Road Trip: Southeast
Day 3: Friday, September 23, 2022 - Roanoke, VA
Day's statistics:
Weather: mid 60s (early) to mid 70s
Steps: Steve 7,646; Linda 5,428
Drove: 243 miles
The breakfast this day turned out to be the best one on the entire trip.
There was a small buffet that included eggs, sausage, toast, waffles, cereal, coffee, and juice - and perhaps a couple other items.
Our first visit in the city was a quick trip to Mill Mountain.
Mill Mountain is the highest spot in the city. There is a platform at the site's overlook. There is a compass
embedded in the platform.
The view of Roanoke and the mountains, from the platform (a stitch of about 160°)
There is a massive 88-foot star on a 100-foot structure at the summit as well, that is on the National Register
of Historic Places. This is the largest man-made star in the world, erected in 1949, is visible from as far away
as 60 miles, is at an altitude of 1,847 feet, and is lit up at night until 12:00 by 2,000 feet of neon tubing.
(we didn't see it at night because of our early retirement due to our illnesses).
We did the best we could to get a selfie with the star in the background.
On the way out of the park, we passed these bicycle sculptures - they may not look like it, but they are probably ten feet tall.
After Mill Mountain, we made a trip into town and visited the
Taubman Museum. We drove around a little looking
for a place to park, and eventually just parked in a garage.
We walked about two blocks over and one down to get to the museum. We were about fifteen minutes early and sat
outside working on the New York Times Spelling Bee until it opened (the 'T' is barely visible - but it IS there).
And the museum from the car when leaving later.
The building across the street.
In the main building foyer there were dresses suspended from the ceiling.
The facility was really only one floor of exhibits, but there were some interesting pieces.
There was a Norman Rockwell called Framed. Notice that the figures in the paintings on either side are
looking at the figure carrying the frame.
An interesting pitcher by an unknown artist called Northwood's Grape Pitcher.
A screen by Jiro Okura and the Mountain Lake Workshop called Nisso Screen: Borrowed View.
A piece from Sarah Anne Johnson called The Forest, including a close-up showing the detail and an attempt
to show the 3D-like construction of the work - though the photos don't really do it justice.
A chair that lost one of its feet, called Opps!, by Jacob Cress.
A couple bronze birds called Stretch I and II, by Betty Branch.
There was a room dedicated to Judith Peto Leiber. Here are some of her pieces.
A set of pillboxes.
We were all done with the main exhibit, and while on the second floor waiting for the elevator to go to the
third, I happened to notice the Mill Mountain star off in the distance and took a quick pic. The camera
happened to autofocus on the dress in the foreground, of course...
For the most part, on the third floor was just the board room. But there were a couple pieces. But before seeing
those items, we ventured out onto the balcony / terrace / roof top patio. There was this fountain.
While outside, we happen to notice the star. Again. Last one, I promise.
From the rooftop area, in the opposite direction of the star, is this Tudor style building that is the Hotel Roanoke.
We went back inside and saw this bench with pictures above it, all of them covered in bunnies.
This piece, by Eric Standley, is called The Lesson of Atticus. There are 34 layers to the piece.
The last item we saw before departing the museum was this girl sitting high on a window sill on the third floor.
We did not get her name or the artist.
We were done with the museum and it was time for lunch. We walked down the street to the next block and ate
at Crescent City Bourbon & BBQ.
Linda had the pulled pork sandwich, 'bama style (cole slaw on the sandwich), with onion rings.
I had the pulled pork, with baked beans and fries.
After linch we walked over to the City Market.
We walked into the City Market building. There is a Museum of African American Culture, a Pinball Museum, a Video
Game Museum, Kids Square Children's Museum, Science Museum of Western Virginia, and the Parakeet Garden.
The ground floor has some aquarium tanks, and the ticket booth.
Do you like pinball? We do. A lot.
In fact, we like playing pinball so much that we were willing to pay $13.50, each, to play as many games
on the available machines as possible, at the
Roanoke Pinball Museum.
