A Stop Along The Way To Cincinnati

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As always, we could stay longer just about anywhere we go.  Exploring the history of a place just takes you from one day to another.  Hannibal was fun and it brought back a lot of childhood memories.  We had a nice breakfast at the hotel before we left.  In fact, it was the best one on this trip.  Too bad we couldn't find a similarly priced Airbnb.

Our next stop was in Justice, IL.  Our friends used to live in Chicago.  They were from Monterrey and raised their kids in Chicago.  We were there in 2010 and parked behind their apartment building.  They had gone to the U.S. with hopes of becoming citizens but it never happened until last year.  The old neighborhood in Chicago was gang ridden with shootingd and gunfire on weekends.  Now, in Justice, becoming citizens (they had to wait until their kids turned 18), they were able to buy a beautiful home on a huge corner lot.  Imagine, all those years in the U.S. and they could never come home when their parents passed away as they wouldn't be able to return to their home in Illinois.  

We spent the night at their house, never really slept as we had so much catching up to do.  So much happends in ones lifetime that it is hard to tell the whole story.

The boys are twins. One is a reporter and was out on a job so he didn't make it to dinner!

The drive from Justice to Cincinnati was over six hours, not usual for us but we didn't want to make another stop before getting there.  We didn't find anything in between that was of enough interest to do that.

Cincinnati has a population of 331,000 but the metro area encompassed part of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.  A bit confusing as you wind in and out of them all.  

Our Airbnb was great.  Finally one that was very affordable and had no cleaning fees.  We booked for a week and it was well located between my oldest niece and my oldest brother.  It was nice to get up to our own coffeemaker (can't travel without it) and a homemade breakfast.

Once we arrived and settled, we headed to my nieces house.  My sister, her mother was there.  She had flown from Kansas City (she lives in Reno) so that we could all be together.  My niece Christina's husband was off the next day on a work trip but we had never met except for Face time and I wanted to meet him in person.  What a great guy.  Also, seeing my sister again just a week later was a real treat. 

We decided to have a cookout two days later at my brother's house.  It was convenient for all the nieces, nephews and grandkids who live in Cincinnati.  That way we could have a couple of days to do our own thing.  Believe it or not, the city offers quite a bit.  Our first stop was the botanical gardens.  What a great place to walk around, take pictures and just relax after all the driving.  

I am happy that almost three years later, Juan has not had any issues since his syncope accident in McAllen.  Like I always say, I'm just happy to be here today!

If you remember, we had gone to the city market in Kansas City.  In Cincinnati there is the Findlay Farmers' Market.  Well, it's not really a farmers' market anymore.  I think it is more of a high-class hangout with very expensive food and drink.  I never saw a farmer there 😅  It was fun to walk around and see an area that previously was depressed and brought back to life.  Unfortunately, in most cities where they is a renaissance the upper-middle class moves in and prices go up.  That's good, I like people with money but it seems those that lived there before are pushed out.

Cincinnati is the home of the Reds and they are very proud of their team.

Another new trolley system that transport no one.  Empty every time it passed by.  What a waste of taxpayer money.

This market was in some ways similar to the Mercado San Miguel in Madrid.  The products are definitely good quality and the foods looked and smelled delicious but the prices now match the market.  I'm sure that rent is high and of course they are products the average person wouldn't or couldn't afford to buy.

Funny signs!

More to come.  Stay tuned!

Palmyra and Hannibal To Memorialize An Old Friend

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We left Kansas City and headed for Cincinnati.  On our way we wanted to stop in two places, Palmyra and Hannibal, Missouri.  You are familiar with Hannibal as that was the hometown and impetus for the Mark Twain series of books such as Huckleberry Finn.   Palmyra was founded in 1822 and named after the Syrian city which also grew out of the wilderness and into a magnificent city.

Palmyra never really became a magnificent city although it's intentions were well meant.  Today it has a population of 3600,  It's a typical rural Missouri town with its main street, bank, library, and a few stores.  Many on the main strip are empty.  

The purpose of the trip was to find out more information about a well-known Palmyra celebrity, Rayford Lyndsey West.  Quite a character and local celebrity, Ray came to our family before I was born, somewhere right after WW II.  My dad had enlisted for the second time and left my mother with two kids.  A neighbor let out rooms and Ray had rented one while he was studying at the Univeristy of Missouri.  Ray was born with severe cerebral palsy and moving around was difficult for him.  He had good use of his right arm and hand, was able to walk but with a severe limp, and had difficulty with speech.  My mom befriended him and he would visit and keep her company.  After the war my dad returned home and Ray stayed in our lives.  He finished the university, returned to Palmyra to become the head librarian of the town and county for several decades.  

