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Monday, August 20, 2018

Reformatory

Let me set the scene:
 
Wednesday, August 15th otherwise known as my birthday.
 
7am - The hubby was up at normal work day time, got dressed, kissed me on the forehead as I groggily grunted an 'I love you'.
 
7:31am - I shot up in bed as the smell of food wafted into the bedroom.  I will give props to my 10 year old who can and is allowed to cook her own food, but while I'm still asleep in bed?   Not permitted.
 
I stumbled out of bed and into the kitchen to find... my hubby not in work clothes... still at home... making breakfast.....  What?  What is happening?  What day is this?  Am I confused?  Is he confused?
 
As he is his own boss these days, my wonderful husband took the day off to surprise me with a trip to the Ohio State (Mansfield) Reformatory!
 
 
To give you a little more information:
 
To construct the Ohio State Reformatory in the 1880's it cost $1.2-$1.6 MILLION!!  In today's  money that is $42 MILLION!  That was never heard of back then let alone the fact that they don't build 'em like this today either.

 
 
The above picture is only the administration headquarters!  Below is the East cell block and there is a matching West cell block on the other side.  What I love is that - forget age, forget architecture - the outside of this building has a story to tell.  In order for the state to build the Reformatory in 1886 they used Whiskey Tax money.  When this tax was appealed (?) outlawed(?) construction halted for a bit until new funds could be found.  If you look at the blocks in the wall, about 1/3 the way up the windows you will see a change in the style and size of the blocks being used.  This is called the Whiskey Line.
 
 
The Reformatory closed its doors as a jail in 1990.  It was considered an abandoned building and therefore anyone could go in and do whatever they wanted to it.  4 major Hollywood motion pictures were filmed here - Air Force One, Shawshank Redemption, Tango and Cash, and Harry and Walter Go To New York.  During filming, changes, modifications, and damage were done to the building and is now part of the tour.  For example:
 
 
Towards the end of Air Force One, a Russian drug lord was imprisoned in "Russia" and walks the jail cell halls and out through the prison gate below.  The gate was built for the movie but since it was very structurally sound and looked like it was naturally a part of the building, they just left it.

 
The most notorious of the 4 movies (The Shawshank Redemption) has also been the biggest draw in tours to the Reformatory.
 
 
Movie props such as the safe was removed after filming but then returned to the Reformatory since the blockbuster movie is now a part of its history.
 
 
Part of cinematic magic is to make things look bigger than they actually are. For example:  The board room at the beginning of the movie is actually a very small room.

 
In order to get wide screen shots for this scene, cameras were mounted to the ceiling and then "patched" up when they were done.



Actors are paid big bucks to do a lot of crazy things, but crawling through sewer lines was a no go for Tim Robbins.  Sitting in the original cafeteria are the "tunnels" Tim Robbins crawled through.

 
 


Much of the other damage throughout the building is frustrating American ethics.  The Reformatory closed because cost of maintaining was far too expensive to keep up with as a jail.  So inmates were relocated, water and heat was shut off.... and windows were busted out to allow nature to take it course.
 
 
There is a disclaimer that pregnant women and young children are advised to not take these tours as this building is painted with lead based paint.

 
Renovations are being done on the building but, obviously, are going to take a while and so, so much money.  Rooms that were used in the Shawshank Redemption are being renovated first with funds from tours and donations.  Although it is in the plans to renovate the entire building, it is nothing we will see in our lifetime.  However.... it is still astonishing to see.
 
The Chapel
 
As this building was designed to be a reformatory, attending church and having religion was the number 1 priority.  They would even have different denominational masses to encompass everyone. 
 

 
Above you can see a diagonal line where the balcony used to be and the doors of the elevator that took you up there.  Below are new, maybe old, bird droppings from windows being broken out before leaving the building.  In fact, there are still many, many windows broken out today.

 
Directly connected to the Chapel is the East cell block.  One step through the doorway takes your breath away.  You are at the very top of the largest free standing steel cell block in the world!
 

 
 


The cells were first designed to hold one inmate.  Then that became two inmates.  Until overpopulation happened and some cells held three inmates.
 

 
Car Wash
Below is the shower room known to the inmates as the "car wash".  You entered the room single file with a bar of soap, walked to one end of the room lathering up, and walked back to the door while rinsing off.  Showers took approximately 30 seconds.  If you were still soapy, you had the small sink in your cell to finish the job.



