Sal's Visit to the McKinley Presidential Library and Museum

After our visit to the McKinley Monument, Sal, Christopher and I walked next door to the William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum.  The building contains President McKinley's library (which we didn't visit, as Sal isn't interested in digging into historic documents), an interactive science center, and historical stuff pertaining to Stark County.

 



The first cool thing we encountered inside was a Foucault Pendulum. 

You could be mesmerized by this pendulum - and we were!  We spent quite a bit of time watching it get closer and closer to a peg -- and finally knocking it over.

Then we entered Discover World -- a place I wish we had discovered when our kids were young.  They would have loved it!  (Actually, Christopher and I loved it anyway -- even though we are ostensibly adults -- and Sal is always happy to participate in anything fun.)  We saw an animatronic dinosaur and lots of prehistoric skeletons -- even a real mastodon skeleton which was found in Stark County many years ago.

To get the whole gigantic mastodon in the picture, poor Sal had to give up being the focal point just this once.

The rule in Discover World is that you can not go (or reach) past any ropes or chains, and I was good -- even though I was sorely tempted.  It was hard/impossible to get good shots of Sal without putting her inside these barriers.  Happily, there was a ferocious dinosaur head (obviously not real) that we were permitted to touch, so we tried to get a photo of it "eating" Sal.

Unfortunately, the lighting played a role in preventing us from getting a good shot of Sal inside the dinosaur's mouth.  Maybe I should add a flashlight to my bag?

All kinds of cool stuff can be found in Discover World.  Christopher thought I should take a picture of Sal by this diorama, and I thought it wouldn't work, but we tried it anyway.  It isn't so bad, which reinforces the lesson that one should take a chance, shoot the picture, and delete it later if it's no good.  You just never know...

Sal visiting prehistoric Ohio residents.  (This picture brings to mind old horror movies with giant ants and things.  I don't think anybody would be scared of giant ukuleles, though.)

Discover World also contains the aforementioned interactive activities.  These are just a few of them.  All three of us had fun trying them out!

Then we went upstairs to the historical portion of the museum.  We didn't have much time, as the place closes at 4:00 and we didn't go up there until after 3:00, but we managed to see quite a bit of the neat stuff on display.

I had to take a picture of Sal near the word "culture," as she is quite a cultured ukulele!

Since Sal is named after the mule in the song Erie Canal, I had to take a picture of this Erie Canal display!

This is a very strange exhibit...  or should I say strangely compelling?  It's a giant woman who laughs maniacally when you press a button.  She came from an old amusement park.

A really cool part of the historical section of the museum is the Street of Shops.  There were signs saying not to touch the artifacts there, and again I obeyed.  I wanted to put Sal on the counter in one of the shops, etc. but I didn't.  I took my pix in a totally legal way!

The printer's shop.

The general store.

After leaving (because the museum was about to close), we realized we hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast!  In my reading about Canton, I had found that there is an old-fashioned ice cream shop there -- and Christopher determined that it was very close to where we were.  What could we do but drive the short distance and have ice cream at Taggert's?  Our treats were yummy -- though the decor was disappointing.  It was not as old-timey as I was expecting.  This meant that Sal did not get her picture taken at an antique soda counter, but that's okay! Instead she got her picture taken next to our completely not disappointing sundaes.

You may be wondering why my sundae has five cherries on it!  The reason is that Christopher pulled a When Harry Met Sally and asked for his sundae with no cherry, half as much whipped cream as usual, and chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla.  I asked our server to refrain from putting whipped cream on my sundae, but to put Christopher's cherry on mine.  She brought it with five cherries on top!  A truly generous soul!

Although they were delicious, I have come to think we made a mistake when we ordered.  Apparently Taggert's has something called the Bittner, which is described on the menu thusly:  "A Canton Classic, 3/4 of a pound of vanilla ice cream with homemade chocolate syrup blended throughout and generously sprinkled with roasted pecans.  Popular since the 1930's."  This sounds sort of disgusting, but if it's been popular for so long and the place is famous for it, I should have tried it!  I guess we have to go back to Canton -- there are lots more cool things to do there anyway -- and I promise to order the Mini Bittner - not the original 3/4 pound job!  (This will be research for Sal's blog -- not an opportunity to stuff oneself with delicious ice cream with dire consequences to the waistline!)

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!