{"id":2289,"date":"2022-06-17T23:25:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-18T03:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/?p=2289"},"modified":"2023-05-19T21:07:37","modified_gmt":"2023-05-20T01:07:37","slug":"june-17-2022-trip-6-day-35-lincoln-nebraska-topeka-kansas-and-driving-all-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steveandmarleneontheroad.com\/?p=2289","title":{"rendered":"June 17, 2022 : Trip 6, Day 35 – Lincoln, Nebraska, Topeka, Kansas and Driving All Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We visited the Capitol in Lincoln Nebraska this morning. It is very different from all the capitols we have seen so far. The Capitol in Baton Rouge is also a tower. Still the Nebraska Capitol is quite unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The base of the building is a large rectangle. It is filled with long hallways that have a dark hue to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The building was described as Art Deco. Even the main hall on the second floor is filled with darker hues. There is unusual art work on the floors, the walls, and the ceilings.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The art is a mixture of styles with influences from many styles including Greek, Roman, Renaissance, Modern art, and others. It gives the main hall a feeling of a cathedral rather than a capitol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There were a few places that had more light because of the sunlight that entered the building<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even though there is no dome on the lower floors, there are dome like structures in the ceiling of the main hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The main dome is similar to those found in other capitals with fancy painting and windows<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The other domes are various style and shapes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nebraska also has a unicameral legislature rather than a two house legislature. The ballots for the legislators do not indicate their party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Supreme court has a more traditional room than most of the rest of the building. The acoustics in the room were amazing. Our tour guide demonstrated the acoustics by lowering her voice to a whisper. Even though she was about twenty feet away we could still hear her very clearly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Separate from the tour, we took the elevator to the fourteenth floor of the tower to see the view from near the top. The elevator ride was not for the claustrophobic. The elevator could barely hold five people. We only had two people and it felt crowded. Another person we saw said the elevator felt like a coffin. We had to negotiate a narrow hallway and an even narrower viewing platform. The view was amazing though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was interesting to see a unique capitol building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After the tour of the Nebraska Capitol, we drove to Topeka Kansas. The Kansas Statehouse had a unique feature for a Capitol: Free Parking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Kansas Statehouse was built in multiple stages over several decades. They built the east and west wings first starting in 1866. Then they connected the wings by a tunnel. In 1883, they started the north and south wings. The building was completed when they finally completed the center and the dome in 1903.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There was a major renovation of the statehouse beginning in 2000. The renovation took thirteen years. One of the biggest changes was converting the foundation from a basement and crawl space into additional building space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our guide explained that maintenance for the first hundred years mostly consisted of painting over many parts of the building multiple times. During the 13 years of renovation, the workers removed many layers of paint to uncover the original paint and decorations. Based upon what they found and from original drawings, the Statehouse was returned to its original condition. The first pass at construction from 1866 to 1903 cost about three million dollars. The renovations and upgrades cost $325,000,000 dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results of the renovation were amazing. The dome is gorgeous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The updates to the paintings and details were impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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They even saved the first elevator that was installed in the building in the 1920’s. It is still used today, but it is only operated by an attendant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Senate chamber was restored in exquisite detail. The Senate does all its roll calls and votes by voice. The senators do not have any personal effects on their desks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The original design included fancy copper plated tubes that were used to transport the heated air from the furnaces in the basement. The tubing was very sooty from all the heating and smoking from 100 years that the pipes looked like dark wood rather than like copper. Now that they are restored, they are works of art rather than HVAC units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The House Chamber is very ornate as well. When the tour guide said that the room was redone in the original colors, one of the members of the tour asked about the pink and light blue colors that are very different from most other legislative rooms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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She confirmed that those were the color choices made during the late 1800’s<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The hand carved woodwork within the capitol was detailed and very well done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There were several large murals all done by the same artist. They depict different times in Kansas’s history. The left side of this mural shows John Brown fighting against slavery. The right hand side has the same background but shows life on the plains in the 1800’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The artist who painted the murals was very meticulous, and somewhat slow with his work. He was not popular with some of the people who occupied the capitol. His detractors ended up heckling him so much that he left before he completed them. He never did sign his work because he was not done painting the murals when he left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is a multistory view of the capitol. If you look at the pictures in the arch, you will notice that the picture on the left is actually the same plainsman from the previous mural. The artist painted the murals so that they were a complete picture in the room where the mural was located, and so that there was a complete painting when it was viewed from the rotunda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The renovation of the Kansas Statehouse was expensive, but when you see the detail and the overall impact, it was a fabulous work that was done over thirteen years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Kansas Statehouse is impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We spent the afternoon and evening driving to Jefferson City, Missouri. Here we are crossing the Missouri River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Two capitol visits and several hours of driving made for a long but enjoyable day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We visited the Capitol in Lincoln Nebraska this morning. It is very different from all the capitols we have seen so far. The Capitol in Baton Rouge is also a tower. Still the Nebraska Capitol is quite unique. The base of the building is a large rectangle. It is filled with long hallways that have 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