We Were Kids Again.

Milan Travel Park
Milan, Ohio

We had such a great time yesterday at Edison's birthplace that we decided to go back to the Merry Go Round Museum and see if they were open today.  I did find out the winter hours were  Wednesday to Saturday from 11-5.  Sharon and Roger Hime toured it, so I know it had to be good.  

I thought the "open" sign would show up in this photo.

The museum is housed in an old round post office building which is one of two round P O  buildings in the United States.  It was built in 1927 but is in good condition and perfect for this musuem.  

The docent had one other couple in her tour.  

 Nearly all the exhibits were at least 100 years old.  

It's hard to believe these are all hand carved out of various woods.  

The carvings were all very unique and colorful.  Bill and I learned that only one side of the carvings had the "jewels" on them as it took longer to do both sides. 

This one was one of my favorites.

It's difficult to see all the details that go into these carvings from the photo.

This rooster, that was uncommon for carousels, is still in its original factory paint.  New wood was added due to damage sustained from being used as a target for bow and arrow practice.  Gustav A Dentzel carved this around 1895.  Courtney are you reading this?

Giraffes seemed strange for carousel animals to me.

This was Bill's favorite.  Of course, his astrological sign is Leo, the lion.

Do you see the ostrich facing in the other direction?  It's a British one because their carousels go clockwise instead of the Americans that go counter clockwise.  

These tigers were carved by two different carvers years apart. 

This dog is much larger than it looks in this photo.  The giraffe has a snake with an animal in its mouth around its neck. One wonders what goes through the artist's mind.  

These fantasy animals were very colorful and unusual .

All of the deer have natural deer horns.  

I guess this deer must be famous.  Our docent said that the White House called them about it.

The horse in the center of the photo is being raffled off.  Value is quoted at $10,000.  What are we going to do with it, if we win?

It was interesting to see how the horses were carved.

Here's an example of the four stages of restoration.  The first quarter is the way they receive the horse, the second is stripped of paint, carved and then painted last.  One of the docent showed us a can of paint that they use.  It costs $49.00 a quart. 

This is a better photo of the horse they carved and painted for the raffle. Notice on the wall that the horses are hollow and held together with wooden dowel pins.   

I forgot to mention that they have eight volunteer carvers that work in the basement.  Here's another volunteer that is working on restoring a miniature mechanical carousel.   He doesn't carve, but says he does a lot of sanding and mechanical restoration.

Here's another British one facing in a different direction.

We've visited the House on the Rocks in Wisconsin and have seen their carousel, but they didn't let you ride on it.

Our $5.00 senior admission included a token for a ride on the carousel.

Bill picked out the ostrich.  I rode on a live ostrich when we were in South Africa and now he says we're even since he's now ridden on one too.  

I picked out a beautiful palomino for my ride.

The music was wonderful but the ride went much faster than we expected.  I was actually glad when it ended.  

This was one of those, well why not, museums.  Never sure what to expect, but very interesting.  We were both very glad that we visited it.

After we left the museum we crossed the street to see the gardens.

The grounds were spotless.

I guess we should have checked to see what was  the name of the building.

Somebody has job security--notice the correct date on the clock that is changed daily.

Notice the leaves changing on the trees.

We walked down the street to Lake Erie.  It was nice walking the streets with very few people in sight.

I was glad to enjoy the day as earlier in the day I found something that wasn't fun.  When we were in that campground from hell, I found some damage.  

Notice the dent on the satellite.  I thought we couldn't receive satellite because of the trees.  I think it must be the dent in the top of the satellite.  I hope that's all that is wrong but since we don't do roofs anymore we won't know until we find some friends that will climb up there.

Turtle Safely.......

Persistence Pays Off

Milan Travel Park
Milan, Ohio
Site 71

We extended our stay for two days.  The park is very conveniently located and works great for us while we're seeing the sights in the area.

I checked the computer this morning for a couple of places we wanted to visit.  One opened at 10 and the others opened at 11.   They were all closed yesterday, Labor Day.  

