Washington D.C.: Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality NM

Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument
Saturday, August 10, 2019, Washington, D.C.

On my last trip to Washington D.C. in 2019, I visited the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument.  This National Monument is interesting for two reasons, obviously one is its connection to the National Women’s Party, a group in the United States that fought for women’s suffrage and other issues of women’s equality.  Second, the history and architecture of this building is so interesting!

The home was built between 1799 and 1800, and it was probably designed by Leonard Harbaugh at the beginning of his career.  He also designed many notable buildings in the early days of Washington D.C.  In 1814, the British partially burned the home during the War of 1812; the stories go that there was gunfire at the home directed at British soldiers.  The home was owned and occupied by the Sewall family until 1912.

Vermont Senator Porter Dale purchased the home in 1922, and renovated it.  Meanwhile, the National Women’s Party had purchased a different property nearby, which was seized by eminent domain to build the Federal Triangle complex.  On the hunt for a new headquarters property, organization co-founder Alva Vanderbilt Belmont purchased an option for the Sewall House.  They purchased the property in 1929.  In the 1950s there was a proposal to condemn the building and demolish it to build underground security vaults for the Senate building.  Thankfully, citizen opposition saved the building.

What was going on inside the walls was equally fascinating!

The fight for women’s suffrage in the United States is largely considered to have begun at the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1840.  I have visited that site as well, if you want to read more about it!  It took 80 more years of lobbying and protesting before white women finally universally gained the right to vote in the United States.  Of course, this all happened before the National Women’s Party owned the Belmont-Paul House, but since that time, the party has lobbied for other issues of women’s rights and eliminating sex discrimination, notably, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

The ERA was passed by Congress in 1972, and was ratified by some of the states, but it was not passed by enough states to become an amendment to the Constitution.  Since the deadline passed, a few more states have ratified the amendment, but of course, those are not legally binding.  Some detractors argue that after so many other laws have passed, notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act of 1963, that the amendment is no longer needed.

The tour of the house included some of the artifacts of the party, like writing desks and clothing, as well as exhibits on the attempt to pass the suffrage legislation.  There were also banners that the women carried during their two and a half year picket of the White House.  You read that correctly!  Women involved in the National Women’s Party stood outside the White House from January 10, 1917, to June 1919.  They were there in all sorts of weather, and were arrested, beaten, and went on hunger strikes to protest their treatment in jail.  In response, prison guards forced feeding tubes down their throats, causing injuries that never healed.  The attempt to gain women’s suffrage was not always a peaceful undertaking.   

In 2021, the National Women’s Party ceased operations, and donated its papers and artifacts to the Library of Congress.  The legacy of this movement lives on in the education provided by the National Monument at the Belmont-Paul House.  It was an interesting place to visit! 

 

 

 

2024 Retirement Diaries: Back from Michigan

My Mom and I got home from our trip to Michigan on Sunday evening.  We were away for about ten days, and had a wonderful balance of doing some sightseeing, antiquing and thrift shopping, and relaxing.

We headed out the Thursday before last, heading out from Minnesota at about 7:30 in the morning, and made the 10 hour drive in one day.  Fortunately, the weather was pretty decent for the Midwest mid-winter, with some rain, no snow and periods of sun.  Traffic through Chicago was light; way better than what I generally experience going through Seattle in the mid-afternoon!  Other than rest areas, gas and a drive-through for lunch, we basically just cruised all day and arrived in Michigan around 7 pm, in time for a delicious chili dinner at my aunt, uncle and cousin’s house!

The next week we kept busy, but not busy at my usual travel pace.  We checked out some antique stores, some thrift stores, and a new rock shop in town.  The rock shop was huge and had so many cool rocks!  It was hard to control myself. 

My cousin and I went to breakfast with her coworker and went to the beach at Lake Michigan to look for rocks.  We were there for about an hour before we were completely freezing, but it was a worthwhile trip.  I found an amazing agate!

We had lunch and dinner with another aunt, uncle and cousin.  I took some walks out in the neighborhood, and one day it was even too warm for my coat.  It is unheard of to be wandering around in the winter in just a fleece!

