Jamie had patiently endured several other historical sites throughout the week. That is not to say that she hated them or anything, but she had more fun at places like the water park that we had visited in Little Rock. Truth be told, as far as fun goes, so did I. So I guess I just didn’t like ending the trip on a rash of cold, hard graves and buildings.

That morning, we woke up at the Days Inn in Columbia, Tennessee, poised to take in the sites relevant to the life of President James K. Polk. The only house besides the White House in which he lived stood just five minutes away from our motel. They opened at 9am. We made it there at 9:20 and went on the next guided tour, which lasted about an hour.

Arrival at the Polk home in Columbia, Tennessee

Jamie daringly crosses behind the velvet rope to pose in the Polk kitchen area. As you can see, I am teaching her well.

We also paid the extra $3 fee to go through a quick run-through of the building next door, which currently housed a rotating exhibition of the James K. Polk Memorial Association. This one was dedicated to The U.S. Mexican War, which took place during Polk’s administration. The other couple scoping this out were visitors to Presidential places as well. But for the record, I had them beat. There was a lot of historical information and plenty of period artifacts in the exhibition – but we only spent about 20 minutes here and then moved on.

Ready to check out the bonus exhibition

Uniform, sword and scabbard, and telescope belonging to major generals in the U.S. Mexican War

The docent that took us through the house had informed me of a few sites in Columbia that were relevant to the life of Polk, so we also made visits to the Greenwood Cemetery where the Polk folks are buried, and then went down the road a ways to see the location of his first boyhood home in Tennessee. These locations can all be seen in my posting on James K. Polk.

It was around 11:20 when we departed Columbia and headed back to Nashville, which was about 45 minutes away. Since it was around lunchtime upon our arrival, we hit up another restaurant that had been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives – this on on the episode Gone Global. As the name Savarino’s Cucina will you tip off, it was an Italian joint. Jamie had some stuffed pasta while I went for the featured item, the Ed Pontieri sandwich – which was made of all kinds of Italian named foods: mortadella, sopressata, coppicolla, provolone, and the bomba calabresse hot sauce. We punctuated our lunch with an array of Italian desserts treats which included a canoli, strawberry gelato, chocolate chip cheesecake, and a raspberry filled chocolate cookie, only the latter of which was a bit disappointing.

DD&D #8: Savarino’s Cucina in Nashville, Tennessee

Eating Ed

Capping off the meal with a blend of sweet delicacies

Then it was on to the Capitol building – which happened to be my 21st. We found a parking area that was a good walk from the building and then hoofed it, stopping for a picture outside the current Supreme Court building before entering. We were provided a guided tour and asked to not take flash pictures of paintings – which naturally was asked after we had already done it. We checked out the old Supreme Court Chambers, the Governor’s Office, the House of Representatives and Senate galleries, the library, and numerous busts found throughout the building.

Outside the Tennessee Supreme Court building

Getting ready to enter the State Capitol

The three Tennessee Presidents: Jackson, Polk, and Johnson

Fielding questions in the old Supreme Court Chambers

Bust of John Sevier, the first Tennessee Governor

Trying in vain to get into the Governor’s Office. Jackie Kennedy kept us out.

The Jackson bust

The Polk bust

The Johnson bust

The House of Representatives Gallery

Addressing the Senate. Our tour guide wouldn’t let me get behind the main dais. And yet, later we were permitted to roam freely. Go figure.

Jamie and the library’s exquisite stairwell

One final bust… or bust! But surely Washington wasn’t from Tennessee was he?

But the most important thing at the Tennessee State Capitol was the fact that President James K. Polk was buried on their lawn, the only President interred at a State Capitol. We checked out his grave, and the great statues of other “Tennessee” Presidents, then walked a few blocks into the city to find the location (and sign) where Polk’s final residence, known as Polk Place, was once located. These sites can all be seen here.

Jamie and her first Presidential grave. An occasion like this calls for a Sprite.

