Mike the Tiger & the Steps!

So I took a break from blogging! Our vacation made me tired :)...that and we seemed to be really busy this week.

So...where we left off. The last day of our vacation was on Monday, August 10th. We started out by getting up and eating at one of my favorite breakfast places...Waffle House! I absolutely LOVE Waffle House and get my hashbrowns scattered, smothered and covered! After we went to Waffle House, we headed to LSU's campus to go and meet Mike the Tiger. He is an actual bengal and they have totally renovated his home. I believe it cost quite a few millions to redo.

His habitat is in between Tiger Stadium (aka Death Valley) and the Pete Maravich Assembly Center (basketball arena). Luckily he was out and we could see him pretty good.

He was hot and stayed where he was. He didn't feel like moving around too much. The kids however had a grand old time taking pictures with teh bronzed tiger out front.

After we left LSU, we went down the road to the Capitol building. The kids were all excited because I told them how there was a step with each state leading up to the entrance and that it was built to be the tallest state capitol building in the country.....so since I love history I am about to get all history on each of you reading this....you ready?

The capitol houses the Louisiana State Legislature, the governor's office, and parts of the executive branch. At 450 feet tall, with 34 stories, it is the tallest capitol building in the country, the tallest building in Baton Rouge, and the seventh-tallest building in Louisiana. It is located on a 27-acre tract, which includes the capitol gardens. The Louisiana State Capitol building is a National Historic Landmark.

The building features sculptures depicting scenes from Louisiana and US History. Engraved into the stone around the main entrance is the quotation "We have lived long but this is the noblest work of our whole lives...The United States take rank this day among the first powers of the earth," said by Robert Livingston on the signing of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Leading up to the main entrance are a series of steps with the names of all of the United States in the order of each state's admittance to the Union. After the first 13 steps (symbolizing the original 13 states) there is a small platform. Behind this platform, the steps continue again with the rest of the 48 states. The 49th step lists both Alaska and Hawaii, which were admitted to the Union in 1959 after the Capitol was constructed.

As part of his campaign in 1928, Huey Long advocated the construction of a new, modern capitol building to replace the old capitol building, built in 1847. Ground was broken in 1930 after Long was elected governor, and the structure was completed in March 1932 after 27 months at a cost of $5 million. In 1935, Long—then a US Senator–was fatally wounded by an assassin in the Capitol building, where the bullet holes are still to be seen on the wall. He died two days later as a result of his wounds and is interred in the Capitol gardens.

The kiddo's thought it was really cool to go up the stairs and see the bullet holes.

On another history side note, my great aunt (MaMa Stafford's sister) was the first women elected to the LA State Senate and the first woman to serve in both houses of the state legislature.

Up next....Austi's Texas birthday celebration!