Travel
Figure I'll make a post about some trips I've made recently.
After seeing how expensive airline tickets were for Christmas in December I entertained the idea of perhaps traveling in January... wow, -Christmas airfare was something like $800 round trip while in January I could make the same journey for less than $200? I didn't actually fly but it gave me the though of make a road trip in January since I had a bit of time and I could do a road trip for a lot less money than flying. I remembered a plan I had for February 2020 where I was to visit Columbus, Ohio where most of the Reynolds grand and great-grandparents I knew were buried and decided that was finally going to happen. I started with a trip up to a friend's place just near Cincinnati and visited for two days while together making a trip up to the big Air Force museum in Dayton, and the on Wednesday made my way up to Columbus. I started off with a visit to the cemetery where my great grandparents were along with my grandmother who died giving birth to her fifth child. I remember visiting that location when I was 5 years old and again at 15 and neither visit made much of an impact on me, the second time mainly because I was so deep into my own interests at the time that I felt it was kind of boring. I had a different perspective this time and found it worthwhile. I wanted to be there. I talked for a bit with my great grandparents and told them I was happy for the memories they provided me with and that I hoped they were happy with the person I've become. I know they didn't get to see very much of my life but they left an impression on me.
The rest of Wednesday was spent at the Billy Ireland Comic Art museum at Ohio State University which came on my radar after I learned that a bunch of Bill Watterson's original comics from Calvin & Hobbes had been donated for their safekeeping and they had a permanent exhibit showing off some of the items. It was so cool to see those in person because it showed a ton of visual information that was completely invisible when printed in newspapers: white out corrections, faint pencil underdrawings, and variations in black ink values. All the information that tells a story of the creation process, of "finding" the picture and of original character poses which were discarded and redrawn. I loved it and felt so much more a bond with the artist after seeing this! There was a LOT more to see at the museum and I hope somewhere in the future I can go back with an appointment to see even more of Watterson's originals although I don't know if that's something I can do as just a regular person and not someone who has an actual research purpose.
On Thursday I drove about 20 miles west of Columbus and visited the cemetery where my grandma and grandpa Reynolds were buried. After my original grandmother died in childbirth my grandfather remarried and spent the remainder of his life with the grandma Reynolds I grew up knowing. I said "hi" to grandpa and lamented that he passed when I was only two so he got to know me better than I ever got to know him. I told grandma all that had happened to me in the past twenty years since she'd been away and let her know how much she'd meant to me in the years I'd been able to share time with her. Unfortunately it was raining pretty solidly and I couldn't pass the time slowly as I'd been able to the previous day and so I ended up getting back on the road. I had thought I'd spend more time in Columbus and I at least was able to revisit the apartment where I'd lived while my dad was taking classes at Ohio State for his masters degree and that was nice. I have some memories of the place and some more were unearthed and refreshed by walking around the area. I was only four or five when we lived there and had yet to start school. My main memories were riding big wheels around the sidewalks with other kids, playing with my toy trucks, vague television shows like Donahue and the Price is Right, and going around with the family to church and being short enough that I couldn't see out the window of the car as we were driving around.
Heading back home later in the day on Thursday I thought about how great it was to have finally made the trip back up to Ohio. I got to see some things which are really a big deal in my memory and I was able to do it without really any fuss or trouble. That lead me to make plans for another trip that began a week later, but that's something I'll type up when it's not so late at night. I've been putting off making another LJ post for awhile and I decided to just go with it even though it's 2am.
After seeing how expensive airline tickets were for Christmas in December I entertained the idea of perhaps traveling in January... wow, -Christmas airfare was something like $800 round trip while in January I could make the same journey for less than $200? I didn't actually fly but it gave me the though of make a road trip in January since I had a bit of time and I could do a road trip for a lot less money than flying. I remembered a plan I had for February 2020 where I was to visit Columbus, Ohio where most of the Reynolds grand and great-grandparents I knew were buried and decided that was finally going to happen. I started with a trip up to a friend's place just near Cincinnati and visited for two days while together making a trip up to the big Air Force museum in Dayton, and the on Wednesday made my way up to Columbus. I started off with a visit to the cemetery where my great grandparents were along with my grandmother who died giving birth to her fifth child. I remember visiting that location when I was 5 years old and again at 15 and neither visit made much of an impact on me, the second time mainly because I was so deep into my own interests at the time that I felt it was kind of boring. I had a different perspective this time and found it worthwhile. I wanted to be there. I talked for a bit with my great grandparents and told them I was happy for the memories they provided me with and that I hoped they were happy with the person I've become. I know they didn't get to see very much of my life but they left an impression on me.
The rest of Wednesday was spent at the Billy Ireland Comic Art museum at Ohio State University which came on my radar after I learned that a bunch of Bill Watterson's original comics from Calvin & Hobbes had been donated for their safekeeping and they had a permanent exhibit showing off some of the items. It was so cool to see those in person because it showed a ton of visual information that was completely invisible when printed in newspapers: white out corrections, faint pencil underdrawings, and variations in black ink values. All the information that tells a story of the creation process, of "finding" the picture and of original character poses which were discarded and redrawn. I loved it and felt so much more a bond with the artist after seeing this! There was a LOT more to see at the museum and I hope somewhere in the future I can go back with an appointment to see even more of Watterson's originals although I don't know if that's something I can do as just a regular person and not someone who has an actual research purpose.
On Thursday I drove about 20 miles west of Columbus and visited the cemetery where my grandma and grandpa Reynolds were buried. After my original grandmother died in childbirth my grandfather remarried and spent the remainder of his life with the grandma Reynolds I grew up knowing. I said "hi" to grandpa and lamented that he passed when I was only two so he got to know me better than I ever got to know him. I told grandma all that had happened to me in the past twenty years since she'd been away and let her know how much she'd meant to me in the years I'd been able to share time with her. Unfortunately it was raining pretty solidly and I couldn't pass the time slowly as I'd been able to the previous day and so I ended up getting back on the road. I had thought I'd spend more time in Columbus and I at least was able to revisit the apartment where I'd lived while my dad was taking classes at Ohio State for his masters degree and that was nice. I have some memories of the place and some more were unearthed and refreshed by walking around the area. I was only four or five when we lived there and had yet to start school. My main memories were riding big wheels around the sidewalks with other kids, playing with my toy trucks, vague television shows like Donahue and the Price is Right, and going around with the family to church and being short enough that I couldn't see out the window of the car as we were driving around.
Heading back home later in the day on Thursday I thought about how great it was to have finally made the trip back up to Ohio. I got to see some things which are really a big deal in my memory and I was able to do it without really any fuss or trouble. That lead me to make plans for another trip that began a week later, but that's something I'll type up when it's not so late at night. I've been putting off making another LJ post for awhile and I decided to just go with it even though it's 2am.