We visited some friends in Ohio, Dan and Monica, whom we met last year, and
then we turned south. The “buckeye” state is named after the nut from the buckeye
tree - falling now, poisonous to cattle and possibly for humans, as they contain tannic acid.
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| Buckeye |
Newark was east of the capital Columbus, and we were able to book in for
a service for the RV. What an interesting town!
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| Erie Canal - before it was filled in |
There were huge (4 square miles)
of geometrical earthworks, believed to have been constructed by an ancient
Indian culture about 2000 years ago.
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| Hopewell Culture Earthworks in Winter |
It seems the moon had some significance as
the embankments show that they’re lined up with the moon rising and setting over
an 18 year period.
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| Hopewell Mounds |
It was named the Hopewell Culture because Mordecai Hopewell
owned the farmland where part of the site was excavated in 1891.
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| Hopewell mounds alignment with the moon rising and setting |
Dave Longerberger built an empire by making quality maple
wood baskets. They are sold “direct” (Like Tupperware) and it is obviously very
successful. In 1995 he wanted a 7 story office built in the shape of a basket
and searched for an architect who would take it on.
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| Longerberger Corporate Headquarters |
This is the result – the
Office building is the shape of the popular Medium Market Basket and has a
glass covered atrium in the centre.
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| Interior of Longerberger building |
We watched a video clip about the
construction. The part when the handles were attached, weighing (almost 150
tons- and heated during winter to stop ice forming), was very interesting.
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| Newark Court House |
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| Newark Court House interior |
The town also has the Midland Theatre which opened in
1928.
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| Midland Theatre, Newark |
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| Midland Theatre Stage |
Struggling financially, it finally closed in 1978 after a blizzard
brought loss of power resulting in frozen boilers that cracked.
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| Midland Theatre seating |
So it was
pretty dilapidated when Mr Longerberger gave $8 million to renovate it in 1992.
The basket business must have been profitable! The theatre is so beautiful and
it attracts top quality performers. Arlo Guthrie and Wynonna are on the list of
upcoming shows and Blood Sweat and Tears are coming in October.
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| Original mouldings were used |
After the RV’s service the next morning we went back to walk past the old jail
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| Original Newark Jail - not a lot of crime in those days |
and
visit the A H Heisey Glass Museum.
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| Heisey Glass Museum |
Heisey’s ideal was to make beautiful glassware
that ordinary people could afford.
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| Heisey Glass Museum display |
Pressed glass is cheaper to produce than
hand blown and his workers must have perfected their craft because the hundreds
of pieces were quite beautiful.
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| Heisey Glass Museum horses |
His sons who continued the business, constantly
changed with the fashions and some of the coloured glassware is exquisite.
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| Heisey Glass Museum candle sticks |
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| Heisey Glass Museum display |
Mass
production and overseas cheap labour eventually forced the family to go out of business
in 1957. Now pieces are regarded as collectors’ items and the collectors groups
have thousands of members who meet and trade regularly.
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| Heisey Glass Museum beer mugs |
We must check out the
charity shops and flea markets at home, now that we know what to look for.
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| Velvet Ice Cream - restored Mill - we had to stop |
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| Velvet Ice Cream - it was yummy |
So we crossed the great Ohio River at Maysville into
the Commonwealth of Kentucky. (The other three Commonwealths are, Pennsylvania,
Virginia and Massachusetts).
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| Maysville Bridge across the wide Ohio River |
A tug was going underneath the bridge pushing nine
barges (3x3) of coal up the river to the power station. In times gone by bison
would cross the river here when it was low and travel south stopping at Blue
Lick or one of many other Licks in the area. Many of the roads today follow the
traces the bison walked.
And so we were in Kentucky, home of horses, bourbon,
bluegrass and tobacco.
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| Iron Works Pike |
We drove the Iron Works Pike towards Georgetown. That
road must have the richest horse studs along it – huge mansions, avenues of
trees, four rail horse fences, beautiful (locked) wrought iron gates at the
entrances and many dry stone walls.
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| Horses |
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| Wonderful horse facilities |
As well as the thoroughbreds, trotters and
pacers figure prominently too.
The Kentucky Horse Park is a working museum – all
things equestrian.
