When you are a couple of national parks nerds, you, obviously, own a national parks passport. Each time you visit a national park or historic site, you add a new stamp to your passport. And when you visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and learn that the stamp has a matching and interlocking twin at a museum in Dayton, Ohio, of course you make plans for a quick weekend getaway!
So please join us as we travel to Cincinnati and Dayton to hang out with butterflies, visit a Presidential home, learn about an early 20th century poet who inspired Maya Angelou, explore an aviation heritage trail, stroll through hundreds of US Air Force planes, and get a personal guided tour through the Wright Brothers National Museum. We’ll also, of course, share some great restaurant recommendations as well.
Let’s begin:
A Dayton Weekend
Our destination: southwestern Ohio, a section of the nation neither my wife nor I had ever visited.
Day One – Arrival and Exploring Cincinnati
My Acura TLX makes only a cameo appearance in this adventure – owing to the short turn-around, we cashed in some accrued mileage rewards from Delta Airlines and bought some tickets. The TLX delivered us safely to Newark International Airport and then settled in for a nap.The flight was a remarkably quick 90 minutes from Newark to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport. Rain would be the theme of our first day in Ohio.Our ride for the weekend would be a Ford Escape from National Car Rental. I’ll have more to say about the Escape later on. It was… not awful.Cincinnati’s airport is actually located across the state line in northern Kentucky. My wife had found a cool spot for us to get lunch, but an accident on the interstate highway turned the drive there into quite a back road adventure! The GPS detoured us through a series of narrow, twisty, winding roads.Herb & Thelma’s Tavern opened in 1939 and prides itself on its burgers and beer selection. The tavern also offers to make any of their sandwiches on gluten-free buns, so off we went!The tavern is tiny – maybe twelve tables total, spread across two rooms, along with a bar that seats 7-8 people. Fortunately, we arrived early and missed the lunchtime rush.The burgers are billed as “the best in Northern Kentucky,” so we thought we would give them a try, and they did not disappoint. In fact, it was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. We also split a mettwurst – similar to a bratwurst, but with a milder flavor profile. Lunch was excellent! Fueled up, we were ready to head to our next destination.After lunch we crossed the Ohio River into Cincinnatti.Our next stop was to the Krohn Conservatory, a botanical garden established in 1933. Krohn is part of the City of Cincinnati’s park system.Over 3,500 species of plants can be found in six different rooms of the conservatory.While my phone takes good photos, I was glad I had my Canon camera with me.Unbeknownst to us, we had arrived in time for the Butterfly Show, an annual event that runs from May through August.Numerous species of butterflies inhabit the Tropical House of the conservatory, freely flying around (and landing on) visitors.These gentle creatures were mesmerizing to watch.Given the butterflies’ unique markings, some were easier to spot among the greenery than others.We exited through the Desert Garden. There were some prickly characters in there!Always a sucker for a good Presidential museum, our next stop was to the William Howard Taft National Historic Site.The site honors our 27th President. Tours begin in a small but informative visitors center. While I knew of Taft from my high school US history class, I was unaware of just how connected to American political life the Taft family was. In addition to Taft attaining both the White House and the Supreme Court, his father Alphonso was the US Attorney General and the Secretary of War. His son Robert was the Senate Majority Leader, his grandson was a senator from Ohio, and his great-grandson served as Ohio’s governor.We joined a free tour of the Taft House, a two-story home where the 27th President was born and raised. Several of the rooms have been renovated to appear as they would have looked when Taft lived in the house. This foyer, for instance, even features an accurate reproduction of the wallpaper that was originally in the home.The home was built in 1842, but the family continually upgraded it to the latest in home conveniences. See the tubing running across the desk? It carries gas to fuel the lamps.William Howard Taft graduated from Yale, as did many members of his family. I got a chuckle out of this note from the university warning his father of Taft’s chronic tardiness to class. Despite his issues with attendance, he did manage to graduate second in his class.Taft was President Theodore Roosevelt’s chosen successor, and served in office from 1909-1913. The museum does an excellent job of telling the story of his life and Presidency. If you are in the Cincinnati area and are looking for a fun, free museum, definitely stop by.We crossed back into nearby Covington, Kentucky for dinner. This really was a multi-state trip!We stopped by Mai Thai, a Thai restaurant and sushi bar in Florence, Kentucky.Spring roll appetizers? Yes please!My wife and I shared an order of Thai Fried Rice (pictured) and chicken Pad See Ew. Both dishes were absolutely delicious! After dinner, we headed back to our hotel for an early night – the next day was going to be action-packed!