One afternoon we went to a local high school play and that evening we ate seven layer dip with tortilla chips and watched the Superbowl.  Wow!  The game was mostly boring with a lot of spice thrown in right at the end!  I thought the half-time show was rather meh…

We checked out a local museum in Kalamazoo, which had a small exhibit on the history of the mental asylum in the area.  It originally opened in 1859, and was known as the Michigan Asylum for the Insane.  The hospital is still in operation, celebrating 165 years this year.  Malcolm X’s mother and the inventor of the Gibson guitar were both institutionalized there.  It was an interesting exhibit, and they showed several books that have been written about the asylum and the asylum system.  Unfortunately, the museum doesn’t have a gift shop!

I got lots of reading done, and some writing, and it was nice to spend time with family.  One evening, we watched Oppenheimer.  I know it got mixed reviews even though it has been nominated for 13 Oscars.  For sure, it’s long, and it’s hard to sit for that much time without your butt falling asleep.  Plus it is a complicated story, so you have to pay attention, and it helps if you know at least some of the background for the development of the atom bomb.  But I thought it was a really good movie!  Better than Killers of the Flower Moon, which I saw a few months ago.

On the way home, mom and I did a two day drive and diverted to Galena, Illinois.  Galena is one of the most historic cities in the Midwest, with white settlement going back to the 1820s.  Plus, the Civil War General and U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant lived there for a time!  In fact, nine Civil War Generals are from Galena.  There is too much there for Galena to not get its own post, so watch for that in the future!  It was also frigidly cold while we were there, and some things were closed for the winter, so this is certainly a little town I will want to visit again.

We drove a bit of the historic Route 20 (the longest road in the United States), and the Great River Road (which goes along the Mississippi River) on the way home as well.  We were able to travel through small towns and farmland, and get off the main highways.  Most of the attractions were closed, as we headed through on a winter Sunday morning, but it was a beautiful scenic route!

All in all, it was a fun family visit, with a bit of sightseeing, and well worth the trip.  Hopefully next time I’ll be able to see my family on the other side of the state as well!

 

 

Circus Trip 2018: Bodie State Historic Park

Day 89, Friday, October 12, 2018
Bodie State Historic Site, Bridgeport, California

The night before I had stayed in Bishop, California, at a fun family owned campground that was very busy for early fall.  It got a bit cold that night, but I was snug in my car bed.

In the morning, I got on the road and drove up to Bridgeport, California.  I had been interested in going to Devil’s Postpile National Monument, but unfortunately it was closed for the season.  I had read online that it was generally open through the end of October, so that was disappointing; I will have to go back!

I stopped at the Visitor’s Center for Mono Lake, which had information on Bodie, Mono Lake and Yosemite.  I was excited to visit all three! I decided to start with Bodie, and was happy that it was a beautiful sunny, day.  Bodie is 11 miles off the main highway; the last three miles are gravel and some of it was very rough.  I bounced along and took it all in stride as all the California drivers passed me.  But soon enough, I was there, and I was in for a real treat!

I paid the $8 admission and bought the information book for $2 (prices have gone up since then I’m sure), and they set me loose on the park.

Bodie started out as a mining camp in 1859 when gold was discovered there; it became a boom town in 1876.  Within three years there were about 8,000 people and 2,000 buildings, with many of the residents mining both gold and silver, and the rest providing goods and services to the miners.  Sadly, the boom was short-lived and the town began to decline as early as 1880; I think this might have been because of the climate. 

Bodie is a harsh place; at almost 8,400 feet in elevation, and little protection from the elements, Bodie gets extremely cold and the wind can blow up to 100 miles per hour.  In fact, Bodie experiences an average of 303 days per year where nights are below freezing, and only two days per year on average where the low temperature stays above 50 degrees.  It is considered a subarctic climate; not something you really think about in California.  Wow.

Bodie was basically a ghost town by 1915, although the last remaining mine closed in 1942 and there were residents there until the mid-1940s.  Now the town is in a state of arrested decay; the park preserves the buildings as best it can, but does not restore them.  That said, time and a couple of fires have reduced the 3,000 buildings that were there at its peak, to about 150 now.  Even still, it is one of the most complete ghost towns that exists in the United States, and it is so cool to explore!

I spent several hours wandering the site, peeking in windows, walking the streets, and imagining what it would have been like to live there.  It was such an interesting place!  I was there until about 3 in the afternoon, but I still wanted to see Mono Lake, so I got back on the road.  On the way, I found this big herd of sheep, so I had to get a photo!  I’ll share about the lake next – it isn’t just any old lake!

