Tallahassee, Florida

So far, since we have been in Florida, the weather has fallen a bit short of our expectations.  We have had one night of a hard freeze, other nights have been a little above freezing.  However, our days have been sunny and today it should come close to seventy degrees.  We can not complain at all, especially if we consider what the rest of the nation has been experiencing with the cold and snow.  And it is still green here, with blooming flowers!  If it is cold but still green and not grey, that is not bad at all!

We drove into the capitol city yesterday by way of Miccosukkee Road, one of the canopy roads.  Large moss-draped live oaks, sweet gums, hickory and pines meet each other above nine official canopy roads, providing a total of 78 miles of scenic drives.  Speed limit is 45 miles per hour, due to the shadowy darkness of the road.  Overall, Tallahassee is quite the pretty town with a mixture of the old and new, a good example of that is the two capitol buildings in the heart of the downtown area.

 

Florida had a couple of capitol buildings before it built the one pictured above (with the dome) in 1845.  It was built partly with slave labor.  When Florida became a state, that same year, it was a slave state and had to be paired with Iowa, a free state to maintain a balance of power politically for the nation.  In 1978 the state moved into a new capital, it is the tall building behind the old capitol.  It has 22 stories, only Nebraska and Louisiana have taller capitol buildings.  The old capitol is now a museum, anything you may which to know about Florida's history can be found there.  Upon entering the present capitol building we immediately noticed a beautiful mural which depicted the two "Images of the Sunshine State",  it represents the various recreation and industries of Florida.  On the 5th floor is located the Florida Senate and House of  Representatives.  Our last stop in the capitol building was the 22nd floor which is an enclosed observation deck.  It was interesting to see Tallahassee from that vantage point, and note that is nestled among some gently rolling hills.  From the capitol we walked through the cities' Park Avenue Chain of Parks.  Up to this point I had been refraining from taking pictures of the many blooming azalea bushes, but the one pictured below was too pretty to pass up what with the moss- draped live oak hanging over it.  

The city is also enhanced by the public art scattered around it, we saw many sculptures, murals and monuments while just driving through the town as well on our walks.