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We Couldn’t Go To Israel: Road Trip To Madison, Wisconsin

20 Nov

Since my husband had over two weeks off for our trip to Israel that got cancelled due to terrorism and war, we had to keep moving or the anxiety would get to us.  Our first Road Trip lasted only three nights.  The second trip took six nights.

We have driven to Madison, Wisconsin, several times.  Always doing it in just one day.  But this time, I decided we needed to stop every now and then and just relax; so we did.

Day one:  On the road to Altoona, Iowa.  Why Altoona?  It is on the eastern outskirts of Des Moines.  And there was something to do.   On our wat to Altoona, we stopped at the Amish Store that is just across the border from Missouri to Iowa.  I love this store.  Jams, spices, seasonings, candy and cookies. All home-made and delicious.  We stopped for lunch and stocked up on gifts for our Madison hosts and for us. 

Next stop the hotel in Altoona.  My planning was excellent because across the street was a wonderful discount mall.  If it hadn’t been so cold and windy, we would have walked there.  Instead, we drove over and walked around this outdoor mall for a while helping the economy of Altoona.  We also found an Italian restaurant halfway between our hotel and the mall and ate dinner there. Yum.

Day two: On the road to Madison with a planned stop in Dubuque, the last stop in Iowa before Wisconsin.  We have driven through this Mississippi River town several times and always said we wanted to stop.  This time we did.  Our aim was to visit the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium.  Even though it was cold, and we had to walk outside between the two buildings, it was a great experience.  But I am sure it is even more wonderful if you have children. There is just so many activities for them.

We did not go to the main movie, but we did see all the aquariums and visited the displays.  One building holds the aquariums for the part of the Mississippi, the Gulf of Mexico, that enters the ocean. There were jelly fish, seahorses, an octopus, stingrays and other ocean animals.  The other building held the aquariums for river life: sea otters, turtles, snakes, fish.  I had never seen real paddlefish before.  They really do have a paddle on their snouts!

Our favorite exhibits were the Riverways History Gallery and the Innovation Currents Gallery. We also ate lunch there in a restaurant that overlooks the Mississippi and the outdoor displays.  If it was warmer, we might have spent more time outside because there was a lot to see there as well.

Two hours later we were on our way to Madison.

Days Three-Five: Being in Madison with our friends was great. We had a good time visiting and seeing some of the sites.  Our highlights was a tour of the State Capitol and the Chazen Museum of Art.

The Wisconsin state capitol building is really lovely. The building itself is over 100 years old. What makes it so amazing is that all branches of the state government still meet in the building. There are four magnificent rooms. One for the House of Representatives, one for the senate, one for the Supreme Court and one for hearings and meetings. Each room has a beautiful and large stain glass sky light that illuminates the room. Another lovely room is the senate’s private parlor.

There are free tours of the capitol each day. We were lucky in that we arrived at the capitol rotunda just a few minutes before the tour and we four were there only ones there allowing us to have the best private tour of the capitol that you would want.  Our tour guide, Mike, was excellent.  You could tell that he loved the building.  And there is so much to love.  Which you can see by the photos of the rooms.

Another day we went to the Chazen Museum of Art, which is on the University of Wisconsin’s campus. Although not a large museum, it was filled with amazing art. We were fortunate to see a special exhibit: Insistent Presence: Contemporary African Art, had several pieces that caught our attention. Petro Beads, with was a giant set of prayer beads made from old metal petro containers. The Throne of Languages made from old military devices was an eye opener.

In other blogs I have written about my love of the glass art of Dale Chihuly.  I really enjoyed seeing some of his early art work. He studied at the University of Wisconsin earned his MFA from the School of Education’s Art Department under Harvey Littleton, who was a well-known glass artist.  We saw a few pieces of his work as well.  I am sad to say I did not get to see The Mendota Wall at the Kohl’s Center. That will have to wait for another trip.

Day 6 and home:

It was going to be a long drive on highway 39 and 90 to the State Capitol of Illinois, Springfield. We had no plans to visit the capitol building there. Instead, our destination was the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Before I discuss our visit to the Library, I must tell you that I wish had more time in Springfield. We were only there for a few hours and were totally focused on the library. But it has many other sites to visit. We will go back.

I love how this library is set up. There is a central Plaza area that all the different exhibits lead off from. It was so fun to explore. After walking through a front yard, you enter a replica of the Lincoln log cabin. As you exit the cabin from the other side, you enter a wonderful exhibit all about slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation. As you leave that exhibit, you are right in front of the entrance to the White House replica. There you walk through a room and enter an exhibit about politics in the time of Lincoln. I could not believe the horrible nasty political cartoons that made a mockery of Lincoln. It made me realize that ugliness in politics has been around for a long time.