 

 

Circus Trip 2018: Death Valley National Park

Day 87 & 88, Wednesday & Thursday, October 10 & 11, 2018
Death Valley National Park, Death Valley, California

I arrived at Death Valley National Park in the evening, and got a campsite at the Oasis Resort Campground.  Now, you should know that the Oasis Resort looked like an actual resort, with nice lodging and green, watered grass and a golf course.  The campground was, let’s just say, not an oasis.  It was basically a gravel parking lot, with a bizarre unisex portable bathroom (it wasn’t actually designed to be unisex, and rather was just a regular portable bathroom building that they let anyone into – UGH).  I hope they have fixed that bathroom issue by now, but that’s a story for another time.  However, for $15 a night the campground had one perk that was amazing!  The spring fed pool for the resort, with entrance included with your campground stay.  That pool was amazing!

I soaked for several hours that night in that pool.  It was a warm night, the water was warm and the dark skies made for an incredible view of the stars.  I just floated, watched the stars, and listened to the conversations going on around me.  It was one of the most incredible nights of my trip, just watching the stars from that warm swimming pool, and I would go back there just for that pool! Pictures won’t do it justice.

The next morning, I got up and wandered around the Oasis area of the park.  I had breakfast at the cafe, which seemed more like a cafeteria – the food was fine but nothing spectacular.  I checked out the equipment outside of the Borax Museum, but didn’t get to go inside because it didn’t open until 10 am.  One day I’ll get back there.  Then I went to the Visitor’s Center at Furnace Creek, got my passport stamp and postcards and headed out into the day.  I didn’t spend too much time there, as I wanted to do my sightseeing before it got too hot.

Badwater Basin

Badwater Basin is the lowest point in the United States, at 282 feet below sea level.  I walked out to the salt flats, and marveled at the fact that the walk was longer than it looked.  Keep that in mind if you walk out there on a hot day.  The salt dries into a honeycomb pattern, and it looks really neat, so I occupied myself with plenty of photos.  I was surprised that there were birds flitting about the saltwater pond.

Artist’s Palette Scenic Drive

The Artist’s Palette scenic drive was pretty, but it hadn’t rained recently when I visited, so the colors weren’t popping the way they do when the ground is wet.  Iron oxide and chlorites give the layers their bright colors.  I got out at the viewpoints and took photos and appreciated the scenery.  It was surprisingly not very busy, but they do say that sunrise and sunset offer the best times to view the colors here.

Zabriskie Point

The Zabriskie Point viewpoint was a bit more crowded with people checking out the surreal layered landscape.  It was named for Christian Zabriskie, one of the prominent men in the Pacific Coast Borax Company.  The largest peak of the landscape here is Manly Beacon, named for one of the gold rush prospectors who came through the area during the California Gold Rush; it rises 823 feet from the canyon floor.  You will probably recognize this view, parts of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi were filmed here.  This is one of the best spots for sunset in the park if you go.

I drove back to the Visitor’s Center as I was passing by and checked out the park movie.  It was interesting, as it showed the perspective of the Native Americans who had traveled and lived here historically.

Harmony Borax Works

Then I headed to see an old borax mining operation – fascinating!  The Harmony Borax Works was started in late 1883, and at its peak employed about 40 mostly Chinese workers.  It was a difficult operation, requiring extracting the sodium borate from the ore.  The ore was dumped into boiling water vats and carbonated soda was added, which made the borax dissolve and the lime and mud settle out.  Then the dissolved borax was moved into cooling vats, where it resolidified and crystallized on rods.  The finished borax was hauled by mule teams on a 165 mile, 10 day trip to Mojave, California.

On the 0.4 mile hike around the borax works, there was an old building where borax was extracted, old mining equipment, and a 20-mule team wagon.  That was so cool to see!  My mom has a Borax 20-mule team wagon model that my parents got before I was born.  It used to sit on my dad’s workbench when I was growing up, and I love looking at it.  It was neat to finally see the place where this model got its start.  I’ll have to get her to dig it out, so it can be displayed once more!

Sand Dunes

The last place I visited that day was the sand dunes.  The signs advertised that sidewinder rattlesnakes live here, but sadly I didn’t see any!  They do burrow underground to escape the hottest temperatures, and are often nocturnal to avoid the daytime heat.  I was fascinated by the fact that this park has so many different ecosystems within its boundaries.

