Following our visit to the First Ladies National Historic site, we drove a few miles to where President and First Lady McKinley are laid to rest. Although McKinley wasn't born in Canton, (he was from a smaller town called Niles, Ohio), he is considered their favorite son and resided there for many years. He was assassinated in 1901 at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. He died of gangrene from what we would consider today as a botched surgery. His wife oversaw the construction of this great monument to her late husband. Both of their daughters (who passed at age 3 and 6 months) are also interred in the monument.
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You can't help but be impressed as you pull into the long driveway leading up to the monument. There were a number of joggers running up and down the steps and folks enjoying lunch on the grounds. Signs were posted on the hills prohibiting sledding! Not a problem the day we were there.
Inside the monument. I'm always struck by the quiet. It's otherworldly.
Next stop was lunch. This old fashioned ice cream parlor and diner is located in the middle of an old neighborhood. You can picture kids in the 1950's riding their bikes to it. They make their own ice cream and are most known for a sundae called, 'The Bittner.' It's vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup mixed throughout and topped with candied pecans. One of my friends ordered it and said it was quite good. After my lunch, I ordered a hot fudge sundae made with coconut ice cream. I think you either love coconut or hate it. I'm a huge fan.
To round out our day, we did a factory tour of Fannie Mae/Harry London chocolates. This is a picture of the retail store inside the massive building. No photos are allowed on the tour, because chocolate recipes are so top secret! I was surprised by the number of samples that were offered. I could have eaten 7 different pieces of chocolate, but I resisted and just tried two. One was a dark chocolate covered mint and the other was a white chocolate covered key lime. At the end of the tour, we were also offered a sample of their gelato to try. I chose banana. Delicious!
A full day of fun!
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Wow, you'd never want for chocolate inside there. Top secret chocolate recipes huh, who knew? lol I'd want to sled down that hill, the cat would break the rules. Sure quite the monument.
ReplyDeleteI think every chocolate maker claims to have a secret ingredient. I would totally sled down that hill!
DeleteThat chocolate tour looked like fun! I would not have had the restraint you did and would have eaten all the samples offered :) Sad about the McKinleys' having their 2 young daughters dying so young, but I guess that was part of the time they were living in with the rate of infant mortality. Looked like another fun road trip!
ReplyDeletebetty
After the sundae, I wasn't in the mood for more sweets. Yes, sad that so many infants and children died due to lack of antibiotics, immunizations, etc.
DeleteI'd like to try the white chocolate covered key lime.
ReplyDeleteThey also had white chocolate raspberry.
DeleteI dated a guy from Canton back in the day. Now he's a police chief.
ReplyDeleteI know that's not Friendly's but I still miss it.
You miss Friendly's? I think they went out of business!
DeleteWow...both the exterior and interior of that monument are so impressively beautiful!
ReplyDelete"Both of their daughters (who passed at age 3 and 6 months) are also interred in the monument." Omg...they died so young.
I bet that old fashioned ice cream palor was such a treat. There is nothing quite like homemade ice cream. There is a family-owned ice cream shop in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia that I will stop in whenever I'm there because their homemade ice cream is beyond delicious. And they also give you such a HUGELY generous scoop!
" One was a dark chocolate covered mint and the other was a white chocolate covered key lime. At the end of the tour, we were also offered a sample of their gelato to try. I chose banana. Delicious!"
Sounds like heaven to me!
Thanks for sharing part two of your road trippin' Enjoyed!
Have a super weekend, my friend!
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Family businesses always seem to give better quality and service. But I don't envy them their hours and headaches!
DeleteI love to try unique flavors of anything!
Sounds like you had a great time. I love to see pictures and hear stories of places that I probably won't get to see. Don't you love it after a tour of a place when they give you a sample of their product. Chocolate and gelato...sounds great.
ReplyDeleteFactory tours can be a lot of fun....especially when you get freebies!
DeleteOoh, ice cream and chocolate - just the sort of day I like! I would probably have tried all seven chocolate samples as well.
ReplyDeleteI find family businesses can vary a lot. They can give excellent quality and service, as you say, or they can be struggling to survive and the service is a bit hit-and-miss.
I did not want to get sick from too many sweets!
DeleteI remember passing many times the sign on the street in Buffalo where McKinney was shot--I seem to remember it was not far from Buffalo State. The ice cream parlor looks too tempting to pass by
ReplyDeleteOh how interesting! I have never walked around Buffalo.
DeleteNow I have to go--especially for the chocolate shop!
ReplyDeleteWho can resist a chocolate factory??
DeleteI'm not sure, if you watch tv soaps, but for some reason, the ice cream parlour reminds me of the one shown in the series ' once upon a time' lol.
ReplyDeleteYou have given so much to learn about, thanks :)
No, I've heard of that show, but never watched it. Interesting!
DeleteFannie Mae - your one-stop chocolate/mortgage provider!
ReplyDeleteIn college, I knew a girl from Hershey, PA; to her, chocolate smelled like industrial pollution. . .
And, uh, that's a pretty impressive mausoleum for President McKinley, who isn't thought of as quite such a big deal these days. . . (but yeesh; bad enough getting shot, but then to actually die of gangrene from a botched surgery. . . that's just sad. . .)
They said the Fannie Mae (Chicago) company was named for Fanny Farmer. And Hershey, PA smells wonderful to the rest of us!
DeleteFirst Lady McKinley had her own money. I'm sure she funded their monument. Wouldn't happen for taxpayers today!
This sounds like a very tasty trip, Bijoux. I'm getting just reading this post!
ReplyDeleteIt was rather yummy!
DeleteThat sounds like a fabulous day. A very cool monument, and beautiful area! Of course the ice cream and chocolate would be a highlight. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was a long day, but totally worth it.
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