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  • The Vanderbilt Getaway

    The Vanderbilt Getaway

    Hmmm, where to start with the Vanderbilts? The first one was Cornelius. He was born to dirt-poor dirt farmers on Staten Island. When he was 16, he acquired a little sailboat and started a shipping company. One thing led to another and he became wealthy, holding around 5% of the US currency at the time. This made him the sole success story arising from Staten Island.

    Surprisingly for a wealthy person, he was mean and excelled at cheating his business partners and abusing his family. In these endeavors, he was aided by the spiritual mediums he consulted regularly.

    When he died (finally!) he disinherited his daughters and gave the rest to his son, William.

    William liked trains and bought many of them, along with the railroads that ran them. Nicer than his father, he endowed Vanderbilt University (which remains in existence to this very day!), New York’s Metropolitan Opera and the YMCA.

    William had children, among them was Frederick, who inherited a ton of money. He toiled in the family business and also liked gardening, so he bought 600 acres in Hyde Park. Which finally brings us to the cottage. Whew!

    With only 54 rooms, the cottage, which was not designed by Frank Wright, was suitable for short term visits only.
    The cottage has a nice lawn, about 20 acres or so.
    Plenty of gardens. Here is a test to determine if you’re wealthy: do you have a 15,000 sq ft greenhouse, heated in winter, for the sole purpose of providing fresh cut flowers? If the answer is yes, you are wealthy.
    Fred valued his alone time, so the dining room could accommodate only 16. 12 at the main table and 4 at the overflow table.
    The ceiling was plundered from an Italian palazzo and re-assembled in Hyde Park. Fred didn’t like the original centerpiece artwork, so he commissioned a new one from the famed American artist, Edward Simmons.
    The cottage was considered innovative at the time, for its inclusion of a “living room.”
    The Gold Room, used by the women for gossip parties.
    The bedroom of Louise, Fred’s wife (they didn’t sleep together, because…well…that’s just icky.) She has a barricade around her bed, because Marie Antoinette had one and Louise idolized Marie.
    This is Fred’s bedroom. Early humans were small by modern standards and required only small beds. No California Kings needed. By the way, Fred and Louise strictly adhered to hygiene standards and had fresh sheets after each use, even after a brief nap!
    No house can be without a grand staircase, which the servants (of which there were normally 20) were not permitted to use.
  • New Haven, Connecticut

    New Haven, Connecticut

    New Haven is a small city in a small state. According to the Uber drivers and residents, New Haven is most famous for its pizza, which they claim is the very best. Did you know they use coal fired pizza ovens? They do. And did you know that they not only mispronounce the word “pizza” saying instead “abeets” (or maybe sometimes “apeets”) they also misspell it as “apizza.” I tried some and found it to be exactly like every other thin crust pizza I’ve had from a wood-fired oven.

    New Haven is a college town with many universities and colleges, among them are:

    • University of New Haven
    • Quinnipiac University
    • Albertus Magnus College
    • Southern Connecticut State University
    • Yale

    Since I had dropped the van off for the modifications, I had time to kill. So, I cast lots to see which campus to visit. Yale won.

    I was surprised to learn that Yale is holding up pretty well and performing satisfactorily, despite its age. Although I must note that Yale faculty have failed to create and develop an entirely new field of knowledge since they created Paleontology quite a few years ago. It is an altogether agreeable place, complete with old buildings, new buildings made to look old and the odd bit of statuary.

    One critical tidbit of info: Yale named one of their residential colleges Grace Hopper College, after one of the most important computer scientists in the early days. It was she who coined the term “bug” in reference to errors in software. She did so when the Harvard Mark II stopped working properly and she restored it by removing a moth from one of the mechanical relays. She taped it into the log book and there you have it, the first literal computer bug.

    Yale scientists are fascinated with old bones and assemble them in fantastical ways, fashioning fearsome beasts.
    These creepy things are what Yale scientists believe populated the primordial oceans.
    In addition to bones, Yale scientists find rocks to be of great interest, despite the fact that Geology wasn’t invented there.
    Additionally, the Yale museum has a vast exhibit of looted artifacts from cultures around the world.
    Curators at the Yale fine arts museum are partial to primary colors, even if the assembled colors make no sense.
    This is what an actual Nobel Prize looks like. Look closely and you’ll see it belongs to E. O’Neill. I’ll save you the trouble of remembering how to math Roman numerals and tell you it is 1936.
    New Haven has a quite nice locally concocted cola beverage.
    Xena keeps watch.
    The way there.
  • Colonel Inspects West Point

    Colonel Inspects West Point

    I made a surprise inspection trip to the US Military Academy, aka West Point. Coincidentally, it is in a town of the same name, West Point, NY! Did you know that it is the longest serving post in the US military? It is! It has been continually occupied since the war of independence, when the Americans ran the super-mean Brits out of the continent.