Our first place to visit was in Bellevue about 10 miles away.

We passed this old Mail Pouch Tobacco barn en route.  The paint is faded, but you can still read it.

Historic Lyme Village was our destination.  

It's difficult to read the bottom of the sign but it says Tuesday-Saturday 10-3.  I know I am calendar challenged but isn't today Tuesday?  My phone says it's 11 am.  Isn't that between 10 and 3?  No problem, I have a couple of other places to visit.

After driving a short distance back to Milan, we saw the brown signs for museums.  According to the website, they were open Tuesday through Saturday 10-3.

Our first stop was the Milan Historical Museum.  It consists of about 7 buildings.  We followed the walkway to the gift shop for our tickets.

This looks like it is going to be very interesting.

Bill found a pole.  He's always looking for one of these.

Here's the gift shop but something is wrong.  The door won't open.  Could it be locked?  Could it be closed?  Yep, you guessed it.

Well not to be outdone by this we decided to walk down the street to visit Edison's birthplace.  The other places were just added attractions.  The birthplace was something we were really looking forward to.

Doesn't it look inviting?

Here's the door to the museum next door where you purchase your tickets.  

The sign said the hours were 1-5.  That's only an hour and a half, so we'll walk through the shops in the town square until it opens.  

You guessed it, nothing open in the town square until 1 pm.  
Okay, we're not giving up yet.  I saw a Merry Go Round museum in Sandusky that was just up the road from us.  

Needless to say, when we pulled up, the Merry Go Round museum was closed.  So much for checking out the websites for dates and hours of operation.  

I needed a prescription refilled so we stopped in Walmart.  All I could think of was, I hope the pharmacy is open and not closed for lunch.  Eureka!  They were open and filled the prescription in record time.  

As we were headed back to the RV park, I suggested to Bill we go back and try again at the Edison birthplace since it was only 2 miles away.  He was reluctant but drove back to it.  

We were the only visitors and the lady from the museum showed us around.  It's amazing the artifacts that were in that tiny musuem.  Our docent played all the phonographs for us.

After we were through we had another docent take us to the house.  Bill and I both agree, we'll never forget this docent.  She had so much knowledge and didn't recite event and date.  She told us the stories of the family and the why's of how events happened the way history should be taught in schools.

This is the bed that Thomas Alva Edison was born in.  The bedspread was original.  Notice the floors are also original, the wallpaper wasn't.  

This was an upstairs bedroom the girls used. The furnishings are originals.   I had no idea that girls in those days had to do stitchery which included stitching the alphabet and numbers to prove they knew it before they could be married.  They also had to weave their own fabric.  

Here's a photo of our great docent.  There was original clothing which showed his mother had a 15 inch waist.  

I was surprised that none of the boys ever fathered a child.  Of course, they did help their father while he was developing the x-ray machine.  I wonder.......

It's hard to realize how Thomas Edison coped with being deaf at the age of 12.  Most people don't realize he lost his hearing from scarlet fever.  He read lips and his wife tapped out Morse code discreetly on the table where he felt the vibrations, when they were at a social dinner so that no one knew he was deaf.  

Edison went to New York to sell his second patent, a stock ticker, in 1869.  He was going to ask $3,000 for the invention.  When he got there, he got cold feet and just said "what will you give me for it".   He was told $40,000 which he used the money to finance his subsequent inventions.

The kitchen was downstairs and we learned about all the implements they used in that period.  

Our docent said this folding ladder was one of her favorite items.  She was surprised when we said we had one similar. 

Those fold up ladders, caused my first ladder accident.  I did fall from the top of one in the Gulf shores but didn't hurt myself, the second ladder fall made up for it.  

We were in that home for almost two hours.  Our docent definitely made the difference with all the stories she told. 

The day may have started out disappointing but Edison's birthplace and the knowledgeable docent made up for it.  We highly recommend it if you are in the area. 

Turtle Safely..........