Two Reasons to Check out the Capitol this Weekend

Shoot, I'm not sure the beautiful sun we had earlier in the month will return on Sunday.

Though advance registration for the Monster Cookie on Sunday the 27th is closed, if the weather's not too bad, day-of-ride registration is easy!

Starts at 8am by the fountain on the north side of the Capitol.  You can print out the registration form at home.

The ride is always a great way to enjoy the gentle rolling hills of French Prairie and to see some of the earliest settlement area in Oregon.

If you're not up for a long ride, or the weather's too yucky, consider a ramble to observe ruins of the second Capitol building.

Capitol in flames, April 25-26, 1935
Capitol 75th Anniversary site

The 75th anniversary of our third, the current one, was celebrated this past year, and Friday the 25th is the anniversary of the conflagration in 1935 that destroyed the second.

Columns from State Capitol after 1935 Fire

After the fire and demolition, some of the columns remained, and it is interesting the way ruins are distributed around downtown. You may have seen some of the columns and the plaque in a formal display on the east side of the new Capitol in Willson Park. (Or is this side called something else?)

More of them at Deepwood!

But did you know there were some at Deepwood?

Was this some Lord & Schryver whimsey, a picturesque ruin for the garden?  Something else? There doesn't seem to be anything written online about this tidbit.

There are also several column fragments rolled into Mill Creek at the 13th St footbridge, behind ODOT and Olinger Pool.

Does anyone know of any more?

Either way, on the Cookie or on a shorter ramble, think about the Capitol this weekend!