Where they clear the roads and sidewalks...

Last Friday, we drove back to Madison from Independence, Kentucky.  The snow was pretty much gone on our drive back until we hit Peoria, Illinois.  We stopped in Indianapolis to see the capitol building there.  We caught a 11 am tour with some school aged kids.  It was a good tour.  There were some similarities between the Kentucky and Indiana capitols.  They both had the open atriums with supporting columns and walkways in between.  Both were classical Renaissance Revival style.  The Kentucky was more French while Indiana's was Italian classical Renaissance Revival style.  Both made use of marble and granite from the New England states and local limestone.  Both came in under budget.  

Indiana State Capitol

An atrium as you enter the building

View of the three levels

Skylight in the rotunda

Old Mosler Safe that was moved from Corydon

Indiana's was built in 1888, after moving from it's original location in Corydon, Indiana which is located on the Ohio River not far from Louisville, Kentucky.  It moved to Indianapolis to be more centrally located.  We were able to tour the house, senate and Indiana supreme court chambers.  I liked the senate the best as it had windows to the office areas of the senators.  It was very unique compared to other chambers we have seen in our capitol building visits.  We also got to walk in to the treasury area where the old Mosler safes were located.  When I was growing up, my dad worked for Mosler Safe Company and I always find the old safes to be interesting.  After our tour, we continued on our way.

Chandelier in house chamber (100 lights) one for each member

House chambers

Senate chambers with windows looking out to office space

Another view of senate chambers

Supreme court stained glass windows

The stain glass represents the face of an owl for wisdom

The supreme court has retained it's original look including wooden chairs

 and black and white photography of the justices

Italian renaissance archways

We made a second stop at Lake of the Woods, Illinois just west of Champaign.  We have stopped there many times before, on our way back and froth to Independence, Kentucky.  It is a great place to walk, not far from the highway.  We started out on the bike / walking trail and we did not get to far when there was a trail closing sign.  We decided to walk another trail that leads to a road that goes through the park.  As we neared the river, we could see the flooding that closed the bike / walking trail.  We walked over the covered bridge and could see the flooding over a trail that we walked before last fall.  We did a forty minute walk and then headed on to Madison.

Flooding on the Sangamon River in Lake of the Woods Park

Warning those would be walkers looking to swim the trail

Covered bridge Lake of the Woods

We are house sitting again at the same house that we were at in September.  Cathie, the owner, is taking a trip with her sister to Florida and then Louisville, Kentucky.  After that, she will fly out to California to visit her son and his family.  She left on Saturday and will be gone through February 20th.  We like the two ragdoll cats and the location of the house.  It is close to West Towne Mall, grocery stores, and Lussier Community Center.  I am able to volunteer at Lussier.  On Monday, I helped in the kitchen cooking the after school meal for school kids in the after school program.

Penny and Cameo in their morning spot

There was still plenty of snow

There was still a lot snow when we arrived in Madison, but the sidewalks and roads are clear.  It has been above freezing and I have been enjoying the walks around the area.  The snow will be melting and gone soon, but there was a lot and it is definitely taking time to clear.

Another capitol and the Queen City

Last Saturday, we left Nashville to drive back to our niece's house in Independence, Kentucky.  We waited until we knew our housesitting hosts were on their plane back to Nashville.  Because it was around noon and we had packed and cleaned and didn't want to make lunch there, we made one last stop in Nashville to grab some lunch.  We went to the Cafe at Thistle Farm.  The cafe provides employment and empowerment to women who are survivors of trafficking, prostitution, or addiction.  The mission of Thistle Farm is to provide sanctuary for two years for women that need it.  The menu was great and they were doing a good business.  Along with the cafe, there was a shop connected to cafe that sold handcrafted body products, candles, jewelry and textiles.  These items are handcrafted by survivors both local and around the world.  Another interesting feature of the cafe are teacups hanging from the ceiling at the front of the cafe.  There is a tea cup hung for each women supported by Thistle Farm.

The Cafe at Thistle Farm in Sylvan Park area of Nashville

Tea cups hanging from the ceiling

We arrived in Independence at dinner and spent a little time with Rori (5 years) and Maggie (2 years), before bedtime.  We stayed through Friday, January 26th.  Our niece's husband, Josiah, was starting a new job and their daycare did not have space on Wednesday for Rori and while, he will be able to work virtually most of the time, this week he needed to be in-person for orientation.  So we got to spend a little time with the girls.  They have adopted us as their grandparents.