We watched one of the two shows and walked through the Treasures Gallery where you can see some items own by the Lincolns as well as some important documents. 

We love our visit there, but as I said earlier, wished we had more time to visit some of the other Lincoln sites and to see the capitol.

When we left Springfield, we knew that our trip was almost over. We spent the night in St. Louis, my husband’s hometown and visited with family. Then the next morning we headed home. We went through five state: Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois.

My husband’s vacation is officially over. We have completed our road trips for the fall.  We look forward to the future when we can visit Israel in peace.

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After A Trip Was Cancelled, We Went to Tulsa

7 Nov

Since April, I have been telling my husband that I wanted to go to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and visit the Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie museums.  I had the trip planned for the longest time.  Our first stop would be these two museums, then we would visit with friends of his and perhaps one of his cousins in Oklahoma.  On the way back I wanted to stop in Wichita, see more cousins, spend the night, then on the way home visit the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Though I kept talking about it, we never got around to do it this summer.  But this fall, our plans changed quickly and radically.  We were supposed to go to Israel where our daughter and her husband live.  The war changed our plans, but my husband still had two weeks of vacation.  I had to do something.  Just sitting home and moping and worrying was not an option. I am the type of person who can usually find the good in any situation.  And I was determined to find some small element of good.

Road Trip Number 1!

We reached out to our people; I made hotel reservations; and off we went.

The hotel we stayed at in downtown Tulsa was in easy walking to the two archive/museums.  They are next door to each other.  On our walk towards the museums, we saw a large post indicating that we were entering the Historic Greenwood District. This is the area where once a thriving Black community settled before the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre took place.  We thought it was extremely apropos that the museums dedicated to these two musical activists were in this area.  It just fit.

I loved both museums.  They each traced the lives of two of my musical heroes.  Even though their music was written decades apart, they actually knew each other.  One was born Jewish, the other was married to a Jewish woman and fought in WW2. Among Guthrie’s papers is one that reads, “Beat Hitler quick.” That resonated with me with all the Jew Hatred going on right now. The museums are both well worth the visit.  You can spend time watching the videos or just walk through.  I loved reading about them, listening to their music, and looking at their artifacts.  At the Guthrie Museum, you must try the virtual reality of the dust storms that devastated Oklahoma. WOW.

That evening we ate dinner with our friends. I asked about the two museums I wanted to see. The husband actually serves on the board of the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art.  At dinner he told us a bit about the museum, I realized it was much bigger than I anticipated.  For a community of about 1800 Jewish residents, it was really special. 

The section about the Holocaust was difficult as such museums always have to be.  But I loved how they imagined KrystalNacht.  I was so touched by the stone display that is a memorial to the 1.5 million Jewish children killed. I had tears in my eyes thinking about the children who were recently murdered by Hamas.  How could I not compare the two? The death of every child takes a toll on society.

Upstairs was dedicated to modern Jewish Life.  They had a sanctuary set up that must be wonderful to teach about Judaism to those who come to visit.  For me, personally, I loved the special exhibit of mezuzahs, the scrolls we put on our doorposts.

From there we went to the Philbrook Museum of Art. The house was built by Waite Phillips, who started a ‘little’ oil company. Phillips and his family lived there for only 11 years, and then they gifted the house and 23 acres of land to Tulsa for an art museum. Okay, I will be honest with you, the art in the house is great.  But the house itself is amazing.  I love old houses.  And this one does not disappoint.  The grounds are also stunning.  Well worth a couple of hours to walk through and visit.  It just cheered me up. I could see myself sitting outside for hours.  We especially loved all the wonderful milkweed and butterfly gardens. 

After we got back to our hotel, my husband’s cousin drove in from Oklahoma City to visit us.  She surprised me with a gift, her grandmother’s mah jong set.  She told me that no one in her family plays and she knew that I did, so she gave it to me.  Her grandmother and my husband’s mother were sisters.  I have to say having both of their mah jong sets gives me joy.  It was great catching up with her and seeing pictures of her family and sharing photos of our family.

The next morning it was on to Wichita.  One note about the drive from Texas to Kansas.  It is VERY flat and dusty.  There were no crops really, just fields and fields of red dirt.  However, and I am really sorry I could not get a photo of this, besides the oil well arms pumping away there were also giant windmills.  And at one spot there was a windmill farm circulating air and making e;ectricity above the same field where the oil well arms were pumping oil.  It would have been a great photo representing the changes coming to society as we switch to rely on renewable energy.

