Timeless Tuesday Tours... ish ;)

Well, I could start today's TTT by naming all the excuses why I did not post last week.... but then again... maybe not. (I am fairly certain that you all forgive me and don't want to hear any excuses anyways ;))

Well, today we are not going to travel anywhere, I am just going to inform y'all how excited I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, anyways, I am excited!!!

If you have no idea why I am excited, just take a look at the following picture:

 

Yes!! It is true :) I was officially granted my passport :) and you all know what that means... Watch out world, here I come ;)

Well... I know that wasn't really a TTT but it will have to do for this week :)

All Smiles :)

Mercy

 

Timeless Tuesday Tours... Mt. Vernon

Another one of the places that I have really enjoyed visiting is George Washington's beautiful home, Mount Vernon.

This is truly a stunningly beautiful and overwhelming place to visit.

Built on the edge of the beautiful Patomac River, this house is more aptly described as a mansion.

The house being as impressive as it is, is only part of the attraction of  Mt. Vernon. The well- kept grounds are spectacular.

Also, the acreage belonging with the house is being used as a farm today just as George Washington used it over 200 years ago.

One of the most things I found most interesting at Mt. Vernon was the 16-sided Thrashing Barn that George Washington himself invented.

As you can see, it was built into the side of a hill and had 2 stories. They would bring the grain into the top story, which had a slated floor. Then horses would be troted around in a circle to tread out the grain. The grain would fall through the slats to the bottom story and the straw would stay on top.it was really cool to see and learn about.

I hope each of you will have the chance to see Mt. Vernon for yourself!!

Mercy

P.S. I know that I just touched on the surface of Mt. Vernon and maybe at some later date I can go more in depth. I hope you all had a great Tuesday!!!!!

Timeless Tuesday Tours: Old Sturbridge Village

For this first edition of Timeless Tuesday Tours (which for all intents and purposes will be hereafter, unless in blog titles, be referred to as TTT), let us travel to early America... 1830s to be exact.

Old Sturbridge Village is an 1830s Village come to life. This has been one of the most fun places I have ever visited. This could be per the fact that I love history and seeing it in action just makes it that much more alive. There is nothing better than walking the path out of the visitor's center and into the town Commons and being transported back in time.

Here is a map of the village:

The village is a collection of buildings and a farm that depicts life c. 1830. The village is staffed with people that are "in character" as townspeople that answer your questions or you can just observe and learn.

Most of the buildings at OSV  are original buildings that have been relocated and restored at OSV although some are authentic reconstructions.

A listing of the buildings with a brief description(if needed) are:

• Friends Meetinghouse
• Center Meetinghouse 
• Tin Shop
• Salem Towne House - a prosperous farmer's home
• Law Office
• Parsonage - the home of a Congregational minister and his family
• Asa Knight Store - a country store, transported from its original location in Vermont.
• Thompson Bank - a bank that was originally located in Thompson, CT
• Fenno House - an historic house with exhibits that highlight domestic textile production
• Fitch House - the residence with exhibit elements that highlight children and family life
• Small House - a small home based on those of less affluent families, people of color, newlyweds, and renters
• Printing Office
• Cider Mill - a horse-powered mill for the production of hard cider
• Shoe Shop
• Town Pound - for the confinement of livestock wandering around town or on other farmer's property
• Bullard Tavern - an early 19th-century tavern room
• Freeman Farm - A typical New England farm of 70 acres (280,000 m²) or so, with barn, outbuildings, and fields
• Blacksmith Shop
• Bixby House - the home of the blacksmith
• Cooper Shop
• Pottery Shop
• District School - a typical publicly funded one-room school
• Covered Bridge
• Gristmill - uses water power to turn a 3,000-pound millstone for grinding grain
• Sawmill - a working replica of an "up-and-down" sawmill powered by a reaction-type waterwheel
• Carding Mill - a water driven facility to prepare wool for spinning

Besides buildings full of living history, OSV also  has other attractions that deal with that time period:

• Firearms - many displays feature firearms from colonial America through the post-Civil War era
• Glass - three distinct categories of displays: blown glass, molded glass and pressed glass
• Lighting Devices - early lighting devices from ancient oil lamps and candles to whale oil, camphene and argand lamps
• Herb Garden - a living collection of native and heirloom varieties of ornamental plants and those used for cooking, medicine, dying cloth, and making traditional crafts

As you can tell, there are a lot of buildings. It is set  on 200+ acres so there is also a lot of ground to cover. This is definitely one place where you would want to plan to take all day to explore. Besides just touring the buildings, OSV also host events and educational classes and such at different times that you just might want to stop and enjoy along the way.

