Midwest Guest

Midwest Travel Links for March 2017

Check out some great Midwest-related stories I found online this past month:

North Dakota Road Trip Day 6: Dickinson to Medora-Check out Connie's latest North Dakota adventures when she visits the Dickinson Museum Center and shared some images of their rocks and minerals exhibit there (I'm a big fan of such exhibits!), the Ukrainian Cultural Institute and the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame as she heads towards the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Check it out at the Midwest Wanderer blog.

North Dakota prairie dog

Ten Things You Need to Know About Indianapolis City Culture-Aaron advises readers that you will need a guide to find the "good stuff" in this Hoosier city. Here is his guide to the city and its culture at his self-titled Urbanphile blog. Check out a few of our own blog posts about the city as well! Seeing an Indianapolis Indians baseball game...or not, White River Gardens at the Indianapolis Zoo and Visiting the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis.

Mid-Century Modern Design at Miller House and Garden in Columbus-I've wanted to visit Columbus, Indiana and learn more about it's history and place in mid-twentiety-century architecture. Fortunately, Jessica gives us a great look at some of the architectural gems in this mid-American showplace. We see some great images of the Miller house with the work of the Saarinen father-and-son architectural team, which reminds us of some of the work done by the same family here in Michigan, like the buildings they designed at the Cranbrook educational campus in metro Detroit. Check out Jessica's story at her Little Indiana blog.

24 Hours in Detroit-Charity hails from Cleveland, and I've long-enjoyed her I heart <3 Cleveland blog, but I really enjoyed this report about her weekend visit to Detroit! This story includes some info and images of some of the city's great hidden treasures like the Shinola store in midtown Detroit, John King Used and Rare Books Store and the historic Pewabic Pottery shop and design studio. Charity even includes a report about her visit to Toledo's Libbey Glass Outlet. which she checked out on her way into Detroit. See her story here.

4 Great Activities with Kids in Detroit-Mr. In A Cents offers a great list of family-friendly fun and activities in the Detroit area! We're members of the Detroit Zoo and The Henry Ford, so they're already a couple of my favorite sites around the city, and I enjoyed the images from the newly re-done Penguin Center and the classic Oscar Weinernobile at the Henry Ford. Plus there are a few great images here of two places I've been longing to see in person myself-Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum and the Outdoor Adventure Center near the Detroit River. Check it all out at the InACents travel blog!

 

 

The Stars Still Shine at Detroit's Redford Theater-Jeff writes about his family's visit to another family-friendly spot in Metro Detroit, the classic Redford Theater. We remember seeing the movie, A Christmas Story, here a few years ago. We loved the drama of seeing the huge theater organ rising out of the stage and the classic 1920s Oriental-themed decor. Check it out at the Lifelong Michigander blog!

2017 Motorcycle Trips-Join Heather as she and her husband start planning their spring and summer...and check out some of her great suggestions for Midwest motorcycle adventures. Their trip list looks a lot like something Tim would put together! We look forward to hearing about the couple's trips this spring and summer. Check it out at the Ohio Girl Travels blog.

 

Stadium Seats and Stories from the Gardens-Here are a few memories of the venue seats and stories of the arenas where Ronny watched events like minor-league hockey games, women's roller hockey, the circus and monster trucks! Check it out at the Queen City Discovery blog.

The 7 Indiana Ballparks That Baseball Fans Must See-We love catching a sports event when we travel. There isn't a better way to get a real feel for the history and culture of a place and spend a fun time with locals! Check out this Visit Indiana blog post about some of Indiana's notable ball fields, including Victory Field where we saw the Indianapolis Indians play and Parkview Field where we saw Fort Wayne's beloved Tin Caps play. Check it out at the Visit Indiana blog.

10 Ways Marietta. Ohio is So Much More than it's Tomatoes-Tomatoes? Who knew? Well I love good ripe tomatoes, but Kayrn tells readers there is a lot more to do in the southern Ohio city, even once its legendary tomatoes are gone for the season. Kayrn shares historic sites, an architecturally beautiful basilica (which reminds me of the one we saw in South Bend, Indiana)  and quirky sites like the Mortuary Museum, which sounds like somewhere I would need to go when I visit Marietta! Check it out at the Sand and Snow...and Everywhere in Between blog!