Ray would visit us every year for his two-week vacation.  Obviously he was very intelligent and hard working even doing work at our Kansas City library during the day probably to get a break from the chaos at our house with the ten kids running around.  He never missed a visit and we too would go to Palmyra every summer for a weekend.  Ray's dad was the bank president for most of his life.  The bank building was sold to become City Hall.  The new bank eventually closed and was turned into a library.  The vault houses all the statisical records of births, properties, deaths and burial locations.

Rayford Lindsay West, his portrait hangs in the Palmyra library.

It didn't take long to find information.  We walked into the library and asked if they knew of Ray and his work at the library.  Everyone turned and looked at us as if "well of course, who doesn't?".  They were very nice and pulled out library records with information as well as newspaper clippings of all the work Ray had done.  It made me feel good that I had something to take with us to Cincinnati to share with other siblings. 

Information showing the year Ray became the librarian and his starting and ending salary.

The bank vault that houses the records for the town and surrounding counties.  Many families have stored their ancestral records in the vault.

The bank which now houses city hall.  I should have taken an interior picture, the woodwork is spectacular.

Palmyra and Hannibal are only 30 minutes apart and it was nice weather driving through Missouri.  We stayed at a very nice hotel, again a better choice than an Airbnb.  It was right on the river, well a block away.  Very friendly people, great room, an indoor pool and jacuzzi as well as a gym.  They had a huge breakfast that we took advantage of before taking off for Cincinnati.

Hannibal, Missouri - Home of Mark Twain

When I was a kid and we would take these weekend trips, we would stop into the old Mark Twain museum which was actually his house.  It still exists, but they have turned it into an enclosed city block that includes other buildings.  Tours are daily and very expensive.  We weren't here just for that we were to find "the hair".  In the original museum there is a lock of Mark Twain's hair with a date on the small glass case.  I always said I would someday save my hair and I did.  I have locks from as far back as 1985 and 1997.

I'm not a saver and don't like clutter.  My personal things I will leave behind are all the souvenirs in the form of tickets for places we have gone, driver's licenses, gym cards, credit cards from as far back as the 80s, my hair, a mold of my teeth, and so on.  It will all fit nicely into a small box that some distant relative might want to rummage through and they will think, "what a strange man".  

We found one of three museums and this one was a bust.  Good thing it wasn't expensive and offered a senior discount.  There he is in all his glory the man who made my childhood reading so much fun and entertaining.  I'm glad we didn't have the internet or cable television.

A portrait of the man himself, Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain.

 

Mark Twain was known for many things.  When he was born, they didn't expect him to live.  He was born two months prematurely but survived.  His first years were spent being cared for as a pretty sickly boy.  He moved to Nevada to become a miner in the silver mines.  He didn't like that and found a job working as a typesetter and then a newpaper reporter in Virginia City, Nevada.  He was a real cat lover and at one point had 19 cats.  I wouldn't have guessed it but after reading Huck Finn I thought it was a good book, easy reading and interesting but it took him over seven years to write it.  His job that really got him writing was his years as a riverboat pilot.

Riverboat on the mighty Mississippi!  We arrived in time to see the captain come and start up the engines.  We didn't take the boat, they have two tours a day.  

The captain at the helm of the ship.

Hannibal first appears to be a huge tourist attraction.  We didn't seem to find much of anybody anywhere or anytime of the day.  Weekends probably fill up along with summer vacations.  We took a walk downtown at night, empty streets and a few bar/restaurants were open with a few locals knocking some back.

He is the man of the town that's for sure and his name and face appear on just about everything!

We ate at a small Mexican restaurant.  The food was pretty good but the service sucked and the people weren't very friendly.  They ended up charging us for splitting a plate which we do now.  Way too much food.  I mentioned it to the waitress and she said I could talk to the cashier.  So I did, and she said, "I'm not going to fight with you" and walked away.  I thought we were being very polite.

We took off the next day after taking some pictures down by the river.  Again, a nice ride through country roads.  Next stop, Cincinnati!

The City Market Kansas City - Steamboat Arabia

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First off, an Airbnb warning.  We have had to switch to mostly hotels onn this trip.  A huge disappointment.  Places are listed as $50 to $60 a night but then they include some wildly high cleaning and service fees.  We have attempted to negociate those fees on this trip and they won't budge.  Below are some very common examples of what we have found in all the cities or nearby cities.  Airbnb, you have taken advantage of what was a very good thing.  There are two prices, the nightly rate and then the final price.

Believe it or not, we are in Hudson, Ohio spending the weekend with friends Brenda and Mario and their three children.  We will be heading back to Monterrey tomorrow Sunday the 22nd of September.  I haven't had time to post.  Too many people and places to see.  As of this post we were still in Kansas City for the week and getting ready to head to Justice, IL, northeast of Chicago.