Death Valley was an interesting place.  It doesn’t rank near the top of my favorite National Parks, due to its desolation and heat, but there are still places here that I would like to return to see.  I had to get on my way, and check out Eastern California!

Circus Road Trip 2018: Oz Museum and Wamego, Kansas

Day 76, Saturday, September 29, 2018
Wamego, Kansas

Have you ever heard of Wamego, Kansas?  What? No?!?  I hadn’t either…  But there is a small town in Kansas called Wamego, and it is home to the Oz Museum.  As in the Wizard of Oz.  Why Wamego?  Was it Dorothy’s hometown?  Nope.  Apparently somebody felt that there needed to be an Oz Museum in Kansas and they created one!  There was a guy who loaned his Oz collection to the museum and it opened in 2003.

There was just one issue.  You see, the collection was only available for five years.  Fortunately for the museum, they were contacted by a second collector before the five years was up, and he happened to have an even larger collection of Oz memorabilia than the first one. 

There are memorabilia items from Oz’s entire history, from first editions of the Oz books to a reproduction pair of ruby slippers, made for the 50th anniversary of the movie.  There are displays featuring the characters from the movie, life-sized and perfect for selfies, and even some characters from the book series that didn’t make it into the movie.  You know that Oz was a book series long before it became a movie, right? 

The displays and items include more recent memorabilia too, even featuring Michael Jackson’s The Wiz version of the movie.  All in all, it’s a small museum that will please Wizard of Oz fans, and takes about an hour to see (unless you stay to watch the movie, which plays on an endless loop). 

Next door was the Oz Winery, and I stopped in to do a tasting of their wines, and found a couple that I liked.  I bought a bottle of the Emerald City Lights and they had all sorts of Oz themed items for sale, so I got a friend a t-shirt that she loves! 

Before I left Wamego, I wandered around a little bit to see a few of the Toto statues that are placed around town; each one is painted differently and they were fun to see.  There was even a Yellow Brick Road!

On the way out, I saw a sign for the Beecher Bible and Rifle Church.  Of course, I had to check this out.  What the heck is a Rifle Church?!?  As it turns out, the town of Wabaunsee, Kansas, where the church is located, was founded in 1855 by emigrants from New Haven, Connecticut who established the Connecticut Kansas Colony.  The colony then became known as the Beecher Rifle Colony, due to the following history. These abolitionist settlers heard a sermon by abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher (Harriet Beecher Stowe’s brother) and he also helped supply rifles for the men to defend themselves.  Remember, at this time, there was a heated debate about whether Kansas Territory would become a free state or a slave state and tempers were high. As legend goes, the rifles were smuggled through pro-slavery areas in crates marked “Beecher’s Bibles,” and later the guns themselves were called Beecher’s Bibles. Wabaunsee became part of the Underground Railroad in late 1856 and helped Lawrence, Kansas after Quantrill’s Raid.  How’s that for some pre-Civil War history?  Of course, none of this history was explained at the church so I had to look it up later on the internet. 

I also learned that the church was finished in 1862, made of local limestone with stone accents, and built by church member Robert Banks.  It is built in a style known as Plains Vernacular and the church has designated men’s and women’s sides.  How interesting!  The church was closed, so I took a photo outside and continued on my way. 

It was time to continue on the road west.  I drove for a few hours and then stayed the night at the Ellis City Campground, in Ellis Kansas, just off I-70.  It was a small campground on the shore of the Ellis City Lake, and a quiet place, even on the weekend.  And for $15, it was a steal!  It was cold and windy that evening, so after my dinner of leftover BBQ ribs, I nestled early into my car cocoon.  One of the perks of having the bed in my car, rather than having to sleep in the tent!

Circus Trip 2018: Harry S Truman NHS

Day 75, Friday, September 28, 2018
Harry S Truman National Historic Site, Independence, Missouri

After camping in a small, family owned campground called Hanson Hills (they also do taxidermy!) somewhere between St. Louis and Independence, Missouri, I drove for a few hours across the state.  I was doing a bit of a quick reset through the Midwest so I could get to the West, where I wanted to spend more time.  It meant I had to make some sacrifices!

I ended up in Independence, Missouri at about 12:30 pm, and immediately headed to the Visitor Center at the Harry S Truman National Historic Site.  I signed up for the 1 pm tour of Truman’s Home.

