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 

Day 6, 7, 8- Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

 So these last few days have been so crazy.... so I am just going to sum them all up into one post.


Wednesday
Wednesday Morning I just hung out with myself in the computer lab and the Library and then caught lunch with Linda. In the afternoon, I "studied" with Linda in the afternoon... this consisted of me reading and just chillin' ;). In the evening, Jacob, Caitlin, and I played basketball. After that we watched BSU lose to SDSU :( In the late evening(i.e. early morning) we trooped over to the Arboretum which is like a "small wood" with 2 stone gazebos, a pond and just general awesomeness.

It was a late night, but since we did not have class until 11 we were able to sleep in.

Thursday
Thursaday dawned hot and sunny which was certainly a nice change from the snow of Wednesday. I went with Caitlin to her English 102 class again and it was fun :) We went to lunch and then after Caitlin's class was over we headed back to the house to chill.

This was also "Pi(e) Day" so we went to Kroger where I got a turtle pie and we enjoyed that for an afternoon snack.

Jacob called us up to see if we wanted to do something active, so we got our sports clothes on and headed off to the Football field... We ended up spending the next hour and a half to two hours learning how to play rugby. We did 2 passing drills, tackling drills, and ran lines. We also "learned" how to ruck.

After rugby, Caitlin and I went to a lecture the college was sponsoring on chastity. It was pretty good all around and I was glad I went.

Friday
Everyone was excited for Friday since it was the last day of  classes :)

Jacob pretty much locked himself in the computer Lab and pounded(I mean literally ;)) out his 2nd mid-term.
I went to Art History class with Laurie and then American Heritage with Caitlin before lunch.

Lunch was awesome... salad and cookies ;) :)

After lunch, we went to Kroger and then went back and I helped to clean up and then it was chill time while watching psych and trying to recover from nights with little sleep.

Jacob has his other paper due at midnight tonight so he pretty well spent the whole day writing that.

However, after he turned it in it we were able to hang out.

Caitlin's sister flew in for the week as a surprise so it was another late night as everyone caught up.

Hope y'all are havin' fun wherever y'all are :)

Mercy

P.S. Tomorrow I will post about Saturday and my flight home and then either Monday or Tuesday I will publish a summary post with all the trip highlights as well as summing everything up :)

God's Blessings,
MFB

Day 5- Tuesday

Tuesday was probably the most relaxed day yet. I slept in till about 10 and then went with Caitlin to her class at 11. It was English 102 and it was very interesting. It seemed to be more like one of my High-school Lit classes since they were reading and discussing a classic. After class we headed to SAGA for lunch and I ate...? Yep, you guessed it: salad and cookies with ginger ale to drink.

Jacob was still deeply immersed in his papers so I spent the afternoon and evening with Caitlin and Laurie. We went to Walmart and Kroger to pick up a few groceries and had dinner and just talked. I also read and called some of my family back home as well as published my blog.

Something I learned:
Getting your scarf caught in your coat zipper can be traumatic!

Mercy

P.S.Well, as of this moment it is almost 10 am on Wednesday and it just started snowing... again! We woke up to about an inch on the ground with more coming down. Needless to say, I WILL be going to the coffee shop today!

Day 4- Monday/ Jaob's birthday!

Well, Jacob started his 21st birthday with a nice breakfast with his fellow members of the George Washington Fellowship. He had to be there at 8 and then he had work after that. I slept in till about 9:40. I went for a run (which was technically more like a jog, but you know, I 'll take what I can get). I then went and hung out in the Library (where I blogged about Sunday) and waited for Jacob to get out of class.

We met up and headed to SAGA(the cafeteria) for lunch where I ate salad and cookies with ginger ale and black tea.

After lunch, Jacob had his foreign policy class to which I accompanied him. It was rather interesting and I enjoyed myself. He had to leave that class early to make his Ethical Theory class but I went to.... the Library and hung out and read (imagine that ;))

Then we went to his house where I did laundry and baked him a blackberry coffee cake....his favorite :)

Jacob took a nap and studied and then we went to a lecture on Campus in the evening.

After the lecture, Jacob went to the computer Lab to work on his paper and I hung out with Caitlin(who I am rooming with while I am here)

All-in-all it was a good day :)

Mercy

Day 3 -Sunday

We were able to sleep in today which was nice. We got up about 10:30 and got ready to make the mile trek to the store to get supplies.

The walk there was fine... it was mostly down hill...

After spending way to much time and money at the store  we headed back loaded down with 6 bags. Needless to say, the walk back was much, much more tiring then the walk there. 

Groceries put away, we got ready to go to the Musical put on by the Theater department here at Hillsdale. It was a rather amusing play and we enjoyed ourselves.

