Sal Goes to the McKinley National Memorial

History buffs will be glad to know that Sal and I share their interest in the past.  Today we went to Canton to visit the McKinley National Memorial with my son, Christopher.  Thank goodness Christopher is a good navigator, as I would have been completely lost!  (Getting lost is not unusual for me, but it is very frustrating!)

We arrived to find an impressive-looking structure at the top of a very big hill.  Many steps (108 to be exact) led up to the monument -- and those steps were liberally sprinkled with people running up them in Rocky Balboa style.  I began climbing and leaned Sal against the stone base of the McKinley statue located in the center of the stairs.  As soon as I did that, a man on his way down said "is that a ukulele?"  When I said "yes," he asked if he could play her.  Of course I replied in the affirmative and he proceeded to pluck away!  This is one of the fun things about traveling with Sal -- talking to people about ukuleles!

This gentleman lives in Canton -- probably too far away to come to our Cleveland Jumping Flea jams.

Christopher, Sal and I continued to the top of the stairs.  Christopher very kindly climbed over the wide stone railing and reclined on the incline to get an awesome shot of Sal with the monument as a backdrop.

Christopher's great shot of Sal with the monument behind her.

Here is Christopher taking the cool picture shown above.

We went inside and encountered the usual inside-a-monument issue -- very bad lighting.  Sun was shining brightly through the doors onto the front of the giant black structure that holds the remains of President McKinley, his wife Ida and their two daughters.  The rest of the interior was dimly lit.  After much trial and error, Christopher got the best interior Sal shot -- a picture of her inside a wreath featuring a plaque from McKinley's Masonic Lodge.  There were several other wreaths inside the monument -- all of them looking suitably historic (translate that to say they didn't look fresh and new -- which I liked).

Christopher's wreath shot.  All of mine had too much glare on the plaque.

We emerged from inside and saw a chubby lobster-red man sitting shirtless in the hot sun (a definite "fashion don't" in more ways than one).  He had been there when we went in, and remained there throughout our prolonged picture-taking session.  I predict a very painful night for him.

As we went downstairs I decided to get a photo of Sal with McKinley's statue in the background.  This required some contortions, which Christopher documented.

Sal with the McKinley statue -- and the long green lawn leading up to the monument -- in the background. 

Taking these Sal pictures requires lots of kneeling on hard surfaces!  (But it's worth it, I think.)

We got to the bottom of the stairs and came upon another cool Sal photo op.  And the day was not over yet!  Come back tomorrow for tales of the museum next door!