Day Two – The Dayton Aviation Heritage Trail
The next morning we set off for Dayton, Ohio. We had only two planned stops on this trip: The National Museum of the United States Air Force and the Wright Brothers National Museum. As we headed northward on I-75, my wife inquired, “Mind if we make a little detour?”We had stumbled upon the Wright B Flyer museum. This all-volunteer organization preserves the history of the Wright Brothers’ pioneering first flights with several airworthy replica planes.The centerpiece of the museum is the “Brown Bird,” a replica of the B Flyer, the Wright Brothers first commercially-available aircraft. Constructed in the 1970s, the volunteers used modern construction techniques and materials to create a safer and more airworthy plane while retaining the Wright Brothers’ iconic design. Famous passengers have included Alex Trebek, Jimmy Stewart, Mario Andretti, Neil Armstrong, and Amanda Wright Lane, the Wright Brothers’ great grand-niece.The Valentine Flyer was created for the 1978 movie The Winds of Kitty Hawk. It flew about fifty times for filming before suffering damage that led to its retirement.The most recent plane is the “White Bird,” another model of the Wright B Flyer that was created in 2021. The plane blends the Wright Brothers’ bi-plane design with 21st century construction techniques and technology. It is FAA-certified and is flown regularly.My wife and I struck up a conversation with a museum volunteer who routinely flies the White Bird. He is a retired US Air Force pilot who flew F-16 fighter jets for a living. I asked him what is more exciting to fly, an F-16 or the White Bird, and his answer surprised me. “The F-16, you know, it has the g-forces and the speed, but when you’re in this thing, there is nothing around you. No cockpit, no glass, just you and nature for as far as you can see. There’s nothing like it.”We had a wonderful time – all the more thanks to the museum volunteer who acted as our tour guide. She clued us into the Dayton Aviation Heritage Trail – fourteen locations around Dayton which are historically significant for the development of aviation. Our to-do list suddenly got a lot more full!We decided to try to visit as many sites on the Heritage Trail as we could fit into our day. The next stop was to the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park, which commemorates the work of Orville and Wilbur Wright, along with showcasing their friend Paul Dunbar, a noted poet in the early 20th century who also hailed from Dayton.Located on the park property is the Wright Cycle Company building. Before their career in aviation took off, the Wright Brothers were bicycle manufacturers. Their business operated out of six different buildings over the span of two decades. This building is the fourth one they owned. The fifth, famous for being the location where the brothers developed their airplanes, was bought by Henry Ford and moved to Dearborn, Michigan.The centerpiece of the museum is this replica of the 1902 Wright Glider. Before the brothers took to the skies in powered flight, they studied the principles of aerodynamics through a series of unpowered gliders.The museum goes beyond just the Wright Brothers, and focuses on other notable aspects of Dayton history as well. American poet and playwright Paul Laurence Dunbar has a large exhibit on his life’s work. More on Paul in a minute…The town grocery store, run by local businessman Frank Hale for over two decades, also has a sizable display. I got a kick out of 1917 prices: $0.15 for a quart of milk, $0.62 for a dozen eggs, and $0.61 for a pound of sirloin steak. Bring back those prices, please!We left the museum and headed across town to the Paul Laurence Dunbar House. Paul purchased the house in 1902. After his untimely passing in 1906 at the age of 33, his mother took posession of the home and kept it as a monument to her talented son. In her will, she expressly instructed that the home would be kept as a monument to Paul. After her passing in 1934, the state of Ohio purchased the home and established it as “the first state memorial in Ohio to honor African-American history”(via Ohio History).The son of former slaves, Dunbar rose to prominence as a noted poet and playwright. Indeed, he is the first African-American writer to have a play performed on Broadway.Paul was also classmates and friends with Orville Wright. He purchased his bicycle from the brothers. The Wright brothers, who operated a printing press, also published Dunbar’s newspaper, The Tattler, which focused on Dayton’s African-American community.How notable was Dunbar’s works? President Theodore Roosevelt sent him a personal note of gratitude for a poem the author had sent to the White House. The museum is well-organized and is definitely worth a visit if you are in town.Following some highway signs, we made quick detour to this memorial, which commemorates another important site in the Wright Brothers’ development of human flight.The Huffman Prairie Interpretive Center sits on a bluff overlooking woodlands and fields. After returning from Kitty Hawk, Orville and Wilbur searched for a location to continue their