Cloud out the car window in Iowa. The camera doesn't do it justice.
Showing posts with label Iowa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iowa. Show all posts
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Des Moines, Iowa
Me and the kids in front of the mini Statue of Liberty at the Des Moines State Capitol.
I read about these in this great book (well, great if you're in Kansas) called Kansas Curiousities by Pam Grout so I was excited to actually see one.
(from Wikipedia.org : Between 1949 and 1951, approximately 200 100-inch (2.5 m) replicas of the statue, made of stamped copper, were purchased by Boy Scout troops and donated to various towns in the United States. The mass-produced statues are not great art nor meticulously accurate (a conservator notes that "her face isn’t as mature as the real Liberty. It’s rounder and more like a little girl’s"), but they are cherished, particularly since 9/11. Many have been lost or destroyed, but preservationists have been able to account for about a hundred of them, and BSA Troop 101 of Cheyenne, Wyoming has collected photographs of over 50 of them.)
The two most recent state capitols we've visited have been Lincoln, Nebraska, and now Des Moines, Iowa. They have both been fairly fancy as far as state capitols go, and surprising to me since they are sort of just Midwest farm states. The capitol in Des Moines is by far the most impressive that I've seen. Although it looks as though it's about to undergo a huge renovation (peeling wall paper, new landscaping, etc.). Plus we walked away with a bunch of free stuff (ie: Capitol pencils, a coloring pages packet, a temporary tattoo, a magnet, etc.)
The Capitol.
The ceiling of the dome inside.
Princess Sparkley and Boy in front of the Capitol.
Downtown Des Moines, from the Capitol.
I read about these in this great book (well, great if you're in Kansas) called Kansas Curiousities by Pam Grout so I was excited to actually see one.
(from Wikipedia.org : Between 1949 and 1951, approximately 200 100-inch (2.5 m) replicas of the statue, made of stamped copper, were purchased by Boy Scout troops and donated to various towns in the United States. The mass-produced statues are not great art nor meticulously accurate (a conservator notes that "her face isn’t as mature as the real Liberty. It’s rounder and more like a little girl’s"), but they are cherished, particularly since 9/11. Many have been lost or destroyed, but preservationists have been able to account for about a hundred of them, and BSA Troop 101 of Cheyenne, Wyoming has collected photographs of over 50 of them.)
The two most recent state capitols we've visited have been Lincoln, Nebraska, and now Des Moines, Iowa. They have both been fairly fancy as far as state capitols go, and surprising to me since they are sort of just Midwest farm states. The capitol in Des Moines is by far the most impressive that I've seen. Although it looks as though it's about to undergo a huge renovation (peeling wall paper, new landscaping, etc.). Plus we walked away with a bunch of free stuff (ie: Capitol pencils, a coloring pages packet, a temporary tattoo, a magnet, etc.)
The Capitol.
The ceiling of the dome inside.
Princess Sparkley and Boy in front of the Capitol.
Downtown Des Moines, from the Capitol.
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