Vandrea Does America: Days 297 & 298 (Tue 5/14/13 & Wed 5/15/13)- Dayton, OH

We started the day at the Cincinnati Art Museum and managed to see everything, but only because Isaiah gave me a pep talk halfway through and the third floor was closed for renovating. I especially enjoyed the Grecian statues, religious paintings and an entire wall somehow sub-planted from another time.

Leaving Cincinnati behind we drove to Dayton where we spent the remainder of the day exploring the Wright Brothers National Park. Though the brothers first flying experiments were in Kitty Hawk, NC it was actually Dayton that they called home and where they perfected the art of flying within a borrowed cow pasture.

Being avid innovators and businessmen the brothers first had a printing press and then a bicycle shop before taking on the conundrum of flight. They certainly weren't the first to try, but both were extremely tenacious and spent years and years honing their knowledge until they got it right.

Dayton was also home to the nationally acclaimed African American poet Paul Dunbar. Beginning at just six-years old he wrote many incredible poems that charmed those who would otherwise be inclined against his success and sold an unprecedented amount of books, not just for an African American, but for any man.

Finishing our historical day watching the movie Lincoln we found ourselves, much like the Civil War, divided. I was enthralled but do have a hearty love of history and Isaiah appreciated that the movie focused just on a short period of Lincoln's impressive life but thought that it had so many characters it was at times confusing.

The next day in Dayton was preceded by a rough night's sleep and made our first task a little overwhelming (though with five separate wings the Air Force Museum would probably be overwhelming no matter what). Finishing in just under 2 and a half hours we enjoyed this museum a little more than the Pensacola version but still had trouble getting fully engaged.

The story of the Wright Brothers (and Paul Dunbar too) included the brothers first printing shop, first bicycle shop, two movies and a two-story visitor's center. The exploration continued to the one time cow pasture where the brothers truly changed aviation. There in the field was a second smaller and more interesting visitor's center delved into the actual logistics of the early flights, showing how the brothers had spent much of their time and money learning about the mechanics of flight by actually recording how model airplanes acted in their home made wind tunnel.

Ending the day at the Dayton Peace Museum we were able to quickly explore the three story building which was a touching testament to human compassion but with little funding to have much in the way of high tech displays.