Since I drove back to Indianapolis last night, I only had one thing left on my intinieary before flying back home this afternoon. Since I had time, I slept in but I left the hotel too late. I wanted pancakes and I found a pancake place that was close to the site I was going to see but when I got there there was a huge line. It was over an hour wait because the card system was down so people weren’t able to pay. I decided to go on to the house I was going to see and try again afterward.
I was hungry so I went back to Lincoln Square Pancake House for lunch. I was able to be seated immediately at the bar and they had fixed their card issue by then. I got some cinnamon sugar donuts for an appetizer and really good pancakes. While I was there I found out that my plane was delayed by about an hour so I took my time. When I did make it to the airport I found out that my flight had been delayed by another hour. I chilled out at the airport reading my book until I finally made it back home.
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I got up early so I could go to Big Bone Lick State Park, which is right over the border in Kentucky. The park is known for having bones of mammoths and other prehistoric animals. The animals are believe to have been drawn here because of the salt deposits in the area.
When I got to my car I drove back to Cincinnati to the William Howard Taft National Historic Site. I was actually here last year right before I went to Peru. If I had only known I would have another chance to be here… However, the last time I was here I didn’t have my National Parks book so I didn’t get my stamp. So I literally came here today to get the stamp and leave. And that is what I did. I timed it to where I got there right as the tour was going to leave. I went inside, got my stamp, and then I hid behind a pillar until the guide went into the house. Then I walked down the sidewalk to my car, got in, and drove to my next stop. It worked perfectly! My next stop was Serpent Mound Historical Site. I walked onto the site knowing nothing about it. Walking up to the site there were displays talking about the site. Pretty much nothing is known about it. They don’t know who built it, when it was built or why it was built. Some archeologist think the Adena civilization built it. They were in the area from 1000BC to 1AD. There are some Adena graves near the site, which supports that conclusion. They are also known for building earthworks.Others think it was built by the Fort Ancient civilization, who were also known for building mounds. Snakes were also significant to the culture. The current theory is that the mound was built by the Adena but a section was repaired by the Fort Ancient culture around 1070 AD.
My next stop was Hopewell Culture National Historic Park. I got the stamp for my National Parks book and then went outside to see the site. It was built by the Hopewell culture who lived in the area from 200 BC to AD 500. The are known for building sites in geometric shapes. Sites have been discovered hundreds of miles apart but they are built in the same design.
Since I couldn’t explore the house I had just enough time to make it to Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. I was also here a year ago but I needed to get the stamp. When I walked in the employees were lined up in front of the door because there was only 5 minutes left until close. They were ready to go. The lady at the front showed me where the stamps were and let me know they were about the close. I reassured her that I had been here before but just wanted the stamp. She also had the stamp for the Charles Young monument since it wasn’t open, so I could get that stamp too. Now I don’t have to come back to the area at a later date. Since I had finished everything I wanted to see early, I decided to head back to Indianapolis. On the way I stopped at a local restaurant for some dinner because I was starving. But it paid off since I was able to finish everything early and I didn’t have to stay the night in Dayton and then drive to Indianapolis tomorrow. It was dark by the time I made it to my hotel, so I went in and went to bed.
I’m currently in Indianapolis for Construction training. Luckily the training ended at noon so people would have time to fly out. Since I was already here, I decided to explore the area. I caught a ride to the airport with Austin and Danielle, but when they went inside I walked over to the rental car place to get a car.
My next stop was the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. Austin kept saying I had to see this museum because it was really cool. When I pulled in to the Motor Speedway, they were having an event so I had to pay extra for entry. When I made it past the gate, there was a sign pointing right to the museum but there was a person waiving me to the left. Since he was blocking the way, I went left. And then all the way down the track someone was waving me to keep going, so I had no chance to find a place to turn around to make it to the museum. They kept waving me right out of the speedway and back onto the street. I thought about going back, but I decided to just go on to my next stop because it was very busy getting ready for the Indy 500.
I tried to find some of the other monuments, but I had issues finding parking by them. So I decided to continue on and drive the 2 hours to Cincinnati. The drive went by fast and I didn’t really hit any traffic. I got some dinner and went to bed.
Today is Mother’s Day. I couldn’t travel home to visit Mom on Mother’s Day because busy season is still going on, but Kendall and Kyle are driving to Waco to visit his mother. So I arranged to meet up with them so I could give Kendall Mom’s Mother’s Day gift. Since I was going to Waco anyways I decided to do some touristy things I’ve been meaning to do every time I drive down but never have. It is only 1 hour to get to Waco but on the way there is started raining. The rain had stopped by the time I got into Waco. I decided to go ahead and go to Waco Mammoth National Monument since it wasn’t raining anymore. However, right when I parked it started sprinkling. I decided to go to the Dr. Pepper Museum instead so I could wait out the rain. The Dr. Pepper Museum was actually interesting, even though I’m not a fan of Dr. Pepper. There was actually a line to go in. Apparently they are expecting to hit their 1 millionth visitor today. That person will when a year’s supply of Dr. Pepper products. I didn’t win, which is probably a good thing since I don’t like Dr. Pepper.
Next I drove to the Texas Ranger Museum since I had about an hour before meeting Kendall and Kyle for lunch. I got there in time to watch a video about the history of the Texas Rangers. Before the video I didn’t know anything about the Texas Rangers. I just remember watching Walker Texas Rangers. Texas Rangers were originally founded to protect Texans from Indians. Once the Indians were contained, the organization transformed to police the frontier. At that time the population of Texas was spread out across the state. Once Texas became more connected, frontier policemen were no longer needed. Once again the Rangers transformed into the organization they are today. They are like the FBI but inside Texas. They investigate any crime that crosses county lines. They also deal with international crimes, like someone fleeing across the Mexican boarder.
Eventually Kendall texted that she was close, so I headed to George-O’s to meet them. We had a nice lunch and I got to try a new place to eat. I gave Kendall Mom’s gift, so hopefully she doesn’t forget to give it to her.
My final stop in Waco was back at Waco Mammoth National Monument to get the stamp for my National Parks book. I only had to wait a little while for the next tour to start. The mammoth bones are a little bit of a distance from the visitor center, so we first walked down the path to them. When we got to the end of the path there was a building. Our guide told us the building was built to protect the bones. While we were outside he told us a little bit about the site. The first mammoth bone was discovered in 1978 by 2 men who were searching for arrowheads by the river. They took the bone to Baylor University and it was identified as a Columbian Mammoth. After it was identified, Baylor organized a dig at the river and found 16 mammoths. Later, the total number of mammoths grew to 24. It is the largest known concentration of mammoths dying in one place. They did not all die at once though, it was actually 3 different herds of mammoths dying during different time periods. They are believed to have died by getting caught in a flash flood, but the causes of death is unknown.
Looking at the bones was the end of the tour, so afterward I got back in my car and drove home. I need some relaxing before work tomorrow. I also have to start planning my trip to Indianapolis since I’m flying there next week.
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June 2022
AuthorThese are details from my adventures around the world. |