Today Travalon and I got up and went to the Capitol building in Tallahassee. Only there are two: one beautiful, classical dome-topped building that is now a museum, and another that is actually in use and makes the Killer Building look lovely. Travalon took loads of photos. First, we saw a lot of trees covered in Spanish moss as we walked to a coffee place where lots of political types were sitting around, sipping coffee and discussing political issues.
Here is a shot of the historical Capitol.
This is the beautiful glass window in the dome. It has been reconstructed. They gave us commemorative cardboard coasters of this window. The people there were much friendlier than in Montgomery.
Here are some things in the museum in the old Capitol. This is a hat they used to wear in the military.
This is an actual carpet bag, made of carpet. The carpetbaggers used to bring these when they came down from the north during Reconstruction.
This is the old Governor's Office.
This is the old Supreme Court.
This is the old Assembly chamber.
This is the old Senate chamber. N.B. I was never a Floridian senator.
This is a fan for a Cuban girl's quinceañera.
This is a Seminole doll made of palm fibers.
Then we went to the new Capitol building, and there we had to go through security (like we did to get into the old Capitol in Montgomery). They told us to go to the 22nd floor to check out the view. The whole floor is a viewing space with floor-to-ceiling windows. Here is some of what we saw.
There was also an art gallery with images of panthers, lotuses, mangroves, and dolphins stirring up sediment in a spiral to trap fish.
This is the new Senate chamber. They were not in session.
This is the new Assembly chamber. Something was going on in there.
Right in the doorway is the Great Seal of the State of Florida.
This is the new Capitol building. Doesn't it make the Killer Building look ornate?
Here you can see both buildings to compare and contrast.
The other big thing we did today was go to Manatee Springs State Park, which is a mangrove swamp leading to the Suwannee River.
I think these are pied-billed grebes.
This is definitely a turkey vulture.
This is a double-crested cormorant. I'm not sure why it's called that - I don't see any crest on it.
We also saw another cormorant further away, stretching its wings out to dry. I thought it might have been an anhinga, but after looking at Travalon's photos, I am pretty sure it too is a cormorant.
The vultures hung out, tons of them, in the mangroves.
Then suddenly they all flew up into the air and circled around!
Here is the more distant cormorant again.
And here is the one closer to us.
This is a good shot looking up the Suwannee River.
We also stopped by the Yulee Historical Sugar Mill.
Nearby was this scenic waterway.
Stay tuned tomorrow, when we might explore an island, and we definitely plan to have lunch with our neighbor and swim in her pool. I can see why she spends winters down here - it was 80 F today! Meanwhile, back home they are closing the Adoration Chapel until Friday morning because of a predicted snowstorm. Not sorry to be missing that!
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