Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day . . . in what has apparently become a new tradition, the Fife Clan returned to Red Boiling Springs, Tn for Mother's Day.  This year we ate at Armour's Hotel, where one can also partake of the mineral baths and the like . . . and of course sample the sulfur water.

The next few pictures are of Avi "taking the waters."  As wikipedia states in their article about Red Boiling Springs: "The various waters contained several minerals but sulfur was predominant, giving the waters the scent (and some would say, the flavor) of rotten eggs."  More like rotten eggs seeped in sewer water.

Trip to Indy, Part 2

Very extensive yard art just outside Jolietville, In.

It is impossible to get everything in a single photograph.  Needless to say, the person who created all of this is very driven.  While we saw no posted signs, we viewed it all from the road.  It would have been nice to amble amongst the dinosaurs, whirligigs, and countless other installations.

The Indiana Medical History Museum compares very favorably to two of our favorite museums . . . the Mütter Museum and the Moosnick Medical and Science Museum at Transylvania University.  Without a doubt, this was our favorite destination of the whole trip to Indy.

 The 100 seat amphitheater.  Even the chairs are original (however, the seats were recaned).

Cold storage unit for awaiting the autopsy room . . . 

The autopsy room complete with table, drains, scales, and a built-in speaking tube connected to offices in the floor above.

One of the three laboratories . . .

Dudeboy perusing through the newly acquired collection (one of the curators (?) just bought the collection for herself and let us look through them as she was organizing them) of stereocards of disease, skin rashes and the like for use with a stereoscopic viewer.

In the library of the facility.  Dudeboy was in heaven . . . oaken cabinets, old books, odd paintings, etc. I daresay, he could envision this as his own study.

Trip within a trip . . . part 1

This, and a forthcoming entry, will basically cover the more touristy type sites we saw in Canada whilst venturing forth on our War of 1812 Tour Year Two. 

Upper Canada Village . . . this is a heritage park that represents a mid-19th century village.  Most of the buildings were moved here from the surrounding area which was flooded due to the St. Lawrence Seaway and is adjacent to the Battle of Crysler's Farm. The Upper Canada Village is one of Canada's largest living history attractions . . . it reminded me of a less pretentious Colonial Williamsburg.

A "traveling medicine show" . . . among the many historic structures there were also many very knowledgeable interpreters. The village enabled a good many of them to continue their lifelong passion and/or profession with the added benefit of educating the general populace. We learned quite a bit just by engaging in conversation with them while they were working.

In addition to touring old mills and the like, we were also able to ride on a canal boat--always a favorite of Dudeboy and Dr. J. The canal can sorta be seen just above the cattle.

Casa Loma in Toronto. A crazy-ass rich dweeb went broke building this mansion for his wife. It seems that he was really into status. Case in point, he was very desirous for a member of the royal family to visit. I found Casa Loma to be a completely disturbing obscene display of elitist vanity. The dang place had its own telephone exchange with 59 telephones. Often, the house switchboard operator handled more calls than did the whole city of Toronto! And the bronze doors that lead to the conservatory each cost $10,000. Keep in mind, the house was built between 1911 and 1914. The man deserved to go broke.

Of course one can not fault the actual structure for the misguided endeavors of the owner. Truly, Casa Loma is very beautiful. And it is massive . . . and I haven't even mentioned the separate hunting lodge and stables!  An 800 foot tunnel was constructed to reach them so the owners could avoid crossing a street . . . a street the city refused to sell him just because he found it a nuisance.

 View of downtown Toronto from Casa Loma . . .

The Royal Ontario Museum (or ROM) in Toronto. This is a must-visit museum if you ever find yourself bored in Toronto. It contains extensive collections pertaining to both cultural history and natural history--so extensive in fact, that we were unable to cover the whole museum.

However, we were able to peruse a wonderful temporary exhibit called Mesopotamia: Inventing Our World. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed in this exhibit composed of ancient treasures from Sumer, Assyria, and Babylon.

But like I said, the permanent collection is amazing in itself . . . specimens from the Burgess Shale, full-size totem poles, ancient artifacts from Rome and Egypt, a gallery pertaining to Canada's First Peoples, etc.

Ground sloth coprolite. The placard stated that . . . "Nothrotheriops, the sloth that produced this coprolite, was about the size of a bear, much smaller than the giant ground sloth, Eremotherium. This coprolite shows us that Nothrotheriops was a herbivore -- you can see the small pieces of plant material preserved in it."

