Des Moines, Iowa

           Setting off from Wisconsin, I was startled by the beauty of the southern half of the state. It was wondrously picturesque, more so than I expected. As soon as I passed over the state line into Iowa, the vivid vegetation and rolling hills were replaced with a flat landscape of endless rows of corn. My father, Jack Henneman, grew up in Iowa City, and he warned me of the visual monotony. I stopped in Iowa City to take a picture of his childhood home before hopping back in the car to drive the remaining two and half hours to the capital city of Des Moines. I arrived in the late evening to a high-rise style hotel near the hospital. I ate a simple dinner and exhausted from my day’s travel, I drifted into sweet oblivion.

            The next morning, I awoke to a shining sun and a fiercely rumbling stomach. I found satiation at the Waveland Café in West Des Moines. It was a small place, run like a New Jersey diner with a twist of Mid-Western charm. The waitress called me sweetie, and the food was hot and cooked to order. Stuffed with warm contentment, I paid for my meal, and drove toward the Capitol.

            Driving east on the highway, the Capitol glinted in the morning sun, its five domes protruding into the expansive blue sky. Upon arriving on the Capitol grounds, I parked my vehicle in the vast parking lot that provided space for the visitors and employees of several government buildings. Rushing to make the next available tour, I decided to take pictures of the exterior as I departed.

            I arrived in the center of the ground floor to the largest of tour groups I had been with thus far. All of the other eager intellectuals were seniors, as was usually the case in most of the Capitols. They were all very friendly, and interested to hear about my project. Though a few of them were not terribly mobile (one of the gentleman walked with a cane) they persevered to each of the far-flung rooms of the enormous edifice.

            Our first stop was the former Supreme Court Room, which is now used as a committee room. Our guide asked that we take a seat in the hard wooden chairs as he regaled us with the details of the building’s history. As with many Capitols, the Des Moines State House suffered a fire in the early 20th century. Luckily, the building was not entirely destroyed. A workman left his station to get a cup of coffee, absentmindedly forgetting to snuff out the candle by which he was working. It tipped over, ignited something, and soon the blaze had spread across the ceiling of the House Chamber. Being the largest room in the entire building, the damage was very extensive. Firefighters were able to put out the fire before it spread to the rest of the building, but an extensive renovation and restoration progress had to begin to make the building useable again. As the artist who had painted the original murals on the ceiling of the House Chamber had passed away, another artist with a very different style was commissioned in his stead.

            Walking down the hall, we were given a view of several different displays. The first was a very large model of the U.S.S Iowa battleship. It was incredibly intricate and detailed, and it almost seemed too large for me to envision it full size. The USS Iowa is the last lead ship of any class of United States battleships, and the only one in her class to have served in the Atlantic Ocean during WWII. Franklin Roosevelt traveled on Iowa to a crucial 1943 meeting in Tehran with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin. A bathtub and elevator was installed in Iowa for Roosevelt’s use during the voyage. The true Iowa is currently on display in California, and is open to the public. Our guide reported that if you visit the battleship and flash your Iowa license, admission is free.

            The other display was just outside of the Governor’s office. Much like the one in Kentucky, the display showed all of the first ladies in their inaugural gowns. When the practice was started, many dolls were made in the likeness of the first lady of the time, so they all have the same face. The only way to tell them apart is by their hair and their gown. Although Iowa has not yet had a female Governor, our guide surmised that they would do the same thing with the first gentlemen, and make them all in the first one’s likeness. The only trouble would be then that there would be no way to tell them apart, because the men wear black tuxedos to the inaugural ball.

We moved on to the Governor’s Office, which is only used for ceremonial purposes so that it may be viewed by public tours. The Governor prefers to keep his working office on the ground floor, where most of the rest of the employees have their offices. It struck me as a mark of his character that he was willing to sacrifice such history and aesthetically appealing surroundings so that the public may see it, but also that he preferred to work on the same level as the rest of the staff, perhaps not only literally, but figuratively as well. It was as if he was asserting that he was no more important to the entire system then all of them were. This mentality is very “Iowa.”  Then governor Robert Ray called my 16 year-old father at home to discuss a letter Dad had written him to protest an increase in the drinking age. As my father described, they had a very intellectual discussion that ended in them respectfully agreeing to disagree on the subject. Regardless, the Governor’s Office was unbelievably beautiful, with many different kinds of marble, paintings, and rich, wooden furniture. It was hard to imagine giving up being surrounded by this beauty, day in and day out.