Of course I contacted our Wichita cousins as soon as we arrived and then spent the next seven hours with them.  It was great.  We had two meals with everyone. But also had time for us older adults to just visit.  We have not seen them for about six years, which is ridiculous.  Wichita is just three hours from home. I vowed that we would come back more often.  We need to see his first cousins and also visit some museums.  (My husband hates museums, but he loves me.)

Next morning on to Hutchinson and the Cosmosphere, one of my favorite museums in Kansas.  Honestly, we went several times when our children were younger.  In fact, our daughter attended two summers of Space Camp there and loved them.  Even though we have been members for about 28 years, we have not been there for about 20 years.  It was definitely time to go back and see the changes!

The museum exhibits are wonderful.  If you love space and NASA, you will love this museum. The real Apollo 13 space craft is there. All the exhibits have been redesigned since our last trip. Definitely for the better.  We watched one of the two movies, about the Blue Whales.  That cheered us up. We were pretty sure that this documentary would end on a sad note, but NO, the Blue whales are coming back and increasing in numbers.  Honestly, I think Star Trek’s movie has something to do with that. It was a good start to the visit. 

While we were walking around, I noticed a little exhibit off to the side, The V-2 Gallery, which was all about the V-1 and V-2 rockets that the Nazis used to bomb and terrorize London.  In the past the history of these rockets was sort of not mentioned.  Just as it was not always advertised that Wernher von Braun, who helped start the United States aerospace industry, was a member of the SS and helped Nazis build their death rockets.  This exhibit made it very clear.  It also made clear that the rockets were built by slave laborers in concentration camps.  And over 500 prisoners were killed when the Allies bombed the factory, as the prisoners were locked in and could not escape.  These rockets decimated London causing the deaths of over 20,000 people.  A sad start to the aerospace history. But one I think should not be forgotten.

Our first Fall Road Trip was a great adventure.  We loved seeing friends and family.  We loved visiting new museums and revisiting the Cosmosphere.  Personally, in this time of great stress for the Jewish community of the world and the horrors of war, I was glad to get away.  But at the same time, I am glad that we were able to visit places that show good in the world and how society can survive war and hatred. 

http://www.jewishmuseumtulsa.org

http://www.cosmo.org

http://www.Philbrook.org

http://www.bobdylancenter.com

http://www.woodyguthriecenter.org

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A Bit of Maine: Acadia National Park

26 Sep

My cousins recently purchased a home in Maine close to Acadia Park overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.  Since they moved there for part of the year, I have been bombarded with demands that I visit.  That I would love it.  That I had to come to see their new home.  So this summer my sister and I went to see them.   I am so glad we did.

I will not tell you the exact little town that they live in, but it was easy driving to the Schoodic Institute at the Acadia National Park, which is located at Schoodic Point. The Institute studies environmental changes taking place in Acadia and provide educational programs for learners of all ages.   They help manage research projects throughout the park. 

The land at Schoodic Point, 2000 acres, was donated to National Park Service in 1929 by the John Moore family.  Also starting in 1935 until the 1990s, there was a US Naval Security Group Activity Base located there, which included the most lovely building in the middle of the site. When the base closed, the National Park Service worked to develop a research learning center using the buildings that were going to be left unoccupied after the base was closed.

Now everyone can visit The Rockefeller Hall Visitor Center at the Schoodic Institute in Acadia National Park.  It houses a nice little museum and wonderful Park Rangers who can answer your questions!

After we visited the Center, we drove around to look at some of the stunning scenery.  The black volcanic rock intermingled with the pink granite creates a wonderful vista when you look out to the ocean.  You can walk along these scenic, rocky beaches. When we went to my cousins’ favorite spot, there was an older couple sitting on the stones, who insisted that we skip some small rocks into the ocean.  It brought back memories of skipping rocks into the lake I grew up at in upstate New York.  We soon learned that the pink stones crumble as they skipped, while the black volcanic stones made wonderful skips!

Another great place to visit is the Tidal Pools, where you can see the starfish caught in the tide pools, pick them up and touch them for a few moments before returning them to their safe havens.  (Just be careful as the rocks are slippery and can move beneath your feet.  I found out the hard way!)

Sunset from my sounsin’s home.

We ate in a wonderful seafood restaurant near their home.  I had haddock. Yum!  Saw lots of lobster boats and other little boats that made for brightly colored photos in each little cove.

Since we had one very rainy day while there, we stayed in an watched several documentaries created by local residents about the area and about the Penobsoct Indian Nation. They were extremely interesting and gave us information about the history of the area. Later we visited some of the areas mentioned in the documentaries.

When the weather cleared, we took a trip to Ellsworth.  This lovely town has a quaint downtown and refers to itself as “The Museum in the Streets.”   We had a great time visiting the shops and eating lunch. We still talk about the twin sisters who work in stores next to each other and were extremely helpful. We did our best to help the economy of this lovely shopping district.

