THE BIRTHPLACE OF KOOL-AID

This morning we decided to visit the Hastings Museum and then spend the afternoon at the Cruise Nite. (Big mistake-- details at the end).

Pulling into the museum parking lot we noticed a farmers market at the park. Fresh vegetables sounded good to us so we walked over to check it out before entering the museum.  

There was no way anyone would pass up Paige's booth.  They were trying to earn money to take the choir to Europe next year.  Brody was a celebrity--he got to try out with Kenny Rogers.  Paige will go far in marketing.  She made the donuts herself late last night. 

The Hastings Museum is situated in a beautiful brick building with 3 floors of exhibits.

This photo of the bronze doesn't show the arrows well.

You can see where the arrows penetrated both boys.

What a remarkable story.  

The main level included a wildllife diorama hall.  

Do you think Bill looks horny here?

This floor also included a groundwater discovery adventure and the Adams county historical society which we decided to do later and to go to the lower floor due to some kids screaming and listening to themselves echo through the halls.  These parents never told their children to lower their voices.  

The lower level had a "traveling in style" automobile display.  It was very well done and their were some unusual vehicles.  We haven't seen old cars in a long time.......

As we passed through this exhibit we came to Bill's favorite.

Does he look happy?

We both agreed and we've seen plenty of gun displays, this one ranks in the top 10 we've ever seen.

There were a lot more deaths in the civil war from disease than from battle.

I quizzed Bill on this fact and he didn't know this.  Can you believe that?

Bill did happen to know this fact about Oliver Winchester.

The exhibits were very well done and had a good flow.  They were easy to read and follow.  Each of the displays had two huge drawers that you pull out and display more firearms.

Long guns were displayed in these locker style pull out doors. 

My camera battery dies at this point and Bill was too busy checking out the guns to take any photos with his camera.  

They even had a big display with a Tommy gun, AK47, and Gatling gun and then you could push a button and hear the different sounds of the firearms.  

This was a display of the Naval Ammunition Depot which was the largest US WWII ammo plant.  It's more than we saw when we drove out to see it.  

This was a very large Browning with the sides cut out so you could see how it works. It was used in training military.

This was my favorite exhibit. I'm sure I grew up having Kool-Aid as my daily drink.

The story of Edwin Perkins was very interesting.  He wasn't afraid to follow his dreams.  

I was surprised to learn that after World War I this became popular to help people quit smoking. Edwin Perkins invented a lot of different products.

Originally Perkins developed a bottle of flavoring to add to water but problems with delivery and the glass bottle caused him to investigate ways to have the product in a dry form.

They had many of the old advertisements and all the products that used the Kool Aid brand name.

We walked back up to the upper level that no longer had rowdy kids.  They had a People on the Plains exhibit.  We glanced at it as it was getting very late.  There was also a bird habitat diorama, serial bird collections, rocks, minerals, and fossils which we didn't even have time to see.  

The museum also had a planetarium, where we live exhibit and an East gallery that we never stepped into.

There was this display hanging over the staircase.  We took this picture of the fish for our fishermen friends.

We took a ride past the site of the WWII Naval Ammunition Depot.  There is a Elk's golf course and a college on part of the grounds.  I was driving and I guess I must have missed a turn because I didn't really see anything except a sign. According to the brochure nearly 40% of the Navy's ordnance was produced in Hastings.  The cost of the facility which shipped its first ammunition shipment on July 4, 1943 was 45 million.  

Now it is really getting late and we wanted to be at the "Bricks" by 4 pm to see the cars.  I told you it was a big mistake to try and do the museum and the car show in the same day.  

Tomorrow I will blog about the second half of the day.

One more thing before I go.  This is my homemade gnat catcher.  We'll see in a couple of days if I get anymore.

Turtle Safely......