1981, if you'll cast your minds back I've been messing around with Dad's slide scanner: I need to find my Japan slides (I think they may actually be at work) but I practiced with a few of my older personal slides. So here are two slideshows: the first is from Grandma Ev's birthday party, 1981, with a few aquatic garden pictures at the end:


The second is labelled "Williamsburg" but I wonder if the first part isn't from somewhere else: it's nature pictures (and family shots), from some wetland (Update: Mom says "Florida") we visited with the Dresner grandparents.

  ¶ Thursday, July 30, 2009 2 comments

  Arkansas Travelers

	Our Arkansas adventure began in Fayeteville, at the Arkansas Air Museum and Ozark Military Museum, a two-for-the-price-of-one which was a lot of fun. It's not all airplanes: I didn't know, for example, that Model T's came in five colors for the first few years, and only later were limited to black.
	The silver one-seater in the foreground is Sam Walton's first plane, a simplified one-stick model.
	Among the working models donated to the museum were several home-kit craft, including this shockingly basic helicopter.
	The big military stuff was outside, including this F-4 and the Cobra helicopter. Inside the Military Museum were some interesting hardware, as well as some great documents: my favorites were the December 1941 war bond and the Okinawa Invasion Map.
	After the museums, we drove down into the Ouchita Forest, and took a little nature walk. On the way out of the forest, we stopped at a great rocks and crystals place in Mt. Ida. Speaking of nature, we saw a lot of daddy longlegs around.
	When we got to Hot Springs we discovered that the National Parks have been going to new lengths to engage children, including their Junior Ranger program. Max is testing the water from the Spring.
	After a very thorough investigation of the medical equipment and facilities, the decorations and architecture at the old resorts, Max got to be sworn in as a Hot Springs Junior Ranger.
	The Hot Springs Art Museum was small, but interesting. Well, more amusing, but still, we had fun.
	Just because Fort Smith is an historical site, doesn't mean that there isn't a natural side to it.
	In addition to getting his Junior Ranger badge at Fort Smith, we took the historical trolley. The tour ended up being more about the trolley itself -- recovery, restoration, ongoing expansion of the rails -- but we love that kind of stuff.
	As part of the tour, we got to check out a caboose they are restoring, and a few other things. After we left Fort Smith, we visited the Farm, where, before I was felled with illness, I got some excellent vulture pictures.

  ¶ Saturday, July 11, 2009 0 comments