The Truman home is a large, white Queen-Anne Victorian style home that was built by Bess Truman’s grandfather in 1867.  He ran a successful lumber business, so no expense was spared in making the home a showpiece.  It is pretty!

The Trumans were a close knit family, with their daughter Margaret continuing to travel with the Trumans on the campaign trail and spending time at the White House into adulthood.  They enjoyed music, with Harry Truman playing the piano, and Margaret accompanying as a classically trained soprano.

My tour was interesting.  After Harry Truman died in 1972, his wife Bess continued to live in the home until her death in 1982.  She donated the home to the National Park Service at that time, along with all the furnishings and personal items in the home.  The piano and music that Truman loved to play is there.  So is the calendar that Bess had hanging on the wall in the kitchen from the year she died.  The damaged linoleum floor is even original.

Sadly, the tour only includes the first floor of the home, as the second floor is unstable and unsafe for visitors.  You also can’t take photos inside the home…

The last car that Harry owned is in the garage; a 1972 Chrysler Newport.  He only had it for 6 months before he passed away, and then his wife used it until she died.  Even still, it only has 19,000 miles.  The license plate, 5745, was specially requested by Truman, as it commemorates VE Day, the end of World War II in Europe.  It was also a day before his birthday.  The license plate number has been permanently retired.

The historic site also includes other homes in the neighborhood that are open to the public on a self-guided tour, and I checked those out as well.  The Noland, Frank Wallace and George Wallace homes are there; the Nolands were Truman’s cousins and the Wallaces were his brother-in-laws.  It isn’t common anymore for the relatives to all live so close!  They are all much more simple than the Truman home but interesting to see.

I took a walk around the block and checked out some of the other homes in the neighborhood.  It seemed like a nice place to live!  I also saw a mule drawn wagon ride go by with some late season tourists having a good time.  I would also really love to visit the Jackson County Historical Society and their 1859 preserved County Jail.  It looked so cool!

I drove by the Harry Truman Library but decided not to stop, as the price was a bit steep for a quick stopover.  Truman and Bess are buried there, but their graves are inside the museum, so I’ll have to check that out on a return visit.  The ranger had recommended A Little BBQ Joint for good Kansas City style BBQ, so I stopped in there for a late lunch.  I had the combo sandwich with pulled pork and brisket, and it was so delicious!  They had three levels of kick in their sauce; I tried the Sweet Sister and the Mad Housewife.  I also got some ribs to go for the next day.

When I left, I decided to check out the Truman Farm.  Truman moved in with his family on this farm in 1906, giving up a hefty bank salary ($100 per month) to do it.  He lived with his parents, grandmother, sister, brother, and hired hands.  The farmhouse had no plumbing or electricity.  He spent eleven years doing heavy physical labor around the farm, until he left to join the military in 1917, to serve in World War I.  The day I visited, the farm wasn’t open, so I just spent a few minutes outside, taking photos and checking out the place.  I always find it so fascinating to stand where Presidents stood.

Although it was time to get back on the road, there was a lot to see in Independence and I would like to return!

 

 

Circus Trip 2018: Ulysses S. Grant NHS

Day 74, Thursday, September 27, 2018
Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site, St. Louis, Missouri

Just outside St. Louis, Missouri is the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site.  This site, with its home called White Haven has a long history associated with President Ulysses S. Grant.

The home was built in 1808 (other sources say between 1812 and 1816), and the property was purchased in 1821 by Frederick Dent, who eventually became Ulysses S. Grant’s father-in-law. Dent built White Haven up as a fairly large plantation; it had 850 acres and grew wheat, oats, corn, potatoes and hay.  They also had several varieties of orchard fruits, including peaches, apples, plums, apricots, nectarines and grapes.  There were still extensive forests too.

Grant met his wife Julia in 1843, when he visited White Haven to visit his friend and classmate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, who happened to be Julia’s brother Fred.  At the time, Grant was stationed in the Army at Jefferson Barracks, only five miles south of White Haven.  The two fell in love and eventually married in 1848.  Although Grant struggled with the launch of his career and tried his hand at a number of failed ventures, the marriage was a happy one.  Grant spent long periods of time away from Julia in their early marriage, when he went out West for his Army career.  Julia stayed at White Haven with her family.

