Carillon Park is a park full of the history of Dayton.
Carillon Park is also known for their eagles. For the past few years, the Eagles have laid eggs in a tree above the building that holds the 1905 Wright B Flyer.
Today I decided to go and hopefully take some photos of Orv and Willa and their eaglets. I was successful. YEAH!
So I think this was a successful day! I had my zoom lens on the camera and just took photos. It was not until I got home and edited the photos did I realize how lucky I was at getting photos of the eagles.
Since I now have a membership to Carillon Park, I just went to watch the eagles and to check out the new printing building. The next photos are of the new printing press building and some of the exteriors of buildings or exhibits.
Gaston, our puppy, and I had gone to drop off Oldest at school yesterday morning. When we dropped off Youngest an hour prior, it had been super foggy. So foggy that Oldest, who was in the car, told me that it reminded him of a horror movie. He was expecting some tentacles to drop out of the sky.
Since the drive to Oldest’s school is country roads, we opted to wait a little bit before driving him to school. Once we got to his school, the sky had changed from super foggy to a glorious blue sky.
Gaston had seen a duck once before from a distance. However, this was the first time he saw one up close. He kept trying to get to the ducks.
He also enjoyed meeting a few other dogs.
Dobby, our previous dog, was adventurous. Fortunately Gaston is the same way. He is going to love exploring places around our area this summer.
One of our favorite places to walk is Oakes Quarry. It’s a reclaimed limestone quarry that has the most interesting landscape.
Last night, the Scouts decided to meet there for a social distance walk / get together after not seeing each other for months. I joined along so that I could take photos.
Instead of staying with them, I took off, walked, and explored without the rest of them.
The quarry is located near an Air Force base. Last night a lot of planes were either coming into the base or leaving the base.
Those ponds disappear when there hasn’t been a lot of rain. I’ve been to the quarry when there has been very little rain. Instead of having those beautiful ponds, it’s dry land.
We had been there a week earlier and had found this stream full of tadpoles. So cool! I went back there last night. There were still tadpoles there but fewer than last week.
I am so fortunate to have this cool park to walk around and explore. You never know what you are going to find when you walk through this park.
The past week has been trying for us. The Oldest had his first heartbreak and break up. I’ve had to be a “friend,” mom, and sounding block.
As I said, it’s been trying. For 2 weeks prior to the break up, we have gone through mopey Oldest, angry Oldest, and then happy Oldest. It was hard to watch this roller coaster.
Last Sunday, she broke up with him via text and then immediately blocked him. He has to see her because they are in 2 classes and ride the bus together. Needless to say, he’s gone through a multitude of emotions. He is now happy and sees the break up is a good thing.
During those last 2 weeks, he would complain about being bored but refused to do anything. It was very sad to watch.
This weekend, I suggested we do something on Sunday afternoon. I was thinking of the Huffman Dam but he and his brother decided to go to the Englewood Dam. We also visited a favorite local restaurant for dinner. It was nice to have him back.
Not only was he was back so was the Youngest. My soul needed that because we used to go on a lot of adventures when they were younger.
Off topic: I’ve recently discovered Lizzo. She has great lyric in this song. “Don’t text me. Tell it me it to my face.” That’s how the Oldest is feeling right now. He is big on communication. That was the problem with the relationship.
Onto to the photos from our adventure:
After spending time in nature, we went to a favorite restaurant for our dinner. Airline Dairy Creme is located close to the Dayton International Airport.
I’m so happy that I got to spend some quality time with my teenagers. They are growing up so quickly.
Every year or almost every year since 2010, we have a tradition of going to see the sunflowers in a town near us.
They have a field that blooms for about 2 weeks. It is absolutely gorgeous so many people stop to take photos and even draw pictures of the sunflowers.
It’s gotten so popular that they have a parking area which they never had before a few years ago. I used to have to sort of parallel park in the grass near the field.
As I said, we go every year or almost every year. I have found photos from 2010, 2011, and then 2014-2019. I don’t remember if we went in 2012 or 2013.
This year, we took the Oldest’s girlfriend. She had never been to the field before so it was fun to watch her discover the absolute beauty of the field.
While walking through the rows of sunflowers, you have to be careful of the bees because they love to hang out there and the prickly plants that grow near the sunflowers. Other than that, it’s fun to get lost in the hundreds of sunflowers.
We also have a tradition of going to the local dairy that is just down the road after visiting the sunflowers. So we did that also on Monday. Oldest’s girlfriend hadn’t been to Young’s Dairy for a while so it was fun to treat her to ice cream made with milk from cows from the dairy and to watch her feed the goats.
Visiting the sunflowers is one memory that the boys are going to carry with them for the rest of their lives. Even though Youngest would have rather stayed at home and played on the computer.