            After seeing the House and Senate Chambers, which contained several murals but were otherwise unremarkable, we were shown the law library. It was positively enchanting. There are few settings more pleasant than a comfortable library, and this one was perhaps the nicest I had ever set foot in. It had three levels with enormous windows and curved, white banisters. It almost felt like the library from Beauty and the Beast, like I could spend the rest of my life there and not get tired of it. Out of respect for the employees, our guide waited for us to take a peek and come back into the hallway before he told us about the room. One interesting tidbit was that it was often the backdrop of choice for media during the beginning of the race for the presidency.

            Finally, we were taken up in to the Capitol dome for the first time on my journey. At the base of each dome in almost every Capitol, there is a ledge where people can look down through the stories at the distant floor below. The view is supposed to be spectacular, but most Capitols no longer allow the public up there unless accompanied by a representative or a senator. Iowa, on the other hand, includes it as part of their tour. Our guide did warn us that it was a long way up many stairs, and if there were health concerns, not to push it. Despite my fear of heights, I could not forego such an opportunity, as I may never have it again. We entered the spiral staircase and began to climb. About half way up, it began to get very warm and stuffy, and just as I felt my legs begin to ache, we arrived at the opening. The perspective was staggering and my stomach lurched for just a moment before I grasped the railing to remind myself how solid and sturdy it was. Three members of our group had declined the climb, and we waved to them as we all tried not to be a little nervous. It was a wondrous feeling, like standing proudly on the summit of a mountain. We walked around the entire circumference and then made our way back down. Along the way, we made a pit stop in the galleries of the house and senate, while also taking a look at three murals that were actually mosaics. It was difficult to tell from the floor because they were so precisely done, but it was remarkable how meticulously they were put together. After two hours of tour, I was getting a little worn, but the schedule demanded that I visit the museum. I left the Capitol and basked for a moment in its glory, beaming at my experience. It had been one of my favorite buildings and tours so far, and I was in good spirits.

            The museum is run completely on donations, and is not very large. Additionally, many of the exhibits were undergoing construction. To be perfectly honest, I was not blown away by the displays, and they seemed rather anticlimactic after such an illustrious Capitol tour. I wandered my way through the galleries for another two hours before returning to the main floor to figure out where I was going to find dinner. As I approached the door, I realized that it was storming. It was sunny when I went inside, and it was shocking how quickly the winds had changed. The rain was pouring torrentially, and I prepared to make a dash for my car when a older lady standing near the front said, “If you’re inside when the sirens are going, it’s best to stay inside.” Sure enough, I noticed for the first time that a waling sound that was not the wind was coming from outside. Similar to the alarm in the fire departments of small towns used to alert the firefighters of an emergency, the alarm was sounding off over the flat expanse, signaling that there might be danger. Luckily, there wasn’t a tornado, and the rain soon subsided.

            Having picked a Mexican restaurant online, I went inside to discover a small building with only four tables run by a family of four. Well, only the parents truly worked there, as the children were no older than 10, sitting at one of the tables doing their homework. I was welcomed in with a warm smile and the promise of delicious food, which was certainly lived up to. The meal was delectable, and just what I needed in the cold, rainy weather. I thanked the owner graciously and departed for my hotel room.

            It is one of the greatest gifts that I have gotten on this trip is to visit the home states of my relatives and my idols. My father grew up in Iowa, as well as my favorite author, Bill Bryson. It was interesting to be able to explore the city and imagine what it must be like to call it home, let alone the place one grew up. I felt extremely positive about my trip to Iowa, especially the Capitol building and the contagiously zealous tour guide. I felt that out of many states in the Mid West that I could appreciate for their charm and culture, Iowa held a particular closeness to my heart. The next morning, I packed up my things, and hit the road toward Minneapolis, some family, and two close friends.