experiments. The settled on Huffman Prairie, a cow pasture they rented from a local farmer. It is here that the concepts introduced in North Carolina would be fully developed.Our next stop was to nearby Wright State University. The Paul Dunbar Library has quite the display hanging from the rafters…In 2002, volunteers at the university created an exact replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer. Over 4,000 hours of work went into creating this machine.I appreciate that someone on the library staff has a good sense of humor!A quick time-out from all this exploring for lunch! We chose Mackenzie River Pizza, Grill, & Pub, located near Wright State University.Mackenzie River gets high marks for their separate gluten-free menu. Our server was knowledgeable and worked with the kitchen to answer our questions.We started with a house salad, and then positively devoured both of these gluten-free pizzas: a Mackenzie River (olive oil, spinach, zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms, mozzarella) and a Bahn Mi (Korean barbecue sauce, pork burnt ends, pickled daikon, carrots, cucumber, and jalapeños). Both were excellent! We were properly refueled for our next stop!The National Museum of the United States Air Force is one of the major attractions in all of southwestern Ohio. What started as a museum in a modest hanger at Wright Field airbase has transformed into a 1,100,000-square foot behemoth that tells the history of aviation in this nation, from the earliest balloons to modern space flight, and everything in between. While I would be exploring this museum, my wife headed north to check off another item on the Heritage Trail list (more on that below).After passing through a security checkpoint, I entered the museum! There is no official path through the exhibits – proceed in whichever order you wish. I decided to go chronologically, beginning with the earliest days of flight. In this case, an exact replica of the Wright 1909 Military Flyer. Built by museum staff in 1955, it features numerous original parts donated by the Wright Family.I spent most of my time with the aircraft of World War II. This B-25 Mitchell bomber was restored to look like one of the bombers that participated in the daring Doolittle Raid. In the months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, American military leadership came up with a plan to strike back at Japan – launching these lumbering bombers from an aircraft carrier to strike Tokyo.The highlight for me of the entire museum was the Memphis Belle, a B-17F Flying Fortress bomber. In World War II, bomber crews who survived 25 missions would be eligible to return home. The odds of reaching 25 missions unscathed was… slim. For instance, of 12,000 B-17Fs produced, over 5,000 were lost in combat, and countless others sustained heavy damage from defending German forces.Memphis Belle came to the museum in 2004, and after an extensive restoration was put on display in 2018.The museum’s collection is not limited to just American planes. This Messerschmitt Me262 fighter, produced by Germany in World War II, is the world’s first operational jet fighter.I really appreciated the efforts museum staff have made to make information accessible. For instance, many planes have placards written in braille, along with tactile models so that someone who is blind or has low vision can “see” the plane through touch. Very cool!Perhaps the most sobering exhibit was this B-29 bomber, nicknamed Bockscar. On August 9, 1945, the bomber and its crew flew over Nagasaki, Japan and dropped an atomic bomb on the city. The explosion resulted in approximately 70,000 casualties. Bockscar was donated to the museum immediately after World War II.As I moved through the Vietnam War-era displays, one exhibit caught my eye. During the Vietnam War, the Soviet Union supplied North Vietnam with anti-aircraft missiles which took a staggering toll on American fighter jets and bombers. Over 200 American planes were knocked out by the SA-2 missile.The Pentagon’s answer? Equip fighter jets like this F-100 Super Sabre with specialized equipment and missiles to destroy the missile sites. Send them in first to clear the way for bombers and other planes by knocking out enemy radar and missiles. And have them continue maintaining a safe space, only leaving once every other aircraft is out.The codename for these specialized fighter jets, and the incredibly brave pilots who fly them? Wild Weasels. The acronym at the bottom came from Jack Donovan, one of the earliest Wild Weasel pilots, who, upon learning of the job he needed to do, remarked, “You’ve Gotta Be Sh***ing Me.” The acronym continues on the logo patch to this day.The museum houses a number of Cold War-era aircraft like his Su-27 “Flanker,” a Soviet fighter jet that remains in service with several nations. This particular example came from Ukraine. Say what you want about the Soviet Union, they sure did build some pretty planes.Growing up in the 1980s, I hero-worshipped two jets: the US Navy’s F-14 Tomcat and the US Air Force’s F-15 Eagle. Designed to clear the skies of enemy planes, the Eagle has remained in service for nearly 50 