Us, the Cats and Brother Brigham

The US Capitol building is chuck-full of historic and artistic splendor. I never knew there were so many murals and carvings and statues everywhere. Fortunately, we had Mike to show us where all the good stuff was. His tour featured the Senate side of the Capitol building, and actually included our viewing of the Senators in action in their chamber. It was really neat!

Here's the four of us standing next to the statue of Brigham Young. Every state in the US donated 2 statues of their own home-grown heroes. These 100 statues are dispersed throughout the building, including Utah's Brigham Young. Utah also donated a statue of Philo T. Farnseworth, who is famous for being the first man to have a name as cool as Philo. He also invented the first completely electronic television. Rock on Utah! Any thoughts on why it is that Utah claims Philo, but he actually invented his TV in Idaho?

I absolutely loved standing below the building's rotunda and looking at all the art work. You've gotta see it, the place is decked out with giant, famous paintings and statues, and according to Mike, a hidden hommage to George Washington. If you stand directly below the dome and look up you will see a painting of President Washington in heaven, where you stand there was originally meant to be a statue of George as he was in mortality. Below George, in the basement of the building lies the actual platform used when Lincoln was laid in state. Mike actually took us down there to see the platform, and it was WAY cool. Original plans were to have Washington buried there, but instead he has been interred at Mount Vernon. It would have been really cool if the statue would have worked out too. I guess it's the thought that counts.

Its sorta hard to tell in the picture, but Sara is squatting in the temporary hall built for the senate's use while their chamber was being built. There's just enough room in there for all the senators at the time to stand and conduct business. Story has it that at this same time the country was storing grain in the basement of the Capitol building. This attracted rats, so the government set cats loose in the building to catch the rats. These cats left paw prints in the newly laid cement floor of this temporary Senate hall. You really could see the paw prints in there, it was pretty cool. Anyone whose been through the capitol building knows that the place is haunted, according to the internet accounts, some of the resident spirits include these cats. Sadly, we got no picture of the phantom felines, if only we'd have had a digital camara at the time.