The majestic Andrew Jackson statue on the Capitol lawn

Johnson didn’t want to be left out

Jamie and a nice Liberty Bell reproduction

My 21st State Capitol visit

Jamie’s fourth and final Brad-induced State Capitol visit

It took about 45 minutes to make our way back to the car and then drive to the Hermitage, the home and final resting place of President Andrew Jackson. It took about two hours to see everything here including the gift shop, an introductory movie, the museum, the main house, the original Hermitage cabin(s), and Jackson’s grave. These sites can be seen in their entirety here.

Jamie samples the crummy juice in the Hermitage visitor’s center

I dared Jamie to get on the stage before the film rolled. She did it, but then worried all through the film that she had somehow damaged it. Cutie!

Jamie outside the Hermitage house

Jamie’s second Presidential grave, which happened to be the same day as the first. Unfortunately the Sprite was gone and all she had to celebrate was a raincoat.

Jamie’s last act of patience, trudging through the wet grass to get photos of the Hermitage sign

It was 5:45 when we departed the Hermitage and then we headed north out of Nashville. We made a bit of a half-hearted attempt to find the grave of Johnny Cash at the Hendersonville Memory Gardens in Hendersonville. But unfortunately the office had closed by the time that we got there and Cash’s grave, along with the bulk of them, were flat – so we really had nothing to go on.

As fate would have it, there was a restaurant just a bit down the road from the cemetery, which had been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. This one was called Cafe Rakka and it had been featured on the episode Sauced and Spiced. Although I wouldn’t classify this place as a diner, drive-in, or dive, they did have some pretty good, if rather pricey food. But since this was our last meal, we went all-out and ordered the cheese plate, the hummus plate, and I got an order of the salmon, which had been poached in Olive Oil with fresh herbs and caper berries – and served with rice, a house salad, yogurt sauce, and pita bread. I also added a pomegranate tea. All of it was great except for the cheese plate, which I was surprised to find rather bland. Also, they were out of the filet mignon kabobs and our waiter had a loose mustache. Guy Fieri had raved about this cheese, made fresh in-house, so I don’t know why ours was so lame.

DD&D #9: Cafe Rakka in Hendersonville, Tennessee

The hummus plate with onions and mushrooms

My salmon, etc.

Our last dinner of the trip, and quite a good one

And dinner marked the last destination of this fabulous trip. We left Cafe Rakka at about 7:15. We kept ourselves entertained by listening to Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby, Steve Martin, and more Billboard hits, whist I sucked down Coca-Cola out of the leftover two-liter bottle. In the interest of saving any time possible off our trip – during which staying awake was the utmost challenge – we decided to sleep over at Mom’s house. Only Bob was there, as Mom had already gone up to Indian Lake. We got there at 1:40am, having lost an hour as we switched back to Eastern Time.

Arrival at Mom’s

I must say that this was certainly one of the greatest trips I have ever taken. It was a very pleasing blend of music, history, food, swimming, and to top it all off, the greatest girl I have ever known. She was an excellent travel companion and I was grateful to her for putting up with my odd blend of destinations. It was a trip that I hated to see end.

The good news was that by coming back on Friday night, we were able to continue the weekend with another fun destination…

2011 will continue…

Return to the beginning of the trip here…

As we left the city, we crossed the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge over the Mississippi River, I put in the Vampire Weekend music, we ate some bananas and Twizzlers for breakfast, and Jamie fell back asleep. It was an uneventful, leisurely drive across Arkansas and by the time we emerged, four hours had elapsed. We were only about 20 miles from the border of Texas during our stay in Hope.

It is probably quite obvious what we were doing here, given my Presidential location obsession. This small town was the birthplace of our 42nd President Bill Clinton. We went straight to his birthplace home, took a tour, and then checked out some of the other local Clinton attractions that included the site of the hospital where he was born, his elementary school, his parents’ graves, and his second boyhood home. We also stopped by the city’s visitor center, but they – along with almost everything else in town – were closed for the holiday. You can check out all of the Bill Clinton sites here.

Jamie in Hope

Outside the Bill Clinton birth home

In the Clinton living room

Jamie in the bedroom of the future President. It was innocent, I swear.

