I made plans late last night for a little spring break excursion today. Two goofy kids and I hit the road just after 10:00 this morning.
Our first stop was
Gilkey Covered Bridge. I think covered bridges look cool, but I'd never actually seen one in real life.
Here's the view off one side of the bridge.
Our next stop was
Hoffman Covered Bridge, just a few miles down the road.
The sides of Gilkey were mostly open, but Hoffman had only two windows on each side.
We ate a picnic lunch in the car, then took off for our next stop at
The Albany Historic Carousel and Museum. Natie had visited it last summer and told me it was cool, so it seemed worth checking out for some spring break entertainment. I asked someone to take a picture of us while we waited in line, proof the three of us were there at the same time.
Then we all picked our animals. Naomi initially had her eye on a dragon, but opted for a cow this time.
Tyler was all about the tiger on this ride.
I chose this bear because I love that there's a butterfly on its nose.
We ended up sitting in places that (barely) put us all in one picture, but I'm glad we got the initial group shot while we waited to get on.
The three of us went on this ride together, then the kids rode one more time before we left.
Other than the carousel itself, there are four other main parts of the facility - museum, carving room, painting room, and gift shop. The museum and carving room are accessed on a guided tour. This miniature carousel was my favorite thing in the museum. Built 100 years ago by Harry Dentzel, it measures five feet wide, has 48 miniature animals on it, and is fully operational.
If there's a wild animal with it's mouth wide open in a museum, you have to pose as if the animal is trying to eat your head. It's a rule.
The carving room was fascinating. There were several animals in various stages of carving, so it was neat to compare the artist's rendering to the current progress of each piece. With the exception of power tools for cutting the original blocks of wood, each animal is carved by hand. The tour guide said the loudest sound in the room is conversation among carvers.
Here's one example of an animal somewhere between rudimentary shape and intricately detailed.
The bathroom wall had tiles with pictures of various carousel animals, which I thought was a neat decorative touch. Each animal has a financial sponsor and one of the requirements is that the sponsor add some whimsy to the traditional animal, an element that's personal to them. I talked with a man in the carving room who knows the sponsor of this bear and said it's an optometrist, hence the glasses and the eye chart in the basket. I don't know the significance of the other basket items, but I love the whimsy. I'd noticed it at the carousel and loved learning how it came about from the tour guide.
I didn't take any pictures in the painting room, but this bear was one of the works in progress there. As for the gift shop, I think the neatest carousel-themed item they sell is clear Christmas ornaments filled with wood shavings from specific animals. Such a unique gift for someone who loves a particular carousel animal!
We finally left the carousel, but took some time to walk up and down a couple streets before heading back to our car. Here's a giant mural we saw along the way.
We stopped in at
Brick Circuit after seeing their LEGO carousel in the window.
I think this church building is beautiful! It's shared by two congregations now, but was originally a Presbyterian church. We couldn't find a date placard on it, but
Wiki says it was built in 1891. The parsonage next door had a placard saying it was built in 1910.
Our last thing was to get a treat. My plan was to find a bakery, but most were closed by the time we were leaving town and the one that was open had cupcakes, which no one wanted. We ended up stopping by
Yuly's, a Mexican bakery that's like a smaller version of a local place we love. Still open in the afternoon and everything was delicious.
Our excursion was over and we went back home. Fun day!