Urban Kayaking on the Mississippi River in Minneapolis-Jenna and Micah take readers on an urban kayaking adventure to celebrate the arrival of spring in Minneapolis. Seeing a major city from the river always gives you a fresh perspective, even if you have lived in the city for a long time! Check the story of their trip with a batch of fellow travel bloggers at the Wander the Map blog.

P.S. Looking for more great photos? Here are a couple of photo books that we recently ordered from Amazon and really enjoyed...one from Ohio and another from the annual Wildlife Photographer of the year exhibit that I recently saw at the Detroit Zoo.

 

 

Made in the Midwest: Here are a Few More of our Favorite Things

Tim and I are deep in to holiday shopping and came up with a few more "Made in the Midwest" shopping suggestions for your gift lists:

Are you near a larger city? Many Convention and Visitors Bureaus have nice local shopping sites highlighting local boutiques, small businesses and other places offering locally made products and services like the site for Columbus, Ohio which I highlighted in a recent blog here and, one of my favorites, Detroit's fab shopping section.

Visit Detroit's shopping section includes a few of my favorite places for Detroit themed gifts like City Bird in Midtown Detroit and the Pure Detroit stores in places like the Fisher Building and the Guardian Building (where I purchased Tim's City of Detroit coffee mug last year). The Detroit Shoppe also has an outlet in Troy's Somerset Collection near us where you can also get Detroit-branded wear and gifts.

Call up "pure Detroit" at Amazon and check out some cool things like a Michigan Midwest Mitten T-shirt that pictures the state with the Great Lakes and the site tells me is "designed and printed with pride in Ann Arbor, Michigan".   

 

 

In a pickle when it comes to choosing a holiday gift? There are plenty of options here in the Midwest when it comes to getting a few cool pickle-oriented gifts!

Framed and signed hot dog buns at Tony Packos riverfront location

We often head on down to Toledo in Ohio for great pickles and relishes at the in-house stores at the Tony Packo's Restaurants on the riverfront near the Mud Hens ball park downtown. Our favorites at Packo's include the classic pickles and peppers, and Tim is a big fan of Packos' relishes like the mustard relish for using with hot dogs. We also like the "Super Charged Chili Recipe" if we want to spend a little more time to make our own spicy pot of chili at home. We ordered a Packos gift pack with pickles and relishes to send to one of Tim's siblings a year or so ago, and it was a real hit!

 

 

Sechler's in northern Indiana is another favorite when it comes to pickles, especially when it comes to sweet varieties like the sweet orange strip pickles. We've visited the Sechler's factory store a couple of times and bought a ton of pickled goods like some of the more off-the-wall varieties that I prefer like pickled hot cauliflower.

Pickle bar at Sechlers in Fremont, Indiana

 

 

 

Want some more pickles? Try heading to a hardware store in the Midwest! I found another favorite pickle brand at a small meat butcher in Carmel, Indiana...I picked them up on a whim after the clerk raved about them, and I've since shopped for them at hardware stores in Chagrin Falls (Ohio), Put-in-Bay (Ohio) and at several hardware stores near where Tim's father lives in Grand Rapids (Michigan). The pickles have a unique spicy punch and, as their Web site proudly proclaims, the product is "Proudly Made in the USA" (in this case, the product comes from Indiana and western Michigan). Now that I've discovered a little more about Rickle's online, I really want to find, and try, some of the company's pickled asparagus!  

 

 

Speaking of spicy, if you like spicy spears, Detroit's McClure's Pickles should be especially to your taste. We can find them all over town, including at Detroit's great outdoor farmers market (Eastern Market), local produce stores and major grocery outlets. Out of town? No problem as you can find the company's classic garlic dills, sweet and spicy pickle chips, pickle relish and a great Bloody Mary mix at Amazon.    

 

 

Check out my most recent post for more Made in the Midwest suggestions that include more chili, some sweet cherry goodness and some crunchy pretzels to help fill up your pantry!

Do you have any other Midwest favorites I missed? Let me know as I'll be adding more Made in the Midwest suggestions in upcoming posts this month.

Midwest Travel Links November 2016

Check out some great Midwest-related stories I found online this past month:

There's nothing like a cheesy tourist stop to start off our Midwest travel link love list this month, so without further ado, here's our list of fun stops around the Web for Midwest travel info!

