Wright Brothers - November 9th, 2010

Ahhh, the Wright Brothers.

The kids have been waiting and waiting for this day and it was finally here!  Ever since we read about them several years ago in the Childhood of Young Americans series there has been tremendous interest in the subject.  And we were FINALLY here!!

We made it our very first stop on the Outer Banks (of North Carolina).  Our mission here was twofold. Explore all there was to explore about The Brothers and, hang out on the beach.  We were so exhausted from all our running around and sightseeing up north that we were really looking forward to being beach bums, if only for a a day or two.

The Wright Brothers, obviously, were the two geniuses responsible for the first manned flight.  They had a history of tinkering and inventing as children and then later, as adults of course.  After spending some years running their own bicycle shop in Dayton, OH, their curiosity about flight peaked in 1899 when Wilbur began researching aeronautics.  Once Wilbur got going Orville was drawn in and together, well, they made history. But of course it wasn't that easy.

They began by building a glider.  Once completed, they brought said glider to Kitty Hawk, NC.  Why?  Well, there are two reasons.  One, it's one of the places in the country with strong consistent winds.  I know, you're probably thinking Chicago is too, but Chicago doesn't have nice soft expanses of sandy beaches to crash land on (the second reason Kitty Hawk was chosen)...an important feature to consider when you're talking about flying in the air for the first time in human history I suppose.

Imagine if you will, everything below, including the grass, covered with sands, as most of those houses were not there at the turn of the century of course.


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Anyway, after many frustrations and failures, the brothers almost gave up!  Can you imagine if they had??  But, they didn't.  Instead of relying on other's research, they went ahead and did some of their own using the so called 'Wind Tunnel' they designed.  This tunnel helped them study a small glider in the air and come up with their own data on which they could rely.

In 1902 they finally had a working glider based on their own data!  After more than 400 manned glides off Kill Devil Hill, the hill we were walking to below, they finally had a workable design.  The hill, btw, is not in the exact same location it was back when they flew off it.  It was a sand dune after all, and by the time the National Park Service declared this area official, it had moved about 400 feet south of where it was when they glided off it!  The dune has since been stabilized with grasses so it's not shifting anymore.



On top of that hill is the monument to the brothers of course,



Well, now that the flyer succeeded, it was time to figure out how to power it.  Using the data from their wind tunnel they designed their own airplane propeller.  This was one of their most original scientific achievements to be sure.

We learned about all this history during a ranger presentation at the visitor's center.  After the fairly crowded talk, we went over to talk to him further and he let us IN the display area and let us TOUCH the plane!  No, it's not the original one, that one's in DC.  Or maybe the glider is, one of them I believe was destroyed beyond repair.  Anyway, this is an exact replica, so very interesting to get a hands on feel for it, literally.



Back to the history here, once all the pieces were in place it was time for the brothers to finally test it out. The first attempt to fly however was a no go.  Wilbur oversteered, the flyer climbed too steeply and went diving into the sand.  Not only did it not work, but the flyer was now in need of repairs.  Three days later was THE day.

December 17th, 1903.  10:35AM.

They took off from here,



Piloted by Orville, with Wilbur running by his side, the flyer ascended and flew 120 feet in 12 seconds with a total airspeed of 34 mph.





That day, the brothers took turns flying 3 more times, increasing the distance with each flight.  By the fourth flight they had reached 852 feet in 59 seconds!

These markers show us the exact distance they flew each time and where they landed, that last one down there being the last flight of the day.



History was made.

You notice I didn't go into the principles of flight here, it's not my forte.  Though by the end of our two days here the older kids certainly had a handle on it.  It was, after all, part of their Jr. Ranger activities.  And yes, we did come up here twice.  First time, like I said, as we drove onto the Outer Banks for the first time.  It was SO cold and windy that we decided to wait a few days and come back to do the outdoor portion of the visit.  Unfortunately, the bad weather stuck around for almost our entire stay and it was quite freezing the day we were climbed up Kill Devil Hill as well.

One last important thing to see here was the brother's living quarters and glider storage buildings.