Solitary Confinement
 
Here is an interesting fact: Solitary Confinement was (or maybe still is) considered "dead time" as in it does not count toward your jail sentence.  So if you happen to have to serve 15 months in jail and you spend your first 3 months in solitary confinement, whelp, you still have 15 months to go!


Solid steel doors with no windows so you would have no idea how much time is passing.

 
When we were done with the 'History meets Hollywood' tour, we went right back to the beginning and explored it all over again.




Family quarters bathroom
 

 
 
During the 5 years it sat abandoned, so much destruction was done inside.  From scrappers taking anything they could to vandals working on their spray painting skills.





The Reformatory is sad to be haunted by many ghosts.  We didn't find any today but I can't wait to go back for the 'Beyond the Bars' tour where they take you down in the basement to the "hole" and up into the attic.
 



 
Crazy amounts of people have visited the Reformatory from France and neighboring countries!  Apparently this is one major destination point for foreigners.


 
After three hours of walking and touring we were a tad bit hungry.  We asked for suggestions by a OSR worker and made our way downtown but still couldn't make a decision.  A hippie college kid just happened to be leaving a coffee shop by us when Rachael Ray popped into my head.  If you wanna know where to eat, ask the locals.  So I did and we happened to end up at a place I had recently read about. 
 



The décor inside.... makes you wonder about the quality of food...


 


 
...but it was soooooo good!!!


Thick cut pepperoni, bottom of the crust was crunchy while still maintaining a chewy inside, and just the right amount of sauce....
Mmmmm!!!
 
Now to bust out the calendar and schedule the next day trip!
 

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

The Keeper - Part 2

 
* My favorite monster is Frankenstein.
 
* Which would only make sense that 'The Munsters' is one of my favorite shows.
  
* I am a mild believer in Bigfoot and cannot deny that creatures like Nessie are a part of why I don't like swimming in lakes.
 
*Green Apple flavored candy is my first favorite followed closely by Grape.
 
* Calvin and Hobbes are my homies.
 
* I am mesmerized by Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night.  
 
* This is the best picture on the planet Earth:
 
 
* I detest cloves, pineapple, coconut, and tea of any variety (sweetened, unsweetened, green, hot, cold....).
 

 
* Peppermint Candy Cane Candles are my favorite but they are not all created equal.
 
*I love the smell of yeast rising in bread or in old fashioned buckwheat pancakes.
 
*I am allergic to cats but have owned 6 throughout my life so far.
 
*I am one of those people who need to sleep with a fan on.  Always.
 
*I prefer to be cold, rather than hot (hence why I prefer winter over summer).
 
*My ideal schedule would be going to bed at 9pm and waking up at 5am.


 
 

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Pine Lake

Over the past year, I have fallen deeply in love with the website 'Only in Your State'.  It contains thousands of articles featuring food joints of all varieties, hiking suggestions, oddities you should check out, history lessons and historical places, festivals, and more on each state.  Its perfect for a day tripper like me to just sit and browse and dream about fitting all these places into our weekends.  And its even more perfect when I get to visit those places AND its just as great as the article says!

Pine Lake
Berne, Indiana   

In early Spring, as the sis-in-law and I booked out our camping weekends, we set aside a random Sunday to venture out to this water park built into a man-made lake featured on 'Only in Your State'.  On a whim the summer before, my other sis-in-law had braved this place with her own kids and highly recommended it.  I respect others opinions as much as I can but there were lots of variables that made us leery like....  She went during the week, we were going on the weekend.  The kids in our group were younger than the kids in her group.  But when the day rolled around and the weather was cooperating, off we went! 

The view of Pine Lake from our beach towel location.
 

Bree and Jake loved trying to cross the floating bridge.  It just looked like exercise to me.
 

 
There were multiple water slides to try out.
 
 
And a short zipline with a thrilling ending.
 
 
 
 
There was a 10 foot diving board that didn't go well the first time:
 
 
Second time she got a bit braver:
 
 
 
And then there are the showoffs of the group:
 
 
There is also a 20 foot jump:
 
 
And a 30 foot jumping platform that gave me anxiety just watching people plunge from.
 
 
Behind our beach location was a great splash pad for the less adventurous kids. 
 

 
We went in to this little adventure not knowing what to expect and not expecting a lot.  After almost 6 hours, it was time to drag the kids away (and I do mean Drag. Them. Away.) to begin the journey home.  I'm not even sure if we had made it out of the vicinity of Pine Lake before the kids were asking if we can go back next summer and I do believe the answer to that is...
 
YES!!