Let's Go Places: A Whirlwind North East Capital Binge

 

Friends, I have outdone myself in the capital quest.  Earlier this month I visited five states in seven days.  It started very innocently: the plan was to go to New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire, but once I sketched that out I saw that Maine was just a few hours away and then I saw that Connecticut was a few more hours after that.  I only had one week for the trip, but if I'd had longer who knows how many more states I would have taken down in my rampage?

How This Trip Came to Be

In late September I took a look at my calendar and saw an open block of time between October 5th and 14th.  I looked at the map and started plotting out the drive time between the capital cities.  For good measure I checked the list of public FLW sites and was happy to see that I was going to drive right by the one in Manchester on the road to Concord.

It was getting too tedious to keep track of which capitols were open for tours on which days, so I ended up feeding the whole thing into ChatGPT and letting it take the wheel.  After kicking the tires to make sure that everything held up, I had a plan.

• Tuesday, October 6: leave home around noon and drive to Syracuse NY.  The drive to Albany was too much for one day, so that's why I picked Syracuse for my stopping point.
• Wednesday, October 7: finish the drive to Albany, tour the capitol and whatever else caught my attention.
• Thursday, October 8: drive to Montpelier VT, tour the capitol and do whatever else.
• Friday, October 9: drive to Augusta ME, tour the capitol and do whatever else.
• Saturday, October 10: check out whatever else in Maine, with an emphasis on Portland.
• Sunday, October 11: head for Manchester NH for some FLW, then settle down in Concord for the night.
• Monday, October 12: tour the capitol and head for CT.
• Tuesday, October 13: tour the capitol and start heading home.  The drive was nine hours so my first plan was to spend the night somewhere along the way, but in the end I decided to suck it up and come home that night.

Once I had my plan down on paper, I went in search of lodging and relearned the lesson that I keep being taught each year: people flock to Leaf Peep sites in the fall, and smart people book trips there more than one week in advance.  I saw some hefty prices and had to make some compromises on where I was going to stay.

When all was said and done, one question remained: just because I *could* go to five states in seven days, did that mean that I should?  Was this too much for one trip?  Read on to learn the answer!

Let's Go to Albany!

After an uneventful night in Syracuse, where I did nothing except hit up Wegman's for dinner and chill in the hotel room, I arrived in Albany.

The first thing that I want you to know: the skyline as you approach downtown is like nothing else I have ever seen.  I don't have a picture since I was driving and I can't find any Youtube clips that capture it, but it is a sight that I hope that everyone reading this will get to see.

The second thing that I want you to know: Albany's capitol most likely has a lock on Wackiest Capitol Ever.  I have 15 capitols left to see before I can definitively make the call, but NY set the bar very high.

The original architect was a gentleman named Thomas Fuller, and you have seen his work before on this blog since he was the architect of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa.  NY Construction started in 1867 and the original plan was that it was going to take a few years and $4 million to build the capitol.  The only problem was that the land that the capitol sits on had some technical issues that made it not ideal as the site for a massive building, so things went a bit over schedule.  Many years and many million of dollars later Fuller was sent back up north, and then the capitol became a group project between two architects, who took a "divide and conquer" approach so the rooms of the capitol have two distinct styles.  Eventually they got the ax as well and the final architect came on board.  The years and millions dragged on, and many eyebrows were raised.  One of Governor Theodore Roosevelt's first acts of office was to finally draw the line and to declare the capitol construction to be complete in 1899, final cost $25 million (in 1899 dollars, not 2026 dollars).  Interior stone work and a massive dome were some of the items on the unfinished list.

The result is a delightfully wacky and yet entirely elegant and fitting building to represent the state of New York.

They don't call it the million dollar staircase for nothing....

Like I said, there is no dome because there was no political appetite to reopen the project and spend more millions, so a budget attempt was made.  The ceiling of the governor's reception area was meant to create the optical illusion of a dome.

Step two of the project was to install a sunken floor so that there was enough distance between floor and ceiling to create the dome illusion, but the money ran out before that could happen.  I don't want to say that the ceiling is bad, but half of an optical illusion is...not an optical illusion.  Things like this can happen when someone has champagne dreams and their beer budget runs out.

Another thing that can happen is that names have to be shortened when the design doesn't have enough space for all of the letters.