Modest to say the least, though this was an improvement on the tents they slept in at first.  Yes, these are replicas of course but still very useful to get a good feel of what it was like for them out here.  That first one, with the large garage door looking thing, stored the flyer.  The second housed the brothers.

Once we wrapped up all there was to see and do here, we picked up our rewards with some very funny and entertaining rangers.  There were 3 different kinds of patches and badges to choose from (highly unusual) and the kids all chose the same ones.  After hearing me beg the kids to at least get a variety, the ranger let me choose one too. So I got my badge as well!    :-)



As we were driving out we got a close up of 'the scene' that momentous day in 1903. If you look carefully you can see Wilbur running by the flyer's side and the photographer snapping his now famous historical picture one the left.  There are a couple more men along the back of the flyer as well, though it's tough to spot them here.

Our visit to Kitty Hawk was a TREMENDOUS success!

Where history was made - Nov. 5th, 2010

Yes, ambitious we were.  Too ambitious.  We did leave the 'house' bright and early since we were driving to Philly and that was going to take at least 2.5 hours, if not more with traffic.  But, alas, there were not going to be enough hours in the day to get to Philly, see the sights, drive to Valley Forge, see the sights, and drive back to DC.  We quickly realized this once we got started in Philly.  You might be asking yourself at this point why didn't we just head up to Philly with the RV and spend a few days.  The short answer is we just didn't have the days to spare.  We were due in FL by a certain date and were working backwards at this point making sure we at least hit the high points everywhere.  We had one day in PA and that was that.  Not to mention we were going backwards as well, north instead of south.

Anyway, what we did accomplish in PA was plenty, even it if was 'only' Philadelphia.  We definitely hit all the high points.

We began of course at the very large visitor center in the heart of historical Philadelphia.  That is where we picked up our Jr. Ranger projects and got straight to work.  We had until closing at 4PM to hand them in.  We also had to pick up our free timed passes to enter the main event in town, Independence Hall.



The visitor center had several large displays about important figures, structures and events.  We watched one of two movies about said events and had a chance to chat with 'the locals' who were dressed in period costumes, playing period instruments and doing period chores, such as sewing.

Here the kids were having a hands on demonstration about what clothes of the period were made of.



First stop out of the visitor center was this -



The Liberty Bell.  It is a symbol of course of the American Revolution, but it is also a symbol of freedoms and liberties gained and lost, in modern America and all over the world.  Many world wide causes have taken up the Liberty Bell as their symbol, including the fight against slavery in this country.

While waiting in line to get past security and be allowed in, we snapped this picture of State House/Independence Hall, sans the bell tower.  I didn't even notice the tower, or lack thereof, since it's currently encased in metal due to preservation efforts!  But that's really it, the building it all happened in. We also observed the excavation and reconstruction efforts of the original President's House site.  This is relatively new so there's not much to see, but it was cool to see the site where Washington and Adams lived and worked before the President's House, with the President of course, moved to DC.



Once inside we, front and center, listened to a ranger make a brief presentation about the bell and its significance.  There was plenty to accomplish in the Jr. Ranger packets about it as well of course.  The kids utilized the ranger and asked plenty of questions.



Before the American revolution the bell was already an important symbol for the residents of Philadelphia. The State House bell, the most prominent building in British North America, reminded everyone of the significance of Philadelphia as the capital of the Pennsylvania colony.  Inscribed with the words "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all inhabitants thereof." (Leviticus 25:10, in case you're wondering), it was a source of pride.  Pride in the political and religious freedom afforded to them by the founder of this city,



William Penn.

William Penn was the founder of what is now Philadelphia.  Being himself a persecuted Quaker, he was determined to found a city based on religious liberty, "traditional Englishmen rights" for all, with an ethical open society deriving its power from the people, not its leaders.  He also openly declared that he would not exploit the natives or future immigrants.  Overall quite progressive for the time.

The famous crack, or gap really, was caused by an attempt to fix a thin crack in the bell that occurred sometime after the revolution.  Once repaired, the bell was rung in honor of Washington's birthday and the thin crack reappeared, this time lengthening and zigzagging upward, silencing the bell forever.  At least physically, as the display notes.

