My Summer Vacation by Ben Welch

(As told through the eyes of his Great Aunt De who lives in Cincinnati.)

Ben Spent ten days in Cincinnati this past summer. Yesterday his Great Aunt De sent some pictures and reminisced of the time they spent together.

Tom and I have enjoyed a special summer this year. The weather has been extraordinary, less humid, not as hot as last year. Tom's great-nephew (Gail's grandson) Ben Welch came out to see us for a couple of weeks in July. We took him to see many of Cincinnati's points of interest, including the Krohn Conservatory, lunch on a B.B. Riverboat, The mechanical Pied Piper clock in Newport Kentucky, Cincinnati Museum Center at Union terminal, The Contemporary Art Center, the Cathedral Basilica in Newport, the Eden Park lookout, and the view from the top of the Carew Tower. I have included a few shots to share with you. I am sending the pictures in three e-mails.

The first set will include pictures taken on the river- The B.B. riverboat; the USS Nightmare (a decommissioned riverboat that is used as a floating spook alley at Halloween; the Big Mac/Daniel Carter Beard Bridge. In the picture taken from the top of the Carew Tower. The Carew housed Cincinnati's first television station WKRC. It remains one of Cincinnati's tallest buildings. You get to the last floor via the original elevator. That old elevator is a bit of a thrill in itself. We also attended a pig roast in rural Bethel Ohio, given by a friend of mine from work. Her husband's band entertained us and about a hundred guests. On the way back we stopped at East Fork/Harsha Lake State Park, and took Ben to see a pre-Civil War cemetery. The adjacent one-room church was last used in 1847. It is still standing and in reasonably good repair.

As some of you may know, the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center museum has a long and somewhat controversial history. When it originally opened in 1939, it was one of the nation's first museums dedicated to Modern Art. Tom and I were at the museum in 1988, when Sheriff Simon Leis temporarily closed it because he believed that Robert Mapplethorpe's photography exhibition was inappropriate for public viewing. The case was taken to court. A jury of average Cincinnatians disagreed with him. The exhibition reopened and continued. To tell the truth, it was kind of fun to be there that day. Simon Leis had all the officers dress up in their best and fanciest uniforms, because he knew it would be a big media event. We knew that he was threatening to close the show, so we went down to see what all the controversy was about before he did. By chance it all happened after we got there. Looking back, it was much ado about nothing.

The new CAC building opened in 2002 and was designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid. This museum contains a museum for children called The "UNMUSEUME." Designed for children, it is a hit with the adults as well. Tom and Ben took turns conducting an imaginary orchestra. As they waved their arms, the music played. They also had fun poking through a most unusual chest of drawers. Each drawer had a unique surprise inside. A full size 1950's style vacation trailer, allows visitors to get quite rambunctious. By running from one side of the trailer to the other. You can really "rock-out." Thanks to funding from Lois and Richard Rosenthal, the CAC museum admission is free on Monday nights.

Just outside the museum is Fountain Square, where most nights you can watch a big screen TV showing the Reds games, and listen to impromptu street performers.

We also took Ben to see the Cincinnati Museum of Art. This is a conventional art museum located in Mt. Adams/Eden Park. The Rosenthal's have also made it possible to see the Cincinnati Museum of Art admission free every day of the week. Thanks to everyone who buys their magazines, including The Artist magazine and The Writer etc. unfortunately that museum does not allow photographs so we have none to share.

Lastly, I have included a few shots from the Cathedral Basilica, in Newport Kentucky just across the river. This is one of America's most beautiful churches. It was built by European artisans who stopped in Newport and Covington Kentucky as they made their way across the United States in the 1800's. My own great-grandfather Welch stopped here for a couple of years on his way to Utah. Just a short distance from the Basilica, is the Pied Piper clock. This is a mechanical clock that tells the entire story of the Pied Piper acted out by little carved characters, once an hour. This was a favorite stop of grandpa Ross Wilhelmsen whenever he was in Cincinnati.

Inside the Basilica

Ben and De on the Riverboat

Ben and Tom looking through a dresser at the CAC

Ben and Tom in front of Union Terminal

Roebling Bridge and The Ascent

TTFN

A Family Milestone

18 years and 5 months ago, the last thought that crossed my mind would be the day that Katherine would move away from home to go to college. Vicki and I typically hung with the older people in our wards. They would always talk about how these times go by so quickly. I acknowledged their sentiments while thinking to myself that they were a bit dramatic. No more.

Yesterday, Katherine packed all her worldly belongings. When she had finished boxing everything, Ben made the observation that Katherine had less stuff than we had Christmas decorations. Vicki asked if he thought we should get rid of the Christmas decorations. That was a silly thing to say. He thought we should get Katherine more "stuff". She liked that.

Early this morning, with the car full of gas and "stuff", Katherine and Vicki were ready to make the trip to Provo. Ben sneaked outside and waited. Katherine came out a few minutes later and when she looked at him, he waved his hankie and sang "God be with you till we meet again." They laughed, they hugged, and they lipped some secrets word to each other that they didn't want the parents to hear. Katherine climbed in the car, Vicki started it up and they drove off, leaving me at home to deal with mixed emotions of joy for her decisions and emptiness for the loss of her stories given in great detail, her laughter and music.

School is finally out.

Spencer is finally out of school. Two weeks of vacation and then he is back in school and starting middle School.

I had a conference in Salt Lake last week and missed his participation in a talent show and his promotion ceremony. Thanks to the marvels of video camera's (or camera's that act like video camera's) I was able to participate. Spencer gave his authorization for me to share these.

By the way, the movie files are large 20 & 24 meg's respectively.







TTFN
-Ron

Spencer's Ponderings

Tonight, I returned home from meetings and found Spencer feverishly working on a math problem. He continued to work as the rest of us discussed other things. Suddenly, he hit us with his findings.

"There is no way that Santa Claus could hand out all his gifts!" How did you come to that conclusion we asked. "Well, if Santa traveled at Mach 3, he could go around the world twice in 22.962962 repeat hours. Santa has to travel in a zig zag path to get around the world and he would have to travel around it more than twice. Also, he is stopping then going, stopping then going it's not like traveling around the world twice in a straight pattern."

Then he really let us have it. "Traveling that fast in an open sleigh, he wouldn't be able to breathe because of the force of the wind so he couldn't survive the trip."

I was flabbergasted, I asked Spencer what he was trying to tell us but before he could reach any conclusion Vicki asked Spencer, "As long as he brings the presents to your house, does it really matter?"

That's why she's the mom!