We took off and left all the family behind during the day and went downtown.  A beautiful place to learn about architecture and history but you rarely see anyone walking around on the sidewalks.  In fact, we see quite a bit of public transportation but it is always empty.  Taking into account our hotel location we could have easily taken the bus or trolley.  However, the cost for non-monthly riders is prohibitive and cheaper for us to drive straight down Main St. some 40 blocks and park at the market for free.  As we were walking around the market, the trolley passed by several times but again, it was always empty or with a rider or two.

We arrived at the museum for the Steamboat Arabia first.  Quite a story.  The steamboat traveled the Missouri River taking goods back and forth.  On one particular trip, the ship was filled with cargo to go west for pioneers settling the great open plains of what would soon become states in the U.S. The shipped carried 77 passengers and crew, a donkey and four cargo holds filled with any and everything that a person setting up house and farm would need.  I won't make the list, you can see it in the photos below.  

In 1856, the ship caught a snag, a giant log that had fallen and stuck in the mud of the river.  The snag was lodged inside the hull of the ship.  The passengers swam to shore, the ship went down with all the cargo aboard and also a donkey that was tied to the deck.  

Many people had looked for the ship and its loot as the years went by.  Never any luck.  In 1988, a family of brothers and a father shared the story with a friend who owned a restaurant.  They decided to invest in the search and hopeful recovery.  Rivers move with heavy rains and flooding.  Over the 135 years, the river had moved half a mile.  The ship was found buried under a cornfield.  The owner agreed to the excavation and work began.  Well, they struck gold and the rest is history.

Aerial satellite view of the corn field, the river and the ship location.

The paddle wheel and one of the two steam engines that pushed the ship down the mighty Missasip.

They began pulling out all of the goods in the four cargo holds with the intentions of getting rich.  Instead, they made a deal with the state of Missouri and Kansas City.  The museum was built including a laboratory to clean and restore the items.  Luckily, almost all of the goods had been well reserved in the cold waters and mud.  Cleaning was the major step and revealed life as it was for the pioneers heading west.  The museum houses what now appear to be stores and shops from the time housing all of the goods.  On the day that the dig revealed stores of preserved foods in jars, one of the brothers opened a jar and ate the pickles right there on the spot.  He said they were sweat and crisp! 

Porcelain pulled from crates in the ship's hold.

Hardware of all kinds; farm tools, saws for cutting trees and making logs for cabins, nails, hammers, and more. 

A clothing store.

Guns and ammunition.  The glass in the window was found well wrapped and in the ship's hull and survived the sinking and the years.

After touring the steamboat, we headed across the street to the city market.  was built along the river bringing in all those goods.  The market dates back to the 1850s and has morphed overtime into a trendy upper class hangout but maintains its original purpose.  Nothing is static.  It was originally a venue for produce sellers, politcal rallies, and concerts.  In the 20s, immigrants had set up shop selling goods and produce. It stayed that way until the late 70s.  Mostly Italians and Germans.  In 1907, my grandfather came and set up house and to check out life in the U.S.  He entered through Ellis Island, returned to Croatia for my grandmother.  My dad was born in 1910 but didn't start school until he was ten.  He didn't speak English so they wouldn't let him enroll.

The market today is filled with gift shops, restaurants, produce shops now owned and managed by a new wave of immigrant; Middle Easterners, Mexicans and southeastern Europeans.  

Amazing that supermarket prices are much higher and that these prices pretty much mirror those of Mexican supermarkets. 

 

On our last day we went to have breakfast at a Mexican restaurant.  Great people from Jalisco.  We chatted for quite a bit and talked about all the good and bad of what is happening now.  BTW, on the back burner for us might be moving to the U.S. or at least buying a place in case things do not improve soon.  Sad, but we have both reached that reality.

Next up will be our trip to Chicago visiting our friends before getting to Cincinnati

Nothing Is Static - Kansas City Visit

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We left Kansas City on Thursday and headed for Justice, Il. (Chicago).  We're now in Cincinnati and will be having a family get together later this afternoon.  The weather has been good and the scenery the best.  

Here's a bit about our stay in Kansas City:

We had breakfast with our friends in Fayetteville, Ar. before taking off.  We had dinner at their house the night before but they insisted on toast and coffee before taking off.  It wasn't "toast", it was French toast with fresh fruit, goat yogurt and butter.  Very good.

We traveled through Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri.  The section of Oklahoma was off the beaten path and through farmlad.  It was a great drive getting off the whacky interstate.  I thought having driven in Mexico for so many years that there would be no issues.  What a mad house.  The driving habits are some we almost never see.  At times you think that someone is coming after you the way they approach from behind.