Meandering a few blocks down the street we arrived at the location of Ben Franklin's home. Unfortunately, his house no longer stands but its location is noted quite creatively.  In 1812 his grandchildren decided they didn't want to maintain the house, so they tore it down in favor of building rental houses!  Oh my goodness, what a loss.....

Below you see the outline of his house,





Inside these concrete viewing areas one can see the physical remains of the actual house.  Some brick flooring, part of the plumbing system, etc.  'Modern' archeology.



The area is also covered with Ben Franklin quotes, some famous and some from private correspondences to his wife.



Beneath all this, quite literally, is a wonderful museum commemorating the man himself.



His numerous and varied inventions, his axioms, writings and political accomplishments are all highlighted. Here, you can pick up the phone, dial a number and hear what people from around the world at the time, and later, had to say about him.



Of course there was the working printing press to check out.  The original one btw is in DC.



Onward to our prescheduled appointment with Independence Hall!

Old City Hall, the Pennsylvania State House/Independence Hall and Congress Hall/Court House are lined up one next to the other on Chestnut street and Independence Square.

Old CIty Hall, here, housed the Supreme Court for 9 years before it moved permanently to what is now Independence Hall.



On the right side of the Pennsylvania State House/Independence Hall is where the Supreme Court convened.



Turning around to the left we finally laid our eyes on THE room.  The room in which the Declaration of Independence was argued about and signed, the Articles of Confederation were drafted and ratified (the document uniting all 13 colonies) and where the Constitution was drafted.



Below you see the location of Ben Franklin's table, with a replica of his glasses :-).  The items in the room are mostly period pieces, though not the originals.  The exceptions are a few artifacts including the silver ink stand used to sign the documents and the president's chair at the head table in the picture above.  The first to use it was John Hancock, President of the 2nd Continental Congress.  The second to use it was George Washington, as President of the United States of America.  You can't really tell in the photo, but that semicircle on the top is half a sun.  The guide told us that Ben Franklin used to half joke and wonder if it represented the rising or the setting of this new nation.....guess we know now!



We have to remember that this whole revolution and government by the people for the people thing was really one huge experiment.  Those who sat in this room had *no* idea if they could A. Even win a revolution against the British Empire and B. Successfully run an entirely new country with a system and ideas that have really never been used in this manner before.  The whole notion of inalienable rights was completely foreign to the world as it was.  Of course they left out two key groups of people whose lives these rights didn't touch, but still, it was pretty progressive at the time.

From Independence Hall we moved on to Congress Hall, also used as a court house.  Photography was not allowed inside so no pics.  The room was set up with long benches in a semi circle with an elongated 'podium' in the front.  This is the room, obviously, where the new Congress sat.  They now were state representatives instead of colonial representatives.  This is also the room where the first peaceful transition of power took place, from George Washington to John Adams.

Leaving these most important buildings here in Philly we headed over to the portrait gallery. In addition to the Jr. Ranger program, the Independence National Historical Park had yet another clever idea to successfully reel in the kids, trading cards!  Basically that's what they are, but instead of baseball or Pokemon figures they're historical ones.  One card is given out at each location one can visit in historical Philadelphia. In order to collect all of them though you have to explore the portrait gallery with its 185 portraits, and do it well.  In other words, a scavenger hunt was on to find and identify various figures of the American Revolution, and not the obvious ones.  Though this one of course was pretty obvious.



Wrapping up the Portrait Gallery with all 15 of our 'trading cards' in hand, we headed over to visit the final resting spot of Ben Franklin and his family.  His grave is located right by the cemetery fence so one can get a good close look at it from the outside, without paying the small fee to actually go in.  On our way to the cemetery we stopped in to see the Free Quaker meeting house.



Philadelphia was the only city in the colonies to not only tolerate diverse religions but welcomed them from the very start. Quakers, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, and free blacks (mostly from the Caribbean) all made up this heterogenous city. The Free Quakers, as opposed to the Quakers, were disowned by the original group due to their desire to participate in the fight against the British.  Today, they are basically a philanthropic organization.

A very old building this meeting house was indeed, as evidenced by this humorous sign:



Our day in Philly had come to an end.  Of course there is lots more to see and do here, but once again, we just couldn't do it all.  I guess you never can really do it *all*.

