Minnesota State Fair and Minnesota State Capitol

On Sunday we went to Minnesota State Fair.  Was a bit warm - 97 degrees I think, with a heat index of 110.  We took lots of water with us and walked around the fairgrounds.  Not a lot unlike Iowa State Fair.

        Parade going across from parking lot into grounds.

We rode bus from a shopping center to the fair and avoided traffic and parking.

Sunday was a little warm, but good sized crowd.

This was by DNR place.  Little strange, the moose was dribbling -- maybe it was to be a fountain.

Many, many vendors.  These are lights for your yard or RV awning, or your living room.

We ventured into several of the buildings where showing of livestock and judging was going on.

In one of the horse barns.

              Horse barn.

Horse barn.

Monday afternoon we toured the State Capitol in St. Paul.  We were a little too late to get the guided tour, but got some literature and wandered the three floors.  A very majestic capitol building.

A lot of different kind of stone, all quarried in the state, were used throughout the capitol.

Many of these pillars were different stone, side by side.

House of Representatives. 

Floor of the rotunda.

Looking out of third floor of capitol to the south.  This area was being re-constructed.

Senate Chamber

 Some of the many murals in the rotunda.

Interesting spiral staircase for the three floors and basement area.

 Covered entrance under the front steps to the capitol.

            Massive building, seen from the front (south) side.

   Only about 8 blocks from the capitol we drove by the Fitzgerald Theater -- from where I have listened to the home shows of Garrison Keiler and the Prairie Home Companion Saturday afternoon show for the last 30-40 years.

     We enjoyed visiting late Monday morning and again in the evening with Bob & Bobbi Raab who are neighbors to our winter home in Kenwood RV Park in La Feria, TX at their house in Shoreview, MN just north of St. Paul.  Got to play a few games of Pegs & Jokers with them before lunch and went out for a sub sandwich after we returned from our tour of the Capitol building.

Will be adding photos of an interesting museum The Big Stone County Museum in Ortonville, Minnesota which we discovered a few miles after leaving South Dakota as we drove east on Sunday morning.

Lynn