We are home

It's Monday, Sept 2nd, which is Labor Day, and we have arrived at home for dinner.  It's been a wonderful 3 months but it was also time to be home.

We were lucky enough to get to see our sweet little Abby while we stopped over in Richmond Hill.  We also were able to stop and visit with our good friends, Pam and Tim Redding.  They had a Labor Day cookout and they are the best host and hostess we've ever met.  It was nice to also get to see some of our old friends.

We hope everyone had as good a summer as we did.

Pipestem State Park, West Virginia

We arrived at Pipestem State Park on Monday the 12th.  We've been here 2 weeks and will leave in the morning for Dillard, Georgia for a few days before heading to Savannah, Georgia.  We know Dillard is out of the way but there were a couple of rv resorts we wanted to check out for next summer.

This is probably the nicest state park we've been to.  It has beautiful mountain views, and the deer are every where and are not afraid of you.  When you pass them in the car, they just stand there and keep on eating. We have full hook ups and there is wifi in the lodge.  There are so many things to do at this park.  They have a tram that takes you down to a gorge and restaurant; they have horse riding stables; 2 golf courses, one regular and one a short course; they also have tennis courts; pools, miniature golf and more. We would recommend if anyone is close to this area that they visit this park.

 I don't know if you can see the deer or not, but there are 3 on the left side right by the road. 

This is the observation tower.  We had to walk about a quarter mile up a path but it was well worth it.  You could see everywhere.  There wasn't anyone up there with us so we took Monet off her leash and just let her run.  Boy did she run!






The Lodge has a long hallway with pictures of famous people that came from West Virginia.  This is Jerry West who was one the most famous basketball players.  He played for the Lakers.

We met the nicest couple from Virginia who had been coming to the park for several years. They are Nancy and Bob Peters.  It was his birthday Saturday, the 24th, so they come every year at this time because every year there is a car show and a outdoor concert at the amphitheater.  The moment we met them we knew they were "good" people.  We all ended up going to a local barbeque place one night and usually we sat around a campfire at one campsite or the other.  Of course, we ended up going to the concert that night.  It had been a perfect day and had cooled off by night for the concert.  We took our chairs, coolers and snacks, and bundled up for an oldies concert.  We have encouraged them to come see us in Florida and hope they will.  They will fit right in.

These 2 weeks have just been perfect.  We couldn't have asked for better weather or scenery.



Akron Ohio

Unless you are family, you probably are not going to be too excited about this blog.  I was born and lived in Akron, Ohio until age 7.  When I realized how close we would be on this trip, we had decided to try to venture out to see what I could find.  Mom was a tremendous help!  As all of us know, what we remember as children is usually not very close to how or what it really was.    Mom was kind enough to get me the addresses for all of the places.

Last night after mom emailed the addresses, I set out to map them so I could see the order we needed to do.  The map below shows all my stops but my childhood church.

 

The first stop was at my elementary school I went to in the 1st grade and half of the 2nd grade before moving to Brandon, Florida.  While Van and I were taking pictures, a lady that lived right across the street came out and I was telling her what we were doing.  She said she started here the same year I did.  I should have gotten her name because mom probably would have remembered the family.

Roosevelt School, 3110 Farmdale Road, Akron

 

Next we headed to the graves of my dad's parents, Kire and Marie Carter.  I loved these grandparents an awful lot.  Most of my childhood memories are with them.  We lived several years with them.  There was family property with 3 homes located on it.  There was my grandparents house and then on either side was an aunts, uncles and cousins.  My sweetest childhood memories are playing with my dad's sister and their children.  It seemed as I did most everything with Aunt Katy, Uncle Bob and their kids.  I don't know what year (it was after we left for Florida) the state came in an bought the family property and their homes because they were adding the interstate.  Now there is a Quality Inn and Subway on most of the land.  I wanted so bad to take a picture but it just didn't look like "home."  I will say that when I was a child I thought we lived on a mountain because we would roll down the front yard.  I understand that there wasn't any "mountain" there and the elevation that's there now is about the same as it was when we lived there.

 

My grandparents, Kire and Marie Carter.







 Some other family members

 



 Mom tells me the story how we would go to Stricklands for ice cream after church on Sunday night so I had to go there.  I do remember getting the ice cream but I would not have remembered where.  While Van and I were taking pictures, I went to the window to talk to the kids working the window about what we were doing there and about the Goodyear Blimp Hanger that was across the street.  I was hoping that we could go see the Hanger but they said that because of the security there they didn't allow people to come much closer than where we at the ice cream place.  I must say that the ice cream was yummy!




