History

Exploring New Hampshire, Vermont, and the USS Enterprise!

Monday, August 18, 2025, Stuart and Julie on the summit of Mount Washington -- highest peak in the northeastern United States at 6,288.2 feet!

We had not vacationed in New Hampshire since 1997, so when Stuart finished a month-long backpacking trip in southern New Hampshire, Julie joined him for an August 17-23, 2025, vacation in New Hampshire, Vermont, and on the USS Enterprise. We put this blog post together to share some of what we explored during this trip.

We want to note that this vacation was after two long backpacking trips that Stuart had already completed this year. Stuart's month-long Appalachian Trail backpacking trip is where he finished the final few miles in Massachusetts before hiking all of the Vermont section, and 50+ miles into the New Hampshire section.

We are sharing our photos and trip observations with you here to encourage you to explore the places we visited.

Sunday, August 17, 2025, Stuart and Julie at  Flume Gorge.

Friday, August 22, 2025 - Star Trek: Original Series Set Tour

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Colorado 2025: Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, and Denver

Sunday, June 15, 2025, Julie and Stuart at the Rocky Mountain National Park welcome sign

We had not been to Colorado since 1998, so when we were invited to attend our niece's wedding (celebrating Anna Bonebrake's marriage to Thomas Porricolo), we took the opportunity to extend the trip to include Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, and the Denver area. We were on this exciting trip from Friday, June 13, 2025, through Monday, June 23, 2025.

Due to our other travels, we had to delay writing this blog post, but we enjoyed putting it together as our way of remembering the good times we had in Colorado in June 2025. We are sharing our photos and trip observations with you here to encourage you to explore the places we visited in Colorado.

Rocky Mountain National Park

The Buffalo Bill Museum

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Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr., Day 2025 at University Circle

Monday, January 20, 2025 - Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr., Day 2025 in University Circle

On Monday, January 20, 2025, my wife and co-blogger, Julie, volunteered at the Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel at the Cleveland History Center, while my son, Michael, and I spent Martin Luther King, Jr., Day 2025 visiting four of the museums in University Circle.

It was an unusually cold day (the outside temperature varied between 7°F and 11°F). We used drawstring bags to carry our multiple layers of winter clothing while we were in the comfortably warm museums, and then wore the clothing when we walked between the venues. At these low temperatures, the cold hurts any uncovered skin, such as our faces. Despite the extremely cold weather, was saw many families visiting the museums throughout the day.

I put this blog post together to share my photos and experiences of our visit to the following museums:

I want to thank these museums for welcoming the community every year to visit as part of celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. I am grateful that we have such excellent, educational, and engaging museums in our community. Michael and I had a great time touring all the museums.

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Disinformation Panel Discussion - Human Science Institute - Psychology Museum

Disinformation Panel Discussion - Human Science Institute - Psychology Museum

When Stuart saw the announcement on social media for the Institute for Human Science and Culture's Misinformation Society panel discussion on October 2, 2024, he knew that it was important to attend. The topic is of immediate importance as we are in an election cycle that has included a historic level of misinformation and disinformation.

Originally, Stuart planned to watch the YouTube livestream of the event. After Stuart wrote about his tour of the National Museum of Psychology on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, Julie also became interested in seeing the museum.

This blog post is about the two of us attending the October 2, 2024, panel of University of Akron professors discussing misinformation/disinformation, and then touring two sections of the Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology.

The Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology, located at The University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, collects, preserves, provides access to, and interprets the historical record of psychology and related human sciences. . . .

The Center houses the Archives of the History of American Psychology and the National Museum of Psychology, as well as the multidisciplinary Institute for Human Science and Culture.

We want to thank the "Misinformation Society" panel members for sharing their knowledge on this important topic. Also, a BIG thank you to the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology staff for their Brown Bag History series and for our visit to the institute galleries and the Psychology Museum. We are very fortunate to have this great resource in Northeast Ohio.

Stuart's October 2, 2024, photos of the Misinformation Society panel discussion at the University of Akron.

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End-of-Summer Weekend Fun: IngenuityFest 2024, PechaKucha Night Cleveland, and Remembering Euclid Beach Park

End-of-Summer Weekend Fun: IngenuityFest 2024, PechaKucha Night Cleveland, and Remembering Euclid Beach Park

The first day of fall had already arrived the Sunday before, but in Cleveland, we stretched the summer fun one more week by having three great events over the weekend of Friday, September 27, 2024, through Sunday, September 29, 2024:

The following blog post includes my photos and videos from the weekend, along with event information and what others have shared. I hope this blog post encourages you to learn about the year-round activities of the organizations that planned these events.

Friday - Sunday, September 27 - 29, 2024 - IngenuityFest 2024: Era of Ascent     Friday, September 27, 2024 at 8:00 pm - PechaKucha Night Cleveland Volume 42 at IngenuityFest     Sunday, September 29, 2024 - The 19th Annual Remembering the Sights and Sounds of Euclid Beach Park

I hope this blog post encourages you to attend future fun events hosted by Ingenuity Cleveland, PechaKucha Night Cleveland, and Euclid Beach Park Now!

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Exploring Malabar Farm & Mohican State Parks

August 31, 2024, Stuart, Julie, and Mike tour Malabar Farm State Park.