Home cooked madness in the Clinton kitchen

Jamie and I had to break our pact not to eat from any chain restaurants, as there simply was almost nothing open in the town open. Besides, after Jamie had been such a good sport about visiting these locations this day, I gave the rest of the evening to her starting at about 4:30pm when we had finished up all things Clinton.

She opted to have our dinner from Domino’s Pizza – which was directly across the street from the site of Clinton’s hospital birth. While we waited for our pizza, we played tag in the parking lot, which became one of the fondest memories of the trip. We picked up a bottle of Coke from the local Family Dollar and made our way to our motel, the Best Western of Hope. Much to our delight, we found that this ice machine – for the first time on our trip – was working properly.

Victory at the Hope ice machine

We spent the evening in complete, utter, and delightful laziness – consuming our pizza and Coke, and watching Hoarders on A&E, singing a cappella karaoke, and naturally making obscene farting noises as if we were at camp. Even though I had made sure that every motel in which we stayed had a pool, we never ended up swimming in any of them after Memphis. Even without taking a dip, it was once of the most enjoyable evenings of the trip.

Hedonism in Hope

The day of rest was over and it was now time to jump back into our own amazing race. We had to leave rather early on the morning of Tuesday, July 5, as we had a time-sensitive appointment in Little Rock. Heading out at about 8:30am, we arrived at our destination at about 10:30 – which was a bit too early, so we had to wait. Our semi-private appointment to tour the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion didn’t start until 11am.

The Mansion was no only the home of the current Governor Mike Beebe, but had been the home of former President Bill Clinton for 12 years and Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee for another 12. The mansion, which had been opened in 1950, also served as the exterior for Delta Burke’s character in Designing Women. We had a nice tour of the first level interior areas that included the family room, library, and dining room – all of which were present when Clinton lived here. We then moved into the new entertaining area and ballroom known as the Grand Hall that had been added in 2003 during Huckabee’s administration. Finally, we checked out the outdoors garden area and the large children’s playhouse. Whist touring, we were joined by the mansion’s handyman and gardener Freddy and were able to meet the Beebe’s dog Viper, who was keeping himself cool in the backyard fountain. More details about the Governor’s Mansion can be found here.

In the Governor’s Mansion foyer, a painting of the first Arkansas Governor James Sevier Conway

Taking the lady for spin on the dancefloor in the Governor’s ballroom

Consoling the Governor’s dog Viper as he tries to beat the Arkansas heat

The playhouse in the Governor’s backyard

If all houses were like this, I wouldn’t have any problem building a small fire

Tea time in the playhouse

Jamie enjoyed perusing the Gardens

Outside the Governor’s Mansion. Apparently our tour guide was the worst photographer in the free world.

We had little time to waste on this full day, so after we wrapped up our tour, we headed directly to the Bill Clinton Presidential Library elsewhere in Little Rock. It was getting close to 12:30 as we made our way inside, so we decided to go ahead and have our lunch here. We ate in the downstairs restaurant Forty Two, aptly named in honor of President Clinton. I went with the Presidential Club and soup. Firmly believing that the former President would have demanded more bacon on his club that I got, I did so – and was pleased to get enough bacon to last someone who likes bacon only slightly less than me.

Getting ready to enter the William J. Clinton Presidential Library

Fine dining in Forty Two

Presidential Club with plenty of bacon. I don’t know why but I was expecting a dish called the Bubba Burger.

Jamie and the Oval Office reproduction

Jamie and the Library display about the Little Rock Nine. We’ll see more of them in the next posting.

We spent about 90 minutes in the Library, which included a jaunt to the offsite gift shop. Overall, I was rather disappointed with the Bill Clinton Library… but you can read more about our visit here.

Moving right along through Little Rock, our next stop was the Arkansas State Capitol. We entered my 20st Capitol, which was my fourth of the year, at around 3:30pm. It was a self-guided tour which allowed access to nearly every part of the mansion – except for the Governor’s office unfortunately. When I asked the receptionist if she had some hand-signed photos that she could hand out, she said “oh yes, I guess he did sign these.” But since I got one for both Jamie and me, it only took me a matter of seconds to realize that they had been signed by autopen. No matter… who’s Mike Beebe anyway?