1809 Triplett Blvd, Akron Ohio



Then on to a little house we lived in.  What I remember about this place is it was Aqua and had a barn behind it.  With all the changes around the house, I couldn't see a barn but there were a lot of woods behind the house so I could have missed it.  This house had a fireplace right in the middle of a room that you could see through.  I remember going to the barn area and playing and I don't think I was allowed to.  Can you imagine?  The house and property looked really good considering how old it is. 

 

 

Then it was time to find the "ole" church.  Boy do I have memories of this.  Of course, the church didn't have this enclosed front section or the add on to the right but the basic sanctuary size was about the same.  Us kids have many, many pictures in front of this church.   The front of the church had a lot of steps going up to the entrance doors to the sanctuary.   Behind the glass windows and doors you see now still are steps but they've basically made that section into a foyer and/or gathering area.  I couldn't go in but I did peek through the doors.

 

  

Now I must end with a little humor.  We are so surprised with the picture below.  We keep seeing these drive through liquor stores.  Go Ohio....you don't even have to get out of your car in this state.

Pro Football Hall of Fame and President William McKinley's Museum - Canton, Ohio

 

Yesterday we decided to go into Canton and see the Pro Football Hall of Fame and then go to President William McKinley's Museum and Library.





 

 

 

All of the greats of football are located there and there are far too many to talk about all of them.  I do have some favorites which Van wants to mention.   

                                                                                                                                             



Probably the greatest of these is Jim Thorpe.





 

There are only 2 members of the Hall of Fame who played for the University of Georgia so I must talk about them.  The first one, Charlie Trippi who was the first Georgia player to win the Heisman Trophy.  There were many random photographs in the Hall and one just happened to feature Charlie.  He was so versatile that in his pro career he played quarterback, running back, defensive back and kicker. 



 
 

The second  player from the University of Georgia is the legendary Fran Tarkenton who had a phenomenal career with the Vikings.  


We walked past a couple of jerseys which are significant enough to talk about.  One is the jersey of Hines Ward, who played at Georgia and later for the Steelers.  This jersey was worn by Hines Ward on September 27, 2009, when he hit the benchmark of 10,000 receiving yards.  The other jersey is Michael Vicks' jersey which he wore on November 11, 2010, when he became the first NFL player to record more than 300 yards passing and 50 yards rushing.  He set another record that day for throwing 3 touchdowns and rushing for 2 all in the game's first half.

The rest of the comments will be somewhat personal.  When Van's son Sean was about 3 years old they lived in Atlanta, Georgia.  At that time, one of the greatest linebackers ever,  played for the Falcons.  His name is Tommy Nobis.  Van got an autograph picture for his son Sean by Tommy Nobis, which Sean still treasures.  In 1966, Nobis became the first ever draft pick of the Falcons.  He played 11 seasons and was named to 5 Pro Bowls and below is a picture of his helmet.

When Sean was a young teenager his hero was Terry Bradshaw.  In the Hall was a display case devoted to Terry Bradshaw so I had to include a picture of that along with the bust of him.

Now for Van's favorite football story.  In the mid 60's when he was in college he and some friends went to Atlanta to see the Falcons and the Packers.  Van was actually more of a Packer fan than he was a Falcon fan.  He believed that the best football ever was between the Packers and the Colts when Bart Star was the quarterback for the Packers and Johnny Unitas was the quarterback for the Colts.  Prior to the game Van bought a football at Wally World and took it to the Marriott Hotel where the Packers were staying and asked the desk clerk if he would get as many of the Packers to sign the ball as he could when they were checking out of the hotel.  He replied yes and said that Van could start with the guy standing next to him.  He was a huge man who turned out to be the great Ray Nitschke.  After the game which, of course, the Packers won, Van went back to the hotel and got the ball from the clerk.  The ball contained the entire Packer roster to include the coaches with the exception of Bart Starr.  It even had Bart Starr's father.  Later that next summer Bart Starr came to Savannah to speak at the YMCA.  Van was able to meet Bart Starr and show him the ball and get him to sign it.  Bart was really fascinated by the fact that his father had signed the ball earlier.  Below are the pictures of the busts of Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke and Johnny Unitas. 

