So, leaving tomorrow, coming back eventually. The Boy says I need to pack for all the days. In that case, I think I'm hoping for The Rapture to come next Wednesday. Oh well, I won't be the first person to mispredict that event.
Seeing a lot of flags at half staff today, including the one at the post office, so if it's a local thing it's pretty ingrained. Cannot believe they are for Jerry Fallwell, but can't come up with any other reason.
Might be going to see Shrek on opening day. My mother's got a couple reduced price tickets for any movie on the 18th, and looking at what's playing that day makes Shrek look like the best choice. I just hope it's not a "third movie" like so many others. The second one was pretty decent.
Also might be going to a department store closing sale and a farmer's market. Pictures will be taken. The dept. store is one of the big old fashioned downtown types. The escalators it has are, I believe, the first in the entire state. It had a big fancy Tea Room that people used for wedding receptions right up until the store closed its doors in August 2005. They're just now getting around to selling the display cases, Christmas decorations, that sort of thing. I guess they've got a Steinway baby grand among other things.
So, I Googled the escalators. Turns out they were installed in 1939, and were the first in the state. They remain there today. It's funny to think that a lot of people are so interested in something that I used to do a lot- ride the escalators. We used to go through the store after my swimming lessons when I was in elementary school. I recognised they were different, they had burled wood steps instead of the metal, and they didn't seem as wide as most of them are, but they didn't seem important, or anything.
I think they finally did close the escalators down, rope them off and soforth, but it's been a while since I've been there, so I don't remember. The escalators only went to the second floor anyway, which was also accessible by stairs. To get to the rest of the floors you had to take the elevators. The children's department (clothes and toys) was on the fourth floor, the third floor was the Tea Room, as I remember, but I don't think I was ever there. Then there was the Mezz level- a Mezzanine that made the second floor accessable to the skywalks in town.
I have a friend in Liverpool who says no one in the states can possibly think that their city has history. We do, it's just newer, and we have people who can remember it when it disappears.