Say Cheese! A Frankenmuth Roadside Attraction-This place in downtown Frankenmuth, Michigan always puts a smile on my face when we stop by! We're big cheese fans, and we've found that the cheese spread at this place is pretty darn decent as well! I'm thinking we may have to head on back here later on during the winter for a cheese-in-the-snow shot! Check out Tonya's story about this cheese store at The Traveling Praters blog.

3 MUST Visit Holiday Destinations in the Midwest-Tonya takes advantage of her proximity to one of the largest holiday themed travel stops in Frankenmuth, Michigan to visit and help readers get into the holiday spirit! We're within an hour of Frankenmuth, so we are more partial to visiting for the novelty of Christmas in July, but there's really no time like the present to check out this town, plus two other places in Indiana and Ohio to enjoy Christmas. Check it out at The Traveling Praters blog.

Unique Midwest Holiday Events-Wondering where to find some seasonal fun in the Midwest? Melissa gives readers a half-dozen ideas for holiday travel in the Heartland, which, or course, includes a stop in Michigan's Frankenmuth! Get in the holiday spirit with these attractions in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Check it out at A Little Time and a Keyboard blog.

Halloween 2016: Half Pint-I know I'm not the only one among my readers who loved the "Little House" books as a child, and I found this particular story of a child with parents who loved helping her make her dreams of playing "Half Pint" come true! Check out Jim's story about the adventures of "Laura" and "Pa" in suburban Detroit at the Sweet Juniper blog.

#VisitASuffragist in Michigan this election season-Amy started out with the idea of paying a respectful visit to the gravesite of a particular suffragist in Michigan, and found the idea quickly spiraling into an idea to locate many more such sites and map them for future reference. While this year's election is past, Amy is already looking forward to working on expanding the map through the election in 2020, which is, incidentally, the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment...you know, the one that gave women the vote! Read about Amy's project and a follow-up post (Two weeks and nearly 40 suffragists later...) about her progress in finding and acknowledging these political pioneers at The Night Train blog. Makes me want to pin on my Jeanette Rankin button once again (yes, I have one from Rankin's second go-round in 1940 and found it in among my political souvenirs just before November's contest).   

 

 

 

Through the eyes of an Educator: Rapids City, South Dakota-Stacey always appreciated coastal states with their close proximity to water, but this tour of South Dakota might change your mind about the charms of a Midwestern prairie state as it did hers. I appreciate the wide, open spaces (especially with the highways that sometimes allow you to rip along at 80mph!), but make sure you slow down and take in the unique scenery, culture and history Stacey discovered in South Dakota. Check out here story at the Wandering Educators blog.

Needles, South Dakota

Setting Out for a Road Trip Through Nebraska-Join Jenna and Micah as they embark on their first road trip through the Cornhusker State. Discover what a runza is...and more!...as the couple explores an eclectic mix of urban and outdoor adventures while traveling through the state. Check it out at the Wander the Map blog. Be sure to check out A Photo Essay: Road Trip Through Nebraska for a more detailed review of their trip!

5 Reasons Nebraska Needs to be on Your Travel Radar-Check out Kirsten's story at the Kids are a Trip blog for another take on traveling through Nebraska. Check out the state's abundance of natural wonders like its sand hills cranes and badlands, as well as things like great foodie scenes and its famous National Monuments geological parks and cool fossil formations.  

Can You Believe that Iowa Looks Like THIS?-Kylie is making all sorts of new discoveries as a British expat currently living in Iowa! Here, Kylie considers Iowa's wealth of scenic foot trails and sees some of the early autumn colors as they kiss the landscape. Check it out at the Between England & Iowa blog.

Wilstem Ranch: How to Bathe an Elephant-On thing you should know when traveling around the Midwest is that you should expect to find the unexpected. Connie proves this to be the point as she learns that giving an elephant a bath is a lot like washing a car. Learn a little more about these majestic creatures and participate in one of the most unusual "spa" experiences in, wait for it, Indiana! that you'll ever find at the Midwest Wanderer blog.

A Behind the Scenes Tour of the Toledo Zoo-We're fairly close to the Ohio state line, so visiting the Toledo Zoo is a nice was to make a day trip for us. I find the WPA-era architecture and history of the zoo particularly fascinating, and I appreciate the thoughtful upgrades and renovations they've made at their campus without sacrificing the vintage vibe of the buildings. We visited the Zoo a few years ago just as they were adding the Penguin Beach and Flamingo Key and saw a lot of the early work done as they prepared to renovate the historic aquarium there, so I particularly enjoyed seeing Nedra's post that included images of the now-completed project. Check it out at the Adventure Mom blog.