Without a tour guide to slow us down, Jamie and I were able to visit the the Supreme Court room, the Governor’s Reception Room, the Governor’s Office (waiting room only), and the House and Senate Galleries. Not bad for less than a half- hour’s work.

The Great Seal in the Arkansas State Capitol

The Capitol dome

Presiding over the Arkansas Supreme Court

I climbed a bench to get at Bill Clinton’s Governor portrait

Jamie in the Governor’s Reception Room

At the other end of the table, one or two of me

The Governor’s office; he wasn’t meeting me nor letting me sit in his chair

With the Governor’s receptionist, who gave me this fake autograph. Thanks, but no thanks.

The House of Representatives Gallery

The Senate Gallery

Bicentennial memorial placed on the Capitol grounds in 1976

Outside my 20th State Capitol

With the exception of the Domino’s pizza and Hoarders evening, so far almost everything we had done in Arkansas might best be qualified as “Brad’s Stuff”. For the rest of our stay in Arkansas, we would switch gears a bit and move on to some “Jamie Stuff.”

The road trip through Arkansas will continue with the so-called Jamie Stuff…

Personally, I think that Bill Clinton was and is a good man who left the country better than he found it. He continues to do a great deal of charitable work as an active ex-President. I am still holding out hope that one day I will get to meet our nation’s 42nd United States President, but until that day comes, I’ll have to happy with visiting some of the key sites to the life of Bill Clinton.

Monday, July 4, 2011 - Bill Clinton birthplace – As an admirer of President Clinton, it was apropos for me to be visiting the town of Clinton’s birth in Hope, Arkansas, on Independence Day. My girlfriend Jamie and I rolled into town that morning and hit all of the Clinton sites relevant to his early life. One of the most unusual was the site of his birth. Born William Jefferson Blythe on August 19, 1946, Clinton was only the second President to have been born in a hospital. Unfortunately, of the now-four hospitals claiming a Presidential birth, this is the only one no longer standing.

I had done internet research for several years trying find out whether there was a marker on the location of the actual birthplace, but didn’t come across a photo of it until right before trip. Turns out that the site of the Julia Chester Hospital where he was born now has the Brazzel Oakrest Funeral Home sitting on it. Fortunately, there is a plaque under an American flag noting the location’s importance to history – but oddly, the plaque does not face the road, but the funeral home.

Overview of the former location of the Julia Chester Hospital. The plaque is located under the flag.

The plaque and me

Bricks that were part of the original structure can be found at the site of Bill Clinton’s second boyhood home.

Physically, this is all that it left of the Julia Chester Hospital. The bricks in this monument were taken from there. This is sitting in the front yard of Bill Clinton’s second home.

Monday, July 4, 2011 - Bill Clinton’s First Boyhood Home – Sadly, the biological father of William Jefferson Blythe was killed in a car accident before his son was born. Therefore, his mother moved back into the home of her parents, and eventually left young Bill to live with them while she was working in New Orleans. Although for years, this location in Hope, Arkansas, was touted as the Bill Clinton birthplace, he was actually born in a local hospital (see notes above).

Less than three months before our arrival, President Bill Clinton himself was onsite to dedicate the birthplace home to the National Park Service.

Displays in the visitor center of the Birthplace Home

The side of the former Clinton home. The opening at the top wasn’t an escape hatch; it was where a box fan could be placed during the summer.

On the front porch of the house

Young Bill would live in this home for the first four years of his life, before his mother Virginia married Roger Clinton (hence the last name of Bill Clinton). Even after the new family moved to another house in Hope, young Bill would often come back and visit his Grandparents in this home on South Hervey Street. This was the house that he himself always considered ‘his childhood home’.

We had a nice tour of the house, which had been decorated and restored to resemble the time period when Bill Clinton was a child. Bill’s mother Virginia actually helped to point out where things were located within the home. There were no areas off-limits and photos were welcome, so I got plenty in all of the rooms of the home.

