The Waterstraut Waterspout: Road Trippin!

Hey guys, it's been awhile. We spent the last two weeks in Ohio, and got back on Sunday. I know I posted our Ben Harrison birthday blog, but other than that I've been out a computer. The cooler plug popped on the way up, and leaked all over really nothing but my laptop bag, and a few beach towels.Ugh. Asa put my hard drive in another (very, very old) laptop we have but haven't been using (mostly because it suuuuucks), and retrieved my pictures and my LBJ story (which I was very grateful for since those take at least a day to put together). But, yesterday when I tried to post this blog on the computer it took 45 minutes to upload the pictures, and even then it was just thumbnails with no pictures. He came home last night and worked his magic, and this morning I'm able to use it. It's still not great, but it's better than nothing. I don't want to buy a new one, because I want to save our pennies. But, I was super tempted to let him order me one yesterday.

But in any case, we're back home and Ohio 2015 is over. I think I'll put it in three blogs (fingers crossed it lets me post them before it overheats and shuts off). First up: our roadtrip up. I LOATHE the drive to Ohio, especially without an extra driver. (Hurry up with that license, Calib!) I figured I could make it better by taking a few days to get up there and making some fun stops along the way. The first day we decided to make the trek to Clint and Jess's house in Knoxville, TN, but we made a stop in Atlanta to visit the Jimmy Carter presidential library!

It was a little rainy and dreary when we got there, but the grounds are gorgeous. I wish we had more time to explore them. At $8 for adults and kids 16 and under free, I think it'll be a stop we make again sometime. It's easy off of I-75, and at some point I'd like to take the kids to Atlanta for the weekend, maybe camp at Stone Mountain park. Anyway, if you're ever there, it's worth a stop.

Now, when you tell the kids you're going to a presidential library, they just couldn't picture anything but books. Peyton knew better. He's been to a few, including the amazing Lincoln library/museum in Springfield. But, Calib just couldn't wrap his head around it.

I really would have preferred to have visited after Carter's birthday, that way it would be a reinforcing tool as opposed to introductory. But, I took a TON of pictures to use as the props for his birthday timeline, hopefully to jog the boy's memories. When you first arrive, there's a short video to watch, and then the doors open and they dump you off into a museum that takes you through the life of Jimmy Carter.

I always encourage lots of reading at these museums, and thankfully my kids are always up for it. But, it's all presented in a very appealing modern way.

Calib found this, and pointed it out to me.

They also have a replica of the Oval Office during Jimmy Carter's presidency. The boys noticed "The Buck Stops here" sign on his desk, and questioned me with "But mom, I thought that was Harry Truman's sign?" Apparently, Harry Truman's daughter gave this to Jimmy for his desk.

The Oval Office was my favorite thing in the whole museum.

But they really do make this whole place kid friendly. Hayden was pulling out drawers to find everything from official documents to plans for Amy Carter's White House tree house.

There's lots of interactive displays to keep the kids busy along the way too.

The boys pointed this out, along with a baseball signed by all 5 living presidents.

There's also a section of crazy gifts President Carter was given. (My favorite was the tucan pitcher given to him from Mexico). Peyton really liked this painting. Far away it looks like Jimmy Carter, but up close it's a bunch of flags, ships and buildings. It's super cool, and in the gift shop they had a puzzle of this very painting. We bought it for our activity for Jimmy Carter's birthday. (Although we might still do something with peanuts that day!)

His after presidency section of the museum has a game in which kids get to be part of his humanitarian efforts by playing games. It's pretty cool.

Since we've been studying presidents, there are quite a few awards the boys have been hearing about over and over again. They finally got to see them in person. We have the presidential medal of freedom... (which has been given to JFK, LBJ, Reagan, Ford, Carter, H.W. Bush, and Clinton)

The Nobel Peace Prize (Teddy, Carter, Woodrow Wilson, and Obama have all gotten one... and Al Gore, the only Vice President to have one).

