Archive for the 'Historical Locations' Category
Ulysses S. Grant and Me
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
Our 18th United States President was a prime example of a military hero being elected into office without the proper credentials to exercise the office of Commander-in-Chief. Ulysses S. Grant held office from 1869-1877 and was the first President to serve two full consecutive terms since Andrew Jackson forty years earlier, but his most notable achievement came before office, when he led the North to victory as General of the Union army during the Civil War. It was based on this popular public reception that soon catapulted him into the job. At the time, he was the youngest man to assume the Presidency and had never held public office before in his life. Read the rest of this entry »
California 2008: The “Dreams Come True” Tour
Thursday, October 16th, 2008
When I first began to plan my October 2008 trip to California nearly a year before it took place, there were four goals that I had in mind which I hoped to accomplish while there – and I had no idea if any of the four would even be possible to arrange. Soon things began to really take shape and not long before I left, I had made arrangements to make three of them actually happen – and these all will be covered in this series of postings. I will go ahead and tell you the fourth since it didn’t happen: an old high school friend is employed by NBC in the publicity department and I had hoped to set up a private tour of the facility and sets. She didn’t seem to think that there was anything of interest that she could show me (or perhaps she just didn’t want to), so that prospect was quickly nixed. Turns out her job took her to New York before I even arrived in California, so it wouldn’t have worked out anyway. Read the rest of this entry »
William Howard Taft and Me
Saturday, October 11th, 2008
Although William Howard Taft did a respectable job as our nation’s 27th President of the United States, most people today only recall that he was our heaviest President and a special bathtub had to be designed for him in the White House. Mostly that’s because there was very little significant about his term from 1909-1913 – only a capable President maintaining the status quo in domestic and foreign policy. And he also admitted our last two states, New Mexico and Arizona, to the continental United States. Most of the excitement came at the end of his term…and beyond. Read the rest of this entry »
Columbus and Northward
Thursday, October 9th, 2008
On Saturday morning, August 2, 2008, Bob and I departed Denise and Aaron’s house in Westerville for the final leg (or rather legs) of our road trip journey around Ohio. This was a day trip I had long planned as part of my “website-driven re-visits of places I’ve already been but have to see again because I was too stupid to take photos of myself by the landmarks when I was there the first time” tour. I was mostly interested in the Presidential stops, but Bob added a couple of additional places to visit to round out the full day. Aaron recommended an interesting restaurant at which to dine for lunch…and off we went. Read the rest of this entry »