While there we also saw one of the many granite sculptures that are scattered throughout the area.  Some are on the side of The Schoodic National Scenic Byway, others are in town centers. I think we saw five. But there are many more.

Our final scenic vista came during a visit to Jones Pond.  To this community it was a pond, but to me it looked much like the lake I spent my summers visiting.   Except there were no boats docked on the Jones Pond, only a sea plane!!  I loved seeing all the water lilies.  We walked on a path along the coast of the pond for a bit.  We were the only people there: a most peaceful and meditative experience.

A visit to the Acadia Park area in Maine is well worth the trip! I hope to go back again with my husband and visit many of the places we could not see in just four days.

http://www.schoodicinsititue.org

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Learning More About The Manhattan Project

20 Aug

We went to see Oppenheimer, a movie I knew I had to see, but at the same time I was dreading it. We all hear about Los Alamos and what happened secretly in New Mexico for years as the science was developed to create the Trinity device that effectively ended WW2, while also changing the world for eternity. 

I have been to the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri.  I saw the documentation about how President Truman found out about the Manhattan Project. The movies about the impact of the bombs were horrifying.  To see the ‘green plug’ from the Fat Man, plutonium bomb that fell on Nagasaki actually made me shiver.

I knew about the Manhattan Project and the work done in Los Alamos, but I was not aware of what happened in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  And it was not until this summer that I learned about Hanford, Washington.

Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was the military headquarters for the Manhattan Project.  The town of Hanford, Washington, was where the plutonium was processed. I am not a physicist or an historian of WW2. I knew the little bit that I knew, and to be honest that was enough. Knowing what I know now is a bit frightening.

This summer we took a cruise on the Columbia and Snake rivers to learn about the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  Though I did learn so much about the history of that journey, docking near Hanford. opened my eyes to the immensity of the Manhattan Project and the multiple places where the secret experiments were carried out and the bombs were manufactured.

The Hanford Engineering Works was where the plutonium was processed.  This almost 600-square-mile site was another secret city where people worked on the development of the nuclear bomb.   To this day, two thirds of our country’s nuclear waste is contained somewhere on this site.  The water and air continue to be monitored. Barriers have been built to keep the waste contained.   Families with children live and work here.  I am not sure I would want to live there.  But many do.

While in the Hanford area, in what is called the Tri-Cities, we visited the REACH Museum. The museum focus on this area and the time before Hanford became part of the Manhattan Project, but it also has an area devoted to the development of the atomic bomb.  For me this was a revelation.  I had absolutely no idea what happened here! Just like in Los Alamos, an entire town and community was developed in a secluded area basically uninhabited.

In 2015 the Manhattan Project National Historical Park was created.  This part preserves areas in the three sites where the atomic bomb and its secret development was worked on: Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Hanford. Parts of these sites are open to the public.

Watching Oppenheimer was emotionally intense.  To see how these people came together to invent the unimaginable and how some were horrified by what they had developed.  To see Oppenheimergo from a man honored for his work as the director of the Manhattan Project to a pariah for his work afterwards to keep additional bombs from being developed. 

To see how he was attacked and verified was a bit frightening.  I knew about MaCarthyism and the attack on many Americans because they might have once been communists.  I learned in college how these attacks hurt many innocent people.  And how Joseph McCarthy was finally stopped.  I did not know that the fear about communism also impacted Robert Oppenheimer. 

In the movie they ask him when opinions on the bomb and what he did had changed.  To me this was a ridiculous question. Can you imagine being among those scientist who learned how to use the power of the atom and plutonium to kill hundreds of thousands of people?   I would imagine that many had second thoughts about what they had unleashed even though the bombs did end the war with Japan.

At the REACH Museum this display indicates increased bombs during the Cold War.

We all need to learn about how the bomb was developed and the efforts to stop the continued development of bombs in the 1950s.  Perhaps the world would be a different place if that had happened.  Because even today the fear of nuclear bombs continues to be a threat to our world.  So we have to ask, as Oppenheimer did, did he “become Death, the destroyer of worlds”? 

I hope not.

To learn about the Manhattan Project National Park   https://www.nps.gov/mapr/index.htm

The Reach Museum: https://visitthereach.us/

Wonderful Changes at Truman Presidential Library

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Day Trips to Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Hood

19 Aug

Soon after I married Mt. St. Helens began to awaken. Two months later the volcano’s explosive eruption was international news.  I remember picture after picture of the eruption, the area around the volcano and the loss of life so well.  Although in my life, my marriage was the most important event of 1980, I knew for everyone else it was the sight of Mt. St. Helen’s eruption.

