The Wright Brothers

 After visiting EAA last weekend, I went back and looked at our pictures from when we were in Dayton last summer. I was excited to show the girls. Even though it was only seven months ago, it was like re-discovering our vacation.


 At the Wright Cycle Company we saw how the Wright brothers had many areas of interest that extended beyond flight. They had this bicycle sales and repair shop along with a printing press company where they printed the local newspaper.


 The visitor center here was very cool with lots to see and do. It was neat how this unit of the National Park Service is nestled right in the heart of a residential section of Dayton. It could be easily missed if you didn't know what you were looking for. Kind of a hidden treasure in plain sight.


 Inside a replicated Hales Grocery Store, which was the store below the Wright Brother's printing company. Emma loved this statue and one other that was in the store.


Learning about the Wright B Flyer...
 One of my favorite parts of this site was walking through the visitor center and reading the walls. They were filled with quotes from the Wright Brothers and magnifications of pages from their notebooks. There were pictures and diagrams, mathematical equations, even expressions of frustration as their efforts were met with failure. It was like walking through their journal, it was neat.


Then probably the girls favorite part...
 When they were able to look at the lookalike of the flyer. A neat lesson in and of itself was the difference between replicas and lookalikes. In order to be considered a replica, the recreation would need to be made of the exact same materials as the original. Because this one that the girls are playing on in these photos is fully functioning, and actually used in air shows and for other flying it was not practical to make it out of wood and the other materials, as the original Wright B Flyer was made. This one has wings made of fiberglass and other more modern materials and thus is a lookalike.


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 Finishing their Jr. Ranger Books right outside the visitor center. I explain at the bottom of this post why we enjoy doing the Jr. Ranger programs at the National Parks we visit. Most of the parks we have been to are Historical Sites.