Here are a few pictures:

map

Covered Bridge in the Fall

Salem Towne House

Bank

Meeting House

Mill

Old Sturbridge Village is truly a place where you can explore for hours on end and not see it all!! Even though I have visited here once, I m more than anxious to see it again and in fuller detail. 

If you would like more information, visit their official website: http://www.osv.org/

I think one of my favorite moments there was when my brother, dressed in his cowboy gear, was asked by some other tourists to get his picture taken with them as they thought that he was a part of the exhibit :)

If any of you have been to OSV please comment with anything that you would like to share.

I hope you will all join me next week for the 2nd edition of TTT!!!!

Mercy

Intruducing....(drum roll please;) )... Timeless Tuesday Tours!!!!

Hey everyone!!

Hope you all are doing well. I certainly am :)

Since I do not have any plans to travel in the near future, I have decided to keep this blog going on a more regular basis via "Timeless Tuesday Tours".

Timeless Tuesday Tours (or TTT... whichever you prefer ;) ) is going to consist of weekly blogs (I bet nobody can guess on which day of the week ;)) that will highlight the places I most want to travel to or places I have traveled to that I have really enjoyed.

So, next Tuesday (May 21) will be our first installment of Timeless Tuesday Tours!!

:)
Mercy

Trip Summary

So now  that I have been home for over a week, I guess it is time for me to do a trip summary :)

I think I am just going to give a list of highlights (since there were absolutely NO lowlights ;))

• Hanging with Jacob :)
• Basketball
• Making new friends
• Hanging out with old and new friends
• Pi(e) day :)
• The Arboretum 

Definitely the funnest part was hanging with Jacob and as that was the goal of the trip I feel like it was a success :)

:)

Mercy

Day 10- Sunday- Detroit to Boise

We left dark and early Sunday morning (6:30 AM) from Hillsdale and made our way to the Detroit Airport for my 9:30 AM flight. I went through Security and found my gate and waited to board. 

At the gate, TSA did a gate check which consisted of them re-checking boarding passes and searching handbags as well as selecting random people for pat-downs. Thankfully everything went smoothly for me and I was soon in my seat.

The flight went well until we got to the Minneapolis Airport were the jetway for the gate was out of order and it took us 30 mins to figure that out and get towed to a new gate. By this time my flight for Boise was already boarding. I called my sister to have her find what gate I was to go to so that I would be prepared as soon as I got out of the plane and I was able to get a ride on one of those "cart" things that take people to their gates and I made my flight :)

The flight to Boise was good overall and I was so looking forward to being home.

It was a good day,
Mercy

P.S. I will publish a trip summary within the next few days :)

Day 9- Saturday

Saturday for me started about 10 AM. Since we had all stayed up till 5 the night before I was ish dragging out of bed. :) I went down to the Library to print off my boarding passes and then over to the Union to help Caitlin in the Mail Room. I spent the rest of the morning filling mailboxes and handing out packages, which I really enjoyed.

In the afternoon, we finally made our way to the coffee shop downtown(that we had been trying to get to for the last 4 days :)) and alas, it was closed :(. however, there was a different coffee shop across the street and so we ventured there. I got a Vanilla Latte that was super good and totally work it!!!

We then went over to Oakleys (the local deli sandwich shop). A couple of the group ordered lunch and we hung out, talked,a dn played Trivial Pursuit (which was sitting on the table for the entertainment of all customers)

The afternoon consisted of hanging at the house and finishing watching the Scarlet Pimpernel.

In the evening, Jacob took me to dinner at The Hunt Club which was really good. I got a Prime Rib dip with fries and Onion Rings :)

After we got back we played Euchre and watched some Get Smart episodes.

Then I packed for the trip back home :)

Mercy