We also visited President William McKinley's Museum and Library and his National Memorial.  He, his wife, Ida, and two young daughters are all buried there.  The Museum and Library is not nearly as grand as the other President's' museums probably because he was only the 25th President and was in office from 1897 to 1901.  We both had forgotten, but were reminded, that he was assassinated.  He and his wife were visiting the Pan-American exhibition in Buffalo, New York.  While they were there they visited Niagara Falls and had returned for a "meet and greet" the public.  For security reasons the crowd was required to be in single file as they passed by the President to shake his hand.  He was a very popular President and many people came for the opportunity to shake his hand.  However, a 28 year old anarchist by the name of Leon Czolgosz didn't care for McKinley and shot and killed him as the President was extending his hand to shake.  We also learned that McKinley was the last Civil War Veteran to serve as President of the United States.

Below are pictures of the plaques at the Memorial, the tombs of McKinley, his wife and 2 small daughters and a scene from the Museum showing some of the artifacts of his presidency. 



Canton Ohio and surrounding areas

Monday morning we left Niagara Falls Ontario to head towards the Canton Ohio area.  We had a week to kill before our reservations in West Virginia  so we found a place on the Pymatuning Lake about 120 miles east of Canton to enjoy for a few days.  It was a beautiful quiet place right on the lake.  The only problem was their wifi did not work and there wasn't any cable.  It was so beautiful we could probably summer there, even without cable, but not without wifi.  So we decided to pack it up and head on closer to Canton. 

We found this wonderful place about 30 miles west of Canton right in the middle of the Amish.  It is a resort so every amenity you would want is here.  We don't know if they have seasonal rates yet, but plan on asking before we leave because this area is great.

Today, we decided to make the "circle" through some of the Amish towns.  About every 10 miles or so is another little community.  I must admit that some of the items that were in their shops are items that I've never seen.  Very nice and very good prices.  Picked up a few things.  Van finally found a fire poker which we've been looking for since last year's New Year camping trip with Dick and Joanne.  Also, there were several quilt shops and to my surprise had a pretty good selection of 30's fabric.  Of course, the wool up here is to die for.

We were told that you have to eat at least one meal at an Amish restaurant, so we did.  Good choice there too. 

It was getting late in the day so we thought we'd better get back to the motorhome for our killer dog.  Luckily we arrived and about 10 minutes later the Tornado Warning Siren from the phones and ipads starting going off every few minutes.  Van and I aren't ones to get too worried with weather, but the rain and wind were horrible and don't forget....we are in a trailer!

 I think we are heading to the Pro Football Hall of Fame tomorrow in Canton.  For those of you who don't know, I was born in Akron and lived in the area until I was 7.  Mom has given me directions and before we leave we plan on trying to find some old places.

Talk to you soon.

 In one of the towns there was some sort of auction.  There were more buggies than cars.

The quilt picture below was in the restaurant and I just love the pattern.  I think I'm going to have to do this.

Niagara Falls Canada

We arrived at the KOA in Niagara Falls on Thursday night.  It's really a nice KOA but the wifi is awful.  We are at a McDonalds now trying to download pictures. Hopefully we will be able to finish downloading pictures soon and get this update sent out.

Kristin and Chris had flown to Buffalo NY for a family reunion over the weekend. We knew it was going to be tough to figure out how we could see each other. They had planned to see the Falls from the Canadian side and hopefully then we could see them for a few minutes. It turned out that some of the family didn't have their passports with them so they stayed on the American side. We discovered that this weekend was one of the biggest Canadian holidays so this place was packed. It was estimated that trying to go over the bridge into the U.S. (about 1 or 2 miles away) was a 2-3 hr back up through customs so we waved real big at each other (ha).

We booked a 5 hr tour for Saturday.  What a great idea. The boat we rode took us right up to the falls. It was beautiful. Then we went up in the tower that gave panoramic views of the Falls and the area. Then our guide drove us to both ends of the river.  What was so amazing was learning about how many, many miles the Falls had eroded.  It was approximately 7 miles and until recently it eroded an inch per year but now they are controlling the flow of the Falls to where now it is eroding approximately an inch every 10 years.  We also learned that 23 million gallons per minute go over the Horseshoe Falls, which is the Canadian side.  That's hard to imagine!  We also saw the new power plant and learned that it supplies 70% of the power for ALL of New York State.

Today we drove over to Niagara-On-The-Lake.  That area is full of wineries and a beautiful old historic town with quaint shops.

We head in the morning for Canton Ohio for a few days.  Miss all

The Fords, Dearborn Michigan

On Monday and Tuesday we visited the Henry Ford Museum, the adjacent Greenfield Village and the Edsel Ford home which is located in Grosse Pointe Shores about 10 miles further. 