Each anniversary for this tragic day, I think back to my friends who were married in Washington state just a few days after the devastation.  Although they lived closer to Spokane, and were not impacted by the actual eruption, the smoke and ash did make the trip and changed the atmosphere of their wedding.  I wish I could have been there to see their wedding and the ash!  But I could not.

This event has been etched in my mind! I had to see for myself what Mt. St. Helens looks like now.  In June I finally had that chance. 

Mt. St. Helen’s
Before the blast
After the blast

Before a cruise we were taking along the Columbia and Snake River, my husband and I took a tour up to Mt. St. Helens. We were supposed to go to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, where the volcanologist, Davide Johnston, died. Unfortunately, there was a mudslide a few days before our trip. Instead we went to the Elk Overlook and then to The Weyerhaeuser’s Charles W. Bingham Forest Learning Center, then to the Mt. St. Helen’s Visitors Center operated by the National Park Service.

Seeing the volcano, even from a distance, was stunning.  You can see clearly where the side of the mountain blew out!  At the learning center, there are photos of the area before and after the blast.  It is amazing how the logging company has planted millions of trees and changed the look of the area.  Within the national park site. Nothing has been planted by man. All the new growth was by nature alone.

The Cascades are amazing.  The Douglas Fir trees and Giant Sequoias meet all expectations!

After seeing Mt. St. Helens, it seemed apropos to also go to see her sister volcano, Mount Hood. It has been dormant since 1866, but it is still monitored in case it decides to wake up.  Tourists can get much closer to Mt. Hood. In fact, people can walk a trail to the top.  We did not do that, but we did walk part of the trail.  There was snow so I was glad I had a jacket.

Entrance to the Lodge
Amazing Art on the front door.
The Fireplace and Hexagon room
Mt. St Hood. It also blasted out from the side in 1866.

We started our visit there at the lovely Timberline Lodge, which was built in the 1930s during the Great Depression.  The giant timbers used to make the hexagon lobby are impressive.  There are many lovely carvings and other artworks throughout that make it a great place to visit. 

From the lodge there are many wonderful views of the volcano as well as the start of the walking trails up the mountain and around it. 

It is an active hotel and ski resort.  I would love to be there as an overnight guest. We ate lunch in the dining room and the food was delicious.

If you are in area of Portland, Oregon, or Vancouver, Washington, taking trips to these two volcanos would be great.  Besides seeing the mountains, we also visited the Rose Gardens in Portland, a stop that any rose lover should not miss.  There were thousands upon thousands of magnificent roses.  We visited the roses on the way to Mt. St. Helens.  Before we went up to Mt. Hood, we spent some time walking the trails and seeing the 611-foot high, Multnomah Falls. Also a lovely place to visit.

These two days were among the highlights of our trip!

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Technology Equals No Division

17 Jul

I had the most pleasant dinner with my husband and siblings in a restaurant in Montclair, NJ. The food, fish for all of us and ice cream and sorbet for dessert was delightful. We chatted and ate and visited and finally were ready to leave.

I have to admit that perhaps we asked for too much. We wanted to divide the check so that my husband and I paid half and my siblings each paid a quarter of the bill. The waitress said it was fine. And so we gave her three credit cards and waited. And waited. And waited. I should have known something was not working out.

Our bill for four people was $129.02. She came back with my credit card and a receipt for $86. She then was going to divide the $43.02 between my siblings. I was astounded that she did not even realize that this was not divided in HALF. It was two-thirds and a third, but definitely not half. $86 and $43 are NOT equal!

I went up with my receipts to speak to her while she was running the other cards. I politely said, “Wait. This is not right. $86 Is not half of $129.02.”

She was not convinced. “Are you sure? I have to get my manager,” she told me as she hustled away with a dazed look on her face.

A few minutes later the manager came. “How cam I help? ” He was pleasant.

“This is wrong. $86 is not half of $129.02. ” I told him. I was sure he would understand. But no such luck. “You asked for half on one card and the rest divided between those two!” He told me.

“Yes half. $86 is not half of $129.02. Half of $130 is $65. This is wrong.” I started doing the math, the division on a piece of paper. I showed him the math. But that was not what he needed. I offered to show him on my phone calculator. But no. He had a calculator that he pulled out.

He typed in 1292. No I said. You need a decimal. It is 129.02. He might have been anxious at this point. I noticed my siblings laughing and looking at me. I was getting exasperated. And I now was in teacher mode. I had taught at a high school. There is a definite teacher voice and look that can come over me.

In any case he correctly typed in 129.02 and divided by 2. 64.51 was the number it read. “You are right,” he admitted. “I am sorry. I will fix it. ”

I wanted to make it easy. I wanted him to credit my sister’s account and just put the rest on my card, the other $43.02. We would sort it out later. But that was too much as well. He ended up crediting my account and my sister’s. He ran a new receipt putting all the money on mine. I paid , added tip and we settled up.