South Bend: History and Happenings-Check out Amy's post for a tour of South Bend, Indiana. We loved seeing the architectural wonders on campus of the University of Notre Dame and checking out the cool vintage cars at the Studebaker National Museum which are also South Bend sites Amy recommends for visitors. Check out her report at the Indiana Insider blog.

Meanwhile, I always like to hear about any other favorite Midwest stories or blogs you think I might like to check out!

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Midwest Travel Links October 2016

Check out some great Midwest-related stories I found online this past month:

Nostalgia: Detroit - Terri loves Detroit and shares some of her favorite memories from growing up near the city (I grew up near Detroit and still live in the area). The city faced many challenges recently, but post lists many of the city's high spots and valued memories that continue to give Detroit it's cool and resilient character. Check the story out at the Off the Beaten Path blog. 

Farnsworth Metropark - This park is one of three riverside parks in Toledo Ohio's fabulous Metropark system. We're fortunate to live near enough to Toledo make the parks a day-trip destination. Farnsworth's location along the Maumee River and the towpath of the former Miami and Erie Canal makes it great place to hike, learn about Ohio's history and enjoy other park activities like fishing. Check out Deb's story at TrekOhio.com  

Skyline Chili: More than Coneys and Three Ways - I'm a big fan of eating Skyline Chili as a 3-way dish (spaghetti topped by Skyline and shredded cheese).  Anyone who follows me on Instagram knows that I could hardly contain my excitement when I found a few cans of Skyline in one of my local Detroit-area grocery stores! I always stop a Toledo grocery store before I cross the Ohio state line and head back home to Michigan. The only thing that might be better would be if we had a Skyline Chile restaurant here! Meanwhile, I'll enjoy reading this story at the Family Friendly Cincinnati blog.

Van Gogh at the Cincinnati Art Museum - I've seen Van Gogh exhibitions in the past (most notably a show of Van Gogh portraits that appeared at the Detroit Institute of Arts about 15 years ago), so I particularly enjoyed getting a glimpse of an exhibition at the Cincinnati Art Museum that took art lovers Into the Undergrowth with forest-themed works by Van Gogh and some of his fellow contemporary artists. Check it out at the Family Friendly Cincinnati blog.

The Paul A, Johnson Pencil Sharpener Museum - This place at Ohio's Hocking Hills Regional Welcome Center has been on my Midwest bucket list ever since I heard about it several years ago. The museum sounds like the sort of quirky roadside attraction seek out! Ronny recently visited the pint-sized attraction and gives us the bigger picture! Check it out at the Queen City Discovery blog.

Celebrate Christmas every day of the Year in Frankenmuth - It's been several years since we've visited Frankenmuth, but the coming holiday season puts me in the mood to check out Michigan's headquarters of Christmas cheer. Tonya tells readers about a small chapel commemorating the writing of "Silent Night" near Bronner's big Christmas and reminds me that there are still things we have yet to see there the next time we visit! Check it out at The Traveling Praters blog.  

Uncovering Fall Fun in Hell (Michigan) - I've always told folks that Michigan is one of the only places I know where you can visit both Paradise and Hell without leaving the state! Check out Aaron's dispatch from Hell, which actually looks like a pretty cool place to visit for a little hiking and fall color at this time of the year! Read his story at The Awesome Mitten blog. You can also read more about Aaron's travels at his own Adventures of elATLboy blog.

North Dakota Road Trip Day 3: Devil's Lake to Bottineau - Take a trip with Connie to the Geographical Center of North America. I've always wanted to check out the International Peace Garden in North Dakota on the U.S./Canadian border, so it was fun seeing this report. I liked the circa 1930s monument built with help from the Boy Scouts because I've seen similar monuments at other Midwest locations (although I'm not so sure about the creepy doll featured in this story) at the Midwest Wanderer blog!

Touring the Sechler's Pickles Factory - Connie also writes about the Sechler's Pickle Factory near St. Joe, Indiana. We accidentally discovered the Sechler's outlet store a while back and visited the "pickle bar" there (I like the pickled cauliflower and the bread-and-butter pickles, while Tim is more of a sweet pickle fan). Like Connie, we bought enough pickles and relishes to last us a year, but we've yet to be there at the right time to tour the factory. Read about the factory tour at the Midwest Wanderer blog.   

