From Mick Jagger to Mary Yoder

Day 103 of trip, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014

Talk about a shift in cultures! One day grooving to the beat at the Rock and Roll Museum, and the next day soaking in the peaceful Amish countryside and watching the waves roll in on Lake Erie. Ohio is certainly a state of contrasts!

We might not have known how close we were to Amish country if it hadn't been for our new friends camping across from us, Mel and Linda Smith. 

In fact, they clued us in on lots of things...from how to work our TV (those of you who know us know that we haven't operated a TV with channels since 1995...but this week we wanted to be able to watch the Ken Burns documentary on the Roosevelts on PBS) to where the campground showers are, from how to find the bike trails, to how to find the Amish communities, and where to eat once we're there.

So we wandered westward for just about 1/2 hour to enter the fourth largest Amish community in the world, we were told. I googled the standard protocol on taking photos so I wouldn't be one of the obnoxious tourists who give these gentle people of faith so much grief. Apparently, the rule of thumb is that photos of places and buildings and buggies are fine, photos of people taken discreetly from a distance are ok, but in order to respect their desire for humility and for not creating a graven image, one should avoid taking photos in which faces of adults are recognizable. Rules are a little more lax for children who are not of age yet to join the church, yet one should always ask before taking any children's' pictures.

Many of the farmhouses had the washing out on the line as we traveled to the area.

Our first stop was the oldest General Store in Ohio, where everyone in the community shops...the Old Order Amish. the Mennonites, the "English" or "Yankees," (which is how the Amish refer to non-Amish), and tourists like us. The store had everything! As Garrison Keillor would say when talking about the General store in his fictitious Lake Wobegone narratives, "if we don't have it, you can probably live without it."

I was especially fascinated with their shelves and shelves of foods and staples bought in bulk and repackaged at the store. Things that for us would require all kinds of fancy packaging and marketing...

Baking supplies, mixes, candies, chips and snacks...

Without all the expensive packaging, these foods were quite reasonably priced.

I was amazed at the beverage selection. Every kind of old-fashioned (non-alcoholic) bottled drink you ever heard of. Curt bought a bottle of birch beer (kind of like root beer) he used to drink when he was a kid.

As we left the store, the buggies were starting to arrive as Amish families came to do their shopping.

 Caution was needed everywhere we drove because around any bend you could encounter the much slower moving horses and buggies. Some of the roads had lanes that looked much like wide bike lanes, but from the debris on them, you could tell they were for horse-drawn buggies. There were some roads that were closed to motorized vehicles, leading, I assumed, to more Amish farms farther out of town. I'm sure they were much more relaxed traveling on those side roads!

Another popular mode of transportation that we saw was the scooter. We also saw quite a few women (and a couple of boys) pushing along on bicycles as if they were scooters, with one foot on the near pedal in the down position and the other foot pushing along the ground while reaching obliquely across to hold the handlebars (in other words not pedaling or sitting on the seat). I later googled this and found that in many Amish communities bicycles are considered worldly, but scooters are ok. So I guess a bike used as if it were a scooter would be fine. And of course the oldest mode of transportation, Walking. Usually barefoot or sometimes with flip flops for children, and with black lace-up shoes for men and women.

We visited a gift store in Burton where many local handmade items are sold, some made by the Amish and some by the English. Therese, the owner, a non-Amish woman who works very closely with both Amish amd Yankees in the area, answered a lot of our questions. Here she is in front of many of the beautiful Amish handmade rugs which she sells in her shop, The Lilac Garden.

Then onto a beautiful log building which sells local maple products. In March the entire right-hand side of the building is a sugaring-off shack for the syrups and sugar and candies.

In Burton I also saw one of my favorite sights of the day...the first tree I've see so far that's acting like autumn is coming:

The landscape here is still 99% green...but I know that will change fast once we get our first frost.

Then on to Middlefield to eat at the renowned Mary Yoder's Amish Restaurant. We were expecting a small homey little cafe. What we found was a large modern building with a huge, FULL parking lot. It housed the restaurant, a bakery, and a large gift shop crowded with shoppers. Mary Yoder is quite an entrepreneur!

 

I love the stop sign upon leaving the parking lot:

I had to get a shot of the beautiful flowers in the middle of town, and as I did I was able to snap the side view of a passing buggy:

We did see a farmhouse advertising Amish crafts, so we pulled in and found a beautifully made basket to buy. The three young girls who were minding the store were delightful, and responded to Curt's joking and kidding with shy, sweet smiles, giggles, and good senses of humor.