On Saturday, August 31, 2024, we had a great time with our son, Michael, learning about the history of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Malabar Farm State Park. At the farm, we went on both the Big House tour and the farm tour. The farm tour consisted of a narrated ride around the farm property on a tractor-pulled wagon. We then visited the many animals in the Main Barn.

After an enjoyable morning at Malabar Farm, we then had lunch at the Mohican Lodge and explored some of Mohican State Park.

We put together this blog post to share with others our photos from the day and links to park resources. It brings us joy to add this trip to our other travel blog posts. This fun and interesting day was like having a mini-vacation!

August 31, 2024, Stuart, Julie, and Mike tour Malabar Farm State Park.

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My Day Exploring the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology

Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology,

I am so glad that I finally toured The National Museum of Psychology on Wednesday, March 20, 2024!! The National Museum of Psychology is within the Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology (CCHP), which is located at The University of Akron.

I think I first learned about The National Museum of Psychology about five years ago. I must have learned about the museum from shared social media announcements when they completed their 2019 building renovations. At that time, I immediately said to myself that I must go to explore this museum, but my visit to the museum kept getting delayed. I had earned a double major as a college undergraduate in psychology and history, with my psychology major being what I considered my primary emphasis, so I was excited to know there was a nationally recognized museum focused on my area of my interest so close to home.

Since The National Museum of Psychology does not open until 1:00 pm on Wednesdays, I first stopped to see the LeBron James Family Foundation's House Three Thirty facility - very impressive. It has a cabaret, museum, coffee shop, taco restaurant, sweet shop, bank, and more. This was my first time visiting.

In addition to The National Museum of Psychology, I also visited the Institute for Human Science and Culture (IHSC), which is on the 3rd and 4th floors of the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology (CCHP).

I was very fortunate to happen to pick a Wednesday (March 20, 2024) that the Summit County Children Services had arranged a special tour, pizza dinner, and informational session at the psychology museum, which they invited me to attend. I enjoyed hearing from the agency staff and from students benefiting from internship opportunities offered by this important agency.

I knew I would enjoy visiting Cummings Center for the History of Psychology (CCHP), and I am glad I finally did visit after the long delay since I learned of it five years ago. Thank you to the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology (CCHP) staff for my visit. We are very fortunate to have this great resource in Northeast Ohio.

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PechaKucha Night Cleveland: Untold Lakefront Stories & Announcement of Lakefront's Future

PechaKucha Night Cleveland: Untold Lakefront Stories & Announcement of Lakefront's Future

On October 29, 2023, I started writing this blog post, but I was delayed in finishing it until the middle of December due to another family emergency and some back-end work on my sosAssociates.com website. I am glad that I have now completed this blog post, since the topic presented is part of a long-term trend I have written about in the past. It deals with the important work of improving the City of Cleveland's (and this region's) waterfront and park systems. The plan presented is very long-term, so I wanted to capture today's ideas, and compare them with the future reality.

PechaKucha Night Cleveland - Volume 39 - Untold Lakefront Stories took place on October 20, 2023, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Cleveland's NorthCoast Harbor.

This particular PechaKucha Night Cleveland was very unique!! It first presented the interesting history of Cleveland's Lakefront from a variety of cultural viewpoints, and then showed how the future will build on this past as outlined in the newly updated Cleveland’s North Coast Master Plan.

I also include in this blog post what was recently shared at follow-up presentations that took place after PechaKucha Night Cleveland Untold Lakefront Stories. We are fortunate that so much was shared online from these follow-up events.

The following are the sections of this blog post:

I hope to look back at this blog post in future years after the project is completed and I am standing on the lakeshore enjoying the new lakefront of Cleveland.

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Exploring Our City's Past: Cleveland History Days 2023

Exploring Our City's Past: Cleveland History Days 2023

For me, the timing of the Cleveland History Days 2023 was perfect, since it was two months after my septal myectomy open-heart surgery at University Hospitals, and I was finally able to be active again for the first time in 2023.

With over 50 events happening during Cleveland History Days 2023, I was grateful to the organizations that hosted so many interesting activities. I did elect to skip the the Cleveland "Take A Hike" tours, since I was unsure of myself doing a lot of walking, but near the end of the 10 days of activities, I felt well enough to attend the "Ohio Freedom Path Hike" on Saturday, July 1, 2023. I can highly recommend the Cleveland "Take A Hike" tours from attending them with my wife in the past. I have heard that in recent years they have developed new tour locations and updated old favorite tours.

I was so impressed with all that was happening during these 10 days, that I wanted to capture what I could in my blog post. I hope you enjoy the following and share with others. Remember that even though Cleveland History Days is only once a year, most of the the places it features are available to explore year round!

Please read about the following:

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Family Time: Euclid Beach Park Days & Motorcycles/Tractors

Family Time: Euclid Beach Park Days & Motorcycles/Tractors

I am creating this blog post to capture my memories of three exhibits that I visited with members of my family on two days in July. Each of these exhibits has a unique connection to me and/or my family:

On Sunday, July 24, 2022, I visited the Western Reserve Historical Society's Cleveland History Center, and a week later, on Sunday, July 31, 2022, I visited Lake Metroparks Farmpark. In addition to the personal connection of these events, it was interesting to compare the motorcycle engines with the engines shown at the Farmpark.

Jon Rudder interviews the next generation of amusement park historians! Kevin Smith & Troy Parsh

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