It's Friday and time once again to join Annie (at A Stitch in Time) and the ladies at Friday Smiles. I'm not going to start with any funnies today. Instead, I want to get right to the museum I visited for Smithsonian Museum Day.
For this museum, I had to do a bit of traveling. 
I visited the Eisenhower Museum, Library, and Boyhood Home. 
I was so glad I took this trip, because I knew so very little about Eisenhower before I visited his Library, Museum, and Boyhood Home.
Many of my international readers may not be familiar with Dwight David
Eisenhower. One can't describe him in a few words, like Supreme Allied
Commander in Europe, including planning and executing D-Day and
Operation Overlord, or was a 5-star General, or the 13th President of Columbia University, or the 34th
President of the United States, or NATO Supreme Commander, or created NASA making it a civilian space agency, or authorized the U.S. Interstate Highway System to name just a few of his successes.
Before becoming President of the U.S., he had no political affiliation
and both major political parties asked him to run for President!
This is their new pricing as of August, 2019:- Adult: $15 Museum, $7 Home, or $20 Combo
- Senior (62+): $12 Museum, $7 Home, or $17 Combo
- Student (K-12/College with ID): $10 Museum, $7 Home, or $15 Combo
The cost of the home tour was not worth what they were (normally)
charging, as they herded us through the downstairs areas. I stayed
longer than anyone else, because I was still taking photos when the next
tour started through. This was the first tour of the day, and I think
they were running behind and had to make up the time. As I understood
it, each home tour was to last 15 minutes. 
I know people think I'm far too old school to have such a human-centric Ph.D.. However, when I tried to use Map Quest, they wanted to send me the long way, not the fastest way. I got frustrated and ordered a Kansas map that I could use to plot the trip before I left.
I picked up a couple of note cards while there. The top card (colored) has young Ike in the center of the card standing with a basket in his hand. In the bottom card, he has just graduated from West Point and is sitting on the steps of his boyhood home surrounded by his brothers and mother.
I got a later start than I anticipated, but decided I would still get there before the majority of the visitors arrived. I set my camera on the window sill and shot this as I was driving.
Probably not the smartest move, but I was mesmerized by these wind turbines. Rain was forecast for the entire day, so I was expecting a down pour at any moment.
Still no rain when I pulled into the Museum parking lot. 
I parked in the parking lot nearest the Visitor Center and Gift Shop. 
This map, taken from the web site is flipped from where I parked, which was on SE 3rd Street. I started in the Visitors Center and worked my way around the perimeter. 
I was surprised at how few cars were there when I arrived just a few minutes after 9:00 a.m. I thought there would be masses of people taking advantage of this museum, since it had been closed for renovation for over a year. 
Here is where I began the adventure. Next week we'll step inside and see what the Presidential Gift Shop and Visitor Center is like. There is also a 23 minute introduction film.It's now time to see what others are smiling about this Friday. Please don't forget to start your weekend off right by visiting Annie for a few Friday Smiles. We would love to have you join us, too.
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22 thoughtful remarks:
Shame you were rushed at Eisenhower's home but glad you learnt more about him. Looking forward to the museum. I take it you went on different days as you got to the museum so early! have a great weekend
Eisenhower sure rings a bell and it´s sad and mad that at school they did not spend those few seconds it took me to read your "mini-lesson" to be a weee bit up to date about this genius!
Ask anyone here who left school say,... +10 years and they will tell you we had mini-insights in bits and pieces of history and the rest was all about how bad "we" are and about that little Austrian man, aka Hit#er!
Into the last tiniest detail.
Turn the docu channel on on Saturdays, that man again!!!
And none of my family was part of it, either, yet I had openly to say I am sorry, what big nonesense.
And you just have a couple of lines and now I know more of Eisenhower than I learned in 13 years of school!!!
I sure will have an eye on what my Nieces will learn.
I hope they get a better education!
I really do like that you have the converter for € right there :-)
15 minutes?! That is nothing!
Oh, you´re an early bird, too :-)
IKE, if I remember right, is also mentioned at The Simpsons, Granpa talks about him, I guess!
Looking forward to being able to see the inside here!
I cannot join your smiles-theme this time, I really got a "tad mad"... but I smile big right now, thank you! :-)
Eisenhower was certainly well known in England in the time I was growing up. Hope you enjoyed your visit to the museum, and it's always good to go on fee days, We have 'free' every Thursday at my fave museum, so that's my museum day! The prices are similar to ours. Valerie
Eisenhower certainly was a well know personality, I learned of him in history books at school.
I'm sure the visit to the Museum would be very interesting and you saved 20$. I find museums tend to be so expensive, which is a pity, as many people can't afford to visit them.
They know what to charge don't they so I can see why you took your chance when you did. I hope you enjoyed your visit.