We did however have one more stop to make it official:



Badges in hand, we had one last chance to race across the field and get a good last view of the main reason we came....

History is awesome.

Gillette! The best a man can get......

If you didn't get it, you're not watching American TV, which is just fine :-).  We ourselves have not had regular TV programming in our house for quite a few years now.  Guess that ad just permeates all airwaves, not just TV.


As some of you must have noticed, S has a beard!  He's never had a beard.....It started from just not wanting to shave, to not wanting to waste water in the RV to shave, and now, knowing we were heading to Gillette, to wanting to wait and shave in Gillette!  Not that this Gillette has anything to do with the whole shaving industry, but he had it fixed in his head.  And as some of you already know, when he has something fixed in his head, it stays there.





Anyway, THAT was our excitement about arriving in this town.  That's it.  Little did we know.....
Backing up here a bit, there was one bit of info regarding our drive I forgot to mention previously:  The great spill!


We were about an hour away from Gillette and the natives were getting very restless, it was dinner time after all.  So, we found a rest area and pulled over to have some dinner.  In we go and start sliding out when I look down and over towards the pantry and the kid's bedroom.....There was broken glass, and worse, red sauce combined with OIL was all over the carpet.........You know panic is setting in when you don't quite know what to do first.  After staring in shock for what seemed like forever, we got the kids on the couch and began mopping it all up.


Clean up took a good half hour, including blotting and scrubbing of the carpet.....The final report is that the oil actually didn't do as much lingering damage as we thought it would and the red all came out.  What happened was that our pantry flew open, probably when we hit a real bumpy portion of the road, and some of the contents got shaken out and onto the floor.  Crash boom bang and all....This BTW, was not the first time items went flying.  Previously, our freezer apparently flew open while in transit since we came in to find most of it's contents all over the floor.....several hours later.....Yet another important newbie lesson learned here:  Always stop, get out, and check the contents of the RV to make sure all's in place after hitting a rough patch!


Even after all that mess, sometimes timing is a funny thing, this is what S had to say: "You know, this RVing lifestyle is really pretty fun!"  You'd think it would have the opposite effect, and no, he wasn't being sarcastic.  Really :-).


So, we finally had our dinner and set off once again.  Arriving in Gillette we settled into yet...another Walmart! This one was a little busier and not quite as peaceful as the one in Cody (can you use peaceful and Walmart in the same sentence??) but we managed just fine.


S being S, he started chatting up our neighbor, who was more than happy to oblige.  He soon learned that Gillette is a coal gold mine! (was that a pun?)  We were sitting on top of a HUGE vein of coal!  This town is the second largest producer of coal in the world!  And apparently, it's the more environmentally friendly stuff too.


If you're thinking right about now, ok, so why is this exciting?  Well, you and I have something in common then.  Can I tell you now that I don't think I've ever  seen my husband get so excited about nearly anything?  Really.  I mean, the man was giddy!  Of course, his giddiness was contagious and the boys joined right in too.  They didn't need much convincing about it either.  I mean, dirt, HUGE trucks, HUGE machines, HUGE holes in the ground - WHAT could be better?? What I ask you?!


Now, I have to admit, we were told the mine offers tours and the educational aspect of it all got *me* excited, but alas, the tours only ran through August so we were a no go.  We would be able however to go and watch the digging and the dumping from an observation point, no tour necessary.  Oh joy!  We also would be able to go across town and climb on those huge trucks and such that were out there on display.  OK, at least we, um, they, get some exercise in.  Finally, there was also a small rock museum, that's it's name as well as it's contents, or so we thought.


Well, we had our day planned out then.  Done deal.  Guess we were hanging around for more than just a night. Travel plans continue to be flexible.


So, the next day turned out to be quite chilly and cloudy, but that wasn't gonna stop us.  Everyone started with a smile on their faces :-)





See?  Giddy I tell you! Absolutely giddy!





This thing looks like a little Tonka truck from here, but later when we saw a truck the size of ours down there next to it, well, our monstrosity looked like a toy!  That thing is 3 stories high!





And this is it's wheel, one of 6.....





It costs 38,000 per wheel.  That's PER wheel, not even including the truck itself yet!