Grant suffered from a depressive episode and quit the Army and returned to White Haven from the West Coast in 1854.  Between 1854 and 1859, he lived with Julia and the Dent family at White Haven, while farming, serving as an engineer, and dabbling in real estate in St. Louis.  By all accounts, he was not a particularly successful man at this time.  He did build Hardscrabble, a log cabin on the property with a name that was intentionally chosen to poke fun at the difficulty of their life then.  In 1859, the Grants moved to St. Louis for a short period and then to Galena, Illinois for Grant to go into business with his brothers.

They never again lived at White Haven, but continued to own the property until shortly before Grant’s death.  White Haven served as the home for the Dent and Grant families until 1885 (some sources say 1881), when Grant used it to pay off a debt to William Henry Vanderbilt.

What a fabulous place!  This home was acquired by the National Park Service relatively late in the game; it became a National Historic Site in 1989.  Thankfully, it was saved from becoming an amusement park in the early 1900s.  Hardscrabble was acquired by the Busch family and became a part of the nearby Grant’s Farm theme park; I’ll have to go visit it sometime.

Today White Haven is in much the same condition as it was then; although an attached kitchen was added later by a caretaker of the property.  A summer kitchen remains, which may have also been slave quarters, along with an ice house, chicken house, and a barn that was built in the 1870s.  All are open to visit or peek into, and there are exhibits about Grant’s life and the Dent’s life on the plantation.

The exhibits don’t mince words; although historic accounts indicate that the Dents and Grant were most likely fairly kind slave owners overall, Julia seemingly was completely unaware of the hard work these men and women provided for the family.  She spoke about the slaves being able to partake in all food products grown by the farm, as well as several types of meat and fish, without any recognition of the fact that these enslaved people had no freedom to directly benefit from their labors.  Grant himself is known to have owned one slave during his time at White Haven and while working his Hardscrabble Farm.  It is not known whether he purchased William Jones or if he received Jones as a gift; the historical record does show that he freed Jones in 1859.

Oh, and surely you have noticed the bright green paint on the house.  Yes indeed, that paint color was selected by U.S. Grant and his wife Julia when they painted White Haven in 1874; it is called Paris Green.  Do you love it or hate it?!?

And in unrelated news, I happened to have taken one of my favorite selfies here!

I enjoyed wandering around on the farm and seeing the buildings and exhibits.  It was an informative visit!

Circus Trip 2018: Gateway Arch NP

Day 74, Thursday, September 27, 2018
Gateway Arch National Park, St. Louis, Missouri

In my last post, I explained the history of Gateway Arch National Park, but I was so excited to visit again!  My first visit had been in 2006 with friends, but this would be my first visit by myself.

My first order of business was to purchase my ticket to go up to the top of the arch in their little pod unit.  There is always a bit of a wait for tickets, but going solo means they can fit you in more easily!

While I waited, I checked out the Westward Expansion museum in the basement of the arch.  It is a great museum dedicated to telling the story of the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark’s expedition to the West Coast, and the stories of the later pioneers.  It was definitely worth a return visit!

In short order, it was my turn to get into the pod.  I climbed in, and to be honest it is a little bit claustrophobia inducing.  It’s really tight in there, but it helps to look out the window in the pod to see the inside wall of the arch and the machinery that moves the pods up and down through the arch.

Soon I was at the top, and I got to see the incredible view!  The windows in the Arch are very small, but they give a great view of the buildings down below, and the river nearby.  I found the small windows to be good for not making my fear of heights flare up!  There are also some displays that give you some interesting facts about the arch.  Did you know that the Gateway Arch is 630 feet tall, and also 630 feet wide at the base?  You can stay up in the Arch for as long as you want, and then you just line up to catch the next pod going down.  

Afterwards, I headed over to the Old Courthouse, to check it out once again.  It was built between 1839 and 1864, and was the place where the Dred Scott trial first started.  So this courthouse was one of the pivotal places leading up to the Civil War.  The building has been renovated to stabilize it, but many of the historical features are still intact, and it is an incredible building.  I wandered around for a while, checking out the architecture of this amazing courthouse.

There was a lot to see and do here, even though it is a small park.  Soon enough though, it was time to get on the road; I had more I wanted to see nearby!

