Around Columbus (6/15/2015)

I remembered to take some pictures of our campground this morning.  The first is a view of the lake just a few feet (one campsite away) from where we are parked.  The next few are the RVs situated in our woodsy campsites, our own little compound.

Today we began our tour of Columbus.  We started out with the Ohio Statehouse.

There are beautiful floral plots in front of this building depicting both the Ohio state flag and the U.S. flag.  Ohio was the 17th state to achieve statehood.

 



 We missed the 10:00 tour by about 20 minutes and didn't know if we wanted to wait for the 11:00, so we started on a self-guided tour with audio tour wands.  But it didn't take long for us to figure out we didn't know what we were looking for or at, so we elected to take the 11:00 guided tour, which was very informational.  There is a lot of state pride in Ohio, and they have a lot to be proud of, with the number of presidents from here, their aviation and space history, etc. 


The first room we walked into is the Map Room, which is the reception area, with a state map on the floor.  "A map of Ohio dominates this space. . .  It depicts the state's 88 counties using six different types of marble from around the world."

While not as opulent as some state capital buildings, nevertheless, this one is lovely. 

The state seal is also very beautiful.  I think here it is in stained glass, but we did see it in other mediums (media?) again later.

And of course, there is a rotunda.  President Lincoln laid in state in this rotunda on the trip from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, Illinois.

The house and senate chambers were open to us today.  Neither was in session, so we got the full tour of both of them. 

From there, we went to the Atrium, which connects the statehouse and the senate building.  "In 1859, Lincoln gave a campaign speech from the Capitol's east steps."  Before the Atrium was built, this area was known as 'Pigeon Run', after the pigeons who gathered on the rooftops."  They included one of these former "residents" perched on the Senate Building entrance. 

We concluded our tour, and headed to the German Village, which was a very short drive.  Parking here took some looking, but we founds spots on the streets for both vehicles, then walked up to the beginning of this area and found a restaurant, Katzinger's, a deli where we had lunch.

  The German Village encompasses "233 acres, and is a typical 1800's neighborhood with a variety of one-of-a-kind locally owned boutiques, specialty stores, salons, galleries, and restaurants."  Houses in this area depict the style of homes the German immigrants had left behind.  Most are brick, 2-story, and many had small flower gardens in front.  Streets and sidewalks both were brick.

Then we stopped in the Visitor Center and got a little more information.  We walked the streets a little (with our umbrellas), stopped in a gift shop selling European Housewares, Arts and Gifts (way over our budget, although I sent Brenda a picture of a Bernadi nativity scene I thought she might want, on sale for a measly $2,200), and then we walked into an awesome book store.  This bookstore (The Book Loft) had a very lovely entryway, and had 32 rooms of books!!  Now, granted, the rooms were small, but the bookstore had zillions of books -- all new -- all different genres, divided by room.  I could have spent a lot more time in there, and a lot of $$. 

Since Dave and Collins were sweltering in the car between rain showers, we rejoined them and then headed over for our appointment at the Wagner-Hagans Auto Museum.  Two individuals have a collection of 40 cars, 20 here and 20 at another location.  Our tour guy specializes in Packards.  We had a private tour here, of 20 cars.  The cars were all road ready, and some are often used in weddings.

And lots and lots of memorabilia, including hundreds of license plates, signs, old gas pumps, pedal cars, soap box cars, and a variety of other related items.

One of the cars, a Packard, had a second windshield, right in front of the backseat, which I had never seen before.

Another item here was a Packard bicycle, which Mazie found very interesting, since she still bicycles every day she can when she's in Sierra Vista.

We headed back to camp from here, driving in and out of rain storms.  Joe and I never know when to call it a day, so after a quick dinner (I microwaved the chili I had heated up the RV cooking yesterday), Joe, Mazie and I drove into the town of Delaware to find a Walmart, and pick up a few groceries at the Kroger store.  We topped off our drive in town with a stop at Tim Horton's Donut Shop, the first we had had of these in 5 years, since our Alaska/Canada trip.

Of course, on the way home, Joe took the scenic drive, and we drove around our side of the lake to the beach, the marina, and Collins Classroom.  Still in little rainstorms off and on.

We don't know what Collins is teaching, but we drove back and took a picture of his classroom.  He just really gets around.

 
We got back to camp a little after 8:00, dropped of donuts at the Brundiges, and hunkered down for the evening. It rained off and on most of last night, and it looks like it will do the same tonight.  Joe thinks we need to invest in a new umbrella for him because any little breeze apparently turns his inside out.  Of course, he just likes to complain.