Speaking of our boy Alex, my next stop after the capitol was to the Schuyler House.

Alex and Aaron Burr, Sir, studied for the bar exam together in this room.  Note to self, I need to see Hamilton at my earliest opportunity.

The day drew to a close, so I checked into my hotel.  Hotel rooms had been ungodly expensive in dollars, but the Hyatt came through with a steal for points.  I went out to dinner at the brewery next door and noted that it was very crowded and that the average age was about 20 years older than me.  After dinner I walked around for a bit and soon learned the reason for the prices, the crowds, and the ages.

Let's Go to Montpelier!

The next day I was wheels up to Vermont where I encountered the best part of the trip, which was simply driving around New England in the fall.  I don't think that it was even Peek Leaf but it was drop dead gorgeous.  The drive was only about three hours, and I would have been delighted if it had been 10 hours.  I don't have pictures since I was driving, and anyway that's what YouTube is for.

Lodging wise, Montpelier was the diciest part of the trip.  All of the hotels were either booked, or were available for "I'm not paying that" prices.  As in prices with a comma.  Airbnbs were thin on the ground.  At one point I put in a request for a $300 unit, but was rejected since I was only staying one night.  I put in another request for a unit that looked at little dodgy, and never heard back from the host so the request was cancelled.  It was looking like I was going to have to stay somewhere else besides Montpelier.  I mean, it's fine, it's my capital quest my rules, and I can be flexible and count having the intention to stay in the capital city as the same thing as staying in the capital city...ugh, it looked like everything within an hour of Montpelier was booked solid.

I walked away from the computer for a day and the next time I checked, there was a new listing for a room for $140.  Hmmm...what was the catch?  It was a brand new listing, but the host had other properties with great reviews so I decided to roll the dice.

The description of "a room" turned out to be "a really large, brand new studio apartment in a renovated carriage house".

Pros: incredibly nice and comfortable for an unbelievably low price.

Cons: the unit was so new that the host forgot to fill the soap dispensers in the kitchen and bathroom.  As far as I'm concerned, soap is optional for a unit this nice for such a great price.

But wait, there was more!  I've written about being given Airbnb wine before, but this was my first time being given Airbnb syrup.

Let's Go to Augusta!

The next day I hit the road and had another four hours of the gorgeous leaves.  At the end of my journey I rolled up at the Augusta Capitol.

By the way, in my Canadian Legislatures round up, I kinda sorta threw a little shade on Canada for not using the word "Capitol" to describe the buildings where the provincial governments meet.  My beef is that there is no standard term...some of them are referred to as Province House and some are called the Legislature.

Well...I couldn't help but notice that when I put the capitol addresses into GPS most of them came back as "State House" and this sign was large and in charge as I waited for the tour to start.

So yes, there is a naming inconsistency on our side of the border as well.  

After the capitol, I walked around and decided to check out the First Amendment Museum.  The first thing that caught my attention was the sign on the door.

From what I remember, there is a really interesting story about the family that created the museum and that it is an important subject and yada yada yada, but the reality is that this is all that I remember about the visit.  In other words, I highly recommend visiting this museum.

It was now the weekend, and since all of the capitol buildings were closed on weekends, I had a break from state hopping and got to settle down for two nights in the same place.  In a perfect world I would have spent Friday night in Augusta and Saturday in Portland, but Portland prices/availability made this impossible.  Two nights in Augusta it was!

I had time for one more thing on Friday, and a quick scan of the area map got me thinking about lighthouses.  Knowing that I was going to be spending Saturday in Portland, which is to the south, I picked the one that was the closest to the north so that I wouldn't have to retrace my steps.

If this lighthouse looks familiar, it's because you've probably seen it before in a certain 1994 movie.  Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, my randomly selected lighthouse on a coast full of lighthouses was the Forrest Gump Lighthouse.  That would be the Marshall Point lighthouse to non-movie fans.

You can't go inside, but you can walk up to it.  Or run up to it like Forrest.

On Saturday I headed south to Portland, and here is where things went a bit south in the trip.  Like I said, everyone goes to New England in the fall, and it was just a bit too crowded to be comfortable.

