Pizza, Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Cake and a History Lesson

Reflections

What do you call triple chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting?

I call it HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

That’s what we celebrated yesterday… My Birthday.

When my husband asked me, on Wednesday night, what I wanted to do for my birthday, Friday, I had an idea. If we waited until Saturday to celebrate, we could go  to Stahl’s Museum, then come back home and have pizza and cake.  We could make it a party by inviting friends and family to join us.

My husband wasn’t quite sure what I was talking about since he had not heard of Stahl’s Museum. A couple years back my sister had told me about this local museum that her and her husband had visited and really enjoyed. Since then I have also heard about this fascinating place from another one of my sisters and my dad, but we had yet to visit.

Stahl’s Museum boasts a collection of antique automobiles and music machines. It is free to visit but has a donation box for those who would like to contribute. It is run solely by volunteers and is only open for a few hours on Tuesday afternoons and the first Saturday of each month, so scheduling a visit takes a little planning. A great advantage for us is that it is a little more than 10 miles from our home, only about a fifteen minute drive.

I took lots of pictures, but I highly recommend that you check out their website. http://www.stahlsauto.com/ If you click on the navigation menu at the top of the page you can view photos of their different collections and take virtual tours of the automobile room as well as the music room. For readers who will never venture to our part of the world, the Stahl’s website is the best option to see their magnificent collection, but for anyone who lives in the area or travels within a couple hours drive I would recommend planning a visit to the museum. IMG_3616

If you visit the museum you be awed by the sounds of these fantastical music machines and stand in wonder as you watch them play.

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You will also notice interesting details of the various displays.

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Like the matching luggage in the Volkswagen Van

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or this small windshield mounted on the steering wheel on some of the cars,

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or the extra fuel containers that this vehicle carries. One can is for gasoline, the second is for kerosene that was used to power the lights, and there is a third on the other side that is labeled oil.

The volunteers who were scattered throughout the museum were well educated about the displays and more than happy to share their knowledge and answer any questions.

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You will also marvel at the collection of antique signage that is displayed throughout. While it wasn’t my intended target, check out the red “Burma Shave” signs on the wall in the above photo. If you can’t read them, they say – “Angels” “Who Guard You” “When You Drive” “Usually”  “Retire At 65” “Burma Shave”. When I pointed these signs out to my husband he told me that Burma Shave company would set these signs up sequentially along the roadside apparently for entertainment as well as advertising. Being curious about this I did an internet search and found this information to be quite amusing.

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While most of the vehicles, understandably, have “Do Not Touch” signs, there are a few that invite visitors to climb aboard and snap a photo. Our Grandson Jackson was ready to drive the fire truck.

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Do you recognize the honorary Blues Brother?

You can also preform with Jake and Elwood outside the Big Boy Restaurant.

IMG_3637Our visit to the museum was much enjoyed by everyone in our party which included our friends J&G and Tina and Ken with our two grandbabies. As we were leaving the volunteers encouraged us to visit again and bring friends. I am certain that we will return, and we have already identified friends or family members (our other daughters) who “need” to see this. We learned that while the museum has been open for six years it still seems to be the best kept secret in our community, so in publishing this post I hope I am doing my part to get the word out, and I encourage you, especially local readers, to share this information as well as plan a visit.

After leaving the museum we picked up pizza and all returned to our house where we visited with J&G and Tina and Ken and enjoyed our grandbabies. Eating pizza is always good and not having to cook on my birthday is a great gift, but enjoying the company of  great friends and family is the best gift I received.

and yes, the cake was chocolate-chocolate-chocolate-chocolate-fudge. YUM! 🙂

 

26 thoughts on “Pizza, Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Cake and a History Lesson”

  1. Pingback: 2018 Review | Don't Eat It! Soap and Skin Care

      2. I had seen player piano’s in the past but until visiting Stahl’s I had never seen any other machines that played instruments. I think I could have spent the whole day watching/listening to them.

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  3. That was a great post and a great site Ruth – it sure is a well-kept secret. I liked Jackson posing there – he’s a cutie. The only Stahl’s I’ve ever heard of was Stahl’s Bakery. We had a produce market that featured their products and my favorite was Bellybutton cookies; my mom was partial to a danish called Bear Claws. A fellow blogger wrote this week of touring a museum dedicated to merry-go-rounds in Sandusky, OH. It was quite interesting there too.

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      1. I did Ruth and passed it along to John, a photographer/blogger from Sweden who is interested in vintage American cars. I tried to send him WOMC’s 104.3’s website as they are streaming the Woodward Dream Cruise but he cannot access it unfortunately. I want to give you the link for the Merry-go-Round Museum because it might be a nice day trip for you and your family, maybe Jackson would like it, when your schedule is a little less hectic. I follow Carolyn’s blog which is mostly nature and she walks along a rustic trail and takes great bird pictures. She lives in Ohio and this museum is in Sandusky. Here you go: https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/28751874/posts/26140

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    1. Thank you. This museum has such a wonderful collection it is too good not to share. My husband and I agree that seeing the collection of music machines alone would have been worth the trip. Thanks for visiting my blog 🙂

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