...Exploring WV...the State House...

...after I dropped Scout off with the interns for his training...I had a couple of hours to wander around the State House...I didn't miss Scout too much as his class at school had just done this tour a couple of weeks ago...


...this is the hallways outside the House chambers...

...I only had my point and shoot camera...and I was kinda disappointed with the photos...although I did try playing with some of the manual settings even on this little camera...

...of course...you already know how I love looking at ceilings...so I spent a lot of time with my neck craned upwards...

...this little camera has a zoom...but...alas...it's hard to focus when zooming in the shadows...I was trying to show you some of the beautiful carved detail of this part of the ceiling...these are plaster leaves representing WV hardwoods...they really do look like wood...

...this is the ceiling of the Senate room...another dome skylight and chandelier...

...one of the carved archways...

...and trying for another closeup...

...this was one of the lovely marble lamps in the Grand Foyer...and a manual setting would have been nice here...as you can't really see the depth of the shading on the marble...oh well...

...the rotunda...

...looking down...

...looking up...I'm pretty sure the Tour Guide said that it weighs 4000 lbs...wow!...it's from Czechoslovakia and is 8 feet in diameter...

...there was brass everywhere...this is not a main entrance...

...shiny brass...

...in the rotunda looking up at the chandelier...

...an exhibit of Morgantown glassworks...in the Capitol building...

...this exhibit probably changes periodically...

...the hall of portraits...some of these are funny...I would name them all...'nice old man'...'grumpy old man'...'fisherman'...'grandfather'...and I was still playing with the camera...this is focused foreground/soft background setting...pretty nice...

...I'll spare you a picture (I didn't take one) of the stuffed dead animals...so sad...

...the East Wing hallway...a bunch of offices...

...the West Wing...seen from the East Wing...

...the Capitol Building...

...the shiny gold dome...The entire dome is gilded in 23 ½ karat gold leaf applied to the copper and lead roof in tiny 3 3/8 inch squares...that's what the tour guide said...amazing...

...a replica of the Liberty Bell...I was thrilled to learn that they ring it for solemn occasions...Martin Luther King Jr. Day...and the anniversary of the September 11 attacks...I'll have to make sure we're there for that...

...the East Wing...seen from the West Wing...

...some Spring flowers...

...camera setting for flowers...duh...

...the Division of Natural Resources building...not open on a Saturday...

...the Veterans Memorial...

...WWW I...

...WWW II...wow...that's a lot of people...

...Korea...

...Vietnam...

...makes you wonder where they'll put the latest wars...

...a memorial to the female veteran...

...neat engravings...

...the West Virginia Coalminer...

...a close up of his weathered features...

...and different plaques depicting coal mining in WV...

...and I think that's about enough for today...so I'll leave you with one last photo of the lovely gold dome...