My final state capital to visit was Juneau, Alaska!!! The only way to Juneau is the scenic route. You can only fly or ferry to Juneau. I chose to ferry from Haines via the Alaska Highway (1422 miles) and Anchorage. The beautiful was astounding and I saw all kinds of animals (moose, deer, stone sheep, porcupine, black bear, grizzly bear, willow ptarmigan, arctic swan, orca, humpback, dolphin, sea lion, bald eagle), tons of flowers and the mountain vistas were breathtaking. The town of Juneau is the second largest city in the USA by land area because it is spread out over a long area along the coast (2717 square miles). It is larger than the state of Delaware! However, Juneau has a population of only about 30,000. This is a popular stopping place for cruise ships. I enjoyed the small town with its stair-sidewalks because alot of the town sits on the side of the mountains. I stayed at the Juneau Hostel for only $10. Great deal and a decent place to sleep. I bougth a bagel and a mango drink from the SilverBow Bakery and ate my meal at the state capital to celebrate my accomplishment! So....what's next???
HAWAII!!! My parents invited me to go with them to Hawaii five days before they left. It actually worked out to go and the first thing I did when I got there was go to the capital building and capture the 49th state capital. I spent three days on Oahu and four days in Maui. Incredible time of hiking Diamond Head Crater; taking in the Polynesian Cultural Center; stopping at the USS Arizona memorial; enjoying pineapple icecream at the Dole Plantation; seeing the Hawaiian Green turtles; watching the surfers at Sunset Beach; cracking a "stolen" coconut; picking oranges, pumelos and bananas; snorkleing at the Black Rock on Maui; driving the bridge laden Road to Hana; seeing the black, red and brown sand beaches; watching the humble humpbackwhales; driving to the top of Haleakala Crater for the sunset; viewing the Iao Needle; breakfast at Denny's and so many other great things that I got to experience. I am blessed. 
After several relaxing days, I took off for Springfield, Illinois. Now, I've been to the city of Springfield many times before, since I lived in Illinois for six years, but I needed to make it official and go to the capital building. After taking a shot next to Lincoln himself, I went inside where I found myself in the midst of a political something or another going on. I went into the senate area...and this girl, who was once a tour guide spent about 1/2 an hour telling me about the archecture and everything about the legislation. I decided that I needed to take off and was feeling abit of information overload. As I left, it began to rain. It poured. After I got in the car I turned on the radio and heard that there was a tornado watch. Sirens began to go off in the capital building and everyone was forced to go to the underground area. Everyone was stuck in the building. Fortunately I had gotten out only a few minutes prior to the sirens and was headed south on I-55. I met up with Justin and his friends at some Shakespeare play in the park. Flew out of St. Louis on Friday morning. I tagged eleven state capitals on this trip and put 5,000 miles on the rental car. Now I have finished the 48 state capitals and will have to wait for an opportunity to head to Hawaii and Alaska.