Morgantown, USA

Saturday Dudeboy and I took full advantage of the wonderful weather to hightail it up to Morgantown in Butler County to visit a couple of the tourist sites located in that vicinity.  Well, actually I doubt these places get many visitations and the weather for the day was fairly suspect.  Regardless, we made the best of it and had a grand time.

"In Memoriam, Granville Allen, Co. D 17th KY Inft. Was killed near this spot Oct. 27, 1861. Kentucky's first blood in the War of the Rebellion. Erected by Granville Allen Post 93 G.A.R., Dec. 1894."  Actually, the Battle of Camp Wildcat occurred a few days earlier on Oct. 21, 1861.  

This is one of the more unique monuments we have visited, for it was carved right into a rockface that is exposed along the Old Logansport Road . . . apparently, as a reminder to all who traveled the road of what transpired here at the Skirmish at Big Hill.

Click on this link to see a turn of the century photo of the same spot . . . which is today situated on private property away from the current Logansport Road and is now all but a forgotten old roadbed in some woods.

The marker along the current Logansport Road states:

First Union soldier killed in west Kentucky, while skirmishing on the Big Hill with CSA scouting party Oct. 29, 1861. A stone monument erected, 1894, by Granville Allen, Post 98, G.A.R., marks the place. Member of Co. D, 17th Kentucky Inf., enrolled by Col. John H. McHenry, Calhoun, Oct. 3, 1861. Union army volunteers south of Green River risked danger for home and family.

We then visited this undocumented arch which is obviously known to the locals (graffiti and trash).  It is situated just outside of the downtown area along the Green River.

It is situated high in a cliff with commanding views of the Green River.

The view of Green River from the arch . . .

Toynbee Tile, Fisher, Indiana

 Toynbee Tile located in Fishers, Indiana . . . in a McDonald's parking lot.

TOYNBEE IDEA . . . IN MOVIE 2001 . . . RESURRECT DEAD . . . ON PLANET JUPITER

War of 1812 Road Trip . . . Along the Way, part 2

On the ferry at Put-in-Bay

On the way back from South Bass Island.

Crystal Cave . . . "The World's Largest Geode."  

The people of Almería, Spain might have something to say about that claim.  However, Crystal Cave is very impressive, whatever the claims may be.

South Bass Island Lighthouse.  

Marblehead Lighthouse is "the oldest, continuously operational lighthouse on the Great Lakes."

The Marblehead Lighthouse was built in 1822.

After the s'mores . . . a contented look upon Dudeboy's face.

The impressive statue of Custer in Monroe, Mi.

The Monroe County Historical Museum in Monroe, Mi. has quite a collection pertaining to Custer, including the original headstones for Custer and a few others that were originally located at Little Big Horn.

I can't remember the history of this big Lincoln head.  For a county museum, it had a really nice collection of Civil War artifacts.

The main body of the trip ended with a visit to The Henry Ford Greenfiled Village.  Whatever you think of Ford, it is pretty admirable that he had the forethought to save, collect and move this stuff here. Granted I would much rather have seen these old buildings preserved in their original location, but based on the decisions of the powers that be, many of these structures probably would not exist today.  Above, is part of Edison's Menlo Park.

The world's first Industrial Research Laboratory at Menlo Park.

The Wright Cycle Shop.

While at the Greenfield Village we were able to watch a bit of historic baseball.  What I have shown here is but a very small sampling of what we did and saw at the village.  Of course, an earlier entry related our visit to a War of 1812 encampment.

In search of a couple of Toynbee Tiles in Cincinnati*.  Unfortunately, they had been paved over.  However, we did not suffer a total loss as someone had placed a copy-cat tile with a different message.  The Toynbee Tiles always had this message . . . 

TOYNBEE IDEA IN MOViE `2001 RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER

And there was usually attached a smaller tile with additional cryptic blathering.  

The above copy-cat tile states:

ONE MAN VS MEDIA'S HOUSE OF HADES WHO WILL PAY FOR ALL THEY HAVE DONE IN SOCIETY '2011 PUTRID PATRICIANS

I highly recommend you seek out the 2011 documentary Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles.  

*The link I give for the Cincinnati tiles is outdated.  All are no más.

  

As mentioned in a previous entry, we stopped by the Kentucky State Fair on the way home and Merkin felt inclined to try the Krispy Kreme Hamburger.  To make it especially disgusting I got it fully loaded.  And, oddly enough, it was disgusting.