When I discovered
an Air BnB in refurbished 1925 Pullman train cars 2 hours away, I decided we just HAD to plan an overnight getaway. I couldn't wrangle it into our July schedules as a birthday treat, so I prevailed upon Dear Husband to take a Sunday off (!) and booked us over Labor Day.
Destination: The Dennison Railroad Depot Museum, which describes itself this way:
Join us and walk in the footsteps of American heroes. The Dennison Railroad Depot Museum is housed in Dennison, Ohio's 1873 Pennsylvania Railroad Station - once located at the water stop halfway between Pittsburgh, PA and Columbus, OH. On the National Defense Railway, the Depot was the location of a WWII Servicemen's Canteen that served 1.3 million soldiers and earned the nickname "Dreamsville, USA." Today, the Depot is a National Historic Landmark recognized as the best example left in the country of a WWII Homefront Canteen. Come back to America's Homefront and visit the Museum, enjoy a delicious meal in the Over the Rail Diner, pick up great souvenirs in the Whistle Stop Railway Shoppe and hop aboard one of our Fall Foliage one hour trips or Polar Express trips. The Museum features exhibits throughout the Depot including a large model train display showing the Dennison Railroad yard at their peak, and a train wing of railroad cars attached to the Museum that house an Interactive Children's Experience Car, rare WWII Hospital Car, Special Exhibit car and more. Children are invited to do Bing's Scavenger Hunt named after Dennison's WWI Mascot Private Bulldog Bing.
The snags I hit picking a date and confirming with the museum staff that we could arrive in off hours and what to do about breakfast on Sunday and Monday were emblematic of the trip: flexibility and a good attitude improve the experience.
We started the weekend by having lunch at the
Teutonia Mãnnerchor Oktoberfest with friends from our last church. It was a little on the warm side, but the food and drink were good--especially the bratwurst and warm potato salad--and with a light breeze under the tent and an oompa band playing nearby--it was really enjoyable.
Then it was time to head west, young man. DH drove while I worked on expanding my short book talk into a full-length public lecture. A little before 4 o'clock we arrived...just as it began to sprinkle. We managed to get our keys and let ourselves and all our stuff into the train car before it started raining in earnest.
We were welcomed with sugar cookies wrapped in wax paper and tucked into paper envelopes printed with Salvation Army info on one side and a history of the Depot as a canteen for WWII soldiers on the other. The doorways are all really skinny--even DH's shoulders don't quite fit. Climate control is with mini splits mounted in each compartment. The restrooms are painted lavender--to match the lavender hand soap? The shower room (not pictured) feels roomy compared to the compartment, but the foot-pedal toilets are really noisy.
We settled in for a quiet late afternoon of watching the rain, hoping it would let up in time for a walk around town before dinner to stretch our legs and get the lay of the land. No such luck. I took a nap until 6 o'clock, and then we sloshed a few blocks to our dinner destination,
Holy Moley Brewing, only to discover it was drinks only without a kitchen, so we continued on another block to
Pangrazio's Pizza and Spaghetti House for salad and pizza.
The rain had let up by the time we walked in the dark; I suspect the historic district is always aesthetic, but with the patriotic decorations for
America 250 it seemed extra enticing as a depiction of Smalltown, USA. Then we figured out how to turn the seating area into a lower berth--some physical comedy was involved--and wound down for the night. Here is the view from the top bunk:
Editor's Note: Coming soon: Day 2 of our Dennison adventures.
