Hello Illinois

Friday, May 31, 2019

On our way to Springfield, Illinois.   We got off to a good start, but it was a long, (5 hours)) and not too interesting drive.  Arrived at the Double J Campground around 3:00.  It was very hot and a bit buggy.  Hope that is going to be temporary.  Very wet here right now.

Remarkable Recreation

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Another rainy day, but we planned to go to the "Ark Encounter" today.  The Ark is in Williamsville, Kentucky.  This is the recreation the Noah's Ark built to the specifications in the bible.  It is just a remarkable structure.  This, of course, is a Christian organization and they had several films, and many, many displays explaining the flood and how Noah and his family were able to build the ark and house all the animals.

The bow.

The Door.  "And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him.  And the Lord shut him in

These are whole trees.

Looking down the length in the middle of the ark.

We spent most of the day here. This was the most awesome structure. Because of the rain, we were unable to enjoy the grounds and the zoo.  But, the Ark is so big and there was so much to see I don't think we would have had the energy to do anymore.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Wednesday, May 28, 2019

Rain predicted most of the day so we had a pretty lazy morning.  When the rain briefly stopped, we grabbed an umbrella, the gate code and decided to take a walk on the path behind the campground.  What a nice surprise.  A nicely paved 1.7-mile walk around a beautiful lake.

It started raining again, so we saw a Groupon coupon for Glowgolf mini golf.  We played two rounds on two different courses.  For once I played well and actually won both rounds.  The courses were challenging enough to be fun.  Besides, who wouldn't want to play golf under black lights with a glowing yellow golf ball.

Back at the RV, we took a walk through a cemetery across from the campground.  Being right after Memorial Day it was interesting to see how many graves had been decorated.   There was a beautiful poem on the tombstone of a two-year-old boy and a quote from a 24-year-old girl named Meagan.

 It turned out to be a lovely evening so we repeated part of our morning walk on the path behind our site.  Now we are tired and ready to take it easy.

Cincinnati Museum and Wild Grocery Shopping

Tuesday, May Slep 28, 2019

Slept well last night and was in no hurry to get up this morning.  But I finally did and made a good breakfast.  Then off to the Cincinnati  Union Terminal.  This is/was a train station.  There are only a few trains and they arrive between midnight and early morning hours.

We visited the Cincinnati History Museum first.  It had a wonderful model of the city from 1949.  We tried to find the building that Erich once lived in but it apparently was one block further than the model.  So we found the building across the street.

The lighting changed to show the city at night.

This is the intersection where Erich lived, but it was opposite this building.

Next, we went to the Museum of Natural History.  They had a great display of the moon landing in 1969.

There was a very good 360-degree theater about the Apollo 11

The last thing was watching "Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs" on the Omnimax screen, a five-story domed screen.  Really well done.

Our next adventure was a shopping trip at Jungle Jim's in Fairfield, Ohio.  his is a really, really big international grocery store.  All through the store are unusual entertaining displays.

Needless to say, we came home with too many things.

Hello Cincinnati!

Monday, May 27, 2019

A smooth transition to our next spot.  We are at Round Bottom Campground.  It is our first time using an FMCA campground. It is designed for Motorhomes.  Full hookup, level concrete.  We were in and set up in record time.

 My cousin, Linda lives nearby in the Dayton area.  I sent her a text and we decided to meet at a local restaurant call Flipdaddy's.  Excellent burgers and I had fried mac and cheese and Bruce had goetta, both local specialties.

Exploring Dresden and Zanesville, Ohio

Sunday, May 26, 2019

We started out our day with a quiet and peaceful walk thru the Mission Oak Gardens in Zanesville.  This garden is a beautiful urban garden of over seven acres.  It is in a residential neighborhood.  First, we walked through the Conifer Garden.

Then across the parking lot is the Mission Oaks.  It was a pleasant walk with flowering plants, ferns and all sorts of other plants.

Big Dude Magnolia

Iris

Shield Fern

A pleasant surprise was the Fairy and Gnome Garden.  I love the miniature world of fairies.

Next, we drove to Dresden to see the world's largest basket.  We visited the Longaberger Office building back in 2016.  Now we have seen both.

A view of the 23-foot high side.

The seven-story office building from a past trip.

Next, we search out the #11 river lock.

Back to Zanesville.  We stopped at the Historic Lock #10 Canal Park.  Although we walked quite a way along the canal, there was no lock.  We knew this was a working lock for boaters on the river so we assumed it was much further downstream.  After returning to the truck, we tried to find it by driving.  What we found was the Cottrill Sculpture Studio and two blocks of fantastic sculptures.

There were so many more, but I only have so much room.  We did find Lock #10 along with a very nice lock keeper.  We had a nice chat and took pictures.

Friendly lock keeper.

After all this exploring I was tired.