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| National Horse Centre - Kentucky |
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| Kentucky Horse Park |
Competitions are held in the huge covered building. There
were seven dressage rings in the complex with a ½ mile race track around them
and a special barn for retired famous champions (that have won many dollars).
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| Man-O-War |
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| Great indoor arena |
We found the Museum of the Horse, tracing the horse through history from the
tiny “eohippus” – fossilised bones found in Nth America, through centuries of
bloodlines to today, fascinating.
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| Secretariat statue |
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| Meeting up with a little horse |
The Horse Park had a campground set in a beautiful
grassy “paddock” with huge trees – some of the leaves are just starting to
turn.
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| Georgetown, Kentucky- main square |
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| Georgetown main street |
So we stayed a couple of nights so we could have a look at Historic
Georgetown with its beautiful buildings and links to the Civil War.
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| Georgetown Mansion |
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| Georgetown Mansion |
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| Georgetown Mansion |
The area was re-vitalised when Toyota came to town in
1986. The company make Camry, Avalon and Venza producing more than 500,000 cars
annually – that’s 2000 a day! They employ 7,500 on two shifts with excellent
conditions and there are plans to open another vehicle production line, for a
Lexus model, in 2015. We toured the factory for 45 mins on a motorised tram - no photos.
There were car bodies being lifted like toys, robots welding, workers on seats
being moved into car bodies fixing panels into place, robot carriers
following magnetic lines on the floor delivering parts where they were needed,
testing areas, and railway and truck loading areas – all this busy activity over
1300 acres.
The following day was the Georgetown Airfest Show. So
clutching our VIP tickets we were given at Toyota (major sponsor), we drove to
the regional airport.
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| Georgetown Airfest |
A mild sunny day, we looked at all sorts of small planes.
A B25 Mitchell Bomber was offering rides for $400 and a Huey Helicopter that
was the pride and joy of “The Yankee Airforce” (retirees) was also doing 10
minute flights.
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| B25 Mitchell bomber |
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| Huey Helicopter |
Jen took advantage of the offer and sat in the gunner’s
position looking out of the open space – very exciting ride.
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| A "gunners" view of the airport from the Huey- can you see our RV? |
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| Beautiful Kentucky rolling hills |
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| Farmland - note the horse paddocks |
The Woodford Bourbon Distillery was the afternoon stop
– one of the smaller ones (after Jim Bean and Wild Turkey).
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Copper stills at Woodford Reserve
|
The original stone
aging warehouses are set in an area of natural beauty beside the stream that
supplied the “pure” water when the business was established about 1812.
Frankfort is Kentucky’s capital.
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| Kentucky Governor's Mansion |
As it was a Sunday
with everything closed, it makes it easy to take an RV into town, then to park
and walk and look at the buildings.
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| State Capitol building in Frankfort, Kentucky |
Capitols in almost every state have the grand neoclassical style building with
a rotunda and high dome. They usually house offices, the legislature and often
the Supreme Court.
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| Floral Clock - not so floral |
We walked to the floral clock nearby but were here the week
it was being “renovated”. Oh well next time!
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| Frank Lloyd Wright prairie style home in Frankfort |
Just one more Frank Lloyd Wright prairie style house to
see – the Zeigler House, and then we were heading for Churchill Downs - to
visit the “Derby Museum”.
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| First across the line at Churchill Downs |
That Sunday was also a race day. At seniors rates of
$1 we watched a few races and spent the rest of the time in the interactive
museum.
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| The Kentucky Derby is referred to as the "run for the roses" as the winner is wreathed in a garland of roses |
The first Kentucky Derby was run in 1875. The race is
held on the 1st Saturday in May for 3 year olds, so a horse only
gets one chance.
Before the race, the spectators, usually numbering up to 150,000
sing the state song – “My Old Kentucky Home,” so the next day we had to visit
this historic site at Bardstown.
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| Bardstown- one of the prettiest towns in America |
Federal Hill was a typical stately Georgian mansion
built in early 1800’s by Judge (later Senator) John Rowan and lived in by the
family until the last member Madge sold it to the state in 1920.
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| Federal Hill - "My Old Kentucky Home" |
Tradition
holds that songwriter Stephen Foster, a cousin from Pittsburgh, was inspired to
write the song while visiting Federal Hill in 1852.
