Visiting the Capitol

Visiting the Capitol

For the last several years, I’ve visited the Missouri State Capitol in February. Several librarians descend on Jefferson City toward the start of each legislative session every year to inform the legislators about how their recommendations might affect libraries in Missouri. That’s the work.

What I really enjoy is visiting the Missouri State Capitol. I’m a native Missourian, and I feel a real connection to the site. Most visits, I visit the exhibits on the ground floor. I haven’t visited to the Thomas Hart Benton murals of Missouri’s history in many, many years. I really must go view them the next time I visit.

We typically stay at the “round” hotel. It’s been known as the Monroe, Quality Inn, and is now Hotel Labella. I really like the updates that they’ve made in the rooms. They now have small refrigerators and microwaves in the rooms. They closed the restaurant upstairs. I think this may be both good and bad. The restaurant always had very slow service. In fact, one year, they didn’t have a server at all. We wound up serving our own coffee, water, etc. Now, they have free continental breakfast, and no other meals. So, it is still self-serve, so to speak.