Erin, Nate, Chloe, and I left Seaside after lunch and headed eastward through northern Florida on Monday, July 5, 2010. The first destination of the day was to stop in Tallahassee to see the Florida State Capitol building. Since it was the Monday after the holiday weekend, the capitol was closing an early at 4pm. Our journey from Seaside was going to take about two-and-a-half hours, so I knew we would be getting there a little too late to tour the capitol. When we arrived, the town was nearly abandoned. We parked in a free parking garage and walked a couple of blocks to the high rise building that was the Capitol.
We took a few photos at the front of the Capitol and with (and on!) the dolphin sculptures known as “Stormsong” in Waller Park’s Florida Heritage Fountain in front of the building. We had driven by the other side of the building as we entered the area and saw the old Capitol building as well. Erin wanted to talk to Nate for a bit, so Chloe and I headed around to the other side to get some photos in front of this structure as well. Then we realized that the old Capitol didn’t close until 4:30. It was 4:27.
The newer high rise State Capitol hardly resembled a traditional one
Recklessly mounting the first available dolphin
See what I started
You’d think that with that huge high rise, the Florida government wouldn’t have needed the separate Supreme Court building across the street
So Chloe and I took a whirlwind walking tour through the Old Capitol, originally built in 1845, the year that Florida was admitted to the union. The capital city of Tallahassee had been chosen 21 years earlier because it was the midpoint between Florida’s two largest cities at the time, Pensacola and St. Augustine. This building was in constant use until the late 1970′s at which time the high rise building was erected. Citizens’ actions saved the old capitol from being demolished and it was restored to its 1902 appearance.
Chloe and I saw the original Senate Chambers, House of Representatives Chambers, and the Governor’s private office. Erin joined us for the last seconds that the building was open before we were kindly shooed out. Tallahassee was my 15th State Capitol building visit.
My third State Capitol of the year, 15th total
As the display says, the Governor’s private office
Future President Andrew Jackson was the first Military Governor – or Provisional Governor – of the Florida territory for eight months in 1821
Pontificating to the masses in the former Senate Chambers
The masses
In the old House of Representatives Chambers. I don’t think the TV monitor is a period piece from 1902
I had one check mark on my bucket list down and one to go for this particular Monday. It was another long drive from Tallahasse to Orlando, taking aobut four-and-a-half hours to get there. It was 9:30pm by the time we found and arrived at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was located in the CityWalk shopping complex at Universal Studios and it took quite a bit of effort to park in the garage, walk through the entire complex, and end up at the Hard Rock.
At the time, I believed that this was going to be a repeat visit, having gone to the Hard Rock in Orlando in 1995 with my future wife Lisa. But after entering it, nothing whatsover looked familiar except for the pink Cadillac over the bar. In fact, the whole location and design – the outside of which emulated the Roman Colosseum – looked unfamiliar. By searching out a knowledgeable member of the staff and inquiring, that this was indeed a different building. The Hard Rock that I had visited was closer to the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal and the building was abandoned in 1998. The new restaurant at the CityWalk was opened the next day. So this became by 28th Hard Rock visit.
This facility was the largest Hard Rock in existence – the current record holder. Thus it also seemed to have the most up-to-date technology with a table and wall video-game style touch screen interface (which quite interested Chloe). The food, as always, was top-notch. I opted for the mushroom and swiss burger, having had the Hickory Smoked BBQ Bacon the day before in Destin.
The Hard Rock employee wouldn’t take a photo of us with this sign with our camera, so I had Nate do it
The pink Cadillac over the bar had been moved from the old location
Chloe engages in some virtual puzzles whilst waiting for our food to arrive
The gangs all here for the second Hard Rock in two days
Original manuscript for the horn orchestration on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band signed in pencil by all four Beatles AND the trumpet used in the songs Penny Lane and All You Need Is Love
I picked up the traditional souvenirs for my Mom’s ‘my friend Connie’ and we headed out, having forgotten to give them my AAA card to discount the meal. It was close to 11pm by the time we left. I was tired and getting cranky as we tried to locate our Pop Century Resort on the Disney World complex. I had mistakenly thought that highway signs would direct us to the right place, but I ended up having to call and get more spedific directions, whist driving around in the rainy dark with weary eyes. It was sweet relief to find the place, check in, unload the car, and hit the sack by 1am.
My eighth Hard Rock Cafe of the year, 28th total
Nate and Chloe at the Hard Rock. Note the car breaking forth from the building above them.
A nice blurry overview of the Hard Rock with the Colosseum section behind me
As we walked back to our car through the CityWalk, Chloe found this great photo op
We would have a busy day – in fact four of them – roaming the parks at Walt Disney World. Life was good.
The Disney vacation will continue…
Leave a Reply