My siblings laughed all the way to the car. They knew I was frustrated, they told me that the look of our mother came over me as I tried to explain the math to the manager. Mom taught fourth grade for 30 years.

“I just can’t understand how the waitress and the manager did not see that $86 was not half. $43 and $86 are not equal. Did they not understand half, divide by two,” I was still frustrated.

I was concerned that they did not believe my division that I did on paper. They would only believe a calculator. I felt like I was in a science fiction novel that I had read years ago where a boy who could do math in his head was considered a genius because everyone else HAD to use a calculator!

I am worried Technology is destroying the ability to calculate math in our brains.

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Money Museum, A Numismatic Joy

3 May

With all the talk about the Federal Reserve Bank, money and finance lately, we just had to see the Money Museum at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.  Both of our children visited it when they were in school.  I remember them bringing home a small bag filled with shredded money, which gave them pure joy, even though they could not use it.

I don’t know why we never went. My husband was once a big coin collector. His search for numismatic oddities was a fun pursuit.  We found almost 900 silver coins hidden in my grandparent’s home after they died.  They owned a bakery, and my grandmother would squirrel away all the silver coins that people paid with, replacing them in the till with regular coins. The coins were split between my mother and her brother.  But my parents let my husband search through all their coins to get the largest variety of dates and coins before dividing my mother’s share with my siblings and me. We got to take the coins he needed for his collection as part of  share. 

In fact, in our tzedakah (charity) box, where we collected coins each week for years, we always had the children search through the coins to find ones we did not have before donating all the money saved each year to charity.

Even though this obsession with coins faded, I still cannot understand why we never went to see the Money Museum. My husband often passed the Federal Reserve building on the way to work and would consider going in. But it never happened.  Until this March for our annual anniversary museum event.

It is not a very large museum.  It takes about an hour to go through the displays, watch the movie and try some activities.  They really made it family friendly, with activities for children and adults. The museum is free and during the summer there are free 30 minute tours at 10 am and 1 pm that you can join when you are there.

The first exhibit is the giant wall of coins that used to be at the Harry S Truman Presidential Library.   The Truman Coin collection has over 450 coins all lined up by year and denomination from the beginning of the United States.  This is a replacement collection that was donated by over 170 coin collectors after the original coins were stolen from the Truman Library in March 1962.

 In fact, the day we went to the museum was the 61st anniversary of this infamous heist.   The replacement coins were donated on May 6, 1967.  Hence why I decided to write this blog now! It seemed apropos to visited on March 24 and then write the blog for May 6. But I digress. Back to the coins.

The coins were on display at the Truman Library for over 35 years. But now they make their home at the Money Museum.  A perfect location for them. It is fun to see how coins we use every day have changed over the years.

Walking along the coin wall leads you straight to the museum.  There were little stations set up for the guests to learn fun facts about money, finance and how the federal reserve system works.  One display had counterfeit money and explained the safety mechanisms to check to see if bills are real.  Another explains the history of piggy banks.  There are fun facts on boards called “Jay’s Journal” directed toward children.

A favorite display for everyone when we went was the gold bar that you could try to lift.  The only one we saw who could actually lift it was a young woman.  She was STRONG.  I could not get it to budge.

You should watch the movie, although some smaller children will not enjoy it. It is in the back of the museum, so you see almost all the displays first. We also enjoyed all the interactive displays along the wall in the hallway that leads to the vault.  There were even two displays where you could take photos to send to your email.

When we finally reached the entrance to the area with the vault, I realized that the vault was enormous, much bigger than I imagined.  NO photos are allowed in this area.  We also got to see them shredding old paper money.  When exiting the museum at the end, everyone can take home a small bag of the shredded money. 

The Money Museum is not far from the restaurants at Crown Center.  So we made a day of our museum adventure and ate lunch at Crown Center and walked around the shops as well.

It was another great Kansas City staycation trip.

https://www.kansascityfed.org/moneymuseum/

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Two San Antonio Places to See Besides The Alamo

13 Apr

I love going to museums, especially museums I have not yet been to visit.  I have been to San Antonio many times, so did not need to see the Alamo again. Therefore, during my recent trip to San Antonio at the end of February, I was excited to visit two museums that were new to me thanks to two different friends who live there. 

First, I went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum of San Antonio that is housed in the Jewish Community Center.  A dear friend of mine, whose mother was a survivor, volunteers at the museum to share her mother’s story.  Before she knew I would be in town, she agreed to speak to a group of middle school students from a local Catholic school.  She invited me to hear her talk.