Bill had his crib in the master bedroom where he stayed with his mother as an infant

Bill Clinton’s room as he got older. His grandparents bought him the desk so he could work on ‘becoming President’.

One of little Billy Blythe’s children’s books

The household lounge

In the Clinton living room. Bill’s Mom helped them get the decor right.

Monday, July 4, 2011 - Bill Clinton’s Second Boyhood Home – Once Bill Clinton’s mother re-married, she and her husband Roger moved along with Bill into another house in Hope, Arkansas. This one was not currently open to the public, and was actually occupied by a local handicapped man. The agreement with the city is that he will keep the house up and in turn they let him live in it. With this understanding in mind, it is perfectly permissible to go up to the porch of the house for photos. There are even handouts there highlighting the other locations in Hope.

The Clinton’s lived in this home from 1950 – 1953, at which time they re-located to Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Because of noise from the highway traffic, filming for this interview was moved from the Birthplace Home to the second boyhood home

The second boyhood home in Hope

Monday, July 4, 2011 - Other Bill Clinton Sites in Hope, Arkansas – It was a holiday as Jamie and I made our way around Hope, Arkansas, so there didn’t appear to be much going on. We did, however, find a couple of other interesting sites that related to the life of President Bill Clinton. The first was the Brookwood Elementary School, where young Bill attended first grade. The school was still open for business, but was closed at the time for summer vacation.

I looked all over town to find this sign!

Brookwood Elementary, clearly proud of their heritage

In the local Hope Cemetery known as Rose Hill are the graves of Bill Clinton’s parents William Jefferson Blythe and Virginia Clinton Kelley. We made a quick visit here to check out the graves, which are located inside a small fenced-in area (that is quite easy to scale), and pay our respects.

The easily scalable fence surrounded the graves of Bill Clinton’s parents and grandparents

The graves of Clinton’s parents

Tuesday, July 5, 2011 – Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock, Arkansas – Bill Clinton had served an interrupted term as Governor of the State of Arkansas from 1979-81 (as the 40th Governor), and from 1983-92 (as the 42nd). Clinton’s was the 7th family to occupy the mansion since it opened in 1950. There were several remnants of the Clintons’ occupancy, including a library of books that were donated by the President.

The Governor’s Mansion. We had to be buzzed in like real important folk.

Little Rock or bust! This Clinton tribute may be found in the front yard of the mansion near the front gate.

Great seal rug in the foyer

Photo of Clinton and other Governors of Arkansas taken in the living room

The same living room. Note the funny painting.

Library of books that were collected by Bill Clinton during his twelve years of living in the Governor’s Mansion

During Governor Mike Huckabee’s administration, extensive additions were made to the mansion, placing the outdoor balcony (from which Bill Clinton first announced that his running mate would be Al Gore), on the inside of an extended ballroom area.

This once-outdoors balcony is now enclosed in the new addition of the mansion. From here, Bill Clinton announced for the first time that his running mate would be Al Gore.

Gubernatorial portrait of Bill Clinton in the new addition to the mansion

I had arranged a semi-private tour of the residence, and it was fun to check out the indoors and grounds of this historic location.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011 – The William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park – It pains me to say it, but out of the seven Presidential Libraries that I have visited to date, this one was by far the weakest. It was the architecture and layout that bothered me the most. Instead of having a distinct flow of displays like a museum should, this one was almost like a wide-open warehouse, with small glass displays of various chapters in the Clinton administration. Very little information was given about Clinton’s life before or after the Presidency.

Visiting my 7th Presidential Library

And worst of all was that the revolving exhibit that was stationed there for the summer was devoted to Elvis Presley – which I had a hard time relating to anything in the political or Presidential realm. There was a display of Elvis relics (some from the collection of Bill Clinton himself) and a photographic display called “Elvis at 21″.

The Elvis display signs were unfortunately prominent outside the museum

Jamie and I had a nice lunch in the museum restaurant (which was simply called Forty Two) before we started our tour. Although not under any tremendous time contraints, we were only in the museum for an hour and fifteen minutes – and that included the 15-minute film showing, as well as a viewing of Bill Clinton’s incredibly funny skit of The Final Days, in which he feigned boredom as his administration wound down. This was actually the highpoint of the visit. About the only thing in this museum that was in line with the others was a reproduction of the Oval Office, built to re-create the office at the time that Bill Clinton resided there.

