Monday, December 22, 2008

State Capitols



The day after my hope for America came off life support, C and I jumped in the car and drove more than a thousand miles through five states. This took several days and passed through two state capitals (Indianapolis, IN and Frankfort, KY). If we'd had a little more time and stamina, we could have made it to Columbia, SC, but oh well. A couple weeks later we hopped in the same car and drove to my dad's house in South Dakota for an early Thanksgiving. We plotted the trip so as to pass through two more state capitals (Madison, WI and Des Moines, IA). In all four capitals, we stopped to have a look at each state's capitol building. The slide show above is for your viewing pleasure, should you really care.

I mention this as a way of letting you know that I have a nerdy and indefensible goal of seeing all 50 state capitol buildings. This flurry of activity in November allowed me to check of numbers 20, 21 and 22 (I'd already visited Frankfort in 1998, but C had never been there and the building is limestone remarkable).

Here are the simple rules of this geeky quest:
  • Driving through a state's capital city doesn't count. Physical proximity to the building itself is required. If it's closed for any reason (after hours, holiday, fumigation, etc.), I still get credit.
  • You can't make a special trip just to see the capitol building.
I have a corollary goal of visiting all 50 states (current total 34), but I figure focusing on the capital buildings will take care of that.

What it's all about


With so much in such disorder these day, this video from Denton's own Brave Combo helps to keep everything in perspective.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Subway ride 1905


Beneath the streets of New York, going from 14th Street to 42nd. You'll feel like you're in a century-old tunnel for a while, but the payoff arrives just past 5:05.