And a Grammy for best spoken word album! (Carter, Clinton, and Obama all have one for their books!)

Stop complete, and we were on our way.

We got to Clint and Jess's house around 7, had some dinner and visited with Jess. (Clint was in Boston at Harvard for a couple of days for work).

Jess left us food to distract Elemeno when we left. He has abandonment issues.

We stopped in Lexington at Wild Eggs, a breakfast/brunch place that has a couple of locations throughout Kentucky.

Then we made our way to Louisville where we stopped by the Louisville Slugger museum.

Hayden held Mickey Mantle's bat...

...and David Ortiz's bat.

There's a museum to check out..

But you also get to go on a tour of the factory. You can't take pictures once you go into the actual factory, but those are the billets they make bats out of. We saw some handmade ones, and how they do them now with the various machines. We also discovered the minor leagues have to pay for their bats, while the majors get theirs for free. We saw the logo for Louisville Slugger get burned into the bats, and saw them getting dipped with various colors. It was very cool, and worth the stop. Calib said it was the second coolest place he's ever been. (The first is the Football Hall of Fame, in case you're wondering).

After our tour we checked out the rest of the museum.

And then we were on our way. Our other stop in Louisville was Zachary Taylor's grave. You know, the guy who ate too many cherries, died, and left Millard Fillmore in charge.

This monument is pretty cool, but he's actually in the building to the right.

You can't go in, but you can still see his tomb.

Since he died so suddenly, his original resting place is just behind the monument and building.

We should have just gone to Indianapolis after that, but instead we headed over to Cincinnati where we could stay with Cort and Holly instead of paying for a hotel. After getting stuck in traffic and being within 20 minutes of their house for 2 hours, I decided next time, I'll bite the bullet and pay for the hotel. The next morning I aimed to leave the house at 9am. I totally nailed it.

Our first stop in Indie was to check another stadium off my list. Lucas Oil is super cool, by the way. I had sort of hoped we'd be there during a preseason game and we could have gone. But, we missed it by one day.

Just a few blocks away is the house of our 23rd president, Benjamin Harrison.

It just so happened the day we were there was his birthday! (Which of course was why we were there in the first place.)

Usually there is an admission price to go into the house, but since it was his birthday, tours were free. I really should have taken more pictures inside the house, but flash wasn't allowed, and without Asa to change my settings, stuff was blurry. We did get to listen to Ben Harrison's Reginaphone, which sounded a bit like a music box but looked more like a record player. Fun fact: Ben Harrison's favorite composer was John Philip Sousa, which thanks to Cort's participation in the Ohio State Fair Band, I knew well.

We noticed some pictures of Ben's granddad, William Henry Harrison..

...and lots of Ben's White House stuff is at his house in Indie now.

It's blurry, but that's Ben's great grandfather, WHH's dad, Benjamin V. The boys know him well, because he was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and has appeared in a few toy timelines.

There were some reenactors there to tell us about the times of Ben, too. They were very impressed with the boy's knowledge.

We also got a lesson in how the ice box and stove worked.

Out in the carriage house there were more birthday festivities..

...including birthday cake!

That was it for our stop at the Harrison's..

...then we were off to lunch a few miles away at the Mug N Bun. For my Fremont friends, it's just like Woody's (with their own homemade rootbeer and everything).

I had a grilled cheese burger, and it was awesome.

After lunch we passed by the Indianapolis 500 speedway, and the Indiana State Fair and headed over to Crown Hill Cemetery where Ben Harrison is buried. It's sort of hard to find, but I had printed out a map before we left home.

We missed a wreath laying by a few days.

That stone behind the boys is relatively new. Before that was placed, it was just the small headstone.

Which seemed pretty uneventful for a president.

A couple of Vice President's were buried in the same cemetery. Woodrow Wilson's VP was somewhere (we couldn't find it), but here is Grover Cleveland's first VP. Interestingly enough, there's no mention of that on the stone.