    West Point, as I suppose you know, is the world’s premier military officer training institution. It has produced many of the Nation’s most gifted and brave officers. Regrettably, it has also produced a host of traitors, like Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and a slew of other rebels. It has also produced a few genocidal jackasses, like George Custer. In all fairness, we can’t pin the genocidal part on Custer, as it was Government policy at the time. On the other hand, he earned the jackass part on his own. How? By getting his unit wiped out in an ill-advised attack on the native Americans like…well…a jackass.

    The site itself is beautiful, perched on the bluffs overlooking the Hudson River. The grounds are immaculate, green and thriving.

    West Point has a quite large and ornate chapel. Did you know the chapel’s organ is the 3rd largest (by number of pipes) in the world? It is, with over 23,000 pipes.
    West Pointers are fond of the words Duty, Honor, Country and plaster them all over campus.
    I was surprised that there were so many cadets buried in the cemetery…as cadets, before they graduated! Don’t know why, exactly. Maybe the lack of medicine in the old days? Maybe a primitive view of safety in training?
    Examples of Government housing.
    The Army has delicate tanks that cannot withstand people climbing on them.
    Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that, upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory.” –Douglas MacArthur
    The view of the Hudson from West Point is inspiring.
    Maybe you can see Xena, lounging with her arm draped over like a boss.
    This is the view from my campsite at the West Point FamCamp.
    The way there.
  • The Schismatics of Pennsylvania

    The Schismatics of Pennsylvania

    In 1536, an apostate Catholic priest, Menno Simons, thought believers should be baptized as adults instead of infants. He formed the Mennonites. Professing a belief in adult baptism was a capital crime in those days (as some think it should remain so today), so the authorities rightfully arrested and killed them.

    In 1693, Swiss bishop Jakob Amman yearned for a more demanding and severe form of Christianity than the Mennonites offered, so he formed the Amish (get it? Amman => Amish. In addition to adult baptism, Amish believe that people should wash their feet. They also believe in the social shunning of former Amish, just as Christ prescribed.

    Over time, the Amish tired of being deprived of their property and lives, so they accepted William Penn’s 1681 offer to move to the part of the New World we now know as Pennsylvania.

    Upon arrival, the Amish found themselves unable to cope with the hustle and bustle of 17th century Pennsylvania, so they asked Penn for some place further removed from modernity. He sent them to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where they remain to this day.

    In Lancaster, they feast on a variety of delicacies, like pickled baloney. Whoopie pie is a derivative of the more common (and more tasty) Ho-Ho. Shoo-fly pie is sort of like pecan pie, without the pecans.
    Pennsylvanians love to compete over the sizes of their barns. This leads to structures that are not proportional to the needs of the agri-business.
    Amish in their native habitat. Note the buggy slowing the progress of the giant tractors, also operated by Amish. That’s right, the Amish are not averse to using modern machines…as long as they are not in the house.
    In Lancaster, they adore living in old houses; there are many scattered throughout the towns and villages.
    Amish country of today is mostly a gigantic shopping mall, filled with useless items that no one on Earth needs. The only exception is the perfectly sized braided rug that lends a home-like atmosphere to my van. And also the cute little jars of jam. Those are definitely necessary.
    I don’t know about you, but I think it should be unlawful to sell (alleged) Navajo wares a continent away from the actual Navajo.
    There is such a thing as a National Toy Train Museum! Stuffed full of model trains and huge dioramas with little trains running through them. The only drawback: shrieking children running to and fro with untoward excitement.
    Pennsylvania is experiencing a extreme shortage of musicians, forcing each of the scarce ones to play several instruments simultaneously. Also, Pennsylvanians will happily humiliate themselves for a buck.
    Pennsylvania has strict rules governing where certain activities can take place. This is to ensure that the appropriate procedures are followed in accordance with the statutes and Scripture.
    Pennsylvania has an abundance of wasted space, making it a prime candidate for infill development.
    The way there.
  • Fallingwater

    Fallingwater

    Frank Wright enjoyed sketching houses, some of which were actually built! This is one of those.