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| Stephen Foster- One of Kentucky's favourite "sons" |
It is now part of the State Park and the attached campground and golf course made a pretty setting. After
dinner we were able to walk part of the course along the sealed cart tracks.
Most golf courses have these paths. It seems the golfers here do not get the
exercise we do, as carts are the usual. I guess it speeds up the play and more
people can get in a round.
Just before you cross the border into Tennessee is the
National Corvette Museum at Bowling Green.
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| National Corvette Museum at Bowling Green Kentucky |
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| A great ride on the Interstates but not sure where the kitchen sink, bed, shower and toilet would go? |
We were disappointed that the
Assembly Plant tours were cancelled as preparations had begun to build the new
model Chevrolet Corvette, but the museum was pretty good.
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| A great museum |
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| Very pretty cars and all the merchandise to go with it |
We had a couple of long drive days, Nashville and Memphis, visited last year, and into Arkansas, our 38th State in
the last couple of years.
Little Rock Central High School hit the world headlines
on September 4, 1957. When classes
began nine black students who had been selected on the criteria of excellent grades and attendance to integrate the school, were blocked from entry by orders of
Governor Orval Faubus, who deployed the Arkansas National Guard.
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Little Rock Central High School
|
The US Supreme
Court in 1954 had declared segregated schools were unconstitutional and called
for desegregation of all schools throughout the nation.
The President,
Dwight Eisenhower attempted to de-escalate the situation by warning Faubus not
to defy the Court’s ruling and eventually sent in troops from the 101st
Airborne Division of the United States Army who escorted the students.
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"The Nine"
|
The black
students did have a difficult time and were subjected to physical and emotional
abuse. Today the school stills functions as part of the Little Rock School
District and is a National Historic Site. The National Parks Service administer
the Civil Rights Museum nearby and typically anything with National Parks is
done really well, giving a well documented and balanced account of the
happenings.
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| The Capitol, Little Rock |
As Little Rock
is the Capital of the state we went on a tour of the Capitol, typical of most
Capitols.
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| Governor's Meeting Room |
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| The Senate Chamber |
They are grand buildings and this particular one had stained glass domes
with acoustic curtains and a magnificent chandelier under the central dome.
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| The Grand Staircase |
Dinner was at
The Red Lobster that evening to celebrate Jen’s birthday.
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| Dinner at Red Lobster |
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| Birthday present - Marion Mahony inspired design, umbrella and earrings |
And so to
Houston to Jenny and George’s place, where we were able to unpack everything,
clean out the RV and take it to PPL, the consignment place, for sale. Thank you
Jenny and George!
We’re sad to
see it go but we have had a most wonderful time over the last couple of years.
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| Saying goodbye to our modern day Conestoga Wagon "Connie" |
Before we left
we had a quick look at downtown Houston and a visit to the Museum of Natural
Science.
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| Sam Houston Tollway interchange |
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| Houston Skyline |
The Energy Hall had varying exhibits but concentrated mainly on Texas
oil and gas, explaining how it formed, how it’s extracted and we all know how
it’s used.
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| Jaw of the Megalodon shark - twice the size of the biggest Great White |
The Hall of Paleontology had numerous fossils and fossil replicas
providing a vivid glimpse into the incredible 3.5 billion year story of life on
earth.
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| Huge petrified log |
The Ancient
Egyptian civilization with its lifeblood the River Nile, developed its own
architecture, writing and religion.
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| Beautiful bronzes from Egypt |
The exhibits, brought in from many sources,
traced their development, including their skills with mummification.
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| Egyptian gold figurine |
We found the
Hall of the Americas, which showed the diversity and skills of indigenous peoples
from Alaska to Peru, to be particularly interesting especially the Inca Empire
before the Spanish Invasion.
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Alaskan scrimshaw
|
But perhaps
the remarkable exhibition on gemstone carving was something we had not seen
before.
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| Beautifully carved quartz |
Harold Van Pelt has been perfecting the art of carving quartz, rock
crystal and agate. He works the stone down to very thin walls which gives
quartz the transparency of glass.
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| Quartz container and faceted vases |
The fluted glasses, textured vases and
hollowed vessels to hold jewellery or specimens were just exquisite.
The last leg
is getting to Los Angeles, ready to fly out on 8 October.
