State Capitol Building #18 St. Paul Minnesota

St. Paul, MN

Minnesota State Flag Selfie!

State Capitol Tour

Today we drove to St. Paul to visit the Minnesota state capitol building.  We were going to take transit but it was really really hot so we drove.  The building is a dome style building (rather than a skyscraper style building like in Baton Rouge or many other styles you can check out on this cool site I just found). The capitol's dome is the 2nd largest self supported marble dome in the world., 2nd to St. Peter's Basilica in The Vatican.  Cass Gilbert, the architect, is also known for designing the Arkansas and West Virginia state capitols and the US Supreme Court building in D.C.  He also designed the Woolworth Building in New York which popularized the skyscraper and was, at the time, the tallest building in the world.  The building is made of Georgia marble and has a limestone foundation.  Today I learned that Minnesota is The North Star State which makes sense because The Dallas Stars used to be The Minnesota North Stars Hockey Team.  

The Minnesota capitol building has some really ornate designs that don't remind me of any other capitol buildings.

The designs looked Scandinavian to me.

The rare one footed cougar is the Official Minnesota State Animal (fun fake fact!).

The elevators have glass doors, which is pretty cool.

The dome isn't glass like many other domes we have seen and you can't climb to the top like we did in Topeka KS where we traversed the most terrifying dome we have traversed yet..

The brass and translucent glass eight-pointed star symbolizing Minnesota's motto, "L’Étoile du Nord" (The Star of the North) below the central dome in the rotunda.

The Battle Flag of Minnesota.  

We walked the beautiful stairs leading to the "grand floor".  It's also called The First Floor and The Second Floor in the pamphlet that you can pick up for the self guided tour.

Here is a terrible photo of the ornate banister and railings keeping you from falling from the 2nd / 1st / Grand Floor.

I didn't get any info on this painting so I will just make some stuff up.
This is a photo of General Marvin Martin waving to the artist painting the scene during the Battle of The Great Lakes where we lost half of Lake Superior to Canada.

Whenever I see a lectern I hold a press conference.

The marble used in some areas is very marbled.

The House Chambers

The Court Chambers

This lighting fixture stood out to me as unfinished.  

The Senate Chambers

Here is a glass dome in the Senate Chambers.

I got a shot of the security pupper coming up the steps.  They were having a great time sniffing for stuff and hoping to get a cookie.

The Progress of the State Statue

It was a good capitol building and the air-conditioning worked great.  After walking around the building we headed home and tried to stay cool. 

Pinball Tournament

Later in the evening I headed out to Blainbrook Bowl to play in another pinball tournament. It was a lot of fun.  Everyone was nice and I played really well.  I can tell that all of my practice is paying off.  It's hard to tell until you get to compare your play to other players side by side.  I got to play on quite a few machines I had never played before and I was able to hold my own.  The tournament was a progressive 10 X Knockout Tournament.  Each round had 4 players (sometimes 3 if the remaining entrants aren't divisible by 4).  The goal is to avoid Strikes (X).  Taking 2nd place gets one strike, 3rd place gets two strikes, and 4th place gets three strikes.  When you get 10 Strikes you are out.  

The rounds, machines, my place in each round, and the number of strikes I got in that round.

I got quite a few 2nds which was great.  The big thing I learned is DON'T TILT THE OLD MACHINES.  I tilted Buccaneer which was bad but not that bad I am told.  In my 4th round I tilted Amazon Hunt on my first ball and they say it cost me the win.  When you tilt you lose your bonus and I would have had a HUGE bonus.  The bonus is almost equal to the points you got on the ball so I lost about half my score on the first ball.  Not tilting would have gotten me my bonus and would have allowed me to avoid an X in that round and I would have gotten to Round 8.  I also had a bad game on Addams Family which I know how to play.  If I had done better on that machine I could have played another round possibly.  Oh well.  My goal was to have fun and learn something and I did both of those things.  I also met some nice people.

This is not a pinball machine.  There are so many giant arcade machines I have never seen.

I got a light beer before the tournament.  When I paid my $7 entry fee I got a receipt and put it in my pocket.  When I was knocked out I looked to make sure I didn't need to turn in my receipt to register my placing like you do in some poker tournaments.  It turns out my "receipt" was a coupon for a free drink so I gave it to a table of people I had played with and was talking to for most of the evening and they fought over who got the free drink. 

I spend the afternoon watching Elvira tutorials and then when I got there Elvira was out of order.

The tournament was a lot of fun.  I came in 16th out of 34 so not too bad.  I was told making it to round 7 as a tournament newb was great.  I'm excited to find more pinball tournaments while we travel and meet more pinball players.  Minnesota is the 23rd state I have played pinball in.  

That was it for today.  If you missed Cat Café, This Time for Real, check it out.  We met some nice cats.

Cat Cafe, This Time for Real

 Minneapolis, MN

"You has treats?" - Kitteh!

Café Meow

Today was our reservation at Café Meow.  If you missed this post, we went last week but couldn't get in because it was booked.  This time we had priority cat seating.  We got there about 10 minutes before our reservation and about 10 minutes before they opened so we waited outside.  When they opened we walked in all cool like, like we hadn't been waiting out front for them to unlock the doors.  Donna got the Macha Kittea and I got a Vanilla Italian Soda which is soda, vanilla flavoring, and a bit of half and half.  The barista / café host gave us instructions and we entered the cats' den.  Oh yea, we also bought treats. The moment we entered the instructions the host gave us paid off.  A cat was making a break for it but only got into the transition room.  There are 2 doors and one needs to be closed before the other is opened which worked great for containing the catstaway (it's a cat castaway, I made that one up myself).  I recalled the instructions on picking the cats up which was don't unless they get out the door and picked the cat up and brought it back into the den of cats.  Shortly after we got the situation under control the host brought us our drinks and we were 100% cat café - ing.

Don't worry, this is not a real cat!  All of the real cats are still in their den and not outside.

This is what a those little baggies they sell at headshops are used for, Cat Treats!

Donna quickly decides which cat is going to ignore her the hardest.

I'm allergic to cats so naturally they are attracted to me. 

My Italian Soda was good.

This cat is hiding.  They don't know we paid good money to watch them.

This cat sat next to me and slept.  Actually I sat next to them, they were already passed out when we got there.

Cat treats are good but straws have greater feline appeal.

Takin' her easy for all us sinners.

At this point Donna was surrounded.  It looked like the end was near but somehow she got out of this kitty pickle.

I helped this cat chew on the box by holding it still.

This little lion was enjoying the cool tile flooring and watching the other cats play with fake mice.

Café Meow was our second Cat Café.  We also went to one in Austin.  I won't say it's a checklist item for us but if Donna wants to go to more Cat Cafes we will.  Maybe we will meet Canadian Cats next month.

After our cat visit we walked over to Kowalski's Market to get some essentials.  

Kowalski's is like a fancy Costco.  They offer snacks while you shop.

They missed the pun, "You Knead Bread Today"

We bought genuine Great Lakes Potato Chips from Michigan.

This Just In....

I had 2 great Godzilla games at Cafetto Coffee Shop.  I got the high score and then I replaced it with a new High Score.

And Multiball Champion

And Jet Fighter Destroyer

And Jet Fighter Attack Champion

And Godzilla vs Gigan Champion

And Bonus Champion

These were all the result of a good game, for me.  It isn't a crazy high score but it shows I am improving and better than the people that play at Caffetto.  

That was it for today.  If you missed The Only Natural Waterfall on the Mississippi check it out.