Cincinnati, William Howard Taft, and Kentucky

Driving down to Cincinnati I caught sight of an IKEA so I decided to stop by and check it out to see what all the fuss is about. I did a lap through the massive store (300,000 square feet!!) which took about 20 minutes. I guess the concept is that you get ideas on the second floor and then you go down to the first floor to pick up everything you liked from above. Honestly it was way too much stuff so I got out of there as soon as I could.

Cincinnati is the home of William Howard Taft, the 27th president of the United States and his boyhood home is preserved as a NPS site. Before my tour started I spent some time in the visitor center and learned all about the Taft family (who apparently are the Kennedy’s of Ohio). The Taft family members have served in various positions, such as Governor of Ohio, Governor of Rhode Island, U.S. Senator (two), U.S. Representative (two), Attorney General, Secretary of War (two), United States Secretary of Agriculture, President, and Chief Justice. Every half hour there is a tour of the home William lived in from his birth in 1857 until he went away to college in 1874.

Here's a childhood portrait. Yes he is deliberately dressed like a little girl.

We had a short tour with the ranger and then were free to wander and explore the exhibits. I learned a lot of great information about William. For instance, I never knew that after he was President he became the tenth Chief Justice of the United States (1921–1930). He is the only person to have served in both offices. Taft is also the last President to have sported facial hair while in office. And he was the first president to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

He also was instrumental in the construction of the first separate and spacious United States Supreme Court building (the one that is still in use now). He believed that the Supreme Court needed to distance itself from the Congress as a separate branch of the Federal Government. Until then, the Court had heard cases in Old Senate Chamber of the Capitol Building. The Justices had no private chambers there, and their conferences were held in a room in the Capitol's basement.
I like this picture of a cow grazing on the front lawn of the White House.

Taft is known for his large size.His wife as First Lady came up with the idea to plant the cherry trees along the Tidal Basin in D.C. where we can now enjoy them every year at the Cherry Blossom festival (attended in April 2011 by yours truly)!

I enjoyed my time at Taft’s home as I had never really known much about him. My favorite part of my visit though was when I got myself a Junior Ranger Badge! You can only enter the home with a ranger but after your tour you are free to stay and explore the exhibits. I of course spent a lot of time there and let myself out a half hour later. Walking back to the visitor center I saw another couple entering the home but I assumed they were going back in because they had forgotten something. However, a ranger came running out of the visitor center shouting at them. He looked at me and said “why didn’t you stop them!”. I said “I don’t have a badge, I can’t yell at people”. He laughed and took me back to the visitor center and presented me with my very own junior ranger badge and told me “there, now you have the authority to yell at people”. I was so happy and I had the biggest smile on my face. It’s my first badge! Thank you Ranger.Since the weather was so gorgeous (68 degrees and sunny!!) I decided to head over to Devou park in Covington, Kentucky. I walked a short nature trail that was very muddy but spent most of my time on a picnic table overlooking the river and downtown Cincinnati. It was a very scenic spot and obviously very popular as there were a bunch of people taking pictures with the vista in the background.