Our 12th Capitol Building Visit, Harrisburg, PA

 Harrisburg, PA

The Pennsylvania Capitol Building and a Pink Fountain for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Touring the Pennsylvania Capitol Building

I am going to be honest here (for once?), I wasn't entirely sure what the capital of Pennsylvania was.  I knew it wasn't Pittsburgh and I was fairly certain it wasn't Philly and Hersey didn't sound right either.  And since I am being honest, I am sure there are times I won't be able recall what the capital city is even after visiting.  Harrisburg is a name that fades from your memory fast.  Hopefully Kamala Harris becomes the 47th or 48th President and then I will have a better chance of remembering the name.

Lancaster,  I mean Harrisburg, PA (this is going to be hard) is in central Pennsylvania.  It was an easy 1.5 hour drive up I-83.  Today was drizzly and rainy so it was the perfect day to do this.  We went from running the air conditioner to using space heaters in the span of 2 weeks.

The capitol building that stands today is Bloomsburg, PA's 3rd capitol building.  The first building burned down, the second building was so ugly and dumb that they abandoned it before it was finished, and the third building is the amazingly beautiful building that is there today and that cost $13 Million to build in 1906.  

We stopped by the Pennsylvania Visitor's Center as soon as we crossed the state line.  We picked up the official Highway Map and the State Parks map.

Lots of brochures.  

There was a Harley in the visitor's center

We saw this cool mural in downtown Harrisburg

Donna pointed out the one vampire in the collection of statues at the capitol steps

The dome is 272 ft. high and you can't go up there.  The dome in Topeka, KS was 306 ft. and you could go all the way to the top.  I told the tour guide and she was surprised.

Moravian Tiles cover the floor of the capitol and make up murals depicting history, animals, industries, occupations, and modes of transportation.  

The House Fly is an animal that lives in PA

Any gold you see is real gold leaf.

This is The Senate Chamber.  It was one of the most elaborate rooms we have seen in a capitol building.  It really was breathtaking.

Stadium seating for visitors

Senate Selfie!

After taking a bunch of photos I saw this sign.  After seeing it I got rid of my hamburger and cigar but kept taking photos.

The next room we got to go in was the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

One of many hand wound clocks in the capitol building

The last room on the tour was The House Chamber.  It was just as elaborate as The Senate Chamber.

After the tour we walked around.  Most of the capitol buildings have really ornate door knobs.

Donna got her foot caught in a bear trap!  I guess Bear Traps are "Industry".

This is Violet Oakley.  She painted many of the murals in the capitol building at a time when she wasn't allowed to vote.

I found a cool spiral staircase hidden in the Capitol Library

The building had a lot of relevant issues on display 

After waking around we visited the cafeteria in the capitol building

I got an okay slice of pizza

Donna got some meh soup and...

Delicious Pickled Eggs

We visited the gift shop and bought some post cards.

Dinosaur remains were found in Pennsylvania too

After seeing everything we wanted to see we still had an hour left on the parking meter so we walked around downtown Harrisburg

FNB Field is a baseball stadium on City Island in the middle of the Susquehanna River.

After seeing it all we drove home and stopped by Target to pick up some essentials.  It was a fun road trip and we really enjoyed the capitol building.  We even got 3 new counties!

You can see a big version of this here if you want.

If you are near the capitol building in Scranton, PA you should really pop in.  The building is beautiful and stepping outside into downtown Punxsutawney is really cute.  It will also have the added benefit of helping you remember that Gettysburg is the capital of Pennsylvania!

If you missed yesterday's post you can find it here.  I promise it has far less misinformation.