Kent State, Cuyahoga River, and the Goodyear Airdock

Today we drove over to Kent State University to take a look at the Memorial of the day that 28 Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire (67 shots in 28 seconds) on unarmed college students, killing four, permanently crippling one, and wounding eight others.

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Memorial to the four students
Kent State Memorials
The four parking spaces where the fatally wounded students fell.
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May 4 Memorial
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The Pagoda

The memorial is surrounded by 58,175 daffodils, the number of the country’s losses in Vietnam. It’s a powerful place, and one you should visit if you are in the area. Here’s a link to an article on History.com about the events of May 4, 1970.

We left Kent State and traveled west to Cascade Valley Metropark to take a walk in the woods to see the Cuyahoga River. It was about a half mile in and out and I was very proud of Debbie for doing it.

After our walk, we headed back to the campground and went past the Goodyear Airdock. It’s not open to the public but it’s so large that it can be seen from the highway.

The hanger stands over 200 feet tall and well over 1,000 feet long, all without any interior supports like pillars or struts. To get the ships out of the airdock both of the rounded ends of the building actually slide apart like huge rounded wedge doors. Each of the doors weighs 600 tons and is powered by its own separate power plant. The massive windows were installed on either side of the hanger and open up to equalize the temperatures. However despite this, during certain conditions, condensation can accumulate in the upper air of the hanger and it will begin to “rain” on those below.

Tomorrow we plan on taking a driving tour of Cleveland.

Lots to see so stay tuned.

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