I asked if it would be all right to take a picture of the three of them, and the eldest sweetly said, "we'd rather you didn't." So of course, I didn't. 

Here are a few more interesting shots of the day...

And a few more photos in the "Barn Parade" . . .

Then to close out the day once we got back to camp, we took a wonderful bike ride along the Geneva State Park bike path. It wound through the woods that skirted the shore of Lake Erie. The lake looked so inviting that we took our lawn chairs down there and enjoyed the last hour of daylight sharing the bottle of birch beer, watching the waves roll in, and wading in the water. One real bonus to the shore was the plethora of stones perfect for skipping on the water. Curt, a veteran stone-skipper for 65 years, said he has NEVER seen such a good source of smooth, round, flat stones to skip!

The first year we were married, Curt taught me how to skip stones on our 18-day whitewater rafting trip, and I must say, once I get warmed up, I can still impress Curt with my arm!

The end to another wonderful day On the Loose!

Backtracking...the Glenn Curtiss Museum

Now we're turning the calendar back a few days, so I can tell you about our visit to the Glann Curtiss Museum, that we visited last Tuesday. This was when we were still in The Finger Lakes region of New York, camping on beautiful Keuka Lake.

The first hurdle in entering the museum was to try to get by the vicious guard dogs... But we managed to slip past without incident.

And once inside... What an incredible museum! I must admit, I wasn't sure how much I was going to enjoy spending hours looking at airplanes and engines, but there was definitely something here for everyone. In fact, I kept thinking of our 12 grandchildren from ages one to sixteen, and every single one  of them would be interested, or even fascinated, with something in this museum.

Glenn Curtiss (I'll use the initials GC for brevity) was an absolute mechanical genius who lived in Hammondsport, N. Y. and was a contemporary of the Wright Brothers and Alexander Graham Bell. In fact, he and the Wright Brothers were bitter competitors for domination of aviation development. He was especially gifted in the invention and production of early engines, mostly for the first motorcycles and airplanes. He first developed the "V" engines used in autos and radial engines for airplanes.

Here's a motorcycle with a V8 engine that GC invented, and with it he set the land speed record at 137 mph.

And this is a radial airplane engine he developed.

GC also invented seaplanes and was the Father of Naval Aviation (which is close to my heart, since my Dad was a Naval aviator):

. . . And he invented the first luxury travel trailer that also included the first fifth-wheel hitch:

GC was an international hero and won MANY competitions around the globe in the field of aviation, much to the chagrin of the Wright Brothers. If you're interested in all the things  he did (MANY more than I can describe here!), Google him and you'll find a complex, brilliant and fascinating man. The museum also has a website. But better yet, if you're anywhere near upstate New York, plan a day to wander the museum.

Some of the other exhibits in the museum (non-Glenn Curtiss-related) were a series of models...from intricate doll houses and scenes of early days in America, to an amazing collection of tiny model airplanes.

Here  are a couple of views of the model of a "Soddy," a log cabin with a sod roof which was home for many pioneers. This is just one of perhaps 30 detailed models on display:

And an airplane collection that would keep our grandsons transfixed for hours...

There was a collection of early household appliances, showing the evolution of washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and irons.

And here's something you don't often see, though it was once a very popular art form. Can you tell what it is?

This wreath was made completely with human hair. Young women used to collect locks of hair from their friends and form them into intricate flowers and designs. Here's a close-up:

Another temporary exhibit I greatly enjoyed was a display of the work of the Embroiderers' Guild of Corning, N.Y. Just a few examples of the many gorgeous samplers on display:

There was also an interactive play area for young children, and a restoration area where volunteers carefully and skillfully restore acquisitions to the museum's collections...and they keep the door open so visitors can come in and watch them and ask questions.

All in all we felt this was probably the best museum for general interest that we've ever seen (and we've seen quite a few!). We visited the Smithsonian Museums in D.C with our grown children a few months ago when we were in Washington, D.C. for my fathers burial at Arlington National Cemetery. Though I love our national museums, the crowds, the noise and the great walking distances make each visit somewhat of a marathon. This little local museum in Hammondsport, New York is amazingly accessible and fascinating, well maintained and clearly interpreted. We absolutely loved it, and we hope you'll have a chance to visiti it someday, as well.

After our museum trip, we spent a little time in the historic, picturesque town of Hmmondsport. Our waitress at the hotel restaurant, Angela, told us about several places to visit that only the locals know. Your secrets are safe with us, Angela!

