Indiana Jones Is From Where?!?

Field trip yesterday. We like field trips. We get out of the house, away from the books, and most of the time, we have a great time. Yesterday, our trip was to a history museum in a neighboring town. Our friends, the P's, had gone one day and had a blast. I had no idea it was actually a museum and had passed by it so many times. I thought it was only open during Christmas. I called some friends and off we went.

The museum was actually the home of a founding father of the town. It is right on the lake and the property takes up almost a whole city block. If I could build there, I probably would have, too. Mr. Clifford, the gemtleman that owned the home, was a shop owner, grove owner, farm owner, and basically anything he could make money at. He was on the building committee as the town grew and grew. The museum had pictures of the town as it grew and developed. It was very cool to see the town progresss and develop like it did. It is still changing today. Mr.Clifford's original house was where the highway runs now. And interesting little fact, in the 1950's when they were tearing down a hill to build the state highway (I don't call that progress, but whatever) a bulldozer got in the wrong place at the wrong time and tumbled into the lake. It's still there.

We also got to see a room dedicated to Dr. Edgar J. Banks. Know who he is? He is the man that Hollywood based Indiana Jones on. He was a "snow bird" to this town for many years, and finally settled there. He spent more than 25 years in this town. He would bring items with him that he had found all around the world. He found the oldest known stone statue in the world, dating back to about 3500 BC. Pretty darn cool if you ask me.

We also learned about David Walker. There is a road here named after him. He was an astronaut from this little not so sleepy town. They have one of his flight suits there on display. He passed away in 2001 from cancer. The museum also has a flight suit that was worn by a local man during the retrieval of our first astronaut in space. Pretty cool that local residents had a hand in so much history. We had no idea.

This is our group of kids that went. I forgot my camera, so I took pics with my phone. Except that my computer was having a hard time reading my card. Anyway, this was sent to me by my friend K. As soon as I can get the pics from my phone, I'll post them.

It was so much fun. The tour guide was very interesting. We got freee tshirts. And we got to preview a room that is being set up for a Civil War celebration that starts April 12, the 150 year anniversary of that war. And, since it's my blog and I am a very proud Southener, I feel I should educate you on the REAL outcome: the south won the war. True fact, look it up.

Have a great day.