Saturday was my first adventure day of the year and it was with a new adventure pal. I knew we would make great travel buddies when she suggested we needed chocolate for the road trip.
Yup. We got along just fine.
We went to Dayton to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Exhibition. This makeshift art gallery is in a former Elder Beerman store at the mall in Beavercreek.
I’ll tell you more about that tomorrow.
We also had lunch at a restaurant in an old firehouse. With its combination of delicious food and incredible decor, this was the best restaurant experience I’ve had in ages. They had actual vegetarian dishes on the menu! Come back for more on Jimmy’s Ladder 11 this week.
We ended the day at Half Price Books where I gave myself permission to buy an armload of bargain books. I have been in a reading slump lately and it was good to carefully choose some new material at bargain prices.
The is adventure is done and I’m back to my No Spend habits with many happy memories (and some books) to keep me satisfied.
In a 1936 speech, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said “the fundamental idea behind the parks…is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process in making for the enrichment for the lives of all of us.”
He said of the National parks “there is nothing so American.”
It seems fitting that our longest serving president would have his own National Park Memorial on the National Mall. While there is something to be said for them all, this is my favorite for the way it tells a cohesive story.
There are five outdoor rooms, each representing a different part of his life – the years prior to the presidency and one for each of his four terms as President.
It features four and a half tons of South Dakota red granite, 100,000 gallons of flowing water and lots of trees and greenery. Some parts feel like a sanctuary while others tell the sad, unsettling stories that marred his presidency.
Sculptures depict scenes from the Great Depression like men waiting in a bread line and others listening to a fireside chat. There’s a statue of FDR with his little dog Fala, a Scottish Terrier. His own words are inscribed in stone including the phrase “I hate war” from a 1936 speech.
There’s a nice sculpture of his wife Eleanor as well.
The original design offered no depiction of Roosevelt in his wheelchair. While he was wheelchair bound for much of his life, the American public had no idea because he worked so hard to conceal his disability.
However, the National Organization on Disability argued that he should be depicted in the wheelchair he designed for himself. They raised private funds to add it several years after the 1997 dedication in 2001.
The original memorial was designed by Lawrence Halprin, an accomplished landscape architect who had fond memories of the former President. While Halprin won the design contest in 1974, it was another twenty years before Congress awarded the funds to build it.
Incidentally, there is another Roosevelt Memorial that we didn’t visit. Its a 3x7x4 foot block of white granite that was dedicated by the living American Presidents in 1965. It is located on the lawn of the National Archives.
This was actually what Roosevelt suggested. He told his friend Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter his wishes regarding a memorial. Justice Frankfurter recalled the 1941 conversation:
If any memorial is erected to me, I know exactly what I should like it to be. I should like it to consist of a block about the size of this (putting his hand on his desk) and placed in the center of that green plot in front of the Archives Building. I don’t care what it is made of, whether limestone or granite or whatnot, but I want it plain without any ornamentation, with the simple carving, In Memory of….
I can’t help but wonder what he would have to say about this stunning place of natural elements and well thought design that tells the story of his presidency so beautifully.
I hope he would be pleased. As a pet lover, I’m guessing he would be most glad to see his little Fala included by his side.
Southern Ohio was on the receiving end of a nasty ice storm this week. I like a good snowfall but ice is treacherous and heavy, causing tree damage and it downed power lines across a huge swath of the state.
As a remote worker I was fortunate to keep power and still do my job. I also tried to keep my outdoor friends fed and went out after work last night to get a closer look at the ice.
The images above are from my outdoor expedition. The ones below I grabbed from my office window of some creatures that come to Scout’s bird feeder.
He’s not a bird but he’s hungry and Scout is fascinated by squirrels so we are happy to feed him and several others.
And here’s one of an actual bird!
It’s times like these that I’m especially grateful for my cozy home, my house panther and for the fact my remote work status alleviates the worry of travel most days. I’m also grateful for electricity and central heat!
My job took me to the old Logan Theater in downtown Logan, Ohio a couple of years ago. All three floors are being revitalized to serve local teenagers after school, to provide theater space and to provide a general purpose community space. It was pretty exciting to see their plans and progress.
When I was there, the space for the after school crowd was nearing completion and they were readying to move on to another area. They are working hard to create a useful modern space while being true to the integrity of this historic structure and I am pleased to see them do it.
I captured this bit of peeling paint and vintage advertising on that tour. Trust me to find the dark corner with the old sign!
This old church is located on a side street of Jefferson, Ohio. I swung through town on my way back from Jamestown, New York last year and snapped these pictures with my iPhone.
I found it both lovely and haunting. Here’s one more.
You never know what you’ll see while wandering through this world. For example, I once swung into a drive-thru during one of my trips through Pennsylvania. While waiting to order, I looked down to see former teen idol Bobby Vinton staring back at me.
There was no sign or anything so I Googled it while waiting my turn and learned Bobby Vinton was from the town of Canonsburg where I had stopped for that drink.
Known in town as the Polish Prince, Vinton was the only child of a bandleader. He formed his own band and was playing in local clubs at the age of sixteen, helping to finance his musical education at Duquesne University.
Vinton went on to record hits like Blue Velvet and Roses Are Red.
Incidentally, Perry Como also claimed Canonsburg as his hometown. Two famous singers from a town of less than 9,000 is impressive!
Look around, see what you can see and investigate when you find something interesting. You never know what you’ll learn!
