what about the plastic animals?

The Magic Chef (Second Try)

Every few months I feel the need to read the BG News to catch up on what's happening in Bowling Green.  The best thing about the paper is the police blotter, especially when school is in session.  Every Friday and Saturday night it is the same parade:  underage students getting cited for drinking, fake ID, public urination, or disorderly conduct on either the first couple blocks of North Main St. or East Wooster St.  Kids!  Howard's Club H is just not that big a deal!  The blotter from January 11th is typical.

Once in a while the blotter would be more interesting, like the sole entry on January 12th.

Invasive Species

As a proud University of Nebraska-Lincoln alumnus (M.A. '87) I am disappointed, nay disturbed, that the current university administration allows this blight of a noxious weed to grow on the campus.  I was upset when I was on campus and grew further upset a few weeks later when it was announced that our boys would be joining the Big Ten Conference.  Tear down this weed, Chancellor Perlman, and replace it with a small, yet tall, grove of right-thinking big bluestem grass.

Football Country

Driving into St. Clairsville it was clear I was getting close to the center of the football universe.  The Red Devils had an okay season this year, finishing 6-4 overall but only 2-3 in league play, a far cry from their outstanding 12-1 season two years ago.

While there were plenty of football jerseys and cheerleader megaphones on Main Street there weren't any people.  The buildings were well-kept and attractive but all I remember seeing open were a couple of pizza places and maybe a bar.  It was a Sunday afternoon but it seemed odd that every single downtown retail place was closed.

Deterioration

My, how quickly a streetscape can deteriorate. Same Cambridge, Ohio building last year and two years ago.  I wonder what happened to the building next door?

"S" Bridges

Fox Creek "S" Bridge

Salt Fork "S" Bridge

They sure do love their "S" bridges along the National Road in Muskingum and Guernsey Counties.  And why shouldn't they, as they are lovely bridges built around 1828.  Every town along the National Road doubled in population within a decade of the road's completion.  It took ninety years, and the need for better highways in World War I, to pave the National Road (pdf link to the excellent Guernsey County National Road attractions brochure)  The last portion to be paved with bricks was the The Fox Creek Bridge at top.

The Salt Fork Bridge is one of the few that you can still drive over.  I threw caution to the wind and took advantage of that opportunity.  I've also probably driven over the Bridgewater "S" Bridge but didn't know it as the bridge is buried under I-70.

We've got an "S" Bridge here in New York that I've driven over many times.  The Tappan Zee Bridge is a lot longer than the National Road bridges but it is not going to last 200 years.

National Road/Zane Grey Museum

Let's jump back to Ohio!  The National Road/Zane Grey Museum between Zanesville and New Concord to be specific.  The museum was something I wanted to visit since I learned about it during last year's visit to Ohio.  Volunteer tour guide Becky gave an informative tour.  The highlight of the museum for me was the 136-foot long diorama of the National Road's history.  Well, that and the young woman who runs the museum.  I was kind of charmed by her.

Getting back on topic... as with the other Ohio Historical Society museums I've been to, the National Road/Zane Grey Museum was entertaining, informative and devoid of patrons.  It was just me, Becky, the charmer, and an invading ant colony, at the museum for the hour or more that I was there.  I asked how many visitors they typically get and they said about twenty per day.  Attendance isn't helped by having a sign that's almost impossible to see from the road and a building built like a frontier fort with its entrance hidden from sight.  The state slashed the OHS budget this year so the museum is now operated by the John and Annie Glenn Foundation from nearby New Concord.

Earl's Village Pizza

I like Earl's multitude of teeth.

The Twin Cities

You learn all sorts of interesting things when you stay at a Super 8.

Grandparents and the Y Bridge

The insane slide was an unexpected bonus on my way into Putnam Park.  My reason for going was to get a view of the Y Bridge.  Zanesville's Y Bridge is the only three-way vehicular bridge in the country.  The bridge crosses both the Muskingum and Licking Rivers.  Depending on how you turn you can cross the bridge yet remain on the same side of the river.  The current bridge is the fifth in a series of Y bridges that goes back to 1814.

If you've never heard of the Y Bridge you've never been to Zanesville.  Zanevillians (Zanesvillites?) are very proud of the bridge.  As they should be!  It is featured on every piece of tourist literature for the city, county and surrounding region and there is a mural of the bridge downtown, not far from the bridge itself.

I've now driven over the Y Bridge, walked across the Tridge, the three-way pedestrian bridge in Midland, Michigan, and driven over the bridge formerly known as the Triborough Bridge in New York (which looks like a three-way bridge but is actually three separate bridges).  Now I feel motivated to visit Ypsilanti so I can walk over the only other three-way bridge in the U.S.  I wonder if there is an authority that issues certificates of completion for such things?

Also a source of pride is Zanesville native and current NBA star Kevin Martin.  His grandparents live across the street from Putnam Park.  Now that he's hit the big time Kevin really ought to spring for repairs to the crumbling front steps before grandma takes a nasty spill. 

The Zanesville Slide

Check out this slide in Zanesville!  It is in a park on the south side of town.  If my camera did video going down the slide would look something like this but without the teenagers (who mutter a couple of casual f-bombs in case you want to avoid such things).

Neighborhood OMG! OMG! OMG! News:  HarlemCondoLife has evidence that the Frederick Douglass Circle construction is almost complete!  The original stated completion date was November 2005.