Well, this is the scoop that scoops the dirt and coal out of the 'hole' and dumps it in the truck.  Pardon my lack of knowledge in the technical terms department.....About 3 of these scoops fill the truck.  As you can see, it can scoop us up easily!  We have a humungo pick up truck btw, the biggest standard one there is, just so you have a frame of reference.....





So moving right along with our day, the museum was next. Well, it was not a plain old 'rock' display museum like we though.  It was full of artifacts from the original town, obviously a mining town at it's origin and still is. Small exhibits about daily life, ranch life, mining, etc., dotted the place.  And there was plenty of hands on stuff to do for the kids, it was perfect!


This one looks kind of like a painting....





This is one of the first RVs!  It's a sheepherders covered wagon with all the trimmings, minus a bathroom though.  It even had insulation! These wagons were also used by families vacationing in cooler spots for the summer, truly an RV.








Analyzer tried her hand at sending a telegraph using Morse Code -

This was one of the better hands on activities, the boys loved it!  Obviously this was a demo of the
original general store in the town -

And this is a photo of the original store, which made me smile cause in our family we have almost the exact same photo, except with my family members in it.  More specifically, my great grandfather, Grandpa Charles.  I'm trying to get a hold of the picture to share with you, since it's so remarkably similar.  I guess all store owners of that time stood posing in front of their goods  :-).







On to our next and final stop, climbing! Finally!


What can better than large heavy equipment you can climb on?!  In increasingly cold temperatures I might add......


This is one of those large collecting/dump trucks, but *smaller*. The kids were quite petrified up there!








Inventor was quite petrified up there too!





And that brought our day to an end, finally I might add :-).  Our plan was to leave the next day, but the weather had other ideas....


Oooh! Almost forgot our new addition!  A Big Buddy!  Yes, this is exciting, believe me.  We are now no longer dependent on our centralized heating system, which ended up being very expensive propane and battery wise. When S discovered how inefficient the heater system was, he went on a crusade.  He found a 99.9% efficient portable indoor/outdoor propane heater that will do the job much better.  He then proceeded to design and fabricate a hook up in the most ingenious and 'optimized' fashion, as only he can.  Thanks for keeping us toasty warm bubby! :-)

Good Ol' Buffalo Bill, and then some.

For starters let me tell you that we spent a total of 10 hours at this place over a period of two days! TEN hours!  And to think we almost skipped it thinking it was too touristy!  Thank God I have friends who are wiser and do their best to try and steer me right!

'This place' is the -



As I mentioned in yesterday's post, Cody is named for Buffalo Bill, AKA Buffalo Bill Cody.
Isn't this a great statue?!



This Smithsonian of the west as it's called, is comprised of 5 different museums: Wild West Art, The Plains Indians, Yellowstone, Buffalo Bill, and Guns.  It also has many many hands on activities for kids, keeping them very well entertained to be sure.  I have to say though, the kids surprised me by being so taken by the displays, particularly the ART (!!), that the hands on activities were merely a bonus, not the main event.

So, let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start....anybody singing yet?  :-) Sorry, songs stick in my head that way.....

Wild West Art:

Not sure why we don't have many pictures of the actual art, guess we were too busy looking at it.  We do however have pictures of all the hands on parts of the exhibit. Guess that's when Iw as sitting around watching the kids and therefore taking pictures!  The kids not only got plenty of art history and appreciation, but also got to use that new knowledge right then and there.  I have to admit, until very recently, my appreciation and knowledge of art was not exactly stellar.  Not that it is now, but I'm learning right along with them.  For a change....

Inventor was most taken by the works of art that involved those bright and vibrant colors.  This is not the finest example of them, but it does depict the ancient method of hunting buffalo, throwing them off a cliff, that fascinated him as well.

Here they are learning about the process of creating a bronze statue.  Wow! I never imagined it was SUCH a process, it's pretty incredible!

The kids at the sketching station, kept them busy for at least 40 minutes!







And finally, the last hands on section of the art museum, 'create your own wild west' on the computer.  You can add people, housing, mountains, etc, etc.  It was pretty cool.



