When I grow up to be a troglodyte...

Helllllooooouu!! So I failed to post on the Armstrong Museum, but we managed to staycation today so I'm on it!

We have spend the past few weeks planning on a trip to the Ohio Caverns, but things kept getting in the way, like laziness and laziness. Today we woke up early anyway to Shelby June's baby glee noises emanating from downstairs, and since we were up, it was a perfect day for getting out and gettin' our Ohio on.

The drive was quite similar to our last trip to Wapakoneta, only a bit shorter. The drive up 33 makes me happy, its so hilly and green, very familiar from numerous trips to Indian Lake as a kid. Before we knew it, we were off the highway and headed through narrow country roads. I thought for a moment that the GPS was trying to take us into the middle of nowhere to kill us.

But soon we reached the cute little gift shop where we were surrounded by excited children, friendly employees, and even an ornery old lady. In a matter of minutes, our tour began and we descended 3 flights of stairs into the caverns. I learned today that a cavern is an underground area to which an entrance must be made, as opposed to a cave, which has a natural entrance. Yay fun fact.

The tour began through a series of narrow tunnels. We had a fairly large tour group but we were right near the front (perfect for insider information). We toured, saw some bats fly about as girly screams ensued, we even got to touch a piece of stalactite which was designated for contact. It felt weirdly waxy.

I quite enjoyed the moment of complete darkness during the trip. It sounds, well not that exciting, but as you reach the middle of the tour, the guide turns off the spotlights. It is like utterly and completely dark, and along with the cool and moist air down there, for a moment I wished I could sleep down there nightly.

Toward the end of the tour you go through several rooms which have beautiful views of crystals, including the famous pump formation and the crystal king. Its an almost surreal space, and its easy to forget that all the crystals have occurred naturally and that you are not waiting in line in an amusement park decorated to look like a magical phallic-al alien landscape.

Even by the end of the tour there is plenty to see. Well, first you have to climb your booty back up 60 stairs... not an easy task. Luckily, I was momentarily distracted by the snuggling itty bitty bats that were chillin' in the stairwell.

I am a rather big fan of gift shops, and The Ohio Caverns has quite the spread. Everything from a $10,000 dollar, 6 foot tall crystal formation, to toothpick holders inscribed with the name. A large selection of clothes, knickknacks, jewelery, useless crap... but even the useless crap was fun to look at. There was even a display case of re-collected old items from the gift shop which was quite interesting. As the so-called oldest tourist attraction in Ohio, there is more history in this place than just the crystals. I got myself another smooshed penny for my collection, and even picked up a handy dandy book/case to hold and display them.

STAYCATION RATING:
Funness: ***** - You'll be too awestruck to ever get bored.
Educationalness: ***** - Lots of interesting information is provided by the tour, such as the discovery of the caverns, and the history of tours within it.
Cheapness: *** - Gotta shell out some cash ($12.50 per person) but the price is pretty worth it.
Journeyness: **** - An easy drive, with pretty scenery. You will prolly see some horses, cows, and goats on the drive, maybe even an alpaca or two.
Busyness *** - It was busy, but we did go on Labor Day.

Overall **** - Right up my alley, I loved it.

Armstrong Air & Space Museum

Hello! Sorry! We know! It's been... a long time, I admit. We've both been super busy the past - wait, has it really been NINE MONTHS? No wonder we're both crazed! Okay! On with the reporting!

Armstrong Air and Space Museum! Wapakoneta! Awesomeness!
Today we resumed official staycation activity with a drive up Rt. 33 to Wapakoneta and the impressive-looking Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum.

The Armstrong Air and Space Museum

The museum, a site reminiscent of the Epcot Dome (though not as massive) features replica Apollo and Gemini capsules out on the front, along with a NASA painted F-5 Skylancer aircraft.

Inside and to the right, there is a rather dismal gift shop. Skip it unless you need to pee. Or unless you want to purchase a mission patch from one of the many (MANY) missions NASA has conducted. Friendship, Gemini, Mercury, Apollo, Shuttle, ISS and even some Soviet missions are represented. Instead, hang a left and pay your admission (or get the VIP treatment with your membership in the Ohio Historical Society!) and start checking out the exhibits.

The museum starts with the first baby steps into space, from the Soviet missile and satellite launches (don't miss the model Sputnik!) to the Freedom/Friendship missions that placed Americans in orbit. Incredibly comprehensive coverage lines the walls, documenting the strides taken and sacrifices made along the journey from the briefest glimpses of space to the 363ft. Saturn V rocket standing tall to take man to the moon.

Lynn posing with a Saturn Booster engine bell.

Moving further along the path, you can watch a brief video of the Apollo 11 moon landing near some kind of quasi-voodoo shrine to Neil Armstrong. The bronze bust is especially compelling!
Assuming you can avoid laughing yourself silly at the mental image of an astronaut using a fecal collection bag, the next thing you will see is the excellent display of items and artifacts from the moon landing itself.

Armstrong's (backup) EVA suit, a lunar seismometer, moon camera equipment and A REAL MOON ROCK are all on display. Sure, the moon rock is small and fairly unimpressive to look at. But the rock itself... is 4 BILLION years old. And it was just laying about on the surface of the moon. How old is that? It's certainly older than most stuff laying about on the Earth. Earth... hmm... wait... didn't I hear something somewhere? Oh, right! The Earth itself is only estimated at 4.5 billion years old! Now that's a wicked old rock! Very likely predating life on Earth itself, this tiny gray lump has borne witness to the birth and death of every human being who ever lived or died. Well, not literally sat there and watched. But still, it's old.

And a little spooky.

The rest of the tour is slightly less awe-inspiring. There's a pseudo-planetarium showing a 15-20 minute movie, a series of tribute items on loan from the Armstrong family, and a broken lunar landing simulator. There is also a shuttle landing simulator that I did not get to try, due to the younger kids busily wrecking the virtual space shuttle into every inch of the landscape.

Also, before you leave:

Make sure you get your picture with the OTHER heroes of space!

...yeah

apologies on the long absence. its difficult to staycation during the holidays. I am deciding now that we WILL return to it this weekend, now that I am back to school and now that Tim's schedule is the COMPLETE opposite of mine. We will be needing some qt. check back soon!