years.For much of the 1980s, rumors swirled of a secret US aircraft that could fly undetected by radar. The F-117 Nighthawk gained national renown during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, flying with seeming invisibility through Iraq’s radar system. The body shape is designed with one purpose: to minimize its view on radar. The shape, however, makes the plane so unstable to fly that a computer has to assist the pilot by constantly correcting the flight controls to keep it from crashing.The museum has an impressive array of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Designed for one purpose – to deliver a nuclear warhead anywhere in the world – these weapons are a reminder of how destructive humanity can be to itself.Of course, inner-8-year-old me was most excited by this life-size replica of an X-Wing fighter from Star Wars… complete with R2D2! The National Museum of the US Air Force was absolutely awesome.Meanwhile, my wife had driven to Troy, Ohio, to visit the WACO Air Museum.During the 1920s and 1930s, WACO Aircraft Company was one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the nation.WACO is best known for producing the CG-4 military glider during World War II. These engineless gliders were towed behind larger planes and then released once in the air, able to glide down with their cargo of soldiers and equipment.This quote from Walter Kronkite tells the story.After her museum experience, my wife stopped for a coffee fuel-up at Purebred Coffee, an independent coffee shop.My wife brought coffee to share when she picked me up (yum!), but even better were the gluten-free chocolate chip cookies… absolutely heavenly!Our last stop would be to the Wright Brothers National Museum in Carillon Historic Park.We began our tour in a replica of the Wright Brothers’ fifth bicycle shop where they would develop their earliest aircraft. One of the museum volunteers, Judith, offered to give us a private tour, and we readily accepted!Judith was an amazing tour guide. It turns out she was the former director of education for the National Museum of the US Air Force! She excelled at taking complicated subjects and breaking them down into easy-to-understand bits, such as how the Wright Brothers used a wind tunnel to test scale model versions of the wings that would eventually be used on their aircraft.The centerpiece of the museum is the 1905 Wright Flyer III. Developed in Dayton, Wilbur and Orville considered this plane to be the world’s first practical airplane. It is also the only aircraft to be a National Historic Landmark.The Wright Brothers’ earliest planes used wing warping to control the aircraft. Modern planes use flaps to bank into turns, but the Wright Flyer used a series of cables that the pilot could pull to twist the wings. The pilot would shift his or her hips to steer, similar to how a bicycle rider adjusts their balance on a bike to help control steering.Air travel has certainly come a long way since 1905!Wright Hall was the last major project started by Orville Wright, who wanted to find a proper home for the 1905 Wright Flyer III.In 1909, Wilbur Wright flew over the Hudson River in New York. He attached a canoe to the bottom of the plane in the hopes that if he had to land on the water, it would keep the plane afloat. The family kept the canoe and it is now proudly on display in the museum.The Wright Brothers National Museum made a perfect final stop for our tour of Dayton, and Judith was an amazing guide. If you are in southwestern Ohio, I’d highly recommend a visit!We grabbed a quick dinner at Bibibop, which serves Asian-style bowls made-to-order. The best part? Everything on the menu is fully gluten free. We headed back to our hotel after our meal, as we had an early flight home the next day.
Day 3 – The Return Home
The next morning, we were at the airport at 4:00 am to return our rental car and catch a 6:30 am flight back to New Jersey. The Ford Escape was not a bad little vehicle. High points were excellent visibility, easy-to-use controls, good fuel economy, and plenty of storage space. It got a few demerits for lack of steering feel (“numb” would be a charitable description) and an uncomfortable drivers seat. Still, it was affordable and economical.We received a complimentary upgrade to first class for our ride home – talk about an awesome treat! It certainly made the flight far more comfortable.No matter how many times I fly, this view never gets old.After a remarkably smooth and quick flight, we clambered back into the Acura and headed home.
Wrapping Up
We came to southwestern Ohio for a national parks passport stamp. What we found was an entire region filled with aviation history, important US leaders and artists, beautiful parks, and awesome food. We will definitely come back to Dayton again, especially since we did not complete the Dayton Aviation Heritage Trail (get enough stamps in the Heritage Trail Passbook and you can win a free prize!). We also had just enough of a taste of Cincinnati to know that we would love to come back and explore the city even more.
Thanks, as always, for coming along on another journey down the open road ahead.