Colors of Crisp Point - I'm still working on a story about our visit to Michigan's Crisp Point Lighthouse for next week, but I thought it might be nice to share a post with a great aerial image of the remote light on the Lake Superior shore in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The image with this list is one of mine that took First Place Color Digital Projection in the Motor City Camera Club 2015/2016 competition. Check out Farlane's aerial at the Michigan in Pictures blog.

 

Meanwhile, I always like to hear about any other favorite Midwest stories or blogs you think I might like to check out!

Want more Midwest news and links? Subscribe to my bi-monthly Midwest Guest newsletter!

© Dominique King 2016 All rights reserved

Photo Friday Toledo Botanical Garden

We recently spent a couple of hours at the Toledo Botanical Garden in northern Ohio because we knew that the Dahlia Show Garden was still in bloom and thought we might get a few decent images of the flowers before the end of this past summer's gardening season.

We visited the garden around the same time of year in 2015 and knew the garden offers plenty of opportunities for photographers in particular...and the show garden did not disappoint us this year, either.

The TBG has sixty-plus acres of display gardens, plant collections and trails to explore. The dahlia garden is close to the garden's entrance, so we were able to use our handicapped parking pass to park quite close to the garden itself near a small row of club houses and shops.

Here are a few images I made this fall at the garden.

Check out a story I wrote last year about the garden and its history: Toledo in Bloom.

Want to learn more about the garden and its connection to the area's War of 1812 history? Check out Peter Navarre: War of 1812 scout: the man behind the legend by Larry Michaels and another book written about northern Ohio's history by Michaels, Along the Sandusky River.

You can connect with the TBG at its Web site, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube.

Be sure to check out some of my previous stories about other attractions in the Toledo Metropark system like Secor Metropark and the National Center for Nature Photography.

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© Dominique King 2016 All rights reserved

I Approve of This Message: Decoding Political Ads at the Toledo Museum of Art

Political campaigns always intrigued me. I used to watch the Presidential conventions every four years as a kid with my mom, and attended Detroit's Wayne State University to earn an undergrad degree in Political Science with the intention of pursuing a career in political and campaign management.

My career interests and goals changed a bit later when I earned a Masters degree in Communication and Rhetoric, eventually concentrating on written communication and freelance writing projects in the field of regional travel.

Still, I'm a bit of a political junkie. I pay close attention to the political process and always vote.

So, I voted to head down to the Toledo Museum of Art for their exhibit about the evolution of political advertising and how political ads seek to appeal to potential voters.

I Approve of This Message: Decoding Political Ads runs through Election Day (November 8, 2016) and offers a fascinating look at ads for the most recent 60 or so years of presidential campaigning. It includes many thoughtful ideas and images to consider as we make our own presidential picks in November.  

One of the most infamous political ads on display is the "Daisy Girl" ad from 1964.

The 60-second clip, considered shocking in 1964, ran only once on television and did not mention Goldwater by name, but Johnson won the election two months after it aired and it lives on as the forerunner of many of today's negative campaign ads,

The ad, created by the Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) agency on behalf of the presidential campaign of Lyndon B. Johnson, carried the implicit message that Johnson's opponent Barry Goldwater was dangerous candidate with policies that would threaten the future.

The ad features a 3-year-old girl sitting in a sunny field as she plucks the petals from a daisy, and you slowly see the image of the little girl supplanted by the image of an ongoing mission control countdown that ends in a nuclear blast and a mushroom-shaped cloud.

I remember seeing it many times during my subsequent political science classes as a forerunner of modern negative political attack ads.

 The museum exhibition uses historic ads like "Daisy Girl" to explore the use of emotion and to answer questions like what spurs voters to think and vote in certain ways.

Imagery, music, sound effects, camera angles and words can convey political messages in ads and other campaign vehicles. It's instructive to learn from examples on display here whether the messages you receive are eliciting reactions that speak to your heart, or to your head.

Even those weary of the idea of seeing yet more political ads find that the non-partisan exhibition encourages viewers to take another look at the ads you're seeing today and gain further insight into what your current political opinions and decisions.