The Cadillac Fleetwood Presidential Limosuine – built in 1993 and used by Bill Clinton during his administration

Amongst the displays in the Clinton Presidential Library. The binders were a miniscule portion of the Presidential papers stored in the Library.

The Clinton Oval Office reproduction

Presidential China

The abandoned Rock Island Railroad Bridge over the Arkansas River, as seen from the Bill Clinton Library

I desperately wanted the Library to be better, but it just simply wasn’t. And if there wasn’t enough to complain about inside, the gift shop was located in a building separate from the Library itself – one that a free shuttle (ie. golf cart) would drive you too. If it weren’t for the magnet I needed, I wouldn’t have even gone there. Sorry, Bubba… great President, crummy museum.

Continue to the next President… (under construction)

Return to Monday 2011  in Arkansas… (under construction)

Return to Tuesday 2011 in Arkansas… (under construction)

And there was more, too – as you will see. But for starters, Dean and I checked out of our motel in Metropolis at about 8:15am and headed directly into the Paducah, Kentucky. In the unassuming Mount Kenton Cemetery was buried Alben Barkley, who had served as the 35th Vice President of the United States under Harry S. Truman from 1949-1953.

Dean and I had a bit of trouble initially locating the grave (although the state historical sign outside the cemetery was easily found). I even gave my friend and co-worker Misty a call to see if she could direct me. In one of those incredibly small-world scenarios, her Grandparents are buried directly behind the late Vice President. After calling my Dad to lend a hand as well, we finally located the grave – right where it belonged on the street that Misty couldn’t remember: Barkley.

The historical marker outside the cemetery

Overview of the Barkley family plot

Me and VP # 35 – Alben Barkley

At the grave of my friend Misty’s parents, noting their proximity to the Vice President

We left the cemetery at 9am, and 90 minutes later, we had arrived at our second destination, Fairview, Kentucky, and the birthplace of Jefferson Davis. Although I didn’t include Davis in my ‘normal’ Presidential postings, I certainly did want to include him in my bucket list of Presidential birth places and graves. My visit to his grave can be seen here, and below you will see the birthplace marker.

Arrival at the Jefferson Davis State Historic Site. They’re proud of it, but they don’t quite tout it like they do “Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln.”

It’s quite interesting that the only President of the Confederate States of America (who was governing half of the country from February 18, 1861 – May 5, 1865, when the office was abolished), could have such a giant memorial, which in many ways resembled the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. But while the Davis Monument stands 351 feet, the Washington Monument towers over it at 555 feet. Although strongly supported, the Davis Monument construction was halted during World War 1 due to building material rationing, and wasn’t completed until 1924.

The state historical marker

The visitor’s center and museum

With a Jefferson Davis statue and a secretary was owned by U.S. Senator George Edmund Badger and represents one that Davis may have owned while studying at Transylvania University in Lexington

Dean and I decided to go ahead and pay the admission price of going up to the top of the Monument, which fortunately had an elevator. While we waited for the next trip, we browsed the small museum located in the visitors center and gift shop. I bought candy sticks.

The insanely giant Jefferson Davis Monument

Getting ready to enter the Monument and go to the top

The view of me from the top

The view of Dean from the top

The view of the bottom from the top

The real location of the birthplace wasn’t actually on the site of the Monument, nor the gift shop, nor on the ground that were owned by the park. The actual house sat where the neighboring Bethel Baptist Church is now located. Naturally, I got a picture there as well.

The actual location of the Davis cabin where young Jefferson was born

The next leg of our drive was about four hours, stopping along the way for lunch at a gas station convenience store. I opted for chips and cherry sour balls. When we got just northeast of Louisville, we made our final stop in the little town of Crestwood.

