In spite of a long week of work-related travel, Haley and I took a road trip this weekend and headed over to Blacksburg, VA. To be honest, there was a purpose to our adventure: the world's worst traveler, yours truly, had left his luggage at a hotel near Blacksburg on Thursday, so I had to go back to retrieve it. Yes, this was a pain in the ass, but in the spirit of "making lemonade out of lemons," we agreed to make the best of my mistake.
On Friday, we ate at a pizza place in Blacksburg called "Backstreets," which I was disappointed to find out was in no way related to the Bruce Springsteen song. Nothing to see here, sir, move along. The food was mediocre.
Not sure why, but Superman was in a phone booth in front of our hotel in Christiansburg.
On Saturday morning, we shopped at a local Farmer's Market in Blacksburg. This did not disappoint, as we came away with some good stuff to include strawberries, cherries, apples, rhubarb, butter lettuce, asparagus, radishes, garlic scapes, and oregano. This pretty much guarantees that Haley is going to cook some sweet eats this week. The $20 investment should pay solid dividends. We then stopped by the Tech Bookstore (work never ends) and after that headed home.
The drive from Blacksburg to West Point was a little over four hours, so we stopped about half-way to grab some lunch. Not being in a hurry, we stopped in Staunton, VA to see if there was any local places to grab a bite to eat (this was after we made it all the way up to a McDonald's drive-through before coming to our senses). Staunton is a nice little mountain town, with an interesting historic district that includes Mary Baldwin College, the Frontier Culture Museum, a Shakespeare Playhouse, and the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library.
Much like moths to the the flame, we parked the car and walked straight to the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum. I have never been to a Presidential Library, and being a History buff, this seemed like a good opportunity to experience something cool. Recently, there has been a lot of talk surrounding Presidential Libraries, to include the news that George W. Bush had raised more than $100 million for his museum (hey, don't blame me, I voted for Nader and then Kerry).
From the outside, it seemed really nice. As we originally drove by, we saw a marble bust of the Progressive Era President in the window of a beautiful old house with perfectly manicured landscaping (and some adjacent historical-looking buildings). We strolled up some stairs and entered the Gift Shop, which is where you start the Woodrow Wilson experience. After paying $12 each (more than we spent at the Farmer's Market), we proceeded to the museum and subsequent tour. I thought, "this shit had better be good for $24." But. hey, it takes $100 million dollars to build one of these things, right?
We started by looking at his Presidential limousine (keep in mind this dude was President in the 1910's, so a car is a big deal). I have to admit, old Woodrow had a sweet ride.
We started to look around the museum, and the suspicions began to set in. Maybe it was the foam-core board with copy paper placards next to some of the exhibits. Or maybe it was these sweet listening stations (any idea where the theatre and/or animatronic wax Woodrow might be?).
Our mounting disappointment was interrupted by an announcement that the tour of President Wilson's "birth home" was about to begin. Sweet, this should be good, right? Well, come to find out, Wilson only lived in the house the first year of his life so he did not exactly leave his mark on the place. I can barely remember any of the tour except the plastic bacon and eggs on the table in the children's dining room.
We blazed through the slave quarters in record time, with only a brief mention that the slaves were not owned by the Wilsons, but that they came with the home, as it was a Presbyterian Manse (Woodrow's father was a minister, who by-the-way, the year after Woodrow was born moved to Augusta where he vehemently defended The Confederacy and slavery).
Somewhere around this time, I whispered to Haley, "have you ever just wanted to run?" She answered "Run through the museum?" No dear, "make a run for it. You know, run away as fast as you can." But, being the Presidential scholars that we are, we braved on and back into the museum we went. Overall, I was pretty shocked at how amateur the whole thing was. The marble bust?That was just plaster that was dirtied with a nice long red streak on its side.
We did learn about the start of WWI, women's suffrage, Wilson's racist leanings ("Progressive" eh?), mustard gas, labor laws, 1910's politics, and Wilson's 14 Points.
During the 2008 elections, we heard a lot about Clinton Library donations and as I already mentioned, George W. Bush has raised more than $100 million for his. I would have liked to judge the Woodrow Wilson Library for its books, but that part is blocked off and only available to research scholars through appointment (apparently, they were unaware that I am The Kid.)
The Woodrow Wilson Library and Museum needs some serious cash. Considering he is considered a major President (he isn't exactly Lincoln, but he ain't John Tyler either), can they not come up with something interesting for this place? Maybe a theatre or some robotic WWI soldiers? Maybe a roller-coaster with mini Presidential limousines? Real bacon and eggs? Could his birth bed shake like the one in "The Exorcist?"
But all was not lost. I did receive an invitation to the 1912 Democratic National Convention. I think that I might be a little late. Then again, I do plan on voting for Eugene Debs anyway.....
Also, I invented something today. I call it "pickle on a potato chip."