I was interested in going.  I knew my friend’s mother and I knew a little bit about her story because it is unusual.  Both she and her mother were together throughout the war, and both survived their concentration camp experience. My friend was also one of four women in Texas who worked to make Holocaust education a part of the Texas official school curriculum.

The Museum, which opened in 2000, is small but well thought out.  The main permanent exhibit tells the story of the Shoah through photos and films, maps, and personal items. Another part shows the USA response to the Shoah.  Finally, there is a room with photos of San Antonio residents who were survivors, including my friends mother.

Watching my friend speak and learning so much more about what happened to her mother and grandmother, really touched my heart.  You wonder how someone who spent her teen years as a slave laborer, who almost lost her life several times, who saw such evil, could ever become normal and raise children in the USA. But she did.

I recommend going to the museum.  It is worth the short time it would take to walk around and read the exhibits.  If you can, plan in advance to schedule a docent led tour, that would be even better. The museum is free and open to the public. Hours are Monday to Friday, 9 am – 3 pm. And Sunday’s 1 -4 pm.

My second San Antonio Museum was much more Texas oriented.  Other friends of mine picked me up at my hotel and took me to the Briscoe Western Art Museum, which is located right along the River Walk.  It is named for former Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe, Jr. You can actually see his office furniture in the museum.

The museum brochure points out that Western art is a unique American art form.  It Is!  I loved the spurs and saddles.  Some were absolutely beautiful.  I was excited to see all the different spurs, which were made in different states.  Seeing the one from Kansas was fun!

The paintings and sculptures were also interesting.  The western scenes and Native America art is both inside the museum and part of an outdoor sculpture garden that you should not miss. There are also sculptures along the River Walk just outside that entrance to the Musuem. I also enjoyed the gallery that was devoted to the art of women in the Ruth Bowers Women of the West Gallery.

The building itself is wonderful, once the home of San Antonio’s first public library. I loved the ornate ceiling and actually took several photos just of it!

This is also a small museum that you can visit and see all within a few hours.  It is open Thursday through Monday, 10 am – 5 pm. Children under 12 are free.  Adults are #14 and seniors $12.

http://www.hmmsa.org

http://www.briscoemuseum.org

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Our Mayan Adventures Continue

14 Feb

After my husband and I visited the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon about an hour from Mexico City, I became enamored about learning more about Mayan culture and its ruins. (See blog below.)

So in late 2022, when the “MAYA: The Exhibition” came to Union Station in Kansas City, I knew I had to go and learn more!  I was absolutely intrigued by the civilization and even more astounded that many people of Mayan descent still live in Central America and Mexico. The exhibit did a great job of expanding on what I learned in Mexico in the fall of 2021. 

It piqued my interest to learn more. Thus, it was not surprising to my husband that when we went on a cruise that went to Belize and Cozumel that I wanted us to go on excursions which continued the focus on this new found interest.

Green jade head replica.
Residential area still covered.
One of thepyramids we could climb.
The view from the pyramid we climbed.

Our first excursion was to Altun Ha, a Mayan site that was probably established in the year 900 BCE. I found this site interesting for several reasons.  First many of the ruins are still covered by dirt and grass.  It has not been totally excavated.  It made it more obvious as to why people did not realize what these sites were at first.  Altun Ha has a large plaza area surrounded with pyramids and residential areas.  It is much smaller and not as interesting as the pyramid of the Sun and Moon in Mexico, but still worth visiting to see the changes that occurred over the centuries.

Our tour guide spent considerable time explaining why some of it was not excavated.  It seems that they only had a certain about of funds, so they decided not to excavate what would have been the residential area and focus on the temples.  Also interesting about this site is that it has no official name.  Usually the archeologists find some sort of glyph with the name.  Altun Ha does not have one, so it was named for the town that is nearby.  In fact, it was the towns people who discovered the site and reported it.

They found a large number of jade pieces at this site, including one of the largest jade heads ever found.  There is a reproduction of it in the small museum at the site.

The other interesting fact is that they let you walk/climb up on the pyramids here.  My husband and I did climb up one. But did not attempt the other one.  Going up was relatively fine, but going down was truly difficult.  There are no handrails and the steps are rather steep and uneven.  When we were in Mexico there were times that we sat to go down the steep steps between sections.  But this was rougher and more difficult.  It was an experience I am glad we did. But would not do it again.

I enjoyed our time there, even though the heat was almost oppressive.  And this was in mid-January.  Take lots of water and a hat if you go!