 

Circus Trip 2018: Kalamazoo, Michigan

Day 72, Tuesday, September 25, 2018
In and around Kalamazoo, Michigan

After more than two months on the road, my car was a bit of a mess.  Staying at my Aunt and Uncle’s place gave me a great opportunity for reorganizing!  You get a few weird looks anywhere when you are laying all of your possessions out on the driveway, but at least this way I could put it out on the concrete and not on campground dirt.

Mom and Dad had 16 jars of cherry preserves that they wanted me to fit in the car, since they had flown out to Michigan on that trip.  Cherry preserves are tough to find out here in Washington – it is apparently a regional flavor!  So I spent a few hours retucking, consolidating, folding and rounding up strays that morning – soon enough I had a neat, controlled environment in the camping car again!  Then it was time for an afternoon of fun with my cousin!

Megan and I headed over first to the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts to see some of their exhibits.  Some of the art was very sexually risque, with an entire exhibit of contemporary art of naked men with erections.  Not really my thing, but I guess art offers something for everyone.  There was plenty of other art that was more to my taste, with elaborate blown glass, Western art, and some interesting sculpture.  At any rate, it was a good visit to an art museum I hadn’t seen before.

Next up we did a quick stop at Henderson Castle, a Bed and Breakfast in Kalamazoo.  It is a ten bedroom, seven bathroom castle that was built in 1895 for Frank Henderson and his wife Mary.  Frank’s company made uniforms and regalia for secret societies, fraternal organizations and the military.  It is a beautiful home and it would be fun to stay there!

We ended our afternoon with a couple of stops at wineries in Paw Paw.  We went to St. Julian; the wines were good, but sadly our server was very disengaged.  It was unfortunate, because I always like hearing about the wines and talking with the server.  I did buy a couple of their wines to take home; their sparkling Brut was delicious and I wish I had some now!

Last but not least we went to Lawton Ridge, which was a winery I have visited before in Paw Paw.  We shared our flights so we could try more wines, and enjoyed several.  I ended up buying a bottle and a cute wine t-shirt.  It was a fun visit!

After our day out, we went home to my Aunt and Uncle’s house and had burgers with pickles and olives, and corn on the cob.  Yum!  We watched TV for a bit, but then I went to bed early in order to do some route planning, so I could resume my travels the next morning.  After a week with family, I would be hitting the road again!

 

Circus Trip 2018: Historical Museum of Bay County

Day 67, Thursday, September 20, 2018
Bay City, Michigan

The Historical Museum of Bay County is operated by the non-profit Bay County Historical Society, and is located in Bay City, Michigan.  My Dad grew up in Bay County, living in Munger, a tiny little town that is no longer incorporated.  He attended high school in Bay City because the Catholic School in Munger didn’t go past 8th grade.

The Bay County Historical Society was first created in 1919, and is located within the former National Guard Armory building, that was built in 1910.  The building itself is a beautiful historic structure.

But Mom and I had a different interest in visiting the museum that day.  My grandfather, served in World War I in the Ambulance Corps.  Yes, you read that correctly.  World War ONE.  You see, my grandfather was already well into middle age when he married my grandmother at the age of 48; he was born in 1887.  And when he was serving, they were still using horse and mule drawn ambulances.  My grandfather, having grown up on a farm that used horse drawn plows, would have been a hot commodity on a horse drawn ambulance crew.  

My Grandfather, Circa 1918 in World War I

The Historical Museum of Bay County happens to have a World War I ambulance among their collection that was from my grandfather’s unit.  It was so cool to see!  This ambulance is a motorized one, and we aren’t sure if my grandfather ever used it, as the end of the war was a period of transition from horse drawn to motorized vehicles.  So it might not have been an ambulance that my grandfather used, but wouldn’t that be neat if it was! 

Either way, it felt like a step back in time to experience just a tiny bit of what my grandfather would have experienced when he was in the War.  He also was stationed in France for nine months after the Armistice, as the wounded were still being treated and evacuated back to their home countries.  There was a lot of work to do for a soldier in the Ambulance Corps even after the war ended.  

We checked out the other exhibits at the museum, including Bay County’s history in the logging industry, historic nursing uniforms and the history of the fire service.  We only had a limited amount of time, and there was way more that we didn’t get to!  It was a worthwhile stop, and there is no charge to see it!

 

I never met my grandfather, as he died in 1960, long before I was born, and I never got to hear any of his stories.  It was nice to have some small connection to him.