    There was a time in the 1920s and 1930s that a family named Kaufmann amassed a great fortune by gouging customers at their Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, department store.

    Rich people, of course, need weekend cabins in the remote woods to rest and think of new ways to fleece their customers. So the Kaufmanns hired Frank to design their cabin, which they named Fallingwater because it hovers over an actual waterfall.

    The house was built in mid-Depression for a cost of around $150,000. For comparison, the guide informed me that an upper-class 4-bedroom brick house in Pittsburgh cost, at the time, around $5,000. That’s right, their weekend cabin was 30 times the cost of a normal wealthy person’s house. So great was the Kaufmanns’ fortune, that they also had vacation homes in Palm Springs, Greece and elsewhere.

    This is the view the Kaufmanns would have seen as their chauffeur drove them to the cabin.
    Although well known to modern people, Frank’s open floor plan was considered innovative at the time.
    Whoops! A construction worker left a clay pot atop the chimney.
    A nifty desk with cantilevered shelves echoing the design of the house itself.
    Expansive terraces are a major feature of the cabin.
    Rich people can have houses designed around their favorite art pieces.
    This Madonna and Child dates from 1420.
    A nice Tiffany lamp lights the bedroom desk.
    Clever design and engineering allow this window to omit the support in the corner. This is one of Frank’s most significant contributions to the field of house design.
    The view from the foot of the waterfall.

  • Kentuck Knob…It’s a House!

    And that’s not a typo…it really is called Kentuck Knob. According to legend, a colonizer left New York for Kentucky to wrest land from the native Americans. But he got to western Pennsylvania, loved the place and stayed. Apparently he decided that, if he called a piece of Pennsylvania Kentucky, he could declare victory. Somehow or another, those dwelling therein lost the “y”.

    There was a family, the Hagans, who became rich in western Pennsylvania by selling ice cream. They were impressed by a nearby house, Fallingwater, learned that the architect was Frank Wright and hired him to design a house. Frank was well known for designing with nature and designed the house to integrate with its setting. The result was impressive with an almost-excessive attention to detail.

    You can tell that the house is important, because only important houses get brass plaques.
    The floor plan is based on a hexagonal grid of equilateral triangles which, when overlapped, form parallelograms. This design language is carried throughout the house, as shown in this hexagonal skylight.
    The back side of the house is embedded in the hillside. This side rises like a great prow.
    The current owner of Kentuck Knob is an unknown Englishman named Baron Palumbo (not kidding). He is a collector of practically anything, including this chunk of the Berlin Wall. He has numerous other sculptures, which he has scattered throughout the grounds.
    Xena, the Warrior Princess, prowls the early morning fog.
  • Air Force Museum at Wright-Pat

    Air Force Museum at Wright-Pat

    Wright-Patterson AFB…wow what a beautiful and enormous base! They have every amenity imaginable: golf course, flying club, tennis club (indoor courts!), a USO club, etc, etc. If I were the type of person to use facilities like these, I’d be tempted to pack up and move!

    We stayed at the FamCamp, which is what the military calls on-base RV parks. The Wright-Pat FamCamp is on the shore of the lake. That’s right, the base has its own lake.

    Morning mist rises from the lake.
    Xena lounges in the Forbidden Zone, heedless of the rules.

    In addition to the huge variety of units on the base (Air Force Materiel Command, National Air and Space Intelligence Center, the Air Force Institute of Technology, etc), the base hosts the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

    The museum is world-class, although with a very heavy emphasis on airplanes. However, they *do* have some very interesting space exhibits, including KH-7 and KH-9 surveillance satellites. When I was in the space business in the 1980s, these were some of the most highly classified items in existence. Ha, now they’re in a museum. These are the satellites that took still photos from 80-100 miles up and ejected the film canisters so they would parachute down over the Pacific. Specially equipped C-130s would catch them mid-air and return them to Hickam AFB, Hawaii, where the film canisters were flown immediately to Kodak for processing.

    And, of course, airplanes! Many of the most iconic and famous planes in aviation history are in the Museum’s 4 gigantic hangars.

    This is from the interior of the C-141, nicknamed the Hanoi Taxi, that brought many of the POWs back from Hanoi. The returning service members autographed the interior of the plane.

    Outside, the Museum has a Memorial Garden, with many unique and imaginative displays.

    And this is the part of the journey leading to Dayton.

