Day 22: Ada to Dayton, OH

It was a short travel day, landing us at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. One of my friends who grew up in this area heard that we'd be coming through and emailed me a list of fun things to do and see. Many thanks, Mandi!

On her advice, we tried out the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. Wow. Just wow! Many of the museum's features are grand and awe-inspiring. There was a tree house high above the forest and filled with beautiful displays about trees both as living organisms and as raw materials. There was also a tower we could climb up, making us higher than the two-story roof and then letting us zip through tube slides to get back down again.

Eli's overwhelming favorite was the recycling truck. There was a kid-sized cab with a steering wheel, buttons to make yellow flashers and headlamps light up, and buttons to create horn and backing-up warning sounds. On the sides of the truck were slots with pictures showing what sorts of items go in each. A big blue bin held all sorts of mock recyclables -- pictures printed on polished wood. Eli adored sorting. When the bin was empty, he could place it behind the truck and pull a red lever to "unload." A small conveyor belt hidden inside the fake truck dropped everything out into the bin so kids could start over.

Some of the play stations were so simple that I can make my own versions at home. Inspiring!

There was a store made with empty food packages taped shut and a toy cash register...

And the pizza joint was pure genius. There was a phone to take orders. There were also little red aprons. Then kids grabbed a real pizza pan and then put a circle of quilted fabric "crust" in the bottom followed by a red vinyl circle of "sauce." There were bins of "toppings" made out of sheet plastic or felt -- everything from yellow confetti-strips of cheese to pepperoni slices to anchovies. Once kids made their pizzas, they used a real pizza peel to slide them under the "oven" -- a wooden box with a red light bulb inside.

Eli and a new buddy made dozens of pizzas! The final touch was to put them inside real pizza boxes.

Once a pizza was ready, Eli or his pal would hurry over to the delivery truck with it. I got to thinking that even if we didn't have a beautiful pizza shop of our own, a couple of clean pizza boxes and a trip to the fabric store will be all we need to have an afternoon's worth of fun on a rainy day.

The water play area...

And a place to stand in the shifting lights of a color projector, grooving to 1970s music...

Boonshoft even has a small indoor zoo featuring critters like river otters, meer cats, tree porcupines, owls, etc.

We're sorry we can't take the museum home with us, but at least there was more Dayton fun in store. After supper we went in search of the ice cream store Mandi told us about -- Graeter's. It was wonderful!

The treats were fresh and there were novel flavors to be had. (Eli opted for strawberry though!)

Since we are in Ohio, I went for something called "Buckeye Blitz." That's chocolate-and-peanut-butter ice cream with little mounds of peanut butter cookie dough and chocolate chips hidden inside. As if that wasn't yummy enough, I discovered Graeter's offers a pretzel cone dipped in chocolate. Sure enough, it tasted just like a pretzel and the little bits of salt were an excellent combination with the sweet.

And, just in case you didn't know, below is a picture of a real buckeye. These tree nuts are from Ohio's state tree and Aunt Judy shared a few with Eli. There is a confection called Buckeyes that are made of peanut butter and chocolate in the shape of real buckeyes.