Here was located the Mount Tabor Methodist Church and its accompanying graveyard. Buried within the unassuming little cemetery was D.W. Griffith, the pioneer film director who had brought us such classic silent films at Intolerance, The Birth of a Nation, and Broken Blossoms. Dean was particularly excited to see this grave, which he had no idea was here. I only knew because my friend Bob had told me this once before.

State marker outside of the cemetery honoring D.W. Griffith

The grave of D.W. Griffith

We left Crestwood at about 4:30 (having lost the hour that we had previously gained), and hightailed it for home. Considering the horrendous traffic jam as we entered Cincinnati and the fact that I had to detour around 275 East, we made pretty good time and I was dropping Dean off at his car at around 6:15. From there I headed over to Jamie’s parents to partake in their cookout…and see the giant tent that she and her Mom had put up in the backyard.

Little did I know of course that I would be the one doing the grilling. This was all good as I enjoy some good summertime burger flipping. Knowing how much I love it, her Mom had also bought some ultra thick salmon steaks. Grilling these was a completely new concept for me, but in the end, they wound up quite tasty. We ate outside at the picnic table and then afterward I built a small fire in their fire pit, so for dessert we enjoyed s’mores. As Jamie might say, “I’ll eat it, and then I’ll eat it again.”

Jamie works on chopping firewood. Just out of camera range: my foot.

Sunday evening s’mores following my Super-adventures

It was a great way to cap off a very cool weekend getaway.

June 2011 will continue…

Return to the beginning of the road trip here…

There were a few things that I squeezed into the week and a half prior to the first Summer road trip, though. For instance I had to get my garbage disposal repaired. That’s always fun. The there was a farewell party for my co-worker Linda Cooperstein at Butterbees on Thursday, June 2, where we said goodbye and stuffed ourselves on appetizers and wings. Linda had been a front end coordinator before I ever took my position in the office in 2004, and I have been working with her ever since. Now she heads to General Office in a new position. Best of luck to her, naturally.

Bidding farewell to Linda

On Saturday the 4th, I had my reunion with Dean Garrett at Chick-fil-A. You can read more about the meeting with Dean here, but this is important as it was Dean with whom I would be traveling on this first Summer trip. And although we didn’t do anything special to celebrate other than hold and coo him, Silas turned one month old on Monday, June 6.

Adorable Silas on his one-month birthday

On Tuesday the 7th, I went over to Jamie’s parents house where she is staying for the summer. We had a great time showing the folks the pictures from our Colorado trip. Her Mom prepared an amazing pot roast dinner with corn on the cob. She also forced a root beer float down me, after hearing that I had dropped seven pounds by walking since we had been back. The diet would be postponed. Jamie and I also took a walk to see her former elementary school Maple Dale, which is slated to be torn down this year.

Jamie at the site of her second grade class

Just an average day, hanging out at an elementary school yard

Capping off the evening with strawberry shortcake

Jamie and I also met up on Thursday for lunch at Panera, which was when I noticed that the temperature was hitting 101 degrees. The next morning, I went to the grand opening of the Cold Spring, Kentucky store, and then came back to the office for a while and waited for Dean to arrive so we could depart on our road trip. Destination: The Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois.  

We got on the road at about 4:30 and naturally hit the annoying Cincinnati traffic on the way out of town. Our destination for the night was Dale, Indiana. Given the fact that he and I share so many of the same interests, it was a three-and-a-half hour drive that seemed to go quickly. We stopped at Wendy’s, located right by the Best Western motel in which we would be staying the night.

The reason we chose the deep-southern city of Dale as our stopping point was because of its close proximity to the nearby town of Lincoln City, Indiana. Here President Abraham Lincoln spent fourteen of his formative years as a child and teenager. So after a quick continental breakfast in the motel the next morning, Friday, June 10, we drove the five miles or so to the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial.

Dean and I both have a passion for United States Presidential sites, so we took our time and spent from about 9:30am (local time, an hour behind us) until 11:15 exploring the area and checking out the visitors center. We also went across the street to Lincoln State Park to see the grave of Lincoln’s sister Sarah, as well as the Lincoln Bicentennial Plaza. These sites can be explore further in my Abraham Lincoln posting found here.