Emotions like pride, anger, fear and hope are particularly potent weapons in the war for your vote, and it's fascinating to see how these appeals have played out in campaigns from 1952 through today's contentious contests.  

Modern-day political ads have increasingly used more creative and emotional appeals, and you can see the rise and increasing success of such appeals and techniques through the more recent campaigns spotlighted in the displays.  

Seventeen seven-feet-tall ad displays give museum goers a step-by-step and up-close view of some of the tools and techniques used by modern political persuaders.

A Mood Room offers an immersive experience illustrating how political ads use tools like lights, images and sound to evoke specific emotions among potential voters.

The Interact Zone is where museum guests create their own ads or judge the appeal of ads created by others.

The exhibit's Cultural Change station looks at how presidential ads historically spoke to different constituencies and how campaigns express those appeals as modern-day voters tend to vote more for a candidate because they like or dislike the candidate makes them feel, rather than reacting strictly on the basis of the issues, facts and figures themselves.

The exhibit barely touched on the ever-increasing role that social media plays in today's political campaigns. It's something I think it's something that will be especially interesting to examine in the future as online tools and communication evolve in the future.

Check out The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks the President by Kyle Kondik. Ohio intrigues political pundits and scholars because of its reputation as a predictor of the results of the U.S. Presidential race every four years. An interesting history of how Ohio voted for president over the past century is heavy on stats, but intriguing for a political junkie especially that isn't as familiar with Ohio's political history (my degree is in political science, but my practical experience was in Michigan over the years). This Ohio University Press book is new this year. It was a hardback textbook when I originally heard about it and looked for it in Michigan. It wasn't so easy to find earlier this year, but I found that the best deal for me was to buy it as a Kindle edition at the time. I saw it in the gift shop at the Toledo Museum of Art in a paperback edition last month.

 

 

© Dominique King 2016 All rights reserved

Enjoying the Canal Experience at Providence, Ohio

Ever wonder what it was like to take a trip in a 19th century canal boat across the state of Ohio?

How long was the trip? How fast did the boats travel? What type of country did you pass through? What animals did you see along the way? And the question that seemed to be among the most important to a boat-full of largely grade school age kids on a field trip traveling with us the day we experienced the canal trip--what did passengers do when they had to go potty?

The canal system in Ohio fueled the growth of the state and the westward expansion of the United States, but canals didn't play the same integral part in Michigan's development during the 1800s, so canals and the boats that traveled them have always held a certain fascination for us.

The Canal Experience at Providence allowed us to travel back along a mile of the original route of the Miami and Erie Canal in a mule-drawn boat, much as travelers did in 1876. We learned about Ohio's history with the leisurely ride along a short stretch of the Maumee River just 30 miles from Toledo.

The Toledo Metroparks system began leasing former Miami and Erie Canal land along 12 miles of the former canal route in 1932, and Providence was one of the first Toledo metroparks.

Ancestors of the original owner of the grist mill at Providence donated it to the park in 1972, stipulating that the name Ludwig would remain prominently featured on the building and that visitors would pay no admission fee to view the vintage machinery and artifacts displayed inside.

More than a mile of the original towpath runs along the canal ride, so it is also possible to walk along the canal or push a stroller or wheel chair on the smooth, accessible paved trail.

The Toledo Metroparks portion of the trail is 8.3 miles in total and is popular among bicyclists.

This stretch of canal at Providence is a part of the original 250-mile canal route between Toledo and Cincinnati.

Devastating fires during the 1840s, followed by a cholera epidemic in 1854, pretty much demolished the town while just leaving a few buildings and a collection of canal artifacts behind.

Today, Providence is one of only a couple of places in the country that you can ride a mule-drawn canal boat, The Volunteer, and go through a working canal lock.

The Volunteer is a 12-ton re-creation of one of the original boats, and makes canal trips from May through October.

At 60-feet long, as opposed to the historical length of 90 feet, the boat can more easily perform maneuvers like mid-canal turn-arounds.

Park staff overwinters the boat in a building near the dock (here's a fun look at how they transport the Volunteer from winter storage to the dock at Kimble's Landing on the canal).

The park has one of the largest concentrations of canal-era features in the U.S., which includes Lock #44 and the Isaac Ludwig Mill.

The canal lock, built in 1836, must owe its durability to the fact that workers built it of limestone quarried at Marblehead.