And, as I usually do, I found "my" kind of shop to browse in. This fiber store leaned toward the art of rug hooking and had many wonderful examples,on display among all the fibers for sale.

Whew! So now I'm caught up. That's what I get for taking a few days off from blogging! Today we're planning to drive into the Ohio Amish country, so we'll have lots more to share with you soon. 

Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum

As we're wending our way back to camp through the (not-so-scary-after all) Friday afternoon Cleveland traffic, I thought I'd take this hour to show and tell you a little of what we've seen for the past 6 hours. The museum is extremely well-done...clean, friendly, easy to get around in, lots of places to sit and enjoy the history of R&R shown on screen, many different displays to capture the attention of many different generations, etc. 

The first thing that took me by surprise is that the Museum is located right on the shore of Lake Erie. Not sure if you can see it in the very background of these flowers, but it's there!

It's also adjacent to the stadium where the Cleveland Browns will be playing tomorrow...which is why we were advised to go to the museum today. Sixty thousand people or so will converge on that block tomorrow, and we'll be quietly tucked away at our campsite. Here's a shot of the stadium...and for all my friends in Kerrville, Native Son Johnny Manzell will be right there.

here's what the R&R Museum looks like as you approach it. You can barely see Lake Erie off to the right.

And here we are, ready to explore the world of Rock and Roll!

For all you country music fans! here's Johnny Cash's touring bus which is parked outside. He wasn't in it.

I had read somewhere that if you're a musician and you bring a copy of one of your published CD's to put in the Museum archives, you can get in free. I wasn't sure if it was really true, but just in case, I asked about it. And sure enough, it was! I had a copy of my CD in my purse that I've been planning to mail to my cousin Kim, and I turned it over to my new friend, Carolyn, at the ticket counter...and she allowed BOTH Curt and me to enter. (Kim, I'm sorry...as soon as we get back to Kerrville I'll find my box of CDs and get one off to you, pronto!)

Here's a shot looking up, inside the museum. Pretty amazing architecture! Those are all escalators you see there. 

The first thing Curt wanted to see was the exhibit featuring Les Paul, the inventor of the electric guitar. If you haven't heard Curt's story about seeing Les Paul at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City shortly before he died (Les, not Curt), ask him about it next time you see him. He loves to tell that story!

 The rest of the day would be hard to describe! Naturally, since we're dealing with Rock and Roll, which has been around for decades and has gone through many permutations, there's plenty in there that doesn't appeal to us...the heavy metal, rap, hip-hop styles, as well as the screaming and guitar-burning performances that were popular during the 70s and 80s. But there's also LOTS of good old classic rock and oldies that brought back so many memories for us. And that's what we concentrated on seeing, hearing and experiencing. Lots of video clips of live performances, TV performances, interviews, biographical sketches, history and general musicology. It was such fun to immerse ourselves in that for several hours. 

There was lots of memorabilia, of course...fun to see John Lennon's elementary school report card, Elvis's white sequined suit, and the forerunner to the synthesizer used by Paul McCartney. There were MANY instruments belonging to so many musicians...I couldn't begin to photograph them all. But we did make two special exceptions...for a special, exceptional guy. Nephew Dave, these are for you...two of Jerry Garcia's guitars:

In the Museum Cafe at lunchtime, we were carefully comparing the ingredients in the various salads they offered, to find the one that seemed the most nutritious. The couple in front of us ordered two hot dogs. Hot dogs? We hadn't even seen them on the menu, but instantly our minds (and will power) snapped. Suddenly it seemed inappropriate to have a healthy salad at a Rock & Roll museum. Of COURSE it should be hot dogs! So....

And then later we felt justified when we saw the giant display hanging from the ceiling between the escalators...

Here's the view of Lake Erie that we got to enjoy as we are our hot dogs:

I was a little worried when we looked down over the 3rd floor railing and saw the retail shop, which of course you must go through before you can exit the building. I remembered our friend saying he had spent hundreds of dollars there, and I could tell by looking down that that would be a distinct possibility. There was every CD you'd ever want to buy (and plenty that you wouldn't!) right there in front of you. Fortunately for our budget, when we got down there on eye-level with all the merchandise, it became one of those times when there's so much stuff that it's overwhelming. We managed to get out for under $10 !

But what a fun day, and a wonderful trip down memory lane We'd definitely recommend the Rock and Roll Museum to anyone who finds themselves near Cleveland!