moines Botanical Gardens

"Spectral Liberation" by Christiane T. Martens

The temperature was lovely at 69 degrees when we started out. As we walked along the Des Moines River, we passed the Robert D. Ray Asian Gardens. Governor Ray was the first public official anywhere in the world to offer a haven to the endangered Vietnamese "Boat People;" created Iowa SHARES to send food and medicine to starving Cambodians, and kept the Tai Dam  of Loas intact as a people and a culture by arranging for them to re-settle in Iowa. Because the gardens looked so inviting, we stopped in for a few minutes to enjoy them.

John Deere Chinese Pavilion

Bob at Robert D. Ray Asian Gardens

Me with a Chinese Fu Dog

As we continued along the river, we passed the Iowa Women of Achievement Pedestrian Bridge and had great views of downtown Des Moines.

Iowa Women of Achievement Bridge

Des Moines River and downtown

Fall color starting up!

As we walked along the river, we noticed an event taking place on one of the bridges into downtown. Many tents and banners spanned the bridge deck. We had no idea what it was. More on this later.

The walk took us on downtown streets toward the Capitol. We passed Zombie Burger + Drink Lab and then a colorful mural that took up the whole side of a building.

Zombie Burger + Drink Lab outdoor seating

As I was taking photos of the gorgeous mural, a guy was walking down the street next to me and said, "I''m glad you like it." I replied, "Are you the artist?" Sure enough he was. I asked him if he'd pose next to his work.

Artist with his mural (on the side of a beauty shop on E 5th)

On the way up to the Capitol, we detoured to the Iowa Holocaust Memorial, a tribute to those whose lives were lost and those who survived. The quotes and stories brought tears to my eyes. Very well done.

In contrast to what we read at the Memorial about hardship and extreme poverty, we turned our eyes to the Iowa Capitol, an ornate edifice with five domes. Unlike Topeka's copper dome, Des Moines Capitol's main dome is covered in 24K gold leaf. The gold leaf covering the dome is so thin that 250,000 sheets pressed together would measure only one inch thick. The dome was most recently re-gilded in 1998 at a cost of approximately $400,000.

Construction of the Capitol began in 1871, was dedicated in 1884, and completed in 1886. The building is made of brick and faced with limestone, granite and sandstone. In addition to serving as the seat of Iowa government, the Capitol is a showcase for artwork, woodcarving, artifacts and decorative wall and ceiling painting and stenciling. Inside are 29 types of marble from all over the world as well as a variety of woods. The Capital is closed on Sunday, so we continued on with our Volksmarch and plan to return tomorrow to tour the inside of the building.

The golden dome

A massive edifice

View of Des Moines from the Capitol

1959 statue of Lincoln and Tad in front of the Capitol

Our walk continued around the Capitol where we saw a plethora of statues, sculptures and war memorials. The Boy Scouts of America donated a replica of the Statue of Liberty which is on permanent display.

As we continued our circle of the capital grounds, we saw...

~ The WWII Memorial (the nation's first)

Bob at WWII Memorial

Really looks like a torch or flame in the sun!

~ Art deco ears of corn over doorway in the Lucas Building

~ Iowa's Liberty Bell (and you get to ring it!). Bob loved it and wanted to do it again. The dimensions and tone are identical with those of the original Liberty Bell which rang out our independence in 1776.  The replica Liberty Bell was cast in France and is one of 53 Liberty Bells given to the United States government.

Iowa's Liberty Bell

~ Civil War Memorial

Civil War Memorial

~ Korean War Memorial
~ Vietnam Memorial
~ Submarine Memorial

Submarine Memorial

~ William Boyd Allison Memorial
~ Christopher Columbus Memorial
~ American Revolution Memorial

American Revolution Memorial

Across the street on the next hill is the "Shattering Silence" Monument, commemorating that Iowa has been in the forefront of breaking the silence against inequality.

Shattering Silence Monument

From the Capitol, we headed across the Des Moines River into downtown. Our route took us directly through the event we had seen earlier. What we stumbled into was the World Food and Music Festival. Oh, yeah! Right up our alley. It was sounding like a great time for lunch! Did we want Mexican, Thai, Russian, Italian, Mesopotamian, Andalusian, or one of the myriad other food choices available? Decisions, decisions. All of Des Moines seems to have showed up for this festival!

Pad Thai was our choice

Crazy busy!

Also Beer from Around the World!

For dessert we had cupcakes. I had Thin Mint (dry and could barely taste any mint); Bob had peanut butter/chocolate (moist and yummy). Then we continued on our journey.

Of interest downtown is the Equitable Building. The design was influenced by the Neo-Gothic style of Middle Ages churches. On the third floor are gnomish figures straining to support the building.

Equitable Building gnomes

"Must support this building!"

The most modern (and green) building in downtown has to be the Central Library. It has a grass roof that reduces energy load, and the walls are expanded copper mesh pressed between two glass surfaces that reduces glare and solar gain to be highly efficient.

Central Library

Central Library

The John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park has $40 million worth of art from their personal collection. It is one of the most significant sculpture parks in the nation.

"Nomade" (unknown people in the photo)

"Cafe Table 1" and "Seating for Eight" by Scott Burton

"Thinker on a Rock" by Barry Flanagan

"Spider" by Louise Bourgeois

Our walk also took us past the Meredith Publishing Complex, publishers of Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies Home Journal, Midwest Living and others.

Meredith Publishing

Art wall changes seasonally

All along the walk, we are continually amazed by new, interesting art or buildings. The people we pass along the way are friendly and greet us warmly. Des Moines is a pretty cool place.

The Principal Building below is the tallest building in Iowa (45 stories). It is the home of the 801 Power Climb, a fundraiser for the American Lung Association, where participants run up the stairwells.

The Principal Building - 45 stories

The Cathedral of St. Paul

Fall color bowls in downtown

Des Moines River from Iowa Women of Achievement Bridge

Our walk was complete and we returned to the Greater Des Moines Botanical Gardens. I wanted to tour the gardens, but Bob wasn't interested. He took a nap in the truck while I spent an hour in the garden. See my next post if you're interested in a look-see at the botanical gardens. This post is long enough already!

To be continued...