It turned out that the RPM was attached to the same building - where we happened to have parked our car!
We spent many of our younger years playing pinball (and upright video games), and were able to relive
playing some of those games, along with some games Linda and I enjoyed playing when we visited Rehoboth Beach -
such as The Addams Family game. They did not have our other favorite, Lethal Weapon.
But that's' OK because they had enough to keep us happy, occupied, and entertained.
Anyway, I started taking pictures of EVERY machine, when we started playing it.
Notice that this Indy machine has a gun launcher, not a plunger.
There were some old - I mean OLD - machines.
Let's take a closer look at one of these machines, such as this King Pin game.
The cost of current games is typically 50¢ per 3-ball play. Here it is 5¢ for a 5-ball play.
The ball feed has become automated, here it is a manual plunger (the upper plunger is for the ball-launch).
Scores are now in the millions, and here, it was practically an accomplishment to break a thousand; and
games can be played by up to four players at one time, rather than just one player at a time.
(Yes, we played a game; and yes, that was the final score.)
Most machines are a backbox (the upright portio where the score is displayed; some with video screens of some sort), and a playfield.
Games are differentiated with themes (Star Trek, Lord Of The Rings, Pool, Bowling, The Beatles, whatever), ramps (some that
span clear across the playfield), bumpers, targets, rollovers, multiple flippers, multi-ball play, and other "gimicks" to set
themselves apart (even extra buttons next to the flipper buttons that control magnets on the playfield).
This particular game, called Bonzai Run, was unique to us because the backbox had a small pinball machine
in it. Seriously. There was a "lift" in the lower left corner that would take the ball from the playfield into
the backbox, and a pair of flippers up there to continue briefly playing there. I tried to get a couple close-ups
of this... while playing the game myself - but the camera focused on the reflection on the backbox glass rather
than the playfield of the backbox. But you can see the ball in the second image on the right flipper.
Here's Linda playing the Captain Fantastic game, as sick as she was feeling (no, she was NOT contagious).
Here I am playing the Lord Of The Rings game.
I started to feel that taking pictures of every machine was getting to get really... um... tedious. So then I
started just doing the banks of machines - with some close-ups of some of the more interesting looking ones.
The Star Trek machine in the first bank above has a starship that moved when a target was hit.
One last close-up, this one of The Munsters.
This game had, which I tried to get a picture of, a tiny playfield "under" the main playfield, that itself had
tiny little pinball balls (rather than reuse the regular ball) - and this was while a multi-ball play was taking
place with these tiny balls, visible in the second image a bit to the lower left.
Some of the newer games were a little difficult to play because it was a little hard to see the playfield. This,
we were told, was because the games were designed to be played in a dark room - this one was rather bright.
Playing THAT much pinball can get tiring. Not the "I need to sit down and catch my breath" tiring, but rather
"I need to rest because my wrists hurt" tiring. This was probably the best spent $13.50 we had on the entire
trip. I actually wish this museum was much closer to home.
Some people revisit museums because they may not have seen everything, or the exhibits changed. This museum could -
and should - be revisited, like a number of their patrons do, for the sheer joy of playing the games.
Our time "wasn't up" at the pinball museum (we could have played until they closed), but rather our ability
to play was (as I mentioned above).
So we headed out toward Knoxville.
En route, on i81, at the Victory Baptist Church in Bristol, VA, we passed this rather large cross, much like we saw near Indianapolis
last year (or was that the year before?). And it truly is almost as tall as the tree it is near, that isn't an optical illusion.
The cell phone focused on the a-pillar and dead-bug laiden windshield in the car, rather than the sign (in both tries). But trust me,
this is the "Welcome to Tenessee" sign (you should still be able to make out the outlide of the state in the blurry image)...
We paused at the Tennessee Welcome Center to stretch our legs, get some more water out of the trunk, and use the
facilities. On site there were some picnic tables, and this sculpture.
We eventually made our way to our hotel, checked in, relaxed a little, and went to sleep.