downtown baton rouge

We went downtown Saturday morning to walk around and see how high the river was before they opened the spillway Saturday afternoon. The orange strip you see on top of the levee is filled with water and gives the city an additional 18 inches of protection. Normally you can walk on the levee which is concrete in the downtown area with nice benches, but everything was roped off so this was as close as we could get.

That's the U.S.S. Kidd which is permanently docked there and open for tours.

I've never seen the river all the way to the top of the levee like this before.

The boys obliged me for one pic outside the gates of the old state capitol.

Then we headed to the new state capitol which was built in 1932. Louisiana has the tallest state capitol building in the U.S. with 34 floors and you can go to the top for a view of the city from every direction on the observation deck that circles around.

This is just inside the entrance. I've been there lots of times, but I'm always surprised at how ornate and beautiful it is.

This is the view toward downtown showing the bridge across the Mississippi at I-10.

And this is the view in the opposite direction showing a few governmental buildings in the foreground and the Exxon refinery along with a few other plants in the distance.

If you're ever in Baton Rouge, be sure and go to the top of the state capitol. It's free and the views are spectacular!