There is also more modern influence with the fact that a crew of two male and two female living history interpreters navigate and narrate their way through the 40-minute trip.

Visitors should arrive a little early to be sure they can get a spot on board during the school year because the trip is a particular favorite for school field trips, which is how we found ourselves on a cruise along the canal during June with a boatload of kids and their teachers!

The kids wanted to know about the water and unsanitary conditions of the 1800s, and they were not afraid to ask the questions that some adults might think were too impolite to ask. That meant we learned a bit about how passengers used chamber pots and dumped the contents over one side of the boat, thinking it would help things by drinking water from the opposite side of the boat.

Interestingly enough, the mule team pulling the boat wasn't good with that idea and refused to drink the canal water at all! So the canal boat always carried clean water for the mules.

One of park docents told us about a little boy who, when told that the passengers used chamber pots, felt the need to go. The boat crew found that the child left a little deposit of his own in a pot, discovering it as they cleaned the boat later.

Visitors can also tour the water-powered mill to see how it uses 19th-century technology to perform tasks like grinding flour and selling it at the on-site general store.

Check out some of my stories about Ohio and its canal history: Learn About Canal History in Defiance, Ohio, Erie and Ohio Canal: A Short History and Visiting Lock 29 along the CVNP Towpath Trail and The Last Indian in Grand Rapids, Ohio.

Want to learn more about canal history in Ohio? Check out Ohio and Erie Canal by Boone Triplett, Miami and Erie Canal by Bill Oeters and Nancy Gulick or Canals of Ohio: A History and Tour Guide by Boone Triplett.

©Dominique King 2016 All rights reserved

Watching the Walleye play hockey in Toledo, Ohio

Regular readers of Midwest Guest know that we're huge hockey fans and that we dearly miss the Plymouth Whalers. This season has been particularly quiet on the hockey scene for us as the Plymouth Whalers moved north to Flint, Michigan after the end of last season, which means we no longer have season tickets for games and have been looking for some viable alternatives to allow us to get our hockey fix.
We enjoy hockey enough that a well-played game between fairly evenly matched high school hockey teams can be enjoyable, but we've found that there can be a wide disparity between the skill levels from various metro Detroit high school teams and we often end up watching a blow out by one of the teams or, as we did quite recently, see a game stopped after the second period due to a mercy rule that allowed games to be called after one of the teams quickly reaches a 10-point lead.
We won't even talk about the fact that high school games have only three 17-minute periods, as opposed to pro teams that play three 20-minute periods and spectators can't get a beer during the games.
Enter the Toledo Walleye, a minor pro league of the East Coast Hockey League named after a popular game fish in the Toledo area.
When we saw the Whalers, it was an hour's drive both to and from the arena in usually heavy Detroit-area traffic, so we figured making a Walleye trip an overnight would be a relatively easy commute. Toledo is a little over an hour from here, and an overnight allowed us to pick our time of day when to make the drive.

Former Whaler A.J. Jenks in uniform for the Walleye

The Walleye draw a number of players that previously played in the OHL, so there was also a good chance we'd see some players we'd watched play hockey in the past. Some of them are still young enough that there is a chance you could still see them play in the NHL at some point in the future as well.
The Walleye currently sit in first place in the North Division of the Eastern Conference of the ECHL, just a point ahead of  the Wheeling (WV) Nailers, and holding a fairly comfortable lead over the next team down in the division, the Kalamazoo (MI) Wings
Toledo's team, founded in 1991 as the Toledo Storm, previously played in an aging arena across the Maumee River from Downtown Toledo until suspending operations for two years in 2007 while the team's new owners built a brand new arena right in downtown Toledo.
The team resumed playing home games as the Walleye in the new Huntington Center when it opened in 2009.

The hockey team's current ownership group is a subsidiary of the Toledo's Triple-A baseball team the Mud Hens, and the arena is just a short walk from the downtown ball park.
The Walleye also have strong Michigan ties as the team has affiliations with the NHL's Detroit Red Wings and the Grand Rapids (MI) Griffins of the American Hockey League.
The Storm enjoyed success over its 16-year history as a T-Town hockey team, and the team continued its winning ways as the Walleye.
Their first home game drew a sell-out crowd of 8,000, the largest crowd to watch a pro-hockey event in Toledo up until that time. Even though the team lost that game to Florida's Everblades, it won the next two match-ups with the Everblades that weekend, and the team made three appearances in the playoffs during its six year history as the Walleye.
The Walleye lost in the Conference Finals during the 2015 playoffs, which I'm assuming is the reason for this year's Walleye tagline-"Our Fish, Our Fight...We've got Unfinished Business to Settle."
We checked into the Park Inn, a downtown hotel across the street from the arena on one side, a place we'd stayed in the past as it is also across the street from the Mud Hens' ball park on the other side.