One might anticipate that the Ford Museum would contain only Ford memorabilia but they would be mistaken.  While there is plenty of Ford information there, it contained many more historical artifacts.  We have learned that Henry Ford was not only brilliant but a caring individual.  He had an appreciation for people who were intellectual and excelled in their field and that is evident in the Greenfield Village.  The Greenfield Village was begun in 1930's and contains many original buildings and artifacts which we'll talk about later on.  The museum shows Mr. Ford's keen interest in the history of this country.  In the museum are trains, planes and automobiles.  There are too many to talk totally about but Van has a few favorites we'll mention.

One of the items in the museum was the Fifteen Millionth Model T Ford.



Some of the other items are the field trunks used by George Washington which actually contained the cot that he slept on and cooking and eating utensils. 



There was also the actual rocker that Lincoln was seated in when he was assassinated.



This is the actual car that Kennedy was sitting in when he was assassinated.

This is the actual Rosa Parks' bus
 
This is the "Bullet" which held the world land speed record for some 25 years.

We must add a little bit of humor.  Also there was the Oscar Mayer Weiner vehicle and also a sofa which looks like a hot dog bun with the hot dog and condiments, ketchup, mayonnaise and relish.  I only did this for my grand babies but it was fun being a "hot dog."














When we finished the museum we went to Greenfield Village which has more exhibits than can be imagined.  Henry Ford's love of history is evident in this village.  He selected buildings associated with pioneers of American history and their contributions to the American way of life.  He had many original buildings taken apart and moved to this location for the purpose of education of people.  This is a wonderful, wonderful opportunity for family and children.  Plan to spend the day if you come.

Below is Henry Ford's childhood home which he shared with his parents and 5 brothers and sisters.  Henry did not like farm work and his interests were more creative in nature so he left home at the age of 16 for the city.

A few of the buildings that found most interesting are listed below.




One of the buildings was an actual courthouse where Abraham Lincoln practiced law prior to becoming President











Another is the Heinz house which
obviously is of the Heinz family.
It was interesting to find out that their first product was not ketchup but was in fact horseradish sauce.




 
This is believed to be the oldest windmill in the United States



This is Orville and Wilbur Wright's home.  They also have on sight the bicycle shop from which they devised some of their designs in making the plane.

 

This is my favorite "little" house in the Village.  It is called the Cotswold Cottage, which is an exact reproduction of an old English cottage.  This style is also the style that Edsel and Eleanor Ford designed their house in Grosse Point Shores after.  If you can't tell, I am standing in the doorway of "my" new home!



This is the Noah Webster Home.  It was initially designed as his retirement home.  However, as it turned out he did many years of work in this home on adding to the "Webster" dictionary.

 

 

This was a restaurant featuring southern cooking and was named Mrs. Fisher's because she was one of the very first black persons to publish a cookbook.  We elected not to eat there and instead chose the Eagle Tavern which featured primarily period recipes.  The waiters were dressed in period clothing also.  Among other things, they featured the corn chowder and mint julep drinks (which were incredible).  We asked for and they gave us the recipe for the corn chowder and Van got a personal lesson from the bartender on how to make real mint juleps.
 
 

 

The next day we toured the 60 room mansion of Edsel and Eleanor Ford.  It was located on a lake with breathtaking views.   The home was built in the style of the Cotswold Cottage and it was 30,000 square feet.  Edsel was the only child of Henry and Clara Ford.  Edsel and Eleanor had 3 boys and 1 girl.  There is only surviving one of the boys.  Edsel died in his late 40's about 3 years before his father Henry died.  Eleanor stayed in the house until 1976 upon her death.  We were not allowed to take pictures of anything inside the home which was a shame because there is no way for us to describe this house in enough detail.  Most of the wood paneling, stairway and furniture was from between the 1500's to the 1700's and was brought for use in the home from all over the world, mostly England..


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


When their daughter, Josephine, turned 12, her grandmother had her a "playhouse" built.   This is a picture of the playhouse.   The architect designed the house on a 2/3 scale.  Can you imagine how much fun she had playing there with her friends.





We head out in the morning for Canada and will be turning our phones off but we will have access to email and facebook if you need us.  We are really excited about going to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side.  It just so happens that Chris has a family reunion in Buffalo, New York this weekend, so he and Kristin are flying up to Buffalo on Friday for 3 days and even though we probably won't have time for us to really see each other, we are hoping at least to get a hug and kiss.

Keep us in your prayers for safe driving.  We miss everyone.