The arch on the road leading to the alter.
Under the arch.
THe road after the arch. And yes, we did actually walk on it.
The alter to the Goddess Itxchel.
The astronomy building

The next stop was in Cozumel and the San Gervasio Mayan Ruins.  This was a much more spectacular site than the one in Belize.  The property had been in private ownership for years, and the owners did not let people know about the ruins.  They actually destroyed some of the site’s buildings over the years.  Eventually the Mexican government took over the property.

It is one of the most popular and important Mayan ruins because of its relationship to fertility. It is the Sanctuary to the Goddess Ixchel, who was a fertility goddess.  In fact, young couples would come there to be married at the full moon, which was the best time for fertility.   You can walk on an ancient road to the site of the alter to Ixchel and see where the weddings took place.

Our guide told us that at one time there were four statues of pregnant women on the four corners of the alter, that have been stolen. 

There are only two known sites known to honor Ixchel, both are on islands.  Our guide told us that the island represented a womb surrounded by water.  Just as a fetus in the womb is surround by amniotic fluid.  I found that fascinating.

There was also another building that was used for astronomy and following the sun and the moon.  But mainly the moon as this was a site to the Ixchel, and the moon cycles were related to fertility.   This was my favorite site of my trip!

If you go to Cozumel, I would recommend seeing this over going shopping!

The Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon: A journey to Teotihuacan
MAYA: The Exhibition is a trip to the jungle
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#search/moll/FMfcgzGrcXrRtbjldxjlhbXqKqnSjxNr
https://cozumelparks.com/en/san_gervasio/

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Holon Adventures

16 Dec

Holon is a town just south of Tel Aviv and is a great community for families and children with many museums and activities.  But even for those without children, there are places to visit and enjoy.

My daughter and I spent time exploring Holon in November.  Since she lives in Holon, we were able to walk to some places.  But there are parking areas for cars as well as buses that you can take.

Our first stop was to one of the Story Book Parks, specifically, Gan Sipur, the Park of Stories.  Holon has several parks designed especially for children that fall under the category of Story Book Park.  The one we visited has a large playground, sculptures and activities that focus on seven children’s books. Each of the sections focuses on a different book written by an Israeli author.  There is an explanation of each book.  Unfortunately, they are only in Hebrew.  For this trip, my son-in-law accompanied us and was our official translator.

An added attraction to this park is a wonderful restaurant that is also family friendly, Café Garden Story, Café Gan Sipur, that is situated within the park. Since it was a Friday, and most people are off, it was busy.  We had to wait for a while. So we put in our name and then we walked around the park while we waited to get a table.  When we got the message, we hurried back to the restaurant on Mota Gur Street 15.

We decided to sit outside to enjoy the beautiful weather.  But the inside is fun as well. The Café also caters to children with bookshelves inside and activities for the children to do while they waited for the food.  The food was worth waiting for.  Out selections were excellent.  We had a great time visiting the park and enjoying the atmosphere of the café.

Not far from the Story Park is the Holon Design Museum at Pinchas Ayalon 8.  It is a short 1.5 kilometers, or about a five minute walk. My daughter has been wanting to see it, so we decided to add that to our adventures.  There are timed tickets to enter the museum, but there was ample space to sit outside as we waited along with several groups of women.

The museum was opened in 2010.  The building is quite interesting and was designed by an Israeli architect Ron Arad.  When we visited, all of the museum’s display areas were dedicated to the work of Alber Elbaz, an Israeli designer who grew up in Holon. He died from COVID in 2021.  This exhibit, Alber Elbaz: The Dream Factory, will be at the museum until February 25, 2023.

To be honest, I am not a follower of high fashion.  But I found this exhibit that focused on his life, how he started in design, his time with famous high fashion designers, as well as the tribute pieces designed by others, interesting.  I understand the desire to tell the story of a Holon native and his rise to fame in fashion design.

Going through the exhibit took about 90 minutes for us.  In certain areas we had to follow a long line of people through a curved hallway display.  I enjoyed seeing some of his early designs and the movie showing his work at one fashion show.

I look forward to going back in the future to see other exhibits and to see how the display rooms are used when it is not devoted to one person.

In the past I have visited other spots in Holon. One I have not written about, but loved was Dialogue in the Dark at the Children’s Museum at Peres Park in Holon. It was the most amazing experience I have ever had.    The tour is entirely in the pitch black as you tour several spaces, including a marketplace, a street and a port, led by a blind person.

To be honest I was terrified.  Because I am so near sighted, I have always been afraid of becoming blind.  But our guide was wonderful, and the experience is one I will never forget.  If you are ever in Tel Aviv or Holon, this is a must do activity.  You need to make reservations in advance and must be over 9 years old to attend.

https://en.gansipur.co.il/Holon

דף הבית

https://www.childrensmuseum.org.il/eng/pages/childrens_activity/dialogue_in_the_dark.aspx

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