Concord, NH

I had a day with nothing to do, so why not drive to Concord and see the capitol. It was a nice drive, a little over an hour. New Hampshire is a beautiful state. The further you get from the NH Boston suburbs, the more quaint towns and local character you'll find.

I drove into Concord looking for the capitol and thought I was heading the right direction. There was a strip of small stores, diners and cafes. On the left the buildings opened up to a lot of greenery. Oblivious, I coasted by the capitol and barely noticed. The building is a bit small. Whoops.



I continued on to find a place to turn around, and the next place I found to turn around was the nearby state prison. When I told this story to my friend, Dodge, I told him I was interested to know how many capitols had state prisons within a rock throw distance of the capitol. So, I'll be ont he lookout when I am visiting other capital cities. It reminds me of Raleigh with a modest capitol and a state prison right on prime downtown real estate. Proximity is very good reminder of cause and effect - lawmaker versus law breaker.

When I got back to the building, I took a few pictures. The grounds were well maintained and there were a few families spending time having picnics and playing around in the grass. I crossed the street to get a cup of coffee, listened to the locals talk about NH life, and drove myself home.

Lansing, MI

Apologies first. Sorry Michigan, even though I can attribute some of my negativity to fatigue and weather, your capitol is my least favorite so far.

I was exhausted from packing and loading the truck. I was also very anxious for the new life that awaited in Boston. Yea, new life! But, wait let's stop in Lansing on the way?!

In mid-December 2004, Emily, my moving helper, and I left Madison, WI to drive a Uhaul towing my car across Illinois, Michigan, Canada, and New York to someday arrive in Boston.

Always with the 50 goal in mind, we took a slight detour to Lansing. This was probably the only time I would get through Michigan without making a special trip. Getting off the highway and navigating the Uhaul with the car in tow was not easy. Driving the whole way was terrifying, but navigating city streets was the worst part of the trip. All I could think was - who am I going to kill with tons of my belongings... oh and where do I turn? Sigh.

As the picture shows, it was an overcast winter day in Lansing. There wasn't a lot of lush landscaping like other many other capitols. The city had engulfed all the extra space. I considered getting out of the truck and spending some time in Lansing to improve my mood, but the time was getting late and the weather was uncooperative. Besides, where would I park this behemoth? Bye, Lansing.

Providence, RI

I took a trip to Amherst, MA to check out UMass in hopes to apply to their graduate program. I entered the town and immediately knew that Amherst was not the place for me to be living. Instead of staying the night as I planned, I took off for Providence.

I had never been there and was shocked at how close everything was in New England. In the Midwest, I would probably still be driving to get there. I fell in love with Providence, despite the highway that barrels through the middle of the city. I walked around RISD and Brown in awe of the architecture and the creativity. Lucky for more, Providence is a quick trip from Boston... and Anne has a favorite bakery to there to visit.

Albany, NY

At the end of working a long conference in Catskill under stressful conditions, I was so excited for a vacation to visit friends. I decided to use the opportunity to visit Albany on the way to Boston.

Albany had one of the most distinctive buildings I have seen so far. I was expecting white walls and a dome. This is definitely not that. I asked a woman to take my picture in front of the building. She didn't seem keen on the idea, and the picture lopsided and missing part of the building reflected that. Other than her, I didn't run into a soul down there.










Adjacent to the Capitol is a large plaza with tons of government offices and overlooks the freeway - yuck. Albany was a little good (capitol) and a little bad (industrial development). I think my mood was deflated due to the rough week I just finished and the promise of relaxation and good friends still a few more hours of highway driving away. I got lost several times and spent about an hour in Troy trying to get back to Albany. Sigh... back on the road...

Jefferson City, MO

Oh, I have been there. On a trip to visit my sister studying at University of Missouri in Columbia - not the capital - we took a 30 minute detour to Jeff City. The detour became a multiple hour excursion seeing things I hope to never see again. The Capitol building not being one of those things.














First, the Capitol - it is huge. The picture doesn't do it justice. This thing is gargantuan. There must be a lot of law making happening in Missouri.

That day there was a Renaissance Festival on the grounds. You can see some of the tents and people at the bottom of the photo. Luckily, you can't really make out the adults dressed as fairies and other woodland creatures that I guess are know being celebrated along with days before forks, showers and electricity.

The Capitol is beautiful; the people are perhaps a little odd, confirmed by the excursion.

Second, the Testicle Festival - well, what could that be? We didn't know. It was on a billboard and it gave limited information with a catchy title. From a public health perspective as I was with my sister, the nurse, the only reasonable conclusion would be an information fair. Hmmm... we didn't have much to do, so why not drive to Lake of the Ozarks and see what this is about; they caught our eye with the title.

After waiting in a line of cars and motorcycles curled through a closed down fair, we paid the entrance fee and parked the car. We strolled about the vendors for cheap sunglasses and Zippos with skulls and saw the big stage was being set up for a band. There were a lot of middle aged men with bandannas and leather jackets over black tees shirts with lightening bolts or white tank tops. There was a few mullets, the equal opportunity haircut, sported by men and women.

I was bewildered, it seemed like such a rowdy festival crowd that this certainly had nothing to do with public health. Of course, the lack of information fliers was a good clue too. A little thirsty, we waited in line to buy a bottle of water and everything became clear. One the menu was "nuts", "pork nuts", jokes and specials about nuts... slowly... very slowly.... oh testicle - to eat, disgusting. After discovering the mystery of the 10th Annual Testicle Festival, Karen and I promptly left without trying the specialty of the house. Yum, Missouri.

Boston, MA

Home Sweet Home! This was taken before Boston became home, but they aren't building a new one any time soon. Trying to find an office inside is near impossible. It is a catacomb of small offices with poor signage. What's government without confusion?

Madison, WI

Hello, Mad-city!
Lindsay and I took a walk ON Lake Mendota. Yes, I said ON. It was a Wisconsin winter and cold enough to freeze the lakes. It is cold like that every winter, and locals would read this and be like, "big deal, Court?" Lindsay snapped a shot of me with the capitol in the background.
Do I look cold? The capitol is on the hill in Madison and in the middle of the isthmus. You can't pass through town without getting a good view of the capitol. In fact, they passed a law saying that no building on the square could be taller than the last tallest building built, which started the controversy about blocking the view of the capitol. Oops.