For the Love of All Things Texas

Have you heard the rumors that the Texas State Capitol is the only capitol in the US taller than the US capitol?

Not true.

We are taller than the Nation's capitol building, but so are a lot of other states.

We are the biggest capitol building, however. By a long shot.  The main building is 360,000 sq. ft.  Not so big, you say? Well, then take into account the addition. It is attached to the main building, and is considered an addition because each room in the addition has windows that open to sunlight. But the entire building is underground. The first story is 25 ft. underground, then there is another floor and two parking garages below that. The windows open to sunlight provided by solariums. The addition has 650,000 sq. ft. That makes the grand total sq. footage of the Texas State capitol building to over 1,000,000 sq. ft., quadrupling the next biggest state capitol building.

Thank you very much. EVERYTHING is bigger here in Texas.

You can walk through all 1,000,000 square feet if you'd like.  We stuck to the tour and had the most amazing tour guide.  Ever. There are four stories that you can walk through, and here's a look up from the main floor up through the dome.

The little tiny star up there? It's 8 feet wide from tip to tip.

And it says TEXAS.

This was a common sight all weekend long. BYU and Longhorn fans side by side as friends. Our group included.

House of Representatives room. They vote electronically. Our congress meets the least amount of all states. 140 days every other year. They get everything they need done, and get back to their real jobs.

These tiles, which are also represented outside on the exterior of the building, show the six flags that have flown over Texas (hence, the theme park "Six Flags"...)

The flags of six nations have flown over Texas. They are:

    Spain (1519-1685; 1690-1821)

    France (1685-1690)

    Mexico (1821-1836)

    Republic of Texas (1836-1845)

    Confederate States of America (1861-1865)

    United States of America (1845-1861; 1865- )

https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/sixflags.html

The Senate room. They still vote by raising their hands. That guy on the side was the best tour guide. If you go, ask for Michael.

Everything has stars on it.

See? Stars, and if you look close, the stars spell out TEXAS.  Seriously, click on it.

Even the door hinges made sure you knew where you were. Three hinges, every door, whole main building...

Just pretend this picture isn't sideways. It doesn't matter anyway, you get dizzy whether it's right or not. I really, really wanted to go on that spiral staircase. They closed it a few years ago because we are now a nation of fat, unhealthy people and they didn't want anyone to die.

The perfect view of the stadium out the capitol windows.

The view of the dome from the fourth floor.

The view of the rotunda from the fourth floor.

Awww, I know!

And this isn't the capitol grounds, but the restaurant we ate at before we headed to the capitol. Serrano's. It was delicious. It was also the only meal I've ever eaten where I was reduced to tears. Seriously. Between the temperature (hot) of the food, and the spice (HOT) of the jalapenos, my eyes started watering, completely involuntarily. I'm really glad I got to taste my food before my taste buds withered and died..