Northern Kentucky had snow, when we arrived and we were able to play with the girls in the snow on Sunday.  Rori liked do sled races with Thom on their slopy backyard, while Maggie just wanted to eat icicles and snow.  

The girls had daycare almost everyday, so we had time to explore.  On Monday, we had lunch with our niece, Megan at the Fidelity Campus.  Both her and Josiah are now working at Fidelity.  Fidelity has a nice campus just a short drive from their home.  They have a nice cafeteria and wooded walking trails.  The trails were covered with snow, but we did take a walk around the campus on the sidewalks which were clear of snow.

Tuesday, we took a drive to Frankfort to see the Kentucky State Capitol building.  We scheduled a 2 pm tour and so we decided to get there early and have lunch.  We found a nice farm to table restaurant called the Sage Garden Cafe.  They had great sandwiches, soups, and salads.  Along with the cafe, there was a large nursery with a retail space called the Wilson Nursery.  We had time to walk around the retail store and see the variety of plants in the attached greenhouse.   They have a bunch of additional greenhouses as well.

The greenhouse at nursery

Cacti in the entry of the Sage Garden Cafe

The Sage Garden Cafe

Wilson Nursery

When we arrived at the capitol building there was a pro-life rally.  It was noisy and crowded in the entrance and rotunda.   Our tour guide lead us to a quiet area told us about the history of the building.  

The Kentucky State Capitol was finished in 1910 and took four years to build.  According to our guide, it also came in under budget.   The state of Kentucky received $1,000,000 from the federal government for damages sustained during the Civil War and for services provided in the Spanish-American War of 1898. 

The capitol building (dome under repair)

View from the capitol steps

Rally at the capitol

Speeches going on inside the rotunda

The architect was Frank Mills Andrews, a native of Iowa who practiced in Chicago, New York City, Cincinnati and Dayton and it was built in the French classical style.  The interior makes use of white Georgia marble, gray Tennessee marble and dark green Italian marble and the grand corridors feature 36 imposing columns of Vermont granite on either side of the rotunda. The rotunda has art glass skylights with lighting the changes color.  The legislature was in session so we weren't able to go into the senate chamber, but we were able to go into the house gallery.  

A display of all the governor's wives (Brittany Beshear)

Phyllis George Brown (married to Governor John Brown)

The rotunda

The rotunda dome (color changing)

Statue of Abraham Lincoln in the rotunda

On Wednesday, we spent the day with the girls.  We started the day making fruit faces in oatmeal and then we did their Kiwi Co. Stem Projects.  Maggie's involved mixing colored water with plastic beakers and dropper.  With Rori's project, we created a wooden claw.  Maggie helped Thom make a apple crisp.

Making fruit faces in oatmeal

Maggie the happy scientists

Mixing all the colors make brown

Rori went pre - k after lunch and Maggie took a long nap.  After pre - k, we watch the Troll Movie and then made dinner.  Megan and Josiah went out to dinner and then to a work event.  We got to play grandparents for the whole day.

On Thursday, we had the day to explore more of Cincinnati.  We had tickets to the Monet Immersive Experience (think Van Gogh Immersive) in downtown Cincy.  We actually liked it more than the Van Gogh Immersive.  The exhibit started with information about Monet and Impressionist art.  It was a cool experience.   The immersive experience was close to the riverfront and it was warmer out and there was a cool fog rising off of the river.  We had lunch and then walked by the river.

This was a room to look like Monet's garden,

The lighting makes it look like a painting

A little girl fascinated with a moving fish image

Inside the immersive experience

Poppy field painting

My impressionist drawing

The immersive experience was close to the riverfront and it was warmer out and there was a cool fog rising off of the river.  We had lunch and then walked by the river.

John A. Roebling bridge over the Ohio River was built 1867

The park around the John A. Roebling Bridge

Fog over the Ohio River

Fog at the top of the buildings

T

Cincinnati -- the Queen City since 1819

After that we went to the National Underground Railroad -- Freedom Center.  This is a Smithsonian affiliated museum. This was a great museum, but there was so much information to digest.  There were also movies to watch.  

The Freedom Center

The Raggonnon

The river from second floor of the Freedom Center

A section of the Berlin Wall

Our last stop was the Netherland Hotel, which is on the historic registry.  It was built in 1929 - 1931 in the Art Deco Style.  We walked through the amazing lobby of a bygone era.