Presidential Tour Part I: Ferrets, Elvis and Tabasco Con Queso
*insert Happy Wanderer music here* Yes folks, it's summer and Aunt Hil has hit the road again. This year it's a bit shorter and closer to home. I opted to go to Ohio and see various presidential birthplaces, libraries and museums.
Yesterday I drove to Indianapolis. I opted to get a hotel room that was a mile away from the Benjamin Harrison Museum. Wasn't really one of my smarter plans. Mysteriously they didn't say in any of the AAA reviews that the hotel is one block away from the Marion County jail....and there was a plethora of options for posting bail. I counted at least 5 on my way to pick up dinner.
However, a happier surprise I found on that same walk was Presidential Place. It is a little area where President George H.W. Bush visited in 1990 and planted an elm tree in honor of Ryan White.
This morning I went to the delightful Benjamin Harrison Museum. As some of you probably know, "delightful" isn't a word I've ever used in the same sentence as "Benjamin Harrison" before. One of the best parts of visiting a presidential museum is no matter which president it is, the tour guides tend to be very enthusiastic.
Marie, my tour guide at the Harrison museum, was a lot of fun. I want to be just like her when I grow up. I actually found her life story more compelling than Harrison's. She was born in Canada, educated in the United Kingdom, and married an American soldier who left her a widow when he went to Vietnam. She was a professor at Texas Christian University and later at Butler. I think this is the first time I've ever had someone at a history museum say to me, with a mischievous grin, "I keep saying things around here that get me in trouble!"
One of the more interesting factoids I learned was about the trouble First Lady Carrie Harrison had renovating the White House. The White House had a rat infestation problem. So Carrie brought in some ferrets to get rid of the rats. It worked well...but Marie said that nobody ever wrote about what happened to the ferrets afterwards. She said she likes to think that their descendants are roaming around Washington looking for rats. We both had a good laugh speculating how easy it is to find rats in D.C.
I also loved that the 3rd floor of the house was a ballroom....even though Harrison disapproved of dancing and never used it.....it was just the style at the time. One surprising exhibit was in the carriage house. There is a permanent exhibit dedicated to the history of the woman's suffrage movement.
After a fun morning I went and had lunch in Shelbyville. I'm guessing if I'd opted for the Homer Simpson voice on my GPS he would have had some choice things to say. As is, I discovered that as with most technology, I have a tendency to yell at my GPS in Spanish..... "De VERAS? Pero ahora estoy en Cane-toooo-keeeeeeeey!" (Cane-too-key = Kentucky....can't yell at something in Spanish and use the Anglo pronunciation......hey....these blogs wouldn't be entertaining if I were in my right mind!)
Then off to Point Pleasant, Ohio to see Ulysses S. Grant's birthplace. Wouldn't particularly recommend it unless you happen to be in the Cincinnati area anyway. He was born in a rented one bedroom house. When I looked at the size of it my first thought was "Oh! Just like where Elvis was born!" Although I'm not sure the lady running the place would have approved of that commentary. I'm getting a kick out of driving around southern Ohio. Because I've come here so often to visit relatives, I mistakenly thought I knew the state well. I'm realizing now, I just know a couple of towns west of Cleveland.
Tonight for supper I tried Skyline Chili. Thanks to Tony Bourdain, I have learned that Bob Evans isn't the only chain unique to Ohio. I tried their signature dish: 3 Way Chili which is basically chili on top of spaghetti with cheddar cheese on top. Now Wisconsin girl that I am, I never thought I would say this....but there was soooo much cheese on top, I couldn't get through to the actual chili. Too much cheese! That ranks right up there with the time my father turned to me and said "I can't believe I'm saying this....but this would be better without the chocolate!" Although every table at Skyline Chili has big squeeze bottles of tabasco sauce. Once I started adding that to the cheese with a little bit of chili....I was a happy camper.
Tomorrow I go into Cincinnati to see William H. Taft's museum. Then probably a quick trip up to Marion to see the Warren G. Harding museum.
Yesterday I drove to Indianapolis. I opted to get a hotel room that was a mile away from the Benjamin Harrison Museum. Wasn't really one of my smarter plans. Mysteriously they didn't say in any of the AAA reviews that the hotel is one block away from the Marion County jail....and there was a plethora of options for posting bail. I counted at least 5 on my way to pick up dinner.
However, a happier surprise I found on that same walk was Presidential Place. It is a little area where President George H.W. Bush visited in 1990 and planted an elm tree in honor of Ryan White.
This morning I went to the delightful Benjamin Harrison Museum. As some of you probably know, "delightful" isn't a word I've ever used in the same sentence as "Benjamin Harrison" before. One of the best parts of visiting a presidential museum is no matter which president it is, the tour guides tend to be very enthusiastic.
Marie, my tour guide at the Harrison museum, was a lot of fun. I want to be just like her when I grow up. I actually found her life story more compelling than Harrison's. She was born in Canada, educated in the United Kingdom, and married an American soldier who left her a widow when he went to Vietnam. She was a professor at Texas Christian University and later at Butler. I think this is the first time I've ever had someone at a history museum say to me, with a mischievous grin, "I keep saying things around here that get me in trouble!"
One of the more interesting factoids I learned was about the trouble First Lady Carrie Harrison had renovating the White House. The White House had a rat infestation problem. So Carrie brought in some ferrets to get rid of the rats. It worked well...but Marie said that nobody ever wrote about what happened to the ferrets afterwards. She said she likes to think that their descendants are roaming around Washington looking for rats. We both had a good laugh speculating how easy it is to find rats in D.C.
I also loved that the 3rd floor of the house was a ballroom....even though Harrison disapproved of dancing and never used it.....it was just the style at the time. One surprising exhibit was in the carriage house. There is a permanent exhibit dedicated to the history of the woman's suffrage movement.
After a fun morning I went and had lunch in Shelbyville. I'm guessing if I'd opted for the Homer Simpson voice on my GPS he would have had some choice things to say. As is, I discovered that as with most technology, I have a tendency to yell at my GPS in Spanish..... "De VERAS? Pero ahora estoy en Cane-toooo-keeeeeeeey!" (Cane-too-key = Kentucky....can't yell at something in Spanish and use the Anglo pronunciation......hey....these blogs wouldn't be entertaining if I were in my right mind!)
Then off to Point Pleasant, Ohio to see Ulysses S. Grant's birthplace. Wouldn't particularly recommend it unless you happen to be in the Cincinnati area anyway. He was born in a rented one bedroom house. When I looked at the size of it my first thought was "Oh! Just like where Elvis was born!" Although I'm not sure the lady running the place would have approved of that commentary. I'm getting a kick out of driving around southern Ohio. Because I've come here so often to visit relatives, I mistakenly thought I knew the state well. I'm realizing now, I just know a couple of towns west of Cleveland.
Tonight for supper I tried Skyline Chili. Thanks to Tony Bourdain, I have learned that Bob Evans isn't the only chain unique to Ohio. I tried their signature dish: 3 Way Chili which is basically chili on top of spaghetti with cheddar cheese on top. Now Wisconsin girl that I am, I never thought I would say this....but there was soooo much cheese on top, I couldn't get through to the actual chili. Too much cheese! That ranks right up there with the time my father turned to me and said "I can't believe I'm saying this....but this would be better without the chocolate!" Although every table at Skyline Chili has big squeeze bottles of tabasco sauce. Once I started adding that to the cheese with a little bit of chili....I was a happy camper.
Tomorrow I go into Cincinnati to see William H. Taft's museum. Then probably a quick trip up to Marion to see the Warren G. Harding museum.