Jacob had lots of studying to do so we headed back up to the library. I hole-punched a ton of pages for him so that he could get his life organized, which was very exciting. He needed to just focus and get stuff done so I headed downstairs in the Library to find a book and entertain myself.

I was thus occupied until about 7, when I me up with our friend Linda and went to her friend's dorm to get a lasagna pan. This mission accomplished, we headed back to Jacob's house where I put together the lasagna (it was really good if I do say so myself :))

We spent the rest of the evening just hanging out. He was still working on homework so it was not too exciting.

Mercy

Highlights of the day:
1. using my Fred Meyer's reward number at Kroger when Jacob was not sure it would work :)
2. Eating 7- cheese lasagna
3. Ginger Ale!!!
4. Spending hours in a Library ;)

P.S. For all of you who have been concerned with my coffee intake, I am pleased to inform you that I did not bring coffee grounds and I have not had any coffee since my layover in Minneapolis on Friday. I hope you are all proud of me. ;)

Day 2- Saturday

Saturday started at the early hour of 9:30 AM when Jacob got me up cause we had to be at Rugby Practice at 10 and it is essentially all the way across campus. Since there is still snow on the ground and it is still rather cold, the rugby team practices in the Racquetball courts. I had planned to play basketball while Jacob ran practice. Our plans ish changed when no one showed up for rugby so Jacob and I went to shoot around on the bball courts. All in all that was pretty pathetic except when I beat Jacob in the free-throw shooting competition.

Next up was lunch.... Jacob went to the cafeteria while I stole leftover's from a parent's breakfast (it is Parent's weekend here on campus) while I blogged.

After lunch was nap time which took us to the BSU men's basketball which we watched in the SUB (which everyone here calls 'the union' NOT 'the sub'). While watching the basketball game I did some reading and some ethics.

After the game Jacob headed to dinner while I call some people back home and worked on my computer. He was able to 'steal' 3 bagels for me so that I would not go hungry.

We headed  to the Library so that Jacob could get some serious studying done as he has midterms coming up over the next 10 days. I helped him in his endeavors by scanning materials he needed into the copier which then emailed it to him so that he could print it all off to use at home.

We went back to his house and he studied some more while I did some more ethics and ish lazed around.

And that was Saturday.
Mercy

Day 1- Boise to Hillsdale

Well, yesterday was the long day of traveling to get to see my brother :) But, as I am sure most of you know what is at the end of the journey is what makes the whole journey worth it :)

I started out my journey by leaving my house at 4:20 AM. My dad dropped me off at the airport about 4:30 and  I made my way through security. It was not really that exciting as I went to my gate and waited to board. I got an aisle seat :) which was nice. The flight to Minneapolis/St. Paul was rather uneventful as the early time made for quiet passengers. I mostly just read .... imagine that ;) :). We got into MSP about 30 mins ahead of schedule so I set out to find the Starbucks. I was pretty sure I knew where it was and sure enough pretty soon their classic logo came into view. I ordered a tall Vanilla Latte as well as water and a bagel with cream cheese. This would serve me for breakfast and lunch. After the Starbucks was taken care of, I found my gate. I killed the 3 hrs of layover time calling family members and people watching. Then my gate changed so I moved about 3 gates down to do more texting and people watching. Our flight was getting an ish late start on boarding so they were really rushing us to get on the plane and seated. It was a smaller plane but that was fine since it was a short flight.

I touched down in Detroit a little ahead of schedule, so Jacob was not quite there to get me yet. So what do y'all think I did? I found the nearest Starbucks, of course. Here I got a Venti Passion Tea Lemonade (otherwise known as a "Praise the Lord" ;)) and waited for Jacob to call me saying that he was there. He called me in short order and besides him going to the wrong terminal at first I was soon on my way out to the country.

It was about a 90 min drive back which put us on Jacob's doorstep at 4:40 ish. We hung out and got showered up and ready to make the trek to a friends house for dinner. We got there just as they were leaving so we hopped in for an adventure at Kroger. They got stuff for dinner and the evening was spent with games and laughter and good food.  We played Euchre as well as a game where you were given a random topic that you had to talk about for a minute straight without pausing as well as trying to get people interested in what you had to say. That game was ish uncomfortable but really funny :)

So that was Day 1... I will keep y'all posted

Mercy

Trip coming up!!!

This is just a prequel post to let all y'all know that I will be visiting my brother, Jacob, in Michigan in a few weeks.... so Stay tuned for interesting tidbits and daily updates once I get there :) :)

Packing list so far:

Ski Coat...to ward off the Michigan cold :)
coffee grounds...cause I can't live without my coffee ;)
Wheat Thins...cause he prob won't have any food for me :)
scarf, gloves, hat... as you can tell I am expecting the worst!
Basketball shoes
....


:)

I'll Keep y'all posted!
Mercy