  • Peoria Discovered, More Than a Meme

    Peoria Discovered, More Than a Meme

    Illinois is a bright, sunny place with mild temperatures. Heading from west to east, it starts flat and then turns hilly. I drove past the town of Champaign, which is home to a state college, and on to Kickapoo State Park. I learned that Kickapoo has nothing to do with the elimination of bodily waste.

    Flat as pancake illinois blends into gentle rolling hills.

    To the extent that anyone thinks of it at all, Peoria is usually considered a mythological place, like Atlantis or the fountain of youth. It is meant to evoke thoughts of middle America. However, I have discovered that it is an actual city! A small one, to be sure, but with streets, traffic signals and mid-rise office buildings.

    Peorians are quite taken with entomology and have several downtown buildings devoted to caterpillars.

    Aside from its role representing mainstream America, it also claims Abraham Lincoln as one of its sons. Lincoln, as you may recall, served as President of the US in the 1860s. It is notable that he failed to complete two terms, despite being elected twice. This feat places him in company with William McKinley and Richard Nixon.

    Peorians were obliged to construct a large, multi-story building as a home for this giant mural of Lincoln.
    For unknown reasons, Peoria has sculptures of bison, despite being far from Wyoming.

    So, in any event, Peoria actually exists. I have photos to prove it

  • Nebraska & Iowa

    Nebraska & Iowa

    Nebraska and Iowa are essentially the same place. It is a mystery why they’re treated separately by many. I’ll lump them together and call them Nebowa.

    The management of agri-business have forgotten to harvest their crops, leaving them to waste away in the fields. This will negatively impact profitability.

    Nebowa is a gray, overcast place with a lot of rain. If you’re planning on visiting (which you aren’t), be sure to pack your rain jacket. Otherwise you’ll have to buy one at the Base Exchange at Offutt AFB.

    Lots of clouds in Nebowa.

    Similarly, be sure to check your wiper blades. If you don’t renew them at home, you’ll have to while on the road.

    Did you know that wiper blades are designed to fail at the exact spot where your eyes look out the windshield? They are.

    Also, did you know that Sprinter vans have special “wet” wiper blades that are only sold at Mercedes dealers? They do.

    You will be in luck, though, because the Omaha Mercedes dealer handles Sprinters (most don’t) and they have wiper blades in stock! They’ll even install them for free! Marvelous!

    The van, aka the Shuttlecraft, stand ready to shield us from the rain.

    Also, be aware that Nebowa is quite windy. Crosswinds, in fact. Do not be startled when your vehicle’s anti-crosswind feature activates with a terrible noise and vibration. This is considered normal.

    The eastern part of Nebowa is unnecessarily hilly. This negatively impacts the region’s agricultural productivity. If one were to have a giant rolling pin, applied with sufficient vigor, one could smooth out the hills and increase the proportion of usable land, as was done with Kansas.

    Xena, the Warrior Princess, disapproves of the rain and elects to observe from inside.
  • Coast to Coast

    Coast to Coast

    I’m off on another epic journey: Oakland to East Haven (Connecticut) to see new parts of the country and have some mods done to the van. And I got my blog working again! Technical notes for curious gear heads at the bottom; normal people can safely ignore them.

    This house is Buckland’s Station. Built in 1860, it was a remount station for the Pony Express and a general store for the soldiers at nearby Fort Churchill, Nevada.
    This curious round courthouse in Lovelock, Nevada was designed by a famous architect I had never heard of and immediately forgot.
    Atoms for Peace! I visited the first breeder reactor. It creates more fuel than it consumes, thus demonstrating that there is a perpetual motion machine!
    People were silly in the 1950s. This was an early experiment is creating a nuclear powered aircraft engine. Any wonder why it never flew?
    Spent a couple of days in Idaho Falls. It is a pleasant little town in Idaho.
    Did you know the name of”Idaho Falls” came before the waterfalls? It did and remained an aspirational statement until the waterfalls were constructed out of concrete and artfully placed boulders.
    This was my front yard for a night…Antelope Lake, Oregon.

    Xena takes a hike

    The promised technical note: When I started this blog years ago, I had no idea how to do it. Naturally, I got a great many things wrong, like hosting it at Bluehost, installing a ton of plugins I didn’t need and getting the commenting feature wrong. So, I decided to fix it all and host it on my own machine. It turned out that removing all of Bluehost’s tentacles from the site was tedious and took much longer than I anticipated. But now it is done! (I think.)