Doug was in Geek Heaven today as we visited the Thomas
Edison National Historical Park in West Orange New Jersey. We spent a good 4 hours there and I know that
he feels like he missed something. We
got to see Edison’s library, drafting room, machine shops, chemistry lab,
fabricating lab, workshops, etc… Doug
was completely in awe of the amount of ideas and inventions that happened
exactly where we stood. I have to admit
that it was very cool, especially seeing his desk that was preserved exactly as
it was, when he died. I learned a lot
about his inventions as well, I was particularly interested in his opinion of
failure. He was evidentially someone who
learned from mistakes and did not let failure keep him down. The girls thought his invention of the first
talking doll was interesting, as well as the improvements that he made to some
devices used today, like the waffle iron.
We were lucky enough to see a demonstration of his
phonograph as well as the Black Maria (where he shot the first movies ever). We also went to a talk about his involvement
with electric trains (Double Geek out time for Doug!)
After that we have a 3 hour drive to French Creek National
Park, where we are settled for the next two nights. The girls just went to the bath house, and we
are enjoying 15 minutes of child-free quiet.
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