Portland Head Light...the downer here is that parking was full, and I spent most of my time trapped in a parking lot traffic jam.  I was about to give up when I found the overflow lot, where parking was (1) uncrowded and (2) free.

Something that I did not buy but totally wanted to in a Portland gift shop.

My favorite stop was the Spring Point lighthouse.  It was very windy and the path was very uneven, so it was quite a challenge to get out there.

And back.

My final lighthouse stop of the day wins the Cutest Lighthouse Name Award.  This is Bug Light.

I called it a day and headed back to Augusta to rest up before the next stop.

Let's Go to New Hampshire!

Before going to New Hampshire, I made another lighthouse stop in southern Maine.  If this looks familiar, it's because you've seen it on another blog recently.  Stephany was there a few days before I was.

I am an expert at not buying things in gift shops, but on reflection, I think it was a mistake not to buy this.  There just isn't enough Lighthouse Humor in the world.

Anyhoo, it was time to leave lighthouses behind and get some FLW.  There are two houses on the same block that are open for public tours c/o the Currier Museum.

I got my FLW fix, and also had the chance to appreciate that top loading dishwashers are no longer a thing.

And finally I wheeled into Concord, where I got to appreciate New England Humor at its finest.

The next morning I got what I came there for.

Something that I have frequently heard on capitol tours is that if you're looking to make big money, you are not going to do it on the salary that a typical state senator and state representative gets paid.  It's a job that's more about service (or power/influence/stepping stone to higher office) than it is about the buckaroos.  That is a truth that is extra true in New Hampshire, where the annual salary has not increased since 1889.  The pay is $100 per year.  

As with many other capitols, there are portraits of governors on the walls, which led to some good stories.

Vesta Roy was the first female governor of New Hampshire, but not the first elected female governor.  She was the President of the Senate, which is the next in line for succession for the Governor should something happen to the Governor.  Sure enough, the current governor died five weeks before the end of his term, so she filled in until the incoming governor took office, and then went back to her day job.  

This gentleman wanted his wife to be in the portrait with him, but that was nixed since the portraits are supposed to be of just the governor and no one else.  In the end he found a way to follow the rules and make it happen.

Later on another governor used the same playbook to get his family in his portrait.

With that, it was time to head for the final stop of the journey.

Let's Go to Hartford!

Monday afternoon found me heading for the last stop of the trip.  The drive from Concord to Hartford took me through Massachusetts, and I took a break to go for a walk.  I did this partly to break up the driving and partly to bag another state for my CBWC "body count".  If you're keeping track, in the month of October I walked in West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Some would point out that the month is not over yet, but I don't plan to go anywhere in the next three days so realistically my body count is complete for this round and will probably never be this high again.

Anyhoo, I rolled into town with enough time to do something before checking into the hotel, and this year I've had a good track record with visiting author's homes (Margaret Mitchell, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eudora Welty, and Laura Ingalls Wilder), so I decided to keep the trend going by stopping at the Mark Twain House & Museum.

Photos were not allowed inside, but trust me, he had a bangin' crib.  One notable thing that the museum does that I haven't seen anywhere else is to use lighting that was as bright as the lights of the time, so it was fairly dark inside.  It was an entertaining story, and I enjoyed brushing up on my Twain quotes.  Offhand "if you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything", "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education", and "I've lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened" are the ones that stuck in my mind.

That evening I had dinner at an Irish pub on Pratt St, which was just down the street from my hotel.

And then the next morning I made the final stop of my trip.

Connecticut's capitol is a similar vintage to New York's, but with few architects, fewer decades of construction, and fewer millions of dollars spent.

And with that I was wheels up and headed for home.  It was a nine hour drive, which I don't normally prefer to take on in one day, but timing wise it made sense to do it just the once.

Thoughts on Visiting Five Capitals in Seven Days

Actually, it worked out great!  I never felt rushed, and I feel like I got a good intro to these places.  You can sign me up for more time in all of these states.  I feel like I really lucked out on the hotel/Airbnb front as well.

Is my new thing going to be whirlwind rushes to the remaining 15 states/5 provinces?  Of course not!  But in cases where it makes sense to condense the timeline, sure.

Thanks for coming along on the wild ride with me!  Who has been to any of these places?  I'll be at home for the next few weeks, and then I'll figure out where to go next on the Great Capital Smackdown.