The arena has about double the capacity that our former Whalers arena and the game started off with the singing of the Canadian and American National Anthems as did all of the Whaler games we watched over the years.



We felt pretty much at home as rink staff inflated the Walleye tunnel for players entering the rink to pass through as the announcers read the starting lineup and the rest of the team as we used to watch the Whalers enter the rink at the beginning of each home game though their own inflatable whale tunnel (we still miss Shooter, though). The Walleye cast of mascots includes Spike the fish and a large blue cat named Catrick who skated around the ice between periods and during warm ups.
The big bonus for me? The Walleye arena sells Yuengling beer, a brand I can't buy in Michigan and stop regularly in a Toledo grocery store to pick up some to take home with me.

The Walleye roster also included players we'd previously watched in the "O" and we saw former Plymouth Whaler A.J. Jenks and former Saginaw (MI) Spirit goalie Jake Paterson play that evening.
The ECHL formed during the 1988-1989 season and more than two dozen teams play a 72-game schedule each season, averaging 4,000-plus fans in attendance at each game.
During the 2014-2015 season, the league had 28 former players that played their first NHL game, making a total of 569 former ECHL players who played in the NHL at one point over the life of the league.
And how is this for a fun fact?
Erin Whitten became the first U.S. born woman to participate in an ECHL game, playing goalie for the Toledo Storm on October 30, 1993 and becoming the first female goal tender to earn a victory in a professional hockey game. She also became the first woman to play pro hockey in a non-goalie position when she played with the Toledo Storm on March 7, 1996 as a forward for 18 seconds against Madison Monsters.
Connect with the Walleye on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube or by signing up for the team's email newsletter, and get your Walleye wear at the Swamp Shop in downtown Toledo or online.
Check out (and even possibly purchase) a photo of Erin Whitten in her Toledo Storm jersey.
Also be sure to check out our experiences with the Toledo Mud Hens: Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Yes there Really is a Tony Packos and a story about Moses Fleetwood Walker, a pioneering African American baseball player who became the first African American to play at the Major League level in Toledo during 1884.

 

 

©Dominique King 2015 All rights reserved

Discover the Providence Canal Experience in Providence, Ohio

We recently took a trip through time to learn about Ohio's fascinating Canal Era history.

Our trip along the Miami and Erie Canal in the Providence Metropark, just 30 miles outside of Toledo Ohio, allowed us to experience a little about what it was like to travel by boats towed by mule teams. We also learned why the mule teams refused to drink the canal water when they worked the waterway during the 1800s. Yeah, the answer is a little gross, but it's amazing what you'll learn while traveling on a canal boat full of school children!

Check out The Providence Canal Experience, my latest story for the Ohio Tourism Division's Discover Ohio website.

Want to learn more about Ohio's canal system and its importance to the state's history and development? Check out Miami and Erie Canal (Images of America) by Bill Oeters and Nancy Gulick.

Photo Friday: Fresnel, camera club winner

I've long had a fascination with Great Lakes lighthouses, and I've written about them here at Midwest Guest many times over the past seven years.

I especially love the structure and reflections created by classic Fresnel lenses in many of the lighthouse towers, so it's always a treat to get an especially close-up look at one of these beauties.

I first spotted this Fresnel lens a few years ago on display in the lobby of the Maumee Bay State Park Lodge near Toledo, Ohio.

The lens comes from the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse and remains on display at Maumee Bay as the lighthouse is still the subject of an ambitious renovation and restoration project.

This image placed third in the Motor City Camera Club Digital Photo (Color General), Beginner Division for April 2015.

To learn more about the lighthouse and check out its ongoing restoration, check out my story Toledo Harbor Lighthouse Tour.

Check out the Motor City Camera Club's Web site, or connect with the Motor City Camera Club on Facebook.

© Dominique King 2015 All rights reserved