Birthplace Travels

Birthplace Travels - First Ohio
Trip Report #2

The underlying theme of this trip is to visit our birthplaces ... Dan in Dayton Ohio and Vicki in Philadelphia. Dan left Dayton at 10 years of age and has not really returned to reminisce and Vicki lived in Philadelphia until 3 months of age and has never been there since.

New Harmony

Since Leaving Branson, we meandered east searching our unusual and interesting places to stay and explore. Our first stop was New Harmony Indiana. A small group of people waiting the end of the world established this little village in 1814. No children and living a celibate lifestyle, they built a small self-sustaining village. However, after 10 years they sold it to a group of educators, scholars and progressives who established a center of learning and research. That lasted about 3 years. Now it is preserved and there are self-guiding tours. The big draw for us is the hedge labyrinth. However, it started raining about half way through our explorations and we ended up not getting to walk it, as it became a muddy mess. First picture is stock shot of the labyrinth and second picture is what we saw as we drove by.

   

Dayton Ohio

In addition to wandering around Dan’s old haunts as a child, we took in some of what Dayton has to offer. The key places are the National Museum of The U.S. Air Force and the Carillon Historical Park.

Air Force Museum

Forewarned to take a couple days at the Air Force Museum we did just that. The size and scope of the four hangers included airplanes and jets from the first Wright Brothers planes to the space shuttle … hundreds of aircraft. There were tours wherein the interpreters shared fascinating histories and tidbits about the crafts we saw and we took all four tours over two days, spending 5 hours each day in this amazing place. Moreover, it was all free.

The highlight was when Dan reunited with the F102 jet that he guarded when he was in the Air Force … and the walk-through of the Air Force One wherein Johnson was sworn in as President of the US near the casket of JFK as they prepared to fly back to Washington.

Carillon Historical Park

This place included memories for Dan and he recalled his family picnicking here. An outdoor museum of 30 exhibit buildings on a 65-acre site which includes the Wright Brothers Aviation Center featuring the original 1905 Wright Flyer III. Dayton is where Orville and Wilbur invented and built their flying machines.

A huge display of vintage NCR registers and many other wonders are in this park … and of course the Carillon.

  

Next … heading to Hocking Hills, Ohio; Pittsburgh Pennsylvania; Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster PA (visiting our granddaughter Mariah) and then on to Philadelphia!