Arriving Columbus, Ohio (6/14/2015)

Today was a short travel day.  We left the Air Force Base in Dayton, feeling that we had seen a lot of what Dayton had to offer, but knowing there are always more things to see that we left behind, especially the Packard Museum that was on the list.  Oh well, maybe there will be another visit to Dayton someday.  We were on the road by 9:00 a.m.  It was warm and muggy, but we only had to drive 93 miles to Delaware, Ohio, the Alum Creek State Park just north of Columbus.  With the exception of a patch of road construction and a detour that we weren't too sure about, we arrived without mishap at the campground just about noon.  We did see flags being flown in a couple of towns, in honor of Flag Day.  Joe noticed as we were leaving Dayton that we had put 4100 miles on the RV since leaving home, and the funny thing is, Dayton is actually the first agenda item on the list Collins put together. 

Something I forgot to mention about Dayton,
 "In the early 1900s, Dayton became the invention capital of the United States, with the most patents per capita. From the end of the 19th century through the 20th century, the city's influential inventions included the airplane, the cash register, the self-starting ignition for automobiles, and the pop top beverage can. The long list of inventions also includes the electric wheelchair, the stepladder and the parking meter."

This fact about Dayton being the invention capital of the U.S. was mentioned in the bike shop tour, and I never knew that so I thought I would share it.  Even today, there seems to be a lot of industry around Dayton, and throughout the part of Ohio that we've seen so far.

We are in a very nice state park, just a few steps from the Alum Creek Lake, which is a huge lake.  When full, it is 3,269 acres, and I would guess that it is full.  It also has a beach, which I think is right here in the campground.

After lunch, we all settled in, and about half of us took naps.  When I got up, I did a little cooking and baking, but it heated up the RV so badly that I think I will curtail that, at least the baking.  But then, amazingly, Joe volunteered to drive me (and whoever else) in to the Hollywood Casino in Columbus.  So Mazie and Collins accompanied us, and after a quick dinner, off we went through the country (of course, with Joe driving, it is always the long way around, a scenic drive).  The casino was very nice, non-smoking, but not very free with its $$.  I think Collins came out ahead, and Joe won $30, but that did not cover my loss, or Mazie's.  But we had a good time, and were back at the park before 10:00.

Plans are a bit open for tomorrow, so we will see what we come up with.  We do have an appointment in the afternoon for a private tour of a car museum, and we think we will do some kind of city tour.  We are here for 3 nights, so we should learn some things about Columbus.

Wright Stuff (6/13/2015)

Today we did the "Wright Brothers" stuff around town on the "Aviation Trail," but our first stop was the 2nd Street Market downtown.  It was filled with food stands, free samples, and some live music, and  It turned out to be more of a series of food booths, with a few "flea market-type booths thrown in, but some of the food being cooked there was pretty interesting, and pretty tasty.  There was a lot of fresh produce, breads, cheeses, as well as quite a variety of other foods.  It appeared that a lot of people came there just to eat, which we did not know.

"Local growers, bakers, culinary specialists, and artisans fill this charming historic freight house. Reminiscent of European markets, it's alive with vendors, people and activity during market hours."

"The 2nd Street Market operates in an historic block-long former 1911 B&O railroad building. It was saved from demolition and renovated in 2001 in partnership with National City Bank, now PNC Bank.  Five Rivers MetroParks is proud to help support growing and buying locally produced goods. The 2nd Street Market strives to promote sustainable, local food systems in order to shrink the ecological footprint of Montgomery County."

From there, we went to the Wright Brothers bike shop.  On the way out of the Base, we saw 3 groundhogs (or woodchucks for our Canadians), mostly around the golf course.  I got a picture, but he's pretty small. It just looks like a speck.

The bike shop is in downtown Dayton.  They actually rented at least 3 different buildings, and this one we toured was not the one they built the flying machine in.  That building has been demolished and is now a vacant lot, just across the street and down 3 buildings.  The state park hostess in the bike shop did a really good job of telling the history of the Wright brothers and she made it very interesting.

Then we  walked next door to the Aviation Trail Visitor Center,

 which includes the Parachute Museum, which tells the story of the development of the free-fall parachute.

Also included here are exhibits of the Wright Brothers printing company.
3

We watched a very interesting film here as well, depicting the lives of the Wright Bros., from their interest in flying machines at an early age, through the development of ones that flew.

You can spend a lot of time here, but we finally left and went to get some lunch.  Joe had spotted a rib place across the street, but when we walked over there at 12:40, they were only serving breakfast, their lunch service didn't start until 1:00 p.m.  So we found a Mexican restaurant on the GPS and headed there.  After lunch, the girls made one more stop, at the Wright Memorial, which Marilyn had seen before.  We were supposed to be able to see the Huffman Prairie Flying Field where the Wright Bros. flew their experimental planes, but the view seemed to be obstructed by trees and brush.  And our attempt to drive to the field was unsuccessful, so we headed back to camp.

The guys had come back from the lunch stop, so Dave already had their laundry going.  I quickly gathered mine and got it started, so I could free up the machines for Marilyn.  Tomorrow is moving day, and it is always nice to move on with the laundry caught up.