1995 Midwest Trip V (6/29-30/1995)

Thursday, June 29, 1995
[The next morning,] Kent got in 9 holes of golf with Stuart before we left on the next leg of our trip. We stopped for a picnic lunch at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL, and then took the car tour of the grounds.

Brynne and Kent

Morton Arboretum: Meadow Lake

Morton Arboretum Visitor Center

The Four Brothers (1960, by Arthur Myhrum),
said to represent the four Morton brothers

Morton Arboretum: Fragrance Garden

Brynne and Kent in the Fragrance Garden

We next drove to Lafayette, Indiana to visit the Rs. Kent was David's roommate at Miami University in Oxford, OH. David's wife, Adienne, also went to Miami U. They now have 15-year old Colin and 12-year old Sonia. They are slowly restoring their 100-year old house.

The Rs's house

Dried plants in the bathroom

Friday, June 30, 1995
On June 30th, we headed to Indianapolis, IN to see yet another state capital...

Indiana Statehouse (1878-1888, by Edwin May
in Renaissance Revival style)

Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument
(1888, by Bruno Schmitz)

... and to visit the Indiana Children's Museum. This was an immense 5-level building, with both hands-on activities and museum displays. They had an unbelievable toy train collection, a 2-story water clock, a large netted area for flying paper airplanes, and a carousel. The best part was probably the "What If...?" gallery where we learned about dinosaurs and mummies.  There was also a butterfly garden here.

Children's Museum of Indianapolis atrium

Paleontologist Brynne doing Dinosaur Research

Raccoon Brynne?

Papilio glaucus/Tiger Swallowtails
on Echinacea purpurea/Coneflowers

Assorted butterflies on Liatris sp

Hyalophora cecropia/Cecropia Moth

We then went to stay with the J family, in Dayton, OH. We found their house in base housing, but there was a note on the door saying they had to move due to plumbing problems. We found their new place where they were still moving in. I went to high school with Kathy C J, and knew her husband Rod in Buffalo, NY. Now they have 5 girls: 15-year old Mikayla, 13-year old Angela, 12-year old Danielle, 7-year old Kathryn, and 5-year old Rebekah. Brynne fit right in with the two youngest, but they had to be separated to fall asleep. We saw a rainbow today after a downpour.
Kent was able to go find two houses in which he used to live in Fairborn, OH, 30 and 40 years ago!

Kent's first Fairborn, OH house

Kent's second Fairborn, OH house

Next: Midwest Trip VI.