Three weeks ago, the most unbelievable disaster occurred in our area. Fifteen tornadoes tore through the area. One was an EF-4 tornado that traveled 19 miles and had a width of 0.7 miles at it’s largest point. Another one was an EF-3 that traveled 10 miles.
One of the hardest hit areas of Dayton was near the Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark. Part of the park was destroyed in the tornado. The gardens were untouched with the exception of some plywood.
For today’s writing prompt, I decided to share some videos that I have been taken after the Memorial Day tornado outbreak.
After the tornado outbreak, at least 80 traffic lights were blown out or were not working because of the lack of power in the area. As a result, many major intersections became four way stops. I remember reminding Hubby to stop on N. Fairfield, a major road close to us. On a normal day, so many people drive on the road.
People had to learn to slow down and be patient while navigating throughout the northern part of the Miami Valley with those stop signs and lots of road closures.
These three videos I’m sharing were taken on my Go Pro. I handed my mom the Go Pro while I concentrated on driving. I had not seen any of those areas since the tornado had disrupted life. I’ve driven on these streets many times in the past which you’ll hear me say while I’m narrating the experience of seeing the destruction for the first time. So all of those emotions and reactions are real.
The road I’m driving on in this video was one of the hardest hit sections in the Miami Valley. There was a shopping center that was almost completely destroyed. One of the businesses was a strip club so there has been a lot of jokes about that which is not good.
Riverside Drive has so many memories for me. I drive along the road at times on the way to or from work. When I was a preteen, we used to take public transportation to downtown Dayton. The bus we took would drive on Riverside Drive. As a teen, we would take Riverside to get to the Dayton Masonic Center when I was in Rainbow.
Shiloh Springs leads straight into where I work. Along Shiloh Springs is Hara Arena. Back in it’s heyday, a lot of concerts were held there. Some performers that held a concert there were Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, and Queen. Click here for a complete list of the over 300 performers who held a concert there.
A lot of graduations were held there. The Hamvention was held there.
In 2016, it was closed for good. A new buyer was in the works when the tornado struck. Now the buyer has backed out. It is estimated that some of the building can be salvaged. What is the future for the Hara Arena? No one knows.
Why am I sharing these videos with you? It’s been 2 weeks since the outbreak. People are still struggling to put their lives back together. This area cannot forget about those affected. We have come together as communities to help those who were affected. However as the weeks, months, and years pass, people will still be affected by this trauma.
I don’t want to forget my emotions when I saw this devastation. These are my memories that have been altered.
As I looked at the writing prompts for this week, I could not figure out which one of the prompts would go along with what I wanted to write/ share about.
Then I was driving around yesterday after the Memorial Day tornadoes, I was driving in one of the areas hit by one of the tornadoes. I drove past a back hoe that had the words vintage antiques written on it. I knew that would use that as my theme this week.
Back story: On Monday night, 13 tornadoes hit Dayton, Ohio and surrounding communities. The tornadoes ranged from EF0 strength to a very unusual EF4. The EF4 hit in the town I work in to places that I have memories from my youth.
An EF3 tornado hit 4 miles away from my house. It is a place where I grocery shop with my mom.
Some of the tornadoes that hit our area. The 10:41 pm tornado has been upgraded to an EF-4.
Right by my work – These were sent to me.
Some of the damage in Beavercreek, Ohio. They were hit with an EF-3 tornado. Roads were closed. Traffic lights were malfunctioning. Businesses were closed because of the lack of power. Buildings were damaged. Sorry for the quality, it was raining outside.
I had to take the Youngest to dance which is located in some of the affected area. In fact, it was at the beginning of the Beavercreek Tornado which actually hit many areas. Riverside, Beavercreek, and Xenia
Here are some photos of some of the damage I saw in that area.
These were taken by the Youngest. This is a major road that runs from close to where I live all of the way to past where I work.
There are 3 signs on the road at this interchange. One is mentioning the Wright Patt Air Force base. The 2 talking about 675. The third and last one is missing. Then when you drive a little further, the traffic lights are gone.
My friend made a SOS call to us yesterday. He was without water because there is limited water in Montgomery County. Some people are without water and power.
He’s blind and lives with 2 disabled housemates so they were unable to go to the many places where water was being given out.
These are some photos from our drive to his place. There is 2 signs missing in the first photo. It’s supposed to have one mentioning Keowee / Valley Street, another one talks about 1-75 north, and the 3rd one mentioned I-75 south. The only one that is remaining is the I-75 south.
The other photos are of a sports complex that was destroyed in the tornado.
There was no traffic lights functioning in this intersection. People had to take their time and some lanes were blocked.
This is the devastation that the Oldest and I saw today. These were taken in the town I work in.
Please pray for Dayton, Ohio. Nothing like this outbreak of tornadoes has ever happened before. We’ve never EF-4 tornado hit our town.
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