The first stop was my oldest nephew's house.  Patrick and Virginia live a rehabilitated part of the city, right off of downtown.  Urban blight had hit about 30 years ago leaving abandoned and destroyed homes.  The city plowed them down and new, low-income homes were built.  Since then though, the area has gone through a complete renaissance,   The original homes an 100 year old brick apartment buildings have been restored.  Younger professionals have purchased homes and condominiums have replaced the old.  

Patrick is a writer who has published many books including his cross-country adventures and river rafting.  He taught English at the university and now nearing retirement is a mail carrier.  A few more years and he'll receive his pension.  Virginia was a registered nurse most of her life, now retired she has taken up jazz singing and has begun singing in local pubs and clubs.

My 82 year old sister was there and it was a great reunion.  I talk to her several times a week but haven't seen her for over 10 years.  She lost her husband to dementia earlier this year.  She is now deciding where her life will go and making plans to enjoy her years.  

I've published the Country Club Plaza before on my blog.  It's an area created by the famous J.C. Nichols.  It was a Spanish-influenced open plaza area that covers several square miles.  The architecture is Spanish with some nuances that may or may not match.  The buildings are covered with clay tiled rooves (roofs), tiled sidwalks and fountains every where.  Some are originals and many are copies.  Kansas City earned the name of the "City of Fountains" because of Nichols great plan.  I used to hang out here a kid.  We lived up the hill from the Plaza and friends would just walk around and get into mischief.  There was a bowling alley and we formed a league and bowled for two years, tean shirts and all.

My niece prepared a delicious dinner for us and her family.  Pot roast, steamed veggies, and green beans.  So we decided we should bring desert.  We stopped at the Cheesecake Factory and picked up a really delicious Red Velvet.   The best ever with the exception of my low-fat, no-fat yogurt cheescake!

What follows are some of the many statues and fountains found around the Plaza.

This shop used to be a medical uniform shop.  My mother had never worked apart from being a made for a rich Kansas City family.  However, she was called for jury duty which turned into a month-long trial.  They were sequestered for four weeks in a downtown hotel.  My mother received a juicy check which she used to buy a new sewing machine.  After that she had the bug.  One of my brother's mother-in-law, recently widowed, began working in the uniform shop and invited my mom to work with her.  My mother received her liberation when she was in her 60s.  She had money to do what she wanted, when she wanted.  What followed was a driver's license and a car of her own.

This colorful building is where my dentist was located.  I had bad teeth from the get go.  Not sure why, bad nutrition, lack of vitamins from my mother or just genetic although no one else had this problem.  I had caps on most of my teeth by age seven, they would just crumble.  My mom would walk me to the dentist, I dreaded it.  Once I bit the dentist's finger and he back handed me.  When finished with the work he took me to the waiting room and told my mom.  She never said a word, she was very understanding.  After, each appointment, she would take me to the Woolworth's counter for a grilled cheese sandwich.  She was really something.  

The famous boar fountain has been there since before I was born.  Known as the "Wild Boar of Florence", with the original marble-carved boar by the Greeks over 2000 years ago.  Italians made a copy that still stands to the entrance of the Straw Market in Florence.  A bronze copy was made and it is one of the two replicas in the world.  If you see it, be sure to rub it's nose for good luck.

The old Skelly Oil Building, a Oklahoma oil company, sits on 47th street.  Now defunct, my oldest sister worked there.  My dad took the bus to work everyday and on his way home, he would stop by and pick up my sister.  One day, he went into her office and told her, "you need to tell your boss you're quitting.  Your mom is having a baby (number 10).  She'll need your help".  She quit, and six months later she was married and her fisrt child was a little more than six months older than my little brother.  She had helped raise five of my siblings doing household chores and changing diapers.  She figured if she was going to do it, she would do it for herself.  Some time after their marriage, she called crying saying she made fried chicken and mashed potatoes.  She didn't know how to cook for two.  My mom said not to worry and 30 minutes later we were eating dinner! 

Now a movie theater below, was a Sears store.  Right in the middle was the boy's department first floor.  I used to go with my friend Kevin and we would look at the mao shirts.  Oh how I wanted one.  It was white with black buttons and some gold-threaded trim.  It was there for at least two years.  My dad wouldn't permit me to wear what he said was a hippie shirt.

I tried to find the picture.  At this fountain was a wall where the restaurant is.  It had large niches with statues in them.  I had my picture taken there some 40 years ago.  

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If you click on the picture below you will see that what they thought was Spanish cultural architecture was really a Mexican tile art depicting people going to market. 

A tile work depicting a man in a sombrero, sarape and a donkey.  Not Spanish!

More to follow about Kansas City and our interesting tour of the Steamboat Arabia that sunk over 180 years ago and found buried under a cornfield some 300 feet away.