Hugs,
Annie x
I think you picked a great place to visit on Museum Day Elizabeth. Ever since I visited FDR's home and library and was awed by what I saw, I have been very interested in visiting them. (Of course I have been limited because there aren't presidential homes and libraries everywhere). I didn't know Ike was in neither party. He must have been so popular with the people, but it makes sense after the war. Now that I know how much society was involved in the war after visiting my free museum day museum-smile. How far is Abilene from your home? The house might not have been worth it (money wise) but since you traveled to visit, you might as well check it out. I can't wait to see your photos and read more about your journey. Wind turbines are pretty mesmerizing to watch, aren't they? Happy Friday. Hugs-Erika
An fabulous set of photos and a super destination, that looks like my kind of museum. It is good to take advantage of the special days, the cost seems high for the entry. He is remembered well here along side our Winston Churchill.
Yvonne xx
You picked a great museum to visit I would have enjoyed going with you on this one. I wish we had a museum near us but we don't I agree the prices the charge to visit is really high-imagine for two or even a family-really expensive.
enjoyed all the photos Happy Friday
I saw a windmill farm while visiting Gloucester. They are mesmerizing. Sometimes an old-fashioned map is best compared to GPS. Too bad about not having a lot of time to look at the house. Looking forward to seeing more from your trip
What an interesting visit! I like those post cards you picked up. It was certainly worth the drive.
What an interesting tour. I would like to visit small museums, like this. The wind mills--all I can think is how noisy they are! Yikes!
I enjoyed reading this post about your trip to the "Ike" museum and home. As much as I hate to use Google for anything other than Blogger, their map gives several choices for how to get someplace, and if you don't like the directions they show, you can drag it to a different street point. (Although sometimes it doesn't drag correctly, and ends up adding a huge loop or something, so then I have to redo it and try again.)
I'm ashamed to admit that I forgot about Museum Day, even though you gave us several weeks advanced notice about it. I had a few places in CT as candidates, then forgot when the actual day came.
That's interesting to hear you had friends in Bridgeport, CT and saw the lighthouse from Saint Mary's By The Sea, just like I did. (I've tried to get photos of that lighthouse from the beach that's just over the line in Fairfield, but it's usually too far away and comes out blurry.) You can actually walk up to the lighthouse from inside Seaside Park, but that place had a reputation for criminal activity, so I've stayed out of it. One time I saw graffiti on the lighthouse that was later painted over. It's a shame people can't be respectful of other people's property.)
Just reminds me how fun we would have running through Kansas searching for freebies and deals at restaurants, fabulous museums and more! Happy Friyay and many hugs! RO
I would _love_ to go there! I look forward to continuing my virtual trip with you :)
There are some great presidents and he is certainly one of them. What a legacy.
Those clouds look ominous.
Hi Elizabeth. We certainly have heard of Eisenhower, if for no other reason it's the films they made relating to D-Day and Operation Overlord in fact it's only a few weeks ago that I watched a film called 'The Longest Day' and is near enough an accurate depiction of what took place or so they tell us. It's a shame they tried to rush you through the tour as it sounds like a great place to visit. The black and white photograph of his family is a great piece. Interesting to see the wind turbines, some people don't like them in the UK but here on the East coast they are putting loads of them out to see and I really find them very calming just sitting and watching them especially with an ice cream in my hand though there wont be many more of those now as the weather is cooling down and we've had lots of rain over the last couple of days. Better pop of now. Have a lovely weekend, Angela xXx
A super interesting visit! Can't wait to see all your photos and read more about your adventure.
Well I have indeed heard of Eisenhower, though I can't confess to knowing a great deal about him. My History education was poor,even for English History, and certainly didn't touch on American History. (I was a Maths and Science student so History went by the board fairly early on). But this does look like a very interesting trip.
I love wind turbines. They seem quite majestic to me. We have lots of them in Spain as there are plenty of open plains to site them on, and they seem to be a very good way to use a natural resource. Kate x
This sounds like a great road trip and I would certainly love this museum. I find presidential museums quite fascinating, both as info on that president but also the times they lived and the events within.
As for the wind turbines -- well, it's VERY dangerous for me to be driving in areas where they are (there's a big expanse on my way to the lake and another on the way to my friend's house in Canada.) I can't take my eyes off of them and I'm always relieved if Rick is driving. They are magnificent.
I was little when Ike was president and my parents joked that I looked like him because my very light hair as a baby made me look bald!
I can't find my comment here at all. It has disappeared into the ether again.
Of course i can't remember what i wrote as it is nearly a week ago but I did want you to know that Gen Eisenhower was/is very popular in Holland and very well known. As you say, he was commander of the Allied forces and so for us Dutch he was our liberator.
I would have loved to see the museum and his home.
I know that he became president but I didn't know that both political parties invited him to become president. How extraordinary!
I will look forward to the next blog where we go inside...
Happy belated T-Day,
Lisca
Oh, I would have liked to go there with you, Elizabeth. He was president when I was born but I only read/researched his life a few years ago. I gained a newfound respect for both Ike and Silent Cal Coolidge. Ike had to handle A LOT of international stuff I never knew about, plus all the domestic stuff AND the beginnings of The Deep State (which he warned about in his farewell address). No wonder he had heart attacks in office. Kind of a miracle he didn't die in office, so much stress! It's all fascinating to me. xoxo
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