Outside the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial Visitor Center

Dean at the grave of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, mother of ol’ Honest Abe

The outline of the Lincoln cabin

Without warning, Dean commandeered this antique semi truck

Dean had visited this location on his way down to the Superman Celebration last year and had stopped for lunch at a nearby restaurant called Buffalo Run Grill & Gifts. It was a tiny, unassuming place – but they delivered the goods when we stopped there for lunch on Dean’s suggestion. I had the Beast Burger, a double buffalo meat sandwich. I found it utterly delightful.

Dean’s discovery: an unassuming venue with mouth-watering buffalo burgers

Ready to dig into some buffalo

We left Lincoln City at about 12:15pm and had another three-and-a-half hours on the road, arriving in the city of Metropolis, Illinois, at about 3:45. Although the name ‘Metropolis’ dates back to 1839, the name later became synonymous with Superman and the location of the Daily Planet newspaper when Clark Kent worked. The city, however, became inextricably linked with Superman, when memorabilia collector Jim Hambrick was looking for a place to display his artifacts. Finding that Metropolis, Illinois was the only city in the country to have that name, he chose to move everything there and put it inside The Super Museum.  

Arrival in Metropolis

In addition, he has opened up a second memorabilia location called the American Hollywood Museum. After stopping for photos at the entrance of town, we headed over to this musuem first. The type of memorabilia in this museum might best be described as kitsch. There wasn’t an over-abundance of rarities (although one of the original robot costumes from Lost in Space would surely apply), but the sheer volume of the artifacts, trinkets, and collectibles was impressive on its own merit. Each section of the museum was carefully arranged by performer or genre (ie. western, classic comedy, etc.) Then as much memorabilia as possible was piled in. We took a good hour to browse everything, then checked out the gift shop.

Outside the Americana Hollywood Museum & Giftstore

With some Laurel and Hardy statuary. Notice that this Stan is missing his hand. Too much finger-wiggle perhaps.

Dean with The Robot – supposedly one of the real ones used in one his favorite programs, Lost in Space

Vintage comedy bric-a-brac

The randomness was overwhelming…but fun

The Las Vegas room

Room paying tribute to Marilyn Monroe

The scary stuff

Eventually, we made our way to our motel, America’s Best Value Inn. It was actually quite a value indeed. It was conveniently located, had wireless internet, great air conditioning, and was the cheapest of the lot. I just didn’t care for the wood floors. Dean and I checked in and then went out to dinner at a place called The Grill, where I enjoyed the special of the day, Chipotle Steak.

After eating, Dean and I made our way into the heart of town amidst the festival atmosphere going on. We saw the giant Superman statue and the location of the Super Museum, both of which we would be checking out later. Next on our schedule was to visit the Artists Alley & Writers Way shop where there would be a screening of a couple of Superman related films. Each would have a cast member introduce them. Seating began at 7pm and the films started at 7:30. We paid the $3 admission, but skipped the popcorn, as we were still full from dinner.

The first film was a two-part episode of the TV series Superboy entitled The Road to Hell. Tracy Lewis, who portrayed Darla, the partner of Lex Luthor, did an introduction to the show, joined by the event’s official Superman look-alike Josh Boultinghouse. I had never seen a Superboy episode, and although the production values and acting were second-rate, I must say that I quite enjoyed the story.

Tracy Lewis introduces Superboy, with some help from the official event Superman Josh Boultinghouse

The next feature was Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. It was briefly introduced by Mark Pillow, who had portrayed Nuclear Man in the film. Although considered the worst of the Christopher Reeve lot, I was enjoying the film and instead of noticing its flaws, just enjoying our last look at Reeve as Superman. Still, we Dean and I had plans to be up at a ridiculously early hour the next morning, so we didn’t stay for the entire film.

We swung by the Big John grocery store to pick up some snacks and batteries for Dean’s camera. Even though we had planned on getting to sleep early, it was nearly midnight before we stopped talking and eased off into a Superman slumberland.

It was nice to spend the weekend honoring the Man of Steel

The Superman Celebration will continue…

Bypass the trip and continue with 2011…