The decision of where to go next was left up to a game of rock paper scissors.  I believe paper won and off we went to -



There was so much to see, so many artifacts, dioramas, recreations, audio visual demonstrations, etc. - it was endless. The kids really enjoyed it, as did we, but they were so tired by the end that we just had to call it a day.  Luckily and wisely, admission gives you two consecutive days to explore the entire center, there's no way anyone can (thoroughly) finish it all in one.  Even without kids.







The next day found Analyzer and I at the ice rink again, giving her one more chance to skate and the boys enough time to immerse themselves in guns, without boring us to tears....We joined them, an hour and a half later (!) for the last bit of the guns, that was plenty for us thank you very much.
Even the gun museum had hands on activities.  Inventor was quite the shot! We were all pretty impressed.  Who knew?!







Moving right along to Buffalo Bill's Wild West museum....

Annie Oakley was of course a main attraction, as she always was.  My kids are very familiar with her thanks in part to a wonderful Myths and Legends DVD series we used to check out of the library.




Buffalo Bill.

We actually began our education on all things Buffalo Bill (from here on out known as BB, cause typing out the whole name each time is a pain) almost a year ago.  On our way back from Florida we had stopped in Oakley, KS just because it was something potentially interesting to do on the long long highway cutting across Kansas.  There, we learned that as a young man BB was hired by the railroad as a buffalo hunter so that the soldiers might have some meat to eat.  He was so skilled at hunting these animals that he won a shooting competition with another 'Bill' and earned the name 'Buffalo Bill'.

Of course the military also went out and killed (not hunted!) thousands of buffalo with the sole purpose of cutting off the animal that provided food, clothes and shelter to the Native Americans.  We saw photos of the piles and piles of hides, bones and carcasses that simply went to waste, not to mention the murder involved here: The murder of the buffalo AND the indirect murder of the Native Americans.  I won't go in to the actual genocide of the Native Americans quite yet though.

Back to BB.  He wore many many hats throughout his life (not in the correct order necessarily): Military scout, trapper, Pony Express rider, hunter, among other things. He had quite a bit of adventure under his belt even before starting his wild west show.  Obviously he was a hugely successful businessman and performer, but he was also a father of 4 and a loving one at that. From what we learned, he was a good person.  He respected, honored and befriended the Native Americans he worked with and in general.  He never treated them as second class citizens.

So, we learned a lot about him as a man, not just as a 'Hollywood star'.  BTW, his wife outlived him AND 3 of their children! I can't even imagine....



He loved children, and they loved him.  As do ours :-)



The exhibit itself is chock full of authentic memorabilia from the general wild west, his military days, show days, family life and house(s) and of course his death.  He's buried BTW in mountains of Colorado, not far from where our stick house is. He's got a grave with a view!

The very last exhibit we explored was 'Yellowstone'.  Given that we'd just come from there, we left it for the end since we'd had quite a bit of it already.

The exhibit had a lot going for it, even for someone who had it coming out their ears already.

It had technology -



Quite a bit of hands on learning -





A reading corner - for all, as you can see.

Real buffalo hides to play with!

A great demonstration of how each and every part of the buffalo was used by the Native Americans, not a thing went to waste!

And finally, nothing like a map you can walk all over to really understand where you are!

Of course, we could not possibly end our two days at the center without incident.  Nope, that would be unheard of!  I wasn't there for it, as it was in the gun section while Analyzer and I were at the ice rink, but this is the account I got......

So, again, I'll give you one guess as to who we're talking about here.  Said child, ok Whirlwind, while looking intently at an exhibit about hunted wildlife, got a little too up close and personal....he leaned over the low railing, and whoops!  Practically did a summersault right over it and INTO the exhibit!  Crash, boom, screaming and all.....guards running over....oh my!  He was fine, if not a little shaken up, but the guards insisted (they seem to be pretty insistent about a lot of things at this place) that an accident report must be filled out.....So, they did.

Happy to report and reiterrate that the child AND the exhibit were all in one piece after this little 'incident'.  :-)

That my friends, is the end of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.

We had some art, science (geology, climatology, zoology, environmental studies) and loads of history to digest!

It was exhausting and time consuming, but worth every. single. second!