Even though it's the capitol (is it capital?) of the state,

The building is a capitol, the town is the capital.

Finally, before the last fix we broke out into VMC, with the valley
below
and the airport in sight, still several thousand feet high. We circled once,
and then landed without difficulty.

If you had obtained WX and knew you would break out into VMC, then I'd
say you handled it prudently; otoh, if you knew the ceiling was well
above minimums, why were you concerned about having to do a missed
approach with the gear down?

vince norris