What, you may (or many not) be asking yourself, gave Vicki the idea to embark on her travels with Sal? What might have inspired her to visit places she had never seen, but aspired to see? Today, you will have the answer you may (or may not) have been waiting for!
Thomas Edison's birthplace was the source of the lightbulb moment -- (pun most definitely intended)! All through my undergrad years at
Bowling Green State University I drove past the
Ohio Turnpike exit from which Edison's birthplace can be reached. A sign advertising this fact taunted me each time I rushed past on my way back to school. I never got off at that exit!
My oldest son went to Heidelberg College (which is now
Heidelberg University) -- requiring me to spend four more years passing that intriguing sign as I hurried back and forth several times a year. I never got off at that exit!
Now that I am no longer in college -- or the parent of anyone in college -- I am free to drive on the turnpike (and all other roads, too) with a bit less time pressure. So, Thomas Edison's birthplace was the spot that sprung to mind when thinking about a photo project for the year. I would go there! And I would go to lots of other cool Ohio places, too!
Travels With Sal was born!
Enough with the backstory! A friend and I set off on a four-day adventure last Friday. What was our first destination? Thomas Edison's birthplace, of course!
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| Hooray! I'm finally at Edison's birthplace -- about 39 years after I first decided I wanted to go there! |
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| Edison is so famous he needs a sign AND a historical marker in front of his house. But how to get Sal to sit on top of that skinny marker? Can't be done without assistance. I was going to take the picture with Norma holding Sal from behind, but Norma's legs were showing under the sign -- which would be a goofy shot. |
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| It was probably best to show Sal and her buddy Norma by the sign together. They are both lovely traveling companions! |
Inside the office, which is situated next to the house, we learned all kinds of interesting things about the beginnings of
recorded music and the first motion pictures. This
very fun and informative person, whose name I can not recall, told us some wonderful stories! (So sorry... I hope she will read this post and send her name to travelswithsal@gmail.com. I'll do a little edit, and we'll all know this nice lady's name!)
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| Sal and our Office Guide near actual working Edison phonographs! As you can see, everybody was laughing and having a great time! |
Our guide through the house was named Cindy (we remembered
to write her name down), and she was fabulous. She shared great stories about Edison and his family, and allowed me to put Sal
in amazingly cool places in the house. Edison's descendants -- who own and run the place -- took great pains to gather furniture from the family and have it be, as much as possible, from the correct time period. The wood floors in the house -- both upstairs and down -- are the originals. Cindy told us that the house is pretty much the same as it was when Edison was born there.
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| The bed in which Thomas Edison was born! |
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| A bed upstairs in the house. I was so busy taking pictures that I missed and/or quickly forgot many of the fascinating things Cindy told us. This is a dilemma! I really need to take notes, but then how would I take the photos? I am pretty sure the quilt was made by a female relative who wasn't particularly well-liked. (Cindy, if you are reading this, please help me with the facts here!) |
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| Check out this cool bench. If you look at the little model on the table, you will see it has a railing across half of the front. This bench used to have that. People would put their babies there and rock them. The railing kept the babies from falling off the bench. When the babies were older, the railing was removed and ta-da! A nice rocking bench to sit on! |
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| After Sal had been in so many beds and in this cradle, it struck me to say that Sal was sleeping around. We all had a good laugh at that! It was much funnier then than it sounds now! ;) |
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| This thing is called a pig -- for obvious reasons. I had to take a picture of Sal with it on this rug because of the similarity between Sal's grain pattern and the pattern in the rug. Sal almost disappears. |
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| Sal with a chamber pot and another thing. Help, Cindy! The crocheted thing on the chamber pot is to muffle the noise when ladies put the top back on the pot after using it. Wouldn't want anybody to hear noises that might imply bodily functions were happening... |
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| This may or may not be Thomas Edison's high chair, but the spinning wheel was his mother's. |
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| The thing made out of a tree branch is a mixer! Sal likes to hang out with other beautiful wooden objects. |
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| Sal, Norma and Cindy in the garden behind the house. Cindy, please send an e-mail correcting everything I got wrong to travelswithsal@gmail.com! |
After the tour Norma and I purchased some great Edison items -- t-shirts, bookmarks, postcards, and something for my youngest son. Won't telegraph it here (terrible pun intended), because I hope he reads my blog! ;)
We drove to downtown
Milan and saw that Mr. Edison put his stamp (don't think he invented anything in that realm, but maybe he did) on the city.
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| In front of a restaurant, I took this picture of Norma, Sal, and guess who? |
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| I had to stick my leg into a relatively open spot in these prickly bushes to put Sal up on the pedestal of this statue. The picture isn't that great, but after all that effort, I had to use it, doggone it! |
Norma, Sal and I visited the newly spiffed up
library and spoke with two wonderful staffers there. We bought some souvenir wineglasses to use at our next destination. (You know it's a cool library if they sell wineglasses!)
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| The welcoming library staff with Sal in the children's play area. The library was full of Edison motifs. Very cool. |
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| The lovely exterior of the old section of the building. There is a shiny new section, too, but Sal and I love old things the best. |
After this we hit the road -- heading for one of the greatest weekends ever